Category Archives: Home Based Businesses

When life gets in the way

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 When life gets in the way

There was I, with every good intention, starting out on the 30 Day Blogging challenge. I did wonder if I was a little foolish starting out in my busiest week of the year!! Then life got in the way! I’m social media manager for my church, my Rotary group, several paying clients as well as for my own businesses, Wightbuzz, AllthingsNetworking.com (with my son)  Lyn’s Green Biz, and Lyn Blackledge Independent Phoenix Trader . I was also giving a lot of my time to another voluntary project.

I have always undertaken a lot of voluntary work. However, I don’t expect to be verbally abused for giving of my time and effort free. When I found myself faced with 5 other volunteers who saw fit to shout at me – I took stock.  Much as I had loved working on the project for well over a year using much time and effort and raising a considerable amount of funds with my friend, I decided that it was time to take a break. We were all supposed to be part of the same team – volunteers – helping those less fortunate. This wasn’t the first time this happened but this time I had had enough.  The accusations were unnecessary and unfounded. Sadly, all too often the old green eye works its way in. My social media skills had done much for the project. Obviously too much for some folk. I did suggest that we sit and talk like grown ups – unfortunately the main culprit couldn’t even bring herself to answer me directly.  I was sad at first then realised that my own health is the most important. If I don’t take care of myself, there is no way I can look after others.

I was watching my grandaughters’ dancing – they were dancing to a song from the very popular Disney film, Frozen. There, I had it . Instead of feeling bad, I just had to  LET IT GO!

 

Since I made that decision, life has improved. I celebrated the New Year last night with family and friends having  made the decision to  start the new year in very positive mode. So far, so good. I have had a very productive day achieving far more in one day than I have for a long time.

Decluttering – tick, paperwork tick, videos made tick, listening to some very soothing tapes tick. decision to tackle the weight problem tick, plotting and planning for the portfolio of businesses I run – tick. Restart the exercise regime too – tick.

So as for the rubbish in my life – LET IT GO . Sometimes you really do need to stop and take stock. So 2015 you WILL be an awesome year.

 

 

 

 

Wikaniko and how I like being a distributor of eco friendly products

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I have been a distributor for Wikaniko since December 2010 and it is a company I love to be involved with. The folk who run the company work tirelessly to help us grow our businesses. they pay all the suppliers upfront . They offer help and support every step of the way. They are helping me to help others take those small green steps to save the Earth without costing the Earth,

green feet 2

 

It has taken time to build, as all good things do but this morning I faced a particular frustration and I got straight onto the online direct chat to HQ. Drew answered my call and within minutes, he had sorted my problem. Well done Drew. Thanks so much. Im now on my way to take more green steps……….why not come with me – check out the eco friendly products in my online shop and find out how you could have your own shop full of eco friendly items. Why wait – act now http://lynblackledge.wikaniko.com

Doing Something Funny For Money

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DOING something funny for money

When I opened a new bank account with Barclays Bank recently, I had no idea of the fun that lay ahead. I love to have fun while working my business and as a self employed work from home mum and grandmum, this is so easy. For most of my working life, I have been self employed and so I set the rules. I enjoy what I do and having fun whilst doing it makes it even nicer. No boss to relate to. No boss to set my hours. I work as and when I want to. I work hard but I also play hard.

Well, on the day I  opened the new account, my new Barclays manager, Wayne Child,  told me about the back to business scheme that Barclays run. The managers are encouraged to go out with a client and spend a day with them in their business. Wayne asked me if I would like to participate in the scheme and I was very keen to take part. When I set the date, I had a client who wanted a video made so thought this might be quite interesting for Wayne to watch. After all, he had told me he didn’t want a boring day in the home office. Unfortunately, my client had to postpone my appointment with her but I decided to keep the date with Wayne.

When I set the date, I hadn’t realised it was Comic relief day. However, it soon occured to me that this was a day that could be a lot of fun and during the day we could do something funny for money. Why ever not?

I checked with Wayne to see if he was prepared for a fun day and he had absolutely no problem with it – in fact he sounded as though it was right “up his street”.

I am, very much a community person and I love to fundraise and encourage my Wightbuzz members to do the same. I spotted an opportunity and ran with it.

I sent out a letter to my Wightbuzz members and was offered raffle prizes. Jade Thornton of Petticoats and Frills offered us a box of red nose cup cakes. She even dressed in red to deliver them to the Wightbuzz office. She was truly embracing the “doing something funny for money” theme.

Cupcakes from Petticoats and Frills

Doing something funny for money - fun cup cakes

Michael of the Dorset House, offered us a Sunday lunch for 2

Dorset House raffle prize

Michael, of the Dorset House, donates Sunday lunch for 2

Susan Revell, also a Wightbuzz member, donated a free first aid course and Jayne Read of Island Memories, donated a family ticket for the VE celebrations being held in May. Claire and Ann of Attraction, a lovely gift shop in Cross Street Ryde, donated a jewellery set. I am very grateful to all these ovely people.

With all these lovely prizes, I knew my super Wightbuzz members would be happy to part with their money.

Before my bank manager came to pick me up, I uploaded a video clip to you tube,

 

My bank manager turned up to pick me up at 9. We needed to decorate the collecting tin and Wayne even obliged with this!

Then, after a quick coffee we were off on the start of our very exciting day. First stop – Jo of Wightcakes

who supplied us with coffee and

scrummy cake! It was going to be one of THOSE days :)

We then popped along to Missy J cafe  where Janine insisted on tweaking my nose before parting with her money – well the theme was doing something funny for money!

Next stop - Wightsight for a quick laugh and joke with Mandy and Adrian who also bought raffle tickets

then a few doors along to Attraction to see Claire, one of the raffle prize donators.

We just HAD to stop at Barclays in Ryde. Well it would be sily not to as I was with my Barclays manager!!

a few more stops in Ryde then we zoomed over to Sandown and to the lovely gift shop Che-Sands

then we popped across to Rapaunui where we also met the lovely Emma from Island Voucher where there was time for a very quick photo call!

then over to recruit Wendy of Deeva into Wightbuzz before selling her raffle tickets too

by the time we got to the wightbuzz office we were really beginning to flag but Liz supplied us with coffee to keep us going

and it was here we stopped to make a couple of video clips about our day.

 

 

and

 

Our final stop was with Julie Jones Evans of Dragonfly i Nodehill – (my fellow shock cash mobber )

We rounded off the day with a lovely sit down and chat with Julie and more coffee and cake!

 

We had a brilliant day – it was manic, it was fun and we did something funny for money. We raised about £75 for comic relief and my Barclays bank manager and I now know each other much better! It truly was a fun day. (I spent the weekend chilling as I was quite exhausted!!)

I did pop in to see Wayne’s boss on Monday to report on what an excellent experience it was! Praise where praise is due. I have had friends, who bank at other banks,  who don’t even know if they have a bank manager, let alone know his name!

I made a you tube clip of the day

Do you have stories to relate about your bank manager? Have you had a fun day out with yours? Pop your comments below :)

 

 

 

 

Phoenix Trading – Business Opportunity

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I am a trader with Phoenix Trading and have enjoyied running my own business from home promoting and selling beautiful greetings cards, wrapping paper and stationery gifts for two and a half years. I am now building a team.

 

 

I look forward to helping others grow their own businesses and looking after any new team members.

Coffee and Shop at Ryde Methodist Church March 2nd

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On Saturday 2nd March, I will be running another Coffee and Shop event at Ryde Methdist Church. We have many talented local crafts people and some of these  have booked a stall at this event. We also have people running local businesses so this is a great chance to pop in and support the shop local campaign.

 

See you there.

Ryde Methodist Church, Garfield Road, 10 am – 12 noon

Times Table learning Cube

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I am a Primary Stars Advisor (one of my many roles) and when Polly of the Family Directory, asked if I would donate 5 times table learning cubes as prizes to be reviewed, I was more than happy to donate them.

Times table learning cubes and all the other learning cubes are such a fun way to learn.

If you would like more information about the cubes or the the other educational products I promote, then please sign up to my newsletter – 

You can also view the products on the Primary stars website. 

 

4 home based businesses – who said it couldn’t be done?

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Once upon a time – a business was for life – not so anymore!. Having worked hard in my 30 year teaching career – during which I ran my own nursery for 21 years – I turned to becoming a book lady – selling children’s books via stalls at local events and book parties. When the book company moved the goal posts after I had built my business for 7 years, I decided to leave and then at the age of 58 I had to look for new ways of earning an income. I found other home based businesses and set up several. I decided to spread my eggs into several baskets. There was criticism but at the end of the day – it’s my life and I have to do what’s right for me. What is right for me is not necessarily right for others.

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Welcome to my ecofriendly world and see what’s on offer in my ecofriendly supermarket.

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Welcome to my ecofriendly world.

I am just approaching my third birthday as a distributor with Wikaniko. Back in 2009, I decided to start taking small green steps to help save the planet. What better way than joining an ethical business that is set up as a cooperative. Trevor and Karen Blake work tirelessly to grow Wikaniko I have an online ecofriendly supermarket which contains over 900 items from raw chocolate and a range of health and nutrition items to bamboo items, from cleaning products to garden products, pet products to mineral makeup and much more. I am so lucky as I don’t have to stock the supermarket or employ staff. This is all part of my membership. Members merely pay £79 to become a distributor and then for a monthly fee of £3.50 we have access to a super online shop that stocks more than 900 items to lead to a greener world. Not only that prices in my supermarket often beat the big national supermarkets! Many people still seem to think going green means paying more. We also have offers to help the family budget. As I write – the following offer is current but you will have to be quick as this offer finishes on December 16th so check it out quickly.

CHRISTMAS SPECIALS

Don’t forget to take advantage of the Christmas Special Offers this week. These particular offers are only available until midnight on Sunday 16th December, so grab them whilst you can:

*Buy the bespoke Cremoil, get a FREE Lavender Essential Oil to put in it.

* Buy 2 Aloe Vera gels, get the third FREE. (This offer is worth almost £10!)

*Lip balms – buy 2, get a random flavour FREE

*Buy 1 brown flaxseed, get 1 brown flaxseed FREE

*Buy any 6 packs of dog treats and get a FREE roll of dog waste bags

all of these can be found in my supermarket

I have a team of distributors on the Isle of Wight . We are all working from home and have many ways of promoting our businesses from catalogue drops to stalls at fetes and fairs, buying for ourselves to selling to family and friends. Just recently, the business has gone global and we are able to recruit across the globe :) I would love to help many more people take those green steps to a better world. I would like to help lots of therapists promote their own brand products for a minimal fee. There is so much to benefit to connecting with Wikaniko. I also have a facebook page and I can be found on twitter at @lynsgreenbiz

I would love to help you either as a customer of distributor. Lets work together for a greener world.

End of an era – now for a more eco-friendly lifestyle

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Today is the end of an era! My van and I have had some exciting adventures across the country since 2004. What fun we have had together. I bought the van back in 2004 when I was a book distributor for a well known publisher. I often used to fill it to the top with books, racks, tables and stands and traversed the country setting up at exhibitions and country fayres from the Isle of Wight to Aberdeen – often travelling on my own. I would sit in the cab, which warmed up very quickly, and pop on Classic FM and pootle along in my own concert hall!! If the van could talk it would have some great tales to tell. In 2010 my circumstances changed and I set up new businesses so have since used the van for my Wikaniko business as well as my Phoenix Trading and Primary Stars businesses. It has also served me well in getting me to my Wightbuzz networking meetings.

Earlier this year is got sick!!! £500 later and it was sorted but sadly it got sick again. The cost to get it back on the road is £1000 + so I have made a decision to part company. I felt that a £60 spend on a new pair of comfortable shoes coupled with my bus pass was a way to go. After all, I run an eco friendly business – Wikaniko -. so now for a more eco friendly lifestyle. I am already feeling the benefits as my fitness levels are increasing. I have friends who are happy to give me lifts but in the mean time – have bus pass will travel. It is amazing how much you can see and appreciate when you are not driving. I have read books and updated social media on the bus and of course there is always the chance to network enroute too. So I’m off on different adventures now – bus pass, comfy shoes and shopping trolley at the ready!!! Oh and just for good measure I bought myself a big umbrella!!