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jpwhittle

evening all, glad to hear everyone seems o be having a good start to the week, sounds like your going to be busy horace, and well done on the jewellery tcm.

im going to be busy every night this week as ive got my first craft fair on saturday, im taking all my christmas stuff that i told her about but im not sure wether to take my tiaras as well as i dint tell her about them, but if i could get some orders of them it would be great, and i dont have to have any extras made up as they will be done on an order basis only. Ive got loads of craft stuff to be making up though, wich is hard with noah being sick everywere and now looks like he has tonsilitis. but my mum helped me out when she was here on saturday, shes really getting into crafting and shes very good, she always has been as an ex sunday school teacher. she did alot for me wich was a big help and shes going to make me some bouquets up for my fair at the reebok stadium in 3 weeks.

Horace

JP - take the tiaras as well...people may want them for christmas parties:D Sorry to hear that Noah is sick..I hope he gets better soon. Don't run yourself into the ground this week either..make sure you have some 'me' time because you will need it before and after the fair.

I have a breakfast meeting tomorrow - followed by a 10 min or so gang meeting afterwards..its because I am now a member of the team:eek:

Have a good week all.

Mudbath

Yeahhhhhh - i'm finally working properly again. DS seems much better and is now back in school full time. He had five full weeks off and then was in and out of school for two weeks so it's been a long time poor mite! Tomorrow I start back at the hospice so i'm looking forward to that.

Sounds like everyone's really busy.

JP I can't wait to hear how your first fair goes - i'm sure you'll do brilliantly.
TCM - your OH's ex sounds like a really lovely person (not!). Glad things are going well work wise.
Horace - it can be difficult knowing whether to stop advertising somewhere. I used to advertise with yellow pages and did quite well from it until two years ago so this year I decided to stop it. It's great not having to find the money for that direct debit every month even though it was only about £30.

Ooooh nearly forgot to tell you all....are you sitting down as this might come as a shock......you know those assignments I've been mentioning since the year dot? Well.......





















I'VE FINISHED THEM!!!!

Now I just need to get them all in order with attendance certificates and reviews for each course and then I'm done. I'll be sending them off Wednesday at the latest.

Here's to a good week xx

Horace

Muddy - well done on your assignments and I am pleased that DS is now back at school..the poor mite was ill.

I came to a decision tonight about the adverts..I am going to ditch them, anyway I have spent £100 on something else - membership of music managers forum as I want to do some of their courses and know how to properly write a contract (ally will probably think that I am mad:rolleyes:) and I am thinking of it as a networking tool as well. Since April, I have spent over £500 on adverts that don't work..I am looking at the corporate side of things instead..£100 plus VAT for an ad in Hospitality & Events North magazine (I got a double ad and saved myself £50), a free ad in CES. If I get asked about a wedding, I will do it but I am not that fussed probably because I have found something that I really want to do..weddings were means to an end:rolleyes:

Let's hope we all have a good week.

TCM_3

Thank you, thank you, thank you so so much Horace - the magazines arrived this morning and I have done no work at all, I am drooling over the pictures of lovely food! I think you are right on the advertising front too, I have spent a small fortune over the years in various adverts to find them a waste of time and money. You are depending on someone buying that particular paper or magazine that week rather than the next week or month etc and no one uses the phone book or yellow pages any more anyway. I removed the BT ad man one day when I said no thank you and his parting comment was "when i come back next year and you are still leaning on the counter with no customers coming through your door, you'll maybe think differently about advertising". Hmm.

Glad the DS is better Mudbath - thats alot of time off but I'm sure he'll be glad to get back to see his chums again. Well done on the assignments too! Glad you've got them finished

JP I would take the tiaras too - the more you have with you, the more people will see.

The OH is in funny form again - the nonsense with his ex has knocked me for 6 so I am not at myself plus I am always worrying about the business and where do I find money from - so I do not sleep at night - hence his grumpiness this morning. Fault was found with lots of things before I opened the shop, then he phones an hour later all full of the joys of spring like he has never snapped at me!

Have a good day, moan over!

Mudbath

Good decision Horace - I hate paying for advertising. I'm lucky now that most of my work is word of mouth though I need to get better at selling myself. When people ask about my work I need to give a better sell!

TCM - I had the same comment from yellow pages. Do they really think that comments like that are going to make us change our minds? Hugs regarding OH xx

I've posted my assignments off so that's a massive weight off my shoulders. We have a massive shortage of cash this month because of me not working - I'm counting every penny and determined not to have a CC bill next month. That's the plan!

Hope you're all busy! xx

jpwhittle

Afternoon all, just sorted out my new prices while the kids are semi quiet and im shocked at what i can get for some of my tiaras. Some i decided not to go with full cost as id rather be in the middle somewhere than to overpriced, but definatly not as underpriced as i was. i found a site that said work out how much you want to earn a year with 4 weeks holidays then work out your hourly rate on a 40 hour week from there, turns put i want about £10ph ( how can i ask that?)
then said take the cost price add the time at hourly rate then times 2 for wholesale and times 2 again for retail price. needless to say everything went up, some of it unjustifiably so so while everythng has gone up i decided on some items to be abit lower but still a good price. I'll get john to upload all them tonight so people can see what they think now, My big taira ruby has one from £80 wich the site says is wholesale price for that piece to £140, now just hope someone will buy it.
I dont know why i hadnt actually searched pricing methods before but now i have im shocked, i was wondering why people on craft fairs could ask more for a pair of earing than some of my tiaras. just ope ive not gone the other way now. thankyou to everyone for your help with pricing though, i cant beieve how much i was selling myself short just hope my tiaras are good enough to ask that kind of money

TCM_3

JP, try the higher prices for a while and if you find you need to discount you can - in my shop if someone thinks they're getting a pound or two knocked off at the till they tell the world and his wife! Middle of the road is good, it will sell every day of the week for you. Am glad you got your prices sorted - you have to live as well!

Quiet here today, hence the pontificating! I took into the accounts this afternoon and have made a complete horlicks with Sage, which is probably going to take me the rest of the day to try and fix.

Grumpy OH in better form (for now!) The mother and step father announced they will be coming to stay for a week at the end of January - i offered them a house swap for the week but the "I'm coming to spend time with everyone" speech came out and my blood has ran cold!

Horace

Afternoon all...I have had one of those days today:rolleyes:

TCM - three cheers for the post office..I thought that although the mags were sent 1st class that they wouldn't get there until tomorrow:eek: I hope they will keep you out of mischief for a while..the country kitchen one is particularly nice because you can forage for food:D Sorry your OH is being a bit wierd - I'd put something in his tea to calm him down a bit:rotfl:

JP - well done on sorting your pricing out..as for £10 an hour then why not - you have to live.

Did the breakfast meeting today - met some useful people, went off to find a new venue as the place we use is closing down for refurbishment and we want to leave anyway because they think we are a nuisance:rolleyes: So I went to Frankie & Bennys and they seem keen and will open up especially early:cool: So watch this space - I have a few other places to visit yet. The band have managed to land themselves an invitation to play at a Welsh rock festival whilst I am trying to get them some festival time..they want to play Download but cannot submit anything via the website and cannot contact the guy who books the bands:rolleyes: To play Glastonbury they need to enter a competition and have to pay to enter too because they don't like unsigned bands..sigh. Oh what fun I am having..I didnt have lunch til 2.45pm because I forgot when lunchtime was:rolleyes: Some good news though I have been invited to the council house to have a look around and will be going there next week:cool: Ooh..must remember to book a hair appointment whilst the colour sale is on.

I cancelled my appointment in Telford tomorrow morning..I am feeling rather cold and sniffly and just can't be bothered to drive there.:rolleyes:

jpwhittle

the new detils on the site are live now, and have also set myslef some wholesale prices so i can try and get people to buy them from me to sell in their shops. almst ready for saturday, been making sweetie bouquets al night wch im very impressed with, just run out of sweets now so what ive got is what im taking.
hope everyone has had a good day?