Reflections On Life As Consultant

It’s been a very interesting fortnight.

At times I’ve really felt like meat in a sandwich, squashed between things threatening to be consumed. As a project consultant to a number of Australian Flexible Learning Elearning Innovations projects after this Friday and in between negotiations for a number of other private and enterprie RTO projects spread from Caringbah to Coonamble I’ve learnt that life as consultant can be both exciting and rewarding.

Travel is having it’s toll. My persistent cough is back as is my sore back from travelling in my utility for hours on end. My throat is sore from talking. ….and yet there’s a certain joy about having time with my son to play with him and watch the snow fall and still not enough time to get into the studio and create some art work.

That part is a discipline related issue and one I’m gradually getting my head around.

I’ve also learned that as a consultant you can expect;

• the unexpected
• to need a home office….it’s almost impossible to operate as an e-learning consultant without a reliable table, internet connection and some decent strong coffee
• your an outsider to insider negotiations
• not to be paid for at least two-three hours of emails per day
• the bigger the organisation the bigger the expectation to be patient especially with payments for service….it’s a short term contract….little regularity….lots of paperwork
• many phone calls or none at all dependent on who’s where and how close you are to the source of project management
• odd working hours
• constant anxiety
• strange requests from people expecting everything for nothing
• time to yourself which is generally consumed with thinking about prospects
• more time management skill development than ever before
• hefty PI and PL cover upwards of $1400 AUD per annum.
• a massive fuel bill
• increased interest from the tax office
• decreased interest from the bank

Overall it’s a very challenging time and now that I’m confident I can last out till spring I might get a chance to interview for some full-time work which I can get paid to forget the above….for a while…..till that becomes debilitating and humiliating and so on.

More meat in the sandwich me thinks. Plenty of time to reflect and create and build things which matter most.

Open wide spaces.

Friends & Colleagues

It’s a hard thing to distinguish between these days and in my area of work it’s an increasingly blurred line between one and the other.

I’d just like to acknowledge the kind and considerate actions of a friend and colleague Merelyn Treanor who last weekend took me out to the Orange, NSW Australia Botanical Gardens to have a coffee and a chat. As you may well know I’ve been with my leg in ice for the last two weeks on all sorts of pain killers after a second arthroscopy.

Merelyn brought me four books to read and some beautiful cakes and croissants which I devoured at midnight…on two occasisons. How fortunate I am in friends and how fortunate I am that my work colleagues at Western Institute have shown me the same kindness picking me up on the way to work and dropping me off at home also.

With Jane away in the countryside and a house to moan in all on my own it certainly has been a solitary re-cuperation but look at all the wonderful things I’ve had happen all in 7 days.

Thank you Merelyn & Mort & Sharon.

I truly appreciate your actions and your considerations.

Placing Our Feet Well

Lucychili and I spent till some time late in the morning exploring “value” and other useful process oriented actions which leads up to the May 2nd event in Adelaide.

I dropped a post into the Engageme space as i think this brings that community into the discussion and others related to what it means to be living in DER.…an apt coinage by education.au. Ive started tagging things with Diigo on the area from my own and many others ( hopefully) perspective on the idea of a digital education revolution which I think is alive a well.

Today I made some breakthroughs in the nomeclature governing participation within the MECaT online Moodle project I’m Project Officer for which excites me. I didnt think I’d ever get a SCORM compliant learning object operational but with the help of Grant Casey at CLI and Toolbox Champion, Shane Dowd hey….it’s happening !

Building & Construction online. Has a certain ring to it.

You’ll notice some changes with this site. I’m done with the sardonism.

Sick of the smartarse…out with the old in with the new.

Now on with the business of connecting , creating and building things which inspire others. Feel free to drop me a link with some positive, constructive criticism.

News in the door is I’ll be guest speaking at the AFLF Induction Day for the Innovations area in 2008, down in Sydney, networked and built as a participatory event with a few suprises.

Trialling Evernote, research retained through Diigo and playing with other mashables.