Into the Known

L1002170 Leap
Originally uploaded by Lillput

So...it was crunch time.

I quit my paying job around nine months ago with about 12 months' bill-paying money in the bank.

It was decision time.

So - how has my foray into entrepreneurship been?

Well, I guess that all depends on how you measure it.

Just a recap (or possibly 'cap' if you're not aware of what it is that ExtraVerte do): We want to take empty pockets of land such as building sites that are lying idle and turn them temporarily into pleasant spaces for people to look at and be in. A simple enough dream.


Are TD and still speaking to each other? Yes.
We've had a few heated disagreements. Both of us have overstepped bounds but both of us have been big enough to apologise and move on.

Have we managed to do the things you need to do in order to get a company up and running? Yes. A few hiccoughs here and there, some work and rework on things like the website, but on the whole it was a mostly straight forward process (mind you we haven't done the end of year accounts or company return yet so I'll withhold final judgement).

Have we managed to get people to talk to us on the subject? Yes, eventually. It took quite a long time and quite a few emails but we are getting people to at least talk to us. We've spoken to a leading architecture practice, a large county council in the South East amongst others and we have meetings in the pipeline.
We've been quoted in a couple of trade publications and our website is getting an amount of traffic.

Have we managed to raise the profile of the subject out in the field? Difficult to be sure, but I'm pretty convinced we have. We're not the only people interested in the subject but we're probably one of the few practices that have given the subject and the issues around it quite so much thought.

Have we made any money yet? No.

This last one's a bit of a killer, really...because we both have bills to pay.

So it's bearing all this in mind I had to sit down and think about my next move. Go look for real work or speak to my bank, dig in and keep going.

Tricky

No one other than me has a stake in my financial security. So there's no permission to seek, no one whose life will be adversely affected by a change in my financial circumstances.

I have a couple of meetings with individuals who renew my faith in the idea and reinforce my original view that it's a good thing to do for the good of urban communities.
Both of them have passion for the idea of caring for people who are less fortunate than ourselves. One is a little older than me, the other is considerably younger - at the start of her working life.
I also read a report that has compelling evidence of the effect that access to green spaces has on those in poverty.

TD has a stake in my decision, of course - we co-own the company and share the workload but this isn't a decision it's fair to burden him with.

I've plenty of other friends who have been cheering me on from the sidelines - or helping where they can (thank you DM, GBH, M & S particularly for practical things you've done for us) but they can't help with this.

Where does this leave me? Single, and alone in the decision. Sad, huh?

Well, kind of, but then I realise that it's also a liberating force. There's only me who will be adversely affected if I make the wrong decision.

That realisation and letting go of a little more of the baggage of things past suddenly made things clear. It would be foolhardy to give up now...it would be a waste of everything we've done so far.

I'm going to stick with it.

I have to shuffle financial plans and I'm pretty sure my bank manager won't be thrilled at the prospect, especially as she's already acutely aware of my lack of interest in making money (for me or them) for its own sake.

I can also hear metaphorical rumblings from the 'beyond' and these are trickier to deal with than a pleasant lady in a smart suit, but that's all part of me growing up and moving on.

So, in the style of true project managers I've gone through a rigorous change management process, shifted dates and resources, turned the project back green again and am moving on with it.

It'll be up for another review this time next year.

So - has this all been a success?

I think I'd like to make my success crtieria for the last year about learning about the development and constuction industries; about understanding how the built environment affects profoundly those who interact with; about putting myself and TD in the line of fire with people who know more than we do and us holding our own.

Whaddya mean you can't change the objectives of a project after the event?

I'm a project manager, and I think you'll find I just did.



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Toast as a Statement of Gender

DSC_4488 Well?
Originally uploaded by Lillput

If you've read earlier blog entries here...or if you know me at all, you'll know that I find gender difference quite interesting.

For those who don't know me, and can't be arsed to read the rest of the blog I'll summarise...

I'm a straight, cisgendered, middle-class (there, I've admitted it), widowed, white woman in my mid-forties.
However, I'm bookish, geeky, prefer bitter beer to white wine, don't own a handbag, or a pair of heels. As DrC would summarise I'm "not very girlie".

Because I work from home I frequently hear Radio Four's Crackpot Hour...sorry, Woman's Hour and slices from the Today Programme - together with whatever's on between 9am and 10am.

Frequently these programmes cause me to grumble at the radio (but not turn it off because ranting's far too much fun).

Anyhow, one day this week the delicious Stephen Fry was doing an English Language programme and although I didn't hear most of it, I know that gender-specific language was mooted.

Then Crackpot Woman's Hour talked for a while about the plasticity of gender without making any real point. In irritation levels, this was beaten only by the ariticle they did last week about women and Real Ale (oh, please...don't get me started again).

Today the age-old accusation of women earning less than men was touched on in the Today Programme with shoddy reasoning, muttering and "it's so unfair" by the interviewee. It may be true but you need to make your point without whining and with some, you know FACTS!

Anyhow, as I was making my toast this morning I realised there's an untapped research piece for someone to do...

It's about gender vs toast colour.

Me? I like mine a delicious blonde colour, please. Or as the late, much missed, Idiot Boy was wont to call it "warm bread". Yes, that's right...just wave it for a while in the general direction of the toaster and that'll be lovely.

Idiot Boy, on the other hand was of the "If it isn't black it's not done yet" school. I thought it was a Northern thing but long term friend and neighbour MrB-H likes his toast similarly whereas MrsB-H likes hers like mine. Hmmm...

The reason this came to mind was watching TD get excited at the prospect of the hotel having a "make your own toast" machine so that he could toast his twice to get the desired amount of brown. When having lunch at my place a while ago, he swapped my over-dark toast for the blonde bit I'd given him.

On holiday S declared he liked his mid-brown.

So, in my limited experience I see patterns emerging. In the continuum of toast brown-ness would we see guys generally on the browner end of the spectrum?

Will it make a difference if the people we surveyed were gay, black, lesbian, tall, trans, straight, working class, or had degrees?

I think the good people in Radio Four land need to know so that they can make fatuous statements about how important it is to preserve a person's God-given right to toast of the right colour.

I'm sure there's got to be Crackpot Hour slot in here somewhere, don't you?




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Do not go gently

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Oh look, a big gap in my blog again.

Reflective of busy times - for both work and leisure.

This picture was from the highlight of the last couple of months - a holiday in Norfolk with a friend, S.

It was one of the many, many new things I have experienced of late...I feel a list coming on (and in case you were wondering, there's no significance to the order of these things)



1. North Norfolk coast as holiday destination. Fantastic: great light a lot of the time; relatively quiet; and in good company even a 10km walk in the rain is fun.

2. Beer festival on a railway station. Ours was in Sheringham. There are others around the country - including Minehead, I believe. If you like beer and don't hate trains then do it.

3. Adobe InDesign. I don't really like giving a company that has caused me so much grief in the past the air of publicity but I have to say InDesign is a nifty piece of software. Shhh...don't tell them I said that. However, their policy of making you pay more for downloading rather than getting a DVD of the software sucks big-time.

4. Kent and the Medway. A meeting for our company saw TD and I hacking our way east to visit the area around Maidstone. I'm still trying not to take the 4am hotel fire alarm, and the roundabout that employs at least three extra space-time dimensions to confuse the unwitting traveller too personally. Actually, I think I could like the county - I hope we get some work there to ensure we have to go back.

5. Marsh samphire. The trendy foodstuff du jour. Looks unprepossessing, tastes rather nice.

6. s215 of the Town and County Planning Act (1990). Could be useful in our work, if we can get local authorities to use it.

7. The Ting Tings and The Go! Team. Music that I'm surprised I like - but I do.

8. Andy Serkis as Ian Dury in Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll. Utterly convincing.

9. Cribbage. This isn't actually new to me, having learned it as a kid and I remembered loving it. TD re-taught me over a couple of beers on our Kent trip. Best card game for two players.

10. Thornbridge Jaipur IPA. I've only had one pint of this but I've been trying to track it down on draught since. Stupidly strong but doesn't taste like it is. Falling-over water of the most lovely kind.

More new things in forthcoming months, please...



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