2020 was a challenging year for most people. It certainly threw spanners in the works for my business, the startup scene in Brisbane, and derailed many of my plans. But I had support from my friends and family, business colleagues and clients. With their help and support, I have made it to the end of the year and cautiously looking forward to 2021.

My big plan for 2020 was to go on a marketing drive to win new business. But COVID-19 put breaks on those plans early because my potential clients were not in a position to commit to expenses. I mean, there were some openings in consulting work from home infrastructure, but a lot of established players were pivoting into this space. So I opted to put my head down and make good on existing contracts. The two big ones were Josari and Sharka Bosakova.

Josari

It was a year of up and down with Josari. We were working with a student team on the Josari android app when the pandemic hit. We had to move to remote supervision for the students as the university campus closed. But otherwise, COVID-19 did not impact that project too much.

However, the students were learning on the project far more than expected. We got the students through the QUT Capstone project. Now the idea behind capstone is that students apply what they learnt during their time at university. However, as it turned out, the students didn't have the Android development skills necessary to get Josari out the door.

However, I was able to source an excellent freelancer through UpWork who could bridge the students' competency gap. He also could code functionality that was simply beyond the students. The result is that Josari Android App is now available on the Play Store!

Sharka Bosakova

Sharka is a small fashion business. My work with her still ongoing. The big thing I did for her this year is to create her new website as part of her involvement with The Refinery. I also made the website for her UnMasked Exhibition. In 2021, we are looking at doing a Kickstarter and refining her operational processes and getting a marketing campaign set up for the webshop. 2021 is likely to be big for Sharka Bosakova brand, and I am keen to do my bit to make the webshop a success.

I had a few other clients in 2020 and ended the year with a couple of new projections. I am looking forward to undertaking the marketing campaign in 2021 that I wanted to in 2020. I will start with revamping my website and writing up my experiences from this year as case studies. So watch this space for what's to come!