Self employed success or bankruptcy!

vitesse

Is anybody out there....

Quick entry before I do my household chores (yes I do do some).

Bad 1 - spent most of the afternoon going back and forward to station, had text from HD to say she will get back between 2 & 3, I'm at the station at 2:30 after walking dogs (no blood today) and she phones to say she hasn't left yet :mad: So go home and have to go back, so afternoon wasted.

Bad 2 - nothing much done on preparation for next weeks meetings At this rate I'm going to have to wing it and rely on my natural charm etc

Really Bad - I'm slipping back into wasting time and not getting on with things ALREADY, really need to sort this out. Reading DFDs doesn't help.

Feel really demotivated.

Good 1 - have thought of a good introduction for conference presentation

Good 2 - doing some eBay research could have some stuff that will get good prices if I can bear to sell them.

This weekend;

Finish off tidying from Christmas, i.e. put stuff into loft, take down outside lights.
Dad's coming over to fix dripping toilet (been like it for about 6 months).
See if pony is happy in trailer with ramp up etc, might even go for a trundle round with her in it (need to fix electrics though).
Try and fit in some work.

vitesse

So this weekend I;

Got up and did my chores, every Saturday morning my job is to vacum the house. I know really should do more to help, I'm not exactly a "new man".

Fixed dripping toilet, with help of Dad's magic jar of spare washers. Although it probably cost more in test flushes than I was losing in drips but at least the postman is safe from slipping in ice.

Broke garage door (up and over type) while taking down outside Christmas lights :mad: Very helpful comment from a delivery man of "...that looks wrong..." when the door is diagonally across the opening! Did a quick fix so at least it's shut.

Sunday, I felt even more unmotivated than Saturday but forced myself to;

Fix garage door, had to re-tension the spring interesting when the spanner slipped and it un-tensioned itself....
(You know how you keep looking at things and thinking about throwing them away, for years I keep finding the installation instructions for the garage door and nearly throw them out, well today I'm glad I didn't!).

Went to stables, pony went into trailer with tailgate up and electrics have fixed themselves (well I did tighten a few connections). Next week we'll be off for a hack combined dog walk. Do need to something to attach the numberplate though, I've got some sticky pads somewhere but can't find them.

Fixed car aerial that somebody has stolen, not quite a coat hanger but close. With a 120 mile round trip tomorrow I need a radio. I prefer listening to speech in the car most of the time.

Still haven't done anything for meetings but will use them as an explanatory discussion. Will need to spend money (business expenses) this week.

So not exactly unproductive but still feel totally flat.

Piquant_2

I've been feeling very flat and demotivated recently. It might be the post-Christmas feeling, January stretching forever in front of you, with cold February to follow...

I've written myself a list of things I must achieve everyday. Yesterday, I did nothing much but sit on the sofa and eat cake and felt lousy because of it!

I am here to cheer you on from the sidelines, I may even offer advice like the delivery man :rotfl:

You just have to keep plodding on some days knowing that there are days to come that will make it all worthwhile.

YoungBusinessman

Sounding a bit similar to myself, 2013 is my year to establish myself self employed, i have a few set goals to achieve each and every day. This forum works wonders for business minded people, money savers, the spenders and just the ranters on the housing boards.

vitesse

YoungBusinessman wrote: »

Sounding a bit similar to myself, 2013 is my year to establish myself self employed, i have a few set goals to achieve each and every day. This forum works wonders for business minded people, money savers, the spenders and just the ranters on the housing boards.

Good luck, if you have a diary then would be great to compare notes.

I'm very good at setting daily goals, just not very good at always doing them

vitesse

OK, so my meeting went really well and now I need to write a proposal to supply a tool that doesn't actually exist, and;

1. I don't have the money to develop
2. don't know what to charge for it anyway
3. needs to be ready by early March:eek:

On the plus side I have a good advocate working for the customer and I can probably get away with proposing a "demo" version initially. Anybody out there good with MySQL, Drupal etc skills....

vitesse

A while ago I read an article by Clarkson about playing fuel tank roulette, i.e. running when the fuel light is on.
Today leaving home, late [1], for meeting ~60m away the range indicated was 45m, so do I detour and buy fuel locally before I hit to motorway or chance it. I hit the motorway and sure enough the range went up, 3/4 of the way there and with the fuel gauge well into the red I chickened out and filled up at some motorway services, £1.36.9/ltr (oh for the days of a company fuel card when I used to fill up on the motorway almost exclusively [2])
Anyway as it was a business trip I can offset against tax;
142.2miles at 49.4 mpg and £1.36.9/ltr cost is £17.94, I can 'claim' £63.99 as a cost which saves me £12.80 in tax, so in reality it only cost £5.14 (ignoring wear & tear etc).

And repair to aerial didn't work that well either.

[1] One of the reasons I was running late was I had to clean the mud off the seat from OH going to stables in car
[2] I used to pay over £4k in tax for my free company car.

vitesse

Well had a busy couple of days, spent yesterday in London chasing some opportunities. Had to spend ~£90 on fuel and fares though.

Seeing a web developer today about my project that I can't afford to develop, need to understand how much it will cost so I can propose it and hopefully get it paid for before I develop it....

Had a couple of meetings for medium/long term consultancy opportunities some of which might be in India (not really a place I've ever wanted to go to). Got a contract though for ~£1,500 but it's the wrong contract and should be for £2,700.

I'm 5pts off 1,000 points (£100) on YouGov, which will pay for most of the Springsteen tickets I rashly bought before Christmas.

The rest of this week will be spent creating a mock up of the webtool, smoke and mirrors as they say.

vitesse

Haven't updated this recently (well not daily as I planned). Feel rubbish, was just demotivated but now I have flu like symptoms, neck ache, hot, fuzzy head, blocked up nose (could just be man-flu bit don't think so).

So much to do as well! Have mocked up my web tool just need to write the proposal and find the £10K to develop it. Still need to write a programme guide by middle of next week.

Think I'm going to get a mug of tea and watch some daytime TV (will be the first time since I went self-employed!).

Just done another YouGov survey so can claim £100!

Piquant_2

Both man-flu and real flu are demotivating and tiring. There is no harm in having a day off to get better and recharge your batteries. Hope you feel better soon!