Life advice from a 90 year old? I’ll take it.
Backstory blog can be found here.
Every now and again, we all have a look on Reed* to see how green the grass on the other side is looking. I think it’s a bit like that with jobs. You may be one of the lucky ones, doing something you love that pays as much as you need it to. You may be doing something that’s alright and working out if this is your career path or whether there’s a better offer out there. You might be one of the unfortunate ones, having been handed your redundancy notice. There’s a lot of it about.
Over the last couple of months, I found myself in the middle one and on the edge of the latter. Nosing around for where I might have a better fit, coming across something quite extraordinary, and receiving a request for voluntary redundancies in quick succession.
It was a normal evening, surfing around Reed and Monster to see if there was anything that might be a better option. Apart from a surprisingly tempting offer from Affairs4u** nothing caught my eye. Cue a Google search for ‘drama teacher’, just for the hell of it. A sponsored ad from Gumtree appeared. For laughs, I clicked through, expecting a job for experienced drama teachers to deliver leaflets/earn money from home/make quick $$$ etc.
But I was in for a surprise.
A company called Pyjama Drama was looking for franchisees in my local area. Was this it? Was this the job I was looking for? Or should I retreat back to the relative safety of my desk job? There we have it ladies and gentlemen – doubt.
What to do, what to do, what to do. Chase or hide from the opportunity? I didn’t want to jump in too soon. I didn’t want to fire off an application form. I didn’t want to give up on a three year start to a career without good reason. So a smaller step.
I sent a quick email showing a bit of interest. Asking for more information.
Taking this small step gave me the information I needed. The confirmation that yes, not only was this the right step to take, it was the step I’ve been waiting for.
And that small step has since turned into an almightly leap.
But that’s a blog for another time.
*Other job search websites are available
**This is a real thing. Also, I am referring to a job, not utilising their services.