Day 1 without a job

[Silky]

Day 1 without the comfort blanket of my full time employment, I finally finished on Friday after working a long, drawn out notice period.

Today is the first full working day of concentrating on my business, and (cliche) "the first day of the rest of my life". And what a brilliant day - it started off with an interview on GMTV followed by an interview on BBC Radio Wales and to top it all, yesterday our site suddenly appeared no.1 on google from being pretty much unranked. Let's hope day 2 carries on in the same theme.

Luck? Well I've recently been reading The Secret and a number of similar books about the Universal Laws of Magnetism. Sounds completely nutty but I do think they have had more than a helping hand in this. Whatever the case, I hope it lasts.....

Silky

 

[UKSEOAgency]

Good Luck!

 

[adventurelife]

Good luck on going full time. Always a big step but more than worth it.

 

[mubin]

How the heck did you get national media coverage so quickly?

 

[My Owl 1]

Good Luck to you. Another wicked book is the Slight Edge by Jeff Olson.

A fab read and very mind setting.

Best wishes

Avril

www.savemoneywithus.co.uk

affordable utilities for home and business

 

[faststaff]

I concur. The Slight Edge is a great read.

Rich

 

[sm1]

Well done - congrats on getting onto GMTV as well!

 

[leemason]

Luck? Well I've recently been reading The Secret and a number of similar books about the Universal Laws of Magnetism. Sounds completely nutty but I do think they have had more than a helping hand in this. Whatever the case, I hope it lasts.....

Silky

My wife has just been sent a copy of The Secret by a friend. She has started to read it and saids it's pretty good. Basically if you get through all of the universe stuff it seems to be a way of employing self administered CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy). It's well worth a read - and I'm not usually into this sort of thing.

 

[Mister B]

Good luck to you...you'll never look back
Mister B

 

[i234i]

Did you get a copy of the interview or is it online?

 

[Faith28]

Good luck from me too! And I agree you will not look back...I did try to go back into employment and after 4 weeks gave it up again. I quit because of various reasons but i don't doubt that going back into employment was a difficult mindset to take on again for me.

Once you are self employed and see opportunities all around you it's hard to switch that mind frame off back into employment/slave mode!

 

[Mattonella Tile Studio]

Congratulations on the interview, and good luck for the future

 

[Officebird]

Well done! Long may it continue!

 

[Simon-M]

Great start. Will be interesting to hear what happens tomorrow

 

[alex4orne]

Wow

Well done fantastic start. Long may it continue

I agree with the mindset thing, I gave up being self employed less than a year ago, but have now finished my job as of last Friday as well. I just can't work for some one else.

 

[serendipitybusiness]

Well done and good luck with your project, I am sure with that much energy behind it it will be a great success.

 

[Findermonkey]

Well you've set the bar high! GMTV how cool, good luck

 

[Silky]

Thanks everyone, I suspect tomorrow will be quite a "normal" day in comparison but I'm just looking forward to having time to work on my own stuff rather than pretend to be half interested in anything my employer may have thrown in my direction. I know fine well that I'm bound to have some wobbly moments along the way (like when the mortgage needs paying ) but it's just so reassuring to start with a bang!

How the heck did you get national media coverage so quickly?

We did launch our site last year Mubin but have only just started the SEO. The coverage came via a link on another site - the producer was looking for someone for a topical story and it was a case of being in the right place at just the right time. Luck or divine intervention I'm not sure but either way I hope it sticks around

Thanks for the tip on the other book Avril, I'll definitely add it to my list.

Silky

 

[murdoch]

good luck and what a great start!!

 

[Eureka EFS]

Good Job, Silky!

And thanks for the addition to the booklist. Can you post any of the interviews?

Freddie

 

[Silky]

Thanks guys! The GMTV interview is here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BX71YDOzPsU but the TV really does put pounds on you (I'm only a size 8 really! cough, splut).

The BBC Wales debate was an interesting one as the other guest was really self opinionated (Victoria Gillock's sister nonetheless): http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00h925r/Richard_Evans_02_02_2009/
(1 hour and 6 minutes into the show)

Silky

 

[Faith28]

That's great...I already watched that clip on the day, didn't realise it was you.

Well done!

 

[UKSEOAgency]

I didnt get to watch it yesterday - but you looked confident and very well spoken! And got a free plug in for your website

Congratulation!

 

[Silky]

I was really really nervous beforehand but before going on I watched someone from The Children's Society pontificating about how damaging it is to be a working mum (yada yada) and it helped fire me up. Amazing what a bit of anger will do !

Silky

 

[Watford Courier Company]

Congrats
What sort of business is it that you have launched and how doid you get interviews with GMTV and BBC Wales?

 

[Ashley_Price]

I was really really nervous beforehand but before going on I watched someone from The Children's Society pontificating about how damaging it is to be a working mum (yada yada) and it helped fire me up. Amazing what a bit of anger will do

To be honest I have to agree to a point with The Children's Society.

I've read a lot of biographies of successful people, as well as recently watching the Real Alan Sugar (or whatever it was called). Often their biggest regret is not having enough time for their children and "missing" them growing up. Alan Sugar said he used to be out of the house by 7am and back home after 7pm - when the children were in bed.

Two or three friends have recently started businesses and one of my first questions to them is "What does your family think?" Fortunately, this has been covered and the families are really supportive, but you have to make sure that all of them (even the husband/wife) still feel wanted. As your business grows it takes up a lot of your spare time, time that would have been spent with the family. They can easily feel neglected and that mother/father/wife/husband no longer has time for them.

Having said all of the above, however, I've got to say well done on taking the plunge!

 

[Eureka EFS]

I was really really nervous beforehand but before going on I watched someone from The Children's Society pontificating about how damaging it is to be a working mum (yada yada) and it helped fire me up. Amazing what a bit of anger will do !

Silky

Chrissie

Your anger was evident on the radio broadcast. It's a shame, because it took you off course. Surely your experience - upon which your argument is based - is that you didn't choose to be a single parent but, having been dealt that hand decided to play the game of your life.

Lynette Barrows was right in that your situation is far from the norm. Exceptionality is not an indictment, but high praise for which you should be proud.

It seems you have had your cake, eaten it and remained a size 8 Now that's a combination USP worth celebrating.

Freddie

 

[MorrisChesterfield]

Well Done, i would have stutttttttttered all the time! haha

Ben

 

[Silky]

Chrissie

Surely your experience - upon which your argument is based - is that you didn't choose to be a single parent but, having been dealt that hand decided to play the game of your life.

Lynette Barrows was right in that your situation is far from the norm.

Thanks Freddie, but my experience is actually based on the thousands of single parents I meet through our site (our holidays are often 100 strong). Our members include doctors, lawyers, bus drivers, accountants, nurses, teachers galore, university lecturers, receptionists, secretaries... all hard working, hard caring and few with children who are depressive, poor performing and dysfunctional (just look at the video on the front of our website). Lynette refused to accept government statistics - 56% of lone parents work and the average age is 36 NOT the media stereotype she was sticking to.

Of course there are single parents with dysfunctional families. There are also married couples with dysfunctional families. Would a child be happier with two warring parents than with one happy parent?

Tell someone who's just separated that they're going to be miserable and they're condemning their offspring to a life of unhappiness and underperformance and you further increase the despair and anxiety they face. Tell them that ok, things aren't ideal (is anyone's life?) BUT they can be happy, their children can be happy and balanced and they can get over this and support them and you have a much more positive result.

I wonder if anyone told Barack Obama's mum he'd be a no-hoper.....

Silky

 

[Stray__Cat]

Fantastic, all the best

 

[Silky]

Your anger was evident on the radio broadcast.

It was just as well I wasn't in a studio with her Freddie, I felt like wringing her neck !!

The presenter had pre-warned me about her before I agreed to the debate, I'll certainly know next time

Silky

 

[Jenni384]

Luck? Well I've recently been reading The Secret and a number of similar books about the Universal Laws of Magnetism. Sounds completely nutty but I do think they have had more than a helping hand in this. Whatever the case, I hope it lasts.....

Silky

I totally get this 'law of attraction' stuff.
Good luck and have a fabulous future

 

[Ashley_Price]

Luck? Well I've recently been reading The Secret and a number of similar books about the Universal Laws of Magnetism. Sounds completely nutty but I do think they have had more than a helping hand in this. Whatever the case, I hope it lasts

It's difficult but I do believe in this - it can't always be purely coincidence. When we put in a concerted effort to get more business by mailing people, etc., we end up getting more enquiries from other, completely unrelated sectors. It's as though our sending out a mailing has activated something and those that need our services contact us - even though the mailing wasn't to them.

 

[Eureka EFS]

I wonder if anyone told Barack Obama's mum he'd be a no-hoper.....

Silky

If she had a cent for each time someone said/implied that, she could have retired long before he got his first job, I'm sure. Especially given that he did inhale, which was 'kinda the point'.

However the point remains that being the first of his race to the post of President after forty-three others from another race, and after two hundred and thirty-odd years since the independence of his nation, makes him an exception. That's kinda the big deal.

If you were to borrow from the Obama election campaign, you could pose the question: 'Can we change the way the media portraits single parents as spongers who breed dysfunctional kids?'

There's only one answer, isn't there: Yes We Can!...

...But first you must learn to deal with the (supposed) opposition. Obama had the Neo Cons to contend with.

And keep in mind that exceptional deeds require exceptional focus, drive, planning, support, talent and leadership. The 44th President of the USA seems to have bucket-loads of each.

Freddie

 

[Silky]

.

If you were to borrow from the Obama election campaign, you could pose the question: 'Can we change the way the media portraits single parents as spongers who breed dysfunctional kids?'

We're unlikely to do it overnight, admittedly, but the whole ethos of our organisation is basically "single....and bloody happy too !" We work on convincing people they're not consigned to the scrap heap and there is life after divorce. Ok so we come across the occasional Mrs Burrows along the way but our philosophy is based on fact rather than media stereotypes, we've got literally thousands of testimonials from happy single parents, happy children of single parents and (get this) suppliers who support us and praise us on the behaviour of our groups compared to many family groups they accommodate.

I read a story somewhere about a man on a beach watching a child throwing beached starfish back into the sea. There were literally hundreds of thousands of these beached creatures so he called out to the child that he was wasting his time, he wouldn't be able to make a difference. The child threw another star fish back into the sea and calmly said "Well I made a difference to that one".

.There's only one answer, isn't there: Yes We Can!...

And keep in mind that exceptional deeds require exceptional focus, drive, planning, support, talent and leadership.

Have you been reading my cv?

Silky

 

[sm1]

Good clip - just wondering, has it led to an increase in traffic to your site or any more enquiries?

Cheers

 

[Silky]

Hi,
We had our best day ever yesterday - I've just checked the figures now. I'm quite surprised actually as it's never as direct as internet advertising, many people watch you then forget all about by the time they get to a pc, but we've a great increase in new visits. Of course I don't know whether this is due to google or me ranting on the radio

The TV and radio shot actually mean more to us in terms of credibility. We've found time and time again that some visitors are nervous of buying over the internet until they know more. To be able to put GMTV and BBC Radio on a press page will hopefully help allay any fears.

Silky

 

[maria102]

It's difficult but I do believe in this - it can't always be purely coincidence. When we put in a concerted effort to get more business by mailing people, etc., we end up getting more enquiries from other, completely unrelated sectors. It's as though our sending out a mailing has activated something and those that need our services contact us - even though the mailing wasn't to them.

I wholeheartedly agree with that, it sounds a bit ridiculous but I actually believe it to be true......I thought it was just me so never really said this...but...

scenario a - I am tired, arrive at the shop, don't really do much just look on the internet, straighten a few racks etc, we have a rubbish day sales wise, less visitors.

scenario b - spend the day being productive, working out events, stock and plans for the future and we have a great day sales wise, as well as few 'lucky breaks' plus more visitors.

To anyone outside the shop, things look exactly the same, although I am sure I "create" the positive energy....if you know what I mean? :redface:

 

[Jenni384]

I wholeheartedly agree with that, it sounds a bit ridiculous but I actually believe it to be true......I thought it was just me so never really said this...but...

scenario a - I am tired, arrive at the shop, don't really do much just look on the internet, straighten a few racks etc, we have a rubbish day sales wise, less visitors.

scenario b - spend the day being productive, working out events, stock and plans for the future and we have a great day sales wise, as well as few 'lucky breaks' plus more visitors.

To anyone outside the shop, things look exactly the same, although I am sure I "create" the positive energy....if you know what I mean? :redface:

Yes

Google "The Law of Attraction"

It's called various things but the essence is the same

 

[maria102]

Yes

Google "The Law of Attraction"

It's called various things but the essence is the same

I tried explaining this to my husband and my brother recently and they both thought (still think) I am nuts.

I thought I had some flipping guardian angel or something, it was like the most random people starting appearing in the shop with 'helpful' skills... cue window dresser/photographer/seamstress/handbag maker who were/are all customers but just had these random skills at the time I needed them!