No Goals report for July 2019

This is a short post, I promise!!!!!

Disclaimer: P. Lynne Designs is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

For the past two months, I have been sharing my goals for the month. Now to put up a warning; I am not reporting one this month.

Why?

• Because I want to see if my goals will happen naturally and authentic?
• Because it is summer, and I am lazy
• Because it is my birthday month
• All the above

I have one, I am not publicizing it.

Photo by Elle

It is all the above.  Let me explain….

Since April 2019, I have been on a mission to improve my ultimate goal of being an entrepreneur and writer.  Really, it has been my goal from the very beginning, but I have been sort of lax from the beginning.  If you take a look at my previous post, one of the goals was to take my business seriously, and I while I have been working at it, I sometimes feel like I am spinning my wheels.  I feel like I was not going anywhere fast, and not making any money.

Starting today is the start of a new day and a new fiscal year for me (July 1, 2019-June 30, 2020), and while it may not mean much to some people, it means a lot to me.  June is usually the time where I look back at the last 12 months and clean some things up in my business.  I may add some things, take away some things, and redo some things that may not be working while keeping the things that are working the way they are.  The past 12 months, I have been doing it each month.  Well, not every month.  There are some months that I skipped because it was really not needed for that month.

            Tip:  take time out to look at your situation and change it if it is not working.

This is not just a tip for business but a life as well.  No one is expected to stay the same for the rest of their life.  For one, it is boring, and another, it looks weird if, for example, a six-year-old who still learning the same set of skills they did as a four-year-old. There are some exceptions, such as the child may be autistic or they may not have learned it as a four-year-old, but under normal circumstances, it looks weird.  Same as an adult or any type of situation.  You learn and grow from it as well as new things.

One of the things I have learned from a long time ago is that Blogger is not the best platform for me.  If you have been following me for a while, you know this has been a struggle for me.  Another struggle for me has been to keep a consistent schedule.  

One of the things I talk about a lot is being careful.  I do not fully come out and say it, but I dropped little hints on how to be careful.  Being careful includes;

• Watching your back
• Watching your time
• Watching your writing (or whatever business you are into-passion)
• Watching the money

It is watching the money that I want to briefly touch on for the rest of this post (which is growing longer by the second, LOL).  It is a touchy subject for many and most people do not like to talk about money situations.

The first part of watching your money is careful about who you talk to.

When we first start a business, we (and I include me in this as well) want to tell everyone.  If we could tell our first-grade teacher we would do it, but not everyone needs to know that you are going into business for yourself, especially when you first get started.  Your boss does not need to know about any situation that you are facing unless it affects your job, and your business should not be one of them.  Your co-workers most definitely do not need to know this. 

Here is why: 

Most people are jealous.  Sure tell your family, unless they run the business you are working at.  What will happen if you have this new business idea at your job, but your supervisor poo-poos the idea.  So, instead of sitting on it, you decide to make it a business venture.  Heck, that idea may be working your paintings or photography as a side hustle.  Whatever it is, you decide that this going to be your second income instead of getting a second or third job.  It now tells your employer that you are no longer available for certain hours, the weekend, that holiday shift that no one wants because they want the two weeks in Cancun instead.  Not only that but, now you have done something that they should have done, leave.

When I first thought of going into business for myself, I was working at Archiver’s, which was a scrapbook store. I kept getting requests from customers who wanted someone to have one of the associates make something for them, but that was not a service that the store offered.  It was a Do It Yourself store, that offered supplies to make a project. This happened especially around the holiday season and even though the store offered to show them how to make a project, the people who asked were not creative, and they told me that the moment their mouth opened.  I wanted to offer it as an extra income for me, separate from the store, without the managers knowing about it.  One employee was already offering those services on her own.  As soon as I got my ideas together, a new employee handbook came out that November 2009, and apparently, the company was made aware of this to the point where they stated that no employee can work for themselves or for a direct selling company.  I was also a Longaberger consultant at the time.  Since I was down to one day a week, and making $8.15 an hour for 4 hours, I had a decision to make.  Talk about your punishment.  I thought, “they might as well fire me”, but I quit instead.  This was my mistake, now that I think about it.

            Tip: do not quit until you can make 10 times more than your current paycheck.

Now, I am sort of struggling to keep up, and even though my parents have been gracious by helping me, still I should have gotten another job until I am able to peacefully quit to run P. Lynne Designs full-time.  I have a friend who owns his own photography studio, but he also has a job that does not take up his weekends, so, he does photography shoots on the weekends, and works during the week at his regular job. Which reminds me to schedule for a new headshot with him soon.

OK, I lost track of time, and this is starting to become my normal post length

Other excuses on why there is no July report…

It is my birthday month.  If I use that excuse for the reason why I am not writing is that my birthday month is here, I would not be working at all.  Every year, I keep saying that I am going to have a giveaway, and my month is gone before I could get started, so to roll everything in one package, I will be working on a giveaway that combines my birthday with my anniversary of 10 years of blogging.  I am not sure what the giveaway is as of yet, but it is coming.  I would say around Christmas, but I am traveling that month, so it will be around November.  It is in the midst of the holiday season. Anyway, look for it.

OK, that about does it, I am no longer announcing that I will have a short blog post.  If you like this post, please comment and share it.  I hope you enjoyed it.  God Bless You.

Why I will not do a blog income and traffic report on my blogs

To post or not to post, that is the Question
(c) 2017 P.Lynne Designs

Lately, I have been seeing on Pinterest boards pins like this: “How I made $250 ($1000, $4,000 whatever amount) in my first year (first month, first week) of blogging.  At first, I thought it was a joke, but now I am sort of concerned.

We have all heard the phrase, “Never discuss your income with anyone at work”.  Well, there is a good and valid reason for that quote.  Companies do not want animosity among the minions (Oops, I mean employees). Let me give you an example of what could happen.

Two people are going for the same job.  Both are hired and start on the same day.  They are both given 90 days probation, which is the standard in the United States. Although, I had a preschool teacher’s job once, which the director gave me one week to take a deconstructed classroom, clear the junk, and turn it into a working classroom for me to teach in.  She was going to bring in my potential students in the classroom that Friday.  I started that Monday, had to ask the other teachers if any of their stuff was in my classroom, please remove it. Oops, off-track, you will have to read until the end of this post to find out the rest.  No skipping ahead.

Anyway, back to the two new employees.  If one employee finds out that the other is making more money than other, that could cause problems, and maybe a fight or two.  This is one of the reasons you should never discuss your income with a co-worker unless you are looking for a fight.

So, back to why I will not share my blog income.

To not share my income with the world is something that was taught to me by my father.  This was something you never do because you do not want to be one of the troublemakers in the workforce.  Sharing is caring, but not in this case.  Everything I learned about working a 9-5 job, I have carried over to my business.  The second reason it is simply no one’s business.  If someone asks me that question, I give estimates, not the real amount.  If someone wants to know how much my business is making, I will tell them that too, but only certain people like bankers and my accountant need to know that.

The last reason is I do not like to discourage people.  I do not like to see people upset, and well, in the African American community, some people do not like to hear that your business is successful.  They do not like to hear that you are doing well and you do not need any financial help.  I guess that is in every community.

I was at a community vendor fair.  I was taking orders for Longaberger products.  There were many African American vendors at this fair, and this was my second one.  I had done one the previous year.  People would come, look around, and leave.  Of course, I would greet them, ask them if they were interested in purchasing an item, and they would kindly say “No”, and leave.  This went on for several hours.  Finally, one lady came up, and she asked me, “why do you sell these baskets?” “They are white man’s products” she would further explain herself in her line of questioning.  Soon after, I received 5 more people who asked the same thing.   I did not think that I was offending anyone with the product line, but I was.  Why were 6 people so offended with the product line? I still ask myself to this day, since I still sell the products, as well as doing my own business.  I got the same question when I came back the next year when I sold Tastefully Simply food products.

I am happy to discuss what I sell, my target audience, and again my income regarding the business itself, but not my personal income.  I also will discuss my recommendations on how to make money and what I use to generate extra income.  Everyone has their own way of generating income. There are billions of ways to do it.

Now, if you stuck to the end of the post, you know I started to talk about my 7-day probation period with that preschool.  Where I left off was I asked the teachers if there was any stuff they had in my classroom, please remove it.  No one came to get their stuff. 

 The second day, I asked if the extra light bulb box (the big florescent light bulbs) be removed from my classroom.  They were too heavy for me to lift.  The janitor did no move the box.  The third day, I was almost done, when I heard a knock, and it was the director with the children.  “Ugh”, I thought, “not now.” I had no bought my materials from the teacher supply store.  I was going that afternoon.  She said that she brought the kids in so they could meet their teacher.  The official day was still Friday.  I thought it was 5 minutes, it ended up being the rest of the afternoon.  Again, I was not prepared.  I had seen a box of stuff that no one claimed (meaning no teacher has claimed it), so I took out some windmills, and handed them to the children. I came up with a brief lesson on the wind.  Second, that box of bulbs, they broke because one of the boys was trying to find out where his cubby was.  Thank God, he was not hurt.  I was mad at the inconvenience that was thrown at me.  I was not driving at the time, so my mother picked me up.  I cried in the car.  Later, we went to get the materials I needed to teach these kids something for Thursday. 

When I arrived the next day, the children were not arriving in my classroom.  They had gone back to the previous class, which I thanked God for that.  Now, I had an extra day to truly prepare.  So, I put up my stuff, banged out a couple more lesson plans for the next week, and everything was smooth sailing, when all of sudden, one of the teachers came into my classroom.  She wanted to know if I had seen the windmills in the box I looked at the day before.  “Yes, I used them for my children,” I told her.  “I did not have anything set up for them when the director brought them in. I used them for a lesson on the wind.”  The teacher’s concern turned to anger, as she explained to me that they were for her kids to play with, and one of them was broken.  Apparently, I owed her a windmill.  I then explained to her that I asked Monday if there was anything in my classroom that was theirs, and to come get it.  No one claimed the box, so I used it.  I offered to pay for the windmill if it meant so much for her to have it.  She said, “No”.  After she left the room, I went back to planning the first real week with my kids.  I left work that day thinking that is was a rough week, and the next week should be better.  It was not.  Sunday night, I received a call from the director to not come in.  I was fired.  7-days in, and now I had no job.   I went in the next day to gather my stuff.  Mom went with me.  When you are in your 20s, parents tend to stick up for you.  So, when I got there, my stuff was neatly in a box, and the director saw us in. Before I could say two words, mom wanted to know why I was fired.  I thought, “Mom, I think if I was old enough to get the job, I think I am old enough to ask why was I fired.”  The director explained that I was not prepared to receive the kids.  She then sighted the problems that I was having, which her staff caused in the first place. If anything, I should have quit before I was fired.  I enjoyed setting up my classroom and my kids, the two days I had them, but I needed cooperation from her, the other teachers, and the janitor. If she did not want to hire me in the first place, she should have said it the day of my interview.  

Day 7: all nice and warm.

(c) 2016 P. Lynne Designs

Well, Columbus had its first major snowstorm of the season, and I would not call it a major snowstorm yet. The reason why I call it a major snowstorm because people around here do not know how to drive in snow. I am serious. Folks around Columbus believe that ice is the natural norm around here, and decide to drive like it is springtime weather. They forget rules when stopping, they forget that they do not have snow tires (which is not a requirement in Ohio), and it is like a three-ring circus on the highways. Another plus for working at home.

So yesterday, I covered how you can apply to work from home if your employer allows it, and how to do it effectively. Today, I am going to briefly show you how to start the process of becoming an entrepreneur. It is not as easy as it looks, and you have to make sacrifices. I am going to show you what I did wrong, as well as what I am doing right.  Keep in mind that I am not an expert on the subject of all things owning your own business from A-Z because I am still learning.  I am learning what a business owner can and cannot do and I have been learning for almost 15 years (14 as an independent direct seller and 5 as an entrepreneur, and 4 as a freelance writer).  There are differences between the three, and since my other blogs are currently down because of an upgrade (this is the last blog to get the upgrade), I will address it here.

Preparation steps:

•          Make sure you have 6 months to a year’s worth of money saved before taking on this task.  It goes hand in hand with the next one I will mention in a moment.  This should be common sense anyway because you will never know what will happen.  You may get sick to the point of not being able to work, or laid off either in a company closing, downsizing, or fired for whatever reason the boss cooks up.  Now, this was my mistake, and the reason was shopping.  I had to have it now, instead of waiting on that item.  I had 3 months saved, and I had bills.  I will address bills in a moment as well. 
•          Keep your job, for now.  You cannot go to work, and announce that you quit because you have your own business.  Wait until profits increase before you make that announcement.  It shows three things:  You are loyal to your job (even if you hate it to pieces), You have a backup in case things fail, and it looks good on your credit report.  Not only that but if things do go bad down the road (say in 2-3 years) when your business has a lean year (not making enough profits), you can go back to your former employer and work a while.  Once your business picks up again, you can always leave.  Do not bite the hand that feeds you and do not talk bad about the company when you leave.  Tip:  Do not take their clients either if you are still in the same industry.  There is a reason why they have you sign that waiver when they first hired you.  My company changed its employee handbook to read that I could not open a business of any kind, so they forced my hand in signing it, but then I quit. You can always work your business on the weekends and days off for a while.
•          Bills, bills, and more bills.  We all have them.  Credit Card, utility, even magazine subscriptions.  Continue to pay them on a regular basis.  What it looks like to the creditors:  money in your pocket to pay them, and there are no breaks in the payment.
•          Try not to get a loan.  Enough said.  If you do, wait until you need equipment or some other major tool or property, not when you first start the business.
•          Benefits.  Another reason why you should not quit work right away.  The moment you quit, you have to pay your own health insurance, and you do not get that bonus or that vacation pay if you do not take one.  You also do not get unemployment benefits. (Not one dime of it).  When you are ready (see “Keep your job, for now.”), you can negotiate your back pay (if they are a fair company), and bid a proper goodbye.  Even if you are bitter about it, do not leave in anger, you may need a favor down the road.

I hope this helps you to decide if owning your own business is right for you.  You can always read further, and research for yourself, but I love it, and I may not get it right all the time, but tomorrow I will show you how to get things in line BEFORE you yell “Open for business”.

Me in a nutshell…A look back at opportunity

(c) 2014 P. Lynne Designs

I am always looking for new topics for all 5 of my blogs.  They all have been in sort of a hiatus.  My world is changing, and in some ways I can say for the better, and in others, not so much.

I was inspired with this topic by a friend of mine, where she talks about herself, and how she found herself through job interviews.  She has a new job, and even though she loved the old one, Kelly felt like it was time to move on.  She enjoys her new job, which has similar duties from the former one.  In fact, it was at the former job where I met Kelly.

Anyway, as I read her blog post, I could not help but to think about myself over the years.  I have changed so many jobs since I started working at the age of 21, and the reason why I did not have the typical after school jobs was pure laziness in my school work.  Working was a privilege in my home, and it was important for me to get to and through my senior year in high school.

Anyway, fast forward to age 21 and my first job.   I was an assistant daycare helper at an Easter Seals facility.  I enjoyed my job, but it was only a summer job.  The kids were great, but, I was sad to learn how some of them became disabled, but I could not show sympathy, because then a child would not learn how to master a task.  That sympathy had to become a caring, but nurturing way for them to have that courage to learn how to do something, which most of us take for granted.  I will not tell you about all of my first jobs, but this was one of the jobs, which still stands out in my memory. 

What I found out about myself is that I am a very loving person, who sometimes wear her heart on her sleeve.  I am trusting, but not too trusting that I am not asking the right questions.  I am nosy, but only because I want to make sure that whoever is involve in that situation is given a fair chance.  I am quiet, a good listener, and a thinker.  I want to make sure I get all the facts the first time.  I repeat things often to a person, because I want to make sure that you, the listener, get all the facts straight, and right.  I am an advocate, because I believe that rules should be fair and just.  They are not always that way, but I want to try.  I do not like conflict, and I do not like starting fights. I want everyone to just get along.   I will defend you, but do not expect me to put my hands up in a fist fight.  I do not like guns.  I am a Christian, but I also believe in a person making their own decision.  I can only tell you the truth, and you decide how you want to take it in.  I am for human rights. I love a good cry.  I am humble.  I will let someone else have a turn first.  Those are my strengths.

My weaknesses are sometimes I am too quiet.  I am shy, and still have a hard time speaking up.  Some of my strengths can sometimes become my weakness if I make the wrong decisions.  I am still working on my temper (yes I have one of those).  I cry at the drop of a hat, especially if I am hard on myself, and lately, I have been a little too hard.  I sometimes do not recognize my own talents, and therefore, I have lost a lot of opportunities.  I am now playing catch-up, but I am grateful for what I have.

My tip for teens and young adults, your first job is not your last job.  Just because you are working at McDonald’s today, that does not mean you will be working there tomorrow.  Make the best out of everything you do, because you never know….you could be waiting on your next boss.  Do not be so quick to make the fast money.  It will come, IF you work hard.  If you are always waiting on someone to always give you something, you will never get it.  You have to EARN IT.  There are many ways of earning it, and some take longer than others, but you will get there.  There is a reason why Missouri is the “Show Me” state.  People want you to show them that you have what it takes to be the next big thing to come into their lives.   The next big job does not have to come from Hollywood, Broadway, or the record labels either.  In fact, very few people get DISCOVERED.  If you feel that this is your calling, you have to be willing to show up at every audition, no matter what.  Always remember, everyone has a purpose in life, no matter how great or small.  In fact, you may have to work behind the scenes first.  At the end of the day, always be grateful for what you have accomplished, and never complain about what you have not done.  If it was meant for you, it will come soon enough, but you must have patience.