Self-Employment Grattitude/Reflection

Self employment has been a wonderfully exciting ride so far. We are 22 years deep and I keep hearing myself say to people “20 years and still in business feels like success”. Back in 2002 I had no idea what I was doing with pianos but it didn’t really matter as I was still living at home with Mum and Dad and the pianos were in Dad’s garage. No pressure. I just enjoyed making the website, taking the photos, putting the pianos online. Then I moved to a smelly basement warehouse for £200 per month rent. I got lucky there and was flooded by a mains pipe burst which resulted in a £55,000 cash payout from United Utilites. Wow! Capital! Time to invest! The next place was the corner of my mate’s mill for £300. The next was £650 per month in the old launderette opposite my house and next door to the pub where my old mates hung out (my home/work/social life was all contained within a 20 metre triangle) and then came the big move back in 2011…. £1100 per month for 5000 sq/ft. It felt like a massive overreach at the time but looking back it was the right place at the right time and only 5 mins walk from my house. Nice!

NEW PARAGRAPH

I’m at risk of becoming one of those old blokes who only talk about the past. Let’s hope that this diatribe goes somewhere interesting.

Fast forward another 14 years and I’m sat in my garden on a hot summer’s day. 4 of the kids are at school, and we are home with our toddler and puppy. The washing is on the line. Emails come in and I pick them off being as polite, professional, helpful, generous, and human as I can be with each email. WhatsApps come in too these days. Got to pick those off quick or they drift down the list and get ignored. A phone call comes in from a shouty man “hi mate you remember I took them pianos and e-bikes off you, can I have some more?” I’m like “what? Eh? Who?” Oh it’s the scrap metal man. “I’ll save your number and let you know when we’ve got more for you”. He tells me to enjoy the rest of the day.

We take a call from one of the children’s therapists. It’s funded by central government and has been extended for another round of sessions. This time there will be more focus on involving the parents into the “theraplay” sessions. Are we free next Tuesday at 10am? Yes we are, see you then, thanks very much.

We make a plan for the next hour. We will feed the boy and take him to the piano shop. He will sleep to white noise whilst Julie takes photos for the website and I attempt to bring the following hilarious script to life for another poorly received social media video.

“Oh geez! When a cold breeze freezes these keys (Bs, Cs, Ds, Es, Gs), they seize! To release and appease them use these [hold up pliers] to squeeze, tease and ease them which frees them with ease. Wait, a sneeze! Achoo! Cheeeeeese!! [out]”

I have convinced myself that it was a good script so I’m going to give it a try. I have a new camera, a new lense, which should make the video process easier as it autofocuses very nicely on the face at all times. Easy setup. Nice quality wireless microphones will record direct to the camera so I just have to trim the ends and upload the original file. No editing needed. I have to decide whether to film in portrait or landscape. It’s always a tough choice. I know what to do! I will film in landscape, not too close-up so that I can select the centre portion and convert that to vertical video for uploading to reels on Facebook, insta, tiktok, YouTube. I don’t know how to get big views so I just focus on making what I like and keep putting it out there. The secret to getting big views is probably just to provide high value content and present it with passion (methinks this is why Joanna Garcia does so well on socials!)

In the background I hear Bob Dylan from inside our house. I’ve been comparing his first album with some of Woodie Guthrie’s tunes. Bob Dylan’s wonderfully up-beat and well-humoured debut album features only TWO original songs written by Dylan. But if you look further you see that his “Song for Woody Guthrie” (penultimate track) is a Woody Guthrie song with different words AND his “Talkin New York” song is a copy of Guthries’s “Talkin’ Dust Bowl”. So there are ZERO fully original tracks on Dylan’s debut album BUT it’s ok because he makes up for it with wonderful lyrics, and his 11 cover songs are tons of fun . I texted all this to my brother telling him it’s knocked me sideways but he is not bothered. “Terrible song” he replies.

NEW PARAGRAPH

Well that was good. I found a bit of flow there didn’t I? And you’re still here so it can’t have been that dull!

We have 8 minutes to leave the house to stay on schedule for making the hilarious “squeeze the keys” video. Will it happen? Will the video get made? It doesn’t usually. Videos rarely get made and I have a list of ideas as long as a Yamaha C7’s low A string.

A text comes in. It’s Julie from inside the house. “Have you fed the boy?” Oh man we are now officially behind schedule so I’d better go. Before I go, I’ll get to my point.

Self employment has been very kind to me. I’m feeling very happy and lucky about everything today. I don’t commute, I almost never see rush hour traffic and when I do I’m horrified and tell myself to never do that again. The biggest positives have been the amount of family time I have enjoyed (we home educated aka dossed about with our first 2 kids and the later on we felt we had enough time and energy left in the tank to raise 3 more nephews and nieces who came to us one at a time in their infancy through the courts. So that’s quite a significant plus that I almost take for granted as it all felt so gradual and natural), and the lovely customers we meet along the way. Everyone is lovely in this industry. The movers, the tuners, the customers, the piano teachers, the other piano shop owners. Everyone is ace.

So I’m here. Sat in the sun. Top off. Hat on. Jeans on. Boiling and burning. Because I can.

I’ll sign off with a huge thanks to everyone who has helped us along the way. We’ve ridden many waves that were not of our own creation.

Thanks for ride.
Let’s see where it goes next
Byeeeeeeeee