Millionaire Challenge

lessonlearned

Wow - good for him. He sounds like fun. I love people who appreciate good food and treat it with respect.

My dad is a nightmare to cook for. He really doesn't value good food or appreciate the effort it takes. Cook him a feast and you barely get a nod of acknowledgement let alone a thank you. It's a thankless task, my mum was a saint.

I've been thinking a lot about recipes, menus. I've got food on the brain now. :rotfl: bursting with ideas.

It's a shame I'm going on holiday - I've got the bug now and I'm itching to get started. Never mind, I'm sure I will be able to force myself to have a good time.....;)

I was thinking today that actually January and February will be a
Perfect time for spending time in the kitchen, trying out recipes etc. Too cold for antique fairs and car boots, not really good decorating weather so yes a nice cosy kitchen will Be ideal. I can listen to Spanish language tapes whilst cooking, killing two birds with one stone.

Multi tasking at its best......:D

Kayalana99

Oosh can tell I've been busy when I'm having all these posts to catch up. My partner has gone to Scotland this week for a 'welcome to the company' course (been there near a year) and they have basically stuck him on the call centre because they are short staffed...we are both fuming.

On plus side, I have had 3 confirmed bookings this past week and one that I'm 100% sure she will be sending the cheque in the post in next few days, I have double booked July (two Saturdays not same date) but I got the enquiries at more or less the same time.

One of them seemed really short so I will be honest I over quoted her...and well she was happy to go ahead. £180 for 4 hours (well over quoted for what I'm normally charging) so I really can't complain and she seems a bit easier to talk with now but I asked her venue so I could quote on location and was and all I got back was the name of the town.

I've had a booking for a Barn in April, I have to admit I was on 'red alert' (can't explain that) when they booked me I spent 48 hours finding out as much information as I could. Basically they have very poor lighting throughout the building and the barn has no windows so come evening the light is going to be terrible (and maybe even in the day to I'm unsure at this point) which means my camera could go whappy and I just don't have the professional set up that I would need to combat the bad lighting but I know if I put my mind to it I can pull this off...

I know considering there budget they can't afford to pay a £1,000 photographer and I really do think if they are going to hire an amateur I will do my absolute best by them even if it means spending 4x more then they paid to get the equipment I need (which in fairness I'll use again so it's an investment)

They said that the venue said they could bring the photographer to visit them when they pay there final balance in January and I was like YESSSSS please let me come!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! doing a party in my head but really I just said "Oh yes I'd love to do that :-)"

It will be 9 bookings this year when the July one confirms with the deposit but I don't know if I will be taking much more on. I've got Jan-March empty which I want to keep that way as I will spend time doing engagement shoots to practice posing and keep training myself with courses and practice with lighting etc. I just don't want to take on to much when I first started this I thought I'd work my way up doing registry office / pub weddings before I got the chance at a proper venue but I've actually ended up with 2 venues this year that are amazing photography wise, 1 hotel wedding and I must have 3-4 of them being church weddings which is again a low light situation so the most nerve racking.

I may start turning people away unless they just want registry office - short coverage deals or unless there date is perfect fit around what else I have on but for my first year I think 9 bookings will be enough to gain experience, get a decent portfolio together and just enough time to build equipment up for the real 2017 start up where I will start portraying a brand and business.

Money has took a bit of a bad turn with my partner going away we went out to eat before and will be having a take away when he comes back this evening..he's coming back pretty late so I'll sort something but he's not going to me getting to much for his birthday I'm afraid but he'll like what I've got. + Spending money whilst he's been there and we went Xmas shopping but to be fair I had a Xmas budget so it's come out of that.


LL - Good luck sounds like a great idea and something you can do at home mostly which is always a bonus!!

gallygirl

Kaylana it's so exciting to read about your progress and you're pacing yourself well - great stuff :T.

Karmacat

Kaya, this is amazing - you obviously have real talent for what you're doing, and the results of your work are speaking for you as well. Congratulations!

lessonlearned

Kaya.

Well done you. Go girl. That is absolutely fab-u-Lou's. :j:j:j

My dream house has just come on the market but I can't afford it - Arrrgh. Story of my life. :rotfl:

Never mind, I've put it on my watch list. Hopefully it's overpriced. (TBH I think it is bearing in mind just how much work needs doing)

I will keep an eye on it. With a bit of luck it will languish and they will drop the price.

Fingers crossed.

tinktay84

wow ve not fully caught up but from LL, kaya and Muhrens posts it looks like things are going well for everyone (if not always the way we would like things to happen)


I got back from a week in Egypt last night.. I mentioned my fella booked for me and him a break, kids stayed at home (not alone obv haha) We spent the week talking about the kids and also about how to push ourselves forward.


For the first time ever I have come back off holiday and had no bills, no worries and no overdrawn accounts.


I came home to a solicitors letter saying divorce papers have been sent to my estranged husband (estranged, ha! what a term) so that's progressing.


Back to work tomorrow so have reconfirmed my next 3 weeks worth of jobs and arranged access etc, booked up until I go to Thailand in April now so nose to the grindstone now


1 loan I had I phoned for a final settlement today...ive overpaid by £15 so they are shutting it down and refunding :-)


the other loan is 6 months in front and everything else is almost done!


Me and my fella are now throwing any spare money into a savings account and going to purchase a BTL in the next 12 months

Muhren

How was your holiday tinktay, did you go to Sharm El Sheikh? I ask as I heard on the radio that they have stopped flights back from there due to the bomb scare today. So looks like you might have gotten lucky.

Sounds like you have a good plan in place gong forward and have plenty of work in place to keep you busy and the money coming in.

I have probably missed it as I haven't read all of the thread but will the BTL be in addition to a property that you already own?

Yeah I got an unexpected bit of good news, if you can put it like that with some inheritence at the back end of last week. As you can see from my previous posts I am struggling with what best to do with it!

I am due to be getting a car through work and test drove one over 3 days this week. The one that I think I am going to go for will cost between £50-60 a month, I like it but it isn't that big (I have a lot of stuff I need to carry around for work) but it is towards the lower end of price range and with everything being included will work out around a £1000 a year cheaper than keeping my car on the road. I think I could get about £2000 by selling my car as well so that will go towards my debt as well.

I had a text from my tenant letting me know they want to reamin on a rolling contract once their current one is up at the end of the year. They are looking to buy their own place but don't expect to move out until March at the earliest. I really need someone in there until the end of next year so hopefully the EA can find someone quickly once they do move on.

Karmacat

Blimey Tink, as Muhren said, sounds like you had a lucky escape from the aftermath of the Russian plane going down - sitting at the airport waiting to be flown to Cyprus and safety by the RAF is not the ideal end to a holiday!

Muhren - excellent steps forward there, on the car and the tenant.

Trying to think of any good news I have erm, I have tiny bit of tidying up to do, if it ever stops raining I'm going to carry on tidying the front border (out of control when I got ill, making it useable again helps gets saleability back up, and if I stay here, it means I can plant what *I* want to plant). And then I'm going to spend the day either writing blog posts or publicising the blog, including making one last effort to contact the reporter who's interested in one of the blogs :eek:

minxy-x

Well done Kay, its amazing how you have taken this off.

Fingers crossed for your numbers to come up for your house LL!

Glad you had a nice hol tink, well done on your loan repayment, the other one will be gone in no time! Exciting news for your BTL plans.

Muhren- does money come in 3's like bad luck does- fingers crossed yes and you might be getting even more £££ through.

Muhren

Well I have an interview for a new job a week tomorrow so you never know!