Countless job applications and 7 rejections later.. I HAVE A JOB!

Applying for  jobs was becoming a hobby, the end result of actually getting a job started to become less important. The first thing i would do and the last thing at night was to apply or search for a jobs.  The majority of interviews and the job i got was found on Gumtree. A lot if people don't give it a chance but i would recommend it. Also Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter each found me a potential job to apply for.
 We all have experienced in our lifetime the sheer prep there is in applying for job. From filling out an application form, writing a covering letter, researching the company, preparing for the interview. It's a lot of work in itself. After the seventh rejection i was certainly feeling down and out. I stopped telling people i had interviews for places, as my superstition kicked in.


With only £20 left of my overdraft, the heavens opened and the sun shone and i finally heard those words. 'We would like to offer you the job'. Relief, disbelief and happiness was the first things i felt all rolled up into one. My insomnia sleeping pattern suddenly had a rude awaking to the early bedtime routines. It replaced a 40 hours week with weekends to appreciate.

Where I work....

I would at a printing company, based in Ancoats who's main focus are B2B. My role within the company comes under the title of  Customer Service Representative. Don't underestimate the job title, there is a lot more than meets the eye. I will revised this blog in due course with some of my duties.


Everyone is really friendly and helpful, the whole team are professional and produce quality products for their clients. I've only been there a week today so I can't tell you much at the moment but i will definitely will keep you informed. I feel i will be happy there for a number of years and excited of where i could go within the company.



Some advice i can give to people who are looking for a job is just to keep going. I'm not saying i didn't have weeks of having meltdowns, doubting my abilities or secluding myself from the world. When i snapped out of the mode it was full steam ahead for the next couple of weeks. It's been two years since leaving university and i finally got my foot in the door. I can safely say that my experience on my cv, not having to many gaps it in really helped. Be proactive.  Did i mention i cant wait for pay day!!

An online store to sell your beauties: BigCartel

Well from my previous post you all know that I want to set up a small business. I am still in the research parts.  One of the questions were how am i going to be selling the products? Online of course is the best option. But what platform. The obvious choices that are well known are websites like Esty and Ebay.  I wanted something smaller, more intimate and having a feeling of creativity. Plus commission charges and costings of uploading where a big turn off from the websites i've mentioned.


Then i came across Bigcartel, as soon as I seen the homepage i knew this was a real contender. Flicking through all the different categories i got the impression that these the sellers were mainly self employed creatives' that  were selling their passion.

They're sellers from all around the world and every store has their own personality. Don't get me wrong Bigcartel isn't like Esty where the possibilities are endless in terms of plugins, translating languages, converting currencies.  However I like it. It;s a work in progress, just like the majority of small businesses that use this platform. It has everything you need to set up a very nice online store and sell your trinkets!

All the stores are split up into categories relating to what their store is selling. There's a store directory toolbar where u can search for stores as long as you know the name. I wish the went a step further and extended their search options by adding country and maybe price range. It can be laborious just clicking through numerous stores.

What also appealed to me was the pricing structure.  These are very very reasonable the best i've seen so far. If you were doing a soft launch for example you could sign up for a free account add a maximum of 5 products, use their theme (look of the website) as they're is only basic customisation, your url would have '.bigcartel.com' at the end.  You could test the waters and get selling just like that. 

As you start paying to use the service, you get more freedom with your store. From the just the platinum package you get everything that the titanium package does except from the  amount of products you are allowed to upload.  You are now able to track your inventory, use your own url, full customisation on your website, enable discount codes and most of all receive statics on the performance of your store.  You can use their own analytical software or use a plugin and use something like Google analytics.

All the stores are very unique, even the ones that use bigcatels' themes and just change font,colour back ground.

  The photography, is almost a part of the product very creative, professional and gives the sense of credibility to the store.

Everours.co.uk is the first online store that i purchased products from and now i'm hooked. I've lost a friend because of this, my bank balance. Although i think my bank balance should be grateful as the accessories i buy jazzes up an old shirt  making it look ive bought a new top.










All in all i love bigcartel I love the individuality of each store. I love to see so many passionate entrepreneurs becoming business owners and selling their craft.


I can't wait to upload and become live!

#Hashtag Twitter Chats

I've been on twitter for almost 3 years and has never followed and be involved in a 'hash tag twitter chat' until now!  A couple weeks ago I followed chat, it was all about how to market your business around holiday events to drive sales. i.e valentines day, christmas, easter. The main focus was around Valentines day as it was approaching. It was sponsored by Amazon and had people who were experts in marketing, business owners, graduates, students and ordinary folk from around the world answering 9 questions that were put to the participants.  If you want to look back at the chat the hash tag used was '#smbvalentine'

Anita Campbell,  a Forbes Top Influential Woman for Entrepreneurs had some great answers as did the other participants; so much i downloaded the whole transcript. Whether I set up my own business, a consultant to a start up or working in a agency these tips and tricks would going to come in handy. 


As I didn't major in marketing, it has been a learning curve and the chat pointed out some things i would of never thought about, for instance a marketing calendar. Here's one i found displayed as an infographic. Note that when you make a generic calendar and list all the holidays doesn't mean you should use them all some may not compliment your business. Another tip I learnt, you don't have to be so obvious marketing ideas around Valentines day doing a ' love your customer event'  'Wrap your purchase with love', realtors using Valentine’s Day theme “Fall in love again … with a new home.”

. If you were using location based strategy you could collaborate with a restaurant or flowers shop ' Spend over £30 and get 20% off at Fiona's flower shop' 

I never knew that Facebook allows targeting based on relationship status for laser-focused ads. All in all i really enjoyed the chat and best of all it was free and I didn't have to leave my house or change out of my pajamas! 

This got me thinking also if you were a small business getting feedback from customers and potential customers would be key. I have in the past have started a blog on projects, however as a really small team it was very time consuming but hold a tweet chat every month on different fun topics that would entice them and in turn get you get feedback you can analyse is a win win. Plus you would be creating a community through social media.


As this blog is called Get a life I would love to host a twitter chat on a hot topics so we can all bounce and learn of each other.