When I first decided to really push "So Easy" about 6 months ago, I had quite a few big projects lined up, and also the bank (HSBC) said they'd agree to increase my overdraft from £14k to £30k if I needed it, and that gave me the confidence to really give it a shot.

Over the past few weeks, the big projects that were in the pipeline unfortunately haven't come off, so a few weeks ago, I trundled down to the bank to ask them to kindly increase my overdraft, as promised. And guess what, 2 months after they said they could increase it, computer now says NO.

This has left me in a very very difficult situation. All my solid back up plans have actually deserted me.

I've had conversations with my mortgage company, who have kindly switch my mortgage from repayment to interest only. Not a massive help, but it has dropped it from £1800 per month to £1400 per month...

Sealed with a cherry did pretty well for fathers day, bringing in around £350 of sales, but since then it's just died off, but hopefully we can revive that.

So, as things stand, I've got around £500 available before I max out my O/D and credit card.... So, yes, things are pretty tough.

Since the start of the year, I've really managed to cut back, pretty much on everything I can. There isn't much left to cut back on. I started by suspending my gym / tennis membership, I've dropped my Sky subscription down from £60 a month to £20 (No sky sports anymore :( ), and I've even resorted to eating cereals for dinner (all good for the weight loss, too)...

All in all, I've managed to cut back about £500 per month, but still my outgoings are a little over £3k. 

I've spent many hours thinking of "quick" solutions. Getting a lodger, renting out the house etc... but realistically, none of them are practical. Getting a lodger would probably only get me about £400 per month, and living in a bungalow, I'd find it hard working the hours I do, and being so used to quiet. 

If I rented out my house, I'd only get around £1200 per month, and that wouldn't even cover the mortgage, and I'd still need somewhere else to live.

This is an absolute last resort, but I think I may actually have to swallow my pride and ask my mum and dad for some help. The sad thing is I've managed to get this far in life without much in the way of help from my parents, and I feel proud when I look at what I've achieved,

I guess that if I have to get help from my parents, then I feel like I've failed, let them down, and was unable to "make it on my own".

I've had a conversation with them, and warned them that I may need some help until I sell my house, however, I'm still optimistic that something will turn up and I will find away to get by without a) getting into debt or b) having to borrow from my parents.

Things are so desperate that I even email Auctions again, pretty much begging for some work for a few months. Luckily they haven't replied, to be honest, that's not really a solution, as I'd hate it their and wouldn't be able to focus on my existing work.

I still have a few projects lined up, so fingers crossed, the money will start to come in before I have to borrow off parents, or before I have to sell the house.

Watch this space to find out what happens next in the ups and downs of my exciting life.

Now that things have settled after the spring fair, I can now take stock of what's on the horizon and what direction I should be going in for the rest of the year.

It's apparent the the whole of the So Easy Brand has potential. The brand is good, the products, although aren't unique, there is a market for the simplicity I'm trying to achieve, so that is going to be a big focus for me for the rest of the year.

I think for the next few months I'm going to be juggling a lot of projects at once.

For Foxwood, I have a couple of Recruitment projects, another site redesign for JamCem, which will involve a redevelopment of My.Foxwood. 

Also, following the Spring Fair, I have another large project for WriteFromTheHeart Keepsakes. This could hopefully be a monthly retainer plus equity, but I guess it's going to take some weeks to finalise. 

I also have a quote to do for a local networking group which could potentially end up being about £10k work, but not sure if that will come off or not.

Another good contact from the Spring fair was a guy who wants me to be distributor for his Surf products, Ola Ketal. I thought this would be a great project to test the So Easy solutions from start to finish, but although I love the brand and his products are pretty snazzy, I just don't think I can give it the time it needs to make it a success.

So, I'm still looking for a nice little project to test So Easy from start to finish, so Im thinking of setting up a little musical gift shop... E-commerce with So Easy Design, manage across market places, and the do the fulfilment too, but run it as a proper customer.

 

Simon is quite keen to start pushing the fulfilment side of the business, so I think that will be a good point of focus over the next few months, however, following the spring fair, I have a number of contacts that want e-commerce solutions, so I'm going to have to get cracking on that too. Still a lot of work to get it to a launch-able state.

Got another meeting in the morning in Knights bridge, with a family I met at the Spring Fair. They are also looking for a fulfilment solution, but also a start to finish solution for their son. This could be a great little project to get everything up and running with.

My main goal is to try and use big projects from Foxwood to fund the development of So Easy, up to a point where So Easy is generating around £3k per month.. Then I can relax and take a few holidays.

The last few months have been tough, but I've really managed to move So Easy forward significantly, so the risk of cutting down some clients to focus, has paid off. However, the bank balances are not looking great.

I still feel I need around 6 months to get So Easy off the ground, so I went to the bank to borrow £30k. This should give me the buffer I need to get everything up and running.

I must admit, I was a little concerned about getting into debt again, but let's face it, it's not like I'm spending it all on clothes or holidays... It's to help build up the business. Plenty of people have so much more debt than that, and this is for the bigger picture. I also have around £100k equity in my house now, so, I won't lose sleep over it, and hopefully it will give me the boost I need to start earning good money again.

Happy Monday, and I'll update you all again soon...