If you have been following my blog, then you know that my partner and I started up a publishing house and a not-for-profit business on January 1st of this year. We are doing very well with the publishing house. I will have books to post soon. The not-for-profit is just starting to get noticed. The soon to be website is built for The Humanitarian Fund. https://thehumanitarianfund.wordpress.com/
The publishing house, Pandora’s Order, is located at pandorasorder.com if you wanted to take a peek.
There is a lot of work to be done with a business. Small details, like keeping the books. Who is getting what book to edit, who is the proofreader going to be and so on and so forth. So I have not written in a while, been a bit busy with work. I am grateful for today to be able to sit back and write my blog.
First and foremost, I have some new readers. Welcome.
Second, I seem to eat, breathe, live the business right now. So this blog post may be half business and half of where I am today mentally, physically, and emotionally.
I know last time I wrote a blog, I was talking about infusions. Well after three months of infusions, I glad to say my iron is back to normal and I am healthier now than I was four months ago. Mentally, I am in a good place. And emotionally, I am very happy at this present moment. I am doing meetings everyday Monday through Friday, to keep my sobriety.
It feels good to be doing something again and watching it grow. It is like watching your child grow up. And there are constant interruptions of things that have to be done. And usually they have to be done that moment. It is like Pandora’s Order has taken over my life. I am not complaining, just explaining.
With as busy as my life has been, I have not had much time to write. I miss that part of me. So I have taken the day to write my blog today. And it has almost taken all day to write. With lil fires to put out here and there. Lately my life of work consist of talking to people, working on contracts, and working on a business plan. Yay!
I have noticed lately, honestly, the business and my meetings have taken over my life. I have to get back to taking time for me. Which includes this blog. It is a very interesting journal if you read through all my post. You will also see my inconsistency of postings as well. Sometimes life just gets in the way of blogging. For me it is memories that I felt important enough to share with the world out there.
So some advice for those out there, beware of burnout if you don’t take time for you. I am not burned out yet, however it has taken me two days to write a blog post that used to take me one. If you don’t shift gears and run like I have been with Pandora’s as of late, you will forget that gear is there. That is not good. So don’t forget to take breaks with your work when you have been going full throttle.
I have cats that remind me to take breaks. Haha.
Also, for work, especially start up companies work on a business plan. I can’t tell you how invaluable that has been to me and fixing Pandora’s Order. Remember I did say I was going to talk about the business so others can learn from my mistakes and things I have learned along the way. Since my life seems to have become the business, I just as well write about it.
I never realized how much time the backside, paperwork, would take. My advice, set up a good plan before you start your business or you will be bogged down with paperwork for the first few months. And you learn what you need as far as paperwork goes, however, try to have as much of it done as possible before you start. A cost/profit sheet, an employee sheet and individual sheet, taxes sheet, and the like. I am still working on my sheets for the business.
Then there is also public relations that happen every day. So be prepared for that. Thankfully I have a wonderful team that makes my job easier. So when you hire people, make sure their values align with your values. I have found that is why our team works as well as it does. I am blessed to have my team.
Also keep steady business hours. People get to know when you are and that is when they come to you for business work. A lot of my work is overseas. So I have to talk to my people in the middle of the night sometimes. You learn your clients hours and adjust.
Keep all receipts, copy them and record them. You can write off a lot when tax time comes if you keep all your receipts. Copy them because there is a new ink they are using that disappears after a year. This can save you a lot of trouble if you ever get audited by the IRS. Remember keep your records for seven years. I keep mine for ten just in case.
I also have folders for each of the businesses. This is to keep physical records in one place as well as online and a thumb drive. Keep one thumb drive for every year, that way I have the year saved on a thumb drive and my partner and I are going to rent a safety deposit box as soon as we can to keep those thumb drives in. That however is a bit down the road. I am just letting you know, what the plans are and what we are doing with our business to make it grow.
We now have seven books/babies in the oven. I am very excited because we started in January of this year and we already have seven books getting ready for publication. As I have said, I have been blessed. Our company has been running smoothly since the beginning opened. However, that was because of planning and finding the right team members. It is also about delegating responsibilities.
That is really difficult when you are a perfectionist to let go and let someone else take over. You have to have to let someone you trust to do the work that you are used to doing. It is one of the hardest steps you will have to take when you start delegating responsibilities. It is part of being a leader. As leaders, it is our responsibility to lead by example. You have to put in the hours if you expect your team to respect you and take your lead. This is how you find the people you can delegate to. The ones who put in the same amount of work that you do.
The time you put into your company is what you will get back. If you are a hard worker and get things done in a timely matter, you will find your business runs smoothly. I am not saying there will not be bumps in the road, there will be. There will also be long days and nights when you are first running your business, so be prepared for that. I find myself waking in the middle of the night to check on emails and messages. That is just me.
I just wanted to do a check in with my readers. Let you know I am still alive and kicking. I know I was a bit all over the place in this blog. Please forgive me, my mind is racing a mile a minute. I will have more tips and tricks in my next blog. Until next time…
Aingealicia