Would You Downsize Home For Work?

It’s a simple question really.

Would you downsize your entire home just to stay within the same position at work?

Or would you jump ship immediately and secure a job that meant you didn’t have to?

At the start of all this Covid stuff, my contract ended from a very nicely paid position in a very large global organisation. I had the difficulty of looking for a new role just as we were going into the first major lockdown, with absolutely no idea how the world was about to completely change.

Initially, things started well due to some good friends of mine within the industry I love, taking me on within a sales capacity. It continued to move forward at a relatively good pace as I quickly became Sales Manager, supporting the business across sales, marketing, digital strategy etc.

However, I had actually taken quite a serious hit to my nice global company salary for this. But I had done so knowingly and willingly for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, I never want to leave the Audio-Visual industry. I have worked for many years within the industry and have built up a lot of relationships and friendships.

Hence my second reason. Sometimes, it just feels right when you work with a group of people that aren’t just colleagues. We understand each other, work well together and work well without living in each other’s pockets at the same time.

This company is not the global behemoth that I was with before. But a much smaller and more intimate business that looks after each and every client and in a very focussed manner.

And here’s the reason for asking the original question.

As the year progressed, things got worse and essentially, our largest client base, simply didn’t go to work. (A huge amount of business comes from, business. Office spaces etc)

This of course, meant my earnings were seriously limited and my household had a huge decision to make.

Do I look at alternative positions to earn what I was used to? (And believe me, I did look and yes, there were those positions there)

Or do I continue my loyalty to my business, move home and downsize for as long as necessary?

We moved.

Whilst it wasn’t the easiest thing to do, it was very refreshing and cleansing to essentially “start again”. We sold things that we just didn’t need, and spent endless time booking slots at our local recycling centre to get rid of endless things that had built up over the years that were simply cluttering our lives.

And then we moved to a small, 2 bed home that gave us the basics until we decided it was time to build back up.

Now, I won’t for one minute suggest this was an easy process. To summarise, we have now spent 6 months living in hell. No, honestly, I’m seriously not using the wrong word there. It is hell. If you want to know more about why it is hell, then please do get in touch. I will more than happily explain and rant further about this…

But it is a hell that is now - I’m very happy to say - coming to an end. We move in just over a week to our new home in a quiet village with a nice garden and some very plush finishes. It’s not the larger, silly money property we were fortunate enough to have before, but it is a home to be proud of.

And that’s the point here. It isn’t always about continuing to have the best of everything. But to make sure you’re the best at what you do and sticking at it if you believe it’s the right place to be.

Make the decision, stick to your guns, work hard and it will come good in the end.

If I had to do it all over again, I would. Because whilst it’s been tough, I have loved every minute of my focus on my career.

And, I will continue to do so…

Oh…

And now I have to re-buy everything we got rid of last time!