2013 - The Next Step

For people who know me, then you know my story. For people who don't, I'm now living in Palmerston North, New Zealand. This is the city in which I was born and raised and educated in and left when I was 23 years old. I lived in Japan for just under 15 years and at the beginning of this year I returned to Palmerston North. I would have preferred to stay in Japan but circumstances dictated that I should return.

For the last seven months or so I have been working in the bar of a function centre at the local horse racing track. I know that this job isn't going to be for the rest of my life and I have even told my boss that I'm not going to be staying there for ever and that I will be working until the end of the year.

So, the good thing is that I have options to what I want to do in 2013. I think that it is great that in today's age we do have all of these options and one can make an educated decision on what he or she wants to do.

For me, here are some options that I have:

1. Stay working at the race course. It is quite enjoyable and I do enjoy the hours that I work. I like working on the weekend and starting work at 2 or 3 in the afternoon and working through to after midnight. Definitely  not your typical 9 to 5 job.

2. Go to teacher's college and become a teacher. I taught in Japan for close to 10 years. My family think that I should do that for various reasons. They can see that I would make a god teacher. Teachers also seem to have good collegiality (I just learnt that word the other day) and holidays are good. For example 6 to 7 weeks over summer is quite nice.

3. Return to Japan and hopefully do what I did before. I was a financial adviser for expatriates in Japan.   I was not successful in this job because my prospecting systems were not very good. For me to return to this I would have to look closely at these systems and do it better.

4. Become a financial adviser in Palmerston North. I have talked to a couple of people who do this job in Palmerston North and it wouldn't be too bad. I do have a good network here in my hometown and I'm sure that I will be able to tap into that and get some kind of viable business going.

5. A third option of the financial adviser stream is to go to London. I have contacts in that industry and it is another viable option. I do know people socially as well in that city so it wouldn't be a lonely existence.

6. Return to Japan and go back to being an English teacher. As I said before I spent nearly 10 years doing that job. I did enjoy it and you meet some interesting people especially when you teach in companies. I have had the honour of working in some pretty high profile companies and that is a real experience.

7. Look for a job in the tourism industry in New Zealand. This industry has always interested me and it is something that I would probably enjoy. Also you get to live in some pretty cool spots. I suppose with my ability to speak Japanese, I may be of use in places like Rotorua and Queenstown.

8. Return to university. I said before if I want to become a teacher than I would have to go to teachers college but I don't necessarily have to go there, I could look to study something else and start a new career that way. (I could be one of those mature students who sits up the front and always gets 95% on his exams.)

9. Start my own business. I don't have any ideas at the moment but there must be something out there that I can fill the gap in the market. (I sense another blog post coming along.)

10. Marry a rich woman. (No comment necessary.)

These are just ideas that I have and they are not my first choices by any means but it is good to get them down on paper so to speak. I think a big thing for me is not the job per se but where I do it. For example being a financial adviser in Napier doesn't appeal.