Update, November 2024

Hello and welcome to my latest update - and it's an important one!

I have a new job!

Recently, I have been doing some 360 tours for Norton Canes' brokerage boats at Glascote Basin. Norton Canes was established in 1986 and it's one of the country's most respected traditional boat builders. Just before I went on holiday, the owner, Sarah Edgson, suggested that I might like to work at Glascote Basin on a more regular part-time basis. Her lovely offer took me completely by surprise, and needless to say I was thrilled - what a wonderful opportunity!

I started this week, and I'm gradually getting settled into my new role. I am mainly helping with boat sales, brokerage, the website, and marketing, but I'm also looking at improving and streamlining their business processes. We've also roped in my husband Mike to deal with some of the more specialist management tasks such as contracts and health and safety. We are both thrilled to be working together in a canal business that we really care about.

On the brokerage side, Norton Canes specialise in selling their own pre-owned boats, as well as traditional and historic vessels, but they often have a small selection of semi-trads and cruiser sterns too. If you are looking to buy or sell a narrowboat, please get in touch, and I'll help as much as I can.

My lists will continue!

Of course, starting a new job will have implications for my other activities. As you may know, I've recently been reviewing the future of my canalside homes list, and my new job has forced this into more critical focus. It has been invaluable to get some lovely member feedback during this process. Honestly, guys, some of your comments have brought tears to my eyes. It is so validating for me to hear how much you enjoy and appreciate what I do.

On a lighter note, I also sought some some feedback from ChatGPT, which I often go to these days when I need an objective sounding board to bounce ideas off. If you haven't played around with it yet, I can highly recommend it - it is surprisingly valuable. Its ability to play with concepts and reword text to suit a context is simply phenomenal and it gives pretty amazing advice - it even diagnosed that I was suffering from burnout! (You just have to be a bit wary of its fact checking).

The new plan for the Canalside Homes lists

So, here's the upshot of all my decision making (which is supported by many of your survey responses):

• My lists will be divided into 4 price brackets, and these will be released weekly: Week 1 £0 to £300,000, Week 2 £300,000 to £500,000, Week 3 £500,000 to £700,000, and Week 4 £700,000 upwards.
• New members (from November 2024 onwards) will pay £10 per month
• Existing members will keep their current pricing this year, but in January I will start to put their prices up incrementally, bringing them into line with new members by the end of 2025.

I hope that this restructuring will make my lists more financially viable and sustainable in the long term. Thank you again for all your supportive and constructive comments. I really appreciate it.

Sheridan