I can’t remember how I stumbled across a presentation entitled It’s an Illusion by John Harris a couple of months ago, but I’m very glad I did, as it was a real eye opener. It’s 50mins long in total, but it’s time well invested I assure you.

It’s an Illusion on BBC5.tv or YouTube

“John Harris gives us his perspective on what’s going on. He describes how we are economic slaves to a debt dependant system, notably achieved through the deception of the birth certificate and the creation of a legal fiction known as your ‘PERSON’. It is this PERSON that the government then wields it’s control upon. Although John points out that this arrangement only works when we consent.

Unfortunately inaction is taken as consent, hence we have unwittingly surrendered our inalienable rights through identifying with the PERSON. Remember you are a human being with god given rights, all you have to do is claim them.

Filmed at the The British Constitution Group Lawful Rebellion Conference in Stoke-on-Trent on the 24th January 2009.”

More info on The People’s United Community

For a quick summary, you can watch Meet Your Strawman below by Infomatic Films (I stumbled across this on Lster921′s blog just now)

Another good site that explains this is Freedom Rebels, I recommend reading What’s a Freeman?

Freedom From Porn

June 9, 2010

At last, porn you can touch, this changes everything ;)

freedom from porn

A Balancing Act

March 6, 2010

Too many ideas, too little time!

That may sound a little arrogant, but it’s actually a genuine problem, and I’m not the only one. Some may say it’s a good problem, but I’m not so sure.

It’s frustrating as hell to have an idea or a solution, that you know you have to let go or forget about, as you have 20 more waiting in the wings to be fulfilled. And if that’s not frustrating enough,  when I pass on and explain a really good idea to someone else, someone that I know could do great things with my concept, they unfortunately, are too short sighted to see the full potential to do anything with it! So at the end of the day, I simply have to do it myself.

As Friedrich Engels said, “An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory”

A few months ago I decided I’m going to change the world… well I never said my ideas were small, or easy… if they were, I guess anyone would take up the task and do it… but they’re not, so I might as well do them myself. I’ve set a time frame of ten years… that may seem like a long time, but it’s not really, as when you think about it, the world’s a pretty big place!

The 80% Rule

November 9, 2009

Working flat out? Have too much to do? What can you do about it? Put your prices up, because you’re under charging!

You’ll probably lose some clients, but with the extra capacity you’ll be able to deliver higher quality solutions, thus better value for the clients you retain. A good balance is 80% capacity, but you decide. You’ll have the same overall profit, your clients will benefit from you doing this and so will you!

How most entrepreneurs initially present their idea to a Venture Capitalist.

Me Me Me!
2 mins
Introduction: why they’re amazing
5 mins
The Problem: why everyone else is wrong (why they’re amazing)
15 mins
My Solution: passionately explaining their solution in depth (why they’re amazing)
5 mins
Capital Expenditure: whiz through what they will spend the money on
2 mins
The Plan: Blue sky 5 year plan on how the business will grow exponentially

Then they wonder why it didn’t work. The ask, “is it because they didn’t explain their vision clearly enough? mmmm, surely not… it must be because the VC is short sighted and doesn’t like or understand their idea?” So, the entrepreneur asks how can they get the VC to be as passionate about their idea, as once they do, surely they’ll invest?

It won’t work and they won’t (except in rare occasions), they’re only investing with the entrepreneur for one reason, to make money! They’re not interested in the problem, or the solution, or what the entrepreneur does, so the entrepreneur shouldn’t waste their time and effort trying to get the VC interested. The entrepreneur has to think like the VC! so if you’re presenting to a VC here’s the way to do it.

Show Me The Money!
5 mins
ROI: What is their return and when will they receive it
10 mins
Capital Expenditure: How much investment you need, time frame, phases and why
10 mins
Risk Assessment: Company structure, detailing assets, IP, tangibles etc
2 mins
The Idea: The product
2 mins
You: Your background and history, contact details

This doesn’t only work on VC’s, try this approach with your next client presentation, get all the guess work, the money & nitty gritty details out of the way at the beginning, then show them where there money is being invested, that way you’ll know right from the start whether you’re wasting your time or not, and if they’re really interested they’ll extend the meeting to talk through your ideas.

Breakdancing Babies

September 12, 2009

No this isn’t one of Evian’s Dancing Babies

After posting an incredible break dancing video the other day I saw the one below on Phil’s Unionversity website, so had to share it, ouch!

A Very British Contract

September 11, 2009

I always believed and pushed for a flat hierarchy in my business structure… and yes I realise that a flat hierarchy is an oxymoron, but it’s a great way to express my approach to organising my business structure, as the entire thing is built upon respect & trust and not meaningless job titles! (a pet peeve of mine!)

We had a very British contract for all staff including myself, it contained the sentence, “Everyone Makes The Tea” what that meant, was everyone within the business was an equal, anyone & everyone was free to suggest & implement new ways of doing things, but on the flip side they were expected to perform the most mundane tasks, if they saw something was amiss, it was up to them to deal with it, not simply pass it on to someone else, it was all about being pro-active and not re-active.

We started off with a policies & procedures document, but we got rid of it in the end, as it was simply full of rules, thus limitations. I’d sooner have a frame work that everyone can work within, than hard and fast rules of what must and must not be done.

There are the nay sayers, those that say this approach never works, that you will simply end up in chaos (Anarchy is a great thing until you need a plumber!), but I disagree, allowing autonomy to flourish instills a culture of respect for those working with you (not for you), it’s highly rewarding, and you might be surprised with the outcomes!

As I’ve re-quoted before “Statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital“ Aaron Levenstein

This video makes compelling reading/watching, but read between the lines, there’s more to this than meets the eye, major changes are unfolding in the social media environment, information/data/ID aggregation is becoming the new hot potato, the shift is about linking you to the stuff you want to know in a transparent & convenient way.

For more info & a list of quotes & stats go to the socialnomics blog

Also check out a brilliant and ballsy presentation by Marta Kagan entitled What the F**K is Social Media: One Year Later

Also note Marta doesn’t use the that annoying Social Media Expert moniker, she calls herself a Bonafide Marketing Genius, now that’s a great job title! (as long as you live up to it of course, although reading her blog, it looks like she does)

Organic Fusion Engineer

September 8, 2009

I dislike job titles (especially inflated ones), I never use one myself, your actions define what you do for a living, not your business card.

If you excel at your work, you won’t require a job title, you probably won’t need business cards either, as everyone will already know what you do & who you are, as you’ll be the person they’re talking about & respect, the person they go to when they need things done really well.

There are times you can put an inflated job title to good use, when you want something to talk about or set yourself apart from the rest of your field, Organic Fusion Engineer is a fun job title I saw on a carpenters business card, I used him because he was recommended, and I’ll always remember the work he did, but I’ll never forget his job title!

You Lucky Bastard!

September 3, 2009

Next time you think someone’s lucky, remember there’s no such thing as luck, it doesn’t exist.

Of course there are those that are born into wealth, survive death defying accidents, born with good health etc, but that isn’t luck, that’s good fortune.

If an opportunity arises and you take advantage of it, some will see that as luck, you were in the right place at the right time, but you know that you’ve likely worked very hard to be prepared & be in a position to take advantage of the opportunity when it arose.

So luck is being prepared & being in a position to take advantage of an opportunity when it presents itself, it’s that simple.