Wow… it has been a while since I updated!
Everything seemed to grind to a bit of a halt in life for a few weeks there, which isn’t to say that nothing was going on, just that my mental state hit a bit of a low as I drew closer to a birthday that I really didn’t want to face. The birthday in which I became older than Neil, the original "Wayward Spirit” and original owner of this domain name - and very much the big brother that understood me probably more than anyone else on the planet. I think we were always more alike than anyone realised, or still does realise, I just hold it together a bit better and burry things deeper so seem a less reactive soul than he was.
That date has been and gone, and now I am starting to emerge and look to the future - and doubly so as this is a future that he never had so I feel I owe it to him to make something of it now.
The passing place has gone in on the road and I am chasing to have that clause of our planning signed off so that we can start work on hut orders, ground works, SEPA approvals and what-have-you. The plans for the tours are slowly coming together at the same time and… hopefully… there is a chunk of photography work coming along for the holiday company. I also did a job for an estate agent directly last week which I am hoping may lead to more regular work for them. This year is my third “lost cause” in a row though as, in all honesty, at this stage in the financial year I am so far from target that it just isn’t going to happen without an absolute miracle. I have been too focussed on property work this last 3 years to really move forward though, although it has provided a useful foundation. Working for agencies is a fools errand though as the pay-rates combined with the geographical challenges of the Highlands makes it impossible to rely on them as a sole source of income, minimum wage is a pipedream on this model! So now I am putting all my focus on to next years efforts to shift on to more lucrative work and a more diverse portfolio, building the workshop and tour business whilst continuing with the holiday lets work, developing the hut business and attracting more direct work from independent estate agents.
Next year I will hit that heady target of minimum wage!
Perhaps!
My problem always has been in self publicity, I don’t like shouting and telling people I am awesome but would rather let me work do the talking for me. Getting that work into the eyes of the right people is not so easy though without profile, and building profile needs either a stack load of luck (which I seem deficient in) or a stack load of self publicity and ego… which I have even less of than luck! Once the huts are up and running I may have to consider hiring someone to be by trumpet blower instead…
