Work related resolutions

[AHarvey]

I know we've a general resolutions in GD but thought it would be interesting to see what people are looking at career wise for the following year.

Mine are:

1) Speak to my manager in January to talk about my role, training and a pay rise equal to the job I am doing, if not, keep looking for a new role.
2) Invest some time in myself and my training.
3) Either decide to wind up or wind down the photography business.
4) Spend time developing my other business ideas.

 

[Phate]

Only one main goal really for me and its one of the below

- Find a new role where my manager isn't a knob.
- Get my own start-up running.

Right now it's looking more like the 2nd option. I am having a talk with a potential investor this week or next for review of said business plan to see if he thinks it's viable. Even if he thinks its a solid business but cannot provide investment I'll launch the business but more "on the side" to minimize startup costs and use my current role to pay my way until the business is self sustainable.

If he does invest however. I'll hand in my notice here and go full steam ahead on my own start-up and give it the best go I can

 

[AHarvey]

Only one main goal really for me and its one of the below

- Find a new role where my manager isn't a knob.
- Get my own start-up running.

Right now it's looking more like the 2nd option. I am having a talk with a potential investor this week or next for review of said business plan to see if he thinks it's viable. Even if he thinks its a solid business but cannot provide investment I'll launch the business but more "on the side" to minimize startup costs and use my current role to pay my way until the business is self sustainable.

If he does invest however. I'll hand in my notice here and go full steam ahead on my own start-up and give it the best go I can

Well, you can either make yourself rich, or someone else. It's something I'd love to do, but tbh, I'd also like a leader not a manager, in my experiences managers are usually knobs, it's the leaders that aren't.

 

[Maccy]

Sit down and talk with current place about my issues with the amount of travel I'm currently doing or think about moving on and entering the contracting world. Decisions....

 

[Steeps]

2017 has been allocated as "the year of hell" for work so it's a case of keep head down and work harder because we have more new products than ever to create marketing for, trying TV advertising for the first time, whole new websites launching and eventually replacing our ordering and accounts system... all while our main products are trimmed due to NHS cutbacks and half our admin staff are on maternity leave with no one in to cover.

It's the first time I've stayed somewhere more than 2 years and felt I have job security, pay is appropriate for my skill level but I'm also considering cutting back on my photography and web work because the pressures of this year already had an effect on the end of last year. The photography was self-funding and nearly ready to turn a profit but it's not fair on myself or work to "over work". I only did the photography as a backup in case the last job(s) lead to nothing, which they did but I managed to find this job before jumping ship.

 

[Phate]

Well, you can either make yourself rich, or someone else. It's something I'd love to do, but tbh, I'd also like a leader not a manager, in my experiences managers are usually knobs, it's the leaders that aren't.

THis, pretty much. I don't mind working for others when I have a solid team and leader etc...but when I have a manager as hostile as mine creating such a toxic work environment...urgh. Getmeout.com

Plus, I think I've discovered a hole in the market. So this could potentially do very well indeed

 

[AHarvey]

THis, pretty much. I don't mind working for others when I have a solid team and leader etc...but when I have a manager as hostile as mine creating such a toxic work environment...urgh. Getmeout.com

Plus, I think I've discovered a hole in the market. So this could potentially do very well indeed

Well if you need a remote tea boy or general dogs body give me a shout lol Even if it's some free help testing things, always willing to help someone out.

Best of luck with it, you really deserve it!

 

[AHarvey]

The photography was self-funding and nearly ready to turn a profit but it's not fair on myself or work to "over work". I only did the photography as a backup in case the last job(s) lead to nothing, which they did but I managed to find this job before jumping ship.

Same, took it on to do a few weddings, covered my gear repayments for the last 6 years doing 4-6 weddings a year, the odd shoot for friends and 4 weddings booked for this year but I don't really enjoy it while working full time. Although it'd be 50% more than I am on if I went full time, realistically, income would be limited under £30k and I want to work towards more.

 

[Rroff]

I'm relatively happy where I am right now as far as the job goes but it isn't where I intend to end up and probably going to change sooner or later into something I'm not really comfortable with. My goal generally with 2017 is to make sure I've decent savings behind me and look towards moving out of the rut I've stuck into the last few years career wise - which will likely mean moving out of the immediate area.

 

[Phate]

Well if you need a remote tea boy or general dogs body give me a shout lol Even if it's some free help testing things, always willing to help someone out.

Best of luck with it, you really deserve it!

Thanks very much - I'll probably need all the help I can get, so lets see!

and yes, remote working will be part of the package

 

[Steeps]

Same, took it on to do a few weddings, covered my gear repayments for the last 6 years doing 4-6 weddings a year, the odd shoot for friends and 4 weddings booked for this year but I don't really enjoy it while working full time. Although it'd be 50% more than I am on if I went full time, realistically, income would be limited under £30k and I want to work towards more.

I was working towards weddings and I am happy with my portfolio and others wanted to book based on it, but after a bad client I had a sit down crit with some others and I wasn't getting the shots I really wanted due to a lack of confidence. The track day photography was going fine until I hit some IT issues (lost the use of a laptop while working away, no data loss luckily as backups were in place) and work started to get too busy to fix it all in the evenings.

I could sell the photo kit and the car, leaving enough for a deposit on a flat local to work, but they are also my hobbies and house prices here have gone up 25% which I can't keep up with.

Part of the problem is I've worked "alone" for the last 4 years and it's starting to get to me. No one else works on the websites or creates the literature so there's no one around to develop ideas with or fix issues, falling behind with the latest developments and techniques. The photography side was supposed to be in partnership with someone else but they bailed last minute so I had to develop those systems and fund a photobooth myself, if I want to use it properly then it would need more investment (new housing, printer).

 

[HangTime]

-Stop over-promising in terms of timescales for new pieces of work being discussed; learn to give people realistic dates (or no date) rather than what I think they want to hear
-Seriously explore contracting possibilities
-Give more 'one-liner' progress updates to people rather than delaying until I have something of substance to tell them
-Don't delay difficult conversations, have them as soon as feasible

 

[The Funktopus]

My only career related resolution this year is to move on from working deep sea, hopefully either into an engineering/technical offshore role (oil & gas, but more probably wind), or an onshore job. 6 years in the Merchant Navy of 3 months on/3 months off has been enough I feel.