Sheepish smile. Not that sheep smile at all. On the whole they don’t give a damn about what you think of them.

I’m still here. My blogging has been slack of late, both here and on the sirius-blog-is-sirius ASH-10 site. In fact I’ve only really been keeping Twitter updated with any degree of consistency of late. It seems my capacity for bloggery only stretches to 140 characters of nonsense at the moment. But it’s not just my internet life that’s suffering at the moment. I’ve been terrible at keeping up with friends, something I feel really bad about, and to top it all my health has taken a bit of a fall of late. Nothing serious but I’m knackered and if I don’t kick this bloody cold soon I’m going to, oh, I dunno. Eat properly perhaps.

In short, I’ve been really busy these last few months. I’ve said that before, I’m sure, but this is probably the busiest I’ve ever been ever, which is something of a massive fail for a guy who quit his job in 2003 to be a part time slacker. It’s all good. In fact it’s all bloody fantastic, but something had to give and sadly it seems communication with the people who matter is the easiest casualty of the busy person. Well, other than on Twitter which makes the whole comms thing a piece of piss. At times an incoherent piece of piss, to be sure, but none the less the fact that the most important things seem to be the first to fall by the wayside is just not acceptable.

I could go into a long ramble about why I’m busy but that would be dull, and to be honest I’m not sure what it is I’m doing that’s rendering me unable to be a good social citizen. Which is why I’m making a plan of action.

What I do know is my life has radically changed in the last 6 months or so. I now have a business, one which can only grow given how inept I’ve been at marketing myself so far. My previously crazy ideas have turned into sensible ones which business advisors tell me are not inherently stupid, just need a bit of work. I do training courses for which the feedback is remarkably positive. I have peers in an industry which, together, we are the pioneers in.

There is no way I’m going back to the temp agency to lug boxes around a warehouse anytime soon, even if I wanted to. (And, occasionally, I do want to, but it soon passes). This is my life now.

The problem is I don’t have a clue how to live this life. Sure, I can think the thoughts, talk the talk and do the work but when it comes to the nuts and bolts of running a business, well, I was too busy thinking about zines and blogging to learn that stuff. How do I judge whether an idea is financially viable? How do I approach potential new clients? How do I describe what I’m offering to potential new clients? How much should I charge them?

In a few weeks I’m going on a course run by Metapod, who I did some work for last year talking about blogging to self employed creative types. It’s a 4 day intensive residential thing with a number of speakers and workshops and by the end of it I should, hopefully, have more confidence in the concept of Pete The Business.

I then have a few weeks to tie up this year’s batch of business before buggering off to New Zealand on December 9th for 5 weeks to stay with family. This is my holiday and will involve the usual New Zealand activities like walking over volcanoes and taking lots of photos, but it’s also a chance to process and take stock on the year.

When I come back mid January it’s Year Zero. I’ll have a structure in place that enables me to function effectively and gives me the freedom to explore and expand what I do. This will probably involve getting an office somewhere and never working from home again.

Then, with any luck, I’ll be able to reply to your emails and pop around to your houses for tea and chats. And to practice what I preach on my blogs.