I've had one crazy couple of months. I 'll cap it and expand on some. So since January last year (2011), this has been my life....
Came back from holiday, feeling energised and on top of the world, having escaped the freezing cold and unbelievable snow during the Xmas period and enjoyed being around friends, family and sun - glorious SUN!
But within a couple of days, I was feeling deflated. One morning, I sat in my car for 10 minutes not moving - I wished so hard that I had a genie so I could escape into the sun again. It was freezing cold, my car was covered in snow and I was too cold to go scrap off the ice from it. I have been working for donkey's years now and I feel like a hamster on a wheel, starting each day from one spot and finishing where I began only to repeat the same thing the next day.
I had to get off this Hamster-wheel!!!
think or say if you tell them you are giving up this job to pursue xyz career.
I wrote down every possible job I could do...stretching myself (thinking outside the box) then started my process of elimination. I didn't want to do what I'd been doing any more; I craved a change - a BIG change so I settled for first choice: Publishing, second choice: Running a Day care centre/After-school club or Nursery and third choice: Retail and Event planning.
I had to table Publishing, Day care & Nursery as it seemed to require a lot of capital(start-up cost) which I did not have. So I moved to plan C - planning co-operate events or own a chain of successful boutiques but first I had to learn a lot to be successful. So I started applying for head office positions as a Merchandising Admin Assistant and as an Event Planning Assistant. I gave it my all, learning independently - building up my knowledge, joined job sites - sent off several applications each week, had my CV revamped to suit target jobs and even wrote to companies directly offer my services for free in exchange for opportunity to gain knowledge and skills.
- When change is calling, you have to answer - you will never be happy if you don't.
- Take action - it is very important, don't just sit on your back side procrastinating 'When you recognise an opportunity, make a decision and take action'.
- Yeah! you might fail but then after that, the only direction is up. Failing is not a bad thing as it's a way of learning, it's letting failure keep you down - keep you from getting up again - that is the bad thing. A friend of mine and an amazing business woman, Margaret Thorli, said to me FEAR means 'Forget Everything And Run' 'Face Everything And Reach'.
- There are three kinds of people: People that wonder what happened , people that watch things happen and people that make things happen. You have to decide which kind of person you are.
- An inspirational speaker Mark Nathwani said during one of his seminars I attended 'Don't just work hard, work smartly' so one of the things I would urge you to do when you finally decide to do something is to heed his advice.
- When all seems to fail, never give up. Don't sit licking your wound. It's time to re-evaluate your strategies. Revisit your original plan, make a list of why it's not working, twick it and jump back on the band wagon.
I had to change tactics if I was to make my dreams of coming off this hamster-wheel come true. So pen and paper in hand, I wrote down:
- My drive (why I wanted to a career change): This will help me structure my business to become successful.
- Motivation: all the things I like, know how to do (all my skills), have a knowledge of, can contribute and all the careers that would best suite the skills.
- Then, I put the careers in the order of most likely to do (what I love to do) to least likely to want to do.
- I took the top five and did some research on them (marketability - is it marketable, can I get paid doing it), (Who are my competitors what are they doing, what can I offer that is different) and settled for child care, publishing and a different kind of retailing. (see article: Process of elimination, for more info).
- Next I decided to create a support group/network, that would be acquiring a mentor or coach & business buddy (possibly chat on Skype & keep each other motivated), becoming part of a business network in your chosen field or a group of like minded people.
Borrowed from the library and started reading 'The complete small business guide by Colin Barrow 8th edition ISBN 1-84112-686-1' a must read if you are planning to start a business in the UK; bought 'Start your Business week by week by Steve Park', also an excellent read, from Amazon; visited http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/ to do some research - this site is like an invaluable handbook you must be without when setting up or planning to set up a business. It is filled with a wealth of advice, sample documents, links and so much more.
- When starting a business, do not take your business ideas and queries to just anybody. Make a list of your friends and by process of elimination, pull out the ones who have even the slightest business knowledge and ones that have the knowledge, skills or experience on the field you about to enter.
- Share your initial idea with them, then based on your conversations, put them under this three groups: (Are you sure, in this day & economy, I don't think it's a good idea, Do you think you can do it), (Nice idea, pat on the back, off you go) & (That sounds interesting; what research have you done, have you considered this source, link, book; Lets find a solution to this that together).
- The First group remain your buddies but you don't carry business to them. The second group are still your friends, you just go to them when you need a boost/encouragement. They might not understand what you are on about but will give a lending ear - and sometimes, that's all you really need. The third group will hence forth be your inner circle of friends whom you will carry any business discussion to. That doesn't mean that's all you discuss with them.
Got invited to coffee morning, a 2-hour info session where I would be given information on the process of registration, EYFS Welfare and Learning Requirements, Ofsted application process and Training requirements.
I carried out more thorough research on the Early Years Service by visiting the following sites: Family Information Services Directory website - to compare the requirements for opening a Day care, Nursery and a childcare at home service, Ofsted Website and the department of education website http://www.education.gov.uk/ amongst other (see Article Process of Elimination for more).
Attended the 2-hour Coffee Morning, an info-session on the process of becoming an Early Years Provider (Child care provider of children between 0 and 5 years). Following this, I attended two 4-hour Pre-registration briefing where I was informed in more detail on the stages of the process to becoming a registered Early Years provider, had a series of workshops and at the end was handed a thick A4 sized application pack. Wao! now am I over whelmed, pack had a lot of literature to read.
Practice guidance for the early years foundation stage - 117 pages (provides information on the standards set for the learning, development and care for children from birth to the 31st August after their 5th birthday).
Statutory framework for the early years foundation stage - 54 pages (provides guidance (useful advice, detailed information) for practitioners on supporting children's learning, development & welfare).
Not only do I have to read, absorb and thoroughly understand them, I have to live it, breathe it each day of my practice until that's all I can think of hmmmm! Chop chop, had to start reading.
Am still combining all this research, training, reading with my duties as a school governor, a mother, daughter and sister etc....plus I am one of the board of trustees to a new company called GCA. Am stretched to my limit...God help me!
Attended the 12-hour Paediatric First Aid course over two days and a Tax/NI workshop ran by HMRC (Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs) specific to Early year providers.
Started researching policies for my setting, have never written one before in my life. Attended an Equalities training. Fixed any broken sockets in my house, secured every cable hanging loose to the wall, finally received my Paediatric First Aid certificate after chasing it up for days on end. Completed my Ofsted registration form on-line instead of the hard-copy as it was less daunting - applied to register as a child care provider on all three registers (Early years register, Compulsory part of the child care register & the Voluntary part of the child care register). Got my GP to complete the Ofsted Health Declaration Booklet which set me back about 75 pounds, posted it to Ofsted via recorded delivery.
Started preparing my first aid folder with the help of a book I got during my training, Paediatric First Aid Made Easy by Nigel Barraclough. An excellent book for anyone with child to have. Received text from Ofsted - called back just to be told they just received my application I sent on-line since November and that they had not received the health declaration I posted to them in November hmmm, gave them my tracking number (Thank God I did not discard it after I checked on-line and it said it had been delivered...would have had to go pay my GP for another copy). Was informed they would sent me further documents to complete.
Completed the CRB form received, got a friend (professional) to sign the verification form then posted them via recorded delivery. Paid Ofsted registration fee, got phone calls from two of my friends and colleagues that they had posted my references....thank you so much guys, God Bless you for me every day.
Bought some toys on Amazon. Continued with writing my policies - so much to write. You would say, haven't you been working on the policies for a while now. Keep reading, I will give you a list of all the documents and policies I had to prepare.
Work! Work!! Work!!! Merry Xmas to me!
Happy New year!!!
Started a 5-week Business Start-up Workshop ran by H&R (Hope and Restoration) Training Professionals in
- The First week, we looked at Confidence building and Preparing for business.
- The second week, we looked at Planning to build a business and Skills Audit.
- The third week, we looked at Entrepreneur, Leadership, SWOT, Starting up your own business, Working from home, promotion and Marketing.
- The Fourth week, we looked at business plans, Financing your business, Personal survival budget.
- The Fifth week, we looked at business plans, applying for funding and a guest speaker - an accountant came and we were able to ask questions to do with keeping your books and self -assessment.
- We were later invited for an extra day for a workshop with a trainer from HMRC.
- Are you ready for Ofsted booklet sent to me by Ofsted
- The two Early Years Foundation Stage documents I downloaded from the department of education website
(Put on my wall)
- Daily and weekly routine
- List of activities offered at my setting
- Weekly menu
- Risk assessment policy and documents
- Fire drill log
- Emergency evacuation policy and procedure
- House Rules
- Admission and settling in policy
- Confidentiality policy
- Arrival and collection policy
- Special Needs, Equal Opportunity, Inclusion policies
- Managing Behaviour policy
- Pet policy
- Health & safety, Healthy eating policies
- Visitors to my setting and Mobile phone use policies
- Safeguarding/ Child protection policy
- Sick child and Lost child policies
- Administering prescription and non-prescription Medicine policy and forms
- Permission to seek emergency treatment policy/form
- Registration form, Attendance record form, Incident record form
- Risk assessment form, safeguarding record form, Child's dietary needs form
- Baseline assessment form, Child care evaluation form
Had my Ofsted registration visit, lasted for four hours....I know because I had to give the inspector a four-hour parking ticket and was quiet worried she might get a ticket when it was almost four hours. Thankfully the car was okay when we got out. I had to provide a copy of my driving license and 3 proofs of address as proof of identity before the inspection could begin.
Four hours of drilling to ensure I knew what I was talking about and doing, looking through my documents and procedures, looking at all my qualifications and explaining how I plan to utilise skills from each to deliver a sound child care service, then an inspection of my home. Am glad to say, I passed and I have now received my Ofsted registration certificate YEAH!!!!
Went out to celebrate by buying safety gates, foldable chairs and car seats :-). Had to also buy a laminator at Wilkinson for less than £20, as it was going to cost me a small fortune to have my documents laminated. Laminated the documents I had to put up on the wall (e.g. Certificate of registration, House rules, List of activities provided, Daily & Weekly activities provided, emergency evacuation procedure and log book). Got referred to KIS (keep it simple. Training) near Tottenham hale and assigned to a Business Mentor.
Ordered First aid kit, fire blanket and fire extinguishers from Amazon. I started putting all my invoices together. As there were a few of them, I put everything in one wallet and filed them away.
- Keeping records. If you had a lot of receipts It is best to put each month's receipt in a separate marked envelope e.g. Put all sales and purchase receipts (whether it is for products or services) for march 2011 in an envelope marked March 2011, receipts for August 2011 in an envelope marked receipts August 2011 and never mix with receipts from the year before e.g do not mix receipts for March 2011 in an envelope marked March 2010.
- The reason for this is that (i) it is easier for your accountant or you to do your books (ii) your accountant spends less time doing your books and hence charges less money (iii) When the tax requests you books, it is easier for you to produce any document/receipts requested.
Registered on my borough's website 'Family Information Services Directory, FISD' and at http://www.childcare.co.uk/ as a childcare provider. I received my orders from Amazon but unfortunately, I was sent a water bottle that looked like a fire extinguisher. I had to return it at cost to me and then order a proper fire extinguisher.
I had my first telephone interview with my Business Mentor from KIS training, gave her a break down of what am trying to do, what I have done so far and achieved. She invited me to a Loan application training ran by GLE - Greater London Enterprise Limited that afternoon. They went through step by step guide to registering and submitting your loan application, how they carry out a loan assessment and make their decisions. If you wish to apply, go to http://www.gleenterpriseloans.co.uk/.
I thoroughly recommend that if you ever had the opportunity to attend something like this, take it up with both hands and if possible feet.
PS:
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