HOT WEEKEND, HIGHER SALES

We had an extremely hot weekend, with record breaking temperatures in central Missouri, but sales at my flea market booth increased for the fourth week in a row!  While sales are up and I'm pretty happy about that, I've been looking for ways to improve.  I found a larger market at the Lake of the Ozarks, near Osage Beach Outlet Mall that should provide more customer traffic and better sales.  I'm getting all the details together and will probably set up there either this coming weekend or the next.  Another advantage to the Osage Beach location is the option to set up indoors, so I don't face the problem of getting rained out or too much heat.

My big plans for the 4th of July include attending a big local auction.  I'm hoping to get a deal on some great inventory items for the flea market booth.  While I do miss getting a paycheck on a regular basis, I'm loving the fun and excitement that goes along with the whole resale business.  I've met more new people in the past 4 weeks than I'd met in the past 4 years at my job.  I also love the customer interaction that comes with the business.  When I worked in the restaurants, my interaction with customers was limited and restricted to a great degree, so I'm really enjoying dealing with people on a one on one basis.

Got an appointment with Cardiology today as a follow up on my recent hospital visit.  I've been working on my latest batch of medical bills and today I hope to negotiate a 50% reduction on my bill from cardiology by offering to pay within 30 days.  I plan on withdrawing the money from my IRA and claiming the medical exemption on the 10% tax penalty for early withdrawal.  Even if the IRS denies my exemption, a 10% penalty would still leave me with a 40% overall reduction on my bill.  So I figure the 50% off my bill would be a better return than I would earn if I left the cash invested.  I can always replace the money in my IRA as my new business picks up.