WED
Worry. Have to get back to the worries.
Worries are like foreplay, except the point is to avoid the climax.
The bank account that my mum and I had designated for work-related payments is almost empty.
Didn't expect that.
I haven't been looking at it since before she passed away because I had the impression there was more than enough to handle several months of rent.
But today when I was trying to pay the suppliers and deposit whatever I have left of last month's revenue after taking away what I need for personal use, I was informed that I didn't have enough for all of the transactions.
When the cheque gets through tomorrow, I'll have a little more than enough to complete the remainder, cover the minimum sum and take care of this month's rent.
But this means that I'll be broke till my buyers pay me next month. "Broke" as in I can't pay for any orders without using my personal savings. I still have enough for my daily necessities.
This is indeed a worry. Even if this doesn't get worse, it still means I've been overestimating the future of my finances.
I may not be able to do some of what I've been thinking about doing in the near future.
Gah!
On a more positive note, the Singapore Dollar has been pretty high versus the Renminbi recently despite a tiny drop since yesterday. Hopefully it doesn't drop too much tomorrow when the teller helps me to finish the matter on her own since the bank will be using the new exchange rate.
Truth to be told I think I had ordered too many sweaters. Right now I have enough to cover the next several months or so, hence I'm really more concerned about jackets and pants. Scarves and gloves are cheap so they're not major problems, but jackets and pants obviously cost more.
I guess I've been doing it wrong.
It's not exactly a bad thing if I can afford it since it's a good time to pay the Chinese right now, but the problem is that I don't think I can. Technically I can pay them now, but I'll have to drag the payments for future orders unless I spend my own money.
I don't think I've been losing money from buying bad stuff... yet. I don't know for sure because I've only begun to sell half the shipment I received since the last weekend.
The problem is mainly because we made too little from the last several months due to everything that's been happening. Insufficient input to satisfy the output.
So far the sweater supplier has been nice enough to throw in stuff that my mum had ordered before and sold decently in addition to what I ordered, so I'm not worried about that part. It's a win-win there.
Pants and jackets. Problems.
I've been putting these off for so long I won't have much to sell in the next few months. It's not like I can just give that supplier a call and say," Hey gimme some jackets!" and Poof! they appear at my doorstep the next day.
I wish I can though.
The situation isn't so bad but like I said, it's a worry. It's a problem in the future.
If I make this month what I made in the last, I can probably handle another order, but it's going to be cutting it close then. Frankly I'm not used to the idea of not having buffers.
At least it's not as bad as what happened when my father passed away. My parents didn't have any joint accounts at all so she had to ask the suppliers to allow her to pay several months after receiving the goods.
I guess being a newly widowed mother helps in that situation too. I don't think I can garner that kind of sympathy from the Chinese businessmen myself.
At worst, I'll have to pull out a fixed deposit. Premature withdrawal gives me no interest but this is the kind of problem those deposits are there for.
What luck! Some dude came over to my office for some cheap jackets, apparently after the office next door recommended us to him.
Except he only wanted the really cheap crap and was willing to take the stuff that we can't sell without going against our conscience.
For example, there's this really old jacket in which the elastic string around the hip level has become very brittle due to age. It's one of the designs that my mum never got rid of for some reason. I was actually planning to let the workers throw the whole stack away when they have the time but since he came over, the older one suggested that we give it to him for S$5 apiece.
Another old design that wasn't selling at all and had only about 20 pieces remaining from a random number of sizes was offered to him at 30% off. Everything else that had some kind of issue and cannot be sold to my current buyers, I offered at half price.
Basically, I got about $700 for nothing. Gave the workers $150, $100 for the older one and $50 for the younger one. The former was so happy she called me "boss" in Chinese instead of "Mr..." for the rest of the day.
And yes, there is a difference because of what these two imply and because she did it voluntarily.
I did it mainly because she was the one who did all the physical work and suggested that we sell the junk. I was never in the office the entire time and hence never got directly involved with the whole transaction until it was over. I didn't even get to see the guy.
Is a mere hundred that big?
I'll admit it used to be a huge sum for me back when I was a student, but I've long since learnt that $100 doesn't do shit for me anymore. It just doesn't cover anything significant like rent or wages.
But if a hundred bucks makes them that excited, then it was well worth the money.
Not that I'll give them more next time unless I see a good reason for that. In fact I was considering not giving anything this because they might begin to expect something every time someone comes over to buy from me directly.
In the end I thought this probably won't be happening a lot in the future anyway, and they deserved the money. As for the rest, I need something to cover my capital and help pay the rent.
THU
Now considering getting some cashmere scarves and hats, and some polyester long johns. The problem is still capital.
If I do this, I'll need to pull some cash from my personal savings account. I don't like this idea but it seems to be necessary.
I'm excited by the possible prices they are stating online, which I do not expect do be accurate, but the problem appears when I combine the minimum order quantity with them.
I just don't want to spend everything I have on a single design, so hopefully they are alright with an order that consists of a bit of everything.
Hopefully :P
I like this feeling I get when I find stuff that I think will sell but I don't like to be limited by my small capital.
I will still keep my uncle's suggestion of bank loans in mind but I do not foresee myself getting any within the year.
Oh wow I cannot get the Public Trustee to handle my mum's estate because she's the sole owner of a HDB flat. I think "interest in a firm or other business", which also prevents the office from doing this, also applies since I left her in the Manager position in the ACRA system.
Now I really need a lawyer, I think.
Probably should ask them since I had just applied to HDB for a transfer of ownership before opening this letter from CPF.
The letter also stated that they're going to let the Public Trustee handle her CPF and the Singtel shares the government gave her.
I think that means the Public Trustee can still handle most of the things for us except for the flat and the firm.
The timing of Prudential is excellent. I've just received the money from the "death covers". After splitting it between my bro and I, I should have enough to rest easy for another month. Oh yes, I don't have to worry too much about ordering too little of those cashmere stuff anymore.
For now anyway.
FRI
Just asked my freight forwarder and apparently they can't help me with orders made in Inner Mongolia.
Maaaaaaaaaaaan..........
And according to them, it's much more expensive if PSA is involved, which would be the likely scenario if I ask the manufacturer to arrange the shipping for me.
I have an idea but I'm not sure if that's even possible.
It's still going to jack up the price though.
Perhaps I'll just make a tiny order and see. The manufacturers are alright with what I described yesterday as "a bit of everything", so this is indeed tempting.
I've finally encountered my first major mistake!
It seems that I might have ordered way more than I can handle!
I've just received several boxes of sweaters yesterday and today, I was informed that many more bags are arriving in Singapore on Sunday evening. At this rate, they will be delivering them to me on Monday.
Oh boy.
My office can barely handle half that many bags. I remember seeing that much one time back when I went over to help my mum to unpack.
Fortunately, I was able to work something out but I'll have to spend a bit more now.
One major issue here solved, another one to go.
This next one is the storage. Even though I'm confident that we can unpack everything, I'm actually unsure about how I can store the few thousand jackets. Hopefully the workers can find enough space, or we won't have any to work in. That would really suck.
No wonder I ran out of money so quickly. I probably ordered way too much.
Bad time to have too much though.
The next time business picks up again is still weeks away.
What do?
Got to go for a reservist briefing tomorrow. They booked an entire day and like last year, I'm pretty sure they're just going to make us waste most of it while they sort out their messed up logistical issues.
I can't find my rank insignia. I guess I'll be going as a frickin private.
No comments:
Post a Comment