Millionaire Challenge

Muhren

Not that it will be an consolation but I have done sod all today as well. I've not been feeling 100% and have been sleeping a lot, I do struggle for motivation at the best of times but today has been particularly bad.

Karmacat

I've been sitting listening to a webinar about writing non fiction kindle books - if you work hard and focussed at the planning stage (oops ... I'm notoriously bad at that, because I enjoy the footling about so much) and time the promotion well, it can result in really good sales.

Other than that ... zilch!

cazmanian_minx

My plans for today were slightly derailed by going out this morning to see this:



...which had been the right way up and where those four mats are the night before! Too windy to do anything about it today; I think we're going to have to take it to pieces and hoist it back over the fence a bit at a time.

Did pick up some hay yesterday and got some very helpful advice about buying a tractor from Brian - I definitely need one with a dual/independent clutch so I can run the baler when the tractor is stationary. He's going to keep an ear out for me as well

Broken_Biscuits

Not sure if its water tight, but looks a bit like ready made ark. Perhaps you have been chosen?

On the plus side it didn't land on anyone or anything.

Karmacat

Good grief, caz! Take it slowly, don't strain anything!

lessonlearned

Wow Caz That must have been some storm. Hope you and yours are ok.

Apparently snow is on its way. Still, I have a nice full freezer and well stocked cupboards and joy of joys, I don't have to get up at the crack of dawn, de-Ice the car and brave the elements.

I can wait until the streets have been "aired"........Oh the joys of FID:rotfl:

Having said that I have been both busy and profuctive the last couple of days.

The last time I posted I was stuck in the doldrums. It didn't last long - fortunately they never do. I had a sulk for a couple of hours then treated myself to a bunch of flowers and gave myself a stern talking to and pleased to say I'm now back to my old cheery optimistic self.

I have blitzed my bedroom and got everything nicely organised just the way I like it - happily "Kondoing" all my unwanted stuff. I gave 4 bags to the Chazzer including 7 pairs of hardly worn shoes - I know, I know:o - a complete waste of money but that's another good lesson learned. From now on I will only be buying shoes that "give me joy" and which don't cripple me.......

I now have two of those big blue IKEA bags full of bric a brac and collectables to take to my lady who sells for me. There are some quite nice pieces In there so hopefully a nice little pay packet further down the line.

I have done some research into mortgages and spoken to a broker so That im ready to pounce when I see the right property.

And today, despite being a fair weather gardener, and it being bliddy cold outside, I finally got round to planting some tulip bulbs which I bought from The Amsterdam flower market when we stopped there on the cruise. They are bright blue!!! I bought a bag of 50 and split them between my sister, DS1 and DS2 and myself. Let's see who can grow the best tulips......:D

Moi, Competitive?? :rotfl::rotfl:

Kayalana99

Ouch!! Let us know how it goes getting it back round..

I've had some up and down days to be honest I think my eBay is really bringing me down!! I've had the worst customer EVER. 20+ messages if I didn't reply within 30min it's why are you ignoring me?

I took my Son to football club for 90min and got back to three messages alone!!

She had a mark on the item but wouldn't send me a photo - then she finally sent one and it was the smallest thing in the world but by this point she had threatened me 4 times with negative feedback, been downright rude so I just told her she needed to return it through eBay - 5 messages or so later I decided to just refund because it just isn't worth it.

Negative in the process but OMG!!!

I had another one today message me "Can you get in touch with me regarding my order" then they text me (my number is on the listing) Why haven't you responded to my messages? (It's been what 2 hours by this point? Plus am I supposed to message you to ask you what your question is?!)

So I said Sorry what is the question....when will it be dispatched ...they only brought it today.

Anyway. Rant over. Sorry.

On the plus side

I'm 95% booked for 2016!!! Enquires have gone crazy - I only have a space in Oct and end of Dec now that I would like to book (I could take more but I don't think I want to purely because of kids and time) already have an enquiry for Oct which looks promising - nice venue and they want me for around 10 hours which is more then my normal package so should work out about £300 if not more if the booking goes ahead.

I've registered two new websites today, one being my new business name and one being the information photography website I want to do. I had an idea for the name a couple months back so website and facebook page name reserved...also just purchased my next lens at a whooping £1,200...it was such a hard decision because I could of brought 2nd hand or a lesser brand but after a lot of research and weighting up the pros and cons I decided it wasn't worth it to go cheap - I get 2 year guarantee with it to and I know it's going to do me well this will be my go to all round lens. There is another I am thinking off for £330 and then I need an extra flash and I'm looking into getting these waist belts purely because I feel this is needed for my health - back/neck etc...I'll be doing long shifts with heavy equipment so it makes sense to do what I can to make it easier.

If you can't tell, I finally caught up on my work today and had some free time...so I got busy!

Next step is to start setting up my website and work on my couple shoots, I did one last weekend it really could of gone better but there was bright sun out (actually first time shooting in really bright sun so at least it was experience) and he had this massive hat on that kept covering his face with shadows - admit I could of asked him to take it off but they were both stood there shivering so I didn't have the heart.

I did get 4 cracking shots though(and some normal ones ofc), like ones I'd be over the moon with but the couple are my friends from school and she is blind - so she'll never actually see them..I will mark each photo with an indepth description of whats in it though it's all I can do.

Karmacat

Brilliant news, Kaya, good for you!

LL, you have tulips? I have a few fairly extravagant tulips in my garden, nothing too showy - but I love all tulips, I really do have fun!

lessonlearned

kAya. That's great news about the bookings. Well done you, you deserve it the amount of effort you have made.

Re the EBay customers. They sound a nightmare. There's a good section in the 4 hour week book about troublesome customers, well worth a read.

I wish I had had his words of wisdom when I was working my socks off selling houses.........I could have saved myself a lotof hassle and stress.....:rotfl: never mind it's all water under the bridge now.

I have learnt a lot from that book.

TBH one of the reasons I have someone selling my stuff on eBay and other social media - apart from the fact that I'm a technophobe - is it means I have a buffer between me and awkward obnoxious customers...I am more than happy to delegate that side of things. She is well worth her 30 per cent. I simply give her a bottom line price of what I think it's worth and leave her to it. She's very good and usually gets me a good Price.

If she knows she is going to struggle with an item or is unsure of its value she will refer back to me. This week I gave her a clock to sell, she has not had much luck with her research so rather than sell too low she has come back to me. We've decided that this one might be best to try at auction once we've had the valuer look at it.

It took me a long time to be able to let go of the reins but I have finally learnt the genteel art of delegation. I think that "as a creative" - oh dear that sounds pretentious - but i think you understand what I'm saying - I do find it better to delegate the stuff that I am not very good at and focus on what I can do. The same rules are starting to apply to the actual nitty gritty of manual work now too. I just can't do as much manual work now.

As my mum once wisely said....Why don't you pay someone to do the heavy stuff rather than keep paying the osteopath to put your back right.

She was of course spot on - mums do know best.:D. Better for me to delegate the heavy work ......less back pain, lower medical bills and more free time to do other things.

Is anyone watching the new series with Mary Portas. Not sure which channel, ITV or Channel 4 I think. I love that woman. She speaks a lot of sense and is always bursting with enthusiasm and ideas, always well abreast of new trends and methods.

This series is all about customer service. You can get it on catch up.

Karma. I love flowers and it's funny but my tastes have changed. I used to think flowers like roses and tulips were a bit twee and "old hat" - I really like them now. Maybe I'm getting into "old lady" mode, I will be changing my perfume to lavender water at this rate. :rotfl:

Last week when I was feeling so fed up I splashed out and bought myself a bunch of tulips, a deep aubergine colour which matches my sitting room.....cost me all of £2.50 and they are still going strong.

Speaking of money - the frugal living challenge is going well, added another £300 to the savings yesterday - feeling dead chuffed. And.......I still have masses of food in the freezers and cupboards.

I do need to buy some new saucepans though. We chose an induction hob this time round and of course you need special pans. The ones DS2 chose are useless. Less than a year old and all the Teflon coating is coming away. Probably not good for our tummies.......

Time to hit the sales:D

Hope you are all well and making lots of money.

cazmanian_minx

I like the Four Hour Work Week way of dealing with problem customers, I've been using it for a couple of years now and it does save an awful lot of hassle.

Thanks everyone, the field shelter is still on the wrong side of the fence, but it is the right way up again - pics here if you want to see how we did it without machinery! http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=69893500&postcount=2621 We'll be taking it apart at the weekend, passing it over the fence and rebuilding it in a different spot!!

I've had a letter from my solicitor confirming that the transfer documents have been signed and submitted to the Crofting Commission - please cross fingers they don't have too much of a paperwork backlog after Christmas...