{"id":5727,"date":"2025-10-20T09:35:15","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T09:35:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marendeepwell.com\/?p=5727"},"modified":"2025-10-20T13:23:38","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T13:23:38","slug":"year-3-boom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marendeepwell.com\/?p=5727","title":{"rendered":"Year 3. BOOM."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This month marks the anniversary of my business, and there is much to celebrate, and to be grateful for! <\/p>\n\n\n

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Patterns new and old<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Once of the things I’ve noticed a lot this year is different patterns: first in terms of how I work, and how my activity is distributed across the year, and also in terms of what I like to do and how my curiosity shapes the work I do. One of the ongoing tasks this year has been to record my work and update my CV more regularly, and that’s given me an interesting perspective on how I return to similar interests, and also how a narrative emerges over the years. My career doesn’t follow a typical arc and like many people who work in education and technology I trained in different disciplines and bring that with me to the digital context. Although it’s only been a couple of years since I started to work as a consultant and coach full-time, it’s been 15 years since I first started working as a free-lancer on projects, and I’ve been revisiting some of these as I’ve charted my skills and experience. It’s interesting to re-examine how some of the things I’ve worked on over the past twenty years fit together in retrospect, with new patterns emerging. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Innovation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I’ve been able to work on a lot of new, innovative things this year and that’s been a joy. I love not knowing what the end product will look like, and I love the exhilarating process of creating something new, something that’s a first! It’s not always easy, and it certainly brings a lot of risk with it, but I’m good at navigating unknown unknowns. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the projects I’ve particularly enjoyed working on is Reclaim Open<\/a>, a “one of a kind” conference that’s evolved each time it happens, and this time is no different. I’ve also loved developing my own new offering, Long Distance Leadership Postcards<\/a>, for which I have nearly completed the first year and which has been a joy to work on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Doing something completely new, whether its a talk, workshop, a new coaching client or a project, has been a huge part of my year and has stretched my thinking and my abilities in new, exciting (and sometimes scary) ways. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Anthropology <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Up until this year I’ve had little opportunity to use my Anthropological training in my work, at least explicitly. But more recently I have become more and more interested in the rich and exciting work happening in digital heritage, digital humanities and cultural institutions, giving me a new area to learn about and work in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ve also found that the research for my PhD feels both timely and relevant again especially during the current social and economic upheaval and I’ll be sharing a post soon on that topic. I’ve been writing more again recently, and found ideas emerging as I was preparing for an AI-related workshop, so prepare for an “AI in the cemetery” Halloween. <\/p>\n\n\n

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People<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Free-lance life can be a little lonely at times, but I am lucky (and work hard at) being able to connect with colleagues old and new very regularly. I have a wonderful group of fellow coaches who I meet up with regularly, alongside my mentoring sessions for 1 Million Mentors. And there are some much valued coffee mornings, often virtual, with fellow free-lancers, swapping tales of projects, and collaborating on new ideas. I’ve loved all the wonderful conversations I’ve had on my podcast, too! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year I’ve also travelled more, to attend conferences and to deliver in person workshops and leadership days, which has been invigorating and joyful, and a nice balance to the days and weeks working solo from home. Although of course my trusty dog Posey is always by my side. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am super grateful for all the stimulating, inspiring days, the work life balance being my own boss has brought me and the exciting firsts I have been part of over the past year. Here is to Year 3! Boom! <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don’t miss out on monthly updates from me…<\/p>

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