Get yourself the job you want…

Small team challenges. Is the entrepreneur better working alone? Flush with hitchhiking success, I regularly encouraged friends to thumb lifts and wherever possible join me on my travels. I genuinely wanted to share the road freedom I had discovered. However, only a few ever followed. On the odd occasion I hitched in company, I discovered the differences small team challenges bring compared to working alone. Read More

Successful job hunting requires entrepreneurial approaches When people ask for advice about finding meaningful employment, I always suggest they don’t waste time applying for jobs. The  traditional job-hunting process wastes so much time and money. Money and time is lost because everyone is trying to go through… Read More

Rejection hurts but the thick-skinned entrepreneur goes further... Even as a thick-skinned entrepreneur, at the start of any day hitchhiking, there was always a feeling of nervousness. It typically happened just before sticking out my thumb or holding up a sign. This is the moment of truth. You’re declaring your presence and your reason for being to all passing motorists... Read More

We gather critical information in the first 7 seconds The car stops. You open the vehicle’s passenger door and eye the driver. In those first 7 seconds you’re tuning into one thing… A short conversation ensues about direction and destination. But the verbal exchange masks the important stuff. Because… Read More

Entrepreneurial, independent and self-reliant? Why not consider startup business bootstrapping your venture Failure has a wonderful capacity to reveal opportunities that otherwise remain hidden. Disastrous 'A' Level results in 1984  forced me to take a gap year. Whilst I envied friends destined for university, part of me delighted in the chance to step off the education treadmill... Read More

Startup businesses must focus Startup businesses must focus in order to succeed. From an early point in my self-employment journey I regularly used these 4 questions to help my venture stay on track. Where have I come from? Where am I now? Where do I want to go? How do I get there? Read More

Killer business plans. Do we get what we wish for? Killer business plans were definitely not on my mind in 1983. But my hitchhiking career was about to start. The decision to thumb a lift that cold, blue-sky October morning was pure instinct. In fact, if it had been planned, it probably would never have happened. Stood alone at the Keswick bus station not long after sunrise, I discovered a coach journey home (Nottingham) would cost me a shed-load (£12). Aged 17, that was nearly 20 pints of beer... Read More