09/10/08

08-31-08: Bronze the day: I got my Women's Initiative Business Plan work book all printed out, along with the homework sheets and everything. I emptied out a large 3 ring binder that had web related stuff that was over 4 years old and recycled it to hold my Business Plan lessons. I printed out the pages back to back and three hold punched them, got dividers done and I'm so stoked.

It doesn't take much to excite someone with three planets in Virgo.

The section we went over regarding personal finances made me depressed. I'm starting out broke as the 10 Commandments. When I went out with Milly for dinner last Friday night she brought up an interesting concept: pledges from friends for me to raise the $2K to get the Individual Development Account with the Women's Initiative. They will match my 2 with 4 more so I could have $6K of start up money.

I have a lot of what I need in place: computer, printer (that finally works!), PhotoShop and FrontPage, digital camera, website, clay and tools. I'm working from home so I don't need to lease a store front and do capital improvements to the location. I have a small carbon foot print compared to a lot of other folks starting a small business. The start up money will go to buy QuickBooks for accounting, some office supplies, a bit more clay and some Varethane for finishes. Oh I also have to get a copy of Word 2007. I'm using trial copy that came with this new computer James got for me on Valentines day.

The aim is by Spring of 2009 I'll be an independent operator. I am working as hard as I can to manifest it earlier. It would be nice to have the subsite set up before people start buying stuff for the Holidays, but if I don't I'm not going to stress it. Going over my old notes and paperwork I've been nibbling at this e-commerce idea for since transiting Saturn squared my natal Saturn in 2001. My own astrologer was stunned that I started on this project 7 years ago. I told him I figured I should prepare for my second Saturn return, why wait for it to hit me on the back of my head. Grab a surf board and ride the wave going "Cowabunga!".

Some have asked me why haven't I done this already, long time ago. I don't know, it just didn't seem like the right time. I needed to work on my polymer clay skill set. I've seen websites rise up and blink out over the years with beginner to intermediate polymer clay product. I didn't want that to happen and my focus was on learning what I could and sharing what I learned to others through CITY-o-Clay.

There's more to learn than getting a grip on one's clay. Wrestling with webhosts, learning more about FrontPage, practicing setting up e-commerce pages, dealing with a marriage that's dissolving, all that takes brain shares to invest. Before I know it it's years later and I am still nibbling at this e-commerce project.

I had a nice lunch with a couple on Saturday and the man is a business owner and has a lot of experience in the business world. He asked what I was up to and I explained what I was doing with the Women's Initiative and my polymer clay website and yahoo group and his feedback was positive. He felt I've laid a strong foundation for my e-commerce and we both agreed that economic cycles are just that cycles. It's not going to be a tough economy forever.

Also my teacher at the Women's Initiative said that the economy is being kept aloft with small businesses, that employ more people than large corporations. I'm remaining confident that even if I start out modestly it will be alright. I live modestly. I'm not paying a mortgage on a home, not caught up with the subprime mortgage melt down, don't own a car, don't have retail credit card debt. I got the regular student loan monster that always looms over me and some other debts that are getting paid down. So I'm not worried. No profit in needless worry.

My only concern right now is the yahoo group and my website have been neglected with the time I'm spending on doing this Business Plan. It can't be helped really. There's hours of homework each week. Market research took more time than I anticipated. I still have to figure out how much time it takes to do certain polymer clay moves: conditioning, pressing sheets, making canes of various complexities, then pressing cane slices to a sheet, then cutting that sheet into clothing pattern pieces to layer on a raw clay body. Then how much time does it take to make an aluminum foil armature, cover it with the first layer of skin clay, to sculpt hands and feet, to sculpt a face?

I keep on thinking if I have 50 mini donuts on one 6"x6" tile and can fit 6 tiles on one shelf in the oven, do that twice and have 600 mini donuts, how much gas does it take to cure them, let alone make them. How far down the process does one need to break down the direct costs and labor costs?

I still have to do that product break down. I'm still working on what will I time that I can use over and over, like conditioning, color mixing, pressing sheets. If I can time those actions I can have a constant to work with in making products that all use those processes.

Yes this is boring. Business is boring because as Mike says "The devil is in the details.". Opening a business isn't like baking a box cake, it's a complicated process. I have office experience: know how to type, how to fill out a spread sheet, how to input data in software like QuickBooks, how to format the Table of Contents for the Business Plan. I used to order supplies for the offices I worked in and have an idea of where to find the best deals and what I will need to run a small business office. That's on top of getting a grip on my clay. I feel a great deal of compassion for the other women who are in my Women's Initiative class who do not have this sort of corporate office experience. They must be sweating bullets getting the first draft of their business plan together. I have difficulty staying on point while writing for it. I know I'll have to re-do the whole thing. At least the formatting is right. LOL

Well I better get back to doing my homework. It's so much easier now that the printer is functioning and I have my lessons printed out. YEAH! A little progress is worth celebrating.