- Original Poster
- #1
Well, week 4 was busiier than expected so I didn't really get a chance to write an update and it now transpires that i've just finished week 5 - where did it go.
My 1st employee has settled in nicely now and we are seeing improvements, so that's good news to have a reliable, honest and capable employee - takes a lot of worry off. There are still a few wee things to iron out but that's ok.
I had him call in late in week 5. He has a smallholding and had to help deliver 3 goats on his wee farm.
But I managed to pick up what he was meant to be doing and he came in and finished the job off. So that was good. Not many employees would have come into a part time minimum wage job after being up all night trying to deliver goats!!!
Also had to make my 1st call on Health and Safety. It was a worrying call!!
Do I send the employee out in the van to make deliveries - given that 2 hours earlier I was nearly in a pretty major crash due to the snow conditions. Or do i send him home and do the deliveries myself - or do i call my customers and explain the conditions are too hazardous to risk putting the van on the road.
Again, the employee came through trumps and decided teh safest course of action was to use his own 4x4 to make the deliveries in. So the wildly ustable transit was parked up for the night and the deliveries were made!
So, all in all, a good week for the staff!
Week 4 was interesting because i had a couple of days off - i attended a wedding in Ireland, so for 4 days I was away from the phone (though laptop came with me)
I had been planning my activities in the launch of the business to be away for these 4 days, so i had made sure well in advance there was not likely to be anyhting that i had to be there to take care of.
And as it came to pass - no one missed me when I was away
Funnily enough, it was quite easy to relax and forget about the worries of the business after a few pints of Irelands finest export!!
Anyway, there are still some challenges. that need sorted out.
I've currently reigned in some of my advertising/marketing activities as i don't want to bring on too many more customers at this point (might sound strange to many folk i know)
But simply enough my IT system isn't functioning as it should and i don't want to run the risk of missing orders or getting them wrong. And if O got any busier then I know that would happen.
It's very frustrating that this is put my expansion plans on hold, but until it is resolved it will be on hold.
Probably a good lesson in holding back final payment until the job is done - lesson learned I guess. But, the guy is a member on here, and I'm sure he'll see it through to the bitter end!!
I had another potential PR disaster. I sent out a bad batch of broccoli with this weeks deliveries. Fortunately no customer picked up on it -but when i went to sort out my dinner this afternoon, i noticed my own broccoli was looking rather poorly and not so fresh. So I rushed out to get replacement Broccoli and called all my customers to apologise and to tell them replacement broccoli was on it's way. Kinda like a broccoli emergency!
a few customers hadn't noticed, a few had but hadn't complained and only one had got around to getting in touch by the time i'd contacted them all.
Anyway, I'm hoping the rectification of the problem before it was picked up on will stand me in good stead in the future.
Next week sees me going into the retail business.
It's not really something i see (or seen) myself doing, but i think in the very short term it'll help build up awareness of the company and products in the local community.
If it goes well, it may lead to another outlet and indeed, may even lead to future model for additional sales revenues. But at the moment that is a very competitive market with much bigger fish chasing it than me - i'll bide my time just now.
All in all, a pretty quiet 2 week period - orders are steady to growing slightly, still seeing regular new customers come on board
The nicest thing has been to watch the bank balance INCREASE over the last 2 weeks. We are now trading profitably!!
That won't last as there are severl capital spends coming up and there needs to be a bigger marketing push etc etc. But nice to know that on a day to day level this will be profitable
Anyway, kinda short this week. I'll put a bit more thought into next weeks.
My 1st employee has settled in nicely now and we are seeing improvements, so that's good news to have a reliable, honest and capable employee - takes a lot of worry off. There are still a few wee things to iron out but that's ok.
I had him call in late in week 5. He has a smallholding and had to help deliver 3 goats on his wee farm.
But I managed to pick up what he was meant to be doing and he came in and finished the job off. So that was good. Not many employees would have come into a part time minimum wage job after being up all night trying to deliver goats!!!
Also had to make my 1st call on Health and Safety. It was a worrying call!!
Do I send the employee out in the van to make deliveries - given that 2 hours earlier I was nearly in a pretty major crash due to the snow conditions. Or do i send him home and do the deliveries myself - or do i call my customers and explain the conditions are too hazardous to risk putting the van on the road.
Again, the employee came through trumps and decided teh safest course of action was to use his own 4x4 to make the deliveries in. So the wildly ustable transit was parked up for the night and the deliveries were made!
So, all in all, a good week for the staff!
Week 4 was interesting because i had a couple of days off - i attended a wedding in Ireland, so for 4 days I was away from the phone (though laptop came with me)
I had been planning my activities in the launch of the business to be away for these 4 days, so i had made sure well in advance there was not likely to be anyhting that i had to be there to take care of.
And as it came to pass - no one missed me when I was away
Funnily enough, it was quite easy to relax and forget about the worries of the business after a few pints of Irelands finest export!!
Anyway, there are still some challenges. that need sorted out.
I've currently reigned in some of my advertising/marketing activities as i don't want to bring on too many more customers at this point (might sound strange to many folk i know)
But simply enough my IT system isn't functioning as it should and i don't want to run the risk of missing orders or getting them wrong. And if O got any busier then I know that would happen.
It's very frustrating that this is put my expansion plans on hold, but until it is resolved it will be on hold.
Probably a good lesson in holding back final payment until the job is done - lesson learned I guess. But, the guy is a member on here, and I'm sure he'll see it through to the bitter end!!
I had another potential PR disaster. I sent out a bad batch of broccoli with this weeks deliveries. Fortunately no customer picked up on it -but when i went to sort out my dinner this afternoon, i noticed my own broccoli was looking rather poorly and not so fresh. So I rushed out to get replacement Broccoli and called all my customers to apologise and to tell them replacement broccoli was on it's way. Kinda like a broccoli emergency!
a few customers hadn't noticed, a few had but hadn't complained and only one had got around to getting in touch by the time i'd contacted them all.
Anyway, I'm hoping the rectification of the problem before it was picked up on will stand me in good stead in the future.
Next week sees me going into the retail business.
It's not really something i see (or seen) myself doing, but i think in the very short term it'll help build up awareness of the company and products in the local community.
If it goes well, it may lead to another outlet and indeed, may even lead to future model for additional sales revenues. But at the moment that is a very competitive market with much bigger fish chasing it than me - i'll bide my time just now.
All in all, a pretty quiet 2 week period - orders are steady to growing slightly, still seeing regular new customers come on board
The nicest thing has been to watch the bank balance INCREASE over the last 2 weeks. We are now trading profitably!!
That won't last as there are severl capital spends coming up and there needs to be a bigger marketing push etc etc. But nice to know that on a day to day level this will be profitable
Anyway, kinda short this week. I'll put a bit more thought into next weeks.
