James' Top 10s - things I've done to earn a living

 

10 Staff trainer - New Look (Weymouth)
Started off as a picker (picking clothes for the shops) progressing to trainer within 6 weeks of starting

9  Car Valeter - Self Employed
When I left New Look, and needed to do something started cleaning cars on industrial estates across Dorset

8 Warehouseman - MFI (Staines)
A winter job in 1978, for what were, at the time, a highly recognizable furniture company

7 Hi -Fi salesman - Rumbles Cycle and Radio (North Camp, Farnborough)
My first job, in the Winter of 1976 after we left Burnham on Sea and moved to Farnborough.

6 Market Trader selling Records Tapes & CDs - Self Employed
Started this business using my own collection as a starting point - working on markets in Dorset and Somerset

5 Signwriter - Self Employed
Started off painting fairground equipment showmen the year I got married.

4 Travel Agent - Self Employed (when I owned Go2morrow.com)
Started this up to be much like 'LastMinute.com" but concentration on Dorset,

3 DJ and Radio Presenter - Self Employed

Started DJing in 1977 and after taking a break, went back to it in the 2000s - started doing radio in 2009, aged 48 - I'd wanted to do it since I was a little boy.

2 Arcade minder and Bingo caller - Working for my Dad
I learned how to give change in my Dad's arcade when I was aged 6. By 11 I could mend machines and the same year my Dad taught me how to call bingo numbers and run the Bingo. By the time I was 15, I could run our arcade and bingo and did so often.

1 Travelling Showman - Showman
Travelled on fairgrounds with my Mum and Dad until we moved to the coast. Started in my own right  with my own equipment when I was 20. I travelled on fairgrounds across London, the Home Counties, East Anglia and the West Country.

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Along with that little list, I can add many other things I've done to earn a few quid including, Network Marketing, Selling pens and cassettes out of a suitcase on markets (much like Del Boy in 'Only Fools and Horses', and supplying and fitting lighting displays.

You could say I'm a Jack of All Trades and a master of none.

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