To be perfectly frank ... It isn't a long debate whether I am more a Bransaon or Del Boy; my bank account supplies concrete evidence that I am the latter!
Some people are born entrepreneurs, which I always think sounds like a compliment, but the reality is that not all entrepreneurs make a penny, but most of us have a lovely time trying to get there!
I shall share some of my past enthusiasms which haven't made me rich in cash but have provided a wealth of entertainment and fun. Starting from the beginning ... Here goes with my first money spinning experience ...
Business 1 - Penny's for Pickles Pony rides - age 10 . I was lucky enough to have a shaggy Dartmoor pony when I was a child. And also lucky enough to live within riding distance of Ashridge Monument. As anyone local knows ... Ashridge Monument, on a sunny day, is a business opportunity waiting to happen. And so, my first business was born...
With a hastily knocked up, hand painted sign tucked under my arm, I rode Pickles through Ashridge and set up base right next to the monument. Within minutes I had a queue of small people (some were not so small as I was pretty small myself) all desperate to do their circuit of the site on the back of Pickles. Within an hour I was cash rich to the tune of £3, which at 10p a ride I was pretty chuffed with.
Sadly the business met its demise shortly after that when Pickles was spooked by a rat on a lead ( i think it was a chiwawa) The rat took a dislike to Pickles receiving more attention than it from its young owner and decided to nip Pickles tail while its owner, a pretty little 6 year old girl called Crystal, was beaming a toothless smile on his back. Crystals doting father, somewhat oblivious to the rats antics, called Crystals name constantly and took enough photos to wall paper an entire lounge during her short experience on Pickles back.
Pickles finally lost his cool with the rat, the camera and the over enthusiastic father and decided to dispose of the rat and abandon the rest of the party. With one mighty buck of the back legs, Pickles successfully sent the rat into a double back flip that even Beth Tweedle would have been proud of and took off down monument drive with Crystal doing a cracking job of assuming the jockey position.
Being just 10 at the time, I could only look at the positives when we finally caught up with Pickles who stopped at the sight of a particularly juice clump of fern. Looking back now, through the eyes of a parent, I can see that my positivity was somewhat misplaced when doting dad had feared for his daughters life.
Top tip for any entrepreneurs embarking on a business with horses... If your horse bolts with a young child attached, it is not a good thing to site any of the following to the parents:
1. It's a good job he spotted that fern or he could have run for miles.
2. Wow - she's going to be a good rider - I would never have been able to hold on for that long.
3. Your dog needs shooting, upsetting my pony like that.... Is its still alive?
4. Can I have my 10 p now
So Doting dad decided to share the tale with the lovely people from the National Trust and hence my first business closed down as quickly as it started and Pickles and I were banned from the area.
Elsie is a breeze compared to Penny's for Pickles Pony Rides ... I still may be working with children, but at least Elsie doesn't start her own engine and do a runner if a dog decides to use her tyres as a toilet.
Monday 28 January 2013
Wednesday 23 January 2013
whilst on the 40 something subject ...
Following my last blog - I feel the need to continue on the subject of the blatant disparities between men and women facing the aging process. Why is it that - when men diet, they lose weight! Need i say more! I am sure I don't need to say more, but its not much of a blog if I don't.
I had a decadent festive period.... infact I think glutinous festive period would probably be a better description.... shamefully embarrassing overeating. I made that fateful mistake of acknowledging that I needed to diet and therefore approaching Christmas like an occupant on death row who had been given his execution date.
This of course resulted in my new years diet starting point being 7 llbs further from the fnish line than I had anticipated. I know .... all my own doing.... can blame nobody else except Mr Cadbury and Mr Merlot.
I am not a diet moaner... I embraced the fact that it would do my body no harm to partake in Dry-uuary and added chocolate to the list as well as alcohol. I then cut down bread, cut out pastry, cut right down red meat and deleted all unnecessary biscuits and treats .... I reckon this is a reduction of 1500 calories and a small walrus load of fat a day. Yet here I am on day 23 and I have lost the sum total of 4 poxy pounds .... Excuse my crudeness but surely that is not much more than one trip to the toilet!! All the healthy eating sites pride themselves on advising that cutting out just one biscuit a day will make a difference ... yeah - if you are going to live to the grand age of 250 you might see that lone biscuits difference on the scales, but for us mortals; we like results within our lifetime!
And yet - why is it that a man just has to have 3 less sips of beer a night and all your friends are admiring his new sylph like figure within the week!
But being someone who likes to find the positives ... at least when Mr Merlot is allowed back into my life in FABruary he has proved he isnt the cause of my weight gain... if it doesn't come off when i am not drinking, then surely it wont go on when I am.... YAY!
I fear Mr Cadbury will have to stay away a little longer though or I will be struggling to fit in Elsie this summer. My Ice Cream Pinny may have extendable straps but there really is only so much room to maneuver around Elsie's freezers. A rotund Ice cream lady maybe a good advert for her stocks taste, but doesn't do much for promoting SCOOPS Gelato Ice cream as the healthier delicious version of ice cream that it is!
I had a decadent festive period.... infact I think glutinous festive period would probably be a better description.... shamefully embarrassing overeating. I made that fateful mistake of acknowledging that I needed to diet and therefore approaching Christmas like an occupant on death row who had been given his execution date.
This of course resulted in my new years diet starting point being 7 llbs further from the fnish line than I had anticipated. I know .... all my own doing.... can blame nobody else except Mr Cadbury and Mr Merlot.
I am not a diet moaner... I embraced the fact that it would do my body no harm to partake in Dry-uuary and added chocolate to the list as well as alcohol. I then cut down bread, cut out pastry, cut right down red meat and deleted all unnecessary biscuits and treats .... I reckon this is a reduction of 1500 calories and a small walrus load of fat a day. Yet here I am on day 23 and I have lost the sum total of 4 poxy pounds .... Excuse my crudeness but surely that is not much more than one trip to the toilet!! All the healthy eating sites pride themselves on advising that cutting out just one biscuit a day will make a difference ... yeah - if you are going to live to the grand age of 250 you might see that lone biscuits difference on the scales, but for us mortals; we like results within our lifetime!
And yet - why is it that a man just has to have 3 less sips of beer a night and all your friends are admiring his new sylph like figure within the week!
But being someone who likes to find the positives ... at least when Mr Merlot is allowed back into my life in FABruary he has proved he isnt the cause of my weight gain... if it doesn't come off when i am not drinking, then surely it wont go on when I am.... YAY!
I fear Mr Cadbury will have to stay away a little longer though or I will be struggling to fit in Elsie this summer. My Ice Cream Pinny may have extendable straps but there really is only so much room to maneuver around Elsie's freezers. A rotund Ice cream lady maybe a good advert for her stocks taste, but doesn't do much for promoting SCOOPS Gelato Ice cream as the healthier delicious version of ice cream that it is!
Monday 21 January 2013
Where shall I start???
Well.... I have always been partial to putting pen to paper and so what better reason to write than a midlife crises career change to being a Vintage Ice cream lady! I would like to quickly add that it is Elsie the ice cream van who is vintage .... not me! I am positively youthful at 40 something!!
Why is it that men become rugged, dashing and debonair as they cross that age ZONE.... Ice cream vans become cute, quaint and quirky and women become ...... old.
If we go the "self improvement" route and embrace the modern technology of face-lifts and botox then we are saddo Cougars and quickly get the Ab Fab nick name of Patsy. Yet, if we just allow the passage of time to occur then we are deemed to be letting ourselves go! And lets face it ladies - we all are quietly pleased, or at best relieved when we spot a wrinkle on a mates face, so we bring this midlife stress upon ourselves!
Even the midlife dress code is tricky to get right for us ladies. The last thing you want to do is look like you have delved in your teenage daughters wardrobe for your outfit on that girlie night out. Yet equally you don't want people to think that you have stalked your mother for a frock either! so what does that leave ..... jeans.
So that is the first perk to owning Elsie - not only did I see it socially acceptable to hang my head out of an ice cream van window as a midlife career move - I do so with a 1950's frilly pinny and hat on. That sorts the dress code anxieties out for my weekends from March to Septemmber. Although I am not sure I would recommend it as a look for those girls nights out!
Why is it that men become rugged, dashing and debonair as they cross that age ZONE.... Ice cream vans become cute, quaint and quirky and women become ...... old.
If we go the "self improvement" route and embrace the modern technology of face-lifts and botox then we are saddo Cougars and quickly get the Ab Fab nick name of Patsy. Yet, if we just allow the passage of time to occur then we are deemed to be letting ourselves go! And lets face it ladies - we all are quietly pleased, or at best relieved when we spot a wrinkle on a mates face, so we bring this midlife stress upon ourselves!
Even the midlife dress code is tricky to get right for us ladies. The last thing you want to do is look like you have delved in your teenage daughters wardrobe for your outfit on that girlie night out. Yet equally you don't want people to think that you have stalked your mother for a frock either! so what does that leave ..... jeans.
So that is the first perk to owning Elsie - not only did I see it socially acceptable to hang my head out of an ice cream van window as a midlife career move - I do so with a 1950's frilly pinny and hat on. That sorts the dress code anxieties out for my weekends from March to Septemmber. Although I am not sure I would recommend it as a look for those girls nights out!
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