Stuff

Stuff contains my other interests. Some of my experiences and lessons learned in business. Social and political issues that matter to me. Sport, music, film, photography. Being obsessive about coffee. That kind of stuff.

Work and business have been a big part of my life. Sometimes I’m surprised to realise I have worked for fifty years. From my early days doing manual work into a corporate career, and then into the world of startups and small companies. Along the way I did an MBA and a Diploma in Clinical Organisational Psychology.

Stuff is too light a word to apply to a category that includes racism and discrimination. But equally, I don’t believe it’s my place to hold forth too much on the issues. I’m a heterosexual man with a lot of white privilege. I haven’t had to suffer as a result. I’ve been poor, I’ve been miserable, but I’ve never been discriminated against.

I also include my broader art-leaning stuff. I’m not artistic. Being married to an artist for nine years has amplified that even more in my mind. But I consume many films, music is integral to my daily life, and I love photography – looking at photographs, as I don’t have the eye to practice it.

Welcome to my stuff – the serious and trivial.

The New World Of Work

Is The New World Of Work Here To Stay? I started writing this post on the 27 April and it’s been over three months since my last post. The world is gripped by the COVID-19 pandemic. It feels trivial to scribble down thoughts when people …

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Business Rule 1: Survive

Business Survival Business survival is the number one priority, as the world tangles with the unfolding COVID-19 pandemic and the associated human tragedies. About a year ago I wrote an article titled Entrepreneur Rule 1: Survive. It’s my most read blog post by some way …

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Feather Cycles Travel Bike

Great Craftmanship Can’t Be Rushed I collected my Feather Cycles travel bike from Ricky Feather on Friday. A year in the making and well worth every week of that wait. I should add at this point that you don’t normally wait a year for a …

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Getting Stuck In The Comfort Zone

Getting Stuck Getting stuck in the comfort zone is easy to do for a couple of reasons. You have some success in a personal or professional pursuit, so why change a winning formula? Or you are afraid of what happens when you step outside the …

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A Kinder Politics

A kinder politics was proposed by Jeremy Corbyn in 2015. He also said, “cut out the personal abuse, cut out the cyber-bullying and especially the misogynistic abuse online and let’s get on with bringing real values back into politics.” General Election 2019 Fast forward to …

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Death Of A Salesman

I saw Wendell Pierce in Death Of A Salesman recently. I’m not a theatre goer and I arrived at the play in a roundabout way. I’ve been a fan of Pierce since seeing him in the all-time classic HBO series The Wire. I also very …

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Entrepreneurship: New Business, Same Principles

Exploring A New Sector Becoming involved in a new startup business has reminded me that in entrepreneurship the same principles apply to a large extent. This is regardless of the sector or product. Even though I’m a huge fan of music, I didn’t expect to …

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Avocado Armageddon

San Francisco, Long Haul San Francisco, a late afternoon arrival after a ten-hour flight. The day stretched a little longer as we were held on the runway for an hour. Followed by another two hours getting through immigration. The atmosphere was so hot and heavy …

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Bespoke Bike: Ricky Feather Travel Bike

Let’s Build A Race Bike Then Cut It In Half It Has To Be Bespoke Why a bespoke bike? I like hand built items. Hand made items. There’s a long story related to this expensive habit, I’ll come back to it at a later time. …

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Entrepreneurship: It Never Gets Old

A New Sector Entrepreneurship has a hold on me. Together with two new partners I will open a music production studio next week. It will be the foundation of a new independent record label Loup Ent. Words I thought I would never type. I don’t …

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