After the lovely response my first podcast/audio post received last month, we decided to make another (with added seagulls and aeroplanes for authenticity!). This time Pat and my discussion expands on the theme of self-employment, including an update of 'the story so far' plus thoughts of the future...
Once again, your thought on this/these audio posts are most welcome, including anything you'd like to hear me chat on about in the near future!
Oh WAIT!!! An added extra in this audio post is that I let slip the gender of our baby-to-be! Please no spoilers in the comments peops!
17 comments:
great podcast (even with the seagulls and the aeroplanes...) Once the little person descends on you, I would really love to hear about strategies the two of you use to maintain some balance, being there in the home most of the time with the sprog and still trying to carry on creative endeavors. I used to work in an office, but now I work from home and teach, and I find balancing the needs of the job and the kids in a single (head) space to be my biggest challenge (but then I'm a natural muddler-through)
I completely missed any reference to gender. Oh well, I'll find out eventually. :)
Love your podcast here, and love your bloggyness mucho too. I just nominated you an award winning Super Sweet Blogger!
xx
I enjoy hearing others describe how they handle self-employment. You're a joy to listen to.
This was a very nice accompaniment to ripping out stitches from a botched-up project and kept me from feeling grumpy about it! ;)
I liked this very much and found it very interesting as I'm trying to find my path towards self-employment with my creative side. So, like Margaret above me, I really like to hear what other self-employed creative people I look up to have to say about it. I'm at the very beginning of trying to get things up and going, and I find it very hard to find the courage. It is indeed very scary, as you said! If you have any words of wisdom as far as that goes for a future podcast or post, I'd love to hear them! Thanks! :) Lisa
It takes a lot of courage to do what you are doing, especially with a baby on the way, and it sounds like you are really making it work (long may it continue). I'm a mum, a part time student and also self employed. My husband is a full time student while he retrains after losing his job for medical reasons. Fortunately he has a partial pension which means we do have some regular income but sometimes the amount of money going out compared to what's coming in is scary to look at.
I'm looking forward to hearing more about how things are working for you, particularly when your little one arrives.
Loved listening to your second podcast and hearing the seagulls. Great to hear that you keep determined to continue your own way - kudos to you both!
I liked hearing your approach to what the future may bring in terms of employment - your relaxed attitude will probably make for an easy transition to life with baby. Here's hoping, anyway! I'm thinking that eventually I will probably be self-employed, since my degree doesn't offer much in the way of employment possibilities that mesh with our lives - we move a great deal because my husband is a military physician, and there are few traditional positions that are truly portable no matter where you live. I'd be happy just creating for me and my kids but I suspect that when all 4 are old enough to no longer need me, I'll be wanting to do something a little further-reaching.
It's interesting to hear your rational behind the choices you make. I'm terrible with uncertainty and insecurity, so your views on that are eye opening.
Hi Zoe, my husband got made redundant at a similar time to you and we are both still self employed (to be fair he works a lot more than me!). We don't really like someone being in charge of our hours etc., anyway. This is the second time for us (we had our own business for 10 years when our youngest was a baby). In his industry there is no work locally at the moment so for 4-5 days of the week he is away. We have to take the attitude, be thankful that we have some work. We have no long term contract with any employer. From experience we know we will cope in the rough patches and have developed strategies for cutting right back during them. Bearing uncertainty is something I have had to develop as it does not come naturally to me. I do this by trying to live in the present where everything is usually OK/pretty good and leaving tomorrow to take care of itself. As for parenthood, babies benefit a lot more from attention than they do from things, I didn't have a lot of stuff for baby no.3 because by that time I had figured out a lot of it was marketed at anxious parents. (They have cost considerably more since, mind you! ;) ) Good luck, I look forward to your next update!!
Oohh ... loved that audio post. And I am so excited to see what you will sew up for the wee one :-) (I listened very closely to not miss the gender ... hehehe)
Oh and I am a little jealous - I would love to live somewhere where I have seagulls in the background while recording something outside *g*
Have a nice weekend.
Susanne
Self employment will be wonderful with your new little..... person!!! ;) I'm still enjoying my maternity leave now but will have to go back to work soon. Having thst flexibility (both of you ) to work around baby's schedule and to not have to depend on childcare will be priceless.
I think you are lovely and a great inspiration to those of us who might be considering becoming self-employed. Best of luck and happiness with your little one.
I really enjoyed your first podcast, and found this one very interesting as well. Especially the part about just doing a job to get a paycheck.
I'll be having our first wee babe in 2 months and after that probably won't be able to go back to work for a few years. Due in part to cost of childcare vs. salary and where we live in relation to our work.
What I'm trying to say is, I found this very inspirational, to see you you take your passion and ethical stance and use it to your advantage.
Thanks for taking the time to put this together!
Thanks for the podcast!
Thank you for your podcast and for sharing your experiences with us! I found it very inspiring since I'm also currently thinking about self-employment. Right now I am at the same stage where you used to be...working in the fashion industry but not liking it. So much in the fashion industry goes against my own ethics like the constant overconsumption one creates. I admire your courage to become self-employed, hopefully I will reach that point some time in the future :)
Commendable job with the post! keep it up !!
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