Tuesday 5 May 2009

Snags that can get you down

I did not launch my website on Friday as planned. I needed better pricing for some of my products. With little time to research online and find wholesale dropshippers, I bit the bullet on Friday and paid $200 for a dropshipping service. The Service marketed that it would connect me with wholesale companies that dropped shipped. I then paid another $75 for to apply as an authorized dealer. I received approval this morning to enter the website look at pricing. I was disheartened to find out that their costs weren't low enough for me to make a good profit.

A little snag here, a little snag there all adds up to a big snag making me feel like quitting. But I can't. I don't have a choice; I need to make this work. I will be out of work and a paystub by the end of the month. Unemployment is less than $2k a month and my expenses far exceed that. So, what do I do? I will have to sell products that are more expensive and work on my SEO strategy to bring enough traffic to make some money. If that doesn't work, I'll have to find another niche to sell in.

As the clock winds down on my time here at work; and the money from flowing in; I've become more conscience of expenses. I looked through our budget and cutting costs where I can. For example, we have a storage space and paying $122/mo for that space. It's a huge sum - especially when most of the stuff stored there could be sold. So by the end of this month I'll go through our storage unit and organize it; getting rid of what we can and perhaps pay the penalty fee of 2 months to get out of the remaining contract term.

I also looked into another daycare alternative for my daughter. Daycare is expensive here. We pay $1150/mo. I found a great place last night for 3 days/week, but it's all the way across town in the Sunset district. The two women are Brazilian, one is a Yoga instructor. They provide meals, diapers, potty training, Yoga, music lessons, and even Brazilian lessons. I paid for June's daycare expenses up front to save a spot and see how things go for the one month. More on that later.

This morning I was starting to feel the pinch of unemployment and the stress that rides the coat tails. Laying out what to do, what needs to happen and understanding where my stress derives from is very helpful. I hope someday I'll look back at this time as a huge learning opportunity and where I've taken the road less traveled and am happier.

2 comments:

  1. It's a big mental shift, so I thank you very much for your support.

    ReplyDelete