This Business and Moment...

Happy New Year everyone - hope everything goes well for all in 2019.

We had a decent 2018. Increasing revenues, moved into a new office in a great location, hired full-time staff, etc. I've been a bit disappointed with our overall revenue, given that a large chunk of it was down to one massive deal, but we've still got 3 months left of our full year to top it up. But this has allowed me to get a bit more hands-on on running the company rather than just focusing on billings. We had a very promising Q3 which unfortunately didn't fully deliver, but we're still waiting on the outcome of a few things that could go our way.

2019 is going to be interesting - trying to ignore/navigate/anticipate Brexit is a bit of a pain, and it throws up loads of uncertainty as to where we look to do business. Do we continue growing in the US, angle more towards a buoyant Italian market, or purely hope that there's enough to do in the UK? We're five people at the moment, although one guy works a little separately. There's some initial talk of he and I fully pooling our resources together and setting up a company 50:50. I wouldn't be averse to the idea (it was the company's initial plan several years ago), he's got much more management experience than I do, but I feel that I'm the slightly better headhunter. That said, there's lots to discuss before we settle on anything and we both need to throw ourselves in to Q4.
 
How soon is too soon to ask for another pay rise? I had a sizable pay bump and moved up a "grade" around 7 months ago, in the next 3 months I'm going to be bringing a significant piece of work in house at a cost saving of circa £70k a year while also enabling the business much tighter control around something which really makes up the bedrock of our business.

I'm thinking that around June - July time once this has been accomplished I'm going to ask for another significant bump and an increase in grade to 'head of' which puts me just below director level.

I can see both sides of this, part of me feels like I'm taking the mick a bit by asking for another bump so soon, but at the same time I'd only be bringing myself up to market rate for what you'd expect to pay somebody for this task if you had to replace me. Taking on this piece of work was not remotely on the cards when I was given my last raise, but given the disappointing service we've received from an external consultant in this area and the aptitude I've demonstrated for the work this is now the preferred option.

Am I taking the ****?
 
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So I had my well overdue meeting with the Senior PM today as planned and I am very pleased to say it felt like it went fantastically well.

We had an excellent talk about what I am looking for and considering for my career options then moved on to her typical "day-to-day" - spoke about what its like being a PM at Microsoft vs other companies. Which framework they rely on, the different domains etc...honestly it all sounded fantastic and fascinating.

Towards the end she said she feels like I am a very strong candidate to join the team. For a multitude of reasons, she was honest and didn't know if they had headcount but that isn't necessarily a problem for the "right" person. She also actively encouraged me to approach her manager directly, introduce myself and talk about if there is room on the team and put myself forward. Coupled with advice on key selling points that will help me as well.

The meeting finished with her saying "I hope to see you on my team in the near future"

Grinning from ear to ear here :D

Lately I've had so much negativity going on (personal shizzle) that it feels great to have such a positive feeling and reaction after the meeting.

Her manager is on holiday right now, back on Monday. I know what I'll be prepping to send on Sunday evening so its at the top of the pile :D

Watch this space...
 
This is the year I either get promoted in my current department, get promoted into a totally different Government Dept (more likely but means a longer commute) or risk it for a biscuit and try my hand in the private sector.

A good friends has recently left the Civil Service and his new MD would like to take me to lunch at some point soon - has a senior management role which they are willing to provide the specialist training for the right person, sounds intriguing but I'm focusing on the promotion as a priority.
 
This week further plans beginning. Beginning approach to PM's Manager to say hello and ask for virtual coffee... :)
 
Phate said:
This week further plans beginning. Beginning approach to PM's Manager to say hello and ask for virtual coffee... :)
Click to expand...
haha get in there. Do that PR needed ;)

First day back in the office and **** I have a lot to do. I was tasked with technical documentation of 5 solutions and integrations with the system I'm ASM for before Christmas. It's not my area, and I don't want to do it as it's a **** of a job. I'm going to have to work out what the **** all this stuff does. The guy who asked me to do it is the PM on the project and not my boss, but I really don't want to rock the boat as an external employee, but the thought of it just makes me want to run away. If this was the job I applied for, I simply wouldnt have.
He's in tomorrow, so I have to crack as much as I can today, but I'm on here procrastinating. :P

One good thing though, we're in Beta now on Goat Clash, it's sweet as. Nearly ready to go live there! Got some epic stuff planned for that. I really want to get to the point we can bring on some more devs and build a "Goat Hunter" AR mobile game where, like pokemon Go, you find goats in the wild and have to butt them to defeat them. Each goat is a different level and worth different amounts of GOAT Cash. To level up you can just get more XP playing, or buy better horns etc with GOAT tokens. Me and my 11yr old came up with this and think it's ******* ace :D

VolAir coming on with the app too... last little bits to do, everyone did nothing over the break so we're all pumped to get it finished now.

Set myself a wunderlist of "goals" for this year. They're all measurable, and not resolutions, just things I want to do and they're done in phases so I feel like they're all achievable. Got the kids to do the same. You know you've been brainwashed by corp ******** when you catch yourself saying "now, you can't have that as it's not a SMART goal. You need it to be well defined and measurable" jesus, Ross.

Happy new year all, let's **** this one up and make it our bitch!
 
randomshenans said:
haha get in there. Do that PR needed ;)
Click to expand...

All about networking in this place.

Got a colleague who worked with him and is on good terms to introduce me, and a senior member of his team as a reference for me. Writing my introductory email now and will approach on Wednesday as hes back in the office today, lets give him a few days to breathe ;)
 
Published on our confirmed corp partnership with the NGO Heifer International. https://medium.com/@goatcash/goat-cash-heifer-international-goat-to-be-great-f80298bc6b4c

Awesome stuff and they're great too, this is how the humble goat has helped so many!


Now through Goat Cash our donations will be used to help fund that!

Took me so much corp red tape to make it happen, but it's all done. Next week I'd like to get this dApp for Goat Clash out, and I'm working on a new exchange listing too.
Got 3.5hrs sleep last night as my daughter was sick all night, and had a day of back to back meetings, so novartis work today has been so damn hard. Now to ride home and cry :D
 
Not entirely business related, but my fiancee successfully defended her thesis this afternoon and will be granted her DPhil (genetics) from Oxford! Hopefully gives her a bit more oomph going forward for job applications!
 
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