Five Year Plan – 60%…
Posted: Thu 5 November, 2009 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Own Business, Work-related | Leave a comment »Back in November ’08, I made a more basic list of what the plans would be for 2008/9 on the Five Year Plan.
I’m now more than halfway through that plan, which also means that 2 years from today, I’ll be 40. Shite.
Anyway, here’s the list from November ’08, along with how I’ve done with them..
- Sort out the mortgage renewal along with Herself (March/April) – we did this, but then didn’t actually go through with the deal, so it’ll carry through to next year
- Write and Launch the main site ideas that are in my head at the moment, and see how they do
- Daily Word Challenge : launched, but not doing anything
- Creativity Merger Site : done – but having second thoughts about it
- Two Three other primary sites : under development
- Daily Word Challenge : launched, but not doing anything
- Promote one of the other sites I’ve done, which has a big dollop of potential – not done, but changed plans with it anyway
- Complete the NCFE Photography qualification/course – done
- Redesign my photography site – considering a significant change of theme on this one
- Promote the photography and site more – still working on it
- Write at least one more big piece to get it out of my head at last – started some ideas, but not completed any of them
- Possibly redesign D4D™ a bit – I know, I’ve been talking about it now for years
Oh yeah, and… - Lose some weight, as my plans for doing so in 2008 have emphatically failed – primarily due to zero motivation to do so, but also due to life over-riding gym etc. Working on it, as detailed in previous posts about weight-loss. I’m still not doing a load of gym-stuff, but the weight is going down, and I’ve lost more than a stone already.
Hyper-Busy
Posted: Tue 3 November, 2009 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Business, Domestic, Own Business, Work-related | Leave a comment »Today has been filed under “One of those days”. It can be summed up thus :
Main Work :
- Moving the office about, diving under desks to rewire shit the network guy couldn’t be arsed to do, and shifting some 20 old PCs out of the office and into the storage unit on the other side of town
- have some new functionality due out by the end of the week that I don’t yet fully understand
- Updating two new sites, plus writing stuff and plans for a third
- All the normal “Oh shit!” moments that come when dealing with weird and complex financial bits, combined with some really really stupid people
Own Work :
- Adding in “just a couple of small bits” for a client to one new site due for launch tomorrow
- Adding in “Oh, we forget we’d need that” bits for a client on a redone site I launched last week
- Delayed (OK, OK, “Really fucking late”) on the development of another site
- Setting up Google Analytics and Webmaster Tools on the site for tomorrow
Which might go some way to explaining why I haven’t had any other updates today. (I’m even writing this while waiting for the email about last-minute changes)
All You Can Eat
Posted: Thu 29 October, 2009 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: 1BEM, Business, Own Business, People, Thoughts, Travel, Work-related | 1 Comment »Seeing this story on the BBC about Taybarns (an all-you-can-eat restaurant whose business is growing during the recession) I was reminded about something I was going to write during my time down in London staying at a Travelodge, and again saw the other weekend when we stayed down in Berkshire. Buffet-style catering – and particularly buffet-style breakfasts.
Personally, I try to stay pretty sane in ‘all you can eat’ environments. From what I’ve seen at Travelodges and the like though, I seem to be in the minority in that aspect.
I lost count of the number of times I’d see people with plates piled high with food for breakfast and/or going back for second, third even (on one memorable occasion) fourth helpings. Obviously some people were just hungry, but others were doing it out of greed, and some kind of misplaced “Well I’ve paid for this so I’m going to get every single penny’s worth out of it” attitude.
I don’t understand that attitude – no, that’s not true. I can see the way some people’s minds work. I just don’t like it, and it’s not a mindset that will ever sit with me. I’d rather have the food I want, not necessarily what I feel I deserve, or that is mine because I’ve paid £x for it.
There’s more to this, I just haven’t yet got it straight enough in my head to be able to get it written down properly.
Getting Stuff Done
Posted: Sun 25 October, 2009 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, Own Business, Work-related | Leave a comment »I’ve been somewhat antisocial this weekend, primarily because there’s been a load of stuff that needed doing.
Among the things done this weekend have been :
- Filling in and sending off my Self-Assessment Tax Form (yes, I still prefer to do it by post, so my deadline for it was the end of this week)
- Working on a site for a client, writing an e-commerce section for them
- Sorting out some other paperwork
There’ve also been some other bits and bobs, but all told it’s been a quiet – if busy – weekend.
Aviva
Posted: Wed 21 October, 2009 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: 1BEM, Customer Services, Domestic, Own Business, Thoughts, Work-related | 1 Comment »Interesting to see today that Aviva (ex Norwich Union) has been named by Lovemoney as “Britain’s worst insurer”.
We’ve never used NU / Aviva for insurance – they’ve invariably been the highest quote around for any insurance I requested. The one that always sticks in my mind was their quote of some £1,000 a year for £25,000 of contents-only insurance when I lived in Manchester. I ended up using More>Than, paying £350 for £60,000 of cover. Go figure.
My personal experience of Norwich Union this year has been abysmal for a number of reasons which I’m not going to write about here. Well, not yet anyway – it’s still a rant waiting to happen. It’s just that it’s folded in to the general crapness of this year’s fun.
So it’s no surprise to me that regardless of name/brand, they’ve been named as ‘the worst’.
Work Logjam
Posted: Sat 10 October, 2009 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Own Business, Work-related | Leave a comment »Sometimes it’s strange the way things work out.
After last week’s cancelled contract, as we know I’ve now got a proper job from next Monday.
As always when I get an offer, I’ve had three more requests for interviews on contracts since Wednesday. Always the way.
Combined with that, I’ve spoken to three of my other clients since Wednesday, and there’s work coming in from all three of them as well.
All told, it looks like I’m going to be pretty busy for the next month or two.
Changing Plans – A response
Posted: Thu 1 October, 2009 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: 1BEM, Business, Depression, Introspective, Own Business, Thoughts, Work-related | 1 Comment »Now here’s something I don’t do often – respond in a proper piece to a comment on another piece.
In this case, in yesterday’s “Changing Plans” post, Andy commented…
I have to say, following your blog & Twitter, that your contracting seems like a monumental effort/nightmare/arsepain. There’s a lot to be said for a regular job, not least: a) a bit of security (so you’re not always worrying about what next week brings) and b) the luxury of a bit of time to think and plan your next big move (i.e. away from what you’re currently doing).
You don’t strike me as someone who’d be content/comfortable with a regular job, no matter how short term – but it seems to me like you’re in a cycle that you need/want to get out of as it’s causing you grief.
And I couldn’t agree more, to be honest. Maybe I do need to bite the bullet and look at a “proper job”. I don’t know. This year has been utter shit when it comes to contracts, and work in general. In fact I’d go so far as to say it’s been the worst work year I’ve had.
You’re right, there is a lot to be said for that “proper job”. I get that totally. It just doesn’t (for whatever reason) chime with me at all. I don’t know why – and I’ve looked into it a lot – but it just doesn’t. Maybe I’ve just never had a positive experience of that regular job, but maybe my mindset won’t let me have a positive experience of that regular job. Either way, I’ve never been happy in a regular job.
I’m not happy with what I’m currently doing. I’m good at it, but I’m no longer happy with it. However, I know I need to keep on doing it (whether as contracts or regular work) until I get things sorted for doing Something Else. That doesn’t help. Getting fucked over and treated like crap also doesn’t help. (Although in my experience that’s something that happens regardless of a job being proper or not)
This week, I also feel like crap anyway. I’ve picked up a cold from a friend (who will be receiving a snot-filled slap when I next see him) and honestly, I’d rather be at home.
The change of plans, when everything was ready and in place, has added to that, and knocked my confidence a bit too. That’s down to being a control-freak, and not liking it when I get stuffed over with nothing I can do about it.
I’ve got three or four ideas about what I want to do instead of this, which have been chatted about a few times with friends over the last couple of days. It’ll take time – unless I get incredibly lucky – to sort them out and decide what to do, as well as to implement the ideas, make the changes, and get those things off the ground.
It’ll take time – but the last week has illustrated pretty perfectly why I need to do it, and make the changes. And if nothing else, it should make for some more fun on D4D.