This is a follow on of my SEO Story, if you haven’t already, go back to this post to read it from the start – How I started in SEO

Setting up TJS Marketing Ltd

It’s now May 2018 and I have just been told I have Head and neck cancer that was also in my lower jaw.

I had seen my consultant who told me I was to have a life changing operation to remove half of my lower jaw and replace it with a bone from my leg, followed by a month in hospital before starting a 7 week course of Chemo and radiotherapy followed by months of recovery and all this was to start in about a fortnight.

I got back home from the appointment and started making plans of what do do business wise.

I initially formed a business in 2002 with the intention of just being a retailer selling wheelchair ramps but I was also using this business for the web work I was doing and it was a bit tangled up.

I had been thinkinkg about untangling things for the past 2 or 3 years and here eas my spur to do something about it

After discussing things with my accountant I decided to set up a new limited company TJS Marketing and completely separate the marketing, website work, SEO from the original business and move it to the new one.

Fortunately this coincided with the money a previous client was going to give me after he was selling a business which I had helped him with so I was able to invoice him via the new business which gave it a nice little reserve of £5k.

I also contacted all the clients I was helping out to let them know the situation and to tell them from now on I was doing any work via TJS Marketing and would invoice them accordingly.

Due to my circumstances I suggested to a couple that they ought to get someone else to take over the work but the ones who I was only doing minor work for stuck with me.

With TJS Marketing now set up I had to think about what happens if my treatment wasn’t succesful.

My daughter had finished her college course the previous year and in September started a degree course in Graphic design at Leamington College (more taxi work for me) but by the Chistmas break had decided she didn’t want to continue and in January I had her helping me out with some design work and general office work doing about 10 hours a week via my original business.

With TJS Marketing now set up and knowing I was to be away for a while, we put her on the Books of TJS Marketing and I gave her a crash course on how to keep the directory site running, how to pass on leads we received to the rellevant people and basically all she needed to do whilst the business was effecively paused but ticking over.

At the same time I set the directory up to be 95% automated by switching off all new free listings but creating a way that upgraded listings could still be added so money was still coming in.

At the same time I removed my telephone number from my wheelchair ramps site so no one could contact my daughter about ramps and put Google Adsense on the pages so it was stll generating income.

1 week before my 1st operation for jaw cancer

A quick recap

Knowing I was going in to hospital for an operation with best case scenario I would be in hospital for about amonth I had to get my household and business sorted.

All my household bills were paid by direct debit so that wasn’t really a problem

I transferred some money in to my daughters account and she set up a Tesco account

I also transferred a lump sum in to my wifes account, and sat down and wrote a will, just in case.

Business wise – I removed all phone numbers from my wheelchair sites, removed any way of people ordering ramps, added Google Adsense and effectivelly mothballed the website and the whole business.

I also set up a new Limited business, gave my daughter a crash course on running it, added her to payroll, but automated 95% off it so she wouldn’t have too much to worry about.

A couple of days before going in to hospital I bought a new laptop and set up a new mobile broadband contract with EE.

Story continues here – Working From a Hospital Bed