Motivate your damn self (note to self)

Taken by Kari Alana of www.karialana.com in May Pen, Jamaica. Photograher maintains copyright. All rights reserved 2009.

FB Friend: What u been up to? Apart from being married....

Sheer Almshouse: Transitioning, re-positioning, re-inventing and adapting.

And aint that the truth in a nutshell!

It's been three months since I came to Dubai, and two months yesterday since I got married and those verbs (note present continuous tense used) have been defining my existence.

I am working on my business plan. Running into some kinks. Realising that the market I thought I had would not have access to a major part of the project... so I am back to Engineering 101. I cant say that this is such a bad thing though. I have identified the problems early, which is part of the processes of due diligence and research- and critical- when attempting anything entrepreneurial.

The learning curve spikes hourly. I am so hungry to really get to know how this place works and work with it. I am trying not to assert my own assumptions and to understand before I seek to be understood.

I think there is a market for my projects 1. a company and 2. another blog but I just have to make certain that I dot my I's and cross my T's.

It is also a major challenge that my start-up capital has been drained so I really have to be very detailed about how I will be able to capitalize these entities and project that rate at which they will grow.

I think I need to start building a time table- a schedule to guide execution since I really do have a lot of good projects, but all of which require intensive use of my hands that already hurt from using a laptop full time. Yes I should be using a desktop for somebody who is at the computer for such long hours, but that is an expense that will have to be delayed. Hmmn maybe I could think of an ergonomic keyboard in the interim?

It may be a blessing that I am not privy to huge capital injections... at least now I will have to force myself to build from ground up and make smart investments that yield sustainable ROI. This time around, I don't have a huge client up front providing me money for the startup costs or a job to help me pay for third parties. I can't afford a lawyer just yet and I can't afford a graphic designer. I can't even afford the regulated start-up fees.

I am not necessarily getting much done but I have been making more and more contacts and slowly seeing how the vision I had for my transition could actually work. It is a slow and tedious process and not always yielding of spectacular results, but if I know anything, it is that the small victories should be celebrated.

I go on a photo quest this weekend with new Brit photog friend and that will be good for both of us.

I think I need to draft a marketing communication plan for myself and use it as a guide to rollout the different things I want to do.

ESC has been uber supportive of me and allows me the luxury of being a kept woman while I sort myself out.

Right now... my time is my greatest resource. I would be smart to use it wisely.

UNRELATED: We completed stage 4 of the visa process. We are in the clear, so now it's on to the 3year renewable residency stamp. (I currently have a temp 2 month paper visa).

Natural haircare for dreadlocks...The result

I need to update you. I have gotten a request from a church sister to do her locks. She wants to pay me. I used to get those requests all the time but have never been in this situation that I am in now (bored out of my skull during the days and in need of my own cash) so... I am going to take up her offer. Not sure what to charge though.

Eventually, I think I will actually start making and bottling my own products for use here as I build my clientele.

My hands (both now) are hurting badly due to overuse so I really have been forced to lay off the computer. Plus I will need to conserve to tackle her locks on Sun, which are at this stage, looking very dry and in need of some real know how.

Can I tell you a secret? From high school I wanted to do cosmetology. Can I tell you another secret? I should have. I guess it's never too late! Maybe I will put out word that I can do hair, makeup and photography for special occasions at church.

Sanity Break

I need a timeout from reality to preserve my sanity. I believe I am walking a very thin line and I fear that I may cross over without even knowing it.

This job can turn a sober man into the village drunk.

If I were born into money,I could quit my job today and spend my efforts launching and running my own firm and pursuing my own happiness instead of pining daily in a kind of non-existence, making no contribution to anything, being valued for nothing as I bide my time in search of meaningful work.

Money isnt everything but it sho brings power. With power comes choice and with choice comes destiny.

Sigh... I feel a combination of intensly vicious anger, spiralling depression and silent bewilderment. I feel like I have wasted my year professionally and its time to move on. The only thing is that I cannot seem to find a fucking job and it is getting on my last fucking nerve!

If I could find one good client who is willing to hire my company on retainer, the rest would be history.

I have a dream about opening an office downtown Kingston and up in the hills of St. Andrew, bringing fresh (yet unspilled) blood to the downtown restoration initiative.

I am in the process of bidding for a contract to produce a feature for prime time morning television and I should have a series of training videos to do for a company.

I dont think I can honestly navigate the politics of a 9-5 anymore. I am just not cut out for it. That was the beauty of being a freelancer in media and then an executive in an agency... I got lots of work done without the commonplace workplace drama.

I just need a few consultancy roles. I will file my own income taxes, and provide my own pension and health insurance. Fuck employers. I want clients.