Miserable Monday

First things first. The good news is that there was no bad news last night regarding my stepson's concert trip. He stayed over at the house of one of the friends he went to the concert with, on the basis that his friend lived closer to school and it would be quicker to school this morning. All makes sense, doesn't it? Unless they sleep through the alarm in the morning (Fortunately that's the only bad news). My wife ended up driving over there, and having to wake them up and take them to school.

It is absolutely pissing down hard with rain at the moment and has been all morning. Am I motivated to go out to a meeting this afternoon or should I call in sick? That's right, no sickies no pay. So I will brave the rain and meet with two former colleagues that service institutional investors such as hedge funds. They have built up a solid business that is a leader in its niche. They are going to take me through their product in depth and we will see if I can be of assistance in helping market their product to a wider audience.

I run a networking group that is for people in my industry. It's now over 400 people a couple of months after launching, and I'm pretty happy with that growth. We are having our first London based social drink next week. I also do a Friday night recap of the week's events so last Friday I announced to everyone that I have left my previous employer. A lot of love came back at me and I'm touched. (Not love really, but certainly kind wishes and commiserations.) That Friday Wrap-up has got the word out to an even wider audience, and as they say, job hunting is about networking. With that, my industry blog, my profile on LinkedIn and some of the small media coverage my departure has generated, I don't think I can do any more.

Tonight I have a conference call with a US based consultant who is considering expanding into Europe. Doing the call via Skype, and it's the first time I've done that! I am such a 2.0 techie geek.

Day Two

The second day of my alternate employment. I have been really busy, and I kind of like it. I am responsible for taking action and I did so. The true test will come in the days and weeks to come. It's always easiest at the start when motivation and energy are high.

Day One Review

So, how did I do with my goals on Day One?

• Fix my PC. The technician came over and took my two PCs back with him to do testing in his office. I did as much as I could so that is 7/10.
• Start the updating process on LinkedIn. Kind of ... but not quite. I put in a cryptic line in my profile. 3/10
• Sending out a message to my key contacts. Sent out 50 emails to my closest business relationships and a number to those I consider "friends" in the business. I had a great response and have the next two days filled up with casual meetings with various people. The feedback has been strong enough that I am going to wait a few days before sending out the next batch. As I wrote yesterday, the goal is to stay in the consciousness of people in the market. So, Friday will be my next target for emails to help fill up next week. 10/10.
• Work on the Stock Lending Today blog. Posted this morning. A little disappointed because I haven't done any prep work for any other articles. 8/10

Today

• First, I had to take care of a personal requirement. Done and back home at 11.30.
• Follow up with a few people where we haven't been able to set a meeting time.
• Finish the LinkedIn changes.
• There have been a huge number of new members to the group I run: Securities Lending Traders Network. There have been over 30 new members in the last week (Over 400 in total at the moment), and I have to send out some more info to them. I am also trying to arrange a social evening for the London Chapter. Organising an event like that is not my real strength, so watch out for procrastination on this point.
• I have joined Link Referal and The Website Owner Zone. Both of these have been really helpful and I am going to spend some more time on these sites today. Some really helpful people and comments. Thanks everyone.
• I also expect to spend a ridiculous amount of time following the US election. If you are in the US - get out and VOTE!

Another full day planned. I am sure this will sound weird, but I have been working with at least two full size screens attached to my PC for the last dozen years. I am having a hard time without this luxury.

Is there life after Bloggin?

Day One

My new career - whatever that is, has now started.
I love (American) Football so my Sunday nights here in London are taken up with NFL on Sky TV. I love it a bit less when my Cowboys get crushed by the evil Giants like last night. When I had a job, I wasn't able to stay up late as my work mornings started with the 5.30 alarm. So today I indulged, and while I am not going into an office, I will continue to do so.

I got up at 8.30, had breakfast and have spent the past hour organising all of the websites that I will need to get started with my job hunt. What are my goals for today?

• Get my PC fixed. Friday was the WRONG DAY for it to blow up. I am on my daughter's pink-clad MAC at the moment. A nice look, but not one for my professional portfolio.

• Start the updating process on LinkedIn so that people know how to get in touch with me and that I am now available. I tend to tinker with things - always slightly adjusting them.

• Send out the first batch of emails to my closest business contacts to let them know about my updated status. I plan on doing this like ripples in a pond. The first batch today will be the close ones. Tomorrow the next ring and so on. I think it is important that I maintain a consistent flow of contacts out there, so that someone is always thinking about me rather than trying to saturate everyone. Let's see how that works.

• I will take some time every day to work on my primary work-related blog Stock Lending Today. Hopefully I will have the time to do even better articles, but I have been mostly happy with the work I have done so far.

That's it for today ... the clock is ticking and the expenses are now exceeding the revenues.