There Sure Is a Lot of Paper In Here

For a virtual business, I sure do pile a lot of paper on the filing cabinet next to my chair, underneath my clothes rack (my office is a glorified closet). Shuffling through my clothes can trigger a paperslide when the stack gets more than six inches high.

Another paperslide this week buried last year’s paperslide that I never bothered to pick up, so it was time to gather it up and throw 99% of it away. Do I really need copies of bank and credit card statements going back to 2010? Not when they’re available online. Toss ‘em! Packing lists and invoices? I kept one recent invoice from each active vendor just so that I can find my account numbers and pitched the rest. Receipt for the $90 printer I bought four years ago? Gone. Tax returns for 2010-12? Well, yeah, I ought to keep those.

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Of the four orders I’ve had for Corn-n-Tater bags, one went to a friend (thanks, Joy!) and three went to customers in Kansas. I don’t know what’s special about Kansas. Maybe the manufacturer is marketing there, or maybe Kansans just like to say “tater.” 

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This being the last full week of April, it’s time for the monthly numbers.

April:

Total income: -9.8%
Total COGS: -3.9%
Payroll: +32.8%

Marketing: -15%
Net Income (Profit): -109.7% (-$417)

Year to Date: 

Total income: -18.5%
Total COGS: -28.4%
Payroll: -15%

Marketing: -26.9%
Net Income (Profit): +19% (+$388)

It was a slightly better month, or at least less bad, thanks entirely to a fluke $400 day this Wednesday. Blips like that are meaningless. 

Looking ahead…last May was exceptionally good with three bulk sales, so I’m sure to fall dramatically farther behind again next month. I don’t expect this trend to stabilize until July, when sales collapsed last year.