About
The Route to Now
Several years ago I became disillusioned with the old way of working. Something seemed wrong with life, and I was just swapping my precious time for money, without any leverage – or promotions. It didn’t matter whether I did an outstanding job, or put in an awful performance. Under that kind of regime, eventually it was very easy to just turn up and take the cash, knowing that The System didn’t permit career progression; to slide stoically into the warm bath of apathy. But it wasn’t always this way…
The Good Old Days
As a sixth former I got involved with an organisation called Young Enterprise, and with some friends set up a small company. Arguably, by the time I was an 18 year old company director, I had reached the zenith of my career! So I chose to do the ‘university thing’ and spent the next twelve years studying, researching and teaching at four UK universities. To quote Dickens, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times“.
Awakenings
The job satisfaction was there, I learnt huge amounts and taught – I hope – huge amounts. I was well-regarded among my peers; respected even. But it was during this time that things started to slide sideways, after hitting the dreaded ‘glass ceiling’; a ceiling that woke me up to the unsavoury reality that it really is who you know, not what. And without a sponsor or mentor to assist me to the next level, that was that – the end of the road.
Closing the Circle
I took a dead-end job and stuck it out while I upgraded my skills in other areas. It is these skills and a new philosophy about the world of work and wealth that I will write about on this blog. I have now come full circle, back to business, concentrating on profit and capital gain, and time-leverage. Not salary or an action-distracting myth called ‘job security’.
I hope you’ll enjoy my articles here, and that some of you will find increased prosperity as a result. And if you resolve to stay working in a job for someone else, heed the words of Rudolph Giuliani:
“If you don’t find a way to do something as work that is fulfilling and enjoyable, then your life is going to be really sad.”
I truly wish you happiness and success whichever path you take.
~Neil
