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

moneymabel

lol @ plasterers on stilts! can just picture it! I think the loyalty cards a good idea-what we do at the craft shop is one stamp on a card for every £5 they spend and then when they fill the card (10 stamps) they get a £5 gift voucher. might be an idea for you to do?

well done on getting the stall JP

Horace

Well done on getting the stall JP - I won't be doing the fair, as a planner its not worth it and the brides that visit tend to be DIY ones.:rolleyes:

Was twittering yesterday with Rachel Elenaugh (who used to be on Dragon's Den), well I did a quiz on her website and it came up with the conclusion that I am a mumpreneur and destined to fail just because I dared answer a question saying that I was careful with money:rolleyes: If she had been a bit more careful with money then her company Red Letter Days wouldnt have gone bust (now bought out by Theo Wotsit and Peter Jones).:p

A loyalty card is a good idea TCM - that way you can pay out when they have filled their card or give them something free like a tin of saddle soap. I have visions of plasterers on stilts now...I guess that's one way to plaster a ceiling:rotfl:

Washing machine repair man has just gone - he said that he would come round and thankfully he didnt charge me, he has put my mind at rest:D

TCM_3

the loyalty card seems to be the way forward me thinks. Have just done the sums and am down about £1000 on takings from December last year but i can see why - i have brought in cheaper products so have to sell more of them in order to be back to that level - also folks are shopping online and i cannot compete with the like of that - i offer a more personalised thing - but i have a new wheeze too - hampers! All the kiddies that go to the local riding schools and buy for their horsey chums can have a hand made hamper containing gloves, a bag of horse treats and a comb for the horse's mane all wrapped lovely in a basket with a bow for £5.

I am beginning to discover that we self employed folk must be all very alike! I too have family skeletons in the cupboard - my dad was an abusive drunk who I couldn't tell you if he is living or dead - my ex-husband is a kindhearted idiot - the current OH is a bully! I think that is why we all work so hard at our businesses!!!!

Well done on the stall JP - it will get better honey, xx

nzmegs

Sorry to be the fly in the ointment TCM -0 but I got on pretty well with my parents. Loved my MUM (she died 3 years ago) and my Dad is cantankerous and argumentative, but when i look back on my childhood i have to say it was happy...my Grandmother (mum's Mum) was an alchoholic but I never had much to do with her anyway.
Myself employed streak must come from somewhere else I put it down to proving that all that money i spent on my education is actually worth something. I also want to set an example to my kids - don't want them stuck in a deadend job working for the "man".!!

My daughter asked me yesterday why mostly men are prime minsiters and MP's and "in charge". She could work out why women never seem to get the chance to do these types of jobs. She is 7 and I found myself explaining the ins and outs of the real world and how girls need better role models. She totally got it and said "so, if more women become prime ministers, then more girls will want to and it will get better and better...." EXACTLY!!

As I said to her, the best thing is to just do and be what you want to be and don't let anything - not least a man - stop you. Thankfully my husband is fully supportive but not all men are and some Dads don't know how to encourage their little girls to be more than pretty little show peices.

Where did that come from? rant over!!

TCM_3

Horace oh font of all knowledge, thee of genious status.... have i grovelled enough?? do you, in your wisdom know of any downloadable stock control software? I need something that i can type in 2 bales of hay, 1 coat etc that i sold today to let me see what is selling well for me. I do have SAGE accounts but i don't know how to add that in without ballsing up the figures that i am working on!

Anyone any suggestions? I have excel but don't know how to set up the collums to add across!

Thanks all

GreyhoundAngel

:santa2:Hello Folks !!

Well it's been an extremely busy & exhausting few weeks for me, no time to myself at all - with three 7 day weeks just done. :eek: However, today was a fairly short day thankfully and though I've still got a couple more days of bookings to complete yet this week, I feel I'm on the "homerun" now. Very little booked in over Xmas, but already got bookings in for the first week of January (three days solid work) and a couple of other bookings for the following weeks so far. :snow_laug

Glad to see you're all doing okay, I too believe that 2010 is going to be "our year".

TCM - Try googling for "Free Inventory Software" that should give you some possibilities - otherwise if you don't need it urgently, I've got a spreadsheet that I could adapt for you (ie the formulas etc) but I won't be able to do it for a few days at least .... let me know. :rudolf:

Right then, cuppa tea and then I need to do my reports & other paperwork. Catch up again soon !

PS - Welcome to our newiest members to the Sloths n Beavers club!! :xmassmile

G:A xx

Horace

I like it angel..the sloths and beavers club..today I am a sloth, got up late thanks to a nitwit ringing me at 7.16am:mad::eek: and then fell asleep on the sofa after lunch (i had put the heater on..big mistake):eek:

Its a long time since I used Sage accounts but I am sure it comes with some stock control software - I think angel has the right idea though searching for free inventory software. Am loving the idea of the hampers too.

I have just typed up a form of words for tomorrow - not my 40 second nincompoop nonsense but some proper words for my voicemail message, I have a friend who is a voiceover artist and he has said that if I bung a few quid in the charity tin that the will record my voicemail message for my business mobile (I have the standard one on there at the mo:rolleyes:). I am thinking something like this: Hi you are through to Denise @ Sponsalis, we are not any old events company we are a bespoke events company, sorry we are not here to take your call we are busy with one of our fantastic events, so please leave a message after the tone and we'll call you when we return. I want to make people smile and he will do it in the luxury M&S voice - not sure if I should give my name or just my business name. You could say that it is work in progress.

Mudbath

Horace - I wouldn't give your name. If you just give the company name then any number of people could work for you - it's not just you.

Hello to everyone. I'm mad busy at the moment with work. I've also decided to definitely work one day next week and one day between Christmas and New Year. People have been asking and my children are older now so will be fine with DH/amusing themselves for a few hours. It's not like i'm far away!

Hope you're busy/getting ready for christmas/feeling festive xx

starxtrouble

Oh god... Ive just found out about some new EU VAT rules coming in in Jan which mean when I do work for clients in other countries, their VAT rules apply rather than the UK ones. I'm not registered for VAT here as I earn no where near the threshold, so currently I dont have to pay VAT to anyone regardless of what country they are in. In Jan it changes, and different EU countries have different VAT %s and thresholds.. so I might be liable under their VAT rules and have to pay VAT to them...

Oh god.. I really need an accountant now...

Horace

Hi all

Another busy day for me - my voicemail message has been duly recorded and sounds fab. Hit the shops, took some skirts and a couple of blouses and a jacket to the charity shop (the nicer shop that I have been known to buy stuff from too). Have spent the afternoon wrestling with this music contract. Have also been networking online and tweeting.

Am not feeling particularly well today either - I have had back ache all day, mainly caused by too much standing at the breakfast meeting today and then I got a cold draught down my back so had to sit there with my coat on - can't wait to go to the new venue after christmas as it is 100 times warmer than where we are now. Shall miss the tv as this morning we sat and watched pingu followed by shaun the sheep:rolleyes:

I am not feeling very festive and don't feel like shifting furniture to put the tree up although I may have changed my mind towards the end of the week as I have new baubles to go on the tree including the one my mum made for me (I say made, it was something that I had given her and she glued it together and decorated it and made it look pretty).