Friday Analysis

River/Brook that runs through Haverhill, sun
today is glinting of the water also

Started

Moving bulk of blogging to Social and Micro Enterprise sites 


The career change mode has now reached a stage where part of the efforts now need to be directed to establishing a presence in the blogs

2pointfiveageofman 

and
kritirecharge.co.uk

The free blog will continue, but in cut down form on Monday and Friday.  The phrase is very true in that if you are blogging you may not be doing other equally important things.  "Oracles" R Not Us, maybe attempt to be some of the time.

Monday Morning Week 3 of Chinese Lunar Year

Started Monday 21st February 2011 0054 GMT
Words 381
S.I. =  76.2%

Training around Suffolk


A busy week ahead starting with meetings and continual professional training tomorrow.  A dilemma with increasing fuel prices is the attendance on time at places without having a large carbon footprint.
I am attending an event in Marks Tey.  I do not have to take any "tools of the trade" other than myself and a few pieces of paper.  How do I get there?

I could drive but the event would not be cost effective in time and working opportunities since it is at strange time of the day.  So the two criteria for transport selection are cost effectiveness and time effectiveness.

I am going to take the opportunity to go by train as it fits in with the general constraints of being relaxed enough to perform fully in the meetings and the ability to arrive with plenty of time to have lunch. I will leave Haverhill about 8 am and seek to get back by 9pm if all goes to plan.   I will then have first hand experience of the potential problems when arranging travelling to meetings where it may be more of a social enterprise function and therefore income stream limited or a microenterprise function where time as opposed to cost may be more important, while maintaining an eye on the overall carbon neutrality of the activity.

I may sound as though I am being pedantic but I can see a trend "green" certificated much as we are British Standard compliant for COSHH and other activities.  In other words the audit culture will not die, the systems will just become automated.  Rather than have to spend a lot of time later when the business cycle is more cluttered and it will cost more in time spent planning the audit trail and finding the records when I do go for the appropriate accreditation, I will start along the path now.

The week ahead should see more moving on the blogging front.  A former pupil of mine is due to start blogging about podcasting and his experience of digital recording   and web radio on .http://www.2pointfiveageofman.net/blog/?p=28, the social enterprise site .  He is graduate of the University College Suffolk where he was the first to graduate in his particular course. So some social networking opportunities to look forward to!   

Monday Week 2 Chinese Lunar Year

Started Monday 14th February 2007
Words 431
S.I.= 86.2 %

Big Day for the Big Society


Big Society is going to be prominent not only today but also in the coming weeks and months.  The BBC have been running a few stories today with Big Society as the theme.  David Cameron is announcing the next part of the vision of how we transform the fundamental way that we run the society of Britain.

Announced today will be the all important framework of how the Big Society in action may be funded.  A £300 million fund or bank for social entrepreneurship is to be announced.  This may not sound very much but it is a start.  We have to remember that a lot of the function of the National Lottery before the Olympics was won for London was to help local charities and groups.  The micro-management culture of central government has affected the accessability of small groups to this money.  I have had many conversations with local groups who have basically given up applying because the criteria and time involved to access funds is beyond volunteers.  The money pool will hopefully expand as the Olympic projects reach completion, the contractors are paid, and more importantly "snagging" of the finished work is carried out without extra costs that appear to be outside the terms of reference (hopefully PFIs have not been used as an example of good contractual practice).
  
I find the idae of an ISA quite an "exciting" concept.  I have put thoughts on this in my blog 2pointfiveageofman.net.  I will certainly invest in this ISA but it would be even more supportive if the normal ISA was also available so there was a double tax benefit.

Public spending cuts are perceived as a  threat to this process. We have many competing service providers in my local town.  A gym has just been created in a local school that allegedly will have state of the art gym,  it is not apparrent who their customers may be or who pays yet.  The local authority may be competing against itself or another level of local government who has established a outsourced gym provider for the town.  In the   light of crossing patrol people being made redundant I do wonder about the priorities of the people involved and the number of competing entities that seem to be chasing the same people.  The price may not be cheaper since the excuse for price levels is  that this is the market rate because everybody else is charging the same.    

This week 40th Anniversary of Decimalisation.

Monday Morning Week 1 of Chinese New Year

Started Monday 7th February 2011 0651 GMT
Words 507
S.I. = 101.4 % Aspirational Target not met (but it is only aspirational)

First Monday of being self-employed.  This has not been as much of a worry waking up this morning as it may have been when I left my teaching post officially at the end of April.  All told it has been 9 months in gestation.  Five months to combat the post traumatic stress of working for 13 years in a school that did some very good things but experienced special measures (2 and half years worth or was it more?) and transition to Locally Managed Status (essentially outsourcing of schools by LEAs, so free schools and academies are not really that radical).

The final chapter was the closure of the Middle schools in Haverhill and Lowestoft (happening in July 2011).  However, the programme of moving to a two tier system county wide would appear to scuppered.

So the week ahead.  By the end of the week I will hopefully have cleared  target of an average rate per hour. Surprisingly, when you actually do the analysis after stripping away the deductions a teacher has to have from their salary and equate the annualised hours to a 40 hour week the amount need to have the same lifestyle not unrealistic.  The trick comes in figuring out how the tax system works, how National Insurance contributions can effectively be managed and also how to structure your working week for your own personal wellbeing as a home worker offering flexible hours for working  with customers' needs.  The real trick is to do this without paying others for expert advice. If you can ask the right questions of an "expert" while only  having to pay a  little or nothing success may be in sight.   The "expert" advice is the sometime unnecessary business expense that squashes the Golden Goose that would have laid the ordinary egg (that is what I am after, the ordinary egg).

I am going through the process of doing my own Performance Management Review to set the targets for the coming trading year.  I have experience of doing this with my own staff when I was coordinating Science and ICT so will aim for three targets.  Two that are operational targets and one personal target.  The tasks to achieve them may be many but three targets for devlopement and personal growth are acheivable.  I have set on my personal Google Calendar the date 5th May 2011 (3 months) for the first review.

My personal target I have selected as a Wellbeing aspiration to have my Gym induction today and still be using the gym twice weekly on the 5th May 2011.

Back to East Asian customs I am also going to buy a Malabar Chestnut (Pachira aquatica) and a few pieces of red ribbon, to be added to the tree as each profitable customer pays their bill.  If the tree is festooned with red in three months time I will know my cunning plan may be working.

I will be updating the career change  courses on offer along with other services and goods on offer at  www.kritirecharge.co.uk. throughout the week.

Wednesday and Career Change

Started Wednesday 2nd February 2011 0021 GMT
Words 311
S.I. = 62.2 %

The age of the part-time worker?

The part time worker accounted for nearly 97% of the employment opportunities taken up last year.  The time of the portfolio career is now, it is already happening without consciously or voluntarily being adopted (see previous blogs).

The worrying part of this is that the banking system has become so entrenched in offering mortgage products that rely on full-time employment (usually with both partners workers) over the now relatively short period of 25 years.  People are living longer and will have no legal compunction to retire at 65 very soon.  The state assistance, we had probably better get used to calling it that rather a pension, already does not appear to be given for post Baby Boomers (anybody born after 1962).  Even state sector (now public sector)  pensions are not as attractive a deal to compensate for the "vocational" nature of the job.

Insurance products such Mortgage Protection and Payment Protection Insurance taken out for a rainy day (or months) increasingly do not do what they claim to on the wrapper.  The future may not look so bright for many who are trapped in the house as an investment rather than a home scenario at present.  This dictates how flexible you can be in the choice of what you do to raise your happiness index to a 10.  Many people are doing this and have been doing this for sometime, I am realising that I have been speaking to them as they have been around me for a long time.

So 21st Century Working here I certainly come!  A good starting point for this is the Teleworking Association  (link to blog), a not for profit type organisation of which I became a Director at last weeks' AGM.  So if I do mention it you will know I am only promoting what I preach and practice myself.     

Monday Morning Week 4

Started Monday 24th January 2011 GMT
Words 453
S.I. = 90.6 %
Planning to have a quiet non-reactive week


I like it when a plan comes together.  If it doesn't then possibly the ambition was too great for the resources and circumstances at the time.  I often have the nagging doubt sitting on my shoulder whispering in my ear "I told you so!" before I have started to try the plan.  If it's my own nagging doubt I can shut that up by first of all brushing it off my shoulder.  If that is unsuccessful  then  crushing it as I use my shoulder to burst through the next locked door.  The latter tends to be a little painful so I try to use the pain free option if possible.

When you are managed by others and the brushing method is not noticed or heeded and talked about then I am sad to say that I have at times exhibited or had done to me the  crushing strategy.  Owing usually  to the fact the task manager has thought they saw the light at the end of the tunnel but failed to recognise it was the train coming the other way.  Fine, if you can switch tracks at the last minute.

The theme for this week is for me to counter the phrase a 'Lack of communication leads to frustration'.  By communication I don't mean talking at somebody, but having a dialogue.  So I am going to explore and enhance the networking skills that I have acquired over the last few decades.  This is not so that I can sell something to somebody.

 The aim is to build up trust in a working relationship so that both parties feel they have had a fair input into whatever outcome occurs.  If it is a negative outcome the blame is hopefully shared in proportion to the persons' position and more importantly influence in the decision making chain.  If a positive outcome occurs  then we can all take a break to do something we enjoy away from the task list.  The philosophy being to treat others as you would like to be treated yourself, when allowed the opportunity.

High ideals for a Monday morning but good intentions should always accompany a new journey, especially when you know you will enjoy the arrival wherever that may be.  Even if you are not convinced your journey is really necessary there is still a possibility you will enjoy your new vantage point.  If you know it is not and you still have to go, well..........

Tomorrow I will be exploring some Networking opportunities in my blog.  Further posts will start to appear on the two Blogs that can be found by visiting the links in the bar near the title. 

The Saturday Supplement

The first time I went in a plane
I jumped out of it.  A Reims Rocket
 was the plane. This was
 not such a silly idea if you
plan ahead and have a parachute
It is only the last inch of 2000ft fall that
does the damage

Started 15th January 2010 09.18 GMT
Number of Words 286

Saturday again time has come round really quickly.  I am going to take this opportunity to take my foot off the gas a little.  Three blogs running, two domains and countless, alright a few, meetings this week around the subject of a micro enterprise designed to support social entrepreneurship has been quite tiring.  But rewarding.  I have distilled down the root cause of my career change into what I feel is a reasonable game plan. I can go and watch  whatever sport I choose this afternoon.  I will be without that now unnecessary and lingering feeling of guilt for not doing the never ending mountain of work expected as a teacher. So  I will  select some of the best experiences of the week.  

Web 2.0 has been a theme.  I came across this video of a little kitten which I used as a final link in yesterday's blog.  We also as the cricket was finishing had a visit from Batman and Superman. 

On the subject of cricket a very good book is Bob Woolmer's Art and Science of Cricket.  I recommend that any parent whose child is taking up cricket should read  pages 616 and 617 which show a bowler's  logbook .   Youngsters can easily become over bowled if they play for school, local club and if good enough county.  Even if you are not a cricket fan the Chapter10 is a brilliant guide to physiology and fitness for any sport. Which leads me onto the final point of mention that a new gym aiming to promote Wellbeing is opening in the town.

I will have a wander down the High Street and complete the Saturday ritual by buying the East Anglian Daily Times

Week 2 A River runs through

Started Monday 10th January 2011 Started 9.20 pm

Words 350

A very large amount of water flowed past the bottom of my street.  Still the artery is now cleansed, still has the odd shopping trolley here and there.

Previous post set the aspirations of what turned out to be a busy weekend putting the finishing touches to the structure of this blog page.

The next steps for this week are to publish details of the courses I am making available on Schoolsforeverything.  The link you will see in the bar below the article title.

The structure of the blog is such that all information on this page is free.  Links away from the page may lead to opportunities to buy services from or via me.  Alternatively they may just be informative or empowering allowing you to also benefit economically  ie the pay free links to the FSB and Teleworking Association.  My aim is to provide links to websites that promote those aspects of social and micro-entrepreneurship.

This is not about who has most desirable shiny objects and charging the Earth for said baubles. As I have tried to explain in some of my previous blogs (the demise of the role of the middle manager being one example) how managing the change that many people are experience in the UK is a challenge but only another a mole hill.  The trick is to step over the molehill.  If you are feeling extremely small and put upon by the systems you have been working under I can empathise in the true sense of the word.

So by the end of the week one brick in the new foundations of my personal wealth and wellbeing (wellbeing being the more important) should have been put in place. I will repeat the mission statement I made in last night's blog.

In 2017 I will take home the same salary as Steve Jobs.

I will earn $1 salary for the work style and incomes I am involved in at this instant.  This will be more than just enough.

Tomorrow's blog as promised last week will be part 2 of Web 2.0 for Educators.

   

Meerkats in Suffolk show entrepreneurial way

Fresh fields, right preparation leads
 to green shoots, hopefully
Allotment society I have been involved with in the past

Started 5th January 2011  2.30 pm
Words 852

The secret is out.  The Meerkats website has been gathering dust in Suffolk all along. Reported in the East Anglian Daily Times today Aleksandr Orlov's latest kinematic extravaganza (advert) was filmed in Suffolk at Kersey.  I noticed this story as I leafed through the paper having a look for  the those events and news on social and  micro-entrepreneurship and the general job market.  If it's good enough for Mr Orlov to do business in Suffolk. then .......... Simples.

Joking apart this blog has started a little later in the day then intended.  This is not due to any technical mishap but a success in the use of social networking in generating business opportunities.   The Strategy I have been employing has started to generate conversations that can lead to income generating activity.  Owing to technical problems with BT, my strategy of generating content in a dynamic blog backed up with  non-identical twinned static sites really only started on 21st December 2010.

Since that day (16 days ago) the blog has generated 500 page views.  Which is not too bad on a free website that I am only starting to optimise for journalistic style so that it is search engine friendly.  It also has to be remembered that people have not been at their desks. The majority of blog surfing that is attributed to company time has not been available. 

From the traffic that has visited the site 4 new opportunities so far have presented themselves since yesterday morning when people returned to work. These have not been solicited by me writing letters, emails or sending CVs.  People have seen something in the Blog that has made them think the skill set on offer may add value to their activities and to make the first step and contact me.

Using traditional methods to generate five hundred opportunities for people to  view the skill set would have taken 2 to 3 hours of company research, adapting CV typing a cover letter etc.  So 1000- 1500 hours ( 25 to 37.5 working weeks of 40 hours duration) would have been required to generate that number of view opportunities.  In the terms of time spent blogging under the revised strategy the 500 view opportunities have taken 8 hours (half an hour targeted time).  The validity of the strategy therefore would appear to be tenuously proven.  Refining of the content and the style of the Blog to optimise the yield of contacts to view opportunities is the next step.

The application of these techniques therefore appear to be a good additional tool in the armoury when considering career change.  The principles also are applicable to marketing of products that have added value that is price independent, ie the cheapest is not necessarily better than somebody elses. 

So as I leafed through the paper I came across an event that if I was not otherwise pre-booked I would have attended,  This is the University College Suffolk (UCS) Event Social Entrepreneur.  A very laudable event being held at Trinity Park a show ground I have been to on a number of occasions.  The only slight problem is that booking is recommended, but there is no contact details to book in the advert. I cannot find anything on the show grounds' events board or at the UCS site.  I hope this is just a slight oversight as it does look as though it may provide a handle on what social entrepreneurship might look like.  

On this blog I am going to include a new to me site I have found called Dipity.   This allows timelines of events to be put in a social network format.  This is useful not only for education in the traditional sense of making timelines but also in running a diary.

So next few hours will be spent brushing up my HTML skills (they have got a bit rusty recently).  I have both a Dummies guide (I'm not proud!)  to just remind in almost bullet points of the key skills.  I do not often watch James May just in case I recognize some of the Last of the Summer Wine type activities in myself that he seems to be slipping into.  However, he did in his programme about his sister's toys show the Ladybird book How computers work that the Ministry of Defence ordered with plain brown covers to instruct people in the basics of the new technology.  The Dummies series is much the same ilk, so I'm quite happy to follow the MOD's lead.

If you would like a more detailed explanation of some of the techniques I am starting to use in social networking follow the link to 2pointfiveageofman.nett or kritirecharge.co.uk.


Open the email page or contact us.  Supply your details and I should be able to send you a PDF file in the net few days.

Tomorrow's Blog is about topics related to Wellbeing.  This is the last topic of the week in the new Strategy plan.  So I will start again on Friday by looking back over the week.