[00:00:09.040] - Gordon
Hello.

[00:00:09.680] - Taylor
Hello.

[00:00:10.240] - Gordon
My name's Gordon from Drayson Design,

[00:00:12.320] - Taylor
And I'm Taylor from The Creative Tinker.

[00:00:14.160] - Gordon
And welcome to "This Week With Taylor and Gordon," a weekly podcast and vidcast where we talk about things that have affected our businesses over the last 7 days. And welcome back if you've been with us before, and welcome if it's your first time. Thank you for joining us. Today, we've got lots of things that have been happening in the week. It's got a lot colder.

[00:00:37.360] - Taylor
It has.

[00:00:38.240] - Gordon
Yeah. It's definitely, winter is here now. We are getting to into the run up to Christmas. There's lots of illness going on. Shall we just get straight into our topics?

[00:00:51.100] - Taylor
Yeah.

[00:00:51.420] - Gordon
Shall I go first?

[00:00:52.380] - Taylor
I'll go first this week.

[00:00:53.100] - Gordon
Alright. You go first.

[00:00:54.520] - Taylor
So I want to talk about subscriptions for your life. So I have a bunch of subscriptions that I use for different things, apps, software, services. So for example, my car. I get my car cleaned once a month. I have subscriptions to a bunch of different apps like Brilliant and my sign language apps, and also my book app, and things like that. And one app that, or one subscription that I have taken out this week is a meal prep service.

[00:01:37.970] - Gordon
Okay?

[00:01:39.010] - Taylor
So the idea is that you can order as many as you like. So I've got 7, so one for each day of the week. And they deliver on a Sunday, and they deliver you handmade meal prepped food. And the idea behind this was that I wanted, because I was at the office, I was going out to the petrol station and just getting whatever was, you know, what was there.

[00:02:05.350] - Gordon
Pot noodle.

[00:02:06.390] - Taylor
Yeah. Or a pasty, or before it was fizzy drinks, or energy drinks and stuff. And it wasn't that nutritious. Now, I have nutritious dinners because we have cooked dinners as a family most evenings. However, at lunch, I found I wasn't eating the best. Unless I meal prepped myself, I wasn't eating the best. And meal prepping myself was good, but it was just very time consuming and I just didn't enjoy it. And so I did it for one week and then didn't do it again because I just didn't enjoy it. So what this service allows you to do is it allows you to pick the foods that you like. So it gives you a selection of foods on a Week A and a Week B to make sure you have a variety. And then from those, choices that you say, "yes, I would like one of these," it will randomly select 7, or however many you choose, of those dishes to send you. You can then go in before they deliver, and change it. So if you wanted 2 of the same dish because you really like it, or they pick something you actually "I don't fancy that this week," you can take it out. So I've got that coming on Sunday. It's gonna be delivered to my grandparents' house because I'm away. However, I'll go and pick them up and put them into our fridge. And so, yeah, I can take one with me, kind of for each day of the week. And it's hopefully gonna be really nice. The plan that I've got is the 'muscle gain,' so they've got bigger portions and also high in protein. So, again, helping me hit my protein target and also just getting more protein in because I'm going to the gym and things. So, yeah, that should be really, really good. I should have more nutritious food. And it's just something that I've been thinking about. I mean, a lot of people, a lot of rich people have subscription based things or have services that save them time. And that's one of the things that I am kind of... The reasoning behind this decision is because, for me, the time it takes to cook, the disenjoyment that I have from cooking, kind of solves that. And, you know, in this case, money is far more, is far less needed than the time and my disenjoyment.

[00:04:26.900] - Gordon
Yeah. So, the time it takes you to do something you're not enjoying, you could be doing something you do enjoy and earning more money from it that way than it's costing you to have a proper meal prepped by professionals.

[00:04:40.040] - Taylor
Yeah. And I try and do this for, you know, any area of my life that I just don't enjoy doing, don't, isn't worth my time. So trying to outsource it essentially is another way of looking at it. Do you do anything like this?

[00:04:54.120] - Gordon
I'm trying to think now, do I? I don't think off the top of my head, I do.

[00:04:59.320] - Taylor
You get your car cleaned once a month.

[00:05:00.760] - Gordon
I do get my car cleaned. Yeah. And I do that because I like to turn up to shows in a nice clean car. You know, when it's weather like this, you know, it could rain the next day or even the same day just after it's been cleaned, but at least I know it's clean. The other thing they do is they clean the inside of the car, and that's always a good thing because that's not something I ever get around to doing. I don't think there's any other subscriptions that I have that help me do things I don't enjoy.

[00:05:32.370] - Taylor
You don't go buying dog food or anything like that. That's on a subscription that helps.

[00:05:37.250] - Gordon
Yes. That's a little bit different because it's not something that I don't enjoy doing. I do that because it's healthier for the dog and it saves us money because, we buy I think it's 20 kilogrammes of dog food in one go, and it goes all into the freezer. And then we know that for the next, however long it is, we've got food for the dog. I think it's about 4 months, 3 months, something like that. And then the next lot will arrive. So that makes life easier for us, I guess.

[00:06:05.440] - Taylor
Yeah.

[00:06:05.600] - Gordon
We don't have to keep going out and buying dog food, and we know the food we've got is nutritious for the dog, and and we know the dog likes it. So...

[00:06:12.560] - Taylor
Amazon have subscriptions.

[00:06:15.260] - Gordon
Yeah. We do have some subscriptions that are sent, but, again, not because I I can't be bothered to do it or I don't enjoy going out buying things.

[00:06:21.980] - Taylor
But it saves time. Because if you...

[00:06:23.180] - Gordon
It does save time.

[00:06:23.820] - Taylor
You know roughly how often you use it. So you need, you know, washing up liquid every 2 months. It kind of

[00:06:29.910] - Gordon
Yeah.

[00:06:30.160] - Taylor
Orders it. And it also prompts you. And, again, that does save time.

[00:06:33.440] - Gordon
And money because with subscriptions on Amazon, 'subscribe and save' give you a discount.

[00:06:38.960] - Taylor
Most subscriptions will give you a discount because it's that kind of recurring revenue. So they're incentivized to give you a a discount because if you're gonna be paying every month, then yeah. So, I mean, I have that for my coffee, for example. I get coffee delivered to me. I could go out and buy it. But for me, it's the ability to be able to choose the ones I want, to be able to change, but also just knowing that I've got coffee being delivered to me.

[00:07:03.120] - Gordon
Yeah. And we're not talking about, subscriptions for software or anything like that because that's, you know, if you need the software, you pay for the subscription.

[00:07:12.470] - Taylor
Yeah.

[00:07:12.710] - Gordon
Having said that, it's always good to audit your subscriptions every now and then and just make sure that you do actually need those subscriptions. I have Sky, for example. We've got the movies. We've got the sports. We've got, I think, everything they do. And every now and then, I just check to make sure we're using them, and we do. You know, there's there's four of us in this house, and we all watch something and Sky is on quite a lot. So, that's a subscription that we do use a lot. But it's always good because sometimes you find you're paying for something that you're not using. And that's, you know, that's an expense that you can get rid of and save the money. So do an audit every now and then. That's that's a good tip.

[00:07:56.820] - Taylor
Yeah.

[00:07:57.850] - Gordon
Anything else you wanna say on that?

[00:07:59.380] - Taylor
Don't think so. I'll let you know how the food is when it arrives, and I've been having it for a couple of weeks.

[00:08:04.530] - Gordon
We'll hear about it next week. Well, I say we'll hear about it next week. This is a really busy period traditionally for entertainers because we're now in December. And December is supposedly a busy time for entertainers. Now for me, my Decembers have got quieter, over the last few years. And, part of that is because the schools, the nursery groups, and the playgroups, that I perform for, have taken their performances from December and moved them to sort of June, July near the end of the the normal school year. And I think the reason for that is because they've got so much else going on in December. Like, they've got, you know, the nativity play. They've got, maybe a pantomime coming in. They've got making Christmas decorations. They've got Santa. They've got a carol concert. All these things happen during December and just trying to fit in an entertainer because things have changed. And, you know, the way that life is now is different to how it was maybe 10 years ago when I was doing lots and lots of schools. And so they've moved it now to a sort of like a treat for the end of the school year, which is quite a nice thing to do. It means that my summer month before they break up is really busy. And in fact, this year, last year, and I believe the year before, it's been busier than my December has been. So December traditionally is also Christmas parties, but I'm finding that since people have been working from home, a lot of big companies don't have big parties anymore. There used to be a tradition of, you know, a company having a big Christmas party for all their staff; and that doesn't seem to be happening as much these days. Even, you know, smaller companies maybe that used to sort of hire a restaurant or part of a restaurant and have an entertainer come in. That doesn't seem to be happening as much with as many companies these days either. So I'm missing out on all of those jobs that I used to have. They're just not coming in at the moment. And then you also have big companies that were doing parties for the children of the staff. And that's just not happening so much either. I do have a couple this Christmas, but not many. Then you've got things like clubs and Brownies and so forth. They don't seem to be doing it this year. So my December is actually, relatively speaking, quite quiet. I mean, compared to a normal month, it's busy. But compared to a normal December from a few years ago, it's very quiet. And I'm finding that, the problem with having a show during the week, on a weekday, is I spend time preparing for it, going to it, doing it, coming back, unloading because I don't like leaving equipment in the car overnight unless I have to. That takes up a big chunk of the day, and there's not a lot left in that day to then actually do anything productive. So all of my normal work that I would normally do on a weekday, is just not getting done if I've got one show on a day. I'd much prefer to have 2 or 3 shows on a day because then at least I've got 2 or 3 shows.

[00:11:41.110] - Gordon
But that's not happening. So it's taken a lot more time to do a lot less shows, and I'm not having the time to do anything else with the time that's left, if that makes sense.

[00:11:52.780] - Taylor
Have you compared the total number of shows across the year with a previous year or previous years to see...

[00:12:00.510] - Gordon
I haven't yet.

[00:12:01.390] - Taylor
Because if you're saying that people are moving them, you still may be doing the same amount, you still may be doing the same amount of income.

[00:12:07.140] - Gordon
Yep.

[00:12:07.550] - Taylor
But it's just not in December, which isn't inherently bad because it means you can spend more time with your family, you can do other things. But, you know, it's something...

[00:12:16.220] - Gordon
And get Christmas presents. That's one thing that I always always end up struggling with. But, yes, that's a really good point, and I will be doing that at my end of year report for myself to see how the year has gone in comparison with previous years. So maybe I'll come back to you and let you know how that report panned out and if it worked or not. I do have a few, outstanding projects with Drayson Design that I'm still working on. I've also got some, what's the word, voluntary work that I'm doing. As I may have said, I'm in pantomime in January. We're doing Robin Hood. I'll put a link in the show notes. If you are local or you can get to Sanderstead, anytime between the 11th and the 18th of January next year, come along and watch me playing the part of the dame in Robin Hood. But I sort of volunteered to do all the artwork for it because I know that if I don't do it, it's gonna be not as good, and I'll end up looking at it and going, "I wish it was better." And so just to make sure it is, I do it. And we've got a banner that is due to be with us, in the next day or so, which is gonna go up so that people can see that the show is on and give them information as to how to get tickets. And I'm also doing the programme currently. So I've taken photos of all of the cast members, all of the dancers. We've got bios. I've got the programme layout from last year. So it's a matter of changing it all to make it relevant to this year's and make sure I've got all the right information in there. Make sure I've got all the cast members in there. I managed to miss one out last year, and we had to reprint the programmes at my own cost. So that was an expensive mistake. So I'm making sure I don't do that again. But, you know, again, it's a nice glossy programme with sort of 16 pages. It's nice card. It's a really nice sort of souvenir programme. And I think the show is so good that to have a programme that's just like an A4 sheet of, you know, photocopied paper is just a real disservice to the show. Because a lot of people will keep those, and they'll look back on them. And if the quality of the product is good, they'll remember the show as being good as well. So these are all extra things that I've just added to my, you know, added to my plate if you like to get done during this month. Plus, of course, we have my teaching at Drama Kids. And last well, this week, I should say, on the Tuesday, in fact, we had parents week, which was a first for me. So we had the parents who came and watched half of our lesson, and, that was, yeah, a little bit nerve wracking. First time I'd met the parents in, you know, in real life, really. I sort of hand them over, hand the children over to the parents at the end of lesson, but I've never actually sort of spoken with them or sat down with them, and they've not seen what I do and how the classes run with me as the teacher. So that was a new experience for me as well, but, that went very well. And you never know we may even have more students next year because the principal is doing, or in fact has done this morning, I haven't spoken to her yet, a sort of a taster at the school for all of key stage 2. So there's 6 classes in key stage 2, and she did half an hour for each, and there's, like, 25 children. So what's that? 150 children-ish, who have sort of experienced Drama Kids and, you know, you never know. We may get some of those who'll go, "this is really good. I enjoyed what we did. I'd like to come along to the lesson." So I may have a bigger class when we go back in January. I do have one more lesson to go, which is next week, and then we're off for the Christmas break, back in January. So, I think what I'm trying to say is my month is very busy. It's not as busy as it has been, but it's, you know, it's fine. I'm getting older. I quite like the idea of not doing quite as many shows. I don't, I'm not necessarily chasing the money as much as I used to be. You know, I've got, you know, a lot of expenses that I don't have anymore and, you know, grown up son who buys his own food now, which is gonna help with us. You know, that's gonna cut down on our shopping bill. But yeah. So I think what I'm trying to say is if you've got a busy, busy December, just take a little bit of time for yourself and just sit back and just relax and, you know, take a bit of time off before you get back into it because December's a busy time for everybody. And I think the only way you're gonna enjoy it is if you are not stressed. So try and not get too, try not to get too stressed and relax a little bit during December if you possibly can. That's all for me. Anything else you wanna say?

[00:17:22.990] - Taylor
I don't think so.

[00:17:23.710] - Gordon
Thank you so much for joining us. As always, please like, share, and subscribe if you're watching on YouTube.

[00:17:30.250] - Taylor
You can always go to our website thisweekwith.co.uk to find all of our past episodes.

[00:17:36.090] - Gordon
And, of course, you can listen to us on your favourite podcast platform and just search for "This Week With Taylor and Gordon." We'll be back with you next week all being well. Until then, my name is Gordon, and I'm from Drayson Design.

[00:17:52.590] - Taylor
And I'm Taylor from The Creative Tinker.

[00:17:55.130] - Gordon
Goodbye.

[00:17:55.770] - Taylor
Bye.

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