Giving it away

Things are hotting up. I’ve had some extra short-term work I can do from home. A year ago I would have been delighted to have more work that fits around the family. But circumstances are that I really want to do some work which involves going somewhere else. It doesn’t look like they’ll be work within cycling distance. However, I have had two interviews in the last week which will get me out of the house (albeit in my gas guzzling car). One is working directly for a small company who want some assessments and procedures written, to keep the local environmental health officer off their back. I wrote a proper proposal, just as I would have done when I worked for a risk management consultancy. Except that it didn’t have to go through three rounds of quality checking with the boss insisting on changes up to the last minute. Pressing the “send” button on the email with the proposal attached was pretty scary. Had I bid too high? Or had I undersold myself? Had I included enough time? I expect I’ll have to put in more time than I’ve actually bid, but I suppose I feel I should know more, and that if I have to spend a few hours reading up on the control of workplace transport in order to produce a safe procedure for them, that should be on my time not theirs.

The other interview also involved me offering to give my services away for nothing. I’m pretty confident that once let loose on real companies employers will see that I have an eye for spotting what can go wrong, and a knowledge base to suggest how to make practical improvements. I just need to convince someone to let me try. So I’ve offered to work for nothing for a small health and safety consultancy for a short period of time to show them what I can do. This is not the first time I’ve made the offer to an organisation, but this time they’ve accepted. But not until the Autumn. I can’t believe how hard it is to give work away.