Thursday, May 31, 2012

Shed event horizon

On a personal note:

Well its been about 8 years down the garden. I started a blog, Shed Business when I started blogging, but found my inner anger at Labour and Brown in particular meant the Man in a Shed blog won out. 

But times are changing. The business had its moments, but whilst the product works technically it just hasn't been a commercial success. (I'd go into more detail but that kind of undermines the whole nom de plume thing).

I have a family and increasing financial needs as a result, so I've been back in the labour market, which has proven to be much more difficult than 8 years ago. I'm a qualified and certified professional, but as you get older people looking for conventional career paths to recruit, not those who've had broader experience. So this has gone on some time, and been a not inconsiderable cause of concern.

But now I've had two offers and accepted one. This means I won't be working out of the Shed any more soon.

I'm not sure what this will mean for the blog - it certainly won't be getting updated during office hours ( unless on delayed schedule posts - which I might do ).

Its a big change. Much as leaving the Conservatives and joining UKIP has been also.

Who knows what is to come - its hard to see over the event horizon of the first day in a new office.

But then I look at the news and think its time to diggin with an employer. It would have been great if the business had worked, but deciding to end something is as hard as deciding to start it - with the sunk loss fallacy perhaps even harder.

Such is life. Given what's happening in Greece and Spain its time to start getting the baked bean purchase capability up again - even if the kids do turn their noses up at them.

Do I regret taking the original risk eight years ago ? No, the freedom to try things and set your own course is one of the greatest freedoms available in England ( along with free speech - though with the equality campaigners moving in to ration jobs by quotas and outlaw free speech you have to wonder how much longer this will last ). It has also allowed a quality of family life that I would just have missed out on had I staid in my old post. The work has been fun, although working just by yourself has perhaps been a mistake. And perhaps too much time has been spent on the internet !

Its of course ironic that the Govt. is today setting up loans for small businesses and trying to encourage this sort of activity, just as I'm leaving it. But this is one of their few good moves - especially the peer to peer lending scheme that I think I heard outlined on Radio 4 this morning.

4 comments:

David Morris said...

good luck !

KIND REGARDS

Barnacle Bill said...

All the best with the new employer and may the God of Success look favourably down on you.

Woman on a Raft said...

Best wishes for your new job, and see you around.

It is important to know - well, it is to me - that other people share opinions which I don't readily see reflected in the MSM or government.

So thanks for all the blogging.

Man in a Shed said...

Thanks BB & WoaR.

I suspect the blogging will continue - but the Shed will be a less prominent feature of my life.

Having said all that the contact for the new employer hasn't come through yet, so who knows ...

I'll probably continue the blogging in the short term and just see how it fits with the new life patterns later on.