For 27+ years my professional identity has been tied to the world of IT sales, recruitment tech, assessments, software, targets, meetings, airports, PowerPoints, and LinkedIn profiles that sounded far more corporate than the person behind them – Check out the (not so) old me out here
And that chapter has given me plenty.
Great people, experiences, opportunities, and a what turned out to become a solid career, despite me never really expecting it to last a few months – maybe that was the secret?
I tried for many years to make the most of it for me, my team mates, clients and those the businesses supported, but eventually what felt like a real passion began to fade, and in the end became a ‘job’.
I stopped feeling like me a little while ago when sat at the desk, and somewhere along the way, I realised the moments I enjoyed most weren’t sat behind a screen, it was being outside. The endless monitoring of stats and conversion rates, technology, IT security tests, seemingly pointless meetings, thousands of emails emails, zoom calls, and people turning up late for meetings… it rubbed.
“Can everybody hear me?”
“You’re on mute!”
Funny, until you notice it makes the vein in your neck stand out in the reverse camera… yep… that.
But I kept smiling, dialing, earning and for as long as was fair.
No regrets.
And so inevitably, over the last few years, what started as my side project, quietly became something much bigger, and that’s where most of my time, enthusiasm and effort started to go, which made fitting my IT career into my head and heart pretty difficult.
It’s been a very slow transition in reality, but now that chapter is over.
As many of you know, first came The Tidy Garden, a local garden maintenance business focused on helping people keep their outdoor spaces tidy, manageable and enjoyable, great fun, still the main aim.
And then came Root & Bloom Gardens, which has grown far quicker than I ever expected, where we focus on garden makeovers and soft landscaping, transforming tired outdoor spaces into gardens people actually want to spend time in, it’s going great for the first season.
And honestly?
It feels pretty good.
There’s something deeply satisfying about standing back at the end of a project and physically seeing the difference you’ve made. I find myself taking photo’s of my work and showing people. I never did that with a work email. Or a powerpoint slides, or board report.
No jargon.
No slide decks.
Just real transformation.
Real smiles and gratitude.
And what’s especially noticed – people saying ‘well done’, and ‘good job’.
And so this is me officially leaning fully into it, full-time – no more IT, no more safetynet, more more suits….
Less corporate strategy.
More compost strategy.
I’ll be eternally grateful for everything my IT career gave me, but I’m pretty excited for what comes next.
Wish me luck!
See me trying not to panic!
See you around….
Paul@TheTidyGarden.com
07752 640 510
