The other day as I was going over one of these sites it got me thinking (I know I know, dangerous territory that thinking stuff), I have submitted to a few of them here and there but have yet to have any of my work showcased. The rejection comes hard at first, but as soon as I punch my ego in the throat and push it out the window I am able to deal with it in a more effective and pleasant manner. A reaction based on ego would be “oh my god, those jerks, why won’t they showcase my work, is it that bad, I thought it was good, would I have clients if my stuff wasn’t good, just because mine doesn’t look like everybody else’s should I be penalized and ostracized like that, this is horrible, maybe I shouldn’t be a web designer, what am I going to do, those jerks, geez” and so on and so on. Ego is wonderful isn’t it? Yikes.

However, with ego out of the picture the rejection allows me to contemplate and truly think about why am I submitting to these sites. Of course recogniziton for a job well done is important, but is it the be all and end all? I don’t think so. During a projects development it is the clients opinion that matters the most. You are designing a product for them based on their specifications and outlook. Creative freedom is peppered throughout the design process but ultimately, in the end, it is the client that is the driving force since they are the ones paying for the design. One then puts their work forward to one of these design gallery websites in the hopes of having their work recognized for its design beauty and brilliance, which in turn helps promote the designers work and hopefully bring in more clients; etc., etc., etc.

But if my work is never showcased does that mean my designs are bad? That my work is horrible and should be removed from the internet before it infects the entire “series of tubes” with its yucky bad-design cooties? Some may agrue “yes jonesy it does, and you should stop, stop right now.” Others may argue “stay the course jonesy, you’re doing super.” And Me? Well, I try to just keep on trucking. I love web design, and I love looking at well designed websites in the hopes that I can achieve even half the level of brilliance that a lot of designers out there have. But I don’t let the hope turn into obsession, or unrealisitic expectation. I am responsible for the level of effort that I put into my pursuits, and I am responsible for its results. I am a web designer because it is what I love to do, and that is one thing I truly believe we should all be striving for, doing something that we love doing, and if you are getting paid to do it….even better.

It’s kind of like another post I was contemplating putting together: If nobody is reading my blog, should I still be blogging?   For me, the short sharp answer is a whole-hearted YES!  The long profound answer I’ll leave for another post.

cheers,

Jonesy

1. It is essential that you feel comfortable with the environment, the staff and, most important of all, the physiotherapist. If you don’t feel comfortable with any of those I would say move on until you do.
2. Try and find a physiotherapist that has worked with an injury like yours, this helps to ensure that he/she knows how to treat your specific injury.
3. Make sure the equipment looks well maintained and up to date. If there are machines that look like something Houdini escaped from I would say get out as fast as you can.
4. The physiotherapy clinic needs to be convenient and easy for you to travel to. The reason for this is that there will we days when you are finished your physio session and you are going to be exhausted and in some serious discomfort. The last thing you want is a drastically long trek back home.

I realize the list is quite small, but to me those were the key elements for my recovery. If you have any other tips you would like to add please let me know.

The first week of physio was really tough. My quadriceps had completely disappeared. I had no muscle, it was weird to look at and depressing to see how quickly muscle can deteriorate (the doctor and physiotherapist both said that after 3 days of inactivity your muscles will start to deteriorate, your body determines that it isn’t essential so it breaks it down ). But my quad wasn’t the focus; it was my knee, and getting its full range of motion back. At the beginning of the week I could barely bend my knee at all, but after a grueling week of physio my range started improving. Aside from the exercises, I also had the electrodes hooked up to the knee; this would work the muscle around the knee. I also had an ultrasound type thing that was rubbed around the knee and surrounding area to break up the scar tissue that had formed on the tendons. What happened in my situation was that I had stretched my tendon to the point of just about breaking it apart, and because of that trauma there was a lot of micro fibrous tears throughout the tendon; and that is what the physiotherapist needed to repair as well.

This aspect of my recovery stayed consistent throughout. The other areas came once he felt my range of motion was good, as well as my balance and step.

From there I moved into doing the bicycle as well as the leg press, and the kick-back/kick-forward machine. The leg press wasn’t too bad, it was low weight with increasing repetitions (over time the weight was increased as well). Once again it is amazing how weak my leg had become because of this whole situation. However, my progress was good and I kept on trucking. The kick forwards were really really bad though, and painful too.

The bicycle, well, at the beginning it was DEADLY! At first I couldn’t do a complete rotation, it hurt way too much. Being the guy that I am though, I thought “let’s just give er a bit more shall we?” and by accident I made a full rotation; dear sweet-lord did I pay for it, it hurt something awful and the physiotherapist gave me some harsh words as well. It was a stupid move on my part and I never tried to be a rock-star in my recovery from that point forward. I did what I was told and went at my physiotherapists pace.

As I had mentioned in the previous post, after the first week I switched the crutches for a cane, which wasn’t too bad since he taught me how to use it properly (parallel with your bad leg as you walk and not out in front of it like a lot of people do), and after a week of the cane it was no aids whatsoever. It was a bit tricky at first but I eventually got the hang of it, although stairs were still quite hard and I had to concentrate and take it easy.

Another great recommendation by my physiotherapist was water therapy. All I needed was a swimming pool that had a shallow area that got progressively deeper. The reason for this was that in the beginning I was simply to just walk around in water that was up to my waist, what this allowed for was my body to get that sense of balance and the walking movement/motion yet still having the benefit of the water to help take the strain of weight and gravity off my leg. After doing this for a while I also added in periods of doing the bicycle motion under water as well. I really felt that this additional component of my physiotherapy really helped the progress of my recovery.

All in all everything was slow and took time but I kept progressing well. The only problem was that work was pushing to have me return to work, and before I knew it they asked my physiotherapist for his recommendation. Being the ethical gentleman that he is (which is important to me) he let them know that although I still required therapy I wasn’t in a position where I couldn’t travel to work and do my job. And that was the end of that. I was back to work and my life returned to its normal state and physiotherapy fell by the way side. It is completely my fault for letting that happen. I could have found some way to balance a strong continued recovery regimen but I didn’t. And I know that I am not 100% recovered because of it. My leg gained some muscle back but not close to what I had before. My knee still hurts from time to time depending on my level of activity, and the weather tends to affect it also, especially when it is a damp and rainy day. It makes crunchy noises too at times, which has me worried that scar tissue may have built back up. That being said, I need to fit my recovery back into my schedule or else things will never get better. I don’t want to be the person that says “well, I guess that is the way things are and I am just going to have to live with it.” I don’t want to live with this discomfort and pain, I don’t want to think that way, and I agree that right now this is the way things are but they don’t have to stay this way. I can do something to change it. And I will.

If anyone else has a knee injury recovery story I would love to hear it.

All the best,
Jonesy

So, where did I leave off? Right, the three weeks before seeing the doctor for the second visit. This was a pretty difficult time at first. It took awhile to get accustomed to living on the couch, you feel so boxed in and restricted, and your whole body starts to play games with differing comfort levels (i.e. when your legs are comfortable your back decides not to be, when you back is comfortable your neck decides not to be, etc.), eventually a happy medium is reached and all is right in the universe. The key is keeping yourself busy. I did a lot of reading, caught up on my Japanese animation shows (Naruto and Bleach), watched movies, and put together the two articles on web design and Canadian tax laws. When my mind was focused on other things besides my knee it makes it a lot easier to deal with.

One thing that was hard to deal with was getting up off the couch to move around, which took a few painful attempts to perfect because getting off the couch required the synchronized use of the crutches and upper body strength to be able to push yourself up off the couch and ensuring you keep your bad leg from doing anything other than staying off the ground. Getting back onto the couch was also just as fun, but a bit easier in my opinion.

Since I had everything I needed on the main floor of the house moving around with the crutches wasn’t too bad. It was when I had to go for my doctor’s visit that I realized just how death defyingly difficult it was to get down stairs with crutches and a splinted leg. Scary scary scary.

My visit with the Doctor went fairly well I guess. He looked at my knee, looked at my X-rays from before, felt the knee and the surrounding area, and indicated that he was confident that I wouldn’t need surgery. Whew, that was a relief. I am not a huge fan of being cut open if I don’t really have to be. The Doctor advised me that I would be okay to get started on my physiotherapy and that I should come back and see him in two weeks time. He then directed me to go and speak with the physiotherapist that is in the clinic.

The physiotherapist at the clinic was quite nice and personable, and she was simply there to explain to me what I needed to do at home to promote my recovery (stretching and flexing exercises for my knee and leg muscles). She also taught me how to go up and down stairs with my crutches. Wow, no wonder I nearly killed myself when I left my house to go to the doctor’s, I was going down the stairs completely wrong! The way she showed me made a world of difference. It consists of utilizing both the handrail of the stairs (if there is one) and the crutches. With the crutches you double them up in the arm that isn’t using the handrail, and whether you are going up or down determines which leg you use. If you are going UP stairs you will lead off with your good leg, and when it comes time to use the bad leg you ensure that you have the crutch do the work (you can’t have your leg touch the stair or apply any pressure to it. When you have to go DOWN stairs you lead off with your bad leg, although you aren’t technically using your leg because you are having the crutches do the work. She told me to remember it this way: “Good people go to heaven and bad people go to hell.” Which means, since Heaven is UP you use your good leg to lead when you are going up the stairs. And since Hell is down you use your bad leg to lead when going down the stairs.

At this point I now had a referral slip for a physiotherapist, so it was up to me to find a physiotherapist in my neighbourhood and get started on my recovery. My wife was a real help in this department because she went to the physiotherapists in my surrounding area to get a feel for the Doctors and to see what the facilities were like. Out of about 7 of them she felt one was the best choice. She felt really good about the doctor and the place itself wasn’t too busy or overcrowded. The exercise equipment looked in good shape and up to date. All of these helped her decision but in the end she also told me it was the vibe that she got from the place; it felt right and the doctor felt like a good person.

She was right. The doctor was a really great guy who was very knowledgeable. Right from the very beginning when he first saw me hobbling in my crutches he said to me “Well, first, we’ll be getting rid of those in a week” (meaning the crutches). His philosophy was that they inhibit recovery because you become too dependent on them, which doesn’t provide your body the ability to reteach itself how to walk properly and to redevelop the proper walking motion. After the week we would then go to a cane for two more weeks and then after that nothing; just me and my appendages. And sure enough that was how it worked out, not magically of course, there was a lot of work and pain involved in the journey; but that, as they say, is another story. =)

While checking my email this morning I came across a news article that explained that someone had gone onto craigslist.org, placed a classified indicating that he had to quickly leave the country and that all of the stuff on his property was up for grabs; whoever wants it could go and get it. The classified went off like gang busters and everyone was out taking what they could, the only problem is that the classified wasn’t put out by the owner of the property. It was a hoax, and the true owner had no idea until he was coming home and seeing people driving down the road with his property, and then seeing even more people actually on his property taking stuff. Sounds too crazy to be true, eh?

Well, here is the actual news story to this tasty little nugget of moral putrefaction.

It is astounding the level of moral decay that humans can allow themselves to get to, and then to come up with twisted and ridiculous logic to convince themselves that it isn’t a bad thing either. In this situation the real owner of the property had started to stop people and tell them that what they are doing is wrong, that he never placed the classified, and therefore they are stealing his property. And what are the responses he gets: “They showed me the Craigslist printout and told me they had the right to do what they did…They honestly thought that because it appeared on the Internet it was true.”

Classic! As soon as I read that I automatically thought of a great Milhouse quote: “Jeez…if it’s in a book, it’s gotta be true!” (Episode 2F07).

It’s a perfect match because that is exactly how these troglodytes were thinking: “I don’t care if you are the actual owner of the property that I have in my hand, and I don’t care if you are telling me that I am not allowed to steal it from you, the fact that it was posted on the internet trumps every logically solid and firmly grounded proof of reality and existence staring right at me and speaking to me at this moment…..this piece of paper with the craigslist classified printed on it is all the proof that I need that you my friend are not the true owner of this property…..now please get out of the way as I have a weed whacker that I need to load into the back of my pickup truck. Actually, make yourself useful bud and grab the other end of this thing and help me lift into the back.” (Sorry, got a bit carried away there).

Now, I realize there may be a great deal more to this story than what is on the surface. Perhaps the owner really is a bad guy whose done horrible things to people which has brought on this whole sordid situation. Who knows? My concern is the simple fact that when people were confronted by the true owner of the property, explained of the situation, and yet still continued to engage in theft without any concerns or worries in the world. “I don’t care if you are telling me to stop, I’m going to keep doing it because I want to!” That to me is a problem.

Empathy: Identification with and understanding of another’s situation, feelings, and motives. (Dictionary.com)

Empathy was clearly something lacking in this entire fiasco. Sad, sad, sad.

cheers,
Jonesy

Here is a very quick summary of those “21 great ways”:

1. Set the Table
- decide exactly what you want
- clarity is essential
- write out goals and objectives

2. Plan everyday in advance

3. Apply the 80/20 rule to everything you do
- 20% of your activities account for 80% of your results

4. Consider the consequences
- focus on the tasks that have the greatest consequences (positive or negative)

5. Practice the ABCDE method continually on your lists
- with this method you go through your list and place either A,B,C,D or E beside each task depending on where it fits in:
A = must do task
B = should do task
C = nice to do task
D = delegate task
E = eliminate task

6. Focus on key result areas

7. Obey the law of forced efficiency
- there is always enough time to do the most important things

8. Prepare thoroughly before you begin
- Proper Prior Preparation Prevents Poor Performance

9. Do your homework
- the more knowledge you acquire about your task the quicker it will get done

10. Leverage your special talents
- do those things that you are very good at very well

11. Identify your key constraints and alleviate them

12. Take it one step at a time

13. Put the pressure on yourself

14. Maximize your personal powers

15. Motivate yourself into action
- focus on solutions
- be optimistic and constructive

16. Practice creative procrastination
- put off tasks of low value so that you have time to complete those of high value

17. Do the most difficult task first
- the one that can make the greatest contribution to you and your work

18. Slice and Dice your tasks
- do one small part to get started

19. Create large blocks of time where you can concentrate on your task

20. Develop a sense of urgency

21. Single handle every task
- get clear priorities and start immediately on the most important task without stopping until completed

Disclaimer: I am not an accountant, a tax lawyer, or an employee of the Canada Revenue Agency, I am a web designer, and I wrote this article because I wanted to help other Canadian web designers who might also be searching for the answer to the same question I had when I first started my web design business: “Should I be charging tax for my web design services?”.

In Part 1 of this article we explored Provincial Sales Tax (PST), or Reatil Sales Tax (RST) as it is known in Ontario, and whether as a Web Designer you should be charging this tax to your clients for your web design services. Since not all Provinces require you to charge this tax we also explored the various reasons why, examining each Province individually.

In Part 2 of this article we are now going to look at the Federal side of things. We will look at both the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST), and seek to understand the difference between the two.

Part 2 - Federal Tax Laws - The Goods and Services Tax (GST) and the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST)

What is the Goods and Services Tax (GST)?

The GST is a 5% tax on most Canadian goods and services. (The GST was reduced to 5% as of January 1, 2008).

What is the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST)?

The HST is a combination of the PST and GST. This eliminates the need to charge PST and GST separately, only the HST is charged on goods and services at a tax rate of 13%. The only Provinces to use the HST are Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. The HST was also reduced as of January 1, 2008; taking it from 14% to 13%.

When should I be charging my clients GST or HST for my web design services?

When determining whether you should be charging your clients GST or HST you must first determine whether or not your business fits the Canada Revenue Ageny’s (CRA) definition of a “Small Supplier”. The CRA defines a Small Supplier as a business “whose total taxable revenue before expenses are $30,000 or less annually.”[1]

If your business fits into this definition then you are considered a “Small Supplier” and therefore you are not legally obligated to register to collect GST/HST.

If the total annual taxable revenue of your business is greater than $30,000 (before expenses) then you are NOT a Small Supplier and therefore you ARE legally obligated to register to collect GST/HST.

As a Small Supplier even though you do not have a legal obligation to register to collect GST/HST you can still choose to register voluntarily. The incentive here is that because you will be charging GST/HST on your web design services you will be able to “claim Input Tax Credits (ITC) for the GST/HST you paid or owe on purchases related to your business.[2]

So, if your business is considered a Small Supplier you do not have to register to collect GST/HST, but if you find yourself with a lot of business expenses and the GST/HST on those purchases is quite high, you can volutarily register to collect GST/HST for your services so that you can “reclaim” the GST/HST you’ve paid on your business expenses.[3] Just remember, if you’ve gone this route you will have to start charging your clients GST/HST for your web design services.

As a Small Supplier, if I volunteer to register for the GST/HST am I registered forever?

As long as you stay within the Small Supplier definition you can cancel your registration. However, you have to stay registered for at least a year before you can ask to cancel.[4]

What is with the whole “GST/HST” thing? I thought they were two separate taxes?

In true Canadian form our government loves to keep things as confusing and complicated as possible. So, YES the GST and HST are two separate taxes, but if you register to collect the GST then you also have to collect the HST when applicable. Confused? Don’t worry, I’ll do my best to help out.

The reason it is so confusing is because some provinces have chosen to combine their Provincial Sales Tax with the Federal Goods and Services Tax into what is known as the Harmonized Sales Tax. So when a business registers to collect GST that business has also automatically registered to collect HST as well.

Does this mean I have to collect both GST and HST?

No. What it all comes down to is where your base of operations is for your business, and where your client lives. If you conduct your Web Design business in a Province that does not have the HST but you are doing business for a client that does live in a Province that has the HST, then legally you are obligated to collect the 13% HST on the selling price of your web design services for that client. On the flip side of that, if you conduct your Web Design business in a Province that does have the HST but are doing work for a client that lives in a Province that doesn’t have the HST then you would only have to collect the 5% GST, not the 13% HST. And finally, if you conduct business in a non-HST Province and your client lives in a non-HST Province then GST would only be charged for your web design services to that client. Fun stuff eh?

What about a client that doesn’t live in Canada? Would I be charging them GST or HST for my web design services?

When you are dealing with clients outside of Canada then you are in fact “exporting” your services, and because of this no GST or HST is charged for these services. The CRA classifies exported goods and services as “zero-rated” items, these items are still taxable but their tax rate is zero.[5]

Federal Tax - The Goods and Services Tax (GST) and the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) - Recap

And there you have it. The GST/HST may seem complicated but not as much as the PST. You’ll remember from Part 1 of this article that there was a lot of factors to be looked at when determining whether to charge PST for your web design services or not. For the GST/HST it all comes down to how much taxable revenue your Web Design business makes in a year (before expenses). If your business makes over $30,000 you would have to collect GST or HST, if your business makes $30,000 or less a year then you do not have to collect GST or HST, but you can volunteer to do so if you want. And if you are to collect GST or HST it is only on your Canadian clients.

Lastly, when you do charge GST or HST it is on the selling price of your Web Design services, before PST is charged (if you end up having to charge PST as well). This allows the client to avoid paying GST on the PST as well.[6] For example, you are charing your client $1200 for a website design, you are a GST registrant so you have to charge your client GST for your services. The client lives in a non-HST Province so you are only charging them the 5% GST. You don’t have to collect PST for the web design services you are offering this particular client so only the 5% GST is applied to the $1200 selling price of your services. The GST ends up being $60 which brings the total price for your services to $1260. For your invoice you must clearly indicate the cost of the GST/HST and PST (if applicable) separately from the original selling price. The total price of your services will then reflect the combination of each.

I hope this part of the article has helped to shed some light on the Goods and Services Tax, and the Harmonized Sales Tax, as they apply to your Web Design Business. Please remember this is only my personal insight on these matters, if you require authoritative or legal advice please contact a representative at the Canadian Revenue Agency http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/menu-e.html.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read this article and please feel free to contact me with any questions, comments or concerns.

References:

(click the reference # to return to its location in the article)

[1]

About.com Small Business: Canada - GST and HST - Goods and Services Tax
http://sbinfocanada.about.com/od/gsthst/GST_and_HST_Goods_and_Services_Tax.htm

[2]

Canada Revenue Agency: General Information for GST Registrants
http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pub/gp/rc4022/rc4022-07e.pdf

[3]

About.com Small Business: Canada - GST and HST - Goods and Services Tax
http://sbinfocanada.about.com/od/gsthst/GST_and_HST_Goods_and_Services_Tax.htm

[4]

Canada Revenue Agency: General Information for GST Registrants
http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pub/gp/rc4022/rc4022-07e.pdf

[5]

Taxtips.ca - GST/HST
http://www.taxtips.ca/gst.htm

[6]

Taxtips.ca - GST/HST
http://www.taxtips.ca/gst.htm