Inspire It.

As we wrap up 2020, I have seen much discussion given to the idea of “Thank goodness this year is OVER- bring on 2021”

However, I prefer to ponder on the 2020 I have had and acknowledge the things I have been most grateful for.

Firstly, is the tremendous relief that my immediate friends and family have stayed healthy throughout the year.

Lockdown, meant learning new ways to communicate for some. (Face-timing 4year olds is just plain FUN) With many people in lockdown and working from home has seen many of the Facebook groups I am in be more active and engaged, as people sought human interaction. I have formed some new online friends that will continue well beyond the new year.

Limitations on being able to go out meant that, instead of going out to eat, we would purchase quality ingredients and prepare many “restaurant worthy” meals at home (served on our “good China”). These days were a load of fun as M and I worked together to create delicious meals – Duck a l’Orange was a triumph, as was Pork Chops and Peaches.

Time at home also saw some heavy decluttering and deep cleaning done. Our apartment feels larger and lighter as a result.

I caught up on many movies, tv shows, YouTube channels and books that had been on my wishlist for ages.

YouTube channels on all kinds of exercise kept things interesting. From Yoga, to Chair Pilates and the crazy fun PE teacher Joe. Thankfully I am entering 2021 at 2kg less than the beginning of 2020.

From a finance point of view, my business is in e-commerce, and I saw a big move upwards in sales. With careful nurturing of my customers, I am looking forward to a new level with this business. M’s tradie business also saw some solid growth. I am immensely grateful that we were able to maintain our staff and even added a new staff member along the way.

All in all when I look at the current level of my life, I rate it as a pretty solid 8. Bring on the ability to travel again to visit and hug our interstate family and life will again be pretty close to 10.

Post in the comments, what are you most grateful for 2020 for?

December!!

For some people the mere thought of this time of year brings on a level of stress. The busy holiday season, extra expenses and the prospect of deciding on what the New Year might bring.

For me, December is a planning month (along with June).
For the most part, I have gift shopping sorted well before Christmas. I will only need to buy some fresh fruit, chocolates and “scratchy” tickets to go with cards.

What I do in December is to reflect on the past year.

• How have my plans worked out?
• What have I achieved
• What has brought me the most joy?
• Have I created any new (good) habits?
• Do I have more to do to reach my goals?
• What could I have done differently?

I also start to do some preliminary planning for the next year. These early plans can be refined through the month. This means that I start the New Year with a solid framework rather than a hasty, unconsidered “resolution” that stands little chance of being implemented or achieved.

December is a time to have a look over my RISE Plan and see where my current life balance is and what I feel needs to improve.  Often this makes any resolutions easy to make and prepare for.

Here are the steps I take to create my plan for the New Year.

GOALS:
Starting with the lowest scoring items from my RISE Plan, I will create a plan to bring them up to a level that will create a better balance in my life. I will do a Be-Do-Have exercise to visualise what I want this area to look like in its 10/10 ideal state and plan toward that.  This plan becomes a high priority so that area does not stay languishing in a less than perfect score

I will always try to work out how I can improve while keeping the monetary outlay as minimal as possible.  If I find that an upgrade does require actual money spent, then I need to work out how to incorporate it into the budget so the expense has as little an impact as possible.

These goals may change slightly over the year. (I am not so rigid that my January plans MUST be adhered to all year), but it creates a good launching pad for the New Year to come.

JOURNAL:
Spending some time of journalling what I see in my “new normal” life for this year helps in a number of ways.  It helps imprint your visualitions into your mind.  It has been proven that magic happens when you put pen to paper.  Also knowing what little things I have planned as upgrades helps when people invariably ask me “What do you want for ( Birthday, Mother’s Day, Christmas)”.   I will have a ready made list in my head of what I am desiring 🙂  This same list might also become saved searches in eBay, Gumtree or Facebook.  It is surprising how often the “perfect thing” comes up at a great price.

SPECIFY:
I will get specific with my goals. Vague goals such as “I am going to make self-care a priority” does not cut it.. It needs to be a SMART Goal. So my goal may be broken down to specific goals like
1: Book hairdresser every 6 weeks ongoing
2: Spend 30 minutes each morning on “me time”
3: Find a massage coupon (3-4 times for the year)

SCHEDULE:
The first thing I do in my new year diary is to book out family birthdays and occasions.  I know we get together as a family for many of these, so pencilling out those weekends as busy shows me how much spare time I have for “US”

I will then dedicate each month to a specific area from my RISE Plan.  By concentrating on the areas that need the biggest upgrades first. It is these areas that might need to have new habits over a longer time period or a separate budget to consider.  For example, I have a renovation of our Kitchen and Bathroom on the plan for 2021.  I would like this to happen mid-year, but I will schedule it early in the year, so I have plenty of time to plan, get quotes and even start purchasing items for it as I might see sale items pop up.

REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS:
While is great to have “Stretch Goals” if you make your goals too hard to achieve, it serves only to make you disillusioned and with feelings of failure.  Many of my goals will be two pronged – “Can certainly achieve if I stick to the plan” and “Would be nice if I really push it”

ALLOW DETOURS:
As in any journey, there is no “right way” to get from A-B, and allowing for detours to the plan is Ok as long as the direction is ultimately toward the end goal.  Sometimes it is these detours or “scenic routes” than can the most surprising results.

Your RISE Plan will help you pick up where you left off or reset some ideals of your ideal life.

Keep in mind that you are creating YOUR ideal life, and every bit of progress is a win.

What is “Sunshine Cash”?

The whole concept of “Sunshine Cash” is the total opposite to “Saving for a Rainy Day”

It is, of course, important to save an emergency fund for unforeseen events, but (in my opinion) to have money in the bank for money’s sake is just not necessary.

In no way would I EVER advocate spending more than you have, but cash is there to be spent. ALWAYS pay your bills first, then allow funds for savings and general “adulting” then allow some “Sunshine Cash” for just having fun.

My Story..

I have been on this planet for 50 something years now and have learnt a lot in that time ( as we have all) Some of the lessons I have taken to heart and have created a happy content life that is MY version of pretty damn good 😊 All while NOT “keeping up with the Jones’ (or the Kardashians)

I vividly remember as a child, the excitement of the big Saturday paper.  Mum would read the lifestyle, cooking and fashion liftouts, Dad would have the news and sport, my brother would race for the comics and I just LOVED the ad catalogues.

The  JOY of browsing each page and tenderly touching images of items that seemed only for the “rich”.  With my hands on an image, I could close my eyes and imagine exactly what it would be like to have that thing. The way I felt, the touch,  the sounds, the smell.  Ahhh bliss!!

Little did I know that I was manifesting my ideal life even as a youngster.  I always knew what my ideal life looked like.

My life is not “frugal” in the traditional sense of some ( I do not scrimp on every penny) Instead, I know what my ideal life looks and feels like and actively work toward that goal everyday.

Over the years I have been told MANY times how “Lucky” I am and my answer has always been “I worked bloody hard to be this lucky” The truth is though… I am LAZY 😊 I actually don’t like to work too hard, but I do work hard for my money and I expect my money to work hard for me.

My version of self-employment

 

This week I made the decision to close one of my businesses that was, quite frankly, just not performing.

It is hard to explain people who are not, or have not been in business very long, how freeing letting business related things go can be.

I have been seriously self-employed since November 1995.    I say “seriously” because there were lots of “side hustles” in the lead up to the purchase of my first bricks and mortar store and the determination that I was never going to work for a boss again.

That first business was a Kodak Express One-Hour Photo shop.  For the 15 odd years prior to that point I had worked in One-Hour Photo shops, so I did know what I was doing ?   I had been a manager for at least 8 or 9 of those years.  I made a pact to my family that, as I did not ever need to bring work home with me when I was a manage, I could see no reason why I would have to bring work home now.

I stuck to that pact and right up until VERY recently have not even had a “work” computer at home.  iPads with just my person email address is just fine.  Work can stay at work.

It is all about boundaries.

The other pact I made to myself was that my wage must at all times be at least that of the job… For me that meant that the shop MUST be able to pay me as the manager of a photo shop.  If it could not do that, why was I doing it?  I may as well get a job.

As a couple, we decided that my husband would go out on his own and became self employed in 1999.  Same rules applied. No silly hours, and same pay as the “job” required.

One business decision we do in all our businesses is to have a really close look at the profit and loss numbers at the beginning of both the financial year and the calendar year (So July and January) to determine what needs to change. We look at what has done well and how can we improve on that but also what has done poorly.  We look at products, services, staff, clients,  time we are spending in the businesses and profit margins as well as actual dollar profits.

Over the years we have seen many a product or service be introduced only to realise that it was a drain on resources and be let go in 6-12 months. Sometimes they have not been as profitable as we planned.  Sometimes it might be a good dollar earner, but took too much staff time to create.  We have tweaked staffing levels to be fairer for all concerned. We have “sacked” clients that are less than ideal. Those one’s that we might need to be constantly chasing for payment, or one’s that are just a general pain in the rear.

Working my way out of a job

My lifestyle plan began a number of years ago and involved trying work out a way to replace 1-2 hours of work consistently over a 4-6 month period. The idea was that in the beginning I did 40 hours a week work, then 38 then 36 then 34 etc etc over time.  The money needed to stay the same.

This has worked pretty well and I now work about 15 hours a week

I am not at the point of being able to “sit on a beach with a laptop” type lifestyle, but I am creating businesses that do not need the owner in them all the time.  This makes for attractive businesses when it comes time to sell.

The Question of Money

This is a very personal issue.  How much YOU want to make to live your lifestyle will most likely be totally different to what I want.

Most people VASTLY over estimate the amount of money they actually need o create their perfect life.

My advice is to always start with a “Be-Do-Have” Perfect Day exercise and when you have completed it, price that day out.

Now, remember, in your ideal day, you might have that you are going to a café by the beach for breakfast…but do you REALLY want to do that EVERYDAY??

Unless your ideal day included a far bit of workout time, those café breakfasts are going to be pretty detrimental to your health eventually ?

As a good guide though, start with the salary you have and think what would it look like if you had that same salary but only worked  ½– ¼ of the hours

Where to now?

If you are working fulltime and trying to become self-employed, but can’t afford to buy a business or try to create a product or service that can replace a few hours work.  Once you can do that, it might be possible to reduce your hours at work.  Keep going until you replace all your hours

Have FUN!!

Business can be hard, there is no denying it, but you do have to be doing something you enjoy.  If you wake up in the morning and dread the day ahead, you may as well go back to a job and take advantage of the benefits that this might bring – sick pay, holidays, superannuation etc

I can honestly say that I do love being the master of my own destiny. If mistakes are made, I know they are mine and mine alone.  Conversely,  the rewards are welcomed with pride that I created them.

 

 

 

 

 

There is somewhat of a backlash to girls and women wanting to be a “princess”.  After all, in this modern world can’t us women be so much more than a figment of prettiness that relies on a saviour in the form of a man?

Well…DUH!!   Of course ?     I do not aspire to be a Disney Princess nor an actual Royal Princess -that appears like faaaaaar to much work.

What I DO aspire to is the perfect life that most little girls are led to believe that a Princess has.

Waking up in a huge fluffy soft bed ( where even so much as a small pea creates discomfort) surrounded by woodland creatures and twittering birds.

The sun is shining as she slips into a lovely outfit and partakes of high tea in luxurious surroundings.  If there is any light work to be done, it is met with a merry song and is never a drudgery.

Her prince is dashingly handsome and treats her with the love and adoration that befits her – and she reciprocates. TOGETHER they live happily ever after.

I guess it is not so much the idea of being a princess as such but rather  it is the idea of being  the heroine of your own story, whatever that looks like.

I ask you WHAT IS SO WRONG WITH THAT!!!

So… Use the good china, Wear the jewellery, Bathe with the nice soap.  Who is more important to use it for than YOU!