All missions achieved!

God I love it when I can get to the end of a day and think yeah - I achieved all of my missions today! I have made a lot of stock votives & packaged most of them ready for East Preston on Wednesday ... and all of the orders that came in over the weekend have been poured / packed & boxed!

It's all good!!

I have an appointment with a solicitor tomorrow to get legal advice on a "business" issue that I have. I don't want to go into too much detail in a public post, except to say I am being charged quite a large amount of money for a service that I have not received. There has been some back and forth discussion between myself and the other party via email, but before I reply - I need legal advice. This is an amount of over £500 that I am being charged per quarter ... and if it isn't illegal to charge someone for this, then it should be! I spoke to a solicitor over the phone today and it's a free initial consultation ... so I'll get the advice I need ... reply to their email and if I don't get the response I expect (ie they will deduct the amount I am disputing) then the solicitor will send a letter and war will begin!!

Anyway that's about all I can say in public on the subject!

My priorities right now??

** Sort out this £500 bill - either through my own battle or a legal one!
** Keep working on the accounts (getting through it a bit every day)
** Make a butt load of money!

Simple eh!

Ohh I did LOADS today!

Today has been a really good day! I was in the workshop this morning and got a ton of stock votives poured ready for the East Preston market on Wednesday. I made myself a list of the scents I wanted to take with me and got them ALL poured!

I spent the afternoon when I got back chilling in the garden with the kids - it was really nice and it was great to spend time with them. I forget sometimes what great little people they are!!

Megan is growing up TOOOOOO fast these days - it scares me! One of her classmates has already started her periods, and knowing that my daughter and her friends are that developed ... woah it's scary stuff for a mother!

And Mr Nathan ... well it was a surprise to see him actually EATING ... let alone eating a chicken wing - AND thoroughly enjoying it too!!

Yeah ... a good weekend!!!

Today was mum's 2nd birthday celebration ... she's obviously getting a bit like the Queen in her old age and now has to celebrate her birthday twice!! We had a lovely evening at my sister's house ... nice food and a cake Sis made by herself!!!

And it was good to see a real smile on Mum's face too!!

We went for a walk along the beach in Littlehampton where Sis lives and it's the first time I've ever been down there. I was quite surprised at how NICE the beach was! It's very much an "unspoiled" area of beach with sand dunes and real sand! Certainly worked up an appetite for CAKE anyway!!

The kids had a great time - it was good to actually get them off their backsides and out into the fresh air!

Keeping fingers firmly crossed!!

Well ....... it hasn't exactly been a fabulous week for sales totals, but I'm safe in the knowledge that last week was REALLY good, so as long as next week works out okay then we'll be just fine :-)

Talking of next week, it's my first time at the East Preston monthly market on Wednesday next week and I am really looking forward to it. This will be a regular slot the first Wednesday of every month and it's already an established market so I'll be able to build up a regular clientele. I still want something at least weekly to guarantee me sales if the website is slow ... but we're working on that (the Royal "we" that is LOL)

Meanwhile tonight I've had a night off from number crunching and I've been working on designing a poster to promote candle parties to put up in shop windows around the local area. I'm really pleased with how it turned out ... it's looking gooooooood!! I'll get a few printed off tomorrow and then drop some off in town over the weekend. I hate not being mega busy with orders! I never really truly know what to do with myself!

Next Friday night will be fun though ... I'm going over to Lou's as it is her daughter's prom night and I'll be taking photos of her daughter getting ready and the all dressed up on the night. I can't WAIT! I'm soooo looking forward to it because a) I haven't done anything "fun" with my camera since my 25 smiles project ... and b) it's been aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaages since Lou & I did anything and we'll have a damned good night chatting and putting the world to rights!

Soooooooooo anyway I've drunk a lil too much and am in danger of waffling on about things that really shouldn't be said in public, so it's time to say goodnight! LOL

Friday Five - 27th June 2008

Blimey ... I'm sat here on a Friday evening and actually have enough time to write my Friday Five this week!!

1. What was the last thing you purchased from a vending machine? OMG you know it's been THAT long since I bought anything from a vending machine, I probably couldn't even tell you! It's more likely to be when was the last time I gave my children money to get something!

2. What was the last thing you made copies of on a photocopier? Oooh I know the answer to this one! LOL It was last week and it was my passport to send a copy to Netbanx for my merchant account switchover!

3. When did you last use a pay telephone? Eeeeek goodness ... I have NO idea ... it's been years!!

4. How often do you visit an automatic teller machine? As in bank? Very rarely. I use online banking and log into that around once a week.

5. Which of your daily tasks would you most like to see automated? Ooooh good question. It would definitely be the mornings between 7.30-8.40am ... that hellish hour where I have to get me and the kids ready to leave the house by 8.41am!!

Thursday Grrrrrrrrrrrr!

Grrrrrrrrrrrr is the best way to describe today! Part of me can't believe it is Thursday already. This week has gone SO quickly!!

I went "dog shopping" with Mum this morning. We drove to Ford near Arundel for a small local dog rescue place to meet "Amber". Amber is a 2.5 year old whippet that Mum met a couple of days ago and fell in love with! We went over there today with Molly (my dog) to see how they would get on but unfortunately the school called and I had to cut it short just as we'd started a walk, and go to sort out Nathan. Let's just say he'd had an "accident" of the toilet kind and I wasn't impressed!!

I KNOW it is part of his ADHD/Aspergers diagnosis, but still ... he's eight years old now and MORE than old enough to be able to take himself to the toilet, but unfortunately, I still find myself cleaning up his shit in more ways than one! He was very apologetic this evening and promised me that it wouldn't happen again, but it's all words I've heard before and don't really believe any more.

So anyway ... yeah a Grrrrrr day! I accomplished the sum total of naff all really yet was constantly on the go!

This evening I've tweaked the website a little, updated the testimonials from recent customer emails and worked on some number crunching.

My my what an exciting life I lead!!!

Dreams & a lack of periods (not related!!)

I spent the best part of the morning number crunching on the accounts, then I went into work for a bit to send out some orders and then spent the afternoon with L talking about dreams for the future for the business and L's dreams of moving abroad in the future! Afternoons like that are the best ever ... just chatting & chilling out with a really good friend and feeling positive & happy!

I have SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO many dreams and ideas .... so many things that I want to achieve for myself with the business, and L is terrific for brain storming! It was one of the few times I was sat there without my laptop and L just kept churning out idea after idea! I had to actually *shock horror* write the ideas down by hand! It was terrific!!

I like afternoons like that!!

Soooooo anyway, mega swift subject change ... I have no fucking idea what is going on with my periods at the moment! I had two very close together a while back, and then there has been nothing for ages. I decided to stay off the pill because err, well there isn't much need to be taking it at the moment *ahem - moving swiftly on* ... so anyway I stopped taking it in the hope that it would help to sort things out ... but it's been nada, nothing & zilch for weeks now.

I have had a really REALLY bad backache for days now ... I'd put it down to the way I have been hunched over my laptop number crunching - but it is actually really really hurting. I'm wondering now whether it's a sign of a killer period incoming!

An insignificant Tuesday!

It's always a good place to be in when a day is relatively unventful!

All of the orders are either out or on their way out today and it's a really good position to be in. Although it really did screw me up having the website down for those two weeks, and I potentially lost a phenomenal amount of business ... it has kind of been a round about benefit too because it gave me the opportunity to really get things caught up and completely up to date, and as a result, as orders have been coming in - they've been turned around and sent out within a couple of days. There is nothing in the workshop over 24 hours old now and that's great!

*** Happy Dee ***

A great weekend ....

I've worked a LOT but it's actually been a nice relaxing weekend ... ie I've not been at a show! I've been in the workshop both days and it's almost good in a way that the site went offline for a while because it meant I was able to completely catch up on EVERYTHING without anything new coming in. It's also meant that as the new orders have come in this week since the site has been back online ... well I've been getting them poured and dispatched within 48 hours which is terrific as far as me AND my customers are concerned!!

It's a huge relief ... things seem to be going okay and I almost didn't want to say that out loud incase it jinxes it somehow! (touching very large bit of wood!) I'm back to 8th/9th in Google for my keyword searches at the moment instead of the 4th place I found myself last night, but it is still all good and I'm not that worried. I've done a lot of "tweaking" over the last couple of days on the website and hopefully won't be too long until the search engines pick up my changes!

Soooo currently tomorrow I will be packing up the orders that came in over the weekend (cus baby they are ALL done!) and then if nothing new is in overnight ... I have a "to do" list the size of ... well it's pretty big! LOL

Yeah baby!!!

Well the hard work I have been putting in has paid off! The website is finally back in the top half of google! I could always rely on coming up at least 3rd for my key word search terms, and when the site disappeared off of google completely after the web host nightmare ... well .... let's just say I was panicking!!

Yesterday evening I found I was back on the first page, but when I checked this evening (after more work put in!) and found I was 4th in google ... well happy dance wasn't the word! I've worked my proverbial backside off to get the site back up there and I am soooo relieved it's been worth it!!

I am literally physically exhausted though! I spend every waking minute either number crunching, buried in the website, designing the new catalogue or working in some form or other and the lack of sleep has taken it's toll on me! On the upside, so many people have noticed how positive I have been lately and that's been great.

I still owe most of it to L! Without L around to kick my proverbial backside, well I dread to think where I would be!

Anyway, it's late - I'm knackered and still have the summer 08 catalogue to finish before bed!

OMG I'm a bad person ... I'm SORRY!!!!!

But OMG what a week!!!!

Seriously I've had the most amazing week and I've worked my ass off ... which is the ONLY reason I haven't blogged for 4 days ... oooooops!!! Jeeeez, I actually can't remember the last time I left it that long before blogging!

But look .... this is what I have been doing!!! LOL

I am sooooooooooooooooooo pleased with it! Check it out in all it's pinkness at http://www.deelights.co.uk

It's been a weird week!! L has helped me enormously with some proverbial butt kicking which has really motivated me into getting things done!

I've been drinking a lil bit this evening (yeah Dee had a night off!) so I can't promise how much I'll actually get written ... but I will try!!

L helped me to work out exactly how much I need to make per week to cover the overheads that the business has and that has been a really good figure to work out. Can you believe I actually didn't know that number before?? It's crazy. The best thing is that based on the highest outgoing figure (which doesn't take into account the savings I am working on making at the moment) ... I have covered what we need to make this week - plus I am up on next week.

Considering that until TODAY the website wasn't listed in google for my key search term "scented candles" ... that's been phenomenal!!

You should have seen me earlier when I did a google search and found myself on the first page of google! YEAH baby!! I've spent the last few nights tweaking the website and working on optimising it for the search engines and it is such a relief that it has paid off! I literally ... LITERALLY did a happy dance around my front room to such an extent that my 8 year old son told me off for swearing!!!!!!!

Ooooops!

Wellllllll it was a huge thing!! After the site being offline for 2 weeks, then not being listed in google as the spiders had been out ... and obviously my hard work over the last few days has really paid off!

*still doing the happy candlemaker dance*

Seriously ... the happy candlemaker dance is something to be seen - it really is! Maybe one day I'll get someone to video me doing it! LOL

So anyway ... tonight I've been feeling really positive and it's been GREAT! I'm exhausted - completely and utterly, but I'm happy and loving the fact that it's Friday night and I don't need to get up early!!

I was asked an interesting question by a candlemaking friend in Ireland on MSN tonight. He is a hobbyist and at the point where he is almost ready to start as a business. It was an interesting chat because he's a fellow candlemaker, yet he's not technically competition as he makes carved candles PLUS he's in Ireland!

Anyway ... he asked me what it would really take to make me happy (this is after 3 hours of MSN chatting!) and it really caused me to stop and think.

What do I want/need to make me happy?

I want to be "comfortable". That's all! Yeah it would be great to be rich but lets face it, that is a pipe dream for most of us!! Comfortable to me means knowing that all of the bills are paid and that if I happen to see a pair of shoes tha I "must have" ... that I can buy them and not worry about whether I can afford them! Call me superficial & shallow because I want to live in a nice house and have nice things around me - the pinker & sparklier the better!! Does that make me a bad person? I don't exactly want to live in a Swarovski encrusted world, but a lil more glitter & sparkle never hurt!!

I want my kids to grow up knowing they are loved and for them to feel secure & happy. I want them to grow into confident adults ready to take on the world no matter what challenges are thrown at them. I want to be their mother and their friend at the same time and to never lose touch with who they are as individuals.

Good friends. This is vital. I need my close friends - they are the ones that keep me sane through the dark times!

I want my business to succeed and to finally turn a profit enough for me to draw a serious wage and be able to achieve all of my other dreams without bleeding the business account dry and stabbing my own self in the foot!

I want to come home at the end of a long and hard day & snuggle up in the arms of a man who loves me more than anything, thinks I am a complete and utter goddess and who will succumb to my every whim!

Is that really too much to ask for??

Trust me there's a lot more I would love to add to that wish list .... but that's what it will take before I am truly happy.

The website is back!!!!

FINALLY!!!! I phoned the new host first thing this morning and within minutes, the site was up! It will take a while before the search engines pick it up again, but meanwhile I plan on doing letterbox drops, direct marketing and really pulling out as many of the stops as I possibly can!

I'm really pleased with how it turned out! L helped me make some tweaky changes to it earlier and the logo / branding has come out brilliantly.

I've also already had an order from the site - from a regular customer, so at least that's some pennies today with the first day being back online!!

Gawd I am sooooooooooooo utterly knackered! I really am. I didn't post last night after getting back from the show because a) it was another crappy day and I just about covered costs, and b) I was physically and mentally exhausted!!!

I still have so much work to do before I can think about sleep tonight though!!

www.deelights.co.uk - any comments on the site design welcome!

The worst craft show on record!!!

I was up mega early this morning to make sure that I was in Climping (Nr Littlehampton) for 9am ready to unload my stock and set up for the 2 day show. One thing that's always nice about shows & events is when you find yourself with nice neighbours on the next stalls ... and well, had it not been for conversation with the other stallholders I would have been even MORE bored than I already was!

It actually seriously was my worst show on record - EVER! I made just about enough to *barely* cover the cost of the table for the day - and that doesn't count the cups of coffee I bought, petrol, my time ... my TIME! I spent 8 hours there today and there was barely anybody through the doors. It was so soul destroying!! The problem on days when it's like that at shows - is that by the time it gets to half way through the day and you still haven't made any serious sales ... is that you really can't be "bothered" then to really put in the sales pitch when people do approach your table! You figure that they aren't going to buy anyway so you may as well save your back and sit down!!

*sigh*

Well anyway I went into the workshop this evening and I'm taking some different stock with me tomorrow. We'll see how that goes! In the meantime I am SHATTERED! The website STILL isn't online so I'll have to phone the new host on Monday morning as their tech support isn't open on weekends GRRRR ... still, by the time it DOES get online it will be ready - I'll make damned sure of that!! I worked late through the night last night on it ... I'll give it a bit longer this evening on it before I hit the sack, then as soon as I am home from the show on Sunday I'll be cracking on with it again!

Ohh and once that's done it's back to number crunching!

It's never ending ... but I'm happy! Ok a little depressed about the crappy day today, but I actually do feel focused and positive - and THAT is what it is all about!

The best Friday the 13th EVER!!!!

OMG it turned out to be such a wicked day in the end!! I had a meeting with my bank manager this morning and it went very well. The whole purpose of the meeting was an annual business review, but we talked about my cash flow problems and ways to resolve them ... and she waived my bank charges for this month and also increased my overdraft for a month to cover all of the direct debits due to go out. This means that during the period that the website has been down and I have zero coming in from WorldPay (which is paid to me 28 days after processing) ... I don't have to worry about the bank outgoings. That's a huge relief.

She offered me a business credit card - and I said no! I was proud of myself!! I was sitting there thinking hmmm it would be a nice easy way out RIGHT NOW - I could order a load of fragrances and a butt load of wax, but it wouldn't help in a months time when the payment was due in full!! Sooo instead I'll be getting a debit card which will help enormously and save me having to give my mum cash and borrow her card!!

THEN .... completely out of the blue this afternoon ... my wonderful friend L lent me the money to get the website back online AND pay the set up fee for NetBanx so that the cash flow issue won't BE an issue as NetBanx clear the funds to my account within 7 days instead of 28! NetBanx will take a couple of weeks to set up, but it means that when I hit the period where I have naff all coming in from WorldPay ... it will only be a week until the NetBanx payments come in and I can suffer through a week!!

It's just been such an amazing day, and to think, this morning I was ready to vent! Sitting here right now I can't even remember what I was going to vent about! Hehehee Ahhh it's just nice to have a smile on my face and feel positive! Where would I be without my close friends!

Part of what has been so amazing is L's complete and utter belief in me. It means a lot to know that there is someone outside of my immediate family who cares enough about me and believes enough in me, my products and my potential to achieve more in the future ... to hand over a wad of cash to help me out!! That shows a lot of trust and it means a lot.

Friday Five - 13th June 2008

Oooerrr Friday 13th. I have a whole pile of whining and venting to do, but I'll save that for a separate post! Gonna cheer myself up with the Friday Five for this week - it's all about "Who?"

Who gave you your last balloon, and what was the occasion? I haven't been given a balloon for YEARS!! The last balloon I gave was on my dad's birthday in September last year. He died in 2003 and we always send helium balloons up for him at sunset.

Who gave you your last scolding, and what was it for? Errr probably a couple of days ago from a friend reminding me how crap I am that I don't know all of my numbers yet for the business!!!

Who gave you your last attaboy, and why? Me! I did when I got through the end of the figures for the the financial year that I have been putting into Excel spreadsheets!!! I deserved it too!

Who gave you your last haircut? I don't know her name, but it was errr around February and it was at Jagos in town.

Who gave you your last massage? I had a professional massage in January 2007 and it was WONDERFUL!! I should really go get another one ... 18 months ago is not good!

Holy Crapoly it's Thursday already?

Ya know ... on Tuesday afternoon I was thinking about how slowly the week was going by - then I realise this morning that somehow the week has caught up with me and it's Thursday already!!

The last couple of days have flown by - hence why I forgot to blog because the days somehow squished themselves into one recently! The basic rundown is that the website is STILL offline but the re-vamped version ready to launch when the site is back up ... is looking better than ever. I've also been cracking on with my number crunching into Excel ... and I'm getting there - slowly but surely.

I've found quite a few leaks in the business recently thanks to L's help. We've been trying to identify where I am hemorrhaging money from, and found quite a few ... the problem is that I need better cash flow to plug up the gaps ... but one of my problems IS cash flow and the fact that WorldPay take 4 weeks to pay me my customer credit card payments into my bank! I need to get that to weekly ... but I can't do that until I have the cash flow to get the site back online and the set up fee for the new payment processor GRRRRRR because meanwhile I am stuck in cash flow hell with no website!!

Can't get an egg without a chicken .... and the only way to get a chicken is from an egg! Sucks sometimes eh!

At any rate - I'm in a focussed and positive mood. I have a lil event this evening locally in Ashington, then 2 days Saturday & Sunday in Clymping so we're getting there!

Lovin' Monday!

Wow, what a fab day I've had! I was up early to go to the gym as hub was working from home, so to start the day off with a boost was a good start!

The website is now back in my name and registered with my new host - I need to come up with the funds for the hosting to get it officially back online ... but it's all going according to plan so far!

I did some number crunching today with L and worked out that I can save around £4,500 a year purely by buying my wax in larger quantities, changing payment processors and questioning some of my maintenance bills. That's crazy. Scary crazy!!!

Also ... finally the website re-design is coming together. I'm really happy with how it's working out and it'll mean that by the time the site is back online, there will be a whole terrific new look for it!!!

Yeah we love weekends like this!

We being "me" anyway! Yesterday was a really good day, then today I got as much as I'd wanted to achieve accomplished at work, then extra bits too! It's always good when that happens!! I've also been doing a lot of brainstorming about the future of the business and where I want to go with it... and dreaming up concepts and designs.

It's good to be all floaty every now and again, but from tomorrow it's back to proper number crunching and serious figure working. I need to get this part finished before I can even think about going any further!

The website re-design isn't going too well. I looked at it today - realised it was completely shite and have started a fresh version! I'm too much of a perfectionist!!

Well, anyway, it's 10.40pm and this perfectionist is heading to bed ... an early night for once!

Grinning like only Dee can grin :-p

Ohhh what a GREAT day! LOL I just love it when I can start a post like that!

I'm still very much bobbing to keep my head above water (and the website is going to be down till the middle of next week) ... BUT it's all looking up and that is (partly!) why I have a grin on my face this evening! I also had a cash sale today, so that added to what I took last night will get paid into the bank on Monday. I've got a booking Thursday night in a pub in Ashington for a ladies night, and then next weekend is a 2 days event near Arundel.

So aaanyway yes it was an utterly delicious afternoon! The sun was shining, I got LOADS done at work ... and even managed a fair few unexpected things too *wicked grin*

This evening I HAVE to get to grips and make a final decision on the layout for the redesigned website, so that once we are finally back online - it's all ready to go!! The utterly worst thing would be to have the site fixed ... but no content to upload because I'm certainly not going to put the old site back up when I'm so close on a new version! LOL

Aaaaanyway the longer I sit here procrastinating about it - the less time I have to do it! LOL

Thank Crunchie it's Friday!!

Whew what a week!

It has all ended on a fairly good note though! Let me start from the beginning! Yesterday I spoke to a woman who was organising a school PTA Ladies pamper evening in Rottingdean ... tonight! It was short notice but I didn't have any plans so I said I'd love to go.

Soooo today I spent the day packaging stock for this lil event. I decided to make a conscious effort to try and shake things up a bit for shows!! I usually take about 30 baskets full of of votives, and the baskets are great for shows as it gives people lots of chances to sniff a wide variety of different things ... but it hasn't been bringing in the sales.

This is what I took tonight instead ....


I took stacks of 3 votives in different scent groups (fruit, floral, spice, food, perfume etc) and as many hurricanes as I had in stock plus my flip flop floating candles. I took as much in 2.5 hours this evening as I did ALL day at my last one!! Crazy!

My friend L gave me a huge tip today that possibly saved my ass tonight. It was duly commented that the packaging looks terrific on the votives, but the scent just wasn't gonna get through 2 layers of cellophane packaging!! It worked a treat!! At the last minute I grabbed a handful of "sniffy" votives in the same scents as the ones I had packaged up ... and OMG it worked a treat!! I invited people to come up and sniff the samples and let me know which ones they liked so that I could point them in the right direction!!

The flip flop floaters went down a treat ....

But then, they are sooo gorgeous that they usually do!!

I feel really positive! I didn't exactly make a million ... but I made more than I did from sitting on my ass tonight *grin*

I have a LONG way to go before my head is above water ... but for the first time I feel positive.