I’ve been meaning to tell you about this for a while. The time has finally come.

Last week I received official confirmation of my redundancy situation and the projected severance pay. The letter also included notification that my employer has agreed to honour my desire to waive the four month notice period. So… as of 11 Feb 2013, I will no longer be employed. Today… I am no longer employed.

Out of work. For the first time since I started working at 16 years old. By choice!

Hang on a second while I breathe into this large paper bag.
*huff huff huff huff*

When I looked at the letter properly and saw, in plain black and white, what I have known to be the case for several months, this is pretty much what I looked like: I still feel that way, but knowing where I stand offers clarity and comfort that I was lacking before.

The time has never been riper to strike out on my own and since making the decision, I have been slowly (like glacially) pulling together the threads of my plan to go freelance. I have taken courses to improve my skills, practised on anybody and everybody willing to let me try, and gathered testimonials with which to populate the website I now intend to build. All this towards my final goal; I will be offering an editing, proofing and critique service!

I don’t want to talk too much about it yet; there are details I want to smooth out and ensure I have straight before I start publicly committing to things, but the sense of liberation I feel is well worth the potential financial nightmare this could bring with it. Freelancing isn’t easy at the best of times. Offering a service such as what I have in mind requires advertising, networking and most of all time before it comes close to paying back what you put in. I’m in the fortunate position of having a tiny amount of cash to help in keeping our heads afloat, but the time really has come to step up and get started.

In the coming weeks this blog won’t be quiet, but posts will be shorter and of a more scattered nature while I prepare my business for launch. When the time comes, I’ll link in to here and let you all know what’s kicking off.

Then, when that is settled, I can talk some more about the other things I want to do; self publishing some of my work!

In the meantime, however, I have a survey that I would really appreciate you guys filling in for me. I want to be sure that there is a market for what I’m offering and answers to these questions will help me figure out some of the finer details, whilst matching what the clientèle want. If you have a second spare, would you fill it in for me? It’s only ten questions long and they’re all multiple choice. Also, when I have a suitable number of answers I’m going to put the names of all those who completed a survey into a hat and pick out three to receive a free critique of any 1000 words they chose. And everyone gets a virtual cookie of gratitude!

Just ping me a comment to let me know you’ve filled in the questionnaire and I’ll add your name to the critique hat. ^_^ Thanks guys!

Take The Survey!