SOoooooo - you want to be self-employed?

Do you like your job? - - I love my job!

Do you get a reasonable wage? - - how much would you pay to do your job?

Yep - you read that right - if you really love your job - how much would you pay to do it?

In the interests of the 'openness and clarity' policy that all our big earning officials and politicians are promoting at the moment - I offer this view of a small business.  I am not asking for anything or pleading my case - just stating the facts as they stand now.

I have just finalised my last year's accounts.  The 'official' business year runs April to April so that after the huge build up to Christmas - and the big influx of cash after the January sales - you tie up your accounts for the year - with enough spare cash to carry you through until the build up of the summer holidays.

Well - that's the traditional business theory.

This year - I was jogging along nicely - building up to the Crimbo fest (and - I admit - feeling quite comfortable and pleased with the way things were shaping up) - and then the storms hit - mid december - wiped out most of Kendal.  Life stopped.  Overnight - everything stopped.  Thousands lost everything.  Who wants to go buying Christmas gifts when you have a house full of wet, soggy debris - waaaaay bigger things to think about!!!!

And - the thing people don't realise unless they have been there - is that it takes months to recover.  That wiped out January and February - and to be honest - we are still struggling to find the time and money to do anything other than get through the week.

So - bottom line - I have lost £3000 income since December - and overall it actually cost me £700 this year to do a 7 day a week - 12 hours a day job.  There is no insurance to cover this - nor can I get any of the government grant help.  I know several business that have been wiped out by the problems we are having here - it's tragic, my heart breaks for them.  I will be able to weather it as I have no staff - my shop is really tiny so my costs are manageable - I do everything myself and work my guts out to survive - and my darling old goat props me up because he believes so much in me. 

Rather than sitting on my bottom and claiming sickness benefit as I could do - I have chosen to create a workspace that I can control and manage - this year I should have turned in enough money to pay my way and justify my existence - but circumstances have beaten me -  God bless Working Tax Credits is all I can say.  

Here is looking forward to the coming year and a glorious summer.

Love
kitten

www.princesskitten.co.uk
www.thekittenandthegoat.co.uk
kittenandgoat@gmail.com