Self Employed and Drowning.

TCM_3

Hi Silver Van
Glad to hear you're a bit more upbeat. I have an animal feed store attatched to the shop i have and the feed prices are ridiculous. Do you operate through a wholesaler? I have foun here the wholesaler for the feed has been ripping us off big time (every invoice has a different price) so i took the headstaggers and contacted manufacturers directly. The wholesaler was charging me £11.50 for a particular brand of feed the RRP of which is £12 when the manufacturer said i should be paying £7! Big big difference!
Some of the wholesalers have put prices up by 40% so i am shopping around and also some of them offer end of line stock or discontinued stock at a better price.
Another idea that worked for me.... i bought a few metres of "silly" fleece fabric before Christmas off Ebay and made dog coats from a template of one i had at home. It took about 20min to make one and i sold them for £6.99 a time! I made them in the evenings whilst watching Corrie!
Its not easy at the moment in retail, hang on in there!
Tracey

Olivia_Jones

As harsh as it seems,you will need to let your son go,there are plenty of jobs out there such as cleaning work,supermarket work,bar work etc.I am sure that if you sat down with him and explained your problems,he will understand and would want to get a different job to relieve you of some worry.
By getting another job,your son has a good chance of increasing his hours to full time so in the long run he will also be better off.Good luck x

[Deleted User]

Just another voice to wish you well. I agree that your son needs to find a new job, it is not your responsibility to employ him in such difficult times. I also second the suggestions to contact the CCCS and your local chamber of commerce for advice about diversification.

My bookshop went out of business some time ago, but I shall never forget how difficult it was. Not sure what type of books the person posting as 'Bookseller' is selling, but if I can be of any help in that line of business, let me know.

Good luck to all the retailers out there and keep in contact, shared experiences can be so helpful.