A little off-topic for my blog however I think it's appropriate to introduce you to Grumpy Git and his road trip.
Grumpy Git is me!
Basically, I have become, for now, a #vanlifer.
A vanlifer is someone who lives in their van full time. Often this is by choice rather than necessity. Which is certainly the case for me.
Why have you decided to become a Vanlifer?
You can read the full background of my road to this point over on my dedicated Grumpy Git's Road Trip website.
But to summarise, due to various life events over the last few years, and a lifelong desire to travel and photograph as much of the world as possible. I decided it was time to take action.
The sudden death of a very dear friend played a big part of the decision to take action with a stark reminder of my long term favourite quote, "The trouble is, you think you have time." - Jack Kornfield.
Once the decision was made to start travelling I put into action the steps necessary to make it a reality. I sold my home of 20 years. I downscaled significantly to the point where my only possessions are primarily memorabilia given to me by my kids of the years, important documentation and the like. I have ZERO furniture or luxury items.
The sale of my home made it possible for me to clear my debt and to purchase a motorhome which I did in June 2021.
I lodged with a landlady for a couple of months whilst I got everything in order, purchased the camper van, had it serviced both mechanically and in the habitat area and had some minor alterations done to accommodate my needs.
It is my intention to continue to provide my services under The Online Presence as they will remain two separate business interests.
My working days are now Mon-Wed with the remaining week and weekend spent exploring wherever I am and creating content for both my road trip and Online Presence guys social media channels.
Due to this, I will only take on clients that I can accommodate within my 3 day working week. You can rest assured that you will ALWAYS get the same professional service as my past clients have received when I had a brick home to work from.
I have taken considerable steps to ensure that the van provides me with an 'office on the road' with inbuilt wifi and solar panels to ensure I've always got power. In addition, I will specifically check into campsites on my working days to ensure there are no power or signal issues.
A reminder of the services that I continue to provide to business owners:
Website design - new builds and refreshes using Wix, Squarespace or WordPress.
SEO consultancy
Copywriting - website and blog focussing primarily on creatives. Authors, Photographers, Artists etc
Business mentoring - helping you plan your startup, putting together a business plan, marketing strategy, identifying your ideal client avatar (ICA), deciding on the best social media platforms for your audience etc
Business training - Social media training, specifically, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn and Facebook. Canva training. Google Docs Training and more.
Why work with me?
I have delivered over 300 IT-related projects during my 28-year career in software houses. Each of these 300+ projects was delivered on (or before) time and to budget.
I have worked very closely with the sales and marketing teams for the last 15 years of my career. Assisting sales teams with the sales process delivering demonstrations of the products/solutions to leads and helping marketing teams with copywriting for the company websites and putting together marketing material.
I have won several awards within the various companies I worked for during my career, including 'Consultant of the year' (4x), 'Sales engineer of the year' (3x), 'Project manager of the year' (2x), 'Sale of the year' (7x)
For some 12 years of my career, I also performed business analysis roles, helping large blue-chip clients address issues they were facing within their business.
Bottom line, I'm a technical person who happens to be shit hot at selling stuff.
Check out my Grumpy Git social media channels
If you're interested in following my adventure as I aim to visit 30 countries across the UK and Europe then please do check out my Grumpy Git social media accounts below.
As of 17th August 2021, I am officially a #vanlifer