She works hard for her money.....

So hard for her money....

That was the song ringing in my ears when I bit the bullet on Friday and hit the books.

It was time to do the taxes!
This wouldn't have been such a harrowing proposition if i had......like I promised myself last year......put SOME effort into bookkeeping at any stage throughout the year.

Exhibit A:
Big box is what I stored 09/10 receipts in....little box is where i plan to store 10/11 receipts.

Alas i stooopidly picked the worlds biggest container to stash all my receipts in, knowing that ONE DAY...I would open that lid and deal with them.

The thoughts of losing a day of productivity where overshadowed by my curiosity as to how my second year running Finki went.

I am such a bad business woman...really. If i see it and like it, I buy it. If I think teal is the new black...I'm all over it. There is no cash flow analysis or stock projections here, just fly by the seat of my pants type planning.
Being at Olive Grove I am forced to reconcile my sales on a monthly basis, so i generally have a rough idea how that side of things is travelling but i do overlook the numerous, Lincraft, spottie and Savers receipts that overtake my house. There fore leaving me none the wiser as to what my expenditure is. So Tax time is all about finding out whether I broke even.

My one business goal this financial year was to increase my sales by at least 40%. Not by just wishing and praying, but by doing the hard yard.
I gave up my part time job and committed myself to a full year of 110% effort.
I worked from 3 to 5 days a week, I expanded from jewels and stationary, to home wares and clothing. I gave it everything i had, just so i could test myself. Test my resolve, commitment and ability to keep creating, whilst keeping it interesting and profitable enough to put food on my table and clothes on my kids backs.

After 8 hours of recording mountains of paper work....I KID YOU NOT!

True story...here's some of it!

Came the moment of truth......did i meet my business goal, were all the late nights, long days and craft related injuries worth it.

Yep.....I'd have to say Yes.

My little business improved 130% on last years final figures.

UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!!

Happy dance, happy days.

Maybe, just maybe...I could be a designer. A designer of my own career. How bloody exciting is that.

There are numerous flaws in my design at present....for example the 60 hour working weeks, the fact I'm paying for a gym membership I don't have time to use and I still have not defined what I do, aghhhh....... but nothing that can not be overcome with a little time management, planning and adventure.

This is an image of my current bookkeeping status, two months in and all accounted for woohoo!....

So my goal this year is to maintain monthly records, have a sound knowledge of my cash flow and most importantly continue to enjoy the crafty journey.

Fingers crossed.
Jay xx