The Ultimate Incentive muddles along

Dinah93

Dinah93 said:

Plans for today: 

1. Wrap final return 
2. Create an ad for our kids Christmas event 
3. Apply for council grant
4. Investigate if other boroughs we work under have a grant 
5. Adjust spreadshirt prices 
6. Make the company gift guide 
7. Find the last totals so I can finish updating my signature 
8. Finish geek designs folder
9. Finish A designs folder
10. Upload all new designs to POD sites
11. Contact HSBC re chargeback 
12. Check both pool refunds arrived 
13. Write to DVLA
14. Record 6 podcasts, edit and post 
15. Edit and post Sundays class
16. Plan tonight's class

Yesterday did okay. Today I have a busy day of accountants, and also I have a zoom session about potentially doing a 6 month uni course next year on expanding your management and businesses practices for owners of SMEs. It's fully funded, but I need to see how much time it would take and what I'd get out of it. 

Another tshirt sale overnight, this one is actually in £s, 3 of them to be exact. 

So today's plans 

1. Apply for council grant
2. Investigate if other boroughs we work under have a grant 
3. Adjust spreadshirt prices 
4. Make the company gift guide 
5. Find the last totals so I can finish updating my signature 
6. Finish geek designs folder
7. Finish A designs folder
8. Upload all new designs to POD sites
9. Record 6 podcasts, edit and post 
10. Edit and post Sundays class
    
11. Edit and post Mondays class

Dinah93

Hi everyone. I've had a few days off, life got a bit busy and I've been sleeping really badly, and fretting about the business and income etc so just took a couple of days to try to not worry and go at a slower pace. When the business is in full swing I never get a full day off, so I'm trying to see the upside of not working as the option to take a few days off if I want to. 

Sold 6 tshirts yesterday, 5 to the same person, so that was a nice boost and in many ways I think kicked me to start doing something again. My to do list for this week still looks very similar to last week, coupled with being out one night (that sounds wildly non-2020, but we've found a nearby private pool in a set of holiday cottages, they are currently renting it out on an hourly hire basis for £35, so we go every other week for a swim as quite honestly it's not that much more than the council pool, but it's a lot warmer and there is no one there but us which puts my mind at ease), and having 2 hour meetings 2 mornings this week, and meeting a friend for a walk another day this week and the kids breaking up from school on Friday, I need to try to get as much done as I can before they break up. 

1. Apply for council grant
2. Investigate if other boroughs we work under have a grant 
3. Apply for any other boroughs grants 
4. Adjust spreadshirt prices 
5. Make the company gift guide 
6. Find the last totals so I can finish updating my signature 
7. Finish geek designs folder
8. Finish A designs folder
9. Upload all new designs to POD sites
10. Record 5 podcasts, edit and post 
11. Edit and post Sundays class
    
12. Edit and post Fridays class
13. Set up printful integration to Ebay 
14. Set up printful integration to Amazon
15. Plan Monday's class

ETA another shirt sold on Etsy while I've been doing this post, almost as much off that one as all 5 which sold on Redbubble yesterday, different sites have very different profit margins. 

Dinah93

Do you ever have a moment where you just can't fathom how others think? I've had an issue with 2 of my team, and I took some time so I could try to handle it delicately so they wouldn't be offended, and addressed it how I would be most comfortable it being addressed. It's completely blown up, they think I was horrible to deal with it the way I did, they can't see my side, I can't understand theirs, complete !!!!!! show. The initial issue they don't think is a problem, I think could get me a £10,000 fine. I hate conflict with a passion, pretty much married NIM as he's the only person I've ever been able to be completely myself around without any pretense and felt accepted for that, I just don't understand people in general and I don't know how to change that because I've read a lot of books now on how to manage people, or how to have easier interactions, but it seems to be something you need to naturally have and I just don't. 

Having a bit of a glum morning shall we say. 

clearmydebts

Dinah93 said:

Do you ever have a moment where you just can't fathom how others think? I've had an issue with 2 of my team, and I took some time so I could try to handle it delicately so they wouldn't be offended, and addressed it how I would be most comfortable it being addressed. It's completely blown up, they think I was horrible to deal with it the way I did, they can't see my side, I can't understand theirs, complete !!!!!! show. The initial issue they don't think is a problem, I think could get me a £10,000 fine. I hate conflict with a passion, pretty much married NIM as he's the only person I've ever been able to be completely myself around without any pretense and felt accepted for that, I just don't understand people in general and I don't know how to change that because I've read a lot of books now on how to manage people, or how to have easier interactions, but it seems to be something you need to naturally have and I just don't. 

Having a bit of a glum morning shall we say. 

Sounds like they want you to break a law if you could get a fine for £10,000. How was the situation left? Can you get some HR advice from anyone?

Dinah93

I've spoken to Acas, legally I'm 100% in the right. Emotionally I didn't handle the situation as they would have liked it to be handled and they're upset as they thought we were friends and I could have spoken to them personally rather than sending a memo to all staff asking them not to do or allow the thing that they did. I didn't name the staff who did it in the memo, or even say staff had done it, but I'm aware that actually it might be happening with other staff and I'm just not aware of it so I phrased it in that way. Thing is I know they didn't actually think they were doing anything wrong and didn't mean to put us in that position, but under current guidelines they definitely were. I'm just really frazzled and yes I could have handled it better, but the daft thing is I thought I WAS handling it in the best way, it's only after the fact that people have said most people wouldn't like it handled that way.

Dinah93

I'm guessing it's law, but could be guidelines, but there are definitely fines involved for businesses breaking this rule. Covid related. 

clearmydebts

Dinah93 said:

I've spoken to Acas, legally I'm 100% in the right. Emotionally I didn't handle the situation as they would have liked it to be handled and they're upset as they thought we were friends and I could have spoken to them personally rather than sending a memo to all staff asking them not to do or allow the thing that they did. I didn't name the staff who did it in the memo, or even say staff had done it, but I'm aware that actually it might be happening with other staff and I'm just not aware of it so I phrased it in that way. Thing is I know they didn't actually think they were doing anything wrong and didn't mean to put us in that position, but under current guidelines they definitely were. I'm just really frazzled and yes I could have handled it better, but the daft thing is I thought I WAS handling it in the best way, it's only after the fact that people have said most people wouldn't like it handled that way.

I think in this situation if it possible to meet face to face I'd be doing that and if not I'd Zoom them (separately).

Admit that you got it wrong and have learnt from it. Explain that it wasn't specifically aimed at them, more a generic email. Then I'd ask them what communication style works for them, and hopefully you can all move on from it.

Dinah93

Thanks CMD. I've tried saying something along those lines, but it seems like anything I say makes it worse. I'm not a people person. 

In slightly more positive news one of our councils has suggested I apply for a grant, even though I don't think I meet the eligibility criteria, they think I do so fingers crossed. 

Flu jab booked for later in the week, not usually eligible but because big little money saver is on the clinically vulnerable list this year I am. It has always made me feel really grotty for a few days in the past though, so anticipating that the end of the week may be a little bit focussed on curling up with hot drinks and a blanket.

Work has been a bit slow this morning due to the gmail/google cal/youtube outage. Couldn't upload videos, couldn't send emails, couldn't make appointments. At least I've finally gone through every borough's scheme and got in touch with business support, so I'll see if anything comes of that. 

Dinah93

1. Apply for council grant
2. Investigate if other boroughs we work under have a grant 
3. Apply for any other boroughs grants 
4. Adjust spreadshirt prices 
5. Make the company gift guide 
6. Find the last totals so I can finish updating my signature 
7. Finish geek designs folder
8. Finish A designs folder
9. Upload all new designs to POD sites
10. Record 8 podcasts, edit and post 
11. Edit and post Sundays class
    
12. Edit and post Fridays class
13. Edit and post Mondays class 
14. Set up printful integration to Ebay 
15. Set up printful integration to Amazon
16. Plan Monday's class
17. Make full spreadsheet of designs so far and check they are all uploaded to all my sites 
18. Email and social media out the gift guide

Added a few bits on but feel like at least I got a few big things crossed off today. 

I've been forgiven by one of the two staff members so feeling a lot better. 

Dinah93

Had a great zoom call yesterday with the lady who will be running the franchise training programme, it sounds like it's perfect for what I want to get out of it, so really excited about that.

Other than that though my computer decided to spend 4 hours installing updates, so the house got really tidy, I played with the pup, made a batch of stew and then wasted time on social media waiting for it to stop teasing me that the updates only had 7 minutes remaining. 

Took the kids swimming to the private pool last night. On the one hand it is £8 more to swim there than the council pool, and it takes 45 minutes rather than 20 to drive to, but at the moment having it to ourselves with biggest mini moneysaver having such significant heart-lung issues means we can actually use it, where we wouldn't risk common use changing rooms for example. Plus it's a lot warmer and has a sauna, both of which make me happy. 

Rather hilariously biggest mini moneysaver has become obsessed with watching personal finance and entrepreneurship videos on youtube with me, she gets really shirty if I watch a Graham Stephan one without her! She never has the ipad alone for anyone worrying, but I watch them and she first saw a few a few weeks ago when she was having bad dreams so came and curled up beside me for a bit while she calmed down, and now she's hooked. I should point out this child is not remotely materialistic, has asked Santa to give all her presents to children who need them more, but she does have a definite drive for business. 

So absolutely none of my list got done yesterdat, here's hoping today's is better. 

1. Apply for council grant
2. Apply for any other boroughs grants 
3. Find the last totals so I can finish updating my signature 
4. Finish geek designs folder
5. Finish A designs folder
6. Upload all new designs to POD sites
7. Record 8 podcasts, edit and post 
8. Edit and post Sundays class
   
9. Edit and post Fridays class
10. Edit and post Mondays class 
11. Set up printful integration to Ebay 
12. Set up printful integration to Amazon
13. Make full spreadsheet of designs so far and check they are all uploaded to all my sites 
14. Email and social media out the gift guide
15. Post DVLA letter, presents to Northumberland and York friends

So I've been thinking today about the new year. I don't like the idea of new year's resolutions, for so many people putting that black and white line between the 31st and the 1st sets them up for failure, say you want to start running, goal is the half marathon, by about the 7th you have a streaming head cold, take a week off, and in your head you've failed already a week in, and never go back to it. However, what I do like is an annual goal, this is where I want to be by December 2021, and then I can work backwards to how I'm going to get there. And that goal might change over the year, but that's okay. 

Back in March I was on a business course, and we were asked to write down 3 goals for 3 months time, and 3 goals for 6 months time, and 1 goal for a years time. Now doubtless many of those goals will have been impossible in the current climate, but for all of us it really helped us focus on where we wanted to be, rather than where we were drifting towards. 

So I'm going to do it with my personal finances this time, I know I want to be less reliant on my business as my only source of income. It does very well, but if this pandemic has taught me anything it's that I don't want to be reliant on one source of major income anymore. So my goals for 2021 are less focussed on where I want the business to be, as I feel those are really hard to control in the current climate (it's impossible for me to say I want to have 3 more sites open for example, or be running X classes a week, if we maybe can't open at all for another 6 months) and more where I personally want to be financially. 

I will, of course share my goals or rather my targets for how I'm going to get there, but I'd love to hear what anyone else wants as their goals for 2021, what are you going to grow, start, change?