Join in if you are self-employed and work from home

Horace

Hi all

Hope you're having a fab day?

I have just returned from being out - I had to go to PC World to buy some software (my ex OH has been letting me use a license for Kaspersky Internet Security but I don't want to be beholden to him so hence the need to get my own). Well, I had a good surprise I decided to buy 3 licenses as it would cover me should I get another computer and the price was marked as being £24.46, but I managed to get it for £19.99:j I also bought some other software because Access on my computer is rubbish - something called Contact & Customer Manager (ACT) by Sage although this was dearer at £199.99:eek:

I rang Greenworks again today with regards to my wish list - for one 4 drawer foolscap sized filing cabinet and a swivel office chair. Greenworks is a charitable organisation that employs disabled people to refurbish office furniture that has been donated to them, so I thought that rather than buy new it would be best to buy second hand - I am waiting for call back because their offices are in London but I think they have a warehouse in Wolverhampton so fingers crossed that delivery isnt too expensive:D

tyllwyd

Hi Horace

How are things going with the actual business side of things - have you got any paying clients booked in yet?

elljay

I've been dipping in an out of this thread for a while and am completely awestruck with how you all manage so many different bits of work and what you have to do for them.

I'm now beginning to feel really overwhelmed with what needs doing, I have some paid jobs outside home and some home-based self-employment work. All of them have various things that need to be done by certain dates, apart from one where I just turn up, do the job, and go home which feels like heaven - no deadlines, no business plans, no invoices, nothing to organise!

And that's not including all the stuff that needs to be organised for home!

I have a diary I use for todo lists and appointments but feel I need something to give me a bigger picture of what I'm doing or where I'm going for each thing. I thought of a wall chart so I could see several months ahead, maybe with some sort of colourcoding for the different pieces of work or projects. Or maybe I'm complicating things too much. I also wondered about maybe an online or pc-based system on my laptop or/and phone.

What works for you? I used to be able to keep so much in my head but now my memory has gone or at least isn't reliable any more and something major's going to be missed soon. I actually forgot I need to buy a new printer for one organisation today so will have to go into panic mode tomorrow morning to find some advice and source something (any good companies I could try?) It's not good!

Thanks
Liz

TCM_3

Yippeeeee!!!!!

Busy busy today, loads of sales ringing through the till and I'm really pleased as my rent is due on Friday and this is the first month in a while that I am not actually stressing too much about it! I paid a whack off my credit card this weekend too!

Horace, I have tried all different sorts of account packages, including Sammy's VT one recommended on here which I liked but I have reverted back to Sage again and just used the parts that I can tailor to suit myself and not make it too complicated! It does everything for me - even if you can buy the software 2nd hand it may be worth a look?

Had a chineese takeaway at the weekend and all I have done since is daydream about how yummy it was as I hadn't had one for a while!

Hope everyone having a productive day
T

Ps, Odd George and Strange Harold (cats) have been banned from the sitting room as someone did something unpleasant on the mat infront of the fire which the OH didn't see (or smell for that matter) and trod in it - I cried with laughter at the ensuing drama (men tend to over react) and the cats were banned initially from the house and all civilisation but I have negotiated a stay of execution for them and they're just not allowed in the front room!

Horace

No paying customers as yet so I am doing mystery shops to pay my insurances (needs must). It is too soon for paying clients as the wedding fair season doesnt start again til September.

I have had a thoroughly bad day = I bought Sage ACT (a customer database thingy) only to discover part way through installation because it claimed that I didnt have the disk space - funny that as I have 18 gig free space so that is now on the shelf. Then I thought I would tackle Kaspersky 2009 so I had to uninstall version 7 and install this new one - now I discover that Kaspersky will only run on XP Service Pack 2 and above and I am still on service pack 1:mad: It has taken me all afternoon to faff with the computer - not daring to go online without protection, but I managed to find an old version of version 7 so installed that instead (breathes sigh of relief) but that expires in 9 days time so I need to get service pack 2 or 3 and it could be 3 days of downloading and rebooting (yawn).

Walked to the local railway station (why do folks call it train station) to see about trains to Bescot Stadium which is where I have to go on Wednesday for a business seminar (an all day job), I now have a timetable - I must leave Longbridge station at 8.13 and my train gets to New Street at 8.33 then I must get myself across the station to get the 8.47 to Walsall which stops at Bescot and I get to Bescot for 9.20, I am surprised that the cost of this little trip is £5.90 return:j

I have also cleaned out my car ready for it to be serviced on Friday - I hate sand and must have vacced out a ton of Swanage beach out of it (sand gets everywhere):eek: You wouldnt believe it but I have vacced the car out several times since September when I last went to Swanage:rolleyes:

Oh and Greenworks phoned me to say that the delivery charge for some recycled office furniture would be too extortionate from London so they have given me the details of their warehouse in Wolverhampton (less distance so less money). I will ring them tomorrow.

david_p_2

hi all
havent been here for a week or so, everybody seems busy
just updating my saga!
got 3 days off this week, so have been buying new oils towels etc for business, and going to have a couple of liquid lunches :beer:
back to grotty temp job for 2 days end of week, but off again next week, so will have a couple of days break here and there and do some flyers and set a strategy to go round some firms offering treatments
getting grief off the ex! again so that pulled me down again but got over it and hopefully be more positive.
got to see my friend who does the website to get him to add some more bits and get it on google, but he told me that he and his family are moving to manchester next month so if i need anything doing il have to ring him
a bit more awkward but hes saved me a fortune so shouldnt grumble

im off out now so have a good day everyone,

dave

Lois_and_CK

I've printed something for a customer of mine who has asked me to charge them for the cost of ink/paper on my invoice for the other work I'm doing for them. I haven't a clue how much to charge though!

Does anyone have any suggestions? It's just standard copier paper (80gsm) and black ink. About 50 pages.

starxtrouble

When I worked in a law firm we used to charge somewhere btw 25p and 40p per page.

Star

Lois_and_CK

starxtrouble wrote: »

When I worked in a law firm we used to charge somewhere btw 25p and 40p per page.

Star

Thank you!

tyllwyd

starxtrouble wrote: »

When I worked in a law firm we used to charge somewhere btw 25p and 40p per page.

Star

That sounds like law firm prices though - if you get black & white photocopies on the high street prices are a lot less eg
http://www.handyprint.co.uk/photocopying.html

I'd have thought 10p per page was more appropriate maybe?

If you are doing it on a printer though, it depends a lot on the price of the paper you've used and the running costs per page of your printer (do you use official ink cartridges or compatible??). You should be able to work out how much per page you've paid for your paper, and if you do an internet search on your printer you might find some info on typical per page costs for that model.