how much do I really want to make money

Well loads ofcourse but really you have to have some morals. I have been approached by an online gaming company who want to advertise pon my website. I just think of the greyhounds who are used and abused and murdered both by hanging in spain and by meat in japan, chiona, indonesia etc. All of whom once were born in Ireland or England. Yes I really want to connect myself and my business with such wrong doings! No I do not. I could seriously do with some extra income but this cannot be the only way and if it is then I prefer to give in and get a "regular" boring job. Choice made and that is that. Off to see what tatty has been up to now then.............

online business, xmas wreaths and cold hands

Well I am doing ok with ebay now I have sussed out most of the controls. Lost quite a bit listing wrongly or badly but seem to be doing better now. I am not doing so well on my own website which is a shame but maybe it will slowly pick up. Trouble is xmas soon over and I suspect no one will buy anything I make for a month or so after that so hard times will be ahead. Just heard from M that is snowing where he works - about 20 miles from here but no sign of snow as yet here. Sent a new soap sample to all team members but so far no feedback but having used it myself I think its rather a nice one. Just need to get someone else to tell me what they think - hint hint if anyone out there is reading this........................
Going to have a go at shampoo bars next week. Cant wait to be honest. i only ever made one and it wasnt too bad but now I want to aim to bring out at least 2 early next year since apparently the cosmetics regs are changing and the price of saftey assessments os abou ot go sky high so I need to get as much in there asap as I realistically can manage but ofcourse I still need to make sure its good quality else no point bothering at all. Doing Reading eco-veggie fayre this weekend and hopefully that will be a good one and other than that I am just sending out internet orders till xmas. Looking forward to xmas this year. No nasty company bullying me anymore and no nastiness at all hanging over us. Just hope we can continue to make ends meet..............
Oh and finally made a wreath for the front door but it is a bit large and so had to cut off the outside and it is quite difficult locking and unlocking to door since you cant get to the key holes! Still I do like my new wreath and its all hand made and natural after all....................
I cleaned out my chickens this morning and my hands were so cold I still have pain in the ends of my fingers and thats after about 4 hours. I didnt even use water just a citronella spray. It should stop red spider mites moving into their house and although I usually disinfect I do not want them to have to go to bed later with frozen disinfectanty water a;ll over the inside of their home. I gave them loads of hay so they should be able to snuggle together and keep warm. I do worry about them at this time of year. I want a turkey for xmas - as in to have as a pet but I do not think we can actually afford to feed one right now which is really sad cos I would have liked to have saved someone .............still there is always next year..............

slackness at blogging!

Well its a whole month and finally I am back blogging. Very strage this month has been. I have not done so many markets but have started to sell on Ebay - not my own products but ornaments. I suppose if it pays the bills............. It all began when I decided to sign up for dropshipping - dont do this its a rip off! - I paid my £25 and listed my items - followed the companies guidelines exactly, they say if they have less than 200 of something do not list for dropshipping so I chose things to list on ebay with more than 300 in stock. 3 days later I have sold my first ornament. Great thinks me. How exciting. Go to order from dropship company and they have removed from drop shipping list since have only 12 left and they keep them for their wholesale customers - after 3 days! So I ring them and politely ask what I can do. They assure me its most unusual and say that on this occassion only and because I am new to dropshipping they will sort it and send anyway. I have to email them the details. I am stressing. I decide they have 12 left and most of the other items I have listed are still available and obviously drop shipping doesnt work so I decide to buy everything I have already listed wholesale. Amazingly it comes the next day! And 3 days later the company have still not sorted out my dropship order despite telling me they will do so. Anyway so now I have the goods and I send onto the buyer. He gave me a really nice review too which is lovely. So I have loads of ornaments and am now selling em on ebay. Not what I intended to do when I quit my job but maybe it will generate the money I need to survive since my own company is not. Tho strangely every time I have a ebay order I am now also getting orders from my own website. The last 2 weekends I made more from the internet than at markets. Maybe this truly is the way to be free............

JUST A QUICKIE

Have no time this week to blog and now finally I sit down and Shaun of the Dead is on the box. I do love shaun of the dead. One week into website course holiday and have sorted nothing- we have 2 weeks off but a test / assessment when we return!. CS2 just not the same as dreamweaver and I cannot afford to buy dreamweaver. I need to do meta tags tho! Urgently. Its just not good for business not being SEO ( serach engine friendly for the uninitiated!)
Doing the first Mind body and spirit festival tomorrow. Exciting but may be a flop yet. Starting to get loads of sales calls and buying a new mobile so I can switch the work one off after 6:30 since I have had a call at 8pm every night for the last 4 days and its getting a bit much. I would really like to believe this means brackencraft will be a success but i cant quite do it. Believe that is! And what will I do when I get a huge order? I want it to happen but can I fullfill it? Ofcourse I can but I will not be able to do the markets. That would be great but then I do have regular customers now and it isnt just a case of letting them down. I really do enjoy the markets and currentlyt that how I make it work. Tho not getting up at 1am to be there for 2am which is Wellesbourne would be a good one. Its just too expensive to get a permanent pitch and to be honest we dont do every week cos I am now getting regular events. Back to the course- not going well. I just feel like the thick kid in the class! Maybe I am. Last year went amazing but this year just not as good. Maybe its the teacher but it could be me! Either way makes no difference in the end. I do hope I pass tho. Weird cos maybe thats the problem. Last year I wanted to build a website and didnt care about the qualification. Having done well last year I want to do well again so it matters what grade I get. Maybe I should just relax and have fun again.....................after all I already have a website that works and I will make it SEO eventually even if I have to buy CS4 to do it!!! Onward and upwards etc. I do hope tomorrow will be a good day. Otherwise my future is outside in the wind and the rain forever.............

vegan fairs

Vegan fairs are just wonderful. We had a stall at West Midlands Vegan fair and it was a great day. We had fun working which is always a good one. I dont think they will make me rich moneywise but just being there was great and knowing you can eat everything and you dont need to check the ingredients was just brilliant. We had chocolate cakes nd tea and coffee for breakfast, fish and chips for lunch and all sorts of munchies all day long. Great day. I would happilly do one every week. Sunday was ok. Castle Donnington market. We work next to some lovely people there so thats good but I do prefer the vegan fairs.
Today I need to get round to doing the books up to date. I keep putting it off - hence I am now blogging! Will need to get round to it soon cos have website design tonight and altho half term have loads of stuff to work thru so I will hopefully pass the assessment. Also in course of practicing intending to wow up my website a bit if I can!

lip balm kits

Well it looks like I may yet get the lip balm kits out in time for xmas. I spent the last few hours making the base. I have already written the instuctions so will need to get M to follow them and see if he can produce a half decent lip balm from them. Then I will need to buy some 5ml bottles for essential oils cos no way will people want to pay loads for the 10ml which wont be needed. Thats the falvouring. I am sill avoiding fragrance oils. May have to give in on that one but I really do not want to. I will only want a few 5ml bottles tho to trial this so it will bump the initial costs up. Still I do not want to buy eg. 150 bottles until I know if anyone will buy this. Its still just an experiment and an idea right now so I cannot afford to invest too much till I know if anyone will be interested oin buying it. Besides the fact I have nothing to invest! If I lose a few quids or rather make nothing on the trials fair enough. Just do not want to lose loads again. I need to find a wholesaler who sells packaging next. I realy need so kind of box or even tuperware to put the whole kit in. Have so far found everything too expensive. Ikea tupperwares looking the cheapest but cannot believe they really are the best option.There must be a similar cheaper option out there somewhere......

unfragranced moisturiser

Today at last I finally got round to making an unfragranced moisturiser. You would think it a logical first one to make but not for me. Anyway happy to say its very good. I made it really cos of customers asking for one. Hope it goes well. I havent done the labels yet but will do tomorrow cos it goes on sale on saturday. We did ok last weekend and it almost looks doable as my future work right now but I dare not be too hopeful. I have worked out I can survive on about 7k tho 10 would be much better. Less than this and I will starve to death! No idea if my current earnings are going to achieve anywhere near this tho. Come april 2010 I may well be out of business by the looks of it right now! Still onwards. Better to try and fail than spend your entire existance dreaming and never to ever go for it. Make it happen! I am certainly trying to do so. I had a second internet order which is encouraging and have learned ( yesterday at the website design course I am doing on monday evenings)to make templates for my website. That will save so much time. Right now I have to edit every page if I add anything new that needs a link. Means completely redoing my website tho. Still its another project...................
I made more apple wine which is now doing itself as it does and right now I am sitting drinking a quite acceptable glass of plum wine which is a nice rosey pink. Mmmmmm. maybe I should start selling country wines instead of soap!???