The To Do List
To top off what has been a very positive week, I've just written my 'To Do' list of all that has be done immediately, and the good (but bad) news is that it is growing.
Its odd working largely on your own, particularly for a man that spent his time thrust deep into large projects in huge banks. To not have meeting invites backing up and spend all day storming up and down the office trying to get something moving is bizarre for me. It is very different when you get to actually think about what you need to do in some peace and quiet. There is always Henry to shout at or abuse on MSN, but even that is relatively tranquil!
There are also days when the number of business emails I receive is down to what I can count on one hand rather than the days where I might come back off a week long break and have in excess of several hundred business emails to wade through. So the peace is great for allowing you to focus on new flavours and do stuff like plan and think through in detail how Muddler approaches '08, but the reality is that it can get a little dull.
Over the last few months the focus has been on trying to secure deals with larger companies that could offer us nationwide coverage. This is a largely thankless task where lots of stuff is emailed, sent and phoned out and no response comes back from the organisations. So you end up every day just sending and chasing down more and more organisations.... not a particularly enjoyable experience.
The last week has seen a bit of a turning point as the inbound email levels have picked up, phone calls are being returned and everyone is beginning to talk of how we could all work together in '08. So from having an ever declining 'To do' list or one where the same chasing tasks came up on it time and again I've now got one that is properly growing. Mix in with this the fact that November seems to be the new December and all the social and business functions I'm being invited to are getting earlier. It looks as if November could be a busy period for me and Henry.
So what do I prefer, the quiet life where we spend the days strategising (I'm not sure if that is a real word) and you can occasionally nip off to play golf
or
the run we are currently having of requests and news coming each day to contend for times looking (or should that be dreaming) of what will happen in '08?
There's no competition for me and Henry. We both came from jobs where the client requests never stopped and there was too much going on. We quit these jobs not because we disliked being busy and powering from one thing to the next, but:
1. To have control of your work destiny, rather than just being a person in a massive corporation
2. We had the killer idea... 'Real Fruit Cocktails'!
So there are big disadvantages to setting up on your own, but there are also a great number of advantages (e.g. our commutes have both shortened a lot!). However a shortening 'To Do' list is something I never want in anything I do.
Anyway, must crack on the 'To Do' list isn't losing any items.... unless you include writing the Blog as a task!
Its odd working largely on your own, particularly for a man that spent his time thrust deep into large projects in huge banks. To not have meeting invites backing up and spend all day storming up and down the office trying to get something moving is bizarre for me. It is very different when you get to actually think about what you need to do in some peace and quiet. There is always Henry to shout at or abuse on MSN, but even that is relatively tranquil!
There are also days when the number of business emails I receive is down to what I can count on one hand rather than the days where I might come back off a week long break and have in excess of several hundred business emails to wade through. So the peace is great for allowing you to focus on new flavours and do stuff like plan and think through in detail how Muddler approaches '08, but the reality is that it can get a little dull.
Over the last few months the focus has been on trying to secure deals with larger companies that could offer us nationwide coverage. This is a largely thankless task where lots of stuff is emailed, sent and phoned out and no response comes back from the organisations. So you end up every day just sending and chasing down more and more organisations.... not a particularly enjoyable experience.
The last week has seen a bit of a turning point as the inbound email levels have picked up, phone calls are being returned and everyone is beginning to talk of how we could all work together in '08. So from having an ever declining 'To do' list or one where the same chasing tasks came up on it time and again I've now got one that is properly growing. Mix in with this the fact that November seems to be the new December and all the social and business functions I'm being invited to are getting earlier. It looks as if November could be a busy period for me and Henry.
So what do I prefer, the quiet life where we spend the days strategising (I'm not sure if that is a real word) and you can occasionally nip off to play golf
or
the run we are currently having of requests and news coming each day to contend for times looking (or should that be dreaming) of what will happen in '08?
There's no competition for me and Henry. We both came from jobs where the client requests never stopped and there was too much going on. We quit these jobs not because we disliked being busy and powering from one thing to the next, but:
1. To have control of your work destiny, rather than just being a person in a massive corporation
2. We had the killer idea... 'Real Fruit Cocktails'!
So there are big disadvantages to setting up on your own, but there are also a great number of advantages (e.g. our commutes have both shortened a lot!). However a shortening 'To Do' list is something I never want in anything I do.
Anyway, must crack on the 'To Do' list isn't losing any items.... unless you include writing the Blog as a task!
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