Hi All - this is a long one!
I’m 40 this year, have the opportunity of redundancy from a role I’ve been in for 10 years. I have a 16 month old baby and I’ve recently become a single mother! I have lots of great support and am very fortunate to have lots of savings behind me in addition to a few low value rental properties.
I have 10 GCSEs all A*’s, A-Levels BCC, I have an undergraduate degree and a masters (both in construction related disciplines).
I’ve not enjoyed my current job or industry for many years so I’m quite tempted to take redundancy however I’m very aware of the economy, market and the sheer number of companies making redundancies at the moment which is quite frankly frightening. I have a large mortgage but the property is currently on the market (currently living with parents).
My passion has always been beauty but I’ve been used to a high salary for years (currently £65k 😬) and I don’t feel as if I would make the salary that would support the lifestyle I’ve become accustomed to!? I would be interested in the aesthetics route, however, I’d need to have a medical background for this (given upcoming regulations) and I only had a “C” in A-Level Biology which I believe means I’d need to redo this in order to progress to a medical related degree.
I had also thought to open a play cafe locally as there are none in the area but I would struggle to earn even minimum wage whilst working 7 days a week from initial calculations. I have signed up for a barista course in case this does happen. I have also signed up for many free business courses.
After having baby I’m wanting flexibility. However, baby’s father has taken me to family court so currently has baby every other weekend so I have free weekend time which I’d like to make use of to work as a distraction from not having my son. I’ve always imagined working for myself. In terms of my skills, I’m incredibly organised, thorough, a bit of a perfectionist.
Does anyone have any ideas? I feel as if this is my last opportunity to pivot to a day job that I will actually enjoy for the next 20 years!
Thankyou if you got this far!