Thoughts and reflections from the past week or so from my own financial independence campaign.
Progress on my goals
Back to the Ship!
Even though we survived the Storm Goretti unharmed, a regular rainy day in the Channel Islands meant that I returned from my work adventures to a sad wet pillow and a damp mattress.
Turns out that a minor leak we had suspected was a minor hatch leak was a catastrophic failure of all the sealant on the through-deck vent.
Yesterday we had a break in the otherwise damp forecast and speedily fitted a replacement vent. The vent part is in and seems to be well secured, now we just need to put the protective cowling over the top of it before we sail. That’s not essential for waterproofing – so we’re good enough for now – but you don’t want ropes and boots kicking the vent directly, so it needs added shielding.
Pretty good for us, actually. Smashed it in a day. The only part we needed but didn’t have to hand was some SteelStik metal epoxy putty, which we needed to fill some screw holes that wouldn’t work with our setup and would have caused leaks.
Our poor boat! She’d been so neglected for so long by the previous owner. It’s nice that we’re improving her all the time, slowly but surely, by fairly simple maintenance jobs.
Well, apart from the wiring last year. That was fairly advanced maintenance. Did it, though!
Start-up work
We were approached by an angel investor this week who wants us to build a business for him: i.e. we do a second start-up alongside the first with a view to him buying it off us, but he wants to invest in us to get it done.
Which is a Dragon’s Den-style dream I guess?
Details are being worked out but now me and the other members of the team need to work out what we want so that we can go into negotiations as a unit.
Obviously when money gets thrown around people get a little emotional so we’re piecing together what this means for us. The things that’s odd is that we haven’t worked together too long so we don’t know exactly how to avoid upsetting each other yet. It’s making negotiations between us a little more tense than they have to be but we’re all on good terms which is an ideal start.
Meanwhile, the first start-up is making headway. We’ve taken something like £12k this year. There are tons of expenses left to pay, but that’s a hopeful start that we might make profit in my first year. Good things!
I also started working at a co-working space this week that’s sponsored by the local government. It’s warm, cheap, and there’s coffee and free WiFi. We can book meeting rooms and telephone pods. It’s an ideal spot to do my kind of work, and the vibes are great because everyone else in there is trying to launch businesses or is doing remote working. We’re already connecting with some cool people and that makes working in the building feel inspiring. I’ve certainly never felt as motivated working in a law firm building!
Writing
I’ve outlined and drafted the first chapter of a longer-form read. It probably won’t come in at the length of a full novel, but it would be a long novella.
I should have made more progress, I’ve just been too busy on the start-up. As reasons go, I’d say it’s pretty good.
Distractions and detours
Sister’s unfair dismissal
Alongside my other stuff, my sister has been unfairly dismissed while on maternity leave, so as a responsible brother who is also a lawyer I’m helping her with the ACAS conciliation and potentially Employment Tribunal claim.
The evidence is pretty strong in her favour. The employer has basically written to the staff and given out all the evidence that this is unfair, and won’t acknowledge or respond to open correspondence.
This said, there’s only so much stress a lady with a newborn can take before it’s not worth the trouble, and employer’s know this.
If you or someone you know are ever in this situation, you could do a lot worse than look at pregnantthenscrewed.com. It’s not a flawless resource and there are some minor inaccuracies and a few broken links on their guides, but it’s a lot better than nothing.
Dog treatment
Our dog is currently 11 years old and will be 12 in October. He gets hydrotherapy, acupuncture, and is now – no joke – microdosing ketamine for his arthritis. Party animal!
This week the vet discovered that he has an enlarged spleen, which is a common problem for a German Shepherd cross breed. That’s… potentially not good, but might also be nothing. He’s getting an ultrasound on Monday to see what’s going on.
I’m hoping it’s nothing, but if it’s getting close to his time then there’s potentially not much we can do except make sure he’s happy until his last days.
He seems quite happy at the moment and his quality of life is pretty damned good. Anything over 9 years old is good going for a German Shepherd. Big dogs just don’t live that long.
I suspect that he’ll be fine for a while yet, because he’s currently trying to round us up for an early walk. Even so, we paused for a moment. On reflection though he’s had an amazing life for a dog, so if it’s nearing the end at least it was good for him for the whole journey.
Non-FIRE goals
My guitar rock god quest (AKA learning to play)
This week we did some more theory on chords aligned to scales. I asked to do more theory so I could maybe write some basic songs or something, and it’s… hard. Like, so hard. Some people have a brain for musical theory and the rest of us find it a grind.
On the plus side, I feel like an actual guitarist now. Not a great one, not a headline act one maybe. Still feel like I actually play, though, which is miles from where I started.
Fitness
Absolute disaster! Barely any training, which I’ve offset by not eating as much and walking around a lot more.
I still look lean – or at least, leaner than when we went on holiday. The problem is that it’s just diet and there has been no conditioning (and not much strength training), so I feel sluggish.
It’s the start-up work that’s doing this. If I have time, I tend to fill it by working on that.
Just have to do a regain when it stops raining every day I guess?
Final thoughts
So the new venture is becoming a crazy journey and self-employment may not get as bad as it could have been (yet…).
We shouldn’t have really been approached by angel investors so soon, for example. That could change our trajectory if things kick off.
Start-up life a bit all-encompassing. Writing has suffered and I haven’t found time for fitness. I barely get any guitar practice time in. And yet, I don’t really begrudge it. We’re creating something rather than just grinding at something that’s someone else’s plan. Harder work and yet at the same time more fulfilling.
Plus, if this gets bigger, maybe it’s a good route to financial independence?
Anyway, time to sign off. I have a client thing that needs to be out by Monday.
My financial independence campaign continues!
