A giant leap of faith

Hello,

Over the last few weeks and months, I have been trying to decide what I want to do.

That age old question "What do you want to do when you grow up?" still doesn't have an answer! In times gone by, I wanted to be an air hostess, possibly a nurse, and definitely a music teacher. As the years went by, becoming an air hostess at the time meant you had to be a certain height and you had to swim - i'm 5ft 4 & can't swim. Nursing - not sure what happened to that idea! At the time I was studying my music A levels, music was not considered important enough on the curriculum and therefore it felt as though there was a slim possibility of me making it through so I dropped it and did secretarial studies instead.

I have done various things in my working life - Assistant Bank Manager's secretary - climbing through the ranks from typist upwards. Publishing assistant for a local free newspaper. Shop assistant - all for about 3 weeks in total for two different shops (one only lasted one day). A relief typist for a Bank. Data entry clerk for about a week. Communications specialist covering all kinds of wonderful things including working with computers, schools, people, conferences, and ultimately working on the internet creating websites & developing educational software. I have trained in alternative therapies and am a qualified masseuse/aromatherapist and reiki practitioner.

So, a few bows on my buckles.

Last weekend we spontaneously went out for the day, making the most of the sunshine and to prize my husband away from his computer during the daytime :)

After we'd visited a local country park and were heading for home, I saw a signpost to an old country house and decided that I'd like to see it, as I hadn't done so before. On the way in to the site we saw some signs advertising offices to let in the vicinity of the main house.

It was a truly awe-inspiring location. A lovely old house reminiscent of my days working at IBM Hursley Park. Fantastic grounds, fantastic views, cobbled courtyard, tea rooms, garden centre, need I say more.

Well, on the way home I started thinking about the possibilities of having one of these offices - it would be perfect for a couple of business ventures, and perhaps, I could even run them both at the same time or rather in the same premises.

A location such as this was would most certainly lead easily to the two ideas I had in mind - DTP & Internet publishing and Massage/Aromatherapy practice.

A couple of days after visiting the location I picked up the courage to phone and enquire about the offices - so I'm off to see them next week!

Now, the question is, do I have the confidence in myself that I can make either or both of these ventures work in such an idyllic location? I will need to do my research carefully I guess - make sure that certain markets are available and that people would want to come out to such a place.

I have been asking myself alot of questions this week - but I will aim to be practical and logical in my decision - starting first with thinking about a business plan in order to think carefully about all the important things I need to think about. I already have a few interesting ideas about what I could do with regards to the massage side of the business.

If I haven't bored you too much, I will endeavour to put some updates here in my Blogs in order to chart my progress and my decisions etc. There is alot to think about, rent, location, clients, child care, phone costs etc., etc.

Plenty of food for thought.

I don't think I'll be going hungry for a while!

Come back soon and I'll let you know which direction I decide to choose.

Thank you for reading.