iainc - Member
rkk01 - just worked out who you are
HAA - Found out through my dislike of cheese. 
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Disillusioned with corporate life...
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Posted 1 year ago #
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HAA - Found out through my dislike of cheese
I can't remember which of the characters you came out as !!!
Posted 1 year ago # -
Me neither - was there an awkward one?
Posted 1 year ago # -
rkk - LOL. Probably !
Posted 1 year ago # -
For a little while now I’ve been feeling really disillusioned by corporate life. I work as a business development manager and have experienced some good success during my career but I no longer feel sales is for me. I’m now at a crossroads where I can’t see myself doing this for another 30 years and want to do something else, hopefully something that I will enjoy.
Cough *mid life crisis* cough
At present I'm good at my job, I have the ability to shape what I do and design the strategy for the business (rather like as if it was my own business) but I just feel very unfulfilled in sales and have no ambition to drive up the ranks into management positions within my company.
BTW - I'm not really bored by my work or coasting in my role but looking forward I can't see me doing this forever. So where should I focus my efforts??
If you're good at it, and have the ability to shape it, focus all your efforts on doing that for now... If you're really fussed about where you want to go, you'll put the effort and the time in to developing the business and the role... If you truly do have enough freedom that is.
Bascially I want to put a goal in place and then aim at achieving it and I don't see corporate life being part of that.
I like the idea of retraining to then start something I can be the master of - I've always fancied being a plumber strangely enough
Whatever you want to do, hurry up and put the goal in place, otherwise you'll just meander about aimlessly for quite some time. My problem is that most of my goals I put in place (and failed to hit I might add, but then I do set my sights very high) were centred around "things to achieve by the time I'm 30"... And as I was 30 a couple of weeks ago, I've got a lot of new goals to make before I start to wander aimlessly too...
If you're going to retrain to do something, do it ASAP. Procrastination is the enemy of making any kind of improvement (either at work, or in your personal life, or anywhere to be quite honest), so hurry up and decide. Oddly enough, I know a couple of plumbers that do very well for themselves, but then it would take you a number of years to get to the stage they're at, and you'd probably have to work as an apprentice for a while until you were skilled enough, which would mean minimum wage quite probably for some time.
Personally, what I would do if I were in your position mate, would be to REALLY get on the ball with shaping your business, and your own skills within the business. You have the perfect opportunity to assess for yourself and skills you will need, and any courses you will need to go on (and get the company to pay for) in order to get to where you need. Do your research, look at things you fancy doing (and how you could hopefully apply it to your business in order to get them to pay for it), get yourself on some courses and get the skills and qualifications... And preferably, don't just go on sales ones.
If you REALLY want to start looking at Business Development properly, and when I say it I mean "Business Development" quite literally (not just "increase sales" as it usually means), then we should have a chat down the pub sometime. I could/should be able to at least point you in the right direction, if not actually be able to train you up myself (the course I teach is government funded and there's a waiting list at the moment), but also point you in the direction of where to go after...
Also look to see if they'd put you through a Masters degree, would require some effort on your part, but as you're home based currently, you could fit all the coursework in around client visits and the like quite easily I'm sure. A Masters degree, and lots of other skills and qualifications, and the world would quite literally be your oyster. That way, by the time you're in your mid 40's, you're at the point where everyone in their right mind is queuing up to offer you a job, and pay you the kind of money you'd like to earn, so you can then squirrel lots away every year, so you then have a nice fund to start your own business a few years later down the line...
Just a few thoughts anyway...
Posted 1 year ago # -
Bushwacked
I was in a similar place - 'account management' role, did not like the job, or management, or moving goalposts re: targets / bonus - one going up, the other down... I was well paid for what I did, final salary pension scheme and all that but, I just hated it.Long story short - started to look to do the odd training course, looking to perhaps, 'do something' with my photography hobby.
Once such course was bolted onto the end of a long weekend away with the Mrs. It ended up we extended the holiday as it came up that the guy doing the training was launching a mentoring scheme. We worked out MrsMM salary could cover all the bills so, we (I) went for it - resigned the following Monday...
At the end of this month it'll be two years since I finished 'the day job' and started as a full time photographer...
It's not easy, and we've never been quite so skint (hope to at least break even this year though...) but, i've never been so happy...
HTH..Posted 1 year ago # -
mboy - Member
Cough *mid life crisis* cough
Just you wait till your my age young 'un!
Also look to see if they'd put you through a Masters degree,
Wouldn't I need to get my A-levels first before getting a Masters?
Cheers for the offer Mboy - I think a visit to the pub might be in order even if to just explore how to get the most from what I am doing and add some focus
Posted 1 year ago # -
iDave
I am back in Dumfries but will be in Belo Horizonte when I go back. I am currently looking for work so may end up in Sao Paulo for a short while who knows.
Posted 1 year ago # -
I was having a mid-life crisis by lunchtime on my first day of my first job. I thought 'f*ck me, 40 more years of this shit!' and got pretty depressed.
Self employed now as a contractor - working towards the point where I have capital, and can take time off work often.
Still the same sh*t every day but at least they are steps along MY journey instead of some big company's.
Posted 1 year ago # -
another busdevman here, know exactly how you feel mate!
Posted 1 year ago # -
Go and work for a big charity. Good ones pay good money for good people. I did it and loved it. They need all skills.
Posted 1 year ago # -
I love how all the contractors think they are a free spirits. All the ones I know work longer hours, take less holiday and have to take contracts at different locations which means time on the road or in travel taverns.
Still you keep telling yourself this!
Much rather be on the books myself
Posted 1 year ago # -
Back in 2003 I went to NZ. At Wanaka aerodrome, I went for a 15,000ft tandem skydive.
On the ground beforehand, I was introduced to my partner, who held his shaking hand out for a greeting. When I commented on this, he said not to worry, it was just adrenaline from spending six days a week doing five jumps a day.
After I had recovered from the shock and adrenaline after my own single jump, I asked him if this was his full-time job. He said yeah, he wouldn't want to do ANYTHING ELSE.
I asked how long he'd been doing it.
He said "seven years".
I asked him what he did before.
He said.... "Accountant".
Posted 1 year ago # -
Pooch - it's all in the head.
You could look at it another way, and say why do the same job as I do now for the same bloody company year in year out, for a third the money and less holiday?
Inside two years time I intend to be on a 6 month paid holiday. You'll have to wait til you're in your 60s for that
Posted 1 year ago # -
Wouldn't I need to get my A-levels first before getting a Masters?
Not necessarily mate. These days "on the job" experience counts for a hell of a lot. If it was a totally different subject area, then yes possibly you'd need to do A Levels, or some other form of higher education first, but it's a lot easier for an adult to do these part time than it is for a 16-18 year old full time at school... TRUST me there... All sorts of ways and means to further your education, and preferably getting your employer to pay for it.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Wouldn't I need to get my A-levels first before getting a Masters?
No, you just need to have loads of money to pay for it.
Posted 1 year ago # -
I've cleaned grease traps, i've run a resort, i was a ski patroller and a ski instructor. I've setup and sold an IT business, i'm onto my second one now (in due dilgence stage).Its likely i'll end up working for someone for a couple of years. I still don;t know what i want to do. I hate the stress, i hate the long hours when they happen which is not often but more often than not just now. I'm learning to just go with the flow and see what happens. What i do know is you make your own luck and striking out on your own or making a serious departure from 'what is normal' feels scary when you do it, i don't care who you are, and you'll question it but bash on and use your gut instinct. Anyone who gives me a hard time gets short shrift - i have been criticised 'for selling out', which interested me because i was the one with my cock on the block and my house on the line to get it off the ground.
Don't settle for mediocrity, step out of the shadows and do something you believe in.
And FFS don't read those Stephen Fckn Covey books or any self help sh1te, honestly.
I'm a bit stressed can you tell
Oh and always ALWAYS make time to ride a bike - i had a 3 hour meeting last wednesday afternoon which was with my bike and some hills. I felt better after that.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Wondered if anyone here has ever quit their job to do the same job, only freelance. Don't mind the work so much, but am so bored of office politics etc.
Posted 1 year ago # -
i was in a similer position, allthough not in corperate life, i was an hgv driver for nearly 20 yrs and spending my life on the m25 and working 60+ hours a week was soul destroying, so i gave it up and spent some time retraining to be a visiting support worker for a large charity helping peaple with learning disabilitys and older peaple with health problems and or dementia, now when i go to work peaple are happy to see me and i know im making a difference to their quality of life, i take them out doing all sorts of different things and every day is different, i wish i did it years ago tbh its a different life and i dont mind getting up in the mornings now rather than that sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that i used to get when i woke up,
sometimes you have to move on and im glad i did, more to life than chaseing the god of moneyPosted 1 year ago # -
Wondered if anyone here has ever quit their job to do the same job, only freelance
Well I quit for contracting - not quite the same thing but a bit similar. I think most freelancers were permie once though - it's how you get your experience.
Posted 1 year ago # -
I just wanted to sound a cautionary note here.
I became very disillusioned with private sector work having been made redundant and then working for an employer with a high staff turnover.
I went to the public sector and lasted a month. I absolutely hated it. I was bored sensleless and was actually embarassed when trying to explain to people what I acutally did. My former employer kept ringing me and I finally decided to go back to my last place of work, in a slightly different role.
Posted 1 year ago # -
OMG, i remember "Who moved my cheese"
I used to work at a large company and they brought in loads of pointless changes, made loads of people redundant and outsourced loads of IT development work.
To 'help us' this they arranged a meeting and handed out free copies of "who moved my cheese" to everyone! what a bunch of c**ts.
6 months later many of the people who were made redundant were reemployed as contractors because, suprise suprise, asking people who work in HR to suddenly write software specifications for developers in India who can barely spoke english didn't work very well.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Who Moved my Cheese is a good book, it just needs to be taken in context. The context in which to use it is when you come up against people who just refuse to change for whatever reason.
The book is about embracing change (in case you didn't know), but the problem it often breeds is when people who are too used to doing things the same way all the time, suddenly become massive proponents of change, so they begin to change everything!
Change is good... As long as it is for the right reasons...
I go into business' where no change has happened in 30 years. I also go into business' where 30 changes have been made in the last month, but the performance is as bad as the one that hasn't made any changes...
The key is making the RIGHT changes, and you can only do this by carefully analysing the problems, and getting to (and eliminating) the root cause of the problems. Unless people see how a change works for them, and makes their life/job better, they're generally not going to embrace it. And making lots of poor changes just for the sake of it, is as bad, if not worse, than doing nothing!
Posted 1 year ago #
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