Before hiding a geocache, I recommend that you have at least a dozen or so finds as experience. Finding what others have hidden (such as the containers in the image above) really helps demonstrate what works and doesn’t work when it comes to hiding geocaches.

Once you’ve done this, you may want to consider hiding a cache of your own. The first step is to find a suitable location. Look for nearby parks or nature reserves with plenty of good places to hide a cache. Don’t just hide the cache on a verge or somewhere it could be found really easily by muggles.

For the purpose of this post, I’m assumign you wish to place a fairly traditional cache. These are a good start for beginners, however you may want to turn your hand to more innovative hides, such as constructed containers using the materials nearby, etc. I’ve placed caches using power point cases, carved wooden planks, hollow sticks, and the like.

My philosophy is that it either should be an interesting location (so in a beautiful part of nature, an area worth visiting for some reason; historical or otherwise, or a tourist landmark) or that the cache should be an interesting hide (so well camoflauged, or in a very tricky hiding spot). If you’re planning to throw a plastic container under a bush in an ugly industrial site, you’ll find that your cache won’t be well received.

Also be aware of the placement rules. It’s not a smart idea to place the cache on school grounds, outside a police station, or anywhere that it could be considered a security issue. I also suggest that you don’t place it right near a playground, as the hunting process, especially for lone males, will look very suspicious.

Next, put together the cache. Remember that you’ll need to maintain it, so choosing the cheapest container isn’t a smart move; cheap plastic containers tend not to be watertight, and therefore will soon need replacement. I tend to use Sistema containers, which are hardy well constructed plastic lunchbox style containers, with multiple locking latches, to help keep the cache watertight.

Next, consider camouflaging it. I have a few different spray paints which I use to paint the outside of the container. Using brown, green and black or beige in a random fashion helps make the container less likely to be spotted by non-players.

Whilst letting your painting job dry, start collecting the contents. I typically have a bag of cheap toys that I have bought at a local bargain outlet, and a few different sizes and styles of notebooks. Place a notebook and pencil in a snap lock bag, add a few swappable items, and you’re good to go!

Visit the location you wish to place the cache. Make sure that there are no other caches nearby – you wont get your cache listed if there is another cache less than 200 metres away, and it just doesn’t make sense to place yours that close, anyway.

Place the container, ensuring that it’s hidden well from accidental finds. Take note of the location, and record the co ordinates using your GPS. It’s wise to let the coordinates settle for at least a few minutes, and it’s advisable to actually take a few readings, so you can average them out.

Once you’re happy, return to your computer and from the Geocaching.com homepage, click the ‘Add a new Cache’. Make sure that you read the Guidelines before listing, and that you add plenty of information, including those important attributes.

Best of luck with your first hide!

The cat is out of the bag, so to speak. I’m stepping down from my role as National Chairperson of the Australian Web Industry Association, at this years AGM. Since this forum post appeared, a number of people have been emailing or calling me to ask the inevitable ‘What’s up?’ and I felt that it was worthy of some explanation.

I rose to this role way back in 2002, when I did a call out for people to catch up for a pint and a chat with industry peers. The idea was low key, and it wasn’t long until we became an Incorporated Association under the name Port 80 Inc in July 2004. We then changed names to reflect our national focus a few years later. We’ve had great committee members come and go during the last seven or so years, and it’s been a great journey.

However, I’ve always been the Chairperson. Over the last eight years, we’ve really grown up as an Association, and I feel the last real change has been obvious for some time now; a changing at the top.

The reason is that I embrace the notion that great organisations need regular new blood to surivive, prosper and grow. We’ve had great new committee members join in the last few years (well, ever since the start), but I’ve always been there. I don’t think it’s a bad thing to have consistency in management, but there must be a point that the Chairperson can change, and the underlying committee and structure becomes the constant.

I believe we’ve reached that point.

I’ll let my resignation email tell the story from here…

This hopefully won’t come as a surprise to anyone, however i’ve been thinking more frequently recently, that it is my time to move on from AWIA.

It’s been a very difficult decision, because since starting Port80 back in mid 2002, I’ve been involved in every decision and direction that AWIA has chosen. I’ve often felt that AWIA is one of my children, and I don’t want to stop being involved. I have, to a certain degree, felt resistant to leaving because I worry about the message that sends to our members.

On the other hand, I strongly believe that it’s important for any association to be seen to have fresh blood, and to reinvigorate the management committee frequently. It provides innovation, career paths (can you call this a career? :)) to fellow committee members and encourages fresh thinking. Over the last year, I have had less involvement from meeting to meeting, and it has been great that others have taken these duties and run with them.

My life has been very full the last 12 months. I feel that I’m not giving the Association the attention it deserves, and therefore not living up to the high expectations I personally have for somebody in the role of Chairperson for AWIA. A plethora of changes have occurred for me both professionally and personally, which has meant the time I have to devote to AWIA activities has become increasingly smaller for some time now. As a result, I’ve felt frustrated and guilty, in equal measures.

This is a long winded way of saying that after careful consideration, I wish to notify the committee that I will not be standing for re-election at the end of my current tenure, the August AGM. I would be open to being co-opted for a position such as ‘Immediate Past Chairperson’, which many Associations have as a way of reducing information loss, however I will not be standing as Chairperson. This has possibly been the hardest decision I’ve had to make in a long time.

I strongly believe that AWIA is in great hands, and the current committee have done a great job since the last AGM. Many of you have been on the committee for far longer, and a HUGE thanks for that. I wish to thank you all for showing through your actions your willingness to help foster a great web industry and strong member community. AWIA has an exciting time ahead of it, however not without some challenges, and I look forward to seeing where it heads in the future.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all of the committee members, both past and present, for giving their time up for such a cause. I’d also like to thank all Australian Web Industry Association members, for supporting the work that we’ve done, and will continue to do.

It’s been a great journey.

So, you’ve read my previous posts about Geocaching, and you’re up with all the lingo and how to read the Geocache listing page, and ready to try your first cache. Let’s walk you through finding that elusive first find.

Start by reading everything you can before you leave the house. Read the attributes, ratings, description and possibly the hint (if your confidence is low). I’m going to assume you’re attempting a Traditional cache with a fairly low difficulty and terrain rating.

As a result, you won’t need to take much with you, besides perhaps a print out of the cache listing or your smartphone, which you can use for ‘paperless caching’. It’s also a good idea to take a pencil or two (bring a spare to place in the cache, if the one provided is missing), a few cheap trinkets to swap (especially important if you’re taking children) and it’s probably worth taking a drink bottle.

Arrive near the listed coordinates, and find somewhere nearby to park. Now, head on over to the rough location. Take a look around, and see if there are any people nearby – part of the geocaching game is to not be caught, so you need to be ready to abort the hunt if there are people nearby. Fire up your geocaching app, or your GPSr if you have one, and wait a few moments for the coordinates to settle.

Then, walk in to where the device leads you (if you’ve got the excellent Geocaching application for the iPhone, it features a handy compass and map). Once there, remind yourself of any clues to where the cache could be hidden. Perhaps the clue is ‘down low’ or ‘in the abvious place’. For many caches, the obvious place to start looking is at the base of a tree or underneath a bush.

Be careful! There may be broken glass, spiders, snakes or other refuse to keep an eye out for – you may want to resort to using a stick or heavy duty gloves to hunt. Look for anything that could be out of place; an unusual pile of twigs or leaves, or a stack of stones are a good giveaway.

Be careful with the environment though – the purpose of Geocaching is to enjoy nature, not destroy it. Trampling over plants and throwing rocks and sticks every which way isn’t taking care of the environment.

Another good hint is to consider where you would hide something. That’s helped me find a number of elusive hides before. Could it be up in a tree, underneath some rocks, or hidden inside a log?

If you don’t immediately find it, start to widen your search area – some devices (especially the iPhone) could be out by a few metres at least.

Assuming you find it (and face it; many first hunters don’t, so please don’t despair), pull the container out a distance, open it carefully, and pull out the logbook (typically an exercise book or notepad). Find the first blank page, and sign the log – something along the lines of date, your caching username, and a comment or feedback, such as ‘Thanks for the great cache – love the location!’.

Now, if you have kids, they’ll want to look through the trinkets and perhaps swap something. The key here is to swap to approximately equal value. Don’t go putting in a 10 cent coin in exchange for a watch, for example. It’s also worth noting you shouldn’t place food items or any perishables in, either, as this could go off, and attract wildlife.

If the log book or pencil needs replacing, feel free to do this – leave the original log book in there though. Experienced cachers often bring spare pencils, plastic ziplock bags, etc for this very purpose. It’s a nice way to help the community and the cache owner.

Once you’ve gotten over the excitement of the find, replace the container exactly where it was. Hide it well (so take note how it was originally hidden) and head back home. Once back at your computer, revisit the listing page, and click the ‘Log this cache’ link. Even if you didn’t find it, this is a step to take regardless. Choose the appropriate choice ‘Found it, or Did not Find’, choose the correct date, and then leave your comment or feedback.

Hit save, and that’s it! You’ve found your first cache. Now, there’s plenty more to find in the future – many of us have thousands of caches available within a few hours drive!

Best of luck finding that first find!

You’ve read my last two posts, What is Geocaching? and Getting started with Geocaching, and now you’re ready to learn some of the terms used by geocaching participants.

You certainly don’t need to be proficient at these in order to start geocaching, but it certainly helps if you have an idea what is being said or written in logs.

Here are some of the more popular phrases found in Geocaching.

Cache
The actual container that you’re looking for. These can be anything from Mont Tins, to fake rocks, to Ammo cans, plastic containers or other watertight items.

Cacher
Someone who hunts geocaches.

Camo
Short for camouflage, a popular method of helping to hide those caches.

DNF
Acronym for ‘Did not find’. It’s worth logging your DNF’s, as it helps the owners understand if there are potential issues with a cache of theirs.

FTF
Acronym for ‘First to find’. As your geocaching developers, you’ll start wanting further challenges, by being one of the first to find a new cache. This adds an element of speed to the game.

GC
An acronym for ‘Geocoin’. These are specially made coins that feature a unique code that can be logged on the website, and moved form cache to cache. They are not designed to be kept, but rather moved to another cache.

GZ
Acronym for ‘Ground Zero’. The GZ is the listed final coordinates for a cache.

Muggle
A term used to describe non-players of geocaching, ie: the general public. Muggles are a blight on the game of geocaching, as they’ll unexpectadly pop up when you’re hunting for a cache.

Q&E
Short for ‘Quick and Easy’. This often appears in logs, if you find the cache within a few minutes of looking.

SL
Acronym for ‘Signed Log’. This is often used in the phrase TNLNSL (see below for TNLN).

STF or 2TF
Acronym for ‘Second to Find’ – see FTF above, you’ve won Silver, not Gold.

TB
Short for Travelbug. These are other not-to-be-kept trackable items, similar to Geocoins, and can be tracked on the Geocaching website.

TFTC, TFTH or T4TH
A short way of saying ‘Thanks for the Cache’ or ‘Thanks for the Hunt’. This is a nice way of thanking the cache owner for placing the cache you’ve just found.

TNLN
This is short for ‘Took Nothing, Left Nothing’. This means the finder literally only signed the log, and didn’t swap any of the contents of the cache.

TTF or 3TF
This means ‘Third to Find’. A bronze place in the art of chasing down new caches. See FTF or STF above.

Waypoint
These are recorded coordinates, possibly in a multi-cache or used to show good places for parking, etc.

It may all seem like secret code, and in a way, I guess it is; Geocaching is a secret handshake kind of hobby, and these terms make it easy to write quick logs or have codewords for the general public, etc.

Now that you’ve become familiar with some of the terms used in Geocaching, I’ll next post about ‘Finding that first cache’.

I recently had the opportunity to interview Mike Brown, co-organizer of the well-renowned Webstock, New Zealand’s largest web conference. With only a few weeks to go before Webstock 2009, Mike took a few moments out of his busy schedule to reply to my questions.

Rumor has it you were a web developer before becoming an event organizer. How did you end up running events instead of cutting code?

The programmers I used to work with would laugh at the idea of me “cutting code,” but yes, I worked for around eight years doing HTML/CSS. Then I moved into information architecture and user experience. All of which I enjoyed a lot.

I was on the Web Standards Group mailing list and made the mistake of posting a few times there. Someone emailed me and suggested I think about setting up a Web Standards Group in Wellington. This was in 2004 and the idea was to have city-based meetings discussing web standards topics of the day. So I emailed everyone in Wellington that I knew and for our first meeting in early 2005, had around 75 people attending.

It grew from there as it became clear we were satisfying a need for people in the industry to meet, learn, network, and share.

The main impetus for Webstock is that we’re all total fanboys and fangirls at heart, and the only way we’d be able to meet people we really admired in the industry was to invite them ourselves! I blogged about the journey to Webstock in more detail on the Webstock blog.

There are obviously challenges to face when changing careers in such a big way—from building web sites to running conferences. What’s been the highlight of this change for you, personally?

Well, in a sense my life has been a series of career changes, often to the chagrin of my wife! I guess the highlight of this particular change is being able to do what I’m truly passionate about. Previously I was doing this outside of my work, so the chance to make my passion my work really feels like a privilege I’ve been handed.

It’s also a chance to work closely with Tash Hall, my main Webstock partner-in-crime who is one of the most inspiring people I know.

Finally, and more personally, it’s given me the chance to be a lot more flexible with my hours and consequently spend more quality time with my wife and kids. The week I quit my previous job I walked my kids to school for the first time ever — there was no longer a need to be at my desk by a certain time!

Lucky guy! If you could give one piece of advice for a web designer or developer who is considering selling products instead of services, what would it be?

I’m sure there are others better equipped at giving advice here! It seems to me, though, that a lot of success in this area almost comes about by accident. People build a product to solve a problem that’s bugging them (to scratch their own itch, so to speak); it’s only as they’re building it, or after it’s finished, that they think about selling it.

So I guess the advice is: concentrate on building a dynamite product. Solve real problems that you come across. Build it for yourself first. Then worry about selling it.

My area of expertise does lie elsewhere though, so follow any advice at your own risk.

As for web developers trying to break into the speaking circuit, what do you look for in a conference speaker?

Well, there are a couple of points here. Webstock probably is more for experienced speakers, rather than those trying to break into the speaking circuit. So I’ll talk first about what we look for at Webstock. Then I’ll offer some thoughts on how to become a (good) speaker.

For Webstock, first and foremost, they need to be a good, entertaining speaker. This example is a bit extreme to make a point, but in general I think it’s true that an entertaining speaker with shallow content trumps a boring speaker with great content. People are paying money to attend a conference; the presentations they see are a performance that should engage them.

The speakers we look for also need to know their stuff. We want attendees at Webstock to be inspired and pushed and challenged. And we want them to learn from people who are among the best in their fields. So we need speakers that have the knowledge to do that.

Also, and this is much more intangible, we want speakers that we’ll personally like as people. One of the bonuses for us is working with the speakers and hanging out with them a little, and it’s much nicer when we can feel a connection with them.

For someone trying to break into the speaking circuit, I’d offer three pieces of advice.

• Speak as much as you can; present at work to small groups for short periods. You’ll suck at times, you’ll be nervous, but you’ll get better. Knowing how to present to audiences is a skill you can learn.
• Work at being better. Study other speakers at conferences you go to and by watching the TED talks, and learn from how they present. Read Garr Reynolds’ blog, Presentation Zen.
• Respect your audience. It’s a privilege to be able to speak to a group of peers. They’re giving up their time to watch you. Put in the research time needed. Spend time crafting your slides. Rehearse your presentation. It will take longer than you think it should to prepare, but it’s worth it and it’s the minimum you should do.

Great tips, thanks. So, what are you most looking forward to during Webstock ‘09?

As an organizer I most look forward to feeling that buzz a successful conference has; when you walk around and people are animated and smiling and blown away by what they’ve just heard. If we can create that atmosphere at Webstock, I’ll be very happy.

As an attendee it’s really hard for me to single out the speakers I’m most looking forward to seeing. I think Jasmina Tesanovic will be fascinating.

I’m really looking forward to Annalee Newitz and Matt Jones. Damian Conway is perhaps the most entertaining speaker I’ve seen. But if I had to pick one speaker I’m most looking forward to — Bruce Sterling. Speaking in Wellington. At Webstock. OMG!

Thanks for your time, Mike, and I look forward to attending Webstock and visiting New Zealand for the first time, later this month. I hope to catch up with any Tribune readers while I’m there too — trust I’ll see you there!

This post first appeared as part of Issue 432 of the SitePoint Tribune, a very popular email newsletter that I am co-editor of. Thanks to SitePoint for allowing me to reproduce the work here.

If you haven’t yet, I encourage you to read my ‘What is Geocaching’ blog post, which will help this post make sense.

So, I’ve piqued your interest, and now you are keen to get started in geocaching. The first item you’ll need is a GPS capable device. Although I’ve heard of some people who literally just use the satellite overlay on Google Maps to try and pinpoint the location before going out to find a cache, having a device that lets you know where you are in coordinates terms is far easier in my opinion.

For me, I’d heard of Geocaching before, however I wasn’t ready to go and splurge a few hundred dollars on a dedicated GPS receiver to try the game. I was lucky to find that there are dedicated applications available from the App Store for my Apple iPhone. I still don’t actually own a GPSr, and rely on my iPhone for geocaching. I’ve found over 350 caches this way, so I am testament to the fact this works.

The official Geocaching app from Groundspeak is an excellent app for the iPhone, and there are plenty of other apps available for other mobile devices as well. Search the web or look in the Geocaching forums to find one suitable for your device.

The next item you’ll need is an account on geocaching.com. It’s really simple to get going; create a free account by visiting this page. There are premium accounts as well, which give you extra features, however for a beginner, the free account is more than ample for your requirements.

Using the geocaching website, you can enter your home coordinates in your account details. This is really important, as it will allow the site to show you all the caches near your home. If you’re worried about privacy, you’ll be happy to know these details aren’t shared, but you can always do what I do, which is choose a landmark near my home as the coordinates I use.

Once all set up, you can search for nearby geocaches. You’ll likely be amazed at how close one is, and how many there are. For example, there are more than a dozen within a few kilometres of my home, and over 500 in the Perth metropolitan area alone.

You’ll find when you do look at a Geocaching listing, that there are some important elements to the listing. Firstly, look at the terrain and difficulty ratings. The terrain rating will give you an insight into what sort of environment the cache is hidden in (one star is nice flat and easy to navigate land, where five stars is likely to be somewhere normally quite inaccessible)

The difficulty rating will show you what the cache hider thinks will be the rating of difficulty finding the cache, with one star being really easy to find, and five stars means it may take hours to find the elusive container.

The next important item on the listing is the type of cache. Visiting this page will give you a better insight into what each type means, however I recommend that for your first few finds, you stick to ‘Traditional’ caches, which are the typical ‘hidden container’ variety.

Another often useful item is the Attributes. These are predefined terms that the placer of the cache can use to better explain the cache and its environment. Attributes include;

• Recommended for kids
• Takes less than an hour
• Wheelchair accessible
• Stroller accessible
• Dangerous area
• Snakes

Then, let’s take a look at the cache description. These are written descriptions provided by the hider of the cache to help explain the purpose of the cache, any meanings associated with the cache, and potentially a few hints to narrow the search.

Another great element of a cache listing is that some feature ‘Hints’, however these are encoded by using a simple code, to avoid people accidently reading them. The fun of finding a cache can often be reduced if you read ‘Under the gum tree, near the fence’. Hints are optional items to add when hiding a cache, so not all of them feature this.

To decrypt a hint, simply click on the ‘Decrypt’ link on the cache listing page. This will then display the hint, or use the decryption key also shown on the listing page to manually decrypt the hint.

All geocaching listing services link to a map. Geocaching.com for example, links to Google maps. By clicking on the map, you can zoom in/out, and it shows the hiding spot (called a ‘GZ’) overlaid using an icon. You can turn ‘Satellite view’ on, to see the actual terrain and nearby landmarks.

A good tip is to also read some of the recent logs. When you find a cache, you record that achievement on the website, so it adds to your ‘finders score’ and allows you to leave some feedback. In the next post, I’ll explain some of the terms used in writing logs, or speaking to fellow geocaching enthusiasts – it may seem like a secret handshake society without some insight!

If you’ve ever read the biographies of famous contemporary entrepreneurs, you’ll learn stories of how they started a roadside lemonade stand when they were 15, or sold baseball cards to schoolyard friends at the age of 14.

When I was 14, I worked at a fast-food outlet, and spent my money on comics and going to the movies with friends.

I recently had an opportunity to talk to Lachy Groom, a young entrepreneur from Australia; after a lengthy email conversation, I found out he was only 14 years old! The opportunity to find out what goes on in the mind of a very young entrepreneur was irresistible.

Lachy currently runs two businesses: book review web site, Uncoverr.com (disclaimer: SitePoint currently advertise on this site) and blog XHTML/CSS service, PSDtoWordPress.com. Lachy calls himself a web developer who started off as an XHTML/CSS coder three or four years ago.

What is the startup story behind your business? When did it start?

I started when I was 10 or 11, I think. My granddad taught me HTML and I became quite good; I learned about CSS on W3Schools and then I wanted to find out how to make my site live. I found out about free hosts and learned from there.

I started off taking client work and converting PSDs to XHTML/CSS. I made quite a bit of money and so started other sites, sold them, and moved on. Now my two main projects are Uncoverr.com which SitePoint has been nice enough to sponsor, and PSDtoWordPress.com.

Your parents — how do they feel about having a 14-year-old entrepreneur in the house?

Heh, they’re fine about it. It was a bit of trouble convincing them to let me use their PayPal account at first, but then my mum registered one in her name that I can use myself. They leave me to it; I guess to them it’s just like me having a part-time job.

With school and social life, you must be busy. What does an average day (during school term) consist of?

I’ll wake up at 7.00 a.m. and leave for school by 8.00 a.m. After school I usually play sport for a couple of hours, and then relax until dinner time.

Then, once I’ve had dinner, I’ll usually do two hours of work, as well as chat to my friends over Instant Message and on Facebook.

What’s your definition of success, and do you believe you’ve achieved it yet?

To be honest I’ve yet to really think about it. I think success is a very subjective term; to me it’s just completing my goals, and accomplishing what I wanted to finish in that day. If you complete your to-do list for that day plus a little more, it was a successful day ;). Some days I’m successful, some days otherwise. I feel though, in an overall sense, that success is just about being happy with where you are at in life. So, I think I’m yet to be successful, but will be in 4-10 years :).

What do you imagine you’ll be doing when you turn 18 years old?

I hope I’ll be running a startup or a design firm somewhere in Miami or Chicago. I’m currently in Western Australia but I have aspirations to move to the US. I hope to stay in the web industry running a company. Otherwise I’ll probably be a lawyer or an engineer.

What advice would you give to other teenage entrepreneurs?

NETWORK! I think the word teenage is irrelevant, and that advice is the same for any entrepreneur. I like the saying, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” I think that’s really true. But if I was to give advice straight to teens, it would be to have a good work/life balance. Make sure you enjoy yourself, that’s all that matters.

Thanks Lachy for your answers, and I look forward to watching your success in the coming years ahead.

This post first appeared as part of Issue 430 of the SitePoint Tribune, a very popular email newsletter that I am co-editor of. Thanks to SitePoint for allowing me to reproduce the work here.

You no doubt know what GPS is; that invisible grid of latitude and longitude brought to handheld devices using a global space-based network of satellites. It’s really handy for hikers and adventurers, and used as a modern navigation device by both sea and land based vehicles.

With the popular advent of the GPS network, Geocaching was born in May 2000, in Beavercreek, Oregon.

So what is Geocaching? Often called a ‘High tech game of hide and seek’ or a ‘Global treasure hunt’, Geocaching is a mixture of orienteering and good old fashioned treasure hunting, using a handheld GPS receiver.

One saying used is ‘A game where you use equipment which costs hundreds of dollars, to find useless plastic containers in the bush’. That’s actually quite a good summary, however it sure doesn’t tend to endear people to the game.

In a nutshell, players (often referred to as ‘cachers’) either hide a container or go out to seek other hidden containers, using the GPS coordinates provided on websites such as geocaching.com or the Australian based non-commercial version, geocaching.com.au.

Cache containers (such as the ones in the image above) can be anything from a tiny ‘nano’ cache only a centimeter or two in size, through to a large 44 gallon drum, etc. They are hidden in places such as under structures, in leaves at the base of a tree, or camouflaged to blend with the environment, such as pretend bolts, magnetic signs, fake rocks, etc.

Some caches involve simply finding the container, where others may have puzzles to solve, or multiple waypoints to find first. When you find a cache, you can swap items (normally cheap junk food meal toys), move trackable items (geocoins and trackables) and most importantly, sign the log with the date, your caching name and possibly a few comments.

Anyone can hide or find a geocache, provided they have the right equipment, such as a GPS receiver (known as a GPSr) or GPS capable mobile phone, and an account on a geocaching site as mentioned.

So, why would you geocache? That’s the hard one to explain to someone who hasn’t tried. For me, I find that it’s a great mix of geeky hobby, mixed with exercise, with bush walking and orienteering style tracking. I find that my kids really enjoy it, and gives us a purpose to go for a hours walk in the great outdoors.

Some people try it once and decide it’s not for them, which is obviously fine, however I found the more I tried it in the beginning, the more I started to enjoy it. We’ve found over 350 caches in the last 18 months, and have hidden more than 40 of our own – you could say it’s become quite an addiction.

Over the next few blog posts, I plan to try and demystify the game, and give you an insight into how to start geocaching, explain the terms that are used, explain some of the popular geocaching containers, and help you find your first cache.

I hope that you give it a go, and I welcome comments on what you thought, below. Good luck!

In December 2007, I penned an article for SitePoint, 10 New Year Resolutions to Boost Your Business. You can read the article for all the details, as well as download a handy wall planner to stick near your desk. You’ll find that it’s still as relevant today as it was when I wrote it.

The ten resolutions, in short, are:

1. start setting goals
2. ask a client for a referral
3. focus on profit, rather than turnover
4. learn something new about business
5. take time for yourself
6. create products that generate income
7. delegate effectively
8. focus on client service
9. take time to wander the Web
10. build rock-solid procedures

Read the article for the full details on each of these resolutions. The start of the calendar year is perfect for us to look at implementing the first one: goal setting.

Setting goals helps filter all of the thousands of thoughts and ideas you have into a list that’s far more manageable. High achievers in every field from sports to business consistently suggest that goal-setting is an invaluable part of the process. Goals can help you define your objectives and understand what’s important to you, motivate you towards achievement, and build your self-confidence.

So what is a great goal?

Many people use the acronym SMART when creating goals, as well as for other project management methods. SMART stands for:

Specific
Ask yourself if the description of the goal is precise? A plausible goal is very specific and easy to understand. Goals such as “increase amount of clients” or “make more profit” are too vague. Instead, use specific language, such as “add three new clients to portfolio before end of March” or “increase average profit on all jobs by 5% before middle of the year.”

Measurable
Does the goal explain how you’ll measure results? A solid goal has a measurable outcome, so that you’re able to determine if you’ve achieved it, and it helps you stay on track. Hence why I used very specific terms, like 5% profit increase or three new clients. This helps spur you on towards your goal, assuming the goal is attainable.

Attainable
Is the goal possible to achieve, with some effort? If you set far-reaching goals, you may be unable to commit to realizing them; for example, “increase turnover by 1000% within three months” is probably way beyond your current means. However, the goal should require some effort; for instance, “wake up each day before lunchtime” is easily achievable for most people, and so is unworthy goal-wise.

A proper goal should stretch you slightly so that you need to be committed, yet should also feel attainable. “Increase client base by at least two per month for next six months” is a goal you’d possibly need to work hard to reach, but is still feasible.

Realistic
Ask yourself: do you have the power to control the results? You need to feel that you can reach your goals, and that you have an influence on them. Having a goal like “co-workers to be nicer to clients” is, fundamentally, out of your control, even if you are the boss. A better goal would be “run monthly workshops for employees that focus on client service.”

Timely
A concrete goal has a deadline. It may be as limited as the end of next week, or as long as the end of 2009. Deadlines help you manage your time towards achieving goals. Without a deadline, the goal will appear to be unimportant and never happen. Set a realistic deadline, with a suitable time frame.

It’s a good idea to limit yourself to just a handful of short-term and medium-term goals. Writing an exhaustive list of everything you would like to complete before you leave this earth is a sure way to de-motivate yourself.

Set some goals today, and look forward to a more productive year ahead!

This post first appeared as part of Issue 428 of the SitePoint Tribune, a very popular email newsletter that I am co-editor of. Thanks to SitePoint for allowing me to reproduce the work here.

There’s been much talk about strategies for businesses to survive the uncertain economic climate. The media every day are reporting massive layoffs and industries in turmoil. In these times, it’ll be all too easy for most businesses to feel the effects of the crisis, so what can we do?

One of the major scenarios we’re already seeing in some industries is the domino effect of a large company hitting the wall; this in turn affects their suppliers, who then suffer, affecting their suppliers, and so on down the food chain.

What is immediately obvious here is that there are two actions we need to take. I also note that these should be part of standard business practice, not just for uncertain times.

The first one is control costs. Most organizations can identify a few areas where some small cost savings could add up to a sizable percentage of their bottom line. Look for savings in bank fees, transport costs, telephone and bandwidth, office supplies, and the like.

Secondly, manage cash flow.

If your clients hit hard times midway through a project, you could be left wearing the debt. Make a habit of invoicing smaller amounts more frequently, based on project milestones or calendar months. Keep on top of recalcitrant debtors — if you start chasing them the day after the bill is due, it trains your clients to know that you mean business.

Chasing your debtors consistently means you’ll have their payment sooner, and it’ll be less likely they’ll become a bad debtor.

This post first appeared as part of Issue 428 of the SitePoint Tribune, a very popular email newsletter that I am co-editor of. Thanks to SitePoint for allowing me to reproduce the work here.