Amelia Cook

[Amelia Cook @englishactually]

Trying to decide whether to become a sole trader or limited company, which comes out as "Would you rather pay for an accountant or tax?"

[Amelia Cook @englishactually]

meeting with the graphic design company went really well - the designer has even learned some Japanese himself! First logo drafts soon...

[Amelia Cook @englishactually]

Went to the Business Startup Show in London, learned a LOT and made contact with a graphic design company I'm meeting again on Monday.

[Amelia Cook @englishactually]

Rewriting my draft of the content for the website. I talk too much, need to strip it right down.

[Amelia Cook @englishactually]

Problem completely fixed, AND a friend has offered to sort my website out if I draw him a picture of what I want it to look like, hurray!

[Amelia Cook @englishactually]

Problem fixed! Now to get back on track... after getting some sleep.

[Amelia Cook @englishactually]

Waiting for an email to fix things...

[Amelia Cook @englishactually]

@dotnetprogramer Badly, but not for a fee I'm afraid! : ) Thanks for the thought though.

[Amelia Cook @englishactually]

In the process of fixing it. Lesson learned: don't assume anything! Ever!

[Amelia Cook @englishactually]

Just kicked in the teeth for committing to a process I didn't understand clearly enough. This is probably not the last time this'll happen.

[Amelia Cook @englishactually]

I've given myself until the end of the week to put the website together. It's daunting, but so was doing market research and finding a name!

[Amelia Cook @englishactually]

However, learning everything you need to make a vaguely appealing website is somewhat overwhelming... hence starting a Twitter account now.

[Amelia Cook @englishactually]

Now I have the name I need to put together a simple website. Nothing fancy at the moment, my aims are clear, functional and not off-putting.

[Amelia Cook @englishactually]

I want to create an English service that focuses on practical skills, such as pronunciation, relevant vocabulary and cultural interest.

[Amelia Cook @englishactually]

More importantly, it is short, simple, doesn't have a different American spelling, and is directly related to the nature of the business.

[Amelia Cook @englishactually]

Love, Actually is a fairly recent British film, and was popular enough in Japan that some people at least will make the connection.

[Amelia Cook @englishactually]

I woke up at about 2am, looked around online a bit more, then it hit me. I don't remember how or why, but "English, Actually." was perfect.

[Amelia Cook @englishactually]

I spent a full day looking for a name on thesaurus.com, Google and various blogs until I fell asleep, exhausted.

[Amelia Cook @englishactually]

To earn money online I need YouTube, Skype and email accounts, and, most importantly, a website. But for all these I needed a name.

[Amelia Cook @englishactually]

We agreed that I would write a business plan within a month, but it was not my top priority. That was to earn some money online asap.