I started this website as part of a content marketing course on Coursera to understand a bit more about online marketing and SEO because, whatever your product, it doesn’t matter how good it is if people don’t know it exists. For my topic, I chose governance/business processes. It is something I know a lot about.
Since October, I have also been trying to return to governance, this time fully qualified. I have been unsuccessful. This gave me the opportunity to ask myself, “What is the ultimate goal?” “What do I really want?”
It has also forced me to ask myself, “What else can I do?” One technique used to broaden thinking and make the most of opportunities (introduced to me by Chip and Dan Heath in their book Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work) is to take the preferred option off the table. My circumstances have forced me to consider other options. So, “what can I do” and more importantly “what do I want to do?”
I want to plant an orchard of pink pear apples and a garden overflowing with vegetables, enough to give away. I want to raise ducks and make pasta from their eggs. I want to have time to forage. I want to brew beer and cider and English country wines. I want to grow and create useful things, to add some real, tangible value to the world.
I want to convert another camper van. Then another campervan, maybe set up a business in it. Perhaps rent campervans. This would be seasonal, so best suited as a side gig.
I enjoy writing. I enjoyed building my last website.
I enjoy learning.
It would be nice to build an income that isn’t an exchange of time for money.
I have always prioritised learning and perhaps focused too much on formal learning. I wonder what I would be doing if I had put all the time and money into setting up a business rather than pursuing formal qualifications.
I have put several months now into reviving my career in governance. I was good at it. I have experience. I’m qualified. It made sense. But as I go through each day, persevering, scrolling through endless applications to find some tenuous link to my skills and experience, I have to ask myself, “What am I doing?”
I was taught that winners never quit and quitters never win. Entering a different field feels like quitting. Plus, there is a personal cost. The chartered governance certification is only given to me on loan. If I stop paying membership fees, I no longer have the qualification. I feel like I need to re-enter the profession to justify all the energy, time and money spent on doing the qualification.
I am emotionally tied to the effort that I’ve already invested. I’ve fallen for the sunk cost fallacy (the illogical tendency to attach weight to past costs). The logical thing for me to do is ignore the costs, effort, time and money I spent in getting qualified and look at options for the future. The past is done.
So, I am now limiting the time and energy I spend on finding and applying for existing jobs within my sector. For the rest of my time, I am offering governance support services directly, and I am continuing to work on this website and build this blog. I don’t know where it will go, but we will explore this.
I am also making things that I like to make. I am creating a business plan involving making things, governance and blogging. It will remain fluid. I have a long to-do list. It doesn’t make me money yet. It’s a long-term project. It took 12 years for Duolingo to turn a profit. I’ll try to beat that time.
In the meantime, I am learning and building something. It feels more productive than wasting my entire life on job applications.
If a job comes along tomorrow, I will change how I allocate my time, but I will continue with my side gig. I want to see what I am capable of.
If you think I’m missing a trick, do let me know what it is.