Where I've Been...

My apologies to the three people who actually read this blog for not posting anything in - oh - a month now! In a nutshell, I'm here and still alive. It's just that it's tax season for the business so I've been trying to pull everything together with the help of a very competant accountant and get everything filed to the tax authorities on time. And then my bank decided to levy incredible fees if I don't keep a minimum of $5000 in the bank starting Feb 5. Yes, I'm supposed to have $5K of my own money just sitting there but not being used. Because there's just so much other cash available to small businesses these days! So I've also been finding a new bank, opening up those accounts, and now switching over my merchant account and other logistics that are tied directly into my bank account.

I do have some good news to share: Despite a heck of a year my business ended the year with a profit. A true "In the Black" profit. Sales ended up being down about 4% which isn't too shabby considering the state of economy but what really saved me was the cost cutting I did throughout the year.

And now the bad news: Despite having a pretty darn good year I'm struggling for motivation. I don't know if it's simply because I love my part-time job so much or if I still have post-holiday hangover from all the holiday orders, but I'm having trouble getting excited about another year. Don't get me wrong, I'm on board for another year but I'm not sure how long I can keep doing this year in and year out. So I'm going to take some time this year to get everything in order and write up things like an Operations Manual so that all the information about the business isn't simply wrapped up in my head. Not only is it a good idea to have all that written down anyway (and I should have done it years ago) but if (a BIG if!) I decide down the road I want to sell the business I will need those materials so I may as well start working on them now.

In the meantime I'm planning to clean up my office next week in the hopes that a clean and organized office will help me find some of that lost motivation.