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

TCM_3

Hi Monkey & Lexxi - welcome along! I'm procrastinating too today (there's a shock!). I had great intentions this morning of what all I was going to do and so far it hasn't happened!

I am taking my shop by the throat and giving it a good shake - I am being more forceful with suppliers in getting a better deal, I am SERIOUSLY looking at my profit margins and will increase prices a teeny bit if i think I need to and and am looking at moneysaving at every given opportunity. I am a bit fed up though because all i seem to do is be on the go constantly and never have a chance to do anything for myself. The joys of self employment!

Hope everyone having a good day
Txx

savingforarainyday

Hi today must be the day for newbies.

I am here because I am PROCRASTINATING.

Please may I join.:o

Work from home doing admin, book-keeping and self assessments and all manner of dogs body type tasks:rotfl:

I miss having work colleagues:rolleyes: I think.....

Purpleroses

hello newbies :wave: welcome to the mad house

We were supposed to be hit with 70mph gales today so I finished early and of course the gale never came! :rolleyes:

Nice to have a quiet afternoon tho.

Hope today went well for ya H!

Horace

Hi to all newbies

Ally - I have been driven through Dulwich and Forest Hill - I can drive in and out of London but as for driving around it then forget it, I leave that to someone else:D

I have decided that I want a shop - I want a shop that sells beautiful things, trouble is I dont think that I could sell anything as I would want to keep it all to myself:rolleyes: I had a great time but I was back home by about 1pm because my back had given out (its still painful now:rolleyes:). I am going back tomorrow as its the final day and I am on a promise:D - I am after the most gorgeous lamp ever and I have been told that I can buy it at the end of the show:cool: How to describe it...its aluminium (there was a choice of colours either bronze or silver but I actually prefer the silver), its like a woven metal vase with leaves and flowers and the flowers contain tiny halogen low energy bulbs. The flowers can be described as being either like alliums or teasels (I like the teasels) and they just positively gleam:D They would normally retail at £35 but I shall hopefully be getting it for less.

Is there something wrong with me I wonder? Why do I always pick the expensive things? There were a few stands selling umbrellas but I didnt like any of them and then I spotted the most gorgeous brollies - the cheapest was £100:eek: They are all handmade in Italy, the one weddingy one that I adored was £120:eek::eek: Basically it was black but the underside was cream and the black top had hundreds of swarovski crystals on it and the handle was black and again studded with swarovski crystals. The minimum order value is £200 which the lady told me was basically 4 umbrellas - I am sorely tempted and when my business starts earning I shall start buying.

I may well have a deal to sell the most luxurious wedding boxes, guest books and photograph albums, plus the company make the most divine bags - these look like posh handbags and when you open them up they are organisers inside (like a filing box). They come as a set because there are 4 colours and the trade price is £6.95 although obviously you wouldn't sell them for that. These were the people i wanted to see anyway.

There was another company that I may well be buying from - they sell bags that are jute but they include some unusual bottle bags which contain 2 champagne flutes and a corkscrew (I have an idea about them and what they could be used for). They were an Australian company although the company owners now live in the UK.

There was a company selling tiny trees to give away as presents so I suggested that they sell them as wedding favours too - they hadn't thought of doing that (methinks I should start charging for my business advice:rotfl:). Another stand had the most gorgeous crystal tiaras and haircombs - they are going to send me a catalogue and I can then visit their warehouse and buy as much or as little as I want - I am hoping that they might sell something tomorrow.

Some companies were a bit sniffy as they like huge orders and not people like me who only want to buy a few items. One lady sold wedding ring cushions but her minimum spend was £150 and then she would add P&P of £100 on top of that:eek: - I won't be bothering.

Tomorrow I have received an invitation to meet someone in Hall 2 - I didnt venture in there - I did Hall 4/5 and I think 3. The Autumn Fair folks are really good as they give you huge orange bags to carry all the leaflets etc and they give you a badgeholder so that you can wear your badge over the 4 days of the show.

I wont be going smart, I shall be wearing my cut off trousers instead and some crocs. I did see some strange things too such as football team toasters so that when your bread is toasted it comes out with the letters MUFC or whatever team it is you support (how tacky).

So all in all it was quite a good day - oh and parking was free too:cool:

itsnowtime

Hi Horace..

Sounds like you had a really fab day.. I'm still debating whether to go tomorrow or not...

It's a 2 hour (ish) drive for me and with my stinking cold and a website that is still not finished!! I think it might be wise to look at the websites of all the suppliers and then contact them directly.

I have to admit though walking around and having a good look is very tempting.. mmmmmmm

Maybe I'll see how I feel in the morning and if I'm upto it - I'll have a drive down.

Out of interest did you happen to see many eco-friendly suppliers / products?? I know you'll have been looking for wedding things etc.. but thought I'd just ask..

Okay back to the website.. and my huge 'To-Do' List :rotfl:

Take care all

Mudbath

Hiya

Just popped on to catch up. Hello to all the newbies....hope you find the thread useful!

Today I received the cheque from the lady who emailed me about gift vouchers a few days ago. She's from down south so that's two people now who'd never have bought my vouchers if I'd not set up the website. I've sent the voucher and bumph off and sent the cheque to my business bank. The only problem I have with gift vouchers is that when the person finally uses them you kind of feel that you're working for nothing!! I need to get my head round that as it seems my vouchers are getting more and more popular. Mind you, the number of vouchers I sell that are never used is crazy!

Right, i'm aware i'm wittering. No work done today just the voluntary morning at my local hospice. Spent the afternoon moving rooms around at home but i'm guessing the more organised / tidy I get the better my business will run!

Speak soon xx

Horace

Snow - I found ethical bags and paper and admit that I didnt look at jewellery as such. Anyway if you're ill there is always the Spring Fair to look forward to in February. I dont want to catch your lurgy - I can't afford to be ill:eek:

There were some nice things and not so nice things but I am guessing that I am a snob:rotfl: I did see some gorgeous silk scarves from Scotland, silly hats, tat, some gorgeous christmassy things including these outsize blown glass baubles (elongated and bulbous all in one) that were hanging on black ribbons, yet more tat, gorgeous silver jewellery (I did see a bit), umbrellas, lamps, cushions, wicker baskets, you name it it was there.

Muddy - that's the advantage of gift vouchers people forget to use them but you still have the money:rotfl: I think that I need to hit the thermal spa on Thursday as my back is killing me - I had a car accident in 1995 and suffered severe whiplash and despite doing all the physio exercises my back has never been right, I did go to an osteopath who claimed that I had one leg longer than the other (I dont btw) and that due to the muscles in my back he couldnt treat me (apparently my muscles are too strong:rolleyes:).

nappentass

Morning

Thanks for all the welcomes and hi to other newbies like me.

Horace - I don't know whereabouts you are but wish you were near me and I'd give you Bowen to sort your back out - the very reason I trained is because I had injuries incl 2 car accidents and it was the only thing that sorted me out and effectively saved my life.

Mudbath - do you put an expiry date on your gift vouchers? and if so how long do you give them? I do 'thank you vouchers' for those who have referred a friend but never know how long to make them valid for.

The extra work I got now seems to be expanding, as part of promoting the salon I'm trying to get the other therapists setup on googlemaps and if they haven't got websites / literature etc trying to assist them get set up with that - hopefully bring in a few bob - boy I'm going to have to get organised to keep track of things as well as keep focused on finding more clients for myself.

Hope everyone has a great day

Horace

Morning all - I am not quite ready to leave home just yet (still in my dressing gown and waiting for the rush hour traffic to disperse).

Nappentass - I live in Birmingham. My back is dreadful today so I am dosing myself up with Ibruprofen - two muscles either side of my spine in my lower back feel like twisted rope this morning and I am sure that having a weak back makes my stomach fatter:rolleyes: I also have a tendency to slump - this has become a bad habit from school when I started off as the shortest person in the class to becoming the tallest by the time I left high school at 17. Re your blog - do as I did and set up a blog on blogspot.com and then put a linky to it from your website (although Laura at printing.com put the link on for me when she did my site).

Muddy - the various beauty parlours near me have varying expiry dates for their vouchers - one has 3 months and another has 6 months.

I had a brilliant idea this morning for Snow in case she can't make the show - to get another show catalogue - its quite thick but has all exhibitors listed but the guide also has feature pages from various suppliers. I was going to see if I could get another one today by saying that I had left it at home and then I could send it to her. But, let's hope that Snow is feeling better today and make it to the show herself.

Have a great day all.

moneymabel

Hi all,
well done on the voucher sale Mudbath! hopefully they won't redeem it, double bonus lol ;-)
Hi to all newbies-still one myself really.
Glad you had a good day Horace, hope your back feels better soon. I like the shop idea and that lamp sounds gorgeous. did I read that right about the p&p on the other items ...£100????!!!!!
Have decided what i'll do at the wedding fair is when anyone enters the draw I'll give them a card so they can find the website if they win to choose their prize and I'll hand over one of your leaflets with it :-)
I've cancelled my advertising-, just one issue to go now (Novemebers) I'm going to concentrate on paying of my debt and doing what I can with free /low cost advertising.