Yesterday was a great day. I’ve finally got some operational support to help me with CyberNorth. I’ve always had volunteers working with me but this is paid support. It’s only temporary at the moment but will hopefully become permanent shortly. Already it is a relief and Oliwia is an enormous help.
She has been able to address some of the things that I have been struggling to keep on top of, setting up the new website, creating CyberNorth email and sorting out the social media for example. There are many more things to come, notably how to recruit someone on an ongoing basis.
My expectation is that her involvement will allow me the time to get on with other things, or perhaps to do those I am doing better. I think this is for the future as instead the new role has created yet more work.
I am experiencing an edge effect. Before I can surf the wave I have to get over the crest and this means paddling even harder. There is a whole bunch of work to do to get the website over the line, transfer my mail from one address to the other and knock the social media into a cocked hat.
The irony then is that, at least initially, the help I have got fills even more of my time.
This was always going to be the case and I wonder if this was what has been holding me back from recruiting someone in the first place (apart from just money). The person I am looking for needs to be self motivated, organised, committed to what we are trying to do and willing to work part time. Such a person is going to be hard to find but having the help now is going to make it much easier to be clear about what I want.
In the meantime Oliwia is an enormous help.
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 