I am admitting to dragging my feet again about the business plan. It is something which I do need to work on, and therefore have to make time for. I am learning one thing this year, it is that things always take longer than I think they will.
I have made some decisions about the new direction for my business. It will happen. Next, I need to find time to work on the business plan. To make sure I get it accomplished, I have given myself a deadline.
What else have I been doing?
Cleaning. A lot of cleaning has been going on in my home. It was long overdue and very necessary. I am doing well. My parents were here for a visit. They like to stay busy and asked if they could help with anything. As they are on vacation, I hate to think that they are helping me with my mess. After all, it is my responsibility to clean it up. I let them choose what they wanted to tackle; the result is I am farther ahead in my cleaning than I would have been without their help.
In Roy’s shed, to start to organize Roy’s tools, Dad hung up a peg board to have a place to hang things up. When Dad is here, he also helps with the BBQ, except for Father’s Day. Roy cooked on the BBQ as a treat for Dad. I surprised him with a new ball cap. Dad also took down our front step and helped Roy get the area ready for the new step. A friend has been hired to build a new step, and it is coming together nicely.
Mom dusted in the bathroom and helped me to get started with the kitchen reorganization. It is easier to move things from one place to another if two people are working together. She also dusted the kitchen table and chairs. She also cleaned the cupboard doors. I didn’t expect so much help when they were here. It motivates me to keep going.
Deadlines help me to finish projects.
I set a deadline for the cleaning to be finished on Thursday. It needs a final push in the kitchen, master bedroom and living room to get it done. I am very close to finishing, and then I can work on more fun things while upkeeping the new cleaner home.
Making Time
It is easy to slip into what my friends refer to as ‘Tish Time.’ I try very hard to be punctual, and this year I am managing to do so more than ever. It isn’t that I don’t think things are important, rather that I find it difficult to manage my time. When I am working on a project, I rarely look at the clock and the time surprises when I do. As I am learning this year, things take longer than I think they will take to do. Planning ahead is something I am working on planning ahead when I have to be somewhere. It is working, but I can do better. I will keep at it, and soon it will be a non-issue.
My parents experienced ‘Tish Time’ while they were visiting. My mom was very surprised at how time just flies in my home. It is nice to see that it isn’t just me and that it doesn’t only relate to punctuality. I am an anomaly, I often say, meaning my health, but it also relates to time itself. Time really does fly around me!
We did take a day to do fun things also. We took a short drive outside of the city to the town of Oromocto, for lunch and to go to a store. The Oromocto Galleria is a place where local artists have their work for sale, like a gift shop. It is one of four in our area, and there was something I had wanted to check out. I picked up some paint samples on popsicle sticks of Fusion Mineral Paint. The plan is to paint the front door, and the window shutters with it, after the front step is rebuilt.
Mastering My To-Do Lists
I work well with lists. Of course, I need to take the time to write them. Normally just make them before packing suitcases, to make sure I don’t forget anything. Lately, I am making them for cleaning. I have 2 agendas, a small one and a large one. The small one helps me to keep track of all of my appointments, except for the one I was 24 hours early for. I chose not to wait for that one, I went back the next day.
The large one is to help me to keep track of my health. Medicine doses, water intake, food diary, sugar levels and activity. I did well with it for about a month and stopped. I will clear a space in my living room to have it readily accessible to use. It is on my list of things to do.
The important thing to note here is things take time, and when you find a method which works, use it. I am making time today to revise the current to-do list to add in the rewriting of the business plan. Cleaning and writing my next book will also be a priority. The second book is a part of my current business plan. It will be the foundation of what I am about to build.
I was waiting for an appointment a few weeks ago in a medical clinic. The appointment was with my occupational therapist, which I have been working with to overcome being overwhelmed so that I could tackle my to-do list. I have been doing very well, and I am finally able to say I am slowing down the frequency of the appointments so that I can apply what I have been learning.
While I was there, I saw a variety of people. A couple of parents, each with young children. An older lady who seemed to know her way around the place. The receptionists are familiar faces to me.
The older lady said in a very quiet voice, as she walked by a man and his young daughter, “Your dress is awfully pretty.”
I thought to myself, what a contradictory statement.
Why do we do that? The lady was obviously trying to pay the girl a compliment. How confusing it could be to someone who was not fluent in our language, though. Think about it. Awful is not a nice word, however, pretty is. I think it is time to drop the confusing adjectives. Really. Let’s get straight to the point, and skip the double-edged sword. The world is confusing enough as we all try to navigate through it, so let’s make it easier to pay a compliment.
Say What You Mean
Your dress is very pretty, says the same thing, with no double entendres. A double entendre is a phrase with two meanings, which is what I witnessed. Now a double entendre does have a time and place to be appropriate, usually when someone is delivering an insult in such a clever way that it leaves the recipient guessing. When done correctly, a double entendre certainly does have a place in the English language. If you want to shock someone or walk on the fine line between whether or not you are insulting someone, go ahead, be clever.
In conclusion, when you are complimenting someone, leave the negative words out of the sentence. It will feel more genuine, and likely reward you with a heartfelt smile. If you are trying to brighten someone’s day, please do. The world needs more positivity in every second of every minute of every day. Don’t throw clouds into an otherwise sunny moment in someone’s day. We can brighten their day with a simple compliment. This way, both people will benefit. Doesn’t it sound easy?
Nothing makes me want to clean on a daily basis. I am working on it. My new routine has left me with time to do what I should be doing all along. I know how to clean, it is just not something I enjoy because things just get messy again. For most of the year, I putter. Company is coming, Weekend Warriors, and it is crunch time!
When we adopted a kitten, and I can’t believe it has been three weeks ago already, I had started cleaning a bit. I decided that before we took our new fur baby home, that I would clean the main bathroom, in case we needed an isolation space. Am I ever glad I did that!
She came to us and it was a week before she was using the litter box properly. She is doing great since we got her to start using it, and we only had to isolate her overnight for a week. Isolation included a litter box, food, water and toys. We weren’t punishing her, we just needed her to learn to use the litter box.
Phew! I was tired of waiting for the next mess to clean up during that first week. Once she caught on, things became easier to handle. She is now running at full speed in most of our mini home; from one end to the other, with the exception of two rooms.
The Cleaning Bug Is In Full Swing!
The guest room will never be open to her. My mother is allergic to cats, and because of this, we want to keep that room as free of cat hair and dander for her visits. It is a small room, and once I finally get to cleaning it, there won’t be much Jazzy the kitten will be missing in there.
The master suite is where I have been focusing. I started moving my craft studio out of the guest room, into the master suite two years ago. It became overwhelming and I had left things where I piled them while in transition. I am sad to say that last year when I had company; I was embarrassed about the state of my home. To be fair, I wrote a book and held a full-time job in that year, so it wasn’t a complete waste my time or energy. It was being poured into the work of my heart, and the day job.
This year I am preparing to start my own business. I am working on a business plan. When I started, I had an idea in mind, but it has since changed. You can read more about it in the latest Tishspiration Tuesday blog post. All has not been revealed yet, but I am making changes to help me on the way.
Jazzy Will Have Access To The Master Suite
When it is ready. We have been working hard on cleaning, and the master suite has been my own project. Roy is working on replacing window screens, as some had tears in them, and we don’t need Jazzy finding any more hornets for Roy. He took care of them before she got near, but she was very curious when she found them. Roy had to keep that window shut until today when he fixed the screen. He plans to go into our shed and organize his tools. He inherited some from his father this year, and he has not had time to sort through them yet.
I try to clean when he is here so that Jazzy is not lonely while I am on the other side of a closed door. She will fuss a bit, but she is also very good at entertaining herself. I crinkle up a ball of paper for her to play soccer with to distract her from the door if I am the last one going to bed, to distract her. Soon, that won’t be a problem.
Today I go in to remove the half closet with shelves we added a while ago. It has 3 parts, 2 shelving units which have cube storage for 3 shelves, and a pole for hanging clothes. The pole will be removed. The 2 shelving units will be relocated by the bed, where my tall dresser is. They can attach to the wall, and the place I wanted to put them has a fuse panel door which would cause a problem. So I am moving the dresser back there. It used to be there before, and it will be able to move when we need access to the fuse panel.
As I Write This, Jazzy Has Come For Snuggles
Can we say spoiled rotten? Of course, she is! She has 2 boxes on my desk, but still wants to lay next to me, between me and the keyboard. Jazzy has a very loud purr and is demanding of attention at times. She is very much a part of our family already, and I want things to be the best we can for her and our visitors.
So this weekend, I am going to finish the master suite. I will have to run the dishwasher a few times, as I was ill earlier this week and things fell behind a bit. It does help to have it going while I am working on other things, so I don’t have to wash all the dishes by hand. It also helps me to feel productive when it is going, therefore it motivates me to do more!
I am not going to share any pics at this time. It is not done yet. I will say that I am known to be lazy when it comes to cleaning, and I am trying to fix that. In the last few weeks, I have sent bags of donations, paper to be recycled and garbage out of my home. I am just making time to finish some important projects.
#Tishspiration Tuesdays have been missing here lately. I find myself heading back to the beginning. I am creating a business, with what I thought was an incredible idea, to help artists and authors through a subscription box service. The plan was to collect art, write stories, create my own Bling, and find other inspirational items to go into a box. I thought about launching bi-monthly, or quarterly.
Instead of worrying about it being wildly successful, I tell myself that will be a good thing, as I will need to hire help. I was moving forward with as much as I could before making it all official.
The first problem I ran into was the cash flow. When I started to add my own salary into the budget, I started to lose money. This concerned me, and my business advisor. He has been working with me for months to help me apply for the self-employment program, which would allow me to draw on unemployment insurance for 12 more weeks while I grow my business, and most importantly, not have to claim my earnings against the unemployment insurance with this program.
Last week, I asked for a meeting to figure out what was going wrong with my cash flow, and what I should do to make it work.
I learned I had to re-evaluate everything. Budget. Cost of goods. Sale price. How much to ask for a startup loan. All of the elements I had worked so hard on to make a business plan to make my entrepreneurial dreams a reality.
I am in a networking group called 100 Coffees. The Coffee Community is women who want to learn networking techniques. It works on a basic principle of having virtual meetings, which we call coffees, with two members a week. I am more active in the community now and involved in a weekly Master Mind meeting. I have been working with my peers within the group to develop the ideas for my business.
Two weeks ago, our weekly meeting started having more participants. One was not convinced that the subscription box idea would be right for me.
This made me pause and doubt my plans.
We found time to have an online chat together, separate from the weekly meeting. We both shared where our thoughts were coming from, and at the end of our conversation, she was concerned that I was upset. I was quiet and explained that I was processing. Some of my fears were valid, and I was having a brain pretzel moment.
What were my fears? I worried that if the business was too successful, it would cause problems with finding enough artists to contribute to the boxes as I have only had one inquiry since I started my local networking with artists to exchange information. I have enough product for the first box, but no solid leads for the second.
This is when the questions became a little harder to answer. I was asked to choose between being an author or a jewellery designer. It made me pause to think again. I know I am a writer who loves crafts. I have narrowed the scope to jewellery designing for business purposes, with the Tish MacWebber Always Blinging business.
The jewellery business has never been my purpose.
It is really hard for me to admit this. I love being creative. For as long as I can remember, I have always made gifts for people. I had to search my heart to find my answer.
Writing is my purpose. Creativity is my passion. Jewellery Designing is my pleasure.
I wrote this when I relaunched my website in January 2019. My answer was right in front of me this whole time. People have asked me to narrow my scope since I started this journey to become an entrepreneur, and true to my stubborn, Scottish roots, I dug in my heels. I wanted to do it all.
For 17 years I have tried to get the jewellery business to be my thing. I will continue to work on it, but it is time to be realistic about it and see it for the hobby it really is. There are customers who I can rely on me when they need something special. The challenge of custom orders, especially when I can surprise my clients with the bling they didn’t know they needed, is something I enjoy. I will continue to make gifts for family and friends, however, I will not be continuing with it as a business. I’ll still sell pieces as a side hustle, but it will not be along for the ride in the passenger seat any more. It is time to pack it into the backseat, or maybe even in the trunk for a while. Not forever, but for now.
In three days, I will need to submit a new business plan
It is a little daunting to start it all over, after spending so much time on it already. I have to take what I have learned from meeting with professionals, and with my networking group to move forward. Yes, I have a plan.
My one on one meeting with my peer also made me come to this conclusion. She told me I would be lost in the subscription box business because it wasn’t about me. Her concern was that I will not reach the people I am meant to help with this business idea.
I have been reading two books. Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff by Richard Carlson and You Are A Badass by Jen Sincero. Yes, I do read in the washroom and the bedroom for a few minutes when I can. Real books; usually more than one at a time. I have 2 others in progress and am thinking about picking up a fifth as I have a stack of books from the library which I need to speed read to get through them all before the due date.
They are about changing the way you think, and I have been working on affirmation statements for a while. I realized today that I only need one. It is something I have been saying for a while now, and I shared it on my Facebook profile earlier this evening.
The world needs more Tish.
My next challenge is to rethink the whole business plan, based on this affirmation. In no way is it meant to be egotistical. I am not arrogant or conceited when I am saying this. What this affirmation means to me is that I can help people by being myself, and sharing the best parts of me with others.
My new business plan will reflect this. I can’t wait to share more details with you as they develop. Thank you for following my journey. Here comes another left turn. Hang on!
Two weeks ago, I promised that I would show you all what my Makeup Monday Spring 2019 Look 2 would be. I am getting ready for the glam shots, but not before I share a little story. You see, I am having fun, and I like to try new makeup from time to time. I am also aware of my age. I was born in 1974, you can do the math, my birthday is on July 2nd. The look of the sparkly eyes do reflect my soul, but it may not be what I would choose for a career look.
When I was introduced to this sparkly eye shadow, I was enamoured.
I wanted to get all of the colours and try them all out. I got 5 of the 8 shades available of the Revlon PhotoReady Eye Art eye shadow. For my new spring look. I tried them all out and decided to have fun with a vote I am by no means an expert when it comes to makeup but I do love to play and learn. With this spirit in mind, I was going to have fun with it.
I bought a few different makeup products to try at the same time, and I had the first reveal two weeks ago. Honestly, half of the fun for me is having a selfie photo shoot. I also am learning to use the camera I have to use, and it is amazing!
Here is a recap of the look from 2 weeks ago:
Makeup Monday Spring 2019 Look 1
I chose lip gloss, not lipstick. I used a new mascara and foundation. The product pic & description can be found in the previous Makeup Monday blog post. I love the look with the spring colours, however, I would probably only wear it to social events. It is fresh and fun!
Now we will get a little more of the story.
Someone who cares about me and has known me all of my life wanted to point out that this look may not be suitable for a woman of my age. I politely beg to differ.
While I am open to makeup tips and will keep watching videos about makeup application for new techniques, I am my own woman. I jokingly replied that I am ageless, but the truth is, I am young at heart. I will continue to try new things, and be open to suggestions and tips as always. It is how we learn and grow, after all.
There is something to be said for being conservative. I completely understand where this feedback comes from. It is meant to guide me, but I am carving my own path, and I am going to keep glowing my own way!
Bring on more sparkles!
I have planned this look in response to a tie vote on my survey. I used the same moisturizer, foundation, eye primer, and highlight/contour palette. As it is later in the evening here, I skipped the eye roller for puffiness. Then I layered the other winning look.
Here are the winners, and the new products used for this look:
1 Revlon Ultra HD Matte Lip Colour in 610 HD Addiction
2 Revlon Photoready Eye Art in 020 Lilac Luster WINNER
3 Maybelline Snapscara Mascara in RD02 Deja Blue
4 Wet ‘n’ Wild Nail Colour 407A Sparkle Coat WINNER
5 Joe Fresh Nail Polish in Quartz WINNER
6 Maybelline Dream Bouncy Blush in 45 Orchid Hush
The blush is not new, but it was I chose it for the look. The lip colour and mascara are new, and I have to say I love them both! I love the colours, and how they look. I hated giving up my Electric Blue mascara a while back, and I am thrilled to find a new one to use. Snapscara also comes in Pitch Black and Black Cherry. It would be fun to try the Black Cherry, but I got the Deja Blue first!
Here is my new Makeup Monday Look 2 for Spring 2019
Instead of flipping the same image, I used two this time. I think they turned out better last time, but it is fun to play with the camera.
Now I will share a collage of pics:
The nail polish which tied in the vote was Quartz with the sparkle coat. Here is what it looks like:
We just got a new kitten a little over a week ago. Her name is Jazzy, and she is part tabby and part tortoiseshell, which is called a Torbie. She does not enjoy the nail polish. In honour of her arrival into our home, I am planning a new Makeup Monday in a few weeks to try out liquid eyeliner. I will try to create the cat eye look.
Here is a pic of Jazzy. We love her very much, and she is absolutely adorable!
Jazzy on May 17, 2019. Her gotcha day. We adopted her from a local SPCA, and her adoption fee also covers her appointment with the vet to be spayed.
Although Jazzy didn’t like the smell of the nail polish, she did seem to like the smell of my new lip colour. It does smell nice. That is a wrap for my new spring look, 2019. I look forward to sharing more adventures with both Jazzy and makeup in the future.
What makeup trends are you loving for spring 2019?
