A sunny Sunday afternoon …

… and here I am in the office! Oh, the joys of setting up your own business! Actually, I have to say, it’s quite nice to have the place to myself and be able to spread out with my papers and my thoughts. I am, of course, missing the in-laws who are kindly entertaining my children for me! And I haven’t dared set foot outside because I’d have to lock up and risk setting the alarm off again like I did last time. But apart from that, everything’s good, and I’ve been cracking through my ‘To do’ list at a fair old pace. Now, though … well now I’ve got to the ’sort out accounts’ bit, which is closely followed by the ‘do tax return’ bit, and so obviously it’s time for a cup of tea and a bit of blogging instead. Why, oh why, oh why do I do this every year?! For someone who made a career out of telling other people how to manage their mindset and achieve their goals, I am shockingly bad at following my own advice when it comes to anything admin! Procrastination is definitely the name of the game. It’s just that, where once I used to be able to stay up all night to get something done and thrive on the adrenaline of it all, these days it’s not quite so easy.

Okay, so, I’ll get on with it as soon as I’ve finished this. Went out for a 40th birthday ‘do’ last night (and yes, we actually went out together!) and had a really interesting conversation about friendship in cyberspace versus the real life variety. It’s strange how much more easily we seem to let our barriers down in the virtual world. Is that good, or not so good? I’m not sure. I still think that, at the end of the day, there’s no substitute for face-to-face. What do you think?

Had another interesting conversation about this blog, too. About how tricky it is to write about setting up a business without giving too much of the game away and to write about your state of mind without coming across as completely crazy! I do try to seem more-or-less normal, whether I achieve it or not is another thing!

Anyway, there’s no getting away from it, it’s time for that tax return. Aaaarrgghh! Need chocolate, quick!

Aaaaagh, accounts!

Don’t know what possessed me to go into business. I completely forgot that, until you’re successful enough to have other people to do it for you, you have to deal with all the money side of things! Having spent the last few hours wading through spreadsheets and receipts to get everything ready for the accountant, who needs it all for the VAT (wo)man, I am beginning to realise that there’s a downside to running your own company! Numbers never were my strong point, so this is going to be a steep learning curve … and, most of all, a lesson in discipline. And Mummo hasn’t even started trading yet!

Everything else feels like a bit of a blur at the moment and, to be honest with you, I can’t really remember what I’ve been up to since my last post. Oh, yes, I’ve been going through the html templates for the website with a fine toothcomb, and also writing some more copy, and experimenting with the idea of incorporating an Amazon aStore. Seems like quite a good way of generating a bit of extra income for Mummo whilst providing people with something useful. And, let’s face it, everyone buys their books and CDs etc from Amazon, don’t they?!

I’ve also been trying to work out what to do about dads?! It’s tricky - I don’t want to dilute the focus of Mummo, and dads generally face different challenges to mums. But fathers do have a really important role to play, for their children and their partners, and there are times when it just makes good sense to include them. So I’ve been trying to find a creative solution to that one as well!

On that note, what’s the quote - “The best thing a man can do for his children is to love their mother.” Yes … and, if my other half is by any chance checking up on my blog before leaving work, I’d just like to add “and bring home a big box of chocolates!”