Clarity on paper – Philosophical reflections (Russian classic "search for the life purpose" style) – Farm chaos lessons – Ducks smarter than humans – Less money more life – Control is an illusion
July was a really interesting month. We were able to move most of the farm animals to new structures and new processes. I observed, wrote things down, and analyzed a lot! As much as I hated ducks at first for their dirty habits, I started to understand them and absolutely love them — they are the smartest, most polite, social, and intelligent animals.
They moved so many times in July because of one blind duck, and they learned the map, new patterns, and a new schedule each time literally in one day. And after that, they remind you what to do! Incredible! CCTV cameras give you a lot of answers for the animal behavior for example, I noticed that ducks loved sleeping with their heads into the concert block so I build the much nicer house for them with those USB-plug in like portals - they love it!
I finally finished the huge enclosure with a deep pool for the goslings, who became real dinosaurs and didn’t fit in any cages or enclosures anymore. Funny enough, they were afraid of water for the entire month, only drinking and sipping from the pool. Jumping ahead, it’s hard to take them out of the pool now — they even sleep on ice but will not leave the water. I absolutely love watching them on camera, how they flawlessly move their paws, floating in moon-reflected calm water like two ships in the sea. But that wasn’t the case in July! 😂
For the fourth time in a row, I used the microscope and lab tests to identify what always looked like worms or parasites — and it wasn’t. I am against anti-worming medication for animals (for humans too) and against antibiotics if it’s done without tests. I am more afraid of superbugs than worms, honestly. People don’t understand that someday we will desperately need working antibiotics… and we might not have any. Anyway… this time it was on the leaves again, and again: not parasites. At least not animal or human parasites. Not coccidiosis.
And I am perfecting the process. From my audit experience, I know that not even all world-famous research labs have ideal test processes at the beginning.
I was still continuing my perfect dome muffin recipe (from the 23rd iteration it worked!) 😂
Interesting... When I am writing these I consider those... research work? The greatest achievements of the year 😂 Not the audits for world famous companies, not the speaking on global and national conferences, not the great feedbacks on trainings and lectures.
This month was special because I found the solution for my work load, my job and professional career and work / life balance, but it was very counterintuitive.
Let’s say… I love teaching — auditors, clients — and I love speaking at conferences, but I hate doing audits, especially daily audits with different companies. I am a deeply introverted person. I can only talk to people I know, or to a big audience when it’s not a dialogue. Remote audits are like speed dating in the most horrible way. Most of the time without cameras on other side, with 20 people in the room who you have to recognize by voice and remember what did they say yesterday. You sit at a table with a different person every 30 minutes and interrogate them. You can try to make this time at least not hostile, but it depends on the other side (the auditee) too. Sometimes they are so stressed and so defensive that it’s just not possible.
Anyway… I don’t like auditing at all. I only like it for the idea of seeing how companies really function and what issues they have — it keeps me in touch with reality and also give the rare opportunity to choose where you want to travel and when (but you have to be the auditor of my level of demand haha)
So after a lot of thinking, I realized the only way to resolve the situation I have is to be a subcontractor auditor. But it seemed to be against everything I wanted to do: I am going into a mode where auditing hours literally equal the money I earn. But I wanted to have less auditing and more teaching. You just have to grasp HOW counterintuitive and opposite that decision was from what I wanted and how it would bring me WHERE I wanted - even if I am stepping in completely different direction! I came to that after playing chess for 4 months and thinking about the fantasy book "Wind and Truth" by Brandon Sanderson where wining is not always winning and losing is not always losing, sometimes you can be trapped in your shores and in the box.
So the biggest thing was to free my time — to have the opportunity to breathe, to think, to dream, to plan. And if I make less money by having more time — so be it.
But I needed a safe landing and a plan B. Subcontractor workload is decided differently in each case: I can decline audits, but the certification body can also stop assigning me clients. Usually, subcontractors work for 2–3 certification bodies. So, I decided - I needed a second job. The funny part is that I got a lot of offers that I declined just a few months ago, saying I only considered permanent jobs.
And now I had to contact all of them again and say that I changed my mind: I want to be a contractor! You can’t be both at the same time if you are an auditor — you have to choose. A permanent auditor cannot decline audits and must commit all working time to one employer.
To make peace with the decision to quit a stable, well-paid job with the great team and best management team, I did a lot of journaling, analyzing my own thoughts and decisions.
By the end of July, I had an offer with acceptance required by the beginning of August from completely different certification body with no guarantee of clients or audits, but meaning that for my current job I had to do the same by that time, otherwise the second offer would expire. The worst-case scenario would be: I quit, DNV does not give me a subcontractor offer, and the company that gave me the subcontractor offer does not have enough clients to provide a decent audit load. Then I would be bound by a contract that doesn’t work, unable to accept a permanent job offer, and forced to search for a third job, which might also not have clients.
So I decided to write down the ideal outcome — how I want it to be with DNV, basically write my own contract conditions (the ideal one!), and I wrote a counteroffer for the second company, and surprisingly had a third certification company also write me an offer for the rate and job I wanted!
As soon as I started talking with DNV, they agreed on a subcontract. I promised to prioritize their audits for 2025 and honor all my already-set schedules. So by the end of July, I was facing three onboarding processes and the same full audit schedule for August and September 😂 But Hey! I didn't have two full time jobs to stressed out...
Do you know what I did in August? I accepted a fourth job at RVATech and two speaking gigs by the end of the year 😭😂😂😂 Not very logical after aiming for “less workload,” right? 😂
On the farm, we had a double rainbow, stunning thunderstorms, and five cartoonishly perfect pumpkins appearing out of nowhere and growing literally on a pile of trash. We managed to save only two from the goats.
As a very positive moment, I went to so many expert and networking events after work in July, and had an onsite audit in DC. On the way back, I did a pit stop at a winery and farm with a stunning view and amazing pizza.
The microscope saved us a lot of nerves again, showing that the tick that bit one of us was, in fact, a nymph and not dangerous.
I discovered stolen cat food, opened the stainless-steel container, and set up a camera to see the burglar — but that’s a whole different story! You have no idea who that was!!
We went to an Offspring concert in Virginia Beach (we were waiting for that for a year). I was preparing all the farm animals for that night of our absence like we were going away for a year 😂 We spent an amazing day at the beach enjoying the Atlantic Ocean. One of us, who is Australian, said he doesn’t like the beach, ocean, or hot weather and was reading a thermodynamics study book instead.
The Offspring concert was a bummer. They had four different small groups playing at the beginning for two hours, and as people with no US background, we had no idea who they were, so it was pretty boring. One of us was still reading thermodynamics, I was watching farm animals on CCTV cameras, and only one person was watching the concert! As soon as Offspring were supposed to start playing, thunderstorms began and the concert was canceled. And at that very moment, I saw a huge brown bear chilling on our porch, finishing cat food just a few feet from the unfinished chicken coop. I was horrified but also excited — way more excited than was logically acceptable for the situation.
When we were driving home in picturesque thunderstorms and huge traffic (we came home 4 hours later instead of 2), I was talking to the bear 🤣🤣🤣 I think my voice calmed him down and he enjoyed the conversation - you can see those conversations in all details in my Instagram in highlights.
That night I also discovered that we have three raccoons, and that they coexisted with our eight cats, a skunk, and two opossums all that time. They were all so cute!!! I couldn’t resist talking to them in that helium voice I use with cats. I have hundreds of videos uploaded from CCTV cameras and you can see them in my Instagram - reels, stories and highlights
But because of that, I also had to update the security design of… everything!! And I needed to make the upgrade ASAP because of business trips, workloads, and the second attempt at the Offspring concert in August — with an increased number of guests at our farm.
The next month - August - you will see how my first months of freedom and subcontracting work went. And if chickens survived our second trip to Virginia beach in company with the bear and three racoons
