Apparently Today Is My Birthday
When I was rudely awoken this morning at about 6am with a text message wishing me happy birthday, I must admit I thought they’d sent it to the wrong person and went back to sleep.
It was only an hour later when Molly (my virtual PA) rang to give me my days schedule and wish me a happy birthday that I realized actually, it is today. Now it might seem a little strange that I don’t know when my own birthday is, but in all honesty its a consequence of the life I live at present.
I’m quite a forgetful person, I know that and I structure my life around it. Molly is my superstar virtual PA (virtual PA meaning she works from home, she is real and you could poke her if you met her – not that she’d like you for it) keeps my life on track. She rings me every night to tell me my schedule for the next day and rings me again in the morning just to ensure I haven’t forgotten. I couldn’t do without her…
Anyway seeing as today I hit the ripe old age of 26, I thought i’d take some time to reflect on my life. If your reading in hope of some opinionated rant at a company, click away now, this is post is pure self indulgance.
The Little Search Company
The biggest change I’ve made in the last year was to leave I Want One Of Those as Head Of Marketing and set up The Little Search Company. Taking a step like this wasn’t an easy decision but I did it now because I’d rather take the plunge whilst I’m young and without commitments such as a mortgage or kids. At least this way if it all went wrong it’s a recoverable life obstacle.
Actually though, TLSC is doing very well, I’ve got a great team with me and we’ve been lucky enough to pick up some fantastic clients. Financially we’re on a good footing which I’m pleased with given current trading conditions and we’re in talks with a lot of potential clients who will hopefully come off for us and help to grow the business even bigger.
When I launched TLSC I did somewhat recklessly I guess in that I took on 3 employees, then went out and got the work to ensure their wages could be covered. Why did I do it this way? Well I’d built enough contacts up during my time at IWOOT to know that SEO is an area for many businesses that they’re not making the most of, I guess confidence in our abilities was the main thing.
The biggest thing I’ve not done with the business yet is install any kind of management structure. I took 3 people on from an agency that folded knowing they had great SEO skills, and we’re all somewhat at the same level. This meant it was always going to be difficult to place them in a hierarchy where one of them was higher in the business than the others.
So as it stands the business is me, then the team at the same level below me. At our current size this works well, but I know this will be interesting going forward and I’ll have to make the call to implement the management structure below me.
As a business we’ve not done any advertising and our client base is driven largely by word of mouth. Going forward I’d like to start getting us to the conventions and advertising in the marketing magazines, but I think really we need to see a slide in client acquisition before we add this outlay to the business as it’s currently at a rate I’m happy with.
The biggest thing is that TLSC has taken over my life, 7 days a week 24 hours a day it’s all I focus on, but I’m happy in my work and I think that speaks volumes.
The Girlfriend
I’m still with the girlfriend of 4 and a half years, she’s currently just graduated from university so it looks like going forward I’ll be moving in with her. This worries me a little in that, for the last 3 years we’ve seen each other every weekend Friday – Mon and had time apart in the week to get on with our own things. We’re two very independent people and I hope we can find the time (and space) to be able to continue doing our own things and living our own lives whilst enjoying living together.
That may sound mean, but I know she’s thinking the same thing.
The Family
I’ve never been too close to the family, but this last year I started making a bigger effort with everyone and I actually think it’s paying off. I never used to talk to my sister due to a clash of personalities – but since making more of an effort we’re far closer than we’ve ever been and actually that’s quite nice.
Parents are well, everyone’s still alive and that’s the main thing.
Charity Work
I pledged a few months ago that I’d start using my online abilities to help others more. July will see us launch our charity project and after 2 months coding it with the developers, I’m really excited about the upcoming launch. Age has bought with it a little humility, my mind used to be constantly thinking about new ways to make money for myself. What I’ve realised is that actually I lead a very comfortable life, I have food when I’m hungry, drink when I’m thirsty, a roof over my head and a family who do actually care.
So the future for me is going to bring about a lot more charity work to help others who maybe aren’t so fortunate. I’ll never be Mother Theresa, but it would be nice to think that the only thing on my gravestone won’t be “knew how to manipulate ther search engines”.
More about the charity project coming soon.
Everything Else
I’ve done a lot in the last year actually, I’ve visited Spain, Portugal, Austria, Paris, Newquay, Lake District, Bournemouth (new surf reef) and that’s just the places I can remember. I’ve launched the new business, built bridges with the family, not a bad year indeed.
Lets just hope I’m so positive come 27!
Right I’m off to get drunk now, no early phone calls tomorrow please guys!
July 5th, 2009 at 8:11 pm
A great positive post Paul. What a fab year and a really nice way to reflect on everything you have achieved in just 365 days! Glad to hear you are happy and that your sister is not too much of an ogre really!
July 7th, 2009 at 1:12 pm
Happy birthday Paul! (A bit late, but that’s due to the time difference in Bulgaria.) It’s obviously been an eventful year for you, hope the next one is even better, with more of your projects lifting off like TheLSC.