Tweet
Launching a second career at the age of 50 this week entails a brewery trip with the chaps. I'm open to all human contact
Having got into the swing of "adding posts", as we bloggers put it, I thought I would expand on why I have chosen the title "Notworking". I am indebted to my friend and erstwhile colleague Derek for the idea. A former senior product manager at the bank, he sadly did not benefit from a redundancy payment as he left the bank voluntarily a year ago to take on the role of marketing director at an exciting start-up in the financial sector. "Kerching" was heralded as an innovative mix of social media and personal loans, but unfortunately it never quite got beyond the concept stage, leaving Derek embittered, cynical and barely solvent. After a sustained period of job-hunting, he is now on the verge of despair and signing up for whatever benefits will help with his not-inconsiderable mortgage.
I called him (via Skype, of course) when I was planning to set up this blog and found him at his desk in his home office where he'd spent the previous four hours designing a sleepover invitation for Gemma, his 12-year-old daughter. He suggested "Notworking" as a title. As he explained it: "First, you're not working yourself; and second, it's a pun on networking which itself doesn't work, as the only people you meet are those like yourself who haven't got any business." I have to say this seems a touch cynical but I'm going along with it, as much as anything else to prove him wrong.
One thing that struck me this week was how quiet it was working alone in my office, "starting up" my new business. After years of commuting into the City on Thameslink I thought I'd thrive working from home. But with Sandra out much of the day playing tennis or at coffee mornings, I find myself curiously isolated with only our narcoleptic cat Rocky, curled up in my office armchair, for company.
All the more welcome then, was Thursday night's annual brewery trip organised by the Marshalswick Lawn Tennis Club. We managed to fill a coach with slightly overweight, middle-aged men like myself who are less frequently observed on the tennis court than their wives but whose enthusiasm for real ale remains undiminished. I did sample rather a lot of the beer on offer; I also enjoyed the company of the other chaps, all interested in my new career and the source of some very creative business ideas, none of which I can now remember.
"Are you on LinkedIn?" is something I do recall being asked, more than once. Apparently joining is a "no-brainer" as I can "connect" with any number of potential clients globally.
So I am now on LinkedIn. My "profile" – linkedin.com/in/geoffreywadhurst – is a little threadbare but I think of this as my first step into the new world of social media. Naturally, I am open to invitations to "connect".
In fact, I am open to all form of human contact as my sense of isolation is deepening – Sandra must have taken exception to my rare night of male company as I awoke yesterday in the spare room; I was alone, my sole cohabitant being the brewery's (empty) gift pint pot on the pillow beside me.
Geoffrey Wadhurst
guardian.co.uk © 2011 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
More...
