V.1. Who even wears a TIE? Timing Is Everything. Sorry I’m late.

A Journeyman’s Journal

Not so long ago in a distant galaxy far, far away... Hopefully, A New Hope was on its way.

When there’s a lot to address, sometimes the hardest thing is knowing where to start. Other times, it can instead be a question of when. From the outside the easiest suggestion is always “Now!”, but now expresses a lack of consideration to the collateral of impulsive action for a new business, or even an individual. If you are in a similar situation, I advise you to start by completely ignoring the marketeers in your feed unceremoniously screaming “content, content, CONTENT!”. The digital world will not meet its demise if YOU specifically do not commit to a digital lifestyle right now... That’s just ish-ish copy talking to you. Some of us might have intellectual property, or worse yet, a morsel of integrity to preserve. Your business and your integrity ARE worth more than rushing for the sake of satisfying someone else’s curiosity and/or targets. You decide the order. Only you know when you’re ready to be ready consistently-er. Just look at how long Brexit took... Those naughty, naughty non-negotiables.

Conveniently though, Startupland is as long as a piece of string too. And it seems like the learning process shows no signs of easing, for anyone else who plans on chancing it. Not only do you need to understand all facets of your own business, but also possess a good general understanding of how other business functions contribute toward it too. Obviously... But nonetheless it requires a considerable amount of learning. Preparing yourself for the journey emotionally is no three step process either: it’s climbing an elevator shaft with your pants around your ankles and falling back down the adjacent staircase, because of said pants. It’s riding the metaphoric ‘hot air balloon’ and crashing into the face of Big Ben, just to realise you’ve not even started;?yet. So I hereby directly disclose a discrete disclaimer: Other trips and stumbles may or may not be subject to happenstance.

So let me kick off by stating I’m just a bloke. A bloke who’s got an idea, picked up his laptop, spit-polished his welly boots and is getting his-hit done as it comes in the door. I have no misplaced aspirations to be a business leader, nor even any particular aspiration to be what society heralds as ‘successful’. And I’m certainly not going to pretend to be anybody I don’t know. I is a rural Devonian ya see’s. So I only knows a few types of peoples. I’ve heard a saying round y‘ere yous might wants to coin, what goes “You’ll slow down before we’s quickens up.” ... I’m probably more like your anti-oracle agony aunt, caped as a common sense crusader. With being British and whatnot. My only aspiration is quite simple, to do the right thing.

Anyway, the people I want to talk to with this load of bog-blog aren’t the C-suite guerrilla gang who’re swivelling in their work from home office chairs thinking ‘who’s this audacious little twit’, hence my rhetoric. It’s for hungry minnows like me at the bottom of the fiscal-food chain who want more for and from themselves, from the companies they work for and the society they live in. We want to be free to do what we want to do. So I want to start the discussion by asking, what do?you?want to?do? Then we can begin the talk about how we’re going to do it. Turns out if you’re capable of finding a solution to your own problem, you might’ve just solved someone else’s problem too. Accidentally on purpose like. If you document your thought process and talk to the right people, you might well be on your way to having your own business too... (insert rain check here)?

I’ll level with you, the delay to disseminate my perspective on a social platform is as much in hesitation as it is in preparation. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been wearing my best brown pants most days since I registered a business with companies house. However, in the spirit of wanting to give something a good go I’ve also been a bit busy doing my homework and rallying some troops, just to make things easier for the long run. I should also state I’m skint as course-holes, so bootstrapping things and doing it yourself takes a bit longer. I have a sort-of-plan, things are always subject to change. Therefore, the thing most of us seek when we embark on something either courageous or potentially foolish is validation; in the process and the method, but more so in ourselves. Isn’t that what social apps like Instagram and Tinder in particular are/should be passively teaching young people today, surely???No? Guess cybercat’s out the bag... Venice called, time to put your masks back on.

So then, what is the answer? Where?do?we?find our own validations?

I’m here to tell you that I don’t have the answer, I just have an opinion. Shock. Which unsurprisingly is it’s probably somewhere within yourself. I think it lies somewhere between just getting on with it and not giving a rat sauce - which might’ve inspired a few specials at a pub I once ran. That was a joke. To which point, in my own simultaneous detox of social media and boozed buffoonery over the past few years, I’ve learnt more about myself than I have in any other recent year. Why? You must laugh at the irony but heed these words - peace of mind. It’s frightfully simple! Debunk comparison culture and embrace compassion, collaboration and appreciation instead. For yourself, your fellow, your community and your world. It’s your ruddy home! If our #trending?pseudo sun,?M-M-M-My Corona?doesn’t teach society the importance of that,?our?education system, has failed every other recent generation before we started failing the current one too. But that’s my not-so undercover hippy piece done, for today.

Why blog-on now? Simply put, I think busy people have now had enough time to reflect and generate a refreshed sense of self and cultural awareness. Not that anybody needed it because we obviously already understand everything there is to know about the everything of everythingness. Like I do. Ha. No, not at all.?Really. So thank you extended lockdown conditions for helping stage some of my understandings for me. I don’t mean to sound like a condescending git, but when else before have you had the opportunity to understand or even question your own rationale? Unless you’ve been hiding in a monastery somewhere... Sometimes we don’t recognise our own dreams inside of our reality. Whether your bug bear is that you’d rather be a bed bug, create value for your own inherent prosperity, see more, live more, learn more or be more. I imagine the last time you were able to properly ask yourself your eyes were yet un-dewed. Kind of like mine. Or perhaps you had Glaucoma and got fired for a lack of insight. You might well be the best strategic strategist of unnecessary necessity, on the top 100 who never make it to 100 list of all time. But how bloody glum. To paraphrase someone I’ve not met.

I am not one of these people. I am a simple person, city lights don’t move me.

So what am I really trying to tell you?

That we’re nearly there, maybe. Small step by smaller step, if necessary. That were not in a race, we’re of a kind instead. That the start of this blog is as much a message to me as it is to you. To acknowledge that sometimes we are the teacher, the pupil and the lesson all at thrice. That real leaders can be so from the front or the back, or perhaps even somewhere out of sight altogether. That a LinkedIn profile doesn’t tell you what kind of person someone is, whether they’re trustworthy and honourable or how hard they’ll graft. That when everyone else or even we ourselves think we have nothing new to say, we always have a unique perspective to add to something that already exists. To break down the stigma that nobody will understand, because it actually really doesn’t frump-ing matter if they do or they don’t. And that maybe I’m just setting the stage, and reminding you that patience is more than just a virtue. Sometimes it’s an obligation. The message I’m giving you is not mine, it’s ours. If you want it.

I’ll give you the not-so secret, for free:?life?is the metaphor. Every day. Decipher it in your own bloomin’ way. It’s as much a lesson as it is a test and an experience, you don’t have to be psychic or an entrepreneur to work that hairy chestnut out. Interact with every opportunity you face with total enthusiasm and curiosity, you might surprise yourself. Mistakes will almost always be made, but facing adversity will help define your resolve and mould your ambition. So French Connection UK it. Pending import tariffs...

Sorry for the overwhelming sense of egotistical altruism, but it seems to be what we need to hear sometimes. It’s the muted universal voice we all share, seldom seen and rarely heard. I think. Or at least I hope. Whoever you are. If I told you how to do business stuff in this blog it would be disingenuous of me, I don’t have an MBA. I can authentically talk to you about life instead though. To an extent. I’m sure my tone is not the norm for LinkedIn, but would you rather I bore you with stats and info? Or would you rather I showed some kind of charisma and built a good narrative? Don’t worry suits, I’ll try to get incrementally more professional and/or technical as my blogs progress. But please, don’t hold your breath.

To be honest, I don’t really know if I’m making a mistake here by playing with fire. The wounds of honour are almost always self inflicted, and honour requires more than just admission.?“Their’s but to do and die”. I thought if someone else is going to do it, I should try and do it myself in the most ethical way possible and get some ‘muck-in’ good people involved. N that’sm what?we’re?doing. If you’re a good people, get in touch. Teamwork makes the dream work. Let’s make some cool ship!

Fudge it, in fact why not invoke a cultural renaissance? In case we’re losing it. Boaty McBoatface. Let us have our green digital revolution in a way that preserves and accentuates our heritage and culture. To quote BoJo, let’s turbo charge our economies and ‘build back better’ by being its creators and upcyclers. It’s not about being something you’re not, in fact it’s the contrary. It’s about expressing yourself. You do you. And in turn WeAll get there too. No one gets left behind.

I’m probably getting a few steps ahead of myself there... I do that sometimes. But I think you get my mindset already.

Videos might provoke you but words stay with you; seeing excites, where reading delights. Or something like that. So I will continue write to you with consistent consideration as such each month henceforth. Be sure to keep an ear to the ground for next months addition on the 1st April, we’ll see who’s the fool. If it’s me, at least I told you so. I’ll turn down the sanctimonious semantic word flirting for the next one.

That’s it for this month, although if some of you other kind business-y people could share this blog to your network outside of LinkedIn, we might migrate some hungry new entrepreneurs into your CRM’s too. In time... Because nobody cares ‘til everybody does. I’d do it myself but I’m not on any of them as I don’t want anybody double dipping my data dossier, anymore. Enough is enough. Change could be on the horizon. And this, might just have been the storm before the calm.

I was, am and will continue to be Alex Pike...

A naively optimistic idealist.

‘Til then ma boots.

To me, to you.