A Crap Juggling Act

Looks like the voyage is taking shape...

I am growing more and more confident about leaving Shawshank, although I am prone to the odd bit of self doubt about how I'll cope and what my life will look like.

 

My plan is a bit like a crap juggling act... start juggling THREE balls, and then drop at least one of them, if not two of them depending upon how it goes.

Ball 1 - Interim management.

 

Ball 2 - Small Business Coaching.

 

Ball 3 - Develop & nurture my own business ideas.

 

Interim Management - is that not just going back into Corporate life? I see Interim Management as a way for me to wean myself off the corporate lifestyle that I've become accustomed to and also to become more financially secure as I can charge myself out at a higher daily rate than my current salary, and accept that I won't work everyday (I'll be amazed if I can get 50% of my weeks filled).  It's really appealing as it's what I essentially did in Japan and that was massively rewarding to me professionally as I was able to deliver a short term objective free from the politics (mostly free from the BIG politics), so I'm hoping for more of the same...  Over time I would like to drop this as the other two elements take off and as my need for corporate succour diminishes.  I'm assuming that Innovation, trade marketing and trade terms would be the main elements here.

Small Business Coaching is something that excites & interests me.  I would help out management of small companies (circa 100 employees) by asking questions, provoking thoughts & options and giving them the structure to decide & act upon their own options, and hold them to account.  I'd hopefully instill a guidance & leadership discipline that they may not have already.  I feel it needs to bridge the gap between lifestyle coaching & management consulting, as I don't want to do either, nor do I think that is my forte.  I'm kind of already doing this with my business buddy and also a collection of others.  My corporate training will help me structure the thinking and my functional skills will help me pose the questions & layout the options.  I'm not sure how I will really make money from this, so I really need to research this further by contacting some friends of friends who do a similar but different type of job. Will this bring me the lifestyle I want?  I see it as being rewarding me "spiritually" by helping others and I hope it will give me a full & financially strong  way of life, though I'll be no millionaire. I already have a marketing position which is to offer "training" for free based on being able to receive grants from Business Link in return for the small company recommending me to 5 other companies.

 

The third ball is my own business.  I know that the first & the second ball will not fill up my time and I know I have a tendency when there's not a lot on to become lazy and I want to avoid that.  So I'm hoping that I can balance my "downtime" from either of the above with the other one and if there is still time remaining then work at my own things.  I'm really motivated about having my won thing on several fronts:  it seems like "destiny" in that it fits everything I've done thus far; it could financially reward me in a significant way; it would fit with the my ideal lifestyle (lots of time mulling about, then an idea, lots of energy, lots of late nights...); and I would feel a great deal of pride in what I do.  My ideal would that the other two balls would drop as this ball becomes bigger & bigger...

 

So that's the plan, but I need to get some of the details clarified to make sure that the three balls are things I want to do and that I have the necessary skills to juggle all three balls at once and make sure I don't drop the one I want to keep up!