23 years at Bright Purple - Me in a hurry, not really?

We're being told daily that we are in the age of the 'Gig Economy' and it seems like everyone today is in a great big hurry!

A hurry to learn quickly, to make money fast, to be their own boss even if they are just out of school, to come up with that next great invention - probably an App - that will make them to next Zukerberg. It's all a rush, get rich quick, fail fast, be agile and in my opinion, there's so much about our lives that has hurry written all over it.... what about living life at a pace that we don't die from burn out, stress or worse, driven to madness!

I worry for my children and their children, they are expected to be something, do something, achieve something and as quick as they can, the pressures are immense! Now granted I'm an old entrepreneur these days, hey I just celebrated my 57th birthday and I'm 23 years married to my Swedish lady, all within a couple of weeks of each other, so I'm not exactly a prime candidate for the Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award anymore, maybe I never was, but importantly I'm still breathing!

This morning I saw a LinkedIN post telling my network that I am celebrating 23 years at Bright Purple. People congratulated me as if I achieved something - when all I have achieved was not getting sacked! And the other day I also noticed posts from Facebook telling people in my network, I had been their friend for 2 years, that's how long I've actually been a 'user' ..... if you pardon the term. But of course many of those Facebook friends have been my friends for far longer. Yet here also on the world's largest social relationship media channel, I see us hurrying! Quickly trying to gather a following, a clan, a community, people who will like to read about our lives, see what we eat, where we go on holiday and then give us that major adrenaline rush, pushing dopamine through our system and bringing a smile to our faces, by clicking like. Even people we don’t know or have never met, they want to like you and they want you to like them back......

Note: See episode 1 of Series 3 of the amazing Charlie Brooker, Netflix Black Mirror series, called Nosedive - if that doesn’t give you cause for concern, nothing will!

Look at me back then, with my little bit of hair left and my colleagues Jan Mutch and Alan Smith, great memories and I love looking back to those days. I owe a huge debt to Alan my co-founder, after all, while he eventually moved on, he got me to jump with him and to take the chance to be my own boss. And to Jan, my guiding light for so long, she kept me sane in dark times and she was always beside me when I needed her and we laughed in the good times. And my FD, Alastair Maclean, a Rottweiler with a bone - don't mess with him and make sure you pay your bills!! He's also been a rock over many years.

A reminder from LinkedIN telling me I've been 23 years at building my business and yes plenty of bad times, but so many good times. Of course I could have taken the opportunities that came our way to sell the business, maybe I should have, but I didn't so why worry about something you can't change? Sure I've made mistakes, bundles of them, like not learning to fail fast - no, but are we agile, damn right we are! Have I learnt lessons, well I lost my hair in this industry and so I guess there's a lesson right away .... do something less stressful! No thanks I love my job and I love cultivating relationships with people, colleagues, customers and candidates alike

Seriously though, I've learnt many lessons and OK not always first time, in fact I have made the same mistakes more than once or twice #doh ! But along the journey I have worked with incredible people, talented people, customers and colleagues alike. I have had the pleasure of being responsible for changing the lives of fabulous candidates who have gone on to become heroes in their world, you know who you are!

And now my company that I have nurtured for those 23 years has a new leader in Paul Curry to carry the flag forward and we'll be supporting him to push Bright Purple into a new era. And now I also have our new RegTech business partners, PRIMED  on board

So hey why not slow down? What's wrong with being loyal and sticking with something? Am I a loser because I didn't become something? My legacy to this world are three kids who will become great citizens, a credit to their parents and that's good enough for me.

You've guessed, I'm in no hurry, I don’t care how long I've been Bright Purple, because it's been an honour. Yes I realise that I am not a man for the Gig Economy, that is something my three amazing kids will have to juggle with in their futures. For me, it's about enjoying my work, being with people who motivate and inspire me to keep going, creating relationships that stand the test of time and being with people who do extraordinary things for others, without thinking about what they'll get back in return .......

Life isn't a race, you don't have to stress to get to the finish line, do you?