Running your own small, flexible business from home, to fit in with still being a full time, stay at home mum should be simple, shouldn’t it? Having biggish ideas to expand the business and be able to afford that extra caravan holiday in the summer as well as at Easter shouldn’t be a problem, should it?

Unless, of course, you have five children and a husband living at home and constantly demanding your attention, have a house that still hasn’t learnt to clean and tidy itself, dinner that hasn’t learnt to cook itself, have commitments to the PTA and the church, and are still trying to sort through the boxed remnants of a past life destroyed in a house fire two years previously (possessions only-fortunately no loss of life).

Ok, maybe then it’s not quite so simple…

Friday 6 March 2015

Lists and Gift Wrap



Well ok, maybe my mind isn’t completely clear of ideas and tasks quite yet, as following on from yesterday’s ‘doing’ day, I’ve another list going through my mind of things to follow up or complete! This list is less persistent though, and many of the items are quick and easy- I’m very hopeful that I’ll have everything completely checked off by the end of the day.

Mike is working from home today, which means he’s on the school run- freeing me up to finish sorting the recycling and get a head start on the early morning jobs. With the washing machine happily working away, I sit down and write down today’s list- happily noting that out of the dozen or so items on yesterday’s, only a couple are still outstanding and both of those are already part completed. Perhaps I should teach Mike how to work a ‘to do’ list properly? On second thoughts, maybe not- he’s already given me enough grief and sarcasm over the fact that I even wrote one in the first place!!

I did at least actually manage to pin him down over dinner last night, and discuss the couple of points that we needed to. Although not entirely conclusive, it did manage to get us talking, and opened up some issues that have been hanging over us for a while. Another work in progress maybe, but one that I hope will get resolved quicker now Mike knows I’m both on his case, and more importantly- on his side.

As I start working though today’s tasks I quickly realise that I’m unlikely to get any sewing done today either. Even straightforward jobs always seem to take a lot longer than they appear to need, and I also want to run the vacuum around today to keep up with having got all the housework so up to date last week. I’ve got a couple of standing orders that I want to set up, so I begin with them as they’ll help us keep to our new even-stricter-than-usual budget. I’ve a few more quick things also related to this that I want check over with Mike, which could make the difference between deciding to book our Easter holiday or not. With him busy working at the other table today, fortunately for once this isn’t too much of a problem!

With the downstairs vacuumed in record breaking time for once, thanks to having done it so thoroughly last week, I return to my admin tasks just in time for lunch. I ordered some wrapping paper off eBay yesterday, with the aim of introducing gift wrapping as an option on Little Dolly Clothes Shop at some point, and noticing that it has been dispatched I place a ‘coming soon’ notice on the homepage of the website. I’m not entirely sure how to work it yet, I’m going to have a proper think about it later, but it’s an idea I toyed with a couple of years ago but never followed up. The idea came back to me along with everything else yesterday, so I’m sure there must be an easy way to manage it.

After lunch I return to the vacuuming and clean around upstairs. Less than an hour later my housework is finished for the day. Mike heads off to pick up our littlest daughter as I once again log onto the computer to check some more jobs off my list. It’s going well today, there are already more ticks than unfinished jobs, and those that are left should be easy to do before I need to stop and cook dinner. Our little girl comes running in with a parcel she’s taken out of our letter box on the gate, and another job gets added to the list- two designs of the wrapping paper have arrived today which I take as a sign that I need to get on and sort out this gift wrapping idea!

Dinner tonight needs to sit in the oven to cook for half an hour or so, so after taking a break to prepare it, I return to my website. I was thinking about how to fit this gift wrapping idea in with my items while I was making the meal, and I think I’ve found the solution. The issue I’ve always had with the idea is that I don’t want each and every item to have individual gift wrap as an option on it. Most of my customers buy more than one item when shopping on my website, and they would either end up paying out for far too much for the service, or else nothing at all. There is no option available for me to add the option at the checkout, and that’s where I’ve previously got stuck.

Suddenly this evening it came to me though- if I offer Gift Wrapping as a separate item in my shop, customers can purchase just one of it to cover all items they’ve bought. Obviously if they’ve bought for more than one child, they are then free to buy more than one. It’s so obvious really; I don’t quite know why it’s been a problem before! A couple of photos and some typing out later and, just in time for dinner, my latest idea for Little Dolly Clothes Shop is all set to go. Now to just watch and wait, and see if it proves to be something my customers actually want…

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