[00:00:10.270] - Gordon
Hello.
[00:00:10.760] - Taylor
Hello.
[00:00:11.260] - Gordon
My name's Gordon from Drayson Design.
[00:00:13.210] - Taylor
And I'm Taylor from The Creative Tinker.
[00:00:15.680] - Gordon
And welcome to "This Week with Taylor and Gordon," a weekly podcast and vidcast where we talk about things that have affected our businesses over the last seven days. And it's been a bit longer than seven days.
[00:00:27.830] - Taylor
It has indeed.
[00:00:27.830] - Gordon
It's been about a month and a half, it's been about six weeks or so. And the reason for this is because of all sorts of things that happened. As you may remember, for the last episode, I was in America, which I will talk about in a moment. So I was over there for just over two weeks and Taylor was at WordCamp. But we know that because we talked about that in the last episode. And after I came back, I got really busy with doing lots of shows because I had to move shows that people wanted to book me for when I was away, to the point when I came back. And then it became the end of term, so I had lots of shows there. But more importantly, Taylor was unwell. So he was unwell to the point of going into hospital and he was there for...
[00:01:27.230] - Taylor
Ten days.
[00:01:27.988] - Gordon
Ten days. Yeah, I was going to say just over a week. Ten days it was. And this is due to his Crohn's. He gets an infusion every eight weeks and sort of week seven is normally, at the moment, the time when he starts to suffer. And because of all the things that have been happening, he suffered a bit earlier than normal and got to the point when he was just unable to work and had to go into hospital. So anything you want to say about this?
[00:02:03.400] - Taylor
No, just that it was yeah, I just didn't have any energy. I wasn't in pain, really. Just I just didn't have any energy to do anything. So I was in bed for quite a few, I think it was about four weeks, five weeks that I kind of wasn't really working for.
[00:02:21.690] - Gordon
And that meant that when we came to Friday afternoons and it was time for the show, Taylor didn't have the energy to be able to do it. And I didn't want to do it without him because this is definitely something that we do together. So we just decided to go without for a few weeks, and we're back. Taylor's had his infusion.
[00:02:44.410] - Taylor
Yep.
[00:02:44.410] - Gordon
And hopefully he should be well for the next five weeks at least. And then we'll see how it goes from then. So if we do have any that we're missing, just assume that we wanted to do it, but we were unable to for whatever reason. That seems fair, doesn't it?
[00:03:02.680] - Taylor
Yeah.
[00:03:03.270] - Gordon
Any news you want to talk about?
[00:03:06.670] - Taylor
Nothing from me.
[00:03:08.020] - Gordon
Nothing? Lots of things have been happening. Most of them are not newsworthy anymore because they've come and gone. Let's just jump straight into our topics.
[00:03:20.190] - Taylor
Okay.
[00:03:21.140] - Gordon
Shall I start?
[00:03:22.080] - Taylor
You can go.
[00:03:23.260] - Gordon
So my topic today is sort of a catch up with what I did in the US and a task that happens at this time of year, that is a task that I never enjoy doing, but it's a task I have to do. So first of all, my trip to the US to see my friend Marc was really good. It was a bit touch and go because you may remember that I was supposed to go back in February, with Taylor in fact. And Taylor got to go and I got to spend three weeks in the spare room, because I got Covid. And so I had to take another test to make sure I was clear before they would allow me to fly to the US. And so I took the test and it takes sort of up to 90 minutes to 2 hours to get the result and I was sort of waiting around for it and I thought, "I'm just going to queue," because there was a big long queue to check in and I thought, "I'll get the result while I'm queuing." So I did, and I got really near the check in before I actually got my result. And the whole time I was there I was thinking, "don't be negative, please... Don't be positive," sorry, "please don't be positive, let it be negative." And I was about three people away from checking in and all of a sudden I got my result and it was negative. [sneezes] Pardon me, hay fever this time of year for me. So that was great. It meant I got to fly. Some of the flights were a little bit delayed. There's lots of issues with airports at the moment, not having enough staff and so on and so forth. But eventually I got there, and we had a good week in Chicago. I was there sort of helping out with Marc who was doing an expo or a convention as we would call it, just helping him really. And then we went over to Texas where he lives and works, and I got the tour of his building and his new area as well. It's sort of nearly doubled in size since you were there last, and I got to see them sort of moving into that area. Plus I got to go and see lots of things. I got to eat lots of... Cor they eat a lot.
[00:05:45.660] - Taylor
They do.
[00:05:47.750] - Gordon
Deary me. I have a small portion normally and a small portion in the UK is just about right for me, but a small portion in America is like our extra large. So I came back and I was definitely a lot heavier than when I went, that's for sure. And Starbucks! Starbucks over there is such a big thing, big part of the culture.
[00:06:09.770] - Taylor
Unlike the UK, they don't really have any other chain restaurants or chain coffee shops should I say. Starbucks is very much the monopoly over there, whereas we have Starbucks, Costa, Pret, Café Nero, independent coffee shops.
[00:06:25.930] - Gordon
Independents yeah.
[00:06:27.470] - Taylor
It's a lot more common now, independent coffee shops. But because of the nature of America, everything is quick, everything is easy, everything is done for ease and convenience.
[00:06:45.150] - Gordon
And that's what I felt.
[00:06:46.240] - Taylor
Starbucks have kind of got that to a tee really.
[00:06:50.850] - Gordon
They have.
[00:06:51.370] - Taylor
So that's why.
[00:06:51.900] - Gordon
Because we did the drive through pretty much every time.
[00:06:56.250] - Taylor
Every day you mean.
[00:06:57.310] - Gordon
Well, every time. I was going to say it was sometimes twice a day. It was definitely once a day. I mean, if we didn't go to a Starbucks at least once in a day, then I don't remember it. Most of the time we went at least once, most of the time twice. Once in the morning, once in the late afternoon. And on one occasion, we went three times in a day.
[00:07:23.490] - Taylor
I remember...
[00:07:24.260] - Gordon
Just unbelievable.
[00:07:25.590] - Taylor
I remember in Vegas, I probably did four trips in a day, because they had a Starbucks inside of the Casino Hotel. The hotel, but the bottom floor with the casino. And yeah, I must have done four trips all throughout the entire day.
[00:07:45.120] - Gordon
Amazing. I mean, it's just part of the culture over there. It's not like anything that I know over here.
[00:07:51.620] - Taylor
A trip out or a hobby for Americans is very much going to Target going to Starbucks and sitting in car parks.
[00:08:01.230] - Gordon
Yeah, I'd agree with that.
[00:08:02.870] - Taylor
Everything's so far apart. Everything's a drive away. It's not walking down the street to go to the shop.
[00:08:11.850] - Gordon
And it's just very very different culture over there. I don't even drink coffee. I had to have 'pink drinks,' which they called a girly drink, but it's like pink lemonade, basically.
[00:08:26.730] - Taylor
Hot chocolate.
[00:08:27.980] - Gordon
Well they do hot chocolates, but it was so hot over there anyway. I mean, I was in Chicago, which was reasonably hot, and then Texas, which is really hot, and the last thing I really wanted was a hot drink. So I just went for a nice, cool, cold drink, which was lovely.
[00:08:41.870] - Taylor
The interesting thing I found in America is if you ask for a latte, most of the baristas, I don't know which one it is, will assume you mean an ice latte, an ice drink.
[00:08:58.150] - Gordon
Ha! Okay.
[00:08:58.150] - Taylor
And you have to specifically say, "can I have a hot latte?" Which I found because obviously I prefer hot drinks.
[00:09:06.870] - Gordon
And it's so specific. You can have your favourite drink and you can tell them what temperature you want it. If you went into a Costa here and said, "could I have a mochachocadooda, and it has to be at 123 degrees centigrade." I think they laugh at you.
[00:09:27.520] - Taylor
Three shots of syrup.
[00:09:29.130] - Gordon
Yeah.
[00:09:29.820] - Taylor
Two shots of espresso.
[00:09:30.870] - Gordon
Madness. It really is.
[00:09:33.130] - Gordon
So I did that. I went and saw The Blue Man Group in Chicago, which I know you've seen, in Vegas.
[00:09:39.020] - Taylor
It was very good.
[00:09:40.810] - Gordon
And I got to see a musical in, like a local amateur musical, in Texas. It was in I can't remember the name of the place, just next to Round Rock. Can't think of the name of it, but it was called "The Drowsy Chaperone," which was a musical I'd never heard of, but having spoken to some other musical friends, most of them have heard it, but hardly anyone's seen it. It seems to have been an American musical that came over here and lasted about two weeks and didn't play very well. And I also went to the cinema a couple of times, which is an experience which we experienced when we went to New York, didn't we?
[00:10:30.660] - Taylor
Yes. It's very interesting. Everything's, I think, is it butter?
[00:10:37.870] - Gordon
Butter popcorn.
[00:10:38.800] - Taylor
Butter popcorn is very big over there. You have like, whole meals you can order. You know hot dog with...
[00:10:47.100] - Gordon
And the seats are set up to allow you to put everything around you as well. And the seats that we were in, I don't know if this is common to all cinemas, but it was like a Lazy Boy, so you could bring your feet up and sit back and yeah, recliner yeah. So I saw "Jurassic World," which was very good. Saw that in Texas.
[00:11:06.760] - Taylor
I enjoyed that.
[00:11:06.760] - Gordon
And we saw...
[00:11:07.320] - Taylor
Woody's friend.
[00:11:12.080] - Gordon
Yeah, what's it called? What's he called? Lightyear. The film Lightyear. So the Buzz Lightyear origin... Backstory. The idea is it was the film that Andy went to see, which made him want to get the Buzz Lightyear toy. And it was great. We saw it the day before it came out. Don't ask me. It's something to do with the membership that Marc has at the cinema, but we got to see it. And it was great, it was really good fun. Huge foyer. And they had what I class as the Five Guys Coke machines, which is all the flavours you could ever imagine available to you, which I love. It's great because I always have cherry vanilla Coke, which is really nice.
[00:12:02.580] - Taylor
Yeah, soda is very very cheap over in America.
[00:12:06.210] - Gordon
It is. And I think that's partially the point, the reason why people are so big, because the cups are huge.
[00:12:13.380] - Taylor
You can get a "Big Gulp," which is a 711 drink, although pretty much every gas station in America has their own equivalent. And you can get 44 ounce drinks for a dollar.
[00:12:29.210] - Gordon
Madness.
[00:12:30.030] - Taylor
And if you put that into perspective, a can of Coke 330mls is about 12oz, and 44oz is like a litre and a half. So when we get those kind of like, share bottles that you pour it into a glass, they are just drinking as, like a normal, like McDonald's drink.
[00:12:50.500] - Gordon
And no sugar tax over there, which, to be fair, they might actually benefit from. But anyway. So that was my trip to America. I had a great time. I'm actually hoping to go back in November. We shall see if that all happens. One last thing, just before I hand over to you is this is the time of year, it's the end of July, and for those of us who are self-employed, this is tax paying time with self assessments. You pay your taxes at the end of January and then you pay a payment on account at the end of July. And so making sure that I pay that has been my task for the last few days. That's all done now.
[00:13:37.000] - Taylor
I always find it interesting because you essentially pay for next year's accounts.
[00:13:47.670] - Gordon
You do, but based on this year's accounts.
[00:13:50.630] - Taylor
Yeah, it's very bizarre.
[00:13:52.780] - Gordon
And also last year I did it before the end of July and it made a difference to the payments that I made, but it also got very confusing. So I've sort of left it a bit later this year. But I've also got all of my accounts ready, which I've now sent to the accountant, as of today, and she is then going to work through my self assessment so that we can submit it to the tax office and I can effectively know how much I need to pay in six months time, now. I mean it will be a few weeks, but it does mean that I can budget for it and I know what to expect both for the January and for the July payments of next year. And by knowing this information, I can make sure that I've got the money when I need it.
[00:14:44.620] - Taylor
I always think that it's a bit unfair, don't you think? Santa has to deliver all the presents all in one day and there's this poor tax man who's got to do everybody's self assessments and do all their taxes.
[00:14:58.540] - Gordon
Well, do you know, most people, and it used to be me as well, would leave their accounts to like December or January for submission by the 31st January.
[00:15:10.000] - Taylor
You're an accountant's worst nightmare.
[00:15:11.170] - Gordon
Accountant's nightmare, yeah. I mean, they hate it. So giving it to them in July, which I have, just, is great for them because it means that they can get it done and out of the way and it's less work to do when it comes round to Christmas and January. Or they can get a new client in and do their work. So it's good for accountants as well. I should be getting a discount, really, for making their life easier. Anyway, that's it from me. Hand over to you, Taylor. What are you going to talk about?
[00:15:43.490] - Taylor
I did actually have some news. I got some new glasses.
[00:15:47.640] - Gordon
Ah, you did. I can see them.
[00:15:49.640] - Taylor
They look very similar to my previous ones. They are kind of like a clear Perspex style. They're Timberland, so they're designer, I guess, and they have antiglare protection, which my previous classes had, but they also have reactive lenses. Now, this is a special type of lens that in the sun, or in bright light, will essentially turn into sunglasses. And they have different levels, so the amount of light will depend on how dark they go. And they're really useful. So it means that when I'm out and about and if it's light, even they say that even though it doesn't have to be sunny the UV levels can be bright enough to hurt your eyes, and so these will adapt and change.
[00:16:43.790] - Gordon
So they're protecting your eyes, as well as saving you from having to have more than one pair of glasses and losing a pair, or not having your sunglasses with you when you need them.
[00:16:54.260] - Taylor
Yeah. So the biggest issue I always had when I was on holiday was one, I didn't have prescription sunglasses at the time, but also when I did have prescription sunglasses when I got some, it was just a pain to have to carry two pairs of glasses. I either had to hardly see anything when I walked inside with sunglasses on, or I'd be blinded when I was outside. And it was always having to trade one or the other, because either way I went, I had to carry my other pair of glasses with me the entire time, which isn't useful when you're walking around in swim trunks. Or I would have to just take my glasses off, depending on where I was.
[00:17:40.620] - Gordon
And then not be able to see anything.
[00:17:42.530] - Taylor
Yeah, and it would obviously, after a period of time, it used to hurt my eyes. So, yeah, it really helps. Although I haven't really been able to use them in that scenario yet. It's really useful for driving and things where I would wear my sunglasses a lot, but keep having to switch. So, yeah, that's my bit of news. And I want to talk about something that is sometimes difficult to figure out or realize that you need it, and that is coaching. So I have been doing some coaching for both my personal and business and just all around general.
[00:18:26.060] - Gordon
Being coached as opposed to coaching other people.
[00:18:29.080] - Taylor
Yeah, exactly. And kind of finding how I can be more productive, how I can deal with my Crohn's and work around that in a better way, so that I can not only manage my Crohn's, but be able to manage my Crohn's around my business. So if I know that I'm going to probably feel ill, for example, the period near the end when I'm supposed to get my infusion, I can make sure that I'm not scheduling meetings or scheduling work that is going to cause me stress or not have enough energy to be able to do. And so it's being smart with my time and all around being more productive, but at the same time making sure I set boundaries with myself and having that work/life balance, which is always very difficult to do sometimes, and just in general, all round health.
[00:19:30.350] - Gordon
Always very difficult to do, sometimes.
[00:19:33.070] - Taylor
Yeah.
[00:19:34.690] - Gordon
I understand what you mean.
[00:19:35.750] - Taylor
Yeah. We all know that we need to take time off, but actually putting that into practice can be very tricky, that's the difference.
[00:19:44.570] - Gordon
Especially when you work for yourself.
[00:19:46.480] - Taylor
Yeah.
[00:19:46.950] - Gordon
You sort of end up working all sorts of times because you can.
[00:19:51.430] - Taylor
Yes.
[00:19:52.260] - Gordon
And also when you enjoy what you do you quite often end up working a lot longer hours than you would normally do if you were being employed by somebody.
[00:20:01.920] - Taylor
But it's also using my time wisely, because I want to enjoy my time and making sure that I'm growing as a business, growing as a person and also heading towards my goals. When I started my business, my goals have very much changed but also they've stayed the same. Some of the things that I've always wanted to do are still the same but then because of where I am in my life now, they have changed. I'm going to hopefully start looking at properties and moving away...
[00:20:40.870] - Gordon
About time.
[00:20:41.370] - Taylor
And things like that. And obviously my priorities have changed in terms of what I am spending my money on.
[00:20:49.250] - Gordon
Or saving.
[00:20:50.320] - Taylor
The type of decisions that I make. Just in general. It's not so much the money of what I'm buying, but at the same time it's what makes sense to take on for work for example. There may be projects that I would love to take on that I would love and really enjoy, but I may need to take on other projects or work because of the monetary value or things like that or something that's going to help my business grow, not just because of the money as well though.
[00:21:22.920] - Gordon
Okay.
[00:21:23.820] - Taylor
So there's lots of different things to think about and having someone there to kind of play devil's advocate really where they give you hypothetical situations and they challenge the things that you think you think you should be doing where in actual fact they go, "well have you tried this?" Or "have you thought about this?" And you think actually that's probably a better use of my time or that's something that I hadn't actually thought about. And it's really useful to have someone there outside who knows, like we all know there's things we shouldn't be doing and we still do. Lots of people know smoking's bad, but they still smoke. Lots of people know that they should save, but they just don't get around to doing it. There are lots of things we know we should be doing and lots of things we do that we know... There are other things and other ways around it, but actually putting it into practice and being dependable and being held accountable is something that's really important. And sometimes that push it's the same reason why people get personal trainers for fitness. It's very easy to say "oh, I'll skip today's session." Whereas if you've got a trainer, you're not only paying them money for them to train you, but you're also being held accountable.
[00:22:51.170] - Gordon
I had exactly the same thing when I was working with another self-employed business owner. I did it with Marc, gentleman in America for a long time. We used to have a day, a week we would work on each other's business. One week his, one week mine. And I did the same with Paul, my double act partner. And you're right, you may not feel like it some days, but you feel like you're going to let the other person down if you don't. And if you're working on their business, you feel obligated to help them in the best way possible. And by getting two different viewpoints, you can normally come up with a much better whole, as it were, the two halves making more than a whole.
[00:23:41.180] - Taylor
Yeah. Especially when sometimes you can be blinded by things because it's your own personal...
[00:23:48.370] - Gordon
Preconceptions.
[00:23:49.490] - Taylor
Yeah. Or, you know your business in and out, and this is the way you've always done something, but does it mean it's the only way? Does it mean it's the right way? Does it mean it's the best way? And I think realizing and having the awareness and self-awareness that you may need a coach, or someone to hold you accountable or push in the right direction I think is part of the biggest battle, I think, is realizing you need it and asking for help. People think...
[00:24:22.270] - Gordon
Normally is.
[00:24:23.030] - Taylor
Yeah. Some people think that asking for help is a sign of weakness, when it's not. The coach is there to make you a better person overall really, and that's only going to help you in health, both mentally, physically, your business and multiple other aspects. And yeah, I think it's something that sometimes people put their pride above asking for help. And I think if you are thinking, "how can I get out of this rut?" Or "how can I better improve myself?" Because we all sometimes see it, or sometimes we don't. That's the hardest part or scariest part is we're blind to the awareness of needing help. Or someone else, if you see that they might need help in whatever aspect, it could be business, it could be personal, health things, have a chat with them and they may be able to...
[00:25:25.290] - Gordon
I think getting help and offering help as well is probably one of the best things you can do. I do it all the time. Your coach, are they fully booked at the moment?
[00:25:43.150] - Taylor
I'm not sure.
[00:25:45.130] - Gordon
Would it make sense to tell our viewers who this is? Shall we check with the coach first?
[00:25:51.980] - Taylor
I'll update you next week.
[00:25:53.880] - Gordon
Good plan.
[00:25:54.983] - Taylor
If they are interested in...
[00:25:55.910] - Gordon
Because if they're already full, there's no point sending people his way or her way, but if they have capacity, then it's a good thing to help him grow his business by recommending him to our viewers.
[00:26:11.820] - Taylor
We will update you or we won't update you, depending on what their answer is.
[00:26:15.790] - Gordon
Okay. So this has been a slightly longer version or edition than normal.
[00:26:24.530] - Taylor
Extended episode.
[00:26:25.590] - Gordon
It is an extended episode.
[00:26:27.890] - Taylor
Catch up and...
[00:26:27.890] - Gordon
Yeah. Well, exactly. It's been six weeks or so since we had one, so having a few extra minutes, I don't think is a bad thing.
[00:26:34.360] - Taylor
Talking about accountability, we kind of try and keep ourselves accountable for this podcast.
[00:26:39.070] - Gordon
And that's why we do it.
[00:26:40.050] - Taylor
We both have... Sometimes I think we both sometimes don't want to do it, but like you say, there's the other person, you kind of don't want to let them down. And it's very much like running sometimes, or cycling. The hardest part is getting out there. Sometimes people don't want to get out there, but as soon as they're out there, they absolutely love it. And that's the biggest...
[00:27:05.280] - Gordon
It's that push, isn't it?
[00:27:06.100] - Taylor
Yeah, that's the hardest part sometimes. So, yeah, we have times where you may not be feeling it, but the other person's pumped up and they bring the energy with them. But sometimes it's not possible because of circumstances with locations or health and things like that, and you've got to be...
[00:27:22.770] - Gordon
Or work commitments.
[00:27:23.990] - Taylor
Yeah, exactly. So location. But you've got to be truthful and think, is this the right thing to do? It's not the end of the world if we don't do it, but it's nice to do it, to keep us accountable and keep track and be able to look back.
[00:27:39.690] - Gordon
And to let you, our viewers, know what's going on.
[00:27:42.670] - Taylor
Yeah.
[00:27:43.610] - Gordon
So is there anything you want to finish with? Any last words?
[00:27:47.410] - Taylor
I don't think so.
[00:27:48.560] - Gordon
Okay. So that is everything for today. Thank you so much for joining us. As always, we can be found on Facebook and on YouTube. Please like, share and subscribe. Share being the important bit there.
[00:28:01.400] - Taylor
You can also go to our website thisweekwith.co.uk to find all of our past episodes and other topics we've spoken about. We've got a wide variety.
[00:28:11.930] - Gordon
It's quite a good archive now.
[00:28:13.750] - Taylor
Yeah.
[00:28:14.870] - Gordon
And also, if you are on YouTube, click that little bell icon, because then you'll get notified every time we go live and it means that you won't have to sit there and wonder why we're not on this week, you'll just get a notification to tell you that we are on. So that makes life a lot easier for you.
[00:28:33.400] - Taylor
We both remembered our ending outro.
[00:28:35.880] - Gordon
Yeah, just about. It's funny how it just comes back to you even after sort of six weeks of not doing it. Right, we will see you next week at 1pm on Friday. Until then, my name is Gordon and I'm from Drayson Design.
[00:28:49.510] - Taylor
And I'm Taylor from The Creative Tinker.
[00:28:52.370] - Gordon
Goodbye.
[00:28:52.940] - Taylor
Bye.
