Okay, back to mid-2007: here I was happily engaged with my design business, Parlour. Self-employed for over 5 years. Sharing an office with two friends. I get an offer from one of my print suppliers, totally out of the blue, to come and work for him as creative director of a small design company he owned. My immediate reaction was “no way”, but I started thinking about is his offer, and after about a month’s worth of negotiations, and a month or two of getting Parlour sorted, I moved across, winding up Parlour and taking my clients with me. I made a pretty sweet deal and am now on a pretty substantial salary.
But there are some BUTs - I miss working for myself. I've given up a great deal of autonomy. It feels different - I don't feel the ownership I used to feel about my work. But there are some pluses for sure. The people here are great - it's fun to work in a team environment again. It's nice to hand work over to my designers when I get really busy. I'm looking forward to taking holidays (in fact, I'm heading off in a week's time to my first proper holiday in 6 years). It's good to know there are sick days there when I need to take them. I don't have to deal with the stinky IRD any more (big big plus!). The cashflow is easier, of course. Salary paid weekly. Nice.
So, life is quite different these days. I only have one kid left at home - my two girls have moved out and are now in the adult world, working and flatting. My son is at university and has a girlfriend so I don't see much of him. Dave and I are together (for those that don't know) but we live apart now - seems to work for us. All in all, things are pretty smooth. I work some silly hours still, but then, I always have. It's part of me, and I recognise it's of my own making. I probably need to change this. I will. In time. Right now, I need to make this new job work, and to make this design studio a success. It's a bit daunting really. Design and print are competitive industries, and I'm pretty much left to my own devices. Fingers crossed I can make this work.
Oh, and I'm hoping to buy my own house by the end of the year. Sick of renting. Time to grow put down some roots.
