Got a notice in the mail today. My formerly free business checking account is now going to be $10 (ok, ok, $9.95) a month. Wow! The notice said. Look at all these cool new features! What a bargain!
I'll grant you (as my parents can attest), I've never been the best with money but I'm pretty sure that paying money for features you don't need or want isn't a bargain. (The cable company never believes me on that one but I, still, firmly believe it to be true.)
It's a small thing, I know, in the grand scheme of things. It's not cancer. It's not a stroke. It could be, though, the death blow to my little jewelry design business. Some (most, even, maybe) would say that a business that can't afford $120 a year probably should be allowed to go out of business. In theory, I agree with them. In practice... oh, in practice... I am having such a hard time letting go.
You see, I've been clutching at the tattered strings of my business by my fingertips, hoping to just hold on until the kids are all in school and I can devote more time and energy to it. I'm halfway there. The business is 4 years old and I've another 4 years until Matthew is in school. I'm at the peak of the mountain... or, rather, what should be the peak.
Forget Sisyphus's stone rolling down, I swear there are bulldozers coming up the other side of the mountain, shoving ever larger piles of rubble atop the zenith. The annual LLC fee to the state was supposed to a temporary thing that's now permanent - $250/yr. (and, yes, the multimillion dollar real estate LLC conglomerates pay the same fee that my micro business does). Web hosting - $180/yr. I gave up the second website, couldn't afford it anymore. Credit card processing - $96/yr. Now another $120 to the bank? How much longer can I afford the luxury of maintaining a business I don't have the time to market?
The truth is that I should let it go. But I just can't seem to let go of the dream that went with it. Still, no matter how nice I think my jewelry is, I suppose that doesn't really matter if it doesn't sell, does it?
I really should let it go, shouldn't I?
~~~
"How To Succeed", Opening song from How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying
Showing posts with label business. Show all posts
Showing posts with label business. Show all posts
Oct 12, 2010
Feb 4, 2008
Success is a Relative Term
First off, I have a splitting, toddler-induced, headache. I'm sure most of you will understand if I am not as coherent, cogent, or co-something'r'other as I might normally be.
The event last Thursday went well, I thought. It was not profitable (gross was about $100 less than costs) but people seemed to have a good time and the jewelry was well-received. Hopefully, the next two events will be blast-the-doors-out profitable and I'll start seeing some increased web purchases.
The website is what's been so frustrating. I know, I know - it takes a while for websites to start creeping into the public consciousness but you'd think that, in 9 months of having my website up, I'd have more than two sales (and a huge THANK YOU! to the buyer - you know who you are!!). Still, I'm keeping my hopes up - my business copier (leased years ago when I was still doing freelance paralegal work) will be paid off (it's a dollar buyout lease) in April and then my overhead is down to the $10/mo I get charged for my credit card processing service - so that should help ease the financial burden. LOL - and I get on John's case for being too hard on himself because his firm isn't an "overnight" roaring success!! Eh, call me a hypocrite; you'd probably be right in this instance.
In family news, John's sick and the Napless Wonder is being particularly demanding this afternoon. Can someone tell me, btw, when toddlers start understanding the concept of "why"? (As in, "why are you crying?", "why did you do that?!!" (the toddler-safe equivalent to "what the fuck were you thinking??!!"), etc.) I feel, much of the time, like I am talking to a wall!
Oh, and here's another question for the more tech/scam savvy! I was paying my cellphone bill on Saturday and realized it was $20 than the prior month so I actually studied the bill and, it appears, somehow I got signed up for some sort of monthly service (the nature of which I have no idea!!). Fortunately, the cellphone company credited me for that amount but what I'm wondering is how it came about! The service representative asked if I voted by text message for call in voting (like American Idol). (I politely told him no - I was too embarrassed to tell him I'd never even watched a reality TV show.) He said that was the most common cause. If anyone has any other ideas of ways it might have happened, I'm open to listening because, as helpful as they were, I'd really prefer not to have the hassle of calling them again!
Alrighty, John should be home with the eggs soon. We're having pancakes for dinner. I was going to make them tomorrow in honor of Shrove Tuesday but he requested something easy on the stomach (non-spicy, non-greasy, bland) and, after a look at my freezer, I didn't feel like serving a basket of saltines for dinner. And, really, that sounds pretty good to me tonight anyway. He's not home tomorrow night so Katie and I will just eat leftover pancakes tomorrow night.
Later, everyone.
The website is what's been so frustrating. I know, I know - it takes a while for websites to start creeping into the public consciousness but you'd think that, in 9 months of having my website up, I'd have more than two sales (and a huge THANK YOU! to the buyer - you know who you are!!). Still, I'm keeping my hopes up - my business copier (leased years ago when I was still doing freelance paralegal work) will be paid off (it's a dollar buyout lease) in April and then my overhead is down to the $10/mo I get charged for my credit card processing service - so that should help ease the financial burden. LOL - and I get on John's case for being too hard on himself because his firm isn't an "overnight" roaring success!! Eh, call me a hypocrite; you'd probably be right in this instance.
In family news, John's sick and the Napless Wonder is being particularly demanding this afternoon. Can someone tell me, btw, when toddlers start understanding the concept of "why"? (As in, "why are you crying?", "why did you do that?!!" (the toddler-safe equivalent to "what the fuck were you thinking??!!"), etc.) I feel, much of the time, like I am talking to a wall!
Oh, and here's another question for the more tech/scam savvy! I was paying my cellphone bill on Saturday and realized it was $20 than the prior month so I actually studied the bill and, it appears, somehow I got signed up for some sort of monthly service (the nature of which I have no idea!!). Fortunately, the cellphone company credited me for that amount but what I'm wondering is how it came about! The service representative asked if I voted by text message for call in voting (like American Idol). (I politely told him no - I was too embarrassed to tell him I'd never even watched a reality TV show.) He said that was the most common cause. If anyone has any other ideas of ways it might have happened, I'm open to listening because, as helpful as they were, I'd really prefer not to have the hassle of calling them again!
Alrighty, John should be home with the eggs soon. We're having pancakes for dinner. I was going to make them tomorrow in honor of Shrove Tuesday but he requested something easy on the stomach (non-spicy, non-greasy, bland) and, after a look at my freezer, I didn't feel like serving a basket of saltines for dinner. And, really, that sounds pretty good to me tonight anyway. He's not home tomorrow night so Katie and I will just eat leftover pancakes tomorrow night.
Later, everyone.
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