New Beginnings

I've hinted a few times on my blog that there is something going on in my life that may change things a bit, well it's finally time to spill the beans.

Tomorrow is my last day in the corporate rat race. I decided back in January that I would make some pretty big changes in my life this year. I have been in the same job as Development Director for an Internet Entertainment company for the last twelve years and it's time to move on. In fact, more than move on, it's time for a whole new chapter in my life.

I have been offered a few jobs in London but to be honest I'm looking for a complete change, so three months ago I handed in my notice and started tentatively planning the my future.

Most normal people would make sure they had a new job all lined up before leaving a perfectly good, highly paid position. Well, I've never been one for doing things the conventional way so I don't have another job lined up and I don't have an absolutely concrete plan for what comes next. But somewhere between my dreams and my tentative plans lies my future. It's going to be fun seeing what it holds.

The dream...

Well I love the Internet/Technology and Poker. I'm very good at one of them and still a struggling student of the other, see if you can figure out which is which :-). If I could find a way to make a living on my own from one of these passions it would be great. If I could find something that combined both, then that would be the dream.

From now until Christmas I am going to chill out and let all the stress and hassle of my previous existence fade away whilst I try to figure out exactly what's next. If by Christmas I am getting signals that I can make my own way as an Internet Developer / Entrepreneur or start earning a reasonable amount from Poker (not necessarily just by playing) then I will be able to go into 2008 a happy man with some clear plans and targets. If on the other hand I can't, then I'll be starting to search for a new job in the New Year. Before anybody flames me, and before you ask, I am under no illusion that I could replace my previous salary with earnings from playing poker. I've a very long way to go before I could even consider that, and I suspect I may never be good enough.

With a family, kids and a pretty chunky motgage to support I know a lot of my friends have views of me that range from mild bemusment to thinking I'm being pretty irresponsible, but I have to do this. If I had continued as I was I would have gone completely round the bend sooner or later. If by Christmas I'm starting to pull in a the beginnings of an income from my own ventures then great, if not, I still have options, even if it means going back to the rat race again.

The Tentative Plan...

The logic behind the plan initially is to build up multiple revenue streams. In other words I'm going to try a few things that in isolation might not make a massive amount but combined could be enough. The broad areas I'll be covering are Internet Development / Second Life Development / Poker

As a developer I have some projects of my own that I will be pursuing but I will also be seeking to sell my services in order to pay the bills until I can get some of my own projects running.

The first of my personal projects is a very groovy new poker website that offers something pretty unique. It's already about half built and I will divulge more soon as I'll be needing some poker enthusiasts to give me feedback and help me shakeout any bugs. Watch this space.

I also plan to spend some time improving my poker game and learning more about the poker industry as I am sure there must be openings in this burgeoning industry that somebody with my business, technical and ahem.... playing skills could extract some +EV from.

The Reality...

It's been a while since I've really looked forward to something but I have to say I'm really looking forward to waking up on Thursday morning knowing it is the first day of my new life. Yes, it's scary. I have no job, no income and a family to support, but I've got everything covered for about 6 months so I can afford to spend the next 3 months experimenting and laying the foundations for the next chapter. I feel liberated...

Finally, it goes without saying, that if you need the assistance of a shit hot web developer and poker nut then gimme a yell. Or should that read a nutty web developer and shit poker player. I guess time will tell.

To be Continued...