2017 - The year in review

Well that was 2017. If you’d told me at the end of 1987 as a 22 year old Junior Operations Manager at a foreign exchange bureau that I’d earn less in 30 years time I would probably have laughed in your face, but that’s exactly how things turned out.
This year was all about recovery. In 2015 my career was decimated due to the loss of a huge client, and the subsequent inability to cover a huge tax bill as I was forced to subsist using the money set aside to pay tax. 2016 was basically spent trying to build a new client base in a completely different industry sector while negotiating Tina’s Cancer treatment, working seven days in two businesses, and repaying HMRC huge amounts of money leading to the first trading loss I’ve ever suffered, and 2017 has been spent building on the foundations laid last year.

The good news is that we’re all still here. Revenue has increased by just short of 300% year on year due to working like a Demon, so next year should see a return to something like a normal life once my tax liability is settled. I’ve slashed my running costs by setting my spend budgets to zero and regarding any outgoing cost as a failure. I’ve ditched the clients who squeeze every ounce of life out of me for nothing in return, and have a new brand identity geared towards architectural clients just about ready to go.

So that’s the serious, boring stuff done with then. Now for the fun (?) bits in no particular order or structure.

Favourite house of the year.

Got to be Londonderry Dene House in Seaham, even though I ended up with whiplash due to a slip in the garden, and lost a light stand. It was one of the most difficult properties to shoot due to the lack of internal light sources, and consequently led me to changing my technique to include way more ambient illumination instead of flash.

Funniest moment of the year.
Nothing to do with work – an old woman came running out of the Tesco store on Clayton Street in Newcastle city centre, stopped me (as opposed to the other 5,000 people on the street), and asked “Duh yuh Knaa if yuh can freeze cheese pet?” I then went into great detail about the difference in fat/water content, and the consequences of the freezing process while she stared at me as if I was retarded. I might just have saved her Christmas tea.

My Best Album of 2017.

Looking at the various curated “best of 2017” lists in the media, they all seem to be comprised of uninspiring, and depressingly similar Grime/Hip-Hop/R&B/Indie offerings which simply don’t resonate with me anymore (sign of age?). I subscribe to Amazon’s Music Unlimited service which means I can stream millions of albums on various devices, but the one album I repeat again and again is actually “The Lost Tapes” from Kurupt FM – a London based pirate radio station dedicated to the UK Garage scene. It’s a proper throwback to the music that would appeal to every middle-aged father from rural Northumberland. Shame about Morrissey’s offering also.

Most useful thing I bought.

My business expenditure is basically down to zero, apart from essentials – so it was disconcerting when my high res Nikon D800 developed an issue with the USB port becoming damaged due to tethered cables being pulled out repeatedly (identical to that above). I sent it off for a repair, and was quoted just over £500 plus labour costs. Totally ridiculous. An hour of searching led me to the solid solution of the USB Lockport device. Expensive at £150, but cheaper than forking out for a replacement PCB unit. It has done the job splendidly ever since.

Stupidest Moment.
It’s actually 3 separate moments of repeating the same mistake – namely placing a £200 flashgun on the top of an open door to bounce its light from the ceiling, then forgetting it was there, closing the door, and causing the aforementioned £200 flashgun to crash to the floor – usually rendering it unusable. This has meant that I’ve had to update my flash stock regularly – with dodgy used equipment that has a habit of failing at the most inconvenient times.

Best Feeling.
Getting rid of my Instagram, Twitter, and Linkedin accounts. Talk about the Emperors New Clothes. They’re all a load of “me…me…me”, and attempting to keep them updated was frankly a pain in the arse. Companies actually have dedicated people who spend all day doing just that – what a joke. This blog post explains it all.

Biggest mistake I’ve made.
How about moving to the fixed-rate VAT system the month before it was changed by the twats at HMRC so that I actually pay way more VAT than I was paying before, then not realising that I now had to calculate it on the gross sales rather than net, and end up copping for two and a half grand that I didn’t have just before Christmas? That’ll do nicely sir.

Things I’ve turned down.
There have been a few approaches from big firms who have unfortunately become accustomed to using appalling imagery at rock-bottom prices. They contact you with something along the lines of “How much do you charge?” and not much else – always a warning sign. One of Britain’s biggest house builders who produce houses that suffocate people got in touch this way, and looking at their website gives me an indication that maybe £50 a day is allocated to promoting new developments – from net revenues of £4.7 billion, and pre-tax profits of £765m. Other firms were quoting £15 for 15 minutes work – conveniently excluding the need to  travel for an hour each way unpaid, and being on call seven days a week 8am to 10pm. Fortunately, there are literally tens of thousands of old blokes with cameras queuing up to fill their boots with this rubbish, so they can all kill themselves while I pursue the work that pays properly. The gig economy eh?

Regrets.
Only one. Not having a single day’s holiday during the whole of 2017. I’ve had days without any paid work of course, and two weeks recuperating from a hernia op, but none which have been devoid of emails/phone calls/having to sit in front of a computer to sort something out. Not being able to completely remove yourself from your job for fear of immediate replacement eventually causes you to resent what you do, and another year of that will finish me off mate.

Personal Plans for next year.
My health is a constant source of concern, and my long-term diabetic control has lost it’s discipline over the year. I will endeavour to continue to follow a rough ketogenic diet, and lose 3 inches around the waist – down to 28in. This Warthin’s Tumour thing is now sticking out of my neck, and should be removed before the end of 2018. It’s a major procedure, and could result in facial paralysis so it’s been put off for a few years. Might need a knee-repair of some sort as well. Gosh.

Business Plans for next year.
It has to be simply starting to begin to try and move away from as much estate agency work – which tends to saps the life  from you by forcing you to endure 15 hour days while frantically getting to various places, and keeping you in the minimum wage bracket without any chance to take holidays or time off if you’re ill etc. It’s like a zero-hours contract without the contract. The aim is to build contacts in the architectural and interior design sectors which offer higher pay, controlled working days, and the opportunity to have at least a fortnight off once a year.

Favourite TV Shows.
Since moving to our current home in Warkworth in Northumberland, our Fibre Broadband has never been inactive. Previously, we were restrained by a crappy sub-2Mb connection which prevented us from streaming anything, but now it’s full stream ahead (get it?). Here’s a non-exhaustive list of my fave stuff this year:

American Gods

Preacher

The last man on Earth

Doctor Who

The Exorcist

Breaking Bad ( Just caught on to it!)

Star Trek Discovery

Catastrophe

Biggest waste of money.

Domain names. I got hung up on protecting my name, so when the new domain suffixes came on the market I reserved them for a year. brian young.photography, brianyoung.photo, and several others. What a mug. The renewals come during the tightest part of the year, and I’ve been spammed to oblivion because I wouldn’t pay the extra to keep my contact details from the general database – which is mined by every single Indian web developer’s spam list.