It Came From Outer Space…

Work has actually given me some extra shifts this week which is nice, given after the holidays money is tight. However I find myself still thinking I need to find somewhere that’s more reliable and where despite my health I can actually work a full 40 hour work week. It would be nice to have a steady schedule and a reliable amount of money instead of paychecks which vary wildly from $30-120 per week depending, and some place where I made enough money to be able to send the munchkin to daycare to get more socialization and all the rest of it, and I can use lunch breaks to write. That’s actually when I would get a lot of my writing done during the day was when I was working and could just sit and write with no distractions on the 15 minute breaks and the lunch breaks.

I feel discouraged, because it seems as though I never pass any employee screening tests lately, but I suppose when the employers are getting 30-200 applications for each position they can afford to be choosy, and up until I got this part time job I had a huge hole on my resume for the past few years and there seem to be so few places who actually consider raising your child to be a suitable use of your time. I explained that to one person who was interviewing me and he got this disdainful sneer, and then said, “So, why is it suddenly okay now to not raise your child and pawn him off on daycare?”

I’m actually very glad I didn’t get a call back for him. I was more than capable of doing my job; but anyone who can’t understand why your child has to be and always will be your first priority is not someone that I want to work for. As rough as my current job is they’re always accommodating if I don’t have a babysitter available, and everything else. So, I guess it’s a case of having to take the licks where they come really.

My sister-in-law was suggesting I look at banks, which is something I have done in the past, but I think they may have been put off by the two year blank space in my resume. I don’t have that now, so I’ll start again.

I’m always on the look out for a good deal on items that we need, whether it be packs of cheese or RAM for the computer I try to find the best product for the best price. In the past few weeks I’ve been looking at sale after sale, because our income is getting smaller and smaller whereas we still need to buy things, and in some cases we’re getting to the point where we have to replace things otherwise we’ll be out completely.

With all the computer problems we’ve been having recently I’ve been looking into purchasing a back up hard drive. Our computer itself only has a 160 GB hard drive, so a 1 TB back-up drive is more than enough, but when it’s at a good price it’s worth the extra space to save the money–where would be the point in buying a smaller hard drive for the same amount or just slightly less? I don’t see there being one. I had the same thought when I bought the RAM upgrade. There were 4 GB of RAM for under $50 so it made sense to do that rather than just buy a single stick for the same price.

Also with the 1 TB back up drive we can back up this computer, Kore’s computer and when we’re able to get the additional computer we need we can back up that one as well and have plenty of space.

Once we get the computer up and running again there are going to be some changes. With Kore and I sorting things out to go into official partnership, and the fact that the company name was one that I mostly fell into we’ve decided to rename the company something that is less likely to be mistaken for a hardware store, and also better illustrates what we’re doing.

There are several things we’re working on as best we can without access to graphic design programs, and low finances, but both of us feel that this is the best way to move forward, and I, for one, feel very comfortable with this turn of events.

I’m so glad when we got the Instincts we got phone insurance. Initially my husband had been wanting to get an iPhone; but our local carrier told us they could not insure the iPhone because they’ve got glass screens. So, I went back to Sprint and we bought the Instincts; which I like a lot. We have music, internet, video so I’ve been using the Instinct a lot for quick checks of web things while the computer isn’t working.

Over the weekend my husband’s phone went through the laundry but thankfully the insurance we have replaced the phone very quickly and when they found out that my husband was in law enforcement they expedited the phone for free to us so it got to us within two days instead of three to five. All we had to do was pop out the micro sd card from the old phone and into the new one and it was good to go after Mobile Sync downloaded all the contacts; which is great, given without the main computer there’s a lot of information on that phone that couldn’t be replaced any other way.

I’ve come to realize that I really dislike this time of year. We got W2’s, I’m waiting on 1099s and I just got the 1098 for the mortgage, and it’s a complete and TOTAL headache. I think it would be easier looking for a Mesothelioma lawyer than sorting this stuff out.
I generally pride myself in doing these types of things for myself; but there comes a time where you have to recognize that you need a professional’s help. I wouldn’t be trying to defend myself in a legal case, and I really don’t have to put myself through the stress of dealing with all these fiddly tax laws and changes and all the frustrations. It’s better for me, for any potential clients I have if I’m not stressed out by all these things and can focus on them and what they need from me rather than being distracted.
Some times the answers to an issue are so simple you feel really silly for not having seen it before.

It’s amazing how quickly you can become redirected on the internet, one moment you’re looking at graphics sites two google searches later and you’re finding Hydroxycut hardcore…so simple and yet it can make things so difficult.

I remember the first time I tried to do research in college and despite having put in “future” “medical supplies” “doctors” I wound up with 50% of my searches being pornographic. It was horrible, and very disconcerting for a seventeen year old who was having her first interaction with the internet.

I’m hoping that I can get our keywords set so that if people are looking for what we have they can find us. The greatest portion of our sales will becoming from the internet and what marketing we can do around here, until we can get a brick and mortar store going…so we really need to get ourselves out there.

As much as I complain about my husband’s health insurance at times I’m grateful to have it. The seven months where I was without health insurance were really awkward, especially as I managed to dislocate my elbow during that time, and didn’t go to the E.R.

I remember that my MIL was pretty upset about that, but given a year before I had done almost the exact same thing to my elbow while I was camping, had insurance through my employer and all that had done was cost me $300, and get me a sling and two Tylenol…I wasn’t relishing the idea of going there without insurance for similar effect that would cost me a lot more than $300 without insurance.

It’s dropped off in the last few months but for a while I was constantly getting calls from various insurance companies offering me discount rates to insure employees at my business. Given I’m a sole employee/proprietor of the business it’s not really viable to get insurance. It costs a lot more than it’s worth. I doubt I’ll ever be a large enough business to really warrant getting health insurance.

Every once in a while you get some opportunities when you’re a small business owner. I get offers all the time for free credit card machines, free pens all sorts of things, most of the time they sound great, but they have some sort of catch.

So, I read about the latest small business opportunity and I wonder, where’s the catch? However in that site’s case the catch for me is that I’m not in the right place to invest in something right now. If I was I’d love to use that site, because they make it easy for you to match yourself with something that’s within your budget.

For me I’m already semi-established and I know I’m working the way that I want to, even if I’m not bringing in as much as I would like. I’m learning a lot, but if you’re looking to start something and aren’t sure where exactly you want to go, going through that site might help you connect with something that’s going to be worth your time.

It’s little things which make you remember and recommend a service professional. The little extras that they do that they really don’t have to. Take for example our real estate agent they gave us a box of Ghiardelli chocolates when we were given the keys to the house, and since then have contacted us several times to make sure that everything is okay and to see if there’s anything we need. Last week I got a message from them which included a copy of all the paperwork that we’ll need to file our tax return, which saves me a big headache now that we have my husband’s W2 and I have to tackle the taxes.

It’s that sort of service which I hope to offer here, to be able to go above and beyond and help my clients in any way that I can. In the mean time I have to go through the site and rework certain portions of it now that my license is fully reactivated.

We’ve been having some positive things happening with regards finances lately, which is a blessed relief given we just took a major expense in buying a house and we have our first mortgage payment looming on the horizon. Our insurance company is covering most of the cost of fixing my husband’s car as that’s what they’re there for, and I just found out that renewing my licenses is going to be less than I thought, as the price for the tarot license in our county seems to have gone down! According to what I was quoted from the occupational license office yesterday.

I’m quite surprised! Pleasantly so!

The tarot license is still more expensive (by quite a bit) than the hypnotherapy license, but it’s cheaper than it was, hopefully this is a positive sign for fellow clairvoyants in our area.

I’ve been managing to cut corners in lots of other places too which is helpful, we have a coupon for Home Depot for when we resupply their, 10% off. I just used a 10% off shopping spree coupon for Target to replace some things which have been broken in the move like the tea pot, and a candle holder, and I’ve found I can get my laptop fixed with spare parts from eBay and also by using a Bluefly coupon so that I will have a mobile computer when I do design consultations, which will be very, very helpful. If we tried to fix the laptop through Gateway (as the warranty expired a week before it broke) it would be at least $700 dollars, which is why originally we just replaced the computer with a desktop computer, which does still work fine, but I’ve found out with a bit of creative eBaying and less than $100 I can get the parts and fix the computer myself which is GREAT. Perhaps if I keep up the learning in that regard I can start fixing other people’s computers too and add that service to my design business? It’s very hard to find people willing to work on laptops in our area.