New Year Resignation
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Monday, 2nd January 2012
For longer than I can remember, I have been helping small businesses to get online. From registering domain names, setting up web hosting, getting listed in search engines, creating websites and applications to giving advice on all aspects of being online. During this time I learned a lot of valuable lessons, whether from getting my hands on the latest technologies to learning the lessons of being in business.
Three things motivated me throughout this time. The first was that I got to use technology that I couldn't use at work, because the companies employing me were behind the curve. This is no longer the case as I am working for a progressive employer, putting Scrum and Kanban into action in real life with continuous integration and test-driven development as well as a really cool product with lots of exciting features.
The second of these motivational factors was that the business was funding all of the ideas and open-source projects I worked on. It funded all of the free JavaScript, PHP and C# code that was created for the good of the community and all of the websites that explained and documented it all. My plan is to look for "operational efficiencies" in this area - which is a nice way of saying that many of these projects will be moth-balled, but left somewhere in the public domain for people who want to use or modify them.
The final thing that motivated me to do this work for small businesses was that I genuinely wanted to help these companies and individuals. I stepped in to create a website for a small company who were about to pay £15,000 to an unscrupulous company who tricked them into believing this was a normal amount for a brochure-site. I helped a customer reclaim their domain names from a fly-by-night hosting company who were trying to charge them an extortionate transfer fee. I transformed an 8 page, 1-off printed magazine into the largest online magazine in its category and I met some amazing entrepreneurs along the way. Sadly, I also found that there are lots of people who are willing to waste time, pay invoices late every time, ask for advice but never follow it and generally expect everything and pay for none of it.
So gradually my motivation has eroded and on top of this I now have other demands on my time. I am preparing presentations on programming and technology to share with some very bright people, this is time consuming, and is also causing me to hunger for more knowledge, so I am reading a great deal more than I used to. I also have a three-week old daughter who is happy to use up my time at all times of the day and night.
All of this has led me to decide to dedicate my time where it is most appreciated and so I am resigning from my self-employment to spend more time on the things I love. I will be writing individually to anyone affected by this decision.
I would like to thank the good customers, who were a pleasure to help and support - in particular I had a great time helping the restaurants and pubs of Salisbury and Tichborne, the sports camps business and the entrepreneurs in the Manchester area. I wish you all the biggest success and the most happiness for the future.