Millionaire Challenge

lessonlearned

Good morning Everyone

Lovely to hear it's going so well for everyone.

Minxy I know you want to play your cards close to your chest - best way - but sounds fab.......glad you've found "the moneyspinner":rotfl: wishing you the best of luck with it.

Struggling a bit this week with the whiplash - the Physio is really rough and some nasty headaches. Trying not to exacerbate things because I need to be on good form for Belguim next week so just taking things fairly easy. Very frustrating though for an"all action gal" like me. I have a low boredom and frustration threshhold.......

Anyhoo......insurance company have agreed a settlement figure and apparently it should hit my bank shortly.

I have been car free ever since the accident and oddly enough I haven't missed it. Although I do have free rein to share ds2s so TBH not really a true reflection of what it would be like to live car free. I think if I lived alone I would miss a car.

Anyway I think that for as long as I remain living with my son I will remain car free and just bank the savings......;) I've used the odd taxi for any trips into the city and for my Physio treatments and it's working well. Not tried the buses yet because I've been nervous about being jolted around too much with my injuries. Will wait until I feel a little less delicate.

So not much news here. Thankfully I have enough euros not to have to buy any for this trip. I looked at exchange rates yesterday and I am pleased I don't have to buy at the moment.

Housewise - spotted a couple of fixer uppers on Rightmove but won't bother viewing until after my trip. DS2s house almost finished now. It's looking very nice and it's looking like our "gamble" on this street has paid off. The "gentrification" of the area is coming along nicely and values are rising. He's made quite a bit of equity.

We will hold for a while continuing to live here whilst we do the next one. It will be much easier than renovating whilst living on site. It will be quicker, easier and cheaper to work on an empty house and not have to live amongst the chaos.

I might buy another in this area - I think there's still mileage to be had here. And anyway I like living here. It's within minutes of the city but as long as you choose the right street away from the traffic it's is extremely quiet and peaceful. A real urban oasis of calm.

We've learned a lot on this one and of course our personal circumstances are much easier. For those of you who arent fully conversant with my story I lost both my husband and my mum within 7 months of each other. So not the best time to be involved in a major renovation project.

Hopefully the next one will be quicker and even more profitable. I am 65 now, i need to get a wiggle on to meet my 10 year time frame for my goals. :rotfl:

Kayalana99

Sounds exciting Minxy!!! Wish you all the best. Always on move LL, nothing worse than losing your health. As they say, you don't appreciate what you have until it's gone and wish you the best recovery.

With my degree getting closer I've been studying quite a lot, well I say studying - I've been reading the Open Uni Study guide which has been really helpful and just started one of my marketing books (admittedly more cause I wanted to, because it's a book I picked up for year 2 when I should really start going through year 1 stuff I have)

eBay has gone pretty quiet, this is most likely because it's August - but I have been a bit relaxed with delivery times lately so I should try and get this sorted. I think it may be bringing me down in the listings slightly.

Putting my books away though later on today and the plan is to be 100% photography focused this week and spend time with my little ones. I've got a big wedding on Thursday, I remember posting about it on here when I had the booking that I really wanted the wedding but couldn't get her to put the deposit down and it's finally come around - so watching some of my wedding courses I never got round to finishing whilst editing my last wedding.

Also started building a website on Zenfolio, it looks really professional and I'm over the moon with it - still got a long way to go as I only have one Bride's wedding on atm and sorting out a blog post I promised her back in April (Bad I know, I suppose it wasn't a paid part of her package and my website has been to and fro though..)

Hopefully this time next week I'll be able to say my website is up and running, will cost 5 a month but I'm over the moon with it. I've had my ups and downs when I've thought about quitting, but I've increased my prices slightly again and I'm wanting to make a good go out of it - still on the fence with it, but the plan is to get a decent website, raise the prices, get a professional feel (custom USB's etc) and see what happens for 2017.

I know I have a looong way to go, but I look at work I'm coming out with, and I look at work other amateurs are coming out with that have been shooting a lot longer than me - or been to college etc and I know my work is so much better in compassion, I know that sounds big headed (and there are better amateurs out there than me for sure) but I amaze myself sometimes. I'm nowhere near the professionals who are charging 1000's, but I do have something here.

ElleWoods

Hi everyone,
It's been many months since I was on this thread - I've just read the last 7 or 8 pages to catch up a bit and it's good to see people so happy and successful.

As for me, well things changed a lot for me over the past year. I had an awful time at my corporate job last summer, so I ended up handing in my notice and leaving at the end of last year. I had no other job to go to and I'm a single parent, so it was a huge risk. I went self employed/freelance doing copywriting and marketing, which was fine for a few months until my main client ran out of money and cancelled a big project. I ended up with absolutely no income for about six weeks and used up all my savings to survive and pay bills. In the end I had little choice but to claim JSA for a few weeks, which is not my finest moment. However I found a new job in Business Admin within three weeks of going onto JSA and was also offered a different job which I turned down as I'd accepted the first, so just to reassure anyone who's job hunting that there absolutely are jobs out there if you're willing to widen your horizons and try work you haven't done before .

The business admin job was a 12 week contract which ended at the end of July, so as I didn't want to end up back on JSA I recently started a cat sitting and pet care business, which is going ok so far. Less than a month in and I've already had one client, got another lined up for next week and I've just quoted for four others. Once my son goes back to school in Sept I'm hoping to get some freelance writing work too. Longer-term I'm training to be a life coach so aiming to have a coaching business up and running by the end of this year.

So in all I can safely say that the last 8 or 9 months has been a steep learning curve with huge ups and downs, highs and lows. Here's hoping the next few months are a bit more stable!

Hope you're all enjoying the summer and looking forward to the heatwave we have due next week - some sunshine at last!

Kayalana99

I'm getting really frustrated with money, I'm quite tired so going to keep this short but really the amount of money we need to be content would be a drop in the ocean compared to the amount even medium size companies are making these days. 40-60k a year would make us more than happy and in scheme of things perhaps it seems a lot, but it really really isn't.

I've done a lot of thinking tonight and we need to really look to making some money and I've got quite a few ideas up my sleeve, nothing fancy, nothing that's going to involve me jumping into another business for now, but something to start on.

It's time to get out of this rat race and really take this millionaire challenge seriously, I'll update you in a few weeks assuming I make some progress with this and I'll tell you how I've worked my 'mindset' to bring out some new ideas and hopefully how I've started to put my plans in place.

Hope all is well. Lets do this!

minxy-x

Thanks LL and Kay for your best wishes.

LL your right I do play my cards close to my chest! It was sad really, as after I typed about my new idea, I was thinking will I ever write on here (once launched) what my company is, and I was thinking probably not, because it links sooooo many personal details, but it did make me feel sad that I cant share with you guys...

I have spoken with someone recently who reckons it will be about 12 months to project launch, way off my be ready by the end of the year timeframe :rotfl: , anyway I am hoping it wont be that long and will do everything I can for it not to be.

However there was another avenue which I was always going to explore with the idea, but was going to do after I had set up this product and brand (its separate) its hitting 2 different customer bases with one of the products (there is actually one final area new company and brand also but this will definitely be after the product launch of item 1). As this will be a luxury brand of the product, I am waiting to see how things take off with product 1.

Anyway I will now be looking at starting this other thing ASAP (still some work to do), alongside product launch 1, as this should be ready and selling a lot quicker than waiting for product 1.

I wont be doing much if any work on any of them the next few weeks as have some pre arranged things on.

LL- hope your whiplash is better and you are back on form!
Well done to DS2 with the house.

SoftKitty when I read your username I get ear worm with the rest of the song!
Nice to read things are working out a bit better for you, long may it continue.

Kay
Frustration is a really annoying emotion!
Is anymore happening with taking over your Dads business? I think I remember you saying the money wasn't quite what he had said, but even if its a longer term plan it may be something which will help you to get to your desired annual income.

A little while ago I came accross the "mood elevator" by Larry Senn, he basically looks at where our moods and emotions come from, and how we act etc when in certain moods. It was on a training course, so only touched on his work briefly and that was really concentrated on the mood elevator.
Now obviously I think we are all aware we are not as proactive/making the right choices when feeling in a low mood.
However what I did take from it, was to be more conscious of my moods/emotions, and then do what I need to to raise my mood and then be more effective with what I am doing.
Anyway he classes frustrated/impatient as just below curious which is one of the best mindsets to be.
I also find it good sometimes to recognise my lower moods, and think you know what its ok to be here at the moment, I am going through a really tough time and when feeling a little better plan on how I can improve things.

I really hope you dont think I am talking out of turn, you always seem to be at a million miles an hour, and to be all things to all people and taking on lots of responsibility.
Now I mean that as no criticism (its hard sometimes to come across in the right tone when writing) as I/was similar.
Step back and look at all you have achieved, I am sure you are doing a great job and you need to make sure you are looking after yourself also, as you cant be and do everything for others, without it having some sort of negative to you at some point.

On other news, I found this again in my bookmarks, I find it so interesting to put in different figures, where we are, where we were, where we would like to be.

http://www.ifs.org.uk/wheredoyoufitin/

lessonlearned

Good morning everyone.


Back from my Belguim trip........had the most wonderful time.

It was 31 years since my last trip to Belguim (shame on me) and my family made me so welcome.........I felt like the prodigal daughter. I was feted and fussed over like royalty. I have of course seen many of them in the intervening years because some of them had visited the UK but I did meet lots of new ones - ie the newer generations. Lots of lovely new nieces. Anyway it was wonderful to see them all and I am now resolved to visit them more regularly.

I even got to do some proper sightseeing in Ghent and finally managed to see the van Eyck tryptich in the cathedral. It was restored recently and it is exquisite.

Now here's the really fun cool stuff......I didn't stay with my cousin - too many of us so I stayed with a long time friend who just happens to be a millionaire.:rotfl:

He and his wife are the most generous of people and they made us so welcome......... We stayed in their beautiful home and had free rein of the pool house, with its heated indoor pool, jacuzzi, sauna etc. Didn't get a ride in his private plane though because it's "only" a four seater and there were too many of us.:rotfl:

Next time maybe.

They really are a lovely couple and have worked very hard for their wealth. A great example of what can be done. They are very warm hearted and generous people, very decent and very fair in their business dealings and are a wonderful example of how you can get rich and still be "good people".

You don't have to sell your soul or do a deal with the devil to make money and achieve worldly success.

Now this is for Kay...........a word of warning..........my friend was a little like you when he was younger - ie a little "hyper" at times (I do hope I don't upset you by saying that but it is how you come over sometimes). You do seem to find it difficult to relax sometimes and are always thinking, thinking, thinking. Planning for the future is good but so is rest!!!!

Anyway, Although my friend tried to shrug it off I did notice that he was suffering from stomach problems.......a little too much hard work I think, a little too much pressure, a little too much stress and work related anxieties.

He is now reducing his client list and intends to work a lot less from next year but personally I feel he should have taken his foot off the accelerator before now.

MInxy speaks words of wisdom......we often focus on what we still need to do and worry that we are not making fast enough progress.

MInxy is right, we also need to take that step back sometimes and reflect on our successes and just enjoy them a bit more.

TIme out is good.........I feel invigorated after my little break - although rather tired.........wheelchairs, rail travel and a 90 year old aren't the best of mixes.......:rotfl:

Anyway, apparently I have come home to a heat wave so I am just gojng to take time out to enjoy it.

I have no more trips planned and have a clear run now until Christmas - so time to focus on getting back to full strength and fitness. A 10 week course of Physio to sort out my whiplash injuries and also lose a bit of weight.

On the money front. I have had an unexpected windfall from one of my husbands pension providers. The fund is being taken over and I think they want to offload some of their pensioners so are offering to buy us off.

Anyway they have made me an offer I can't refuse.........so I'm going to take the money and run. I don't need the monthly income because it's quite a small anount and an enhanced lump sum will be of far more use.

Perfect timing because I now feel ready to start looking for my next project. It means I won't have to borrow and I will have a nice contingency fund.

So a little rest to enjoy the sun and catch my breath and then it's all steam ahead.

lessonlearned

Ps Kitty. Sorry to hear you've had rather a difficult year. That's life though isn't it.

I guess we have to have our share of ups and downs. Anyway it's good to hear from you and as you say it's good to have some nice warm sunshine to refresh our batteries.

I have some paperwork to catch up on this morning but then that sun lounger beckons......

tomswanson

Wish you best of luck! I am sure you will reach that goal too.

Bmth100

Been out of this thread for a while, feel frustrated at a lack of extra income. My last post referenced a new writing website I was trying; I'd made £600 in the first few weeks and paid off an overdraft, which was surprising considering I was a new profile with no feedback.

I now have a job success score of 100% and full positive feedback on 4 jobs but haven't won a contract proposal in months! I think it's time to reduce my bidding. Small chunks still add up to greater gains, and I imagine it's all that is putting people off if a second person bids less than me for the same job.

In other news, my poor wife came off her bike - purchased from a major car and bike retailer *ahem* - and injured her knee badly in Spring. She is coming out the other end of the tunnel and is now mostly off crutches with ongoing physio to walk properly on it again. We're not the "ambulance chasing" type but this company's knee jerk reaction to our complaint over defective bike brakes was to pass our comments to their insurers and it has become a personal injury complaint.

Perhaps the outcome will be favorable and mean we can clear all of our 5k remaining debt.

lessonlearned

Gosh BMTH - your poor wife. Glad she is recovering now. As for the personal injury claim well why not......she deserves to be compensated for her ordeal....

By all means clear you debts with it but perhaps maybe a little treat for you both too, even if it's just an inexpensive weekend away somewhere.

Hope her injuries heal well.

TBH I'm still struggling with my whiplash injuries and I have felt very "under par" this last few weeks. I actually felt quite rough last week and rather weepy and despondent.

I think it was a combination of whiplash, tiredness from our trip to Belguim and the 2nd year anniversary of my husband's death. I spent most of last week doing very little, just resting and pottering about.

I'm glad to say I feel much better now, still aches and pains but mentally much stronger. The fog has lifted and I'm back to my old positive upbeat can do self......thank goodness.

Hence back on here and "ready to rock". :rotfl: