Just over a year ago today I blogged that a change is as good as a rest as I confirmed that I’d be taking on a part time role with a local agency in addition to running my own business. My logic felt sound: supplementing my own income while I expanded Ultimately Better so that […]
Category: Work
From the early days as an IT Technician to my first web developer role, going self-employed for the first time, managing a team of developers and going back and forth to office work before ultimately realising I’m “unemployable” and returning to running my own business as a WordPress freelancer. The entire history of my work roles and all the pros and cons of working for myself can be found in here.
The highs and lows of my first ‘proper’ hire
I made my first “proper” hire at Ultimately Better last month. Well, proper in the sense that I wasn’t just offering a salaried position to a long-standing freelancer; proper in the sense that I had to write a job spec, advertise, interview and make Big Important Decisions. I find the whole process of hiring someone […]
An Imposter and the Mountains
I’m currently sat in business class on a flight heading to Athens where I’ll be attending WordCamp Europe in a couple of days. We’re directly above the Swiss Alps and while I eat my complimentary breakfast and sip my fancy coffee I’m struck by the raw beauty of the landscape below; seemingly perfect undisturbed snow […]
A change is as good as a rest
I have successfully rendered myself a liar this week. After calling myself “basically unemployable” back in 2018, I started a new part-time position with Source Design this week. Super stressed Jem who couldn’t possibly contemplate a 9-5 way back in 2018 is now super chilled out handling a senior dev position for one firm, managing […]
A look back at 2020
I know it’s customary to write up ‘year in review’ style posts at the end of the actual year in question, but I think I’m only just getting over 2020 enough to write about it. How do you put into perspective a year that has simultaneously seen the lows of a loss of a parent, […]
Tales from Limbo: Part 4
It doesn’t feel right to title the next post in this ‘series’ as Tales from Lockdown, but it doesn’t exactly feel like normality is restored, so Tales from Limbo it is. In the last post from waaaay back in May (er, how did we get to October?) I was a little bit worried that more […]
Tales from Lockdown: Part 3
After my last lockdown post the Easter holidays drew to a close and we settled back into the homeschool routine. However, the kids seemed to be finding it more difficult to concentrate, and I was more shouty as a consequence. It didn’t feel like we were getting much done, and although I don’t normally do […]
2019: A Year of Grown Up Business Decisions
Each year I try to make small improvements to my life, my work, my fitness, my well-being etc. Small incremental improvements are much easier to maintain in the long term than large overhauls (although I’m no stranger to those either!) 2019 has been mostly about making grown up decisions to improve my financial standing & […]
Stupid Goals: Project Recurring Income
I’ve been stressed again lately. The ups and downs of hormones, the DOOM of summer holidays, the move, the kids, the usual shit. When I get stressed I start to ponder what I’m doing with my life and whether I should get a proper job. Unfortunately, I’m basically unemployable; there’s no way I could go […]
Self employment and mental health
Self employment / freelancing and mental health issues seem to go hand in hand. The stress of finding work, maintaining momentum, dealing with all the admin etc, not to mention restricted access to Actual Humans (besides the postman) and the feelings of isolation this can bring, lack of holiday and sick pay causing freelancers to […]