Vapefest preparation - time marches on...

[Colonelboom]

So, having had a bit of a stress over the last few days about time running out before VF I decided that I at least needed to start bottling. As you will see from the image there is a crucial component missing from said preparation...

<<<<That would be most of the 12mg bottles of CeaseFire

Aaaargh, where the hell are my labels???

Yup, stuck somewhere between the printer and destination, so not only do I have to bottle 250-500 bottles of each strength in each flavour but I then have to go back into the sealed tubs and label them all up at a later date.

I hope all you apes appreciate how much stress gets created trying to prepare for Vapefest lol

On the brighter side though and thanks to Digbys we have an awesome way of bottling and can get loads more done in a short space of time to an exact amount of eliquid (before we had to overfill to be sure) Now we just have another 5500 bottles to complete, not much at all (honest)

 

[Blackhack]

Time marches on indeed....I'm losing the will to live.....I've got the hotel booked, I've had the car serviced for driving down from jockland, I've bought a marquee, i've paid for personal liability insurance for the day, I've got everything except the bloody mods..I've got no effin stock...I'm getting the runaround from the engineer, the engraver, the box manufacturer, in fact just about everyone and his effin dog.

I can see me still going to vapefest, but just as a punter and not as a modmaker.....

 

[Colonelboom]

Time marches on indeed....I'm losing the will to live.....I've got the hotel booked, I've had the car serviced for driving down from jockland, I've bought a marquee, i've paid for personal liability insurance for the day, I've got everything except the bloody mods..I've got no effin stock...I'm getting the runaround from the engineer, the engraver, the box manufacturer, in fact just about everyone and his effin dog.

I can see me still going to vapefest, but just as a punter and not as a modmaker.....

I was like that a few days ago, couldn't see the wood for the trees and it all felt a bit hopeless. I have flavours in the air and on their way but in typical fashion these are the ones that need the longest steeps, I have a weeks holiday coming up from the 14th and I can't really cancel as I have barely seen my wife and kids for 6 months.

Fortunately I bought a marquee fairly early on and have PLI already, my plan to rent a motorhome fell through so I had to book into a 4 star hotel instead for all three of us, need to still book a van, need to buy the trestle tables and a few other bits for inside the marquee too and a butt load of other jobs that are niggling - but the really important bit is making up all the juices.

Last month was insanely busy for us, we did three times more business than our previous best month ever so keeping juices bottled and in stock as well as packing up orders and doing all the usual 'business' jobs meant we fell behind on VF prep.

Hopefully now though I can get about 2000 bottles done in a full day if we sit and just do that on Sundays and then I have the post vapefest batch to get underway just before the event too so non Vapefest visitors can grab the new flavours on the off chance we sell out.

I need another 4 weeks really and about £5k - any offers? Anyone? No... Meh.

 

[Tubbyengineer]

I was like that a few days ago, couldn't see the wood for the trees and it all felt a bit hopeless. I have flavours in the air and on their way but in typical fashion these are the ones that need the longest steeps, I have a weeks holiday coming up from the 14th and I can't really cancel as I have barely seen my wife and kids for 6 months.

Fortunately I bought a marquee fairly early on and have PLI already, my plan to rent a motorhome fell through so I had to book into a 4 star hotel instead for all three of us, need to still book a van, need to buy the trestle tables and a few other bits for inside the marquee too and a butt load of other jobs that are niggling - but the really important bit is making up all the juices.

Last month was insanely busy for us, we did three times more business than our previous best month ever so keeping juices bottled and in stock as well as packing up orders and doing all the usual 'business' jobs meant we fell behind on VF prep.

Hopefully now though I can get about 2000 bottles done in a full day if we sit and just do that on Sundays and then I have the post vapefest batch to get underway just before the event too so non Vapefest visitors can grab the new flavours on the off chance we sell out.

I need another 4 weeks really and about £5k - any offers? Anyone? No... Meh.

Just think Forward to early evening on Aug 2nd, all that stock has gone and you're pushing a wheelbarrow full of fivers towards the hotel, It'll be less depressing then - until you remember the Taxman standing by with his JCB to empty that barrow again...

 

[Colonelboom]

A wheelbarrow full of cash will be nice, I want to get a mobile card machine sorted though and suspect that would get more use

Right on about the tax man though

 

[Dan Dan the vaping man]

A wheelbarrow full of cash will be nice, I want to get a mobile card machine sorted though and suspect that would get more use

Right on about the tax man though

Would be handy if people had the PayPal app and vendors set up to except quick payment that way . don't know how you go about it from your end of things but remember seeing some high street stores having the option

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Planet of the Vapes mobile app

 

[Colonelboom]

Would be handy if people had the PayPal app and vendors set up to except quick payment that way . don't know how you go about it from your end of things but remember seeing some high street stores having the option

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Planet of the Vapes mobile app

Honestly Dan I don't know if a straight PayPal transfer at the time would work but will be taking my tablet with me just in case. I wouldn't wish PayPal Here on anyone though (their mobile payments service) as it nearly bankrupted me last year when I tried it and held all my funds for over a month right as I was putting my Xmas orders in. I was out of stock in nearly everything for weeks and only just scraped a Christmas together.

I think my payment processor is able to let me have a mobile unit which would be really useful and if not I should be able to rent one for a weekend, I saw first hand how much trade was lost last year with vendors not accepting cards and think it would be foolish to not try and accept them.

 

[Dan Dan the vaping man]

Honestly Dan I don't know if a straight PayPal transfer at the time would work but will be taking my tablet with me just in case. I wouldn't wish PayPal Here on anyone though (their mobile payments service) as it nearly bankrupted me last year when I tried it and held all my funds for over a month right as I was putting my Xmas orders in. I was out of stock in nearly everything for weeks and only just scraped a Christmas together.

I think my payment processor is able to let me have a mobile unit which would be really useful and if not I should be able to rent one for a weekend, I saw first hand how much trade was lost last year with vendors not accepting cards and think it would be foolish to not try and accept them.

Yeah good point actually .. PayPal are feckers like that and sometimes randomly suspend payments or something if there is to much activity , maybe an anti fraud thing, I dunno I could be wrong, but sounds like your plan might work in your favour

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Planet of the Vapes mobile app

 

[Danny K]

With Paypal express you should be able to capture payments instantly however in real life reality how well this work I do not know.

Paypal offered me a card reader the other day for the special price of £49.00 what's so special about that I don't know but in situations like this it probably comes into its own.



Sent from my GT-N7105 using Planet of the Vapes mobile app

 

[Colonelboom]

Yeah good point actually .. PayPal are feckers like that and sometimes randomly suspend payments or something if there is to much activity , maybe an anti fraud thing, I dunno I could be wrong, but sounds like your plan might work in your favour

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Planet of the Vapes mobile app

Apparently the massive reserve issues are to combat fraud but as I pointed out I have had an account for well over a decade with no issues ever on it so why such a huge reserve and timescale to hold it for.

With Paypal express you should be able to capture payments instantly however in real life reality how well this work I do not know.

Paypal offered me a card reader the other day for the special price of £49.00 what's so special about that I don't know but in situations like this it probably comes into its own.



Sent from my GT-N7105 using Planet of the Vapes mobile app

PayPal express is supposed to work for that sort of thing but having been bitten I am loathed to try and enhance my account again now. Honestly Danny, unless you can afford to bank roll your business for 3 months with none of your earnings being made available don't bother with their card reader as they can implement a 100% reserve on your case for up to 90 days whenever they see fit and with no warning.

The shame of it all is I was going to pay for the service and likely would not use it all that often either - there was no risk on the account so they just delivered shocking service really, the follow up emails were all automated too until I fully kicked off.