Still no project lined up so I have taken the decision to cancel next month's trek and eat the cost. I just can't imagine securing a new client and them then being thrilled that I'm going to go off gallivanting in the Himalaya for three weeks right after my start date. Business just doesn't work that way.
Realistically of course I still have my flights so if I'm NOT working then I can certainly still go ahead and fly to Kathmandu and then I'll have 3 weeks to do any trek I like. I can call Sushila and ask her to find me a porter to do a bit of trekking in the Khumbu or try my hand at Island Peak or do something else like Mustang or a bit of the Annapurna Circuit. Anything really. I'm actually leaning towards going back to the Khumbu but doing it via walking in from Jiri.
If I do find a contract then the cost of cancelling is utterly negated by what I can earn and then I'll have time to establish myself and rearrange things to go back in the latter half of August (as I did in 2011) toward the end of the monsoon to do a "solo".
So to my sponsors I'm not abandoning things altogether, I just have to ensure that I can do this while keeping the wolf from the door.
In the meantime, I'm off to New Orleans on Monday to speak at the AIIM Conference. I'll be speaking next Friday so I'll have a few days to network and build up an audience for my talk. I'll also, of course, be bringing my business cards and my CV on a memory stick to hopefully drum up some work. And managing the end-game of my project remotely.
In other news, when I get back from the states I'll be dashing off to do a few days in the Isle of Skye for the Easter weekend. It's looking like it might still be crampon weather when I get there! There's still plenty of snow on the mountains...
The bright side of all of this upheaval is that there is now even more time to donate to TNMOC!
No comments:
Post a Comment