Written from a sushi restaurant on the Kings Road.
Mondays are my chilled days where I prepare for the week and have a whole day at home. Maybe I will have a couple of calls, but it my writing time. And organisation time for the week.
Not this week. Week commencing 8th July 2019 marks the busiest week of the year so far. I am in London 4 out of 5 days this week. I have tried to cut it down. But I can’t, its my job, paid work so I remain in London. And sit in a sushi bar on the kings word writing my website content. I have just been to an event with Mark Warner, lots of fun with some incredible women.
Why so busy? Well July is a busy month in the world of writing and blogging. The summer holidays are soon upon us so brands are keen to get work agreed and live before the end of July. My world then literally shuts down for the summer weeks. Which is lovely as I get to spend quality time with my boys.
CIMA Conference
I am an accountant. Did you know this? I qualified back in 2002 as a management accountant and got my CIMA qualification. I then worked in various roles in the corporate world as an accountant. Tesco, Threshers (whilst tey were going bust) and EE. I ended up negotiating million pound contracts as my last job at EE. Redic hard. So I quit and took redundancy and set up Mrs Mummypenny properly in 2015.
So I still get the benefits of being a CIMA accountant and thought I would go the FREE conference in Charing Cross last week. I rock up to these things on a whim. As in no idea on the agenda or who is going. There was 300 people there. In the ball room of the Charing Cross Hotel.
I found a table with the most interesting looking folk, slightly regretted my dress that more suitable for Soho House where I was going that night for a book launch party. And had a day of finance talk with my fellow CIMA associates. I think I was a bit of a novelty being a director of a successful creative business in a world that no one really understood. I should have stood up and done a talk;-)
The talks were on FX, useful as around 10-20% of my income is paid in dollars, and I do not get the best FX rate. Cyber security which was the MOST interesting talk where I learnt SO MUCH about internet security. Got a whole post coming on that as I took a ton of notes.
There was a talk on automated VAT software. VERY useful instead of paying an accountant £100 a quarter to do the same job. And a person talking about who to create a personal brand. I didn’t listen to this one (I have done this one very well myself!) and talked to the sponsors instead. I thought my time would be better spent building a network with them.
Well worth the £20 train ticket I say (also included a lovely lunch, coffee and snacks). I was thinking about cancelling my CIMA membership. I am not anymore, I am Lynn James BSc ACMA.
Plastic Free July
On Wednesday I had a super fun day. I started with a meeting in Hitchin. I have a found a place that is free to park for two hours, so parked there and walked past a new shop on rout to my appointment. Wholesome Weigh is really near to the big church and Chia. You can buy anything without packaging. Perfect for #plasticfreejuly. You take your own bottles and Tupparwear and fill it with what you need. Or you can buy re-usable packaging there.
I loved it, and bought some soap/shower body wash. And come kitchen surface wipes, that are ace, and plastic free and biodegradable. Its not cheap. These two things cost me £6. But they will last ages. I’m in this #plasticfreejuly for the long term.
Filming with Drewberry Insurance
I whizzed home for a filming project at 12 noon. The team from Drewberry Insurance wanted to film some customer testimonials of my recent experience of buying Income Protection Insurance and Life Insurance. It involved a lot of scene setting, whilst Tom from Drewberry and I chatted. Also flower buying and arranging as mine were not good enough;-)
I did my interview content for an hour before the kids needing picking up. Plus a lot of still images and cut-aways. I collected the kids and we did a few more scenes at the park with children playing football and climbing trees. It was fun. Totally up there in my favourite jobs as I love to use my voice. I can talk!
Money Saving Tips Talk at School
Then on Wednesday evening was a talk on money saving tips for the summer holidays. This was big learning experience. It was a free event and very few people showed up. Free = no commitment, so why would you turn up? Money saving in Knebworth is not a popular subject. Ah well. Live and learn. To be honest folks you often learn more from your failures than your successes. How grown up is that?
Interviewing Kara Gammell
On Tuesday I did the most wonderful interview with Kara Gammell on Mrs Mummypenny Talks.
We talked for England, literally, we talked for like 100 minutes. And my podcast is meant to be 60 minutes long. It is the best show. You must listen on the link above. You will laugh, maybe cry, haha. And learn so much. Kara and I, wow we know alot about saving money for the now and for the future. Kindred spirits.
Spiderman
Must end this post with Spiderman. OMG what a film. I was feeling emotional and ill on Sunday so that explains the crying because it is REALLY NOT an emotional film. But its amazing. The scenery in Prague, Venice and London. Incredible. Zendaya, Tom Holland, Jake Gyllanhall. SUCH a good film. Go watch. And save money by using your kidspass. Jack and I watched it for £12 on Sunday!
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