• Do you also play bike polo? ;)

  • Keep meaning to drop in at some point, looks like a tidy little shop. Congrats on finding your way :)

  • We’re fair weather polo players, April-September...

  • Thanks mate. Come by for a coffee some time.

  • @cycleclinic Congrats. That sounds amazing. Looking to make a similar move to you guys at some point soon. Really inspirational and glad you guys derive some joy out of it.

  • Thanks for this, I've been at Brixton Cycles since the summer, initially only for 10 weeks but I'm still there and all thanks to ya!

    Did 5 years in the City, as a structured finance analyst then promoted to deal closing analyst. Decided I wanted some time off, why not give bike spannering a go and went for it.

    It was not all smooth sailing, was initially offered a place to start my own bike shop, the day I was supposed to take the keys, Mr. A told me Mr. B said the space has been given to someone else, rang Mr. B and apparently Mr. A said the space was given to someone else.

    Did some shifts at a few bike shops prior too, 2 ghosted me after less than a handful of shifts, the other was just pure toxic - racist, homophobic, misogynistic owners and yeah 'they can only afford to pay me £8.40/hour'.

    I'm loving it at BC, 8-6 is fine (done more than that before...), quirky and demanding clients (pretty used to screaming and swearing bankers, doesn't faze me at all), working with bikes is a dream come true!

  • I have gone from being the least civil civil servant to a contended cycling instructor and these days I specialise in training instructors and teaching maintenance.

    I was at a jump or be pushed moment in my old work and was lucky to work for CTUK where I was keen to take opportunities to develop and they let me do so. Now I work freelance but get to chose when I work and do loads of fun stuff. Recently all cycle training trainers had to undergo retraining and one of the companies I freelance for paid for my retraining. As an instructor trainer there have been other things come my way. Developing new training products, working on pilot schemes and a lot of mentoring and support work.

    Last year was a bit of a hiatus from training work, just doing little bits as I was project managing building work. Now the building work is almost wound up I set myself goals of days per month and income for the year. Plan was to gradually ramp up the work and had clear goals as to where I wanted to be by the middle of the year. After the first month I had already met my June target for monthly income and am working less days than I expected. Last week more options were offered to me and again I am being given more training to deliver additional products (one of which I did consultancy on during its development).

    TLDR I am amazingly lucky and have found sustainable income at a gentle rate. Doing work you love is worth a pay cut.

  • Doing work you love is worth a pay cut

    It’s worth more than it’s weight in gold

  • I am working in Cardiff next week

  • Come by and say hi. I’m literally always there.

  • Could anyone point me in the direction of cycle coaching and cycle mechanic courses for some research? I'm currently in Spain and thinking of going down to some LBSs to propose an apprenticeship.

  • The main UK cycle mechanic qualifications are City and Guilds or Cytech; I don't know about coaching. No idea what the Euro equivalents are.

  • Butternut Bikes - anyone on here ? Great to see - smart to set up in a furloughed pub too.

  • One of them is part of my local mutual aid group...

  • The motivation indicator is pointing to the Empty side of the tank again, which means the rant is quite ripe lately.. Good to come here and read positive stories, hoping one day I'll resource enough balls to do something I like myself, without worrying about money

  • I follow this thread. I've just completed a life coaching qualification with the MOE foundation and am pumped to try and use that to pivot out of my current job which I'm really disliking at the moment. Tempted to try and train as a mechanic/get entry level bike mech work to get out in the short term. I have an emerging awareness that my fulfilment at work has a huge impact on every area of my life. What options would you be entertaining if you were to leave your job in the next few months?

  • I've just bought a Raspberry Pi 400, so my next job might be in cyber.

  • Bike mechanic
    Bike shop
    Yachtmaster fast track
    Joiner

  • Auditor
    Structured finance reporter/analyst
    Banker (Structured finance analyst)
    Banker (Deal closing specialist)
    Bike shop front desk/mechanic

  • Bike mechanic is always a good fall back....or a great career.

  • I feel like I've almost come full circle in this thread now.. I've just made a big leap at breaking free from professional life, handed my notice in last week, finish my current job 11th Feb! I've been working full time as a teacher for the past 3.5 years and honestly getting sicker and sicker of this super narrow curriculum that doesn't prepare kids for life outside of exams. This academic year I went down to 4d/w contract and enrolled in a life coaching course with MOE. I qualified in November and have been taking on clients left and right since and one niche I've really identified with is helping people who dislike their present position find fulfilment through work.

    For those who don't know what coaching's about.. It's about having someone skilled to help you find the things that speak out most strongly to you and then support you in making progress towards those things. I coach people over all sorts of obstacles, one of my strengths is the motivation I bring to the table.

    So I'm just leaving my personal professional life hell and have found work that really inspires and energises me and that closes the loop for me as I'm now offering to help other people out of their own problems in the very same space that I came to. If you're interested in coaching send me a private message here (or on my linkedin here ) and we can get the ball rolling, first two sessions are free. If anyone feels like they really need coaching but couldn't pay for it, please send me a message anyway and we may be able to sort something out.

  • Very meta.

    But in all seriousness, a) I'm glad you've found your calling and b) that you are helping others find theirs.

    So much unhappiness and wasted years as a result of people doing work that doesn't fulfill them.

  • Making my way through this thread, some inspiring stories. I had a breakdown two years ago, walked out of my job after 15 years of hating it. I am still getting my life back together with the help of my family, my only regret is that I had left much earlier. The only issue I have now is not knowing what to do next, I would work for free to find/do something I enjoyed.

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Anyone broken free from professional life? Warning: rant

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