Working as a Financial Modeller and a Radical Engineers Trustee
Weeknotes for 20th March 2024
Ok, so I’m trialling a new title after a session with
’s Open Working Programme. Hopefully this gives you and new readers a guide on what these weeknotes are about.Thoughts about the past week / today
Update on Back Pain
I had back pain last week, which continued until the Friday, and was a huge drain on my workload. Last week wasn’t quite a “write off”, but it was severely lacking in concentration. The pain has mostly gone now, and I am going to book a massage treatment with a new client to help me with any residual tension. I am actually lucky with this new client. They’re a massage therapist who runs a wellbeing CIC so wouldn’t be able to afford my usual day rate. I asked if they’d be willing to do a trade exchange instead — which I’m happy to do when I’d find value in the exchange, and with last week’s back pain I could really use a massage.
A WhatsApp Chat revolution
Last Friday was a hellish day for me. A WhatsApp group of which I was group admin exploded over a moderator act I took that I couldn’t explain in the chat without embarrassing others. I received, over the course of the day, dozens of messages and phone calls angrily asking me to explain myself. I also got messages from friends saying that they hope I’m ok with all the anger I was receiving. On Monday, I was able to hand off the admin role to a third party, but it was an awful day of emotional pain; another distraction from my work. Fortunately, I have a wonderful partner with whom I was able to spend Friday evening and the weekend celebrating life.
A new potential Radical Engineers project
Yesterday, a former associate got in touch asking me about Radical Engineers and proposed that a charity with which he works may have a suitable project. It’s a cool charity with which I am already familiar, so I hope they submit an application. Darkspark, unfortunately have not yet formally applied.
Organising Radical Engineers has given me newfound respect for administrative hurdles. There is something very liberating about asking people to formally submit an application for a process. If they don’t apply, it means that they aren’t seriously interested… and if, upon reading the application, I find that I was actually misunderstanding their project / goals, it gives me the permission, in a way, to ask further questions. If this simple administrative step were not part of the process, I think there would be far more incomplete projects.
Financial Modelling pricing
I had a meeting yesterday with a potential new client. They were excited to work with me, and were ok with my day rate, but were surprised about how long it takes to make a financial model. It usually takes one to two weeks to enter an established business and make a financial model to their satisfaction. This actually matches how long it takes PWC to make a financial model — they usually have a two to two-and-a-half week modelling period — so I don’t feel like it’s an outrageous ask. However, my day rate and my estimated timescale was going to make it difficult for this client. I assured them that they should come back to me with an offer, but I worry that I may have outpriced them for the work, which I hate doing. I base my price point on how much past clients have been willing to pay me for my work and the financial position of that client — so with independent founders, I will usually offer a much more affordable rate than with multinational scale-ups. It’s a hard balance — sometimes I feel like I could have asked for more, and sometimes I try to slowly backpedal from too high an estimate.
Thoughts about today/ the next week
Radical Engineers future thinking
This week, I have a meeting with Anouk, one of my co-trustees to brainstorm ideas about how we can take Radical Engineers forward and get a little more momentum going. Anouk is a master strategist and an awe-inspiring organiser. She’s our go-to person for thinking through how systemic changes will occur with a project so I’m very excited to sit down with her and talk about Radical Engineers, not just from the perspective of moving Radical Engineers forward, but also for the opportunity to watch her incredible mind in action
Sales Techniques
I have a meeting coming up with the best salesperson I know — Tash — she is in dire need of some Excel skills and she has offered to give me some Sales training in exchange. We’ve only assigned an hour for this, so I’m a little concerned that’s not enought time, but I’m excited by the prospect of both improving her work and improving mine.
Other project
I feel like I am finally coming towards the end of the many financial modelling projects that have dominated the first quarter of the year — subject to small changes. This makes me a little sad, but hopefully more will come, and until they do I will have more time to work on other activities.
