Stepping into 2014- walking in My Shoes with Mooloo

Brighton_belle

minimoneysaver wrote: »

Will you be serving coffees & cakes at your shop? It could be a way for some really easy extra pennies. There is a huge profit margin on tea and coffee. If you go ahead and get a few comfy arm chairs you may find that people will choose to hang out at your shop and sew while they drink coffee.

I expect selling food takes you into whole new realms of legislation and health and safety standards though. A big distraction.


Good luck with the shop Mooloo - you've got so much done already.

Savvy_sewing

No I won't sell food etc. I'm next to a baguette shop and a tea rooms!
There isn't enough space to have a seperate hang out zone. I would have to heat rooms that otherwise didn't need heating unless a course was booked. Being electric storage heating it's not cheap.
I don't have a TV arial, or phone/ broadband as of yet.
A cost I have to consider once I start to earn money properly.
Eventually I will, but getting the furniture, fittings etc was the most important after the insurance policies and music license.
It was too quiet down there today and between 7 and 9 am dragged. Dispite doing some paperwork, then sewing.
I had a few visitors, and a customer with some alterations who popped passed the other day. Chatted to several people who stopped to look in the window. It was around 1.15 I think when the chairs arrived. I carried them up to the top floor with Biggest of Mooloos help, and we built two of them. I will do the rest next Tuesday when I wait for the sewing machines to arrive.
Got home in time for a customer to collect a dress is replaced side panels in, then took DS's GF home.
Picked up some children's dress up clothes I got off of one of the mums, had a cuppa with her and back home. Had a long soak in the bath. Really tired.
Still have to do the packing and the washing etcetera. But better do our evening meal first.
Have some more rails bought 2nd hand. Can now hang up clothes etc in the middle section of the building, where preloved, and upcycled clothes can go.
I may have to get my trims, spare accessories etc down to the shop, and then over time, take down my fabrics as I get shelves etcetera for them.
But I have a good start now.
Friend has offered to help with redecoration as and when I can afford to do it.
But all the major purchases etc are done now except telephone/ broadband. But BT want £110 connection fee, plus £46 + vat a month so I figure I need to earn a bit first.
Savings nearly gone now. So with this weekend away, I will wait till I get back.

trix-a-belle

Mooloo do you really need a phone/broadband line at the shop? Could you make do with a cheap smartphone & sim & set up a WiFi hotspot for broadband connection or a mifi for broadband & cheap basic mobile with sim for calls..?

Savvy_sewing

trix-a-belle wrote: »

Mooloo do you really need a phone/broadband line at the shop? Could you make do with a cheap smartphone & sim & set up a WiFi hotspot for broadband connection or a mifi for broadband & cheap basic mobile with sim for calls..?

Confess I haven't got a clue what your on about ?!!!

Brighton_belle

Mooloo wrote: »

Confess I haven't got a clue what your on about ?!!!

It's ok Mooloo, neither did I

Js_Other_Half

Mifi info: http://www.uswitch.com/broadband/guides/what_is_mifi_mobile_broadband/

trix-a-belle

No worries if you've not had any dealings with them before you wouldn't have any reason to.
When you are at home you will be connecting to the internet via 3 main methods;
- your iphone may connect to the internet over your mobile network using your phone contract data allowance, it will also use this when you are out & about away from home,
- your iphone & laptop may connect to the internet through your home broadband over wifi [wireless internet], where your router generates the wifi signal & is getting the internet connection from being plugged into your bt socket with your landline phone,
- or you might have a cable that you plug into the computer that is connected to the router or phone socket so is getting the internet connection from your bt landline
Still with me?

A MiFi is like a mobile mini router or a smartphone without the phone capacity, it connects to the internet over a mobile signal rather than a hardwired bt phoneline so has a sim card in it like a mobile phone, it then generates a wifi signal for you like a router which you can then connect your laptop and iphone up to by putting in the password like your wifi network at home but the mifi can be taken away from home (ie in the shop) so you would just turn it on when you needed it. When using the MiFi you would use the data allowance of the mifi sim card rather than your mobile phone contract if that is what is connected to it, the data allowance is like you have on your mobile contract or your download limit you have on your home broadband package.
Another option for your laptop/computer to have internet at the shop could be a mobile broadband dongle which plugs into a computer and connects to the internet through a sim card in it with a mobile phone style data allowance as previously mentioned but this would only connect the one computer to the internet so it would depend what you are intending to have at the shop for internet use.

So to save you installing a hardwired bt phone line in the shop like you have got at home you could use a second mobile phone (could be a pay as you go to keep costs down) as your phone line, and then you could have the mifi for dongle or an internet connection to link your laptop to.

I hope that explains it ok, if you need any further explanation just say, happy to try & explain. Here is a link for Three's options to give you abit of an idea of cost if my waffley explanation makes sense.
http://www.three.co.uk/Store/Mobile_Broadband

Savvy_sewing

Thanks, think I got you. I will read link in the morning now.
I am a bit tired for complications. Really annoyed as tonight I wanted to finish some alterations with the overlocker, but some how I have broken and dislodged the feed pins ( the knitting needles so to speak), on the overlocker so I can't use it. Of course normally that wouldn't be too much of a problem, but the second machine is in the shop, and at this late hour I cannot go and get it, as only DGD and me here!
Also slightly worrying as the embroidery machine had to go for repairs yesterday and repair time is 3 weeks . So days before I get open and two machines now out of action. Not ideal at all!

Savvy_Sue

I'd second the question about whether you actually need a phone line at the shop: a separate mobile could be useful so that you can switch it off when you are not wanting to be disturbed.

I've always found using a dongle for wireless access on my netbook unworkably slow, so if a mifi is faster that would definitely be worth looking into.

The other longer term thought is whether you want to be able to take credit card payments in the fullness of time. You can do that over a mobile too, again lots of threads about that on the Small Biz board I linked you to earlier.

duchy

Pop into one of the big chain mobile shops (I think 3 are the cheapest and ask them to demo mifi to you. As you are advertising on yahoo etc you need internet access or could miss out on business. Plus your blog will be a sales tool too so ability to update it is more important now.