The career you want in Bristol

The established mode is to start earning your money in your twenties to build up the financial security needed to live a life you can enjoy when you're best able to enjoy it, when you're...erm... seventy.
  

Too often people resign themselves to decades of monotony and conformity out of fear, a sense of responsibility, a lack of ambition, confidence or perhaps more often - imagination. I wonder whether once retirement looms, and they look back on their youth, if they're satisfied with what they see. Perhaps questioning our lifestyle is something we should all do before it's too late.
  

But this is Bristol, a city long known to be a fertile breeding ground for young ambitious non-conformists. I've been meeting folk who've turned their backs on the city's promise of financial stability, to move towards the lives they want to be living right now, not in forty or fifty years time.
  

Vashti 27 and Anna 31, have worked in aggressive sales rooms and done their time carrying out mundane administration duties. Sharing a passion for flora along with a profound sense of responsibility to the environment, the girls pooled their savings and bought a 1970s Piaggio Ape van. They've thrown themselves into building up Bella Fifi Flowers delivering everything from ‘beautiful buttonholes' to ‘boardroom bouquets' to restaurants, offices, weddings and homes all over the city.
  

Anna says, ‘There are so many beautiful British flowers that it seemed awful that all these plastic ones are being flown in from the other side of the world, the real blooms being full of chemicals, pesticides, with many workers having been exploited and many air miles being used up. We care about making a change right now so why shouldn't we?'
  

But there are other reasons people break the mould. Edd Ball 32, former Call Centre Manager, waved goodbye to a future shiny with promotions and bonuses to be his own boss and establish WhenUWantIt.co.uk a late night delivery service for Bristol. Taking advantage of the 24 hour license Edd's drivers deliver booze, tobacco and snacks to homes from evening until the early hours. On why his new life makes him so much happier, ‘Well there's all the free time but also while some customers just want to get the order and resume drinking, which is of course fine, most we actually think of as good friends. And it's an amazing feeling to have a city full of friends!'
  

Then there are Ned 25 and Natalie 20, a couple who have re-opened The Portcullis in Clifton Village. They have both turned their backs on promising desk careers in recruitment to turn this pub into a cosy and friendly spot in an area otherwise heavily populated by pretentious wine bars.  They're rebuilding their beer garden, painting their own mural, hosting their own pub quizzes, cooking Sunday lunches and applying for their own cinema license.
  

These people are around every corner of our city, and if we don't have the nerve to let them inspire us then at the very least we should admire and support them. It takes a rare courage to throw your only future into the risky career you want and perhaps even more to turn your back on the safety of the uninspiring career you can settle for.

Let us know if you're starting up a business in Bristol - the first 5 to respond will get a Free enhanced directory listing with Guide2Bristol for a full 12 months! All others who respond will benefit from a 40% reduction on advertising costs! (offer valid until 31/12/2008) To respond first register as a member of Guide2Bristol (free) and post your business & details to this blog post.