Anonymous No More
Howdy!
Well hello there! Some of you know me, but most of you don’t. My name is Lisa, and I’m a blogger. But not just any blogger… I’ve been writing this blog as Ginger Corsair since January 2008. Since I was just featured in an article on the front page of the business section in the New York Times (complete with gigantic photo of me and Miss Luna) yesterday, I figured the cat is out of the bag!
I’m sure there are bunches of you that have already figured out my “real” identity over the years (sound off if you already knew!) and even more who just guessed. Well guess no longer. It is I.
This has admittedly been a long time coming. I’ve thought about revealing myself for a while, but the time never seemed right. Working in advertising for the past 5 years, I had to be super careful of my image, and what I did online. In fact I had a pretty close brush with some dastardly ad people and almost lost my job because of my blog.
I have also shared a lot of stuff in here that I haven’t shared with any of my friends in real life. I’ve always been a private person and having an anonymous blog seemed like a good way to sort through the junk of life and get feedback without having to expose myself so much to the people around me. I have been hurt very badly by those that I trusted in the past and as a result I don’t trust my friends and family now as much as I know I should. I’m working on it.
Blogging has been awesome. I feel like I have a bunch of invisible friends around me all the time, and I feel relatively comfortable coming to all of you for advice. Over the years I have revealed myself to some key people; mostly those whom I come in contact with in daily life, or at special blogging events. Man, I worked so hard to keep all the photos of me off of here! I think I did a great job, but it’s such a relief to be able to share now.
Up above is a photo of me from yesterday, with my happy NYT glow (coincidentally I also had a job interview with Airbnb that day and I really want the job. I didn’t plan it but the NYT article was about Airbnb and me, and I had an interview… what perfect timing!) and following is the NYT shot with me and Luna, and some other random shots of me today. I know how you folks eat up images of others!
Anyway, what with the NYT article, the launch of my new business and potential appearance on Dinner Party Wars, I figured it was time to quit playing around and introduce myself for real. I feel like I owe it to all you loyal readers.
I’m still the same girl you’ve known for the past 3 years and I’ll continue to blog. You can even keep calling me Ginger since I’m so used to it.
Thanks for being my friends, and enjoy the photos!
New York Times Photo
Hi guys!
Posing for kisses!
CHEESE!
Successful shopping for the store
Well today went fairly well despite the continuing heatwave.
I was lucky enough to stumble across a listing for the Big On Bloor festival on Friday night. Lucky because it was going on the following day, and was a great place for me to source some vendors for the shop!
I headed out there this afternoon and meandered along, alternating between mopping my brow and fanning myself. I felt like some kind of old Southern woman or something…
It was a cute little festival, and I had no idea it existed! A couple of bands performing, food vendors, lemonade stand and all kinds of little pop-up shops. I just love going to stuff like this. I find a lot of them can be hit or miss, with either too many people or too many of the wrong kind of vendors, or the opposite of both. Today’s seemed to be just the right amount of vendors and activity.
Anyway, I meant to go shopping for the store today (and I did!) but ended up doing a little shopping for myself.
My cute new necklace, and the earrings match!
At the end of the day I ended up with earrings & necklace set for myself, earrings for my mom’s birthday, a ceramic mug, a sun hat and a new wristlet for when I go out (HA. IF I ever go out again, that is…. *sigh*)
But I also made some valuable contacts for the shop, and will hopefully set up some meetings to talk business next week.
By the by, I’ve already had one meeting with a vendor. It went ok, but she didn’t really seem to have her act together yet, so it was hard for me to wade through things. At first I thought it would be cool to give guidance on the kinds of products I’m seeking… but now I think I’d rather just take a look through what they’ve got and commission just a few things. I guess my work is cut out for me… I need to find the crafters that are more inclined towards business as they’re much easier to work with.
Next week my plate is pretty full with more vendor meetings, and also my second try at the OSEB program. I wasn’t sure if I was going to go for it again, but this time it looks a little more hopeful. It’s at a different location and they seem way more helpful already and really seem to know what they’re doing. Now that I know the kinds of things they’re looking for I might be able to make it. If not, I got a chance to refine my concept a little more.
Sorry about the blog,
I know a lot of my posts lately are about the business, but you have to understand that my whole life is pretty much the business right now. I don’t have a whole ton else going on, plus getting all this stuff done is sucking up all my time. You should see my to-do lists, they’re behemoth. There are just so many little details to cover, decisions to make and people to talk to.
I’m not going to say I didn’t see this coming, I did choose to jump in with both feet. But it’s certainly a handful! I’m still confident that I can do this though. I try not to let the little monsters in me get too loud and bring me down.
Anyone have any organizational or productivity tips to share with me? I’m doing ok most of the time, but occasionally get overwhelmed. I definitely need some kind of system to deal with stuff. Suggestions???
Setting up the business bank account
…was surprisingly painless.
After taking a quick look around to find the best account, I settled on the $6 RBC small business account.
It’s basically pay-as-you-go, but it was the cheapest one out there. All the rest of the banks wanted to charge you way more every month, plus additional fees for every single transaction you do.
Coming from my free personal banking with PC Financial and ING Direct I’m having a hard time swallowing the idea of ANY fees at all. But I suppose it’s one of the costs of doing business.
Setting up the account was easy. Apparently you’re a more valuable customer if you’re a business because I got a rep on the phone right away. I started the application, then set an appointment at my local branch for the same day. It’s a 20 minute walk away which is a bit of a downer, but at least it’s walkable. I should have picked a cooler day to try it out though! I was so sweaty when I arrived that the bank person asked if I was ok!
Anyway, some chit-chat, 15 bazillion signatures and a showing of my certificate of incorporation and I was done. I feel good having this all taken care of, despite my chops as a personal finance blogger, business stuff scares the poop out of me. Its a whole new world I will have to learn about!
I couldn’t apply for my corporate card there (ooooh I feel so important saying that!!! *squee!*) so I went home and skyped up the toll-free.
Again I got someone right away, and he was actually pleasant to deal with!
Did you know it’s actually harder to get a credit card than a bank account? I guess it makes sense but I’ve never had trouble getting one before!
There was a lot of detail to go through. They pulled my personal account history (I have an RBC Visa), my credit report/score, took down my work history, salary, professional background details, amount of work done on the business already, projected sales figures and even my personal networth! I also have to send in some tax papers from the past few years to prove I’ve been paying them. I think after that I’ll have to send in my first born child.
Now here is where I’m super glad that I’m a PF blogger! It really paid off!
Being young and having a new business (vs. being established and having revenue) are big counts against you if you’re applying for business credit. Your risk levels are higher and you basically don’t have anything there to guarantee that you’ll pay off anything you borrow. 
What made my application stronger than the next young entrepreneur’s is the fact that I have a sparkling credit history, a high positive networth for someone my age, and no debt at all.
But even with those things working in my favour my application still came in at a ranking of “C” on your standard report card scale. Woah.
But the bank dude assured me that it’s waaaaay better than other people like me. Apparently you only get an A or B if you’ve been in business for ages with positive growth year over year. Since I don’t have that since I’m just too darn young I still have a pretty good chance of getting the credit card.
So my fingers are crossed that I will get this… right now it’s tough to separate all the business costs from my personal accounts. Eventually I’m going to have to use QuickBooks or get an accountant and I don’t want to mess things up.
I’m so glad this is done!
PS. The sponsor of this page, HSBC promises the same happy moment for Australian readers with their Business Accounts. Check it out!
This Calls for a *Headdesk*
Yup. It sure does.
Shit that isn’t working for me right now:
Stupid Visa application
- I have to send in tax documents of all things just to get a damn card. What a fracking pain, those are with my parents. They better give me a damn card after this.
Unending uploading
- I installed zencart in my root html directory. Now my test of opencart won’t work. Not impressed. Transferring thousands (literally) of files to a temp folder on my Mac. Oh boy I hope this works. I miss knowing how the internet worked. Now I just feel old and dumb.
Outlook for Mac is retarded
- Microsoft, I know we broke up but do you have to be such a bitch about it?? Why can’t you make a decent Mac version of Outlook? One that will sync with my Google calendar and iPhone? Why won’t you allow me SSL encryption on my email? Why is my outgoing mail port blocked? It wasn’t before! WTF???
Procrastinating gets you nowhere
- I’m so tired I just spelled nowhere as “knowhere”. This was going to be a rant about my logo design but I think I’ll devote it to exhaustion instead. I can’t currently feel my left arm but I’ve still got hours of work to go. It’s 12:43am.
Logo woe-go
- Designer needs photos of the kind of stuff I’m planning to sell so she can get an idea of the shop feel and come up with suggestions. Fair. I still haven’t done it and it’s probably the easiest thing on my to-do list right now. Why haven’t I done it?!!? Sometimes I frustrate myself.
Vendor relations
- It’s no problem finding people to buy from, but how do I do it? They’ll want a fair price for their shit but I need to give a fair price to my customers and make a profit. I have no idea what wholesale costs are for things. I may have to be a bully. It pains me. I wish I had some money to start this damn shop!
The Quest for the Perfect Website
Ugh, this is the 3rd time I’m uploading some huge package to my new site.
I’m trying to find a decent shopping cart solution so I can actually sell stuff off the site.
So far I’ve looked at
Yeah, I think it was a little bit confusing for me. I gave up one day into the trial period. I’m not going to pay for something that makes me cross-eyed. Might revisit in the future.
This was recommended to me by a tech savvy friend. It sure is pretty, and easy on the eyes. I just don’t know if it has the functionality and organizational abilities that I want. I want to be able to split my products into categories and sub-categories, and so far I haven’t found a way to do that. I also have to pay to use this and if I want it customized I have to find someone that can code in their bizarre “liquid” language.
Now I’m onto the free options which are more confusing, clunky and ugly, but free. Since I have pretty much no starting capital at this point and am funding everything out of my meagre savings, I need cheap solutions.
This was recommended to me by another shop owner. His site looks pretty good, but he has a partner that takes care of that kind of stuff. I think they hired someone to set it up which again, is costly.
I was going to go with this one for a while and may still choose it, but I’m having issues making it look pretty. I know a little about coding, but I can’t seem to wade through all of the junk they include. I’ll have to show it to my design folks and see if they can work with it.
This is what I’m uploading to the server right now. It’s also a huge fileset like ZenCart. I think it will be pretty similar but have a nicer interface and template. My big concern is that it only has one template… what if I want to make changes?
Between this and the logo & pricing strategy I’m going bonkers. Setting up federal incorporation documents, registering and setting up bank accounts is a cakewalk compared to this.
Has anyone out there had experience setting up their own online shop? Care to weigh in or make suggestions? I need all the help I can get!
Starting My Business
After another prolonged absence from the intertubes I’ve come back yet again, with developments this time!
Most of you regulars out there know that I have been planning to start an online business for some time now (historical posts here and here).
Originally I had applied for the Ontario Self Employment Benefit program via the Toronto Business Development Centre. It was a program for those on EI (unemployment benefits) to help them get a job… by starting a business for themselves. The government would provide a grant that covered your living expenses for 42 weeks as well as in-depth training on starting and running a small business. Sounded like the ideal situation to me!
Two months, about a million pages of paperwork and one presentation later, I heard back from the TBDC as to whether they were going to recommend me for the program.
I didn’t make it in.
Boy, was I ever crushed when I read that rejection letter. I had basically been pinning all my hopes on getting into this program, and had been waiting with bated breath. There was a limit as to how much “work” you could have done on your business already (if you were already doing well then you couldn’t get in the program, the government figuring that you don’t need their help if you’re already making a profit) so I twiddled my thumbs and didn’t get much accomplished.
Ok I’ll fess up and say that this may have been a bit egotistical of me. I didn’t want to do too much work and actually get the business started because I figured I’d be successful right off the bat, losing out on this program and the income support it provided. Even with my Airbnb earnings I don’t have much in the bank right now so any additional cash would have helped. So yeah. I thought I’d be so great that I wouldn’t be accepted and piddled away time that could have been spent building my business.
But you know I really truly believe I will make this work. I’m pretty sure I was born for this and I’m passionate about it for so many reasons. I am confident, people!
So long story short, I was devastated. I spent about a week being bummed about this (during which I went camping with my bff and became jealous of her for 4 days, but I’m better now). I had to wait until this past week to go in and meet with the TBDC evaluation team to find out why I didn’t make the cut, and to get feedback from them.
Here’s the funny part: the government is unlikely to admit me into the program for two reasons:
One: The TBDC only has 8 months to help me get my business running at max capacity and generating a fulltime income for myself. Generally speaking a business like mine takes 10-20 months to break even, the average being 15. This means that they won’t recommend me because there isn’t enough time for them to do a good job.
Two: If I do get my business up and running to that level in less than 10 months (which I will, dagnabbit!), then I will be too successful for the program.
Wellsir, if that don’t beat all!
I’m really not sure how I feel about this. On one hand it’s awesome because the TBDC professionals think that my idea, presentation, etc. was great, viable and will be a success. On the other hand, I’m bummed that I won’t be getting the help that I really want, nor the money that I need to live on.
I’m trying to be positive about the whole experience and have spurred myself into action. In the past 3 days I have accomplished more than during the 2 months I was dallying around with that program. I can still apply for the next intake session in the fall, but I wonder if it’s even worth it.
I’ve been working like a madwoman and have managed to pick a name, incorporate, hire a designer, get a website (not done yet though!) and sign up for my very first industry-members-only tradeshow next month! 
I’ve done a ton more in that span of time (you wouldn’t believe how many pesky little details there are getting a business together!) but it’s too much for one post. I really just wanted to get the beginnings of my story out.
Next up I need to start finding vendors (please tell me of any that you like, or if YOU would like to sell to me!) and get the logo/website crap done. I ordered some temporary business cards today so that I’d appear more legit while I get everything finalized. Yes, I am always the marketer!
As I go along I’ll do my best to post about this experience because it’s good for me to remember, and also makes a cool story for you to read. The birth of a business!
Also, I’m not gonna lie. I hope a lot of you will be my customers when I finally open!! LOL
How do you deal with jealousy?
Dear Interwebs,
What do you do if you are jealous of your best friend?
More and more I am experiencing this feeling, and I’m afraid it’s going to get out of control. Can you help please?
My Cat Iz Famus.
Check it out! Luna is today’s Caturday star over at Catsparella!
Click here to read her story and see some adorable shots. I’m so excited! (And happy. Its hard taking her photo!)
Yup, I’m at it again + cat photos
I just can't help myself
Well, I’m still pretty bored with things these days. So I found another random item to paint. Above is my lost, forlorn chair. It came with the apartment when I moved in 4 years ago and was ugly in it’s unfinished state. A chair with good bones, though.
I reupholstered it Red Green style (with duct tape, for you non-Canadians) and it looked better… but still needed a little something.
I’ve got some white paint left over from repainting the dining room a couple of months ago and I was bored, so…. there you go.
Painted chair ahoy!
One more coat and this baby’ll be ready for it’s new cushion and new life as a stylish matching chair to my decor.
Anyway, if a photo of a half-painted chair doesn’t do it for you, here are some photos of my cat Luna to make up for it. She’s going to be featured in this week’s Caturday post over at the Catsparella blog. Isn’t that exciting?!?!
Basket Case!
In which Luna finds the secret window garden
My butt DOES NOT look fat!!!!
Kitty, deconstructed
Nevermind, I found the rest of her in the box
I totally realize that she is making weird faces in these photos. It’s like this all the time at home. Never-ending chuckles!
Talk to my agent…
So there’s been a bit of interesting stuff going on in the Gingersphere lately.
I was interviewed by the New York Times for …something (not allowed to say yet). They may or may not publish it, but it would be cool if they did! The NYT! Cool!
I also might be on a Food Network TV show. I think I’ve talked about this before. My bff and I applied to be on Dinner Party Wars. We’ve done our audition and everything and now we wait to see if they want to use us. It’d be kind of dumb if they don’t, we’d make excellent TV.
I’m also plugging away at my business idea. Thanks to everyone that filled out the survey, it really helped. I especially loved the comments at the end! They were sweet, helpful and sometimes challenged my thinking, which was great.
I used the anonymous data to help me in my pitch to the TBDC. I’ll find out sometime next week if they’re recommending me to the ministry. After that the ministry has 3 more weeks to decide if they want me in the program…. *sigh* there is just SO MUCH WAITING!
In the meantime, I’ve been trying to find more things to do. I’ve been cleaning a lot and doing the whole Martha Stewart thing around the house. But after a while it gets boring cooking and cleaning for no one but yourself and your piggy cat. I’m trying to conserve money so I haven’t signed up for many cool classes or workshops that I would like to do. It’s a bit of a Catch 22 isn’t it? When I was working I had no time to do anything fun. Now that I’m not working I have the time, but no money to do those same things!
I hope that once I find out about this business program I’ll have a little more direction in my life. If I get in I’ll be nice and busy going to the classes and getting sh*t done. If I don’t get into the program then I will be doing the same thing anyway, figuring out how to start up the business, refine my idea and see if there are other programs to help me. It’s just the waiting that is really killing me. I want a reason to get up in the mornings so I can get back to a routine. I do well with a little bit of routine in my life. It’s hard for me to just drift like this.
Anyway, that’s the big stuff going on these days. I’ll try and update soon with something on my weight loss and Slimband… I’ve been getting some requests in for more info. Let me know if there’s anything you want to hear more about!
