It's Been So Long

My life had its changes so I was not able to blog for a short while. CHRISTMAS came through and I was busy with domestic chores. Then, there was the NEW YEAR, too, and likewise, with the emergence of work on my end, it was not possible for me to blog.

November 17, 2008 was the day husband and I ventured into a business we thought was good to keep us busy and would enable us to pay our monthly bills without pain in our pockets. Relatively, money is involved to get this started so we were on the look for investing it right despite the limitation of time and space.

A start-up busines has a lot of promise and risk. For us, it is more for sensibility and sensitivity needs. We played it by ears and by husband's vast experience in the business where his field of expertise speaks high and loud, I was confident it was going to be all right. I am second in command and I do only the minor thing. He is the big force behind it and I support him a hundred percent.

To organize our office scenario and business sense, we bought this costly software that was three grand and learned the ropes of having an office without a paper trail. It is cool but the program is not intuitive or shall I say- not a user friendly type. You need to learn it step by step in a rather methodical way. So for someone like me who learns things fast by exploring and opening up files on the PC and otherwise, it was a raw deal and toughie for me.

The trying times were all about feeding the info right in the software and making sure that it is in sync in all that we do as business partners. When we opened on the first day which was the 17th of November, we were rushed, pressured and vulnerable to do it right.

Moreover, I realized how difficult it is for a husband and wife to venture on a business together. There is a lot of emotional strain that comes in and because you two are connected by the ring of marriage, you can't help but become emotional at times. Stress is the dealer killer but it is inevitable. In time, we were able to cope. Now we are in better shape and in better tone. Thank God!

While our transition time was coming through, I was not able to cook for a week. We ordered food in the neighborhood cafes and bistros or walked into these places in North Beach. Otherwise, we both didn't have the appetite as we were studying the software at the end of the day and up until midnight.

During the first two weeks, husband called in at Washington office of the software company for daily consultation at 7 AM SFO time. He did this because there are some glitches in the program that only the tech support there could simplify for husband to know. Then, he taught me how to do it right.

Our life revolved around the internet and the software for a while. Despite the fact that I hated writing down notes on a huge notebook, I had to do it to keep me on track. When customers called, in the initial days, I get nuts trying to remember how to go to the next available space to enter the call sheets and job sale. It was chaotic but I survived it!

These days, I can bake breads in between times when no calls are coming in!

We had our share of dishonest people who wouldn't want to pay their bills even if the service had already been done regarding their homes. When this became a headache, we just write it off as an issue to deal in SMALL CLAIMS COURT IN SAN FRANCISCO. And the result? The culprit sent a check mid part this week and frees herself of anymore time constraint in court!

The great thing about living in an expensive city like San Francisco is- you get every penny's worth of what you pay the city hall regarding taxes. And all can be done online even in filing a court case. And you get a response ASAP. Now, isn't it great?