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

ani_26

Amatheya81 wrote: »

I will make some greetings cards from the next painting so you could always buy one of those

Yep, I've read Memoirs of a Geisha, it's one of my favorite books Red Lotus is good too, it's allong the same style but set in rural China instead... it is quite a lot darker though.

Anyway, no work for me today. I've spent all day tiling my mothers bathroom, I've got to go back to grout, paint and lay a new floor tomorrow... I'm so tired and hurty I just want to go to bed!!!

Hope you're all having a productive weekend :beer:

Well i hope the next one is as good as that. I thought you'd read the book.

I've not heard of Red Lotus. Sounds like another book i'd be interested reading. I'll see if they have it in the library.

I'm working all weekend. Don't work too hard everyone else, either, ( easier said than done ).

Wordsmith

I haven't been on the site properly for a few days. However, I have at last got those accounts finished - I just have to send a few things to the accountant, and then I can forget about them until he gets back with queries.

I was at my short-fuse client's yesterday. He wasn't in too bad a mood with me, but he was with the Revenue. Oh, boy, was he in a bad mood with the Revenue. This client owes me about €3,000. I know he can't pay it at the moment, but they are in the process of selling part of the business, so I am hoping that if I hang in there I will get my money - I am fairly sure that if I leave now I might get forgotten about, but in the meantime I am not sure how much I am being strung along doing work that I may never get paid for. I really cannot afford to lose this amount of money - well, of course I can't, who could? Also, as it is a seasonal business, I hope that if they get a good summer he will pay me then - but again, probably only if I am still there. I have avoided tackling him about it as I know he will just say that I'll get paid when they get the money for the sale (and it is possible, of course, that the sale won't happen). I'll say something next week - I will, I will.

To do:
[STRIKE]Email accountant.
Do a couple of little finishing off bits for client's accounts.
Prepare admin for this week's post office stuff.
Check client's emails.
Start on work for client's VAT.
Shop's newspaper returns.
Remind publisher I am available for proofreading.
Prepare invoice for client I am seeing tomorrow.
Survey sites.
Fill in questionnaires for sale of house.
Teaching tonight.[/STRIKE]

Have a good day, all.

Amatheya81

I'm using my one remainin un damaged muscle to pop in and say hello. The decoration of my moms bathroom has not gone well, everything was file while I was tileing but when I lifted the old lyno I discovered a small flood under it and as a result I had to call the plumbers and then I had to lift all the 1970's floor tiles because some of them had rotted... I never thought I'd say this but I'm actually looking forward to going back to my day job for a rest!!!

Hope everyone else is doing fine... I'm off to tend to my aching back!

Horace

Another housework hater here..I too am a lazy cow as I have better things to do than tidy up and dust:rotfl:

I have had the go ahead from the venue and I can hold my breakfast meets there on alternate Thursdays. I will make money because I am not giving away free breakfast folks pay me £10 for breakfast and I pay the venue £7.50 for full english and continental with tea/coffee/juice included. I had the go ahead yesterday so now the stops are being pulled out and a database of emails (thank god I do so much networking so I can use my contacts) is being created which will be mailchimped out inviting people along and inviting them to pay me in cash or by cheque (will set up paypal at a later date).

I have other news too - I have talked myself into a part time job, one of my chums has a computer company and his business has one employee who started 6 months ago but it seems that he needs help with his admin so I said that I could do it but didn't want to work full time. After a bit of uhmming and aaahhing yesterday he announced that he would give me a purchase order and then I invoice him for my time and that way he can afford to pay me £7 an hour and it would be cheaper for him because he wouldn't have to sort out my tax and NI (I have a Class 2NI exemption anyway which expires in 2012 and I would only pay tax on profit). I shall be working 8hrs a week which suits me because it leaves me free to sort out my networking breakfasts and get more business.:j

Not sure if I mentioned before, I have joined some social groups to get me out of the house and meeting new people. I went for a 5mile hike (easy ramble) on Sunday but it was incredibly muddy and admittedly I found climbing up the Lickey Hills a bit of a killer because I couldn't speak and had to keep stopping for a rest. I met some great people who have persuaded me to book to go to Harlech at Easter - their view was that if I should happen to bump into ratbag then he will see what a great time I am having without him (ratbag is going with a different London group) what is even more galling for him now is that I have been invited to join two London-based groups which ratbag is a member of by the people that run the groups because they want to use my expertise to organise some events for them - I met these people through a sister branch of one of the clubs in Birmingham. I am now a member of 6 meetup groups now.

One thing that I have noticed because I have been spying is that ratbag is paying £100 for his Easter weekend yet I am paying £45 which includes accommodation and all provisions with the group I am going with and I have booked to go away with them for the May Day bank holiday (camping) and August Bank Holiday - staying in a cottage in Abersoch and that has cost me £30 including provisions. These are going to be my holidays and also research for my business because I get the opportunity to try venues before I recommend them to anyone else. If I play my cards right I may be able to offset some of this against tax:cool:

Best crack on..I have minutes to type from last night and a database of email addresses to create..I start the Thursday Business Breakfasts in April:eek:

Wordsmith

Hope you're feeling better, Amatheya. Do you like doing DIY stuff? If so, ...

Horace, well done on the p/t job, and especially well done on the breakfast club, and on getting out with the social groups. I wish I could be a tenth as productive as you are. Have you read startagain's diary? I think you and she would get on. But ... Stop spying on the ratbag - you won't do yourself any good! Bad girl.

On the way back from my client's yesterday we (the hound and I) stopped at the beach for a walk. It's been ages since we've done that - she appreciated it, and it did me good to stop and get some fresh air instead of rushing back to the office. And today ...

To do:
[STRIKE]Check emails
Check client's emails
Send a couple of emails on client's behalf
Post office admin[/STRIKE]
Send off commission form for post office
[STRIKE]Accounts for shop
Survey sites[/STRIKE]

Have a good day.

poorbutrich

Morning all
Just thought I'd butt in here to say that there's a good piece on Radio 4's Woman's Hour right now (but you'll be able to listen again) on women who have trouble selling themselves. This is a particular problem for shy ol' me, but I'm sure there are more of you in the same boat!

Amatheya81

Wordsmith - I used to like DIY until I started my moms bathroom!!!

Right, I need to get on and get those card images ready for my website tonight as I've let things slide the past couple of days. I also need to start planning my next Geisha painting.

I'm not going to have much time this weekend as I've got to take my mom food shopping Friday evening, I've got dance practice with my Medieval re-enactment group on Saturday then I'm supposed to be at the Spring meeting Sunday but instead I'm going to come back home and lay my mothers new vynil floor tiles... lucky old me! Then I'm off for some very civilised tea and cake in the afternoon with my best friend and Monday I've got the Swindon Artist Forum monthly meeting so that will be another night when I won't have any time for work.
Why is it that whenever I have things I want to do I'm just to busy or too tired to do them?!

Nemesis201077

Hi all,

Just thought I'd join the group.

Following a frustrating 3 years at one of the world largest fire safety companies, I decided to establish my own company offering comparable services, except far more competitive and customer focussed.

The company, Alpha-Tech Fire, went live officially in June 2009 and we're still plugging away at it.

I'm the only one employed full time, my business partner is employed fulltime elsewhere and makes himself available as we get jobs to do. We also have a range of reliable subcontractors who provide additional services we require experts for.

The nature of the business means we make small margins on a lot of our work, and it will take a considerable amount of time to build up a client base in terms of service contracts. Once we have these clients things will become much easier, but as it stands I'm only paying myself £285pcm. I do get some income from renting rooms in my property, but don't exactly have the funds to afford a lavish lifestyle.

In order to see if we could boost the business I wondered if there were any grants or government support systems that would either help us progress faster or help me financially until the company is more established.

Having looked I can only see options to take loans, which is something we simply don't wish to do.

If I were from an ethnic minority, pregnant, 55+, disabled or in a deprived area there are grants available, sadly I don't seem to qualify for any support at all. Given the government are supposed to be encouraging private enterprise does anyone know of any useful support they are actually able to provide that doesn't cost us loads or give us a debt?

I've thought about joining the FSB and local business link/enterprise network, but don't really want to commit funds if these aren't worthwhile. We've got plenty of other associations that are after our cash, such as the FIA, BAFE, BFC, Safe Contractor, Exor not to mention trying to achive ISO9001 accreditation. Any opinions on these would be helpful.

Naturally if anyone would like advice on fire safety for their business feel free to look me up, my advice is always free and I'm happy to let you know whether prices you've been quoted are competitve and ways to ensure you don't get fleeced by fire safety engineers.

Horace

Hi Nemesis - please can you remove the link to your business? It is against forum rules, although you can put a link on your profile. We also don't promote our businesses on here either again because of forum rules. Nemesis there is no funding available - business link has disappeared and is being replaced by Local Enterprise Partnerships but these are still being created and they don't have any money either. I have never been able to find funding for my business even though I live and work in a regeneration area - I am 2 mins walk from Europe's largest building site (the old Rover works). Have you joined your local chamber? If so, they may know of any funding available although I think that tends to be for manufacturing because that certainly seems the case up here.

Membership of the FSB is worth it..I know that I pay £120 per annum and my first payment was £150. That money gives you free insurance so that you are covered if Mr Taxman decides to investigate you, you can get access to a free 24 hour legal helpline and you can ask questions about business and personal matters. You can get free banking with the co-operative business bank who will pay you an annual loyalty bonus of £25 and they will not charge you any fees like the likes of Lloyds TSB who will charge when there is money in the account, when you pay money in and when you take it out again. I also get roadside recovery and pay £7 a month - it isnt the RAC or the AA but a series of independent garages and they do homestart which is great for me. There are lots of benefits to being in the FSB. They also have networking events - and when you are a small business networking is a far better way of getting your face and business known. You can pay places like BNI (around £500 plus VAT) but they have lock outs and only allow one business type plus you have to commit to attending each week and if you don't make any referrals you get a black mark against you and you could be thrown out. 4Networking.biz is also £490 plus VAT for passport membership and this allows you to visit any 4N group in the UK (and Australia) but you can join their online forum for free. There could be lots of no-membership networking groups in your area too - it is a case of looking out for them or getting invited..I get invited to loads since I started networking.

Wordsmith - I have stopped spying on ratbag, I am now far too busy and I can see that from March onwards I am going to be very busy indeed. I am feeling rather chuffed today because I have been asked to organise some business networking lunches for one of the casinos in Birmingham - I will be able to make some money on these because I can charge the event out at £15, £20 or even £25 a head:D

I didnt type the minutes on Tuesday night - I did, however, type up my 7 music questions with answers for our business club quiz on 22nd March - each committee member has chosen a subject that they will provide questions and answers for and come the quiz night we shall abstain from answering questions that we have set - so I won't be answering my music ones but I can answer the others. Now I need to type up some nomination forms and do the minutes.

Need to update website too now that my mate has tinkered with it and I need to contact the guy who printed my new business cards because they haven't been cut properly so the black square in the top right hand corner is no longer square more of an oblong:mad:

Hope everyone is doing well? Must add that I am off on another meetup thing on 27 March - a 9.5 mile hike in Lichfield Trent Valley (must take my camera) and the walk starts and ends at the railway station so I can just hop on a train at the station down the road.:cool:

Wordsmith

Morning all. I have just a couple of hours left of office work, then I'm a shop girl for the rest of the day. So, my list for today:

To do:
Check emails - mine and client's
Send off commission form for post office (which I didn't do yesterday)
Hand out pensions
PO admin
Shop accounts
Write off to request CCA
Check bank account - sigh