One year, Eight months.

1 and 2/3 rotations of the Sun. 166 billion stars born and lain to rest. Duke Nukem Forever, released.

These are just some of the events that have transpired since handing in my last notice and traversing the seas of full-time self-employment. Those of you who have made the jump (of your own choice), and those of you who are looking to, have probably all acquired the same nuggets of advice: “Build up a small base of clients”, “Save X number of months worth of salary”, etc… Well, that advice? Is exactly what I didn’t do. And I’m not ashamed to admit, I’ve been winging it ever since. If my business acumen were plotted on a graph, there just wouldn’t be a damned graph.

It should come as no surprise then, that this varied and rich tapestry of unstructured living has been slowly unravelling. The gaping holes of efficiency and process, dotted chaotically around like cigarette burns.

I have, of course, known about this for some time. But, often, you need to wait. Wait until you’ve become a slave to your neuroses; built enough of  those mental barriers we love to set up for ourselves. And then, one day, you snap. You know, that day when you’ve just dug into your tax savings for the fifth time. Or that day you had to pay the DVLA not to take you to court because you forgot to tell them you no longer own your vehicle. Whichever.

It’s time to streamline things a bit, then. Perform a kind of mental Spring Autumn clean. I don’t know what the future holds, but unless some wannabe Snake Plissken activates that network of EMP satellites, it’ll be technology based. Whatever happens, I don’t want to think that I was held back.

And here, finally, we return to the crux of this post: Foundations. It’s time to take a closer look at the fundamentals that underlie what I do; How do I make my processes more efficient, so that I can no longer find silly excuses, or set up stupid little neurotic mental barriers. What do I need to GET. SHIT. DONE. And so, all two of you who might care slightly, we begin this little journey. A carefully documented journey of all the decisions, research, frustrations, learning and the outcomes, as I try to find balance in this technologically rich life.

The only thing left to say is that while I can’t commit to a ‘money is no object’ policy, I don’t mind saving up and spending a little extra, if that’s what it takes to find a solution that works for me. However, on the flip-side, I’m all for building things myself, physically or digitally to accomplish various tasks. In fact, I’m probably more inclined to take that route wherever possible.

Well, that’s that. If you got this far, thank you for reading. Prepare your overnight bags for the next leg of the journey as we start at the very bottom and deal with Home media/Fileservers.