kicking it old skool

Lot’s of exciting things on the horizon!


But first, happy birthday to me! Heh heh, had a great many congrats come through the wire, thank you all. I quite like the “enjoy the dirty-thirty” ones. My response is simply: “oh, I fully intend to!”. To say my birthday party(s) was fun would be a severe understatement.


And it’s a helluva way to kick off 2010 (which only really started on the 14th of February, by the way). I recently found a new vein of purpose, feeling as elated as a lowly prospector who finally struck gold after so very long. I must confess that I haven’t really felt a purpose to anything the last few months. And it’s easy to say you get stuck in the daily routine et al, but no, in this case it was entirely intentional. This week I finally realised why I did it and the answer is so damn simple: I had no goals. No vision, nothing to aim for, no prize.


While growing, up I always had a clear picture of what I wanted. After school (heck, DURING) I knew what I wanted to be and how to get there. The essence of that desire was financial freedom, to not have to pander to the bank, a boss or do anything you didn’t really want to do. The problem was that when I envisioned that goal and desire it was based on my very limited vision. I have never re-adjusted my goal and doing what I do here in London, I have easily achieved it. This has been the cause of my stagnation. I needed to ask the question again: “What is it that I want?”. So damn simple, yet I got so distracted with all the toys and the drudge of daily routine! The question became ever more important, since this time I won’t be asking it for my sake alone: there is a significant other that would need to be onboard for the ride.


You know what I want? You really wanna know?


I want 10 MILLION POUNDS! STERLING!


There. I said it!! Fucking wear it! I have no clue how the hell I’m going to do it. But I want it. I want, and I am going to get. Try and stop me!


On the to-do list: kick off the education process again. This covers a gruelling semester of investing 102, marketing 101, photography and Photoshop 10…whatever, business management, SQL 2008 and everything in-between. What will I be in 5 years? Should I focus all my energy into my estranged lover, photography, again? Or should I pimp my DBA mad-skillz, perhaps add on business management - a good idea regardless, since it can only help with any endeavour.


I’m booked in for an internet marketing seminar in April, hosted by Kerwin Rae, a veritable marketing force and all round good guy. I like his straight talking, no holds barred approach and it’s exactly the kind of guy I can see having a conversation with. I hope to come away from this course imbued with the dark magicks that is the art. Like a good student, I am doing some prep work and if you’re in the market for learning something funky, do grab the (now free) pdf of Napoleon Hill’s “Think and Grow rich”. I’ve only read the preface and the first chapter and it’s already paid dividends, if nothing else than to shake me from my self induced cryo stasis.


I’ve also offered my services to my darling wife, who is also working hard to get her business off the ground and raise more awareness of what she does. To this effect, she’s been doing video blogs, setup a new website and getting all the bits together for its launch. Where I come in is the word smithing… I don’t pretend to always have what it takes to write a damn fine article but I can say with confidence that I can do it better than she can! This is not due to any lack of talent; she simply doesn’t think in words-on-paper. She can convey thoughts in the spoken word, but even then struggles to find the right ones! Since I speak “Annelie” fluently, I reckon I’m best suited for the post. I did set the parameters clearly though: she has to get going with the vblogs and Dictaphone action, and I in turn offer my pen for 2 hours each week. That’s it.


I feel confident that we will make it work.


Another little side project I’m tackling is to get my travel blog published! Looking at what is required; there are a few places that offer on the fly publishing. I intend to create a coffee table style book with my diary entries and little extra handwritten notes (to make it extra special and add value in owning a physical copy), a healthy dash of photos all round, GPS maps, anecdotes and so on. From this I will in turn create an eBook version which will no doubt sell like hotcakes! I need to build the ordering and payment framework as well, should be simply. And to spice it up, I’ll revamp the current travel blog with all the little tips and tricks I picked up in the April marketing seminar. I may need to migrate to my own site, I’m not sure. But man, I am fucking pumped! It will be most rewarding to see something I pulled from the ether manifested in real life. If it goes well, I’ll use the knowledge of this process to start putting out photography books too, heck, start offering my services for other photographers who want to do the same!



Big leaps forward. No baby steps. Git’r done!


[G], out


Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee