One year ago – Tuesday 17th December 2024 – I was in full-time employment at the company I’d been with since it started in the summer of 2005.
On Wednesday 18th, the CEO came to our labs with the news that the company was going to be refocussing and that all R&D function was being stopped. This meant half the company was being made redundant, including me.
To say that it was kick in the guts would be right.
The news didn’t make for a very festive Christmas, though I had three months gardening leave to get my head together. Things could have been a lot worse – I know at least one person in our town was laid off with no notice, no money and no wages for the previous month.
Thinking things over
Over the previous years, Mrs S and I had talked about what we would do if I lost my job1. The talk had turned to setting up businesses doing something or other, buying a 3D printer and selling stuff, starting a consultancy… but we didn’t really think that we would have to do this.
I kept my work laptop and phone, so that was a good start. To begin with I kept track of the courses I did and tried a few things that ultimately didn’t work out. I tried making books to sell on Amazon (sales = 0), an Etsy shop (sales = 0), and other things that went nowhere.
Still, we went to Australia in the summer, having paid for this already and had a great time in Sydney (I was best man at my brother’s wedding), Melbourne (a revisit, we lived there from 2003-05) and Perth.
Where are we now?
One the positive, I learned how to use the 3D software Blender using my WP blog as a portfolio. I set up another shop on RedBubble (Heath Way Prints), started doing a food blog both on WordPress and paralleled on a separate site Cheese & Garlic and a TikTok channel with Excel tips. And I even managed a bit of consultancy work, though I’ve yet to set up a website for that.
I’ve also learned how to use CapCut for video editing – my Yorkshire Pudding video was my first attempt at a ‘how to’ recipe video. And I also did a four week social media marketing course that taught me a lot about how to use social media for business. I set up the Cheese & Garlic site during the course – I’d never have known how to do that without the course.
After a year, I’m feeling more positive about the potential for the various businesses. Let’s see where we are in December 2026.
- There’s a British expression: Hope for the best, prepare for the worst. ↩︎
Grim up North Heath 