Some days you mean well, but things don’t go exactly as planned.
This week’s been kind of a blur. Work’s been insanely dead – as in, two hours at a time of twiddling my thumbs. It’s the nature of the business; you switch that off with the occasional, “Hmmm… do I dare factor in time to breathe today? Because I didn’t, and my schedule’s already pretty full.” I’m a little nearer alive than this time last week, but got smacked so hard when I was sick, I’m still dragging butt.
More rocks are on order, including the charoite entry shown at left. This one’s earmarked, too, but I’m still waiting for delivery. It’s part of a care package I’m going to send out sooner or later, I swear. I haven’t forgotten, just got sidetracked by trying not to die, plus waiting on international shipping. Priorities, ya know.
The paperbacks are still selling, slowly. Considering I’ve done zero promotion and it’s such an offbeat subject, I’m amazed to see it fly at all. Well, stumble is more accurate, but it’s nonetheless in motion. Rockhounding friends also claimed dibs on some copies to sell at the big rock shows, when they go.
Once the novels are released into the wild, I’ll do some paid advertising. Umpteen years on the air instilled awareness of the power of appropriate advertising, but I also have no intention of throwing money away on the current batch of stuff. It’s out there and I think it’s well done for what it is. It’s just not going to appeal to the masses. Maybe the mouses… er, meeces? To pieces?
Anachronistic cartoon references. Gotta love ’em.
There are more business investments in my future, but this time around I’m planning on doing it smart. Either I’ll do silent partnerships – I put up the funding, somebody else does the work – or I’ll go to one of those peer-lending sites as an investor, same principle. My body has decided to give me the evil eye every time I try to do more than the absolute minimum. I still plan to do the indie publishing project because it can be scaled up slowly. (Though we all know it never works that way.) But that one’s one I want to do myself, because reasons. And the stock photography site is ambling along at the speed of snails, because that’s my husband’s baby – and his operating speed.
Yesterday I reached out to two people online about investing in their respective businesses.
I was too late for the first one – she’s further along than I knew, already lawyered up and creating a patent, and already lined up a manufacturing option. I shared this product on my Facebook page, but sharing here because it’s something with the potential to save lives.
My younger daughter used to manage a home for developmentally disabled adults. Family members always held their collective breath when their loved ones went out in public. In the current police state, a non-verbal person could easily be mowed down for not responding to an officer’s commands. This little doodad isn’t guaranteed to change the political climate, but it at least gives vulnerable souls a fighting chance.
These velcro wraps are for seat belts and backpacks, by the way.
For itty bitties with health issues, if they’re in a car wreck which leaves mom and dad out of the picture, one of these wraps can provide critical information to medical and emergency staff. If you know someone who would want to buy one of these (they’re $13.50 each, if I remember), let me know and I’ll get you the creator’s contact details.
I reached out to another person who didn’t know who I was, offering similarly to help support a fledgling business – and they were understandably freaked out. That’ll learn me to mostly start with people I know, and who know me, or to go through the channels. I do understand, not being facetious. There are all kinds of people on FB, including people offering business loans. Most of them are scams at best, identity-theft trolls at worst. I didn’t think before I offered, and can only imagine how it came across! I did have a tenuous connection to the person whose project I wanted to co-sponsor, but not one clear enough to prevent a panic attack and visions of stalkerdom.
This won’t be the first time I’ve invested in somebody else’s business. Over the years, I’ve done a couple of micro-loans through Kiva. I also had a former friend in a challenging situation and offered to set her up with the basics for a small business. Luckily the stake on that one was negligible (under $100) and I knew the chances were at best about 80-20 against her succeeding, because (as it turned out) her overall judgment and work ethic were also negligible. But I wanted to help and don’t regret giving it a shot. And the ex-friend status was unrelated to the money or business.
I’m a lot more picky these days.
This happened a couple of days ago. Temps hovered around 113ºF and our old window unit should realistically have been retired at least a year or two ago. We got it free from a family member, and I’m pretty sure they got it used a couple of years before that. The model was itself about six years old, which in this climate is an antique.
Fortunately I was prepared for its inevitable demise. The spousal unit was attempting to wring the last drop of electricity out of what we had, before splashing out the cash to replace it. But when the outside temperature hit 113º this week, our inside temperature was ranging above 90º. I pointed out – reasonably so – that aside from it being so miserable, the old unit was running 24/7 and sucking down an inordinate share of electricity to keep us that hot. Then I let G know I’d put back the money to buy another. I suspect he thought I was going to ask him to peel some Benjamins from his cache. Er, cash. Well, both. Once he knew he wasn’t paying for it, he was all for the new unit.
Problem is, this time of years the store shelves have been stripped of AC units, other than the itty bitty (read: useless) 5000 BTU and under, or the monsters requiring a 220/225 electrical outlet and/or professional installation. We needed something in the middle range, preferably without dropping $500 or more for it. (I had that much easily, but didn’t want to spend that much.) Lucky for me, the husband is good at sniffing out a deal. The above image links to its page on Tractor Supply. We picked this one up at under $250 including tax, and it was around the proverbial corner from us so we didn’t have to wait for two-day shipping, either.
For those of you sweltering in ridiculous temperatures and laboring without an AC unit, consider one of these bad boys. This version cools up to 350 square feet. We considered going slightly bigger, but to be honest, this one really does a wonderful job on its own. It’s blissfully cool in the living room and kitchen. If you live in a McMansion, at least get one for your bedroom(s) and one for the kitchen/living areas. You’ll thank me for it.