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.

Taking it Personally

I had a couple of clients (rightly) tell me off this week because schedules had slipped and this wasn’t communicated as well as it could have been. I only have myself to blame, and I don’t mind being honest about it. I should have better anticipated the impact of the summer holidays and time off […]

First Week

So, it’s been just over a week since I returned working from home. A week of exercising self-control, willpower and planning. A week of trying out a new routine, of getting used to waking up in the morning thinking “I don’t want to go to work… oh”. The ~Grand Plan~ for this time round was […]

Laptop Limbo (and some news)

As I count down the days til I’m back at my desk at home, I feel like I’m in sort of “work limbo” right now. I’m actively seeking and quoting for freelance opportunities — some of which are looking more positive than others — but I still have a huge amount of work on at […]

Flippity Flop

Keeping with the “posts I didn’t think I’d write” theme, I have some slightly less traumatic but otherwise Important Life Stuff news. Having earlier this week spent the Nth (I’ve lost count) night waking up — tossing and turning — stressing about work, I decided that enough was enough this week. The reasons are many […]

What’s your process?

One of the things I am really keen on doing this year is to improve my workflow / development process. I have a very “make it up as I go along” approach to building a website (as demonstrated by my live dev ;)) which I think is fine for personal projects sometimes, but when you’re […]

No Regrets

I’ve waxed lyrical on and off social media recently about the benefits of going back to work on my mood (and sanity) and I think, in the process, somehow given off this impression that working for myself was the worst thing I’ve ever done and nowt but a bump in the road of my career. […]

Tumbleweeeeed

So apparently working 9-5 and then 7-10 each and every day kills all desire or inclination to blog. Boo. :[

All change (again)

This time last week I made a cryptic reference to stuff that might be happening here in chez Jem – because I know how much people like cryptic posts and don’t find them in the least bit annoying ;) Well, I think I’m probably OK to spill the beans now… I am returning to work. […]

I hate thinking up titles

If you’re a super duper smartypants you may remember that I recently alluded to some things happening here that would hopefully be the catalyst for a positive change in my daily routine. Yes indeedy, as of Monday (yesterday) Karl started working part time: that is, 8am-1pm in his existing job. You can read the various […]

Self-employment 6 months on: the good, the bad & the ugly

It’s roughly 6 months since I registered as self-employed and told my mostly-fantastic (he’d kick me for the mostly part) boss of 6 years that I was going to leave. Now’s as good a time as any to give you an update on how that’s going. The Good I have spent the past 6 years […]