So? What is new?

So, this is almost the end of my first week re-establishing my business. Aporos Maintenance Management has been reborn as Aporos Limited this week, just 5½ years since I ceased trading and went to join the Estates team at the University of Bath.  Back then, the recession was beginning to take hold so my decision to take a full time, fixed term contract at the University was one for survival.  I ended up staying there for well over four years, commuting the whole time from Southampton, which was only possible because of a chance meeting with Alice, a charming lady in her eighties who became my landlady in a nearby village of Winsley.

I left the University in April 2014 and joined CDI AndersElite whose head office is in Southampton (no more commuting!), where I set up and gained external certification for their quality management system and also implemented an onboarding system called RedCarpet. However, after attending the funeral of a friend who passed away very suddenly, my thoughts returned to working in the industry I know best - maintenance.  After a discussion with my husband we decided I should give consultancy another go.

One month later here I am!  So, returning to the title of this blog, what is new? Well, almost everything! This week I have found myself on a very steep learning curve.  Social media was not something I used last time I did this, it wasn't that big a deal then!  Of course, I used Facebook and LinkedIn, but never to promote myself.  Now I've set up a group and a company in each respectively and dug out some photos of stuff I've done and posted a few of them.  I've discovered too, following an email from Munir Caine (who designed my web site) that I have a google blogger account that I didn't know I had.  Did I have to pay for it?  How do I change the colour?  How do I change the layout?  I'm not one to let a simple bit of software get the better of me, so I fiddled with that for a few hours and eventually cracked it!

I'm also learning the difference between a "Sole Trader" and a "Limited Company".  Just what that means in terms of keeping accounts and paying tax I've yet to sort out, but a meeting with my accountant will take care of that. Then there is national insurance..... I haven't even started to look into that! Finally, I discovered that opening a business bank account is almost as intrusive and time consuming as applying for a mortgage, which surprised me because I didn't want to borrow a penny!  I'm sure I just popped into the bank back in 2006, but this time I had to have a meeting with my business manager.

Of course, I've also been contacting potential clients and have two appointments lined up for next week and hope to secure a few more before the end of the week.  Not bad eh?  Well, I'm happy with what I've achieved and when people ask me "How's it going?" I tell them "It's going really well".  That is true, but the reality is I haven't earned any money yet, so lets see what next week brings!