By the time you read this, I will be unemployed.

So, my tenure at WIPO is up and it's time for me to consider, what next. The obvious response being 'look for more work'.

As a continuation of the analogy I offered in my last post, I've been thinking about the type of service I'd like to offer and the type of clients I'd like to cultivate. If possible, I'd like to position myself in the bespoke end of the market. There are two primary reasons for this; one is a little idealistic and the other is slightly more practical.

The idealistic reason is that I think this is more appropriate for my personality and it is more in line with how I think a business should be run. I think that a business should be personal and care about its clients. I realise that this is not always possible, that's why this is the idealistic reason.

The practical reason is that I live in a developed nation with a reasonable economy and high standard of living (although it won't take long for our politicians to fix that). I simply can't compete on price. I would need to translate millions of words a year just to pay for food. So, I need to compete on quality and service.

I think these are the two biggest factors in considering how I want my career to progress: being able to work without going mad and being able to make a living and support my family. Although my own abilities and other factors (such as what work I can get. Beggars can't be choosers, not for long anyway) will, naturally, play a role as well.