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Do What You Love to Do Interview Jackie Speight

November 22 Dawn

Jackie Speight Virtual Assistant VirtualAssistant Uk

The next Do What You Love to Do Interview: allow me to introduce you to Jackie Speight.

A 49 year-old mum of 2 (aged 10 and 8), wife of 1 (as long as he behaves himself!) and the director of Angel Virtual Assistant Ltd (her 3^rd ‘baby’). She’s lived in the seaside resort of Blackpool for 11 years, but was born and bred on the Wirral, just across the River Mersey from Liverpool.

What is she known for?

She works with small businesses providing social media management, typing/transcription and document production services and accountancy, giving them time to focus on their business rather than the ‘back office’ tasks.

Aside: I was so pleased Jackie said yes to doing this interview. If you’re thinking of a similar career change, and have a question for Jackie, please leave a comment.

What does doing what you love to do mean to you?

I don’t have to worry about need to take time off for childcare, school trips, special occasions or when the boys are sick – I am solely responsible for managing my time and my workload to fit the needs of my family. Although I’ve a long way to go before I can say I’ve achieved a good ‘work-life balance’ – if such a thing exists – I would say that I have complete control of my ‘work-life design’ and that counts for a lot.

I can design my business and choose the services I offer to fit with my professional strengths and personal values. For example, I absolutely love all aspects of social media – and this is now the single biggest area of my business.

Working on something I enjoy that much doesn’t feel like work! [Read more…] about Do What You Love to Do Interview Jackie Speight

That Feeling Lost + Wondering If You’ll Ever Find You Again Thing & A Wee Workbook

October 26 Dawn

You’ve got a name, location and the roles you play but then everything else is on a trip without you.

Feeling lost can make us feel like ships lost at sea with no navigation tools to get us safely back to shore.

What’s the cause of feeling lost? Oh, I don’t know, who knows! It could be one of a million of reasons, unique to you.

It’s a real common phrase though at Living Moxie, ‘I just feel so lost’, that one and, ‘I don’t know who the hell I am anymore’, usually followed by, ‘I want to find me again’. It’s not something you can ignore, huh? After a while, it has to be addressed, faced down and looked at honestly.

Look, you and I aren’t in a room together. There is no way I am even going to say I have the answer to finding yourself but I can ask you some of questions I ask other people. How’s that? And hey, I’ve been there. There’s our common ground.

Let’s see, feeling lost can come from…the roles we accept in life, there’s grief, loss, bereavement (including job loss, not reaching a goal, letting go of a plan you desired where you wrapped up your identity) they may be the cause.

Sudden unexpected and unwelcome change may have you surfing along. The waking up to find that you have been: adrift, on autopilot, doing too much, or unable to locate a purpose and a meaning can be the factors. I repeat, who knows?

The good news is this: there is only so far we can drift until we are going to hit land. And maybe the truthful news is, nobody is actually lost. Empty maybe? Unfulfilled perhaps? See, I don’t know. I don’t know you.

But drifting for years doesn’t have to occur, not when there are shortcuts.

And hitting any old land, even surface belong to others because you didn’t steer your own course really isn’t the wisest option (she says from experience).

Yes, it could be the easiest (for now), saves any hard work but you may find you don’t like it there and are back at sea before you know it.

You can do this, you can stop feeling lost, the first step is owning the desire to make the decision you are no longer willing to drift.

Pull your panties up. Here we go…

#1: Don’t give the ‘feeling lost’ (or similar phrases you use) any more power than you already have.

Because after a while you may not be able to see any way out. But it’s what you feel? I’m not asking you to ignore or deny a feeling, or pretend it doesn’t exist, that’s futile, acknowledge the feeling and then claim it as your own.

Why? Well…what’s one of the most effective ways to learn? By repetition. Repeating the same phrase over and over is only going to take you further out to sea. We have to at least anchor.

Try this:

When you say/think, ‘I’m feeling lost’ (or similar), follow up the thought immediately with a way-out question. So it could become, ‘I’m feeling lost…right now…but of this I know I am certain…’ and then insert something you ARE sure about. It doesn’t matter how small it is.

Crikey, it can even be as simple as your favourite colour, food, TV program…it doesn’t matter what it is, as long as you aren’t leaving the ‘lost’ open.

Or try the 5% question:

You say ‘I’m feeling lost’, follow it up immediately with, ‘if I was 5% less lost, what would I be thinking?’

All you are doing is not stopping at lost; you’re giving yourself a way out of the repeated behaviour, interrupting it if you like, allowing yourself another option. Leaving it at ‘feeling lost’ can actually feel quite helpless.

#2: Get specific: lost, adrift, not me…what do you mean specifically?

Define it.

Get a piece of paper and write down the phrase you use most often (and then move on to the others).

Take back control by knowing exactly what you mean. Define lost for you, not what you’ve heard others say.

Is it a loss of the self you know. The self you trust and can rely on. The self that is secure, loved, and reliable. Drill down what you specifically mean.

#3: Build a new foundation

Sometimes experiences teach and train us not to think for ourselves.

Have you ever said you liked something to please another?
Have you ever gone along with a plan because you wanted to be liked?
Have you ever agreed with the values and beliefs of someone else because it was easier than rocking the boat?

This can happen in our special relationships, we can give up our sense of self in order to ‘have a relationship’, putting more value on being with someone instead of entering it complete, whole and secure, ‘I’ll just go along with them, because I don’t want to lose them, be alone, feel unloved [insert reason]’.

And that can extend to all relationships: the relationship you have with your work, career, children, roles you play. You may have thought it was a requirement to give up ‘you’ (or parts of you) in order to have something else. What happens? You feel as parts of you are missing. You may forget where you end, and others begin.

Okay, stronger foundations.

It’s really simple, and it’s back to basics: get a pen and paper and write down 200 things you love.

The list doesn’t have to be elaborate and be a deep dig of the soul. Simple. Coffee brand? Favourite music? Colours? People? Words? Phrases. But for everything you write ask yourself, ‘Is this mine, or someone else’s for me?’ It has to be your own.

Next, write down your ‘Don’t Like’ list. 200 things. Yes, even those things you have pretended to like.

Start small. Know your own likes and dislikes.

Why so many? Because you’ll need them to…

#4: Stand in your own shoes: Moxie is bravery.

And it takes bravery to stand head up and say when it’s required, ‘No, I don’t want to do this (or be this, or act this way, or conform to the masses), this is not me’.

See, feeling lost, adrift, not you, no idea who you are is…separation.

Have you ever lost your keys, phone or wallet/purse? Just at the moment you need to leave the house. Do you at first have a gentle look around the places you have left them before?

Then, when they aren’t in those bizarre places like the fridge, do you start to panic a little?

You question whether you actually had them when you last entered your house, worry that you’ve actually lost them completely, do you say, ‘They must be here somewhere!’ and in the space of five minutes you’ve went from a sane human being from ‘knowing they are here somewhere’ to an insane one screaming, shouting, getting anxious and upset in case they are gone forever.

Feeling lost is perfectly OKAY. It’s merely a temporary separation. The BEST thing you can do is not to get insanity lost keys about it. And find out what YOU are separated from.

There are plenty of signposts, tools, tips, techniques to be reunited with your real self. It seems we humans are bloody good at ‘not remembering’, so folks have been writing about it for years.

I know it can feel scary. However the journey forward can be the one that allows you a much deeper understanding of who you really are, not who others have expected you to be.

#5: Using feeling lost is an opportunity to grow.

The opportunity is:

You get to explore.
Your get to decide.
You get to discover and dig.
You get to choose.
You get to grow.
You get to claim.

And, yes, it may take a little time. You’ve got the time.

I would suggest though that the first decision you make is to choose you are ready, willing and available to discover who you are.

#6 Write It Out

Journal.

Before you decide it’s not for you because you, ‘I wouldn’t have a clue what to write’, ‘It’s for writers’, ‘I don’t want to gaze at my navel, writing is a great way to ask yourself better questions and have ‘head chats’ with your own editor and critic, who are pretty much around when you are telling yourself how much you’re lost anyway.

It also doesn’t include anyone else but you.

You, the paper and the pen.

From thought to type.

Nobody in between telling you that you can’t think write, or say THAT, you can take yourself anywhere you like, because it’s for you, no-one else.

To help…

I’ve made you a list of questions/prompts to download (no sign up needed just now) I’ve simple called it ‘Here’s 100+ Questions to Ponder Over When You’re Feeling a Little Lost Workybook.’

You can download it here, or click the image on the left. Psst! You’ll need Adobe Reader to view.

And finally…

Feeling lost. It’s a common human complaint. A separation of self. We’ve dropped the thread that guides us. For whatever reason. It’s our job and responsibility (if we want to) to take back control and find our way back home, no delegation.

Learn to decide. Learn to choose. Learn to say no. Learn to question. Learn to not give power away to words that others have been defining for you, define your own.

Don’t drift into someone else’s path just because it’s available and they are signalling you to come over. You may find you are adrift again…soon.

Stay close to your own loves and likes. Don’t compromise if you don’t want to. Declare. Bring people into your life that don’t ask you to ‘be this way or that’ in order for them to love or like you.

Stay by your own pilot. If it doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t. Find out what and why you drifted. Get specific. What are you separated from? Know that, then you have a point on the horizon to navigate back to.

Can I ask you, have you ever felt lost? What did you do specifically to begin the remembering and journey forward to meet yourself?

There is No Challenge In a Day You Cannot Walk Through…

October 15 Dawn

There will never be two days the same for you. Ever. That alone may bring a sigh of relief or one of frustration.

Some days will be so easy as they present unexpected wonderful surprises. Other days will present unexpected challenges that you are required to overcome before you move forward and get done. Some days you will be in the flow, swimming with the current: on these days you will experience joy, bliss, flow, momentum and other days you feel like you are dragging yourself along the dirty silt at the bottom.

Some tasks will be easy. Some tasks you will fly through because you know exactly what it is you have to do, and how to do it.

But you will have other days…

Some will be a challenge. Some tasks will stump and confuse you. Some tasks you will avoid because you don’t find them pleasant. Some days you will see what needs doing as an insurmountably hurdle, sure you’ll be able to put it off, but only for a while, before that also needs done.

There is no good day. There is no bad day. They are just days. Easy. Hard. Challenging. A breeze. Simple. Complex.

You can’t control what happens in a day, but you ALWAYS are in control of how you feel as the day walks to meet and pass you: hour by hour, moment by moment, instant by instant.

“The best way out is always through.” wrote Robert Frost. Take each day as it arrives. One day you may choose to start with what challenges you, perhaps not today, but one day soon. Avoiding is 100x harder to sit with than going walking right through. You only need to remind yourself of a time in your past when you thought, ‘What was I worried about? Why didn’t I do that sooner?’

Nothing will ever be presented to you that you cannot handle. Sometimes the challenge is not the challenge itself, but the challenge is how you take it in your hands. How you take it down. How you start to unpick it piece by piece. How you decide and take action into moving it into the ‘done’ pile.

Have a day. The one you want.

Do What You Love to Do Interview: Kelli Wise

October 14 Dawn

The next Do What You Love to Do Interview is the lovely Kelli Wise. Kelli and I (I cannot lie) are ‘online friends’, we first met on a course in 2011, connected via cat-stories, the rest is her-story.

I asked (read: pretty much made her) to come in because of her extreme (in some eyes) career history: from Engineer to Massage Therapist to Web Designer. I know they may not seem related, but Kelli is a really good example of how to transfer skills (even though they may be unrelated to some) from one field to another. Her work as a designer is to serve and help solo business owners, in particular massage therapists.

Here we go…

As you read ask yourself…what skills have you mastered and love using which can be transferred into another role, even in a completely different field.

1. What does doing what you love to do mean to you?

It means having the alarm go off in the morning and not dreading my day.
It means finishing up the day feeling like I’ve been useful and helpful to someone.
It means not having to compromise my values.
It means having the sort of work that keeps me interested intellectually and has room for me to continue learning and growing.

And it means being able to pay the bills off of the fruits of my labor.

For too many years, I couldn’t say that I loved what I did. I can now.

2. How are you living your life doing what you love to do?

I love geeking out and digging into web code, learning something new, trying something out and seeing if it works or if all hell breaks loose. Finally teasing out the logic behind how WordPress works seems to be my latest obsession.

I love figuring out what kinds of web content are engaging and useful so that I can teach that to my clients. I get to read a lot while I’m doing this research, which I love to do, and I get to meet (mostly virtually) some really amazing people who are doing similar/complementary things in their careers.

The other great thing I get to do is write and teach. I’m a life-long learner and working with adult learners has been a lot of fun. Blogging and teaching massage therapists and small business owners gives me an opportunity to see how other people approach a problem like running a business and balancing a life.

I get to learn something from them while I’m working with them. It helps feed my need to learn and gives me a peek into someone elses’ passion.

3. What has been your career journey to this point?

I started off with a degree in electrical engineering from a school in Chicago, Illinois. My concentration was on telecommunications modulation schemes – all math and loads of fun – and RF (radio frequency) design. Unfortunately, I graduated the year the government broke up Ma Bell, known as AT&T, so there weren’t any jobs in that area. I ended up working on test equipment in a factory that built equipment for AT&T, GTE, and others in a tiny town in Illinois. A dead end job in a dead end company in a horrible city and I spent the second year there looking for a different job.

I ended up as a power supply designer with a small firm in Florida. I had a good boss and worked with one of the smartest engineers I’ve ever met. 5 years later, I was working for a not-so-good boss and dreading my work days. I don’t think you’ve ever seen anyone happier at being part of a 15% reduction in workforce than me.

From Florida, I ended up in Texas designing power supplies for Tandy computers. I got the chance to travel to Taiwan and China and even lived in Hong Kong for 4 months. I discovered that I have a real talent for babysitting adults. I also discovered that, in the right environment, I really enjoy being a manager.

While I enjoyed working at Tandy, the pay wasn’t great and you could tell that Radio Shack was moving most of their product sourcing to Asia, so I jumped to AT&T in Dallas. Finally, I thought, I get to work for Ma Bell – that dream job from college. But it was obvious that career-wise, I was never going to go anywhere in AT&T unless I did a stint in New Jersey. Nope, not going to happen. So …

I got a call to take a job with Intel in Washington state (the other Washington) from a guy I worked with at Tandy. I loved working with young engineers and helping to guide them through their careers and working with experienced engineers to give them the space and resources they needed to do the research they wanted. The guys that worked for me were pretty happy and very very good at what they did. But the management style at the company was one that I disagree with vehemently. I will gladly be a victim of it, but I felt like I was being forced to be an asshole. After 9 years and 11 months, I left to be self employed.

Before I left, though, I had gotten so burned out that I knew I would need to make a change. I went to massage school at night, after long days of working. The program wasn’t cheap but I was rolling in Intel money at the time, so that wasn’t an issue. I spent over a year working full time, going to school 16 hours a week, massaging 4 hours a week, doing homework, special projects, and trying to keep up with laundry. So, by the time I left the corporate gig, I had my license and had been practicing for 6 months.

Fast forward, I’ve been designing websites for my group at Intel and myself since the early days. I discovered that I really enjoyed it. I also discovered a lot of my friends were getting ripped off by the ‘$29/month’ website companies like Intuit. I could create something better for them that would be more cost effective. It didn’t take long before more people started coming to me for help. After a change by an insurance provider I was credentialed with cost me over 35% of my business, I decided to spend more of my time helping massage therapists get their online marketing stuff together. I do some massage still, but it’s with a very select client list. I refer new business out to my friends.

Phew, that was long. But I’m old!

4. How did you make doing what you love to do happen?

I got off the freaking hamster wheel and took a turn.

For too long, I’d done what was expected. I’ve been there financially for everyone in my family that needed it. I had the education and the job with the great company, but I never really liked power supplies. I was a good engineer, but I was never going to be great because they bored me to tears. So I made a decision that I was going to get off the hamster wheel and do what I wanted.

I did the massage as a side hustle for 6 months before leaving the corporate gig. Then, I did the website stuff as a side hustle to the massage for a year or so before really, publicly launching it. That allowed me some time to experiment with WordPress, figure out what the market needed, and get my ducks in a row.

I had also been reading blogs since long before leaving the corporate world, so starting a blog seemed like the right thing to do. My first blog post, long abandoned, was published in 2005. Blogging itself wasn’t that difficult. Learning to do it well takes a lot of practice and I’m still learning.

Summary: do it on the side, experiment, fail, learn, launch. Just don’t take too long to launch.

5. When did you know what it was?

I’ve always enjoyed html and when I really, really learned css, I knew I loved it. I spent a couple of weeks with the 960 grid system and, when I finally got the boxes to move around with some code, it was like being Harry Potter and finding out ‘yer a wizard’. Great fun.

6. Can you share the good, the bad and the ugly when you made the decision do what you love to do?

The good: I get to help my small biz friends get new clients from websites. It’s always a thrill to share in their excitement when that first client calls saying “I found you on the internet, loved your website and want to work with you.”

The bad: when making a big change in career/life direction, there is always a period of time when money is a bit tight. So, you don’t eat out, or go to the movies and you might eat more rice and beans, but you manage it somehow.

The ugly: It can get downright discouraging sometimes, trying to run your own business. Especially one that is as socially isolated as web design. So, you need to find some other online buddies and develop a network of people you can kvetch with, or turn to for stupid cat videos when you need a pick-me-up. It helps to know you’re not alone and if you can just power through the dip, you’ll make it happen.

7. What was easy? What was a surprise?

I don’t know that anything was particularly easy, but I’ve rediscovered how much I like writing and speaking. I also found how much I like teaching adults. It’s very rewarding to know that you are helping someone else live their dream.

8. What led you to this love specifically?

I’m a geek. I love to learn. I love to share what I know. The web design and blogging feed those loves.

9. What would be your top 5 pieces of advice, or suggestions, words of wisdom you would like to share?

Always have a financial pad to see you through the lean times.
If you can, start your dream as a side hustle for a couple of months so you can experiment and fail like mad.
Don’t worry that you’re not the only person doing <insert your passion here>. There are 6 billion people on the planet and your competition can’t serve all of them.
Find a buddy. One who will tell you the truth and not just what you want to hear.
Get off the hamster wheel and take a turn. You deserve it.

10. What has been your biggest learning in the journey so far?

That running a business cannot be described, it has to be experienced. Nothing will really prepare you for it. But there is no greater feeling than knowing that you have the freedom to not be an asshole and you can live your own values.

11. What piece of wisdom did someone give you that would like to share?

“Always keep 6 months take home pay in the bank” An engineer named Wes told me that when I was 25. It has served me well.

12. What’s next for you on this path?

Some online and live classes to teach people how to create a website and how best to create the content for that website. I’m just trying to expand my teaching network beyond the local market. And learning. Always learning.

14. What was the biggest piece of learning you picked up and ran with?

“You know more than you think you do. You know more than your clients/readers do. You are an authority.” Quit waiting to ‘know more’ and publish something, already.

15. Pick a quote for life, and explain why it hits a home run for you?

The quote that has always stuck with me is “That which does not kill you makes you stronger.” Yes, it’s a cliche, but it’s true. Everything in your life has the possibility to add to your life. You might learn a new skill, you might meet a new friend, or you might make a change in your health habits.

Where to reach you?

I blog in several locations. My oldest, and busiest blog is for the massage therapy profession, Massage Therapy World. My web design site is Pint Sized Sites. If you want to see every blog post I publish it’s Kelli Wise dot Com. I’m very active on Facebook, and Twitter and I’m on LinkedIn but I don’t use it much for social networking; however, if you need a power supply engineer, I’m connected to loads of them there.

100 Days of You Being Amazing + Being Amazing for Others

September 17 Dawn

You know how I’m always banging on about community, connection and surrounding yourself with fellow moxieologists (made up word) with you?

And you say, ‘Yes, it’s always lovely to meet others who are inspiring, upbeat, fun, friendly, positive, lovely to be around and who also are creating a ruckus’.

And then I say to you, ‘Do you have people like that in your life? You know, ones who will hold you darn well accountable and give you a swift kick up the ass when needed and love when required?’

And then you say, ‘Not really, it’s like, well, sometimes, but most of the time I wish I could meet people just like that.’

Right.

Enough talking. Time to meet them.

Your Invitation:

“You are invited to 100 Days to Done…

It starts the 23rd of September (You need to be signed up before the 20th September)

For 100 days

It’s free to join

I (we) would love you to be there.“

What’s It All About?

“You have a goal. A plan. A project. An idea. You want to create it. And now is the time. You don’t ask for permission to change your underwear, so why the hell are you waiting on permission to begin?

You want to get moving with a change you wish to make in your life, complete or start a project or idea, build something, create something and you will have all the support, encouragement and help you need…

you are willing to give support, encouragement and help to others who are creating their thing.”

The Promise:
To stop waiting, wimping out, dancing round the edges of your life.

What happens when you surround yourself with people who are committed to getting stuff done? You get stuff done and are moved along in the wave.

What happens when you declare your intention and start taking action? You see things change and happening.

What happens when you give, share, offer support and love to others? You are given it in return.

There is a pattern here. When we are surrounded by people who are getting stuff done, we get stuff done.

What would you start, commit to and get done in 100 days?

Others are…

Puting a stake in the ground and reclaim their health/fitness
Becoming clear on what they want to create next (and start it)
Using the community and support to adopt a vegan lifestyle
Planning exit strategies
Getting a 2nd business up and running
Building a new website
Building Etsy shop
Volunteering project
Finishing dissertation
Creating an online course
Getting fit to run a 10k in January
Using the community to build confidence

And a wheen of other stuff: art, poetry, decluttering, new blog…

See, the way I see it is this. We all have gifts, talents and skills. And what if we brought them all to one place to share? That you helped others, and others helped you. All that knowledge, skills, fantastic brains all in one place.

As well as being part of a community…

You will be sent a daily weekday prompt, question, piece of encouragement via email.
There are no deadlines, there are no rules of what you bring, no formal lessons, just support and encouragement to get it done.
I will create little ‘mini-events’ for you to take part in.
Together we will create for 100 days with all the support and encouragement in the group you need.

Sorry. Sign Up Is Now Over.

– last day for signing up was the 20th September. Missed it? Get updates about events here.

Is it really for you?

I repeat…you have a goal. A plan. A project. An idea. You want to create it. You want to be surrounded by people taking action.

Why now? Because I asked a couple of months ago (in the not really a newsletter) would you like a space to get things done and you said yes. And I’m wondering what can happen in 100 days! That’s exciting.

Where is the community? This one is on Facebook. It’s a private community. Why Facebook? Because it’s where most people are already.

Willingness: showing up as you, taking out what you put in.

What will you get out of it?

The big question is: what do you want to get out of it? What do you want to put in? What do you want to give? What are you willing to share?

Community and connection. Momentum. Support. New friendships. Doing what you have been thinking about for a while. No judgement. Laughter.

If connecting, sharing and being part of a group is your thing you will love.

If you want to be surrounded by people taking action and having fun doing it. Come.

You may surprise yourself about what else you can get done in 100 days. Heck, just being surrounded by people who are willing to share may be enough to propel you forward. There is power in community.

How much is it again?

Nothing, nada, zilch.

And no, this isn’t a ploy to sell you stuff. That’s sooooooo not my style + you are ONLY signing up for 100 Days to Done (so I can send you the daily emails), your email address won’t be added elsewhere. That is a promise.

What do you need to next?

Think. Do you want/need this right now?

Decide: Declare what you would love to work on and ~~sign up here~~, then just follow the instructions.

I already get updates do I need to sign up again? Yes. It’s so you can receive the daily prompts that’s all, you won’t receive double update emails. This is separate to the updates emails.

You will receive a welcome email, with the Facebook group link.

You will need a Facebook account to access the private group.

Sorry. Sign Up Is Now Over.

– last day for signing up was the 20th September. Missed it? Get updates about events here.

Why are we doing this together?

Why not? And…
Because I need to be surrounded by people who aren’t snipping at my wings. You?
Because I need people who are supportive, willing to share, offer support and allow me to be me. You?
Because I want Living Moxie to be something greater than I can possible imagine. Are you in?
Because I know that when people come together with the energy to make things happen. It happens.
Because nobody should be left out or excluded.
Because community, connection and belonging are essential to our emotional and physical well-being.

It will be lovely to hang out and meet you ‘properly’ for 100 days and hey we all may just create something far beyond what we thought possible.

Join us.

Sorry. Sign Up Is Now Over.

– last day for signing up was the 20th September. Missed it? Get updates about events here.

Lots of love,

Dawn

PS: Can you bring a friend? Of course. Just send them the link to this page and get them to sign up. Or use the social media buttons below.

Do What You Love to Do Interview:: Gil Gillies

September 15 Dawn

Meet Gil Gillies, a (now) self employed web designer and digital designer.

Gil has lived life in so many career outfits. We first met in 1995, when we both had the label ‘Youth Worker’ slapped to our backs. Fun days. Hang about on Facebook long enough and you eventually catch up with people who you haven’t seen in a very long time and connections rekindle.

Gil is passionate about equality, inclusion, human rights and the personal and social development of young people. And he has managed to bring all his values together in his current role: delivering services to small charities, groups and businesses who also share similar world views.

He had an upbringing in Belfast in the 1970’s, his first job was as a milk boy (yes, milk used to be delivered to front doors), then he undertook an apprenticeship in the world famous shipyard. He then became a traveller, eventually ended up on a very small island of the West Coast of Scotland working as a lay preacher.

Most of his adult life has been youth work/community work in some form, which seems (he says) an unlikely story for someone who now owns and runs a wee print and digital design company, in a wee town in West Lothian, UK.

T H E I N T E R V I E W

What does doing what you love to do mean to you?

‘Doing What I Love To Do‘ is freedom.

It’s a waking dream.

Making a living from CREATIVITY is a deeply (read: deeply) satisfactory employment.

Not to get too cosmic about it, doing what I love makes my soul sing. You know when you are in the bath and you hum and find that perfect acoustic spot where everything resonates and vibrates around you? That’s how doing what I love to do feels to me.

It’s doing it my way.

It’s not about money. For me it’s an energy thing, a ‘help people along’ thing.

Yes, that ‘wee print and digital design company’ in the West Lothian village of Pumpherston, is more than just a pretty fontface. The why is the main deal. Being able to use all my Website and Design skills and experience to help groups, business, and individuals who are making their difference really is, getting even more cosmic…bliss.

How are you living your life doing what you love to do?

For now my work includes design for print, printing services, design and development for the web and search engine optimisation. And to be able to manage my work around the needs of my wife, her career and I get the privilege of growing my lovely daughter every day.

What has been your career journey to this point?

In my first life Act I was a Marine Engineer. At 21 I decided to travel and spent the next several years in communities in Ireland and on Iona. I returned to youth work in 1995. Spent many years as a Youth and Community Worker before eventually getting frustrated with some local authorities and voluntary sector agencies, so I decided to work for myself.

The frustration taught me a huge lesson, you have to do what you say you are going to do (life, career, business) and not write one thing on the ‘tin’ and do the exact opposite.

Tweet this: “Do what you say you are going to do and not write one thing on the ‘tin’ and do the exact opposite.”

How did you make doing what you love to do happen?

I’ve always had the idea to work for myself but never quite had the confidence and self determination. Eventually my planets aligned. I had a career wife and a daughter. It suited all our needs for me to do this. The prospect excited me greatly and here I am.

When did you know what it was?

As a young youth worker In the 80’s I often needed 50 of those fliers and 10 of those posters, for one event or another. It was impossible to get any print run small enough to be able to afford it. The “Gestetner” was horrifically restrictive with the print having the personality of a church newsletter. PC’s and Macs weren’t available for us all (yet) and so the basic skills of design and ‘cut and paste’ were learned on a dodgy photocopier.

Before Digital The Gestetner — Before Digital – The Gestetner

As time went on, better techniques where developed, contacts made and computers became available and soon the print world became possible for me.

When I realised that I could design and produce anything I wanted, with only my imagination as a restriction, then, that was the moment when I knew what it was.

It seems to me that I have been growing this seed for longer than I was even aware.

Can you share the good, the bad and the ugly when you made the decision do what you love to do?

OK, first comes the self doubt. Then the realisation that everything comes down to me. I am totally responsible. Then I realised that working for myself is actually two jobs. Not only does the work need done but you need to go out and find it in the first place.

When self employed you are always ‘the business’, you work on your own merit and the buck always, always, stops with you.

I had the worries and fears of ‘would I be good enough‘ and ‘do I really know what I’m doing?’ but the excitement and the chase of the dream pushed me passed my fears.

What were the biggest hurdles, challenges and barriers you had to overcome?

In my case, setting up was fairly easy for me. That was a good bit. However hurdles: moving goal posts, cash flow, getting the work at the beginning.

Challenges and barriers though are there to be overcome; they are like little mini-tests. How far are you willing to go?

I’d say these were necessary hurdles for me. They tempered my mental-metal. As my old journeyman would say these things let you see the cut of your jib.

What was easy? A surprise?

On the cosmic scale of easiness setting up and maintaining this business was about 60-70% easy. I’d be doing this as a sort of hobby for a few years before I jumped. It has it’s peaks and troughs. The big surprise for me was that I can actually make a good living doing what I love. Financially and cosmically.

What led you to this love specifically?

Freedom to create.

What would be your top 5 pieces of advice, or suggestions, words of wisdom you would like to share?

Keep the faith. What ye give out ye shall receive threefold.
Just because you build it doesn’t mean they will come – you have to tell people.
Resist the temptation to run at it.
Dotting the i’s and stroking the t’s saves so much grief later on.
Give proper thought to your branding and look for if you are going solo or if you are personal branding for a career move. Getting your pal to do your website and buying cheap stationery is anti-advertising and marketing.

What has been your biggest learning in the journey so far?

Accounts. It’s important to get this correct from the start.

What piece of wisdom did someone give you that worked for you?

Sleep on it! You always see things with a more level playing field the next day when refreshed.

What’s next for you on this path?

I plan to expand my business and take on an apprentice.

What was the biggest piece of learning you picked up and ran with?

For me as a website and design person it must be back up your data. Please don’t learn this one the hard way.

Pick a quote for life, and explain why it hits a home run for you?

There are always three groups of people. One group will love what you do, another will hate what you do. The final group won’t even know or care who you are.

Contact Gil

Gill offers website design and printing services in West Lothian, UK. You can reach him at gil[at]westlothianprinter.co.uk. Or visit, he always has real coffee on the go. He can be reached via Twitter or Facebook

Do you have a question for Gil? Thinking of leaving the voluntary sector and entering self-employment? Ask away in the comments,

Need some help to Quit Your Job and Find Your Work? That’s what I do.

Photo Credit: The Gestetner