The MSE diet - in all senses of the word

Thanks for the encouragement you two - it really makes a difference. I spent some time on Twitter yesterday, finding new people in my sector to follow - found some really good people - and a number of them are now following me. Now want to update my website and have some other ideas about promoting myself to them by free (except for my time) value added things.

Am progressing slowly - just would like to be able to pay bills 'easily'. Perhaps in a couple of months, that will be a reality. Then to work off the bigger debts. Certainly keeping this diary and my FitDay journal are really useful, as is checking my bank account daily. They all combine to keep me on the straight and narrow.

FF - hope your job is going well & you had a good weekend.

Ebay things didn't go for huge prices, but it's a bit more than a tenner in the bank and a couple didn't sell, so will relist those. Also have a couple of other items that I have photographed but not put up yet, so will do those this week. It's also nice to know that the items are going to be out from under my feet, avoiding landfill & going to someone who hopefully will have lots of use out of them.

Haven't written here in almost a week ... pretty much no money was coming in and there just seemed nothing to write about. Finally a client has paid me (the cash was due to be paid by June 25) and I've just had an online bill-paying 'spree' of kinds - credit cards and the phone bill. I've never had time like this - usually if I pull my horns in for a week or so, some more business comes in. Have been working on building my Twitter network and redoing a section of my website. The other five or six sections also need doing as well, but today is just about getting a couple of things to a client and getting money in - and the rest of the week is just figuring out how to get money in. A couple of big bills that I've known need paying have been sending reminders & they REALLY need to be paid.

Feel very much in a corner - and have lots of work to do.

Ta FF - thanks for the encouragement. Agree on the marketing - it is all they see, so it is very important.

Have had a nice contact through Twitter, which may mean I do some 'real' business with another business that is totally within my target market. I've been using TweetDeck to manage tweets in groups. No more money coming in, but a couple of inquiries in the past two days and have sent off several 'invitations' to past clients to spend more.

Will keep going with the 'invitations' and have some more marketing to do next week and replacing much of the content on my website. Now have about 150 Twitter followers and redone my background image so that it is really reflective of what I do now. Also have thought through other ways of selling - or others selling what I do. And went to another talk by an online umbrella kind of shop (like Etsy) where I might sell products. I went to one about a month ago and they wouldn't give out any details (on the day or via email) on commission or the cost of setting up a shop through them, which was incredibly frustrating. They said you needed to apply and be approved before they would detail them. At the talk this week, someone asked directly the costs and they gave the numbers. High costs, but effectively they are doing all of the marketing with a lot of volume. Someone who has a shop on there also spoke about her experiences. She was very cautious about signing - took 6-8 months to do so and said it had transformed her business. When we chatted in the networking part of the night, when the umbrella shop people weren't there, she explained that she also has her own shop and lots of people google her and go through her online shop which only incurs a Paypal cost rather than a massive commission. And she said to DEFINITELY be part of it (if possible) for the run-up to Christmas.

So my goal in July is to pay my 'big' bills and get enough money together to sign up for the umbrella 'shop' and get my own up and running. I already have a kind of online shop, but not the kinds of products I would like to be selling, so is not going to cost me extra. Also have a subscription to Constant Contact newsletter - so again, no additional costs. There is a 10% offer until the end of July on the shop cost, which would suit my timing too.


So, nothing much has changed, but am spending pretty much every waking hour on the business. I have managed to cancel my holiday so will save money there - and am spending several months JUST concentrating on my business. I don't have a boyfriend or other commitments at the moment, so can do that. I figure that if, in several months, I can turn things around so that there is pretty much 30-40% of my bills paid from passive income - that is, products that someone else is effectively selling, then I will be in a much stronger position - and doing more of what I like, which is being creative. Also, will give me more time in the future to spend with a boyfriend or socialising and more chance of meeting one or other friends. When I think about entrepreneurs such as Duncan Bannantyne or Peter Jones, they spent a LOT of time early on concentrating everything on their businesses. They have families now, and have more balance in their lives, but things weren't always that way. I figure it's what I need to do for the business and I just now.