New Stuff

Well, I am embarking on week 8 of my new life outside the world of work. Except the world of work has crept up on me, suddenly, uninvited, and unsettling. Of course it is flattering to be offered something when you are not even looking. My ego gave in and I thought “yeah, I can do this”. It’s just a bit of marketing work, over the phone. Working from home – what could be more comfortable than that?  The night before my training I slept appallingly badly. I felt like an 11-year-old the night before the first day at “big school”. I woke, feeling hung over without alcohol, stupidly nervous. The appointed hour arrived, I logged onto Skype and the training began. To be truthful, it wasn’t too bad. I didn’t actually get around to making any calls myself, but got a feel for what is needed. The calls came on day two. By then, my palms were leaking like a drain, my throat felt like a sand bath as I ventured into the world of cold-calling. It shouldn’t be called “cold” – because I was as hot as a menopausal flush! Now I know what it is like on the other side of the fence. How annoying was I, phoning client after client, plying “our” services, so to speak. It won’t all be like this, I told myself, because cold calling is only a tiny percentage of what the company does, but I leapt in at the deep end and just about managed a spluttery doggy paddle. Yes I know this is far easier than the job I used to do, but it feels rather uncomfortable at the moment. I am still not sure how near I will get to my goal of Christmas time – can I stick it out that long?  If I have many more sleepless nights and uncomfortable days I am not sure. The loyal bones in my body are telling me that my new employers have shown a lot of faith in me, the least I can do is give it a while longer. Perhaps my confidence (which let’s face it has taken a knock since the redundancy) will rise in the next few weeks, or at least I will know which direction to take. Lets hope there are signals.