Time flies. It's up to you to be the navigator.

9 years ago, this week I was sitting in front of a blank screen and an empty notebook. If I’m honest there are still days like that, but looking at what I’ve done and where I’ve been since 2014, I’m generally pretty satisfied with it all.

Life looks quite different now of course thanks to the small matters of a global pandemic, major cost of living crisis and lots of changes at a personal level. As usual I’m thinking about the lessons I’ve taken from the last 12 months. These have evolved from birthday blog number 8 but not radically. The change from birthday blog number 1 however…

At the end of year one I was just starting to learn what it took to run a business, even one that barely qualified as micro. I’d started taking my own medicine, got some sensible branding, a website that was a step up from a build it yourself Moonfruit thing, and was networking regularly.

That last point is the one I didn’t expect as I’m not a natural for networking. But I’ve got comfortable with it, and while I’ll never be the most outgoing person, by picking carefully I’ve found places that work for me on a business and personal level.

It’s still the people who count. I’ve been lucky with my clients who have been almost without exception lovely people with businesses it has been a pleasure to work on. Having no life, I counted up, and I’ve worked with 130 businesses, some for one blog, some consistently over most of the last 9 years.

The people I’ve worked with on my own business or in partnership with for clients are what make this all worthwhile. That is a message that has remained consistent throughout the last 9 years. The first 2 people I had one to ones with at a 4Networking meeting in October 2014 are still the most important partnerships I have. I’ll send invoice number 1,000 at the end of this month, another milestone…

The title is a quote from Robert Orben who was Gerald Ford’s speech writer as well as writing comedy. I’ve been searching for a joke to make about that, but I don’t think it needs one. The message though is clear enough. Take charge of your business rather than be a passenger. I’ve seen plenty of people who remain passive in their own enterprise. I tried that for the first 6 months, and I can tell you it doesn’t work. When lockdown rolled up, I knew that waiting for it all to go away was not an option. I’m still here, but as part of the nostalgia fest that turning 9 prompted, I was looking for some of the businesses I used to network with in 2019 who hunkered down and disappeared. Many of them are gone.

You may not want my advice, but here it is anyway. Be active, get other voices in your business, and surround yourself with people who you can support and who will be there for you. It really is the people who count. If only there was someone to make a cake...