“I Don’t Want to Belong to Any Club That Will Accept Me as a Member” Groucho Marx is supposed to have said.
And I have come to the view that I am facing something similar in my railway work.
“Why would any company in the railway sector consider me to work for them, as there’s nothing I know they don’t know already” could be how to phrase it. And it is some sort of variant of imposter syndrome, and I am not completely sure what to do about it, but at the end of this post I at least outline a partial solution.
The heart of the matter is that, even now, almost four years into all my work about #CrossBorderRail, the Channel Tunnel and night trains, I still feel like an outsider to this railway business, and struggle to find my place within it. But I know I have to change my railway work somehow, as I cannot keep on crowd funding small projects as I have been doing until now (and #CrossBorderRail cannot continue anyway as there are no more borders to go to), but what work to look for and from whom still largely fails me.
“You must get calls from people wanting to employ you all the time!” someone said to me at an event last month – and I don’t know who was more shocked, me for someone thinking that, or the person who said it with my response that was that no, that never happens.
And I know in my own head why it does not happen. For I am reluctant to look, and with some justification. And I have given the public impression – to most people anyway – that I am not even looking.
An example of this issue in my own head: in November I published the final report of my #CrossChannelRail project. At one level this is one of the most comprehensive pieces of analysis about the future of operations through the Channel Tunnel available in public. But at another level there is nothing remarkable in it – all I did was go and do some digging, and then write it all up, and the work was crowd funded. If any company wanting to run Channel Tunnel services does not know all of what I have put in my report, I tell myself, that company must be dysfunctional. Why would any company learn something from me, some crowd funded lay person outsider?
The same sort of issue crops up across the board. I might have written a lot about the future of night trains, and can even write coherent columns about that, but would I have anything to offer a night train company? I doubt it – there is nothing I know that they do not know already. Ticketing? Sure, I have a framework in my head for how the forthcoming ticketing reform to be proposed by the European Commission ought to work, but there is nothing I know here that ticketing platforms do not already understand. Individual international lines that do not work? OK, I know where these lines are and what the problems might be, and I might know the politics, but I am not a traffic planner or economist to make the detailed case for re-opening a track or re-starting a service. I am a generalist in a sector that needs specific knowledge and qualifications, neither of which I have.
I think the commentary of so many railway people on LinkedIn (always expressed with boundless confidence) and the railway trade press (that tends to always over-state the good news) does not really help either. I can see through some of this over-selling and over-hyping in the industry, but you do not make friends by calling that out. You do not bite the hand that feeds you.
That then leads me to the only possible way forward I can think of: I could write a weekly paid subscription international railway newsletter, and for a low price of around €5 a month (so €1.25 an issue), meaning it could have a readership wider than the rail industry – it would suit regular rail travellers, as well as some people within the sector. That price point is low enough, and the commitment from subscribers limited enough, to mean it could work. It also means I keep expectations at a level I can manage – even Groucho could see himself subscribing to that. Were I to get 100 paid subscribers (about 12% of my existing email list), and hence €500 gross income per month, that means I would have my monthly costs of living covered.
So do let me know – is this viable? Would you subscribe at that price point? And if it is not, what else would be viable?
Image Rights
Groucho Marx in Copacabana
1947
Private collection – United Artists
CC BY-SA 4.0
I support a few different substacks, where the price is typically 30-40 *currency unit* a year. I think this price point is a lot easier to swallow (psychologically) for some than 60 would be.
(For reference I follow your work and don’t subscribe to your newsletter).
Good luck in any case.
Maybe Gareth Dennis can give you some ideas Jon. He fought the system and won.
As you say in your article, any organisation can obtain the information on the subjects you are an expert in; it’s simply a question of putting competent resources onto a question. What I think that you have is the ability to analyse a situation, understand the constraints and opportunities, and present it coherently, perhaps with some “out of the box” thinking. So your employment prospects are not limited to the few companies that might want to run cross-border rail in Europe.
John,
Your analysis of your position is spot-on: “I am a generalist in a sector that needs specific knowledge and qualifications, neither of which I have.”
Also, rail operators would drive you mad as they are bik firms, working at glacial speed and only ever doing the part of the holistic picture that’s in their interest. Regulators equally work at glacial speeds and requiring political manoevering to get things done.
Your skills as an evangelist would be with a cash-flush consolidator. Somebody like the Underground Electric Railways Company of London and Charles Tyson Yerkes, but I don’t see anybody buying up SNCF, DB and Trenitalia to form High-speed Electric Railways of Europe.
In the absence of a consolidating firm in need of a strategic vision, perhaps the paid newsletter would be an option.
As was pointed out, the price point seems small enough for people outside the rail industry to subscribe to it out of a mixture of curiosity and wanting to support your work.
I’d be in.
Hi Jon. As a retired headhunter, a few thoughts:.
– I don’t think you and the corporate world (in any sector) are a good fit, at least as an employee. Consultancy projects though are a different matter. But you may need to create your own wish-list of clients, and see if you have any friendly senior contacts there whom you could approach, and pitch possible ways in which your expertise could help.
– I agree a Substack type regular paid output is a good idea, not least because it won’t take up all your time, you can follow up other things too; and you will enjoy it. One of the best examples I follow, is the lawyer David Allen Greene (“Empty City”) .The way he reeled me and others in to a paid sub on the back of his expert treatment of Trump-BBC was exemplary
– as already mentioned Gareth Dennis would be a good guy to talk to, but also the Green Signals guys. They love you! And they keep going on about it on air, and how much the audience did too. Richard Bowker especially would be able to help you understand the compromises necessary for any pro relationship with the corporate sector. And what’s more they are an amazing reference for you.
– one of the personal traits the GS guys keep referring to in glowing terms is your ability to identify and present a coherent strategic overview which nevertheless contains all the granular elements. That’s a rare skill. The BBC presenter Ros Atkins has a best-selling book on the topic. You’re one of the few people who doesn’t need to read it! (although I still recommend it)
– finally you could use your preferred AI platform for an appraisal of your skills and aspirations – of course it will start out by reassuring you that you are brilliant, you have to keep prompting it, but it can be a useful way through the fog.