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

GreyhoundAngel

Morning All ....

Errm,,, where is everyone ?

Just getting ready to go & do one of the MShops I picked up yesterday, then back to do more researching & things .

Have a good day all

G:A xx

Horace

G - well done on the M.Shops, I could do with a few of those myself.

My council is a pain - its the biggest one in Europe and they don't know what they are doing, I guess it didnt help that I didnt get my NI exemption certificate through until June:rolleyes: Anyway I have a plan where they are concerned because I am going to hit them with something else - additional housing benefit for disabled people:rotfl:

I have a few calls to make and as the sun is out, I think I will do some washing.

Have a good day all...hope the work goes well G.

TCM_3

Morning!

Sorry GHA, I was dozing under a horse rug! Not! It would be lovely though.... 10 min extra in bed.....

We too have a council here who could not orgainise a whatsit in a brewery. Communication seems to be a very big problem!

Got my new lodgement and cheque books through this morning for my new business account - I now have free banking instead of paying extortionate amounts.

Hope everyone has a good day - have loads to do.... motivation was left behind somewhere today - Oh, and I had to phone trading standards yesterday - a newspaper ad printed my ad with someone else's business card and my name then sent me a bill for £80 which i rang them up and told them to get knotted. Because I refused to pay up they referred it on to a grumpy debt collection agency who rang up at chewed my wee angel from head to toe (its nothing to do with her as she is an employee) threatened her with court action, which terrified her, bullied and abused her till she phoned me in tears, so I rang consumer line to see if they are allowed to discuss this with someone other than the person responsible, they referred me to trading standards who will be ringing to discuss.

On a good note, the OH cooked dinner last night. I cleared up the carnage as it looked like one of Mabels amputations had happened in the kitchen!

T

Horace

What a flippin cheek TCM - lets hope that trading standards can sort them out.

I had a chat with my lovely accountant today and she has given me some pointers and when I email my spends to her she will put them into a proper format for the council - they're such eejits:rolleyes: I hate figure work at the best of times so I keep picking it up and putting it down again.

One good thing - I did some washing - a huge wash so there is a fair bit on my washing line (its a double one hanging on my balcony) and the remainder is on the airer drying indoors.

I don't feel very motivated myself today - it must be the weather:rolleyes:

GreyhoundAngel

Well Ahoy there mateys !!

H - You go for it !!

i'm "usually" pretty good with doing the books - but recently although my clients (only small ones) are kept upto date ..... my own seem to be drifting down river somewhat Really got to book some time in the diary to knock em back into shape :rolleyes:

TCM - Good news re the new account :T But :eek: at grumpy Debt collectors sent by eejjits for a cockles of their own making Seriously though, that's a bit much with the threatening behaviour - hope you get a result from TS.

Well I am back from this mornings outing ... went well - but who turned up the temperature while I wasnt looking When I left it was cool n drizzly .... when I came out the MShop it was positively tropical - and I had a blooming fleece jumper on :eek:

Need to try n do some lateral thinking - and find other opportunities to "advertise" my services (oooh errr ... think I should have phrased that better :rotfl:) It's all very well putting in the places everyone else does - but I need to do something more creative to stand out :rolleyes:

Right ... kettles boiling.... time for tea

G:A xx

SunshineDaisy

Sorry I’ve not posted for a bit – I’ve even been procrastinating on the non-work tasks that I do when I’m procrastinating on work tasks. How bad is that?

Thanks for your welcomes and suggestions from Horace.

Yes the contract we entered was dumb – several years worth of dumb!
We definitely can’t get out of it – others have tried and the supplier forced them into bankruptcy.

We don’t have a shop – it’s mainly a telephone and online service selling to small businesses. We have a huge range of products that we sell – about 30,000. The problem lies in the fact that we are tied to the one supplier who has set the cost price and mandatory additional services so high that it difficult to resell and make a reasonable profit.

That said, your idea about selling a focused range of products got me thinking. Perhaps I can create a little marketing campaign on a set theme – pulling in a selection of products. A back-to-school theme might be an easy one to start off with. Although it might be better to pick something a bit different from everybody else. Something to think about.

My partner doesn’t ‘do’ sales. He will answer the odd phone call (and when he does, he is very good with the customers) but to be honest he doesn’t really want to get involved. I think this is one of the reasons I procrastinate so much – I feel I need to talk to somebody about the business, bounce ideas off and also somebody to give me a kick up the bum.

In between procrastinating, I have been concentrating on ways of making money outside the main business and reducing our outgoings. I’ve sold loads of stock from my old business and been down the bank with bags of coins I’ve been hoarding in jars around the house. I’ve also sent back our franking machine (another dumb idea but mainly due to the lies told to me by the very pushing PB saleslady) and cancelled an expensive (and unsuccessful) monthly advertising contract.

One thing I have found useful is something I picked up on the flylady website. She suggests picking a task you are putting off, and doing it for 15 minutes – no more, no less. This makes it seem less daunting – even the worst task you can put up with for 15 minutes. I’m going to give it a go and let you know if it works.

Bye for now...SunnyD

GreyhoundAngel

SunshineDaisy wrote: »

Sorry I’ve not posted for a bit – I’ve even been procrastinating on the non-work tasks that I do when I’m procrastinating on work tasks. How bad is that?

I feel I need to talk to somebody about the business, bounce ideas off and also somebody to give me a kick up the bum.

In between procrastinating, I have been concentrating on ways of making money outside the main business and reducing our outgoings. I’ve sold loads of stock from my old business and been down the bank with bags of coins I’ve been hoarding in jars around the house. I’ve also sent back our franking machine (another dumb idea but mainly due to the lies told to me by the very pushing PB saleslady) and cancelled an expensive (and unsuccessful) monthly advertising contract.

One thing I have found useful is something I picked up on the flylady website. She suggests picking a task you are putting off, and doing it for 15 minutes – no more, no less. This makes it seem less daunting – even the worst task you can put up with for 15 minutes. I’m going to give it a go and let you know if it works.

Bye for now...SunnyD

Hi Sunshine,

Thought I was gonna be yapping to myself all day :rotfl: Bet everyone else is off out enjoying the weather :rolleyes:

As for the procrastinating ... yeah, I can relate to that

It is difficult when you dont have someone supportive to bounce ideas around with - think that was one of the reasons why Wordsmith started this thread (not that we see that much of them these days :rotfl:) Feel free to bounce away .... everyone will happily [STRIKE]disect[/STRIKE] errm discuss ideas with you

I think I may follow your lead again doing the flylady stuff.... but this time, I will set myself more realistic things ... have a tendancy to go "great idea - lets do all of it in 20 mins ... :rotfl::rotfl: Then wonder why I dont :rolleyes:

OOOOh, just had a call from the new client ... they've booked me for an ongoing project .... for the moment it's just a couple of hours work one day every two weeks ... but hey, a few more like that and I'll be ticking over quite nicely

G:A xx

TCM_3

Procrastinate freely Sunshine! Its good to have a grumble on here, I do frequently, and the ones here make the nice sympathetic noises I need to hear that gives me the confidence in myself to keep going! People on here are ready and willing to offer ideas and suggestions.

Well done Greyhound on your new work! Didn't I tell everyone things will come thick and fast now!

I have been manic in here today, which is brill and I didn't realise what time it was! I have just got myself a big rug washing contract from a really big supplier as my prices are cheaper and my turnaround time is alot quicker! The same people have pulled me out of a very big hole and gave me freebies to give out as prizes for a competition we're sponsering for kids at the weekend which I reckon has saved me about £200. This is my late night so my chineese will taste even better with that good news and I am hoping the BIL will be finished painting (he has now been doing one small room for 1 week!) and I can enjoy it infront of the telly!

Hope everyone has had a good day, want to read a bit more of my book tonight.

Hugs & Kisses
T

Horace

Sunny - I am glad I have given you an idea at least, fingers crossed that it works. I think that tips from the flylady thread about doing things for 15 mins will work for me - I have been jotting down expenses and I keep picking the form up and putting it down again:rolleyes: Later on I shall send an email to my lovely accountant (I am not creeping..honest guv:rotfl:) and she has said that she will type it up so it looks professional (she is lovely and doesnt mind if I ring her up with silly questions).

G - well done on the new work - maybe you should get yourself a facebook group and flaunt your services on there (its free) then join other groups and add a linky to your business on there (if you have a website that is). Blogging also helps - again its free - I use blogspot.com and basically come out with a load of old tosh but folks seem to like it:D The weather is wierd, I went to a meeting last week and wore a suit plus a raincoat as it was raining but by the time I came out the weather had changed was it was roasting - I nearly passed out with the heat:rolleyes: I also went out today to the post box - I must have looked very odd as I am wearing a flowery skirt, I had chucked on a stripey t-shirt and then to top it all was wearing a thick brown fleece:eek: All I needed was a familiar and a broomstick and I would have been well away as the wierdo:eek:

Hurrah TCM on your rug cleaning contract and landing some prizes for the competition this weekend. Your BIL paints at the speed of a snail - actually that might be doing snails a disservice:rolleyes: Enjoy your chinese tonight too:D

I have had a little rest this afternoon too as my right eye developed lots of floaters again - its eye strain..oh I wish these glasses would come soon - its like being drunk only without the alcohol:eek:

Carrie85

Hi everyone, have been lurking for a little while and thought it time to introduce myself, as this thread has been a good encouragement and motivation to get moving with my work.

I'm self employed and although most work I do is on site for people all my admin and job hunting for new contracts is done at home, so hope it's ok to join in.

I've been out of uni for a year now and found this year the hardest, as everyone assured me it would be. Work has been very slow and have been in and out of my overdraft many times. I have finally got myself into credit, although i'm still getting few contracts.

I'm hoping things are starting to look up as i had a weeks work the other week for a good company and have had my first enquiry through my website about a commission yesterday. Lets hope that one comes off.

I still feel very new to all this and like I don't really know how to manage myself as self employed. But i really want to get motivated and not be afraid to go out and chase work to make a go of this.

I look forward to sharing more stories with you all and keeping motivated together