Housecarers.com

Sunday 24 March 2013

A stressful (yet productive) winter...

This has been our home since Jan. 1 and as it turns out we have spent a lot of time together in it, working our hearts out and chewing fingernails.

My last post on Jan. 23 is laughable (well, maybe not laughable) - if I had known then just how long Mike would be out of work I would have freaked.

Right now he is in the car driving between Hattiesberg, Mississippi and Carmen, Indiana.  He finally has a contract to go to.  He left last Tuesday and flew to Dallas, got our car out of long-term parking (I don't want to tell you how much THAT cost), and then drove to New Orleans to attend part of an industry conference and do some networking.  

At the end of February we had a crisis point.  Should we continue to pay rent here and wait a little longer to see if a contract would start soon, somewhere, or cut the cord, sell our few pieces of furniture, break the lease, and go back to Alberta.  Our house which had been rented out until March 15 was coming available and we could move back in.  In the end, a dear friend loaned us some money to keep going.  Why come all the way back to Alberta where it is much more expensive to live, and lose the little bit of income from renting the house out, when surely the tide will turn any day?  I thank that friend for kindness from the bottom of my heart.

And now it is approaching the end of March, and the tide has turned.  Not only is Mike about to start work again - the contract will include the use of our new software product, MOVE.  The needs of the client are a perfect fit for it.  We'll either let them use for free and gain a great reference account, or maybe we'll actually make some money from it and it will be the first sale.

The very positive outcome of this winter in Maz (unemployed and desperate) is that we didn't mope around - we got to work on MOVE - writing executive summaries, business plans, marketing plans, investor presentations, customer presentations, shaping the message and working our contacts.  Andy worked too - thank you Andy!  Now we have gained an "angel" who is willing to introduce us to his investor friends, and an appointment next week to demonstrate MOVE to the acquisitions department of EMC - the software company that our product complements.  We also have an invitation to do a presentation for an angel investment group in Vancouver, BC - but it has to be in person so since they meet every month, we have asked to wait until May when we'll have the means to fly up there.

My stomach is still in knots but I have lots of wonderful, supportive friends here in Maz (and in Alberta) and I feel satisfied that we have done everything we possibly could to get through this winter (of our discontent).

6 comments:

  1. Self employment is harder than everyone thinks - we just finished our first year of self employment for hubby and I joined his company in September - we just issued our first real paychecks! We moved to Comox on Vancouver Island in June to start living the way we wanted to live and just finally sold our huge ball and chain house in Alberta. I wish you luck with your company.

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    1. Thank you Cheapchick! Good for you getting to paychecks point. What kind of business is it?

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    2. Husband is a business consultant and sales coach. He was 17 years in the media business as a sales manager prior to quitting last January. We knew that the employment situation was not great on Vancouver Island where we wanted to live so brought our job with us. The bulk of our clients are still in Alberta though, hubby flies and does a large amount of business by Go to Meeting. I love Mazatlan, first went when i was 18 (before they had McDonalds there!) and still love it. I have been about 12 times just for a week or two at a time. My favorite is having breakfast at the Playa Mazatlan- they have great pancakes made with corn flour.

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    3. What's your website? We're going to be needing a sales team at some point. I have never had breakfast at Playa Mazatlan...must try it. We live in Centro and although noisy, we love it.

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  2. Susan,
    Nice to read your recent post. My husband and I met you on as we were finishing our breakfast the day we had to return to Minnesota for our jobs, back in January, right before your last post. I've checked in often and wondered how it has been going for you. We're about two years away from our escape from winter. Rebecca

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    1. Hi Rebecca, I remember you. Thanks for your comment. I'm still here. I look forward to seeing you again!

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