As you all know I've been running Miss Red for just over a year now alongside trying to get into good health habits & control my M.E better.  It's been a year of very steep learning curves & hard work when it comes to my health, life & business - but boy does it beat being someone's employee!

Health-wise I feel like I've finally had some useful help from IAPT, my GP & The Sheffield M.E Service after years of struggling along by myself & I'm starting to see a light at the end of the very, very, very long tunnel.

Getting started with my business I had help from New Enterprise Allowance, Sheffield Enterprise Agency & Start Up Loans, with funding as well as valuable free workshops & a business mentor who's there whenever I'm stumped or need a fresh pair of eyes on things or even just to remind me that what I make is worth people's good money!

Since then I've also learned a multitude of valuable business nuggets from Nicola Smith of A Handcrafted Business & Claire Mitchell of The Girls Mean Business.  Seriously, if you're running your own business or thinking about starting one it's worth keeping their names in mind because they sure do know their stuff!

Obviously last but not least by any stretch, I'd like to thank everyone reading this, people who've bought from me, who've liked, followed, shared, retweeted, repinned, +1'd, suggested or interacted in any way, you're all fantastic!

Ok, not me exactly but it's a year ago I registered Miss Red as a business.  Wow, how fast has this year flown by?!?

I have to say a huge thanks to all my 577 followers on FB, the 363 on Twitter (which I'm really chuffed with because I still don't really know what I'm doing on there) and followers elsewhere in that big old land of social media (follow links top right ;)...not forgetting, most importantly, you fantastic customers!!!

It's been a tough year of ups & downs, health issues have done all they can to trip me up whenever possible but I'm more motivated now than ever.  I'm sure I'll still have my "what am I doing?" moments occasionally but I've learned a lot this year...yup, mostly by making mistakes but it's a lot of useful lessons I'll take with me into the future.

So, come on year 2, bring it on!

PS: If you're not on the mailing list yet then click the button below.  There's even a free printable cross stitch pattern when you sign up!

Miss Red and I we due to go to a festival last weekend but unfortunately it was cancelled at the last minute by the organisers. This is my synopsis of the creditors meeting I attended today.

I would like to share more than I can but until the minutes are produced by Purnells, I am not legally able to, please do not ask me to PM you the details or scans of documentation as I cannot.

What I believe I can share is a summary of the meeting and key points I gathered

Key points

·         Purnells have been appointed as liquidators (They have no ties to the business and are completely impartial)

·         1st meeting with the liquidators was on the 1st August, they were contacted before this.

·         There are little or no assets in the business (some t shirts and caps)

·         There are no secured creditors or employee claims (everyone is being treat as an unsecured creditor.

·         The bands may still be due money under contracts therefore increasing the debt

·         People are going to be lucky to get anything from Altfest Ltd as all the majority of the money has been spent on getting the festival to the stage it was (deposits  for bands / etc.)

My views from the meeting

·         The directors had a good idea but did not have the ability to fulfil it. (They admitted this in the meeting).

·         After realising they did not have the ability they took advice about costs from a third party and did not get any comparative advice / quotes. Later in the day when the size of the festival had grown, they then consulted someone else and they got a higher price. There was not any contingency in their budgets for this price increase, yet they were able to spend this amount on a headliner.

·         At the meeting when quizzed about this initial advice and whether it was backed contractually / insured they could not give any confirmation, which is worrying.

·         Their accounting appears to be lacking

·         They vastly overestimated the pull of one artist versus his fees

·         They did not take action to rectify fundamental funding problems early enough.

·         ClubTickets are not to blame, they were just the unfortunate company that got in bed with AltFest with regard to ticketing. They are likely to go into administration because of this.

In my opinion

They let the size of the festival spiral out of control, adding more and more unnecessarily. They did not have the management skills to run a festival of this size and did not engage the appropriate help in doing so.

It would appear they did not follow any management principals when constructing budgets or managing them.

Do you keep to-do lists?  I do.  Trouble is I tend to keep adding to my list all day more than crossing things off so by the end of the day I have a longer list!  Well, today my list got shorter...and I did some awesome plotting that wasn't on the list too :D

In good news my website & Ebay listings are all now up to date & the majority of what I have to sell is now also on Pinterest.  I have a draft ready to go for the next newsletter (I'm just deciding what I can do to thank my lovely subscribers for adding themselves to my mailing list), if you've not already added yourself you can do that here.  I've made up a bunch of cross stitch kits so they're ready to post & have all orders parcelled up & ready to go - organised eh?

Today I've also been talking to another awesome artist who I'm really excited about working with but it's hush hush until things are all finalised.  I might even tell my newsletter subscribers first ;)

There are also plans afoot to get more Miss Red goodies out there in real shops.  Did you know that as well as using the internet you can go outside to shops that are actual buildings?  I know, weird eh? :p

Unfortunately for this blog post my productive day doesn't have a whole lot of pictures I can show for it.

Here's stuff I finished earlier this week:

Great British Bake Off ain't got nothin' on me! ;)

Right, I'm off to eat some of that...now I've seen it my tummy wants some!  Byeeeee

P.S: I'm only 7 likes off of 400 on Facebook, I'd love a little share to push me over the milestone if you don't mind ;)

...head squirrels that is.  You know them?  They're all distracting with their fluffy cuteness but if you get up close they can be quite scratchy & bitey & everything they leave behind is nuts!

I've had a right old problem with the head squirrels this last few weeks or so.  For me they come out a lot in the sunny weather, my body can't regulate my temperature so I'm feeling exhausted & in pain, which in time invites depression & anxiety to take hold, meanwhile positivity is off having a nap in a dark room somewhere.  Perfect squirrel conditions!

As most of you know my business is still just a new one, around 7 months in I'm still really building the foundation & finding you gorgeous ideal audience members...yeah, you there, I saw you drooling over that corset earlier, did you know you can have it in any size, shape or fabric you want? ;) 

I digress.

My point is, nobody expects me to have earned my first million within 7 months of business do they?  (Do they?!?)  So why, when the squirrels invade, do I think I'm useless at this whole self employed lark because all I've managed is not to go into overdraft? NUTS!!!  

In reality, my last wage was over a year ago & I've supported myself since then.  How many people could truthfully say that if their wages stopped tomorrow without warning they could survive a year without outside financial assistance?  My guess is not many!

Yes, it would be fantastic to be living comfortably & never to be thinking "jeez, I really need to get a proper job" but I'm hanging on in there & I have A PLAN & I'm not going to let the squirrels win!

I do have a teeny tiny favour to ask to help me out a little, & I suspect those of you who haven't stopped reading already are just the kind of lovely people who will help me out.

If you see something from Miss Red you like or know someone else would like, share it. 

You can tell just one other person about it, shout it from the rooftops, plaster it over the whole of the internet but pretty please with cherries on top, don't keep it to yourself. 

You could start my sharing my Facebook page, Twitter, the website, the newsletter or even just a particular product.  It'll probably take about 30 seconds, you could do it right now ;)

Thank youuuuuuuuuuuuu!!!

Cor, it's a bit warm isn't it?

I've been pretty broken by the weather so lots of bits & bobs going on depending on what I can manage & which room is cooler at the time.

Couple of his & hers lilac pillowcases up first.  These will be being listed at £10 per pair initially but there is the option to personalise further & choose different colours.

Bit more progress on the "Tied up" cross stitch.

And a new one started...

...and a bit of bunting on the go for my stall :)

Phew!  Time for a drink of something with ice cubes in I reckon ;)

This time last year I'd just received my final wages from my last job.

I'd started as a temp at this government quango & after a year of glowing reports, pay rises & contract extensions I was *promoted* into a permanent role.  Much as I missed teaching I knew my health wasn't up to a full time teaching role so begrudgingly accepted, relieved that my financial situation would at least become stable.

Little did I know it would all be downhill from there, the new role being nothing like the temporary roles I'd done & essentially turning me into a phone monkey.  No offence meant to anyone who works in call centre/contact centre, in fact hats off to you!  As someone with severe anxiety issues & a phone phobia I'd never have accepted the post had I been aware of the change in role!  I approached my line manager who assured me despite being put through phone training I'd soon be back in my administrative post because it would be a busy period for my team & I knew more about the process than anyone on the team (including/especially her!)  Of course just a couple of months later it'd be my word against hers that she'd made these reassurances & she'd convince management that I'd known all along what I was agreeing to when I accepted the job.  (8 hours a day on the phone being told when I'm allowed to leave my desk & watching bimbling idiots around me stuffing up the job I *used* to do really well)

After 5 months off ill followed by being pushed too hard on a phased return & being ill again occupational health & other medical professionals were unanimous in the decision that redeployment was the way forward.  Shortly after this decision was formalised I was brought in for a *redeployment* meeting.  Allegedly there was no position to move me to, despite hiring 3 new staff members to carry out the job I'd managed without illness and with glowing reports for several months.  Since I'd already had my trial period extended by three months it was decided I was incapable of carrying out the role I was hired for (no shit Sherlock!) so therefore I no longer had a job.

Obviously it hadn't been my ideal job but it had been my lifeline for almost 2 years & to suddenly just stop having any income came as a shock as well as causing many sleepless nights & exacerbating my ME .  Having already been turned down for DLA (but in the process of appealing it) I had no idea how I'd pay the bills & no optimism where new employment was concerned with over 100 sick days under my belt.  Already in a very dark place it did nothing for my mental health either, it's very difficult trying to see a silver lining when even somewhere you don't want to work but slog your heart out for doesn't think it's worth giving you a break.

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger apparently ;)

Are you an artist or designer by trade or do you just love creating beautiful pieces of art?

Would you like to see your artwork in a different medium?

Would you like more widespread recognition for your work?

If your answer is YES then YOU may be just the person I'm looking for!

(If not then pretty please do me a huge favour & share this with your talented arty friends, I'll love you forever!)

I currently draw all the artwork for my cross stitch kits by myself & this can be very time consuming as well as limiting what I can create - because 
a) I'm no artist &
b) the length of my working day is completely dependent on my health day to day.

The idea is that artists could make my process shorter by creating the original artwork so I can focus on creating the patterns, stitching them out, editing & creating the completed counted cross stitch kits.

• A new medium & line of sale for your artwork
• Professional kit creation using genuine DMC threads & quality materials
• New audience
• Credit for your work on the kit packaging, within all sale listings and in general on the Miss Red website & social media
• Links to your own website on mine so people can see more of your work
• Choice of how many pieces to submit & how often to submit
• Final review of the kit before it goes on sale to ensure it truly reflects the quality & value of your work
• Collaboration with MEEEEEEEE ;D

A choice of:

• A percentage of profits (to be negotiated)

or

• Kits and/or digital patterns to sell yourself (pricing to be mutually agreed)

Here are some of the kits I've already made:

Interested?  Great!

Drop me an email or message me using the contact page - a link to some of your work would be fab too ;)  Thank you for reading.