Monthnotes - February 2025

I was trying to think of a word to sum up February.

After much deliberation I’ve settled on “serious”.

It feels like “serious” sums up the nature, intensity and progression of much of my work this month, but also some of the proper grown-up things going on beyond work this month.

As I look back at the start of the month, I reflect on there being a lot going on workwise:

• The fractional COO role I took on in January has been really, really good. I’m enjoying the work a lot and it’s been interesting to observe the shift from “learning mode” to “doing mode” in the past couple of weeks. That experience has reinforced that I get most satisfaction from making a real difference to people and businesses that I work with.
• I made a real push on networking this month, deliberately putting extra time into going to events that I might previously have skipped. It feels like it’s paid off. I’ve met some fascinating people from beyond my usual circles and learnt something from everyone I’ve met along the way. I’m grateful for those conversations and the people that invited me to be part of those events.
• We made some solid progress on a new business venture that’s been brewing for a while. Galvanised by a conversation with my co-founder in late January, we did some hard work to get clear on ideal customers, refine a couple of products, build a website and get a couple of test clients onboard. Looking forward to pushing this out into the public domain next week.
• Juggling a few interesting consultancy projects too, some with ongoing clients and also a new client with challenges that are a bit outside my usual space. The variety this brings is a really valuable part of what I wanted from building a freelance working life.
• Roadtesting a new engagement model built around retainers – helping two founders with ad-hoc advice, insight and perspectives. It’s an early experiment so it’ll be fascinating to see if this way of working adds value for the founders and is viable alongside other work.
• Finished up with a couple of coaching clients who were with me for a fixed term after my coaching course last year. It was really helpful to hear their feedback on my coaching work and build that into the way I’m working with new coaching clients who I’m bring on board in the next couple of months.
• My Build newsletter continues to grow. Having gone weekly last year and established a manageable cadence of writing, publishing and engaging with reader feedback, I’m really enjoying the newsletter as a way of exploring thinking, sharing knowledge and building a community of founders passionate about building better companies. Sign up here to get it directly in your inbox.

Beyond work, some older generation family health issues played on my mind too. I guess those are likely to be a growing theme over coming years one way or another so I need to get used to this kind of thing.

Also on the health and wellness theme, I didn’t get to do the 50 mile ultra I planned to do in February. Pretty disapppointing. I managed to tweak a muscle in my leg a week before the event and spent a few days limping around, so the sensible thing to do was to not run 50 miles.

I’m back running now but still feeling some soreness. I need to find a new goal to avoid my exercise motivation dropping off, particularly now I’m in London three days a week again so there are less opportunities to get out.

On a more positive note, we enjoyed a nice family day out in London with my brother, his wife and three children. We were joined by my elder son and his girlfriend too as we toured some of the sights of London. It’s always interesting to see the city through the eyes of a visitor rather than as a workplace.

I was inspired by a fun-filled afternoon of dancing in the mountains at Avoriaz last month to get back on my decks for a new mix this month.

My “Not La Folie Douce” mix was fun to record and share earlier in February. I’m also looking forward to DJing live again at an event in June – I want to do more of these, but haven’t really put in any time to making this happen. Maybe that’s something I should focus on later in the year.

I also started back in the gym once a week. It’s been a couple of months since I was able to go regularly thanks to work commitments, so it’s good to get a regular time slot in the week and be able to stick to it.

Music this month…

A new discovery this month – DJ Metaflore has a nice blend of house and disco with a particular French vibe. It was her Folie mix that got me exploring more of her live sets.

Podcasts this month…

Not too much podcast listening this month so nothing new to recommend.

Reading this month…

I took a deep dive into a book about crypto this month. Quite an eye opener into a world that I was only peripherally aware of before. If you want to see how tech, culture, groupthink and hype bubbles intersect, Number Go Up by Zeke Faux is definitely worth a read.

Cycling this month…

Still haven’t been out on my road bike or MTB this month. Managed 124.8 miles across commuting on the electric Brompton and indoors on the Wattbike.

Running this month…

A low mileage month – 29 miles. Recovering from the injury but glad to be getting out more in now and enjoying the lighter mornings.