Goodbye Self-employment?

Well, dear readers, it seems recession, parental deaths and a series of other little factors are pushing me back toward a desk job.

It was almost a year ago that we took the decision to concentrate completely on the business, and I quit my job. For about six months, we were plodding along merrily, the effects of the recession not giving us any cause for concern. Then two things happened:

1. My father took ill in Lourdes, was diagnosed with cancer and died within about three months. It completely took me away from developing our business and into a world of family issues I’d distanced myself from for years. Even after the funeral, my head was fuzzy with grief and I was totally unfocused.
2. The dreaded alliterative nightmare that is the credit crunch visited us. Despite no worrying signs at all, in June advertising revenue from our sites took a massive downturn. Suddenly relying on the great passive-income generator that is Google AdSense (and other advertising schemes) didn’t seem like a great idea anymore.

Now, the summer time is a bad time for ad revenue anyway: people go on holiday or spend more time outdoors. You can feel the general quieting of the Internet for the holiday period. Plus, Big Brother was bleeding viewers, the showbiz world decided to have a slow-news summer and the only thing to write about was the Katie and Peter split. Yawnnnn.

I have another admission: it was hell trying to work during the summer with the kids off school. It’s an unpleasant truth, but it must be recorded: the doorbell rings almost constantly. When our kids call at their friends’ houses, they’re denied entry. “They’re not dressed yet,” or “They’re eating their breakfast,” come the excuses from the shrewd housewives. But their kids are knocking our door begging to come in five minutes later.

No parent wants their house full of rampaging, holiday-bored schoolkids.

But, since our door policy is so much more relaxed (football colours allowed), every brat in the street is tearing through our gaffe at breakneck speed, hollering and whooping as if we weren’t trying to run a business from it. Maybe we need to hire a knuckle-dragging doorman to refuse them entry/scare them away. Maybe we need to rig the doorbell up with an electric charge. I’m not even against the idea of a trapdoor leading to a crocodile pit to replace the front doorstep.

But the bottom line is, I’ve gotta start looking for jobs. I thought I’d be more despondent about it, but secretly I’ll be glad of having colleagues again. People to chat to or be annoyed by. Yes, I’ll definitely miss leaving the kids to school and the slightly more relaxed mornings we have at the moment, but it’s not a totally depressing turn of events.

Certainly, if the old man was about today, he’d be smugly reminding me that ‘he told me so’. “You need a full time job, son. You have children to feed.” But I’d be sniping back at him that my working from home gave me a chance to spend some good time with him in hospital!

So, CV’s have been dusted off and updated. I’m racking my brains to remember what my skills are. Do I have any left? Of course, but do I want to go back to the IT Manager type roles, or do I want to branch off in another direction? Do I avoid being fussy and take a job now to get my feet back on the ladder, looking for better positions later? I like the idea of playing the career game a little bit more aggressively for a while, knowing that I’m not totally dependent on a job, either. These could be interesting times for us, but we’ll definitely pull through.

Becoming a Work At Home Dad

I did a bit of an exciting thing during the week. I quit my job.

Now, there were a few problems in the office that I wasn’t happy with. Nothing to do with the work or the people who worked there, but more issues I had with my managers that have come to a head. Although I have decided not to divulge too much, the thing is that those issues led me to decide that working for an employer is too much trouble.

For one thing, employers have a different level of buy-in to a business than regular staff do. They expect blood, sweat and tears because they give blood sweat and tears. That’s fine, but I have a young family to think of. Plus, my wife has a small business that’s becoming more and more important to us. Why should I work to midnight for no extra money while all of this is going on at home?

And so, trembling with 50% excitement and 50% terror, I pushed the send button on the email that resigned me from my job. In a month’s time, I’ll be a full-fledged self-employed man. And as the reality of working with my wife on a home-based business gets nearer, Lisa and I are buzzing with excitement and making plans.

They’re not all about business and covering the mortgage. As important as those things are, we’re also planning to improve the quality of our home life – getting fitter, relaxing more, focussing on the children and eating better. I’m aiming to get back in the cooking game. OK, so far it’s been Korma from a jar, but I hope to bring those skills up to speed and start planning regular, healthy meals cooked by my own fair hand.

This means exciting times for this blog too. We’ll be blogging about our experiences transitioning to a work at home family, and how we’re changing things at home. I hope that we’ll be able to blog candidly about what we’re doing to build up our business and family life, and I hope that you’ll all be able to join us for the ride!

I Got A Job Offer

What makes this story even more strange is the fact that I’m not even looking for a job!

A few years ago I was asked to sit on the Advisory Group for our local Parenting Forum. I gladly accepted and up until I had Baby D I attented almost all of the meetings and enjoyed being part of such a proactive organisation who tirelessly worked to give parents a voice in our community.

However with the birth of baby number three and with Ray starting preschool I have found it almost impossible to attend any of the meetings this year as it is so akward to get the three children looked after and get Ray ferried back and forward to school.

I was surprised to receive a phone call last week from the Regional Manager of the forum. She is currently carrying out some research on parents views towards physical punishment and wanted me to complete a questionairre for her. I agreed and on Wednesday she arrived at my door bearing gifts in the shape of delicious chocolate buns.

The questionairre took a mere 10 minutes, and we spent the rest of the hour catching up and gossiping. During this time she revealed that her current administrator is due to go on maternity leave during the summer, and she asked if I would like to step into the role for 3 months. I was so chuffed to be asked and told her I would think it over and get back to her.

After weighing it up in my mind and discussing it with Gerard I have decided not to accept the offer. Jay will hopefully be starting playschool next year and Ray will begin Primary One. I don’t know anyone that could look after all three kids and also do the school runs, and the cost of private childcare would be too high to justify me working.

However it really did my self esteem the world of good even to be considered for the position. Its nice to know that someone thinks that I am capable of stepping into a role like this and that someone sees me as more than a mum.