Moved to: WoodyHayday.com
Woody Hayday

Fresh Ideas

Hi there! This is my old blog, I don't hang around here much.
You can now find me trying to mix things up here:
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Projects 2026

2026 is already 25% through! Here’s what I’ve been working on so far:

  • ScrubFix (my land clearance company in Pembrokeshire) has been challenging for the first 6 months. Lots of people want their land cleared, but the remote control mower/mulcher I bought has had a number of issues which has slowed me down. I’m hoping to get on top of these Q2.
  • Strew (my home ed tracker app) has been growing well and I’m now spending more time working on it:
    • Soon to be featured in a really BIG home ed podcast
    • I made a site where you can see the ‘most read home ed kids books’ (kidsbooksranked.com) – which has been received well. I look forward to seeing the data get more statistically accurate as more and more home ed parents log books their kids are reading with the Strew barcode scanner for kids books.
  • I’m also working on a few other businesses in the lab – more on that soon!
Read the rest : Projects 2026 »
Posted in Projects

Projects 2025

As I did last year, I’m going to share some of the projects I make in 2025 here.

My real blog is now always at woodyhayday.com, but I see that some people are still hitting this old site so I thought it might be useful to share some bits here.

  • ProfitSwarm.ai – my challenge to make a 100% AI ran business in 2025 kicked off at the tail end of January. This new newsletter/challenge will let me play with bleeding edge AI tools and see if I can’t use my years of business practice to build an AI swarm which operates autonomously, generating profit.
    • AI Business Ideas list – As I grew ProfitSwarm I realised it’d help to collect together AI business ideas, so I gathered up my favourite 50 ideas and shared them here.
    • AI Tool reviews – I’m reviewing all the key business automation workflow tools out there – get the latest no-bs reviews. Gumloop AI is my favourite so far.
    • Entrepreneurs AI Automations Guide – I’ve written a free blueprint for entrepreneurs who want to learn the basics of AI and AI business automation in 2025.
    • AI Automation Worksheet & Video Guide – This is the fuller guide for those entrepreneurs ready to commit to automating their business tasks, (we’re all going to have to learn these skills now)
    • AI Glossary of terms – This is a useful primer for those just starting out learning AI automations.
  • Strew.app – I am making this Home Education App with my sister. We’re working to help home ed parents more easily log activities that their children do which progress their learning. There aren’t a lot of homeschooling apps, so I’m doing my best engineering to make it the best!
  • AI Quiz Wizard for WordPress – I made this in a hackathon so that I could make genuinely useful quizzes for my various projects. I’ve made my first quiz on woodyhayday.com which is a free ‘Find my Ikigai quiz‘. I also added a How to Make Money with ChatGPT quiz and other AI Quizzes on Profit Swarm. I expect to add quizzes to all my other projects so watch this space!
  • Vibe Coding Apps directory – As we move away from software engineering and towards vibe coding, I thought it’d be fun to make a little directory of the different vibe coding options.

I’d also like to shout out to my friend who’s launched a fantastic art studio in Welwyn Garden City, specialising in art classes and vintage ceramics. He and his partner have always had a superb eye for design aesthetics and it really shows on their studio site. I look forward to visiting them.

Read the rest : Projects 2025 »
Posted in Business, Life

Projects 2024

This blog has been gathering dust for almost a decade 😅

I thought I’d drop one refresher post here detailing my recent projects just so the few of you who end up here have another launch pad to rocket of!

This year I’ve been pursuing the idea of my Ikigai, trying to get closer to the best work I can do. I’m fairly sure at this point that it involves supporting fledgling entrepreneurs who are just about to, or already have made the leap. I’ve found myself mentoring new entrepreneurs naturally in the past, and have made several businesses helping them with products. Now I’m trying to hammer down even further and really work out what good I can do.

Here’s this years projects so far:

Niche Report.io

A Niche Report is going to be the first step for a new entrepreneur, (or a seasoned one entering a new niche). This new service takes 4 weeks worth of work doing market research, and rips through the process with AI, bots, data crunching and multi-exit oversight (me). In the end you get a market research report on your niche within 24 hours; and it’s got all the key signals you need to inform how you should proceed into the niche, or even if you should.

Project Pages

Project Pages is a WordPress portfolio maker, in essence. It’s a plugin I made 8y ago or so, but I’ve rebooted it. It’s focus is on helping makers, creators, and generally capable people document their creator journeys and try to connect-the-dots of their work. This runs parallel to my overall search for my own ikigai, and you can see I’ve updated my own personal project pages recently.

CoupleFlow.app

CoupleFlow is an AI Insights tool for relationship communication. It sits with you in your couples DMs on Telegram and gives you weekly check-ins which help you grow as a couple. CoupleFlow uses tuned AI which is trained on the latest relationship science to observe for the characteristics of a healthy relationship, and steer you towards it. It might help with a range of communication problems with relationships or marriages. (I will keep improving it with feedback over at CoupleFlow.app.)

I also added a Telegram Chat Analyser which gives users chat stats on their Telegram chats.

A small side project: CRM List.io – compares various CRM apps so you can find the one which fits your business.

As ever, you’ll get up to date stuff on my main website (this is an old blog which only gets an update a decade 😀 ): woodyhayday.com/blog

Here’s to all the makers and entrepreneurs! Long may we make things.

Woody

14th Oct 2024

P.S. I’d also like to mention my friend Mike Stott has started a great new blog on Content that Converts, which is also valuable to new entrepreneurs, check it out!

Read the rest : Projects 2024 »
Posted in Business Intelligence, Looking Forward, PHP, Projects, Technology, Web Development, Wordpress

2014 Review

As last year falls away and a new year rolls in, I’d like to share with you a glance back at 2014. This will be my last post on this blog, as it moves over to WoodyHayday.com.

woody-hayday-world-catan-championship-berlin-2014

Landmarks, Happenings of Note 2014

Writing this list, I can hardly believe that all this happened in the past 365 days. I am very grateful, and hope for many more such years.

  • First draft of second novel and 8th edit of first novel, launched fiction page, failed to finish first novel
  • London Book Fair
  • 2nd in UK Catan Championship in May, 4th in Catan @ UK Mind Sports Olympiad
  • Got allotment in June, plenty of gardening fun
  • Visited Ardley, Cambridge, Dartmoor, Peterborough, Plymouth, Salisbury, Wales
  • Built computer with brother for his birthday
  • USA in July, Seattle, Portland, Yosemite, San Francisco
  • Proposed to Alice atop of Glacier Point in Yosemite
  • WDS2014
  • VegFest Vegan Conference
  • World Catan Championship in Berlin, placed 39th overall
  • Managed event as volunteer at St Albans Literary Festival
  • Saw Ibrahim Maalouf perform at Southbank Center
  • Saw Akala perform The Ruins of Empires
  • Meditation Classes
  • Flotation Tank sessions
  • Made fresh pasta, pizza, jam, crumble, strudel etc.
  • Veggie August
  • Designed ‘Nut Bars’ for reliable organic food source
  • Gave up refined sugar
  • Advised on first full launch of theme @ EpicPlugins
  • Advised SmugPup and helped launch
  • Pivoted EverClients, wrote a new vision
  • Wrote 10+ WordPress plugins, mostly as Joint Ventures
  • Sold nearly 1k copies in 5 days in one JV launch
  • Sold several domains, registered far too many more
  • Many great meet-ups, meals, evenings spent with friends and family

EverClients: As Freelancers We Can Change The World

EverClients – Pivoted to Serve Good-Willed Freelancers

Books, Podcasts, Talks, Videos

In 2014 I read 25+ books and skim-read several others. I’m happy to say that I abandoned several books before I hit their half-way mark, letting crappy books go in preference of better writing. Life’s too short. John Steinbeck, Huxley, Hemingway, and the amazing Frank Herbert lit up my year. Having never read such fiction, I have been blessed by finding as many great works in a single year as I have. I also really enjoyed The Little Prince and Stoner, who both hide life lessons under their respectively different hats.

Read the rest : 2014 Review »
Posted in Business, Life, Looking Back, Projects, Publishing, Software, Travel, WoodyLabs, Wordpress Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Do you track your time?

… I do. I use Toggl, but there are many other good solutions.

Below is an excerpt of my latest article, written for the EverClients blog. It’s the third in a series I’m roughly calling “Hacking Freelance”, and it goes in to the detail of why we should all track our time at a computer, and how!

Time Tracking for Freelancers

Why Should Freelancers Track Their Time?

Freelancing is more connected to time than any other type of business. A lost hour freelancing affects your weekly earnings directly. Luckily, as freelancing continues to grow across the US and Europe, a stable of software is being built to assist solo-workers and small businesses.

Arguably we all benefit from better time management, but this post focuses on the currently available time-tracking software specifically targeted at freelancers, ultimately ending in my review of the top five time-tracking options.

On top of lost billable time, (and therefor money), working time as a solo-worker can easily get messy. Twenty minutes on an email to a prospect, fifteen on a skype call to a client, 47 minutes finishing off a deliverable, (if you get to finish it.) Then your significant other walks in and asks you to put up a shelf or take the dog for a walk…

Read the full article

Posted in Business, Life, Web Technology Tagged , ,

EverClients – More Work For Freelancers

This week I’m opening the doors over at EverClients, and I thought I’d post here for the freelancers which hit this blog. EverClients is a daily lead feed, you sign up, pay monthly, and then each and every working day you receive an email which has a bunch of high quality work leads in it. I’ve designed the service to take the pain out of the front end of being a freelance designer or developer. The finding of work.

A fantastic side-benefit I never expected EverClients to provide is that it actually builds a habit out of bidding on new work/finding new clients. By building the process into your freelancer day, customers have told me that it gets done way more regularly than usual. It becomes “Check email, bid for 30 minutes on select work from EverClients, get on with billable hours.” – Where before it would be easy to forget for a few days and then be high and dry once your current job finishes.

I’ll also be writing a collection of articles for freelancers over at the EverClients blog, I’ve started with Why do freelancers get droughts and will cover most of the topics that I know plague freelancers. Ultimately I hope to write up into a useful e-book for Freelancers everywhere, as I’ve seen that the number of us freelancing each year is hugely rising.

EverClients - Leads for Freelancers

EverClients – Never Search for Freelance Leads Again

http://www.everclients.com

Posted in Business, Projects, Technology, Web Technology Tagged , , , ,

Checklist Plugin for WordPress

It’s a new year and with a new year comes lots of new developments 🙂 I’ve launched my fiction page (first novel to be released in may) and I’ve written a few new plugins (as well as a software as a service for freelancers – coming soon!)

Checklist Plugin

This is a quick post about the first of the plugins. Checklist Plugin (@ ChecklistPlugin.com.)

Posted in Projects, Web Development, Web Technology, Wordpress Tagged , , , , , , ,

2014 Plan: Futures.

[ Read this on Medium ]
 
On Saturday I posted up my 2013 review, sharing part of my ongoing attempt to bring order to my life and self. Below you can read the forward looking equivalent, my plan for 2014. I’m publishing these here for you to read and to help me to concrete their facts in my self image.
 
2014 will build on the compound results of last year and years before, positive and negative. Through these reviews, plans and other life functions I am trying to bolt down as much of what is within my control as I can, I’m confident that through conscious awareness of self we can be content in ourselves and a positive addition to the people we encounter. We choose our futures, whether consciously or not.
 
This is just my outlook, and here is my plan for 2014:
 
Goals for 2014
  1. Launch Book (My sci-fi novel) and recruit my first 100 true fans
  2. Build a regular monthly income of £8k+ through a SaaS or other low-maintenance business (WordPress plugins?)
  3. Get a mentor
  4. Guide student (read padawan) to setting and achieving 1 big goal
  5. [Bonus points for] Great North Swim
  6. [Bonus points for] 12% body fat
  7. [Bonus points for] Win UK Catan Championship
 
To Learn/Hone in 2014
  1. Launch Marketing & Email List Building
  2. Writing
  3. Consciousness, Rationality & Philosophy Generally
  4. Networking
 
Planned Actions/Rituals/Habits to build:
  1. Organise Wilderness holiday (boating, camping, hiking)
  2. Organise America trip (WDS 2014!)
  3. Organise 1 x other secret trip
  4. Organise Bold Book Launch
  5. Read Daily
  6. Meditate Daily
  7. Play Loop Daily
  8. “Friday Tidays”
    1. Clear back all tabs – read/save or close
    2. Cull all new projects/domain names started this week that aren’t coherent to vision or provable
    3. Delete, Act on or file the weeks fragmented notes in Evernote
  9. “Soul Saturdays”
    1. JRE podcasts
    2. Akala, Lowkey
    3. Find more epic enlightened music, books & film
    4. Do good
    5. Amplify Others Good Signals
  10. Regular, positive influence in family & friends lives
  11. Float monthly
  12. Record metrics & log achievements, books read, happenings monthly
  13. Visit my Dad once a quarter, minimum.
  14. Quarterly refresh of actions/rituals/goals (avoid short term re-addressing in micro)
  15. [Bonus points for] Chess Night Mondays
  16. [Bonus points for] Tai Chi Thursdays
 
Health Specific Commandments 2014:
  1. Eat slower, be aware of all consumption. Chopstick eating
  2. Minimal Alcohol & Crap food intake (95% clean diet)
  3. MED exercise to feel fit
  4. Ice baths fortnightly
  5. Kill sugar & sugary things
 
Personal Commandments 2014:
  1. Always be the better Woody
  2. Absolutely No Debt
  3. Absolutely No Punishing Self
  4. Always Win-Win
  5. Always include a margin of safety [20%+]
  6. MED life (Minimum Effective Dose)
  7. Simplify, Simplify, Simplify
  8. Eustress not Distress
  9. Life Experience > Money/Objects
  10. Don’t rush. Act at calculated pace, with confidence
  11. Spend less than you make, ensure 10%+ is always safe
  12. Focus on a singular metric for each pursuit
  13. Go hard. Be Bolder. I am at home in the stretched extreme of attempts
  14. Use stakes to ensure goal completion
  15. Avoid moving or other stressful/energy consuming subplots – focus, make smaller circles
  16. Channel excess energy to avoid bad habits
 
2014: Diligent growth in business, book and network. Investment in philosophy and amplifying good signals. [Try titling your year – its fun!]
 
 * * *
 
It’s scary to put this all “out there”, which is a silly false fear, so I had to post it. In the future I intend to write a blog sharing thoughts on my journey and a software to help us find structure in this perceived chaos, I’m not there yet and I’m conscious of potential pitfalls ahead but if your into conscious self analysis and exploring this stuff join me here, you won’t here from me unless I get it out and its super legit.
 
Watch this space, 2014 will see this blog archived, my sci-fi novel launched and future posts split between a new “Author” site and perhaps a Conscious Thought blog. I intend to keep writing novels until I succeed and I’m happy however long that takes. Either way this blog will stay up only as an archive, so catch me @woodyhayday or WoodyHayday.com for new stuff. Lets see what happens!
 
Thanks for reading this, Stay Awesome.
 
 * * *
 
P.S. A word on the format of my 2014 plan: This is as it left my head, do you have a better format or some interesting input? Care to share your 2014 plan or 2013 review? Drop me a comment below or get in touch via this page. I’m here to optimise self & share!
 
P.S.S. I use “commandments” without intended religious connotations. I’m into self governance and basically I mean serious rules.
 
Read the rest : 2014 Plan: Futures. »
Posted in Business, Code, Life, Looking Forward, Projects, Publishing, Web Technology, Writing Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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