So here I am - it’s almost 3 in the morning, the morning before I’m due to go on a short holiday to Greece and Turkey, and I’m still working. My Mom told me to get a few early nights before leaving, so that I could start to unwind… no such luck.
Such has been life of late, although I dare say it’s of my own making. The problem is that I enjoy what I do so much, that I don’t really count the hours as much as I used to - it’s a funny state of affairs.
So here’s the updater…
One of the casualties of the last few weeks has been this blog, so I’m sorry for the lack of any real meaty posts. But I’m also happy to say that life isn’t about “posting on your blog every day, dude”, but about the peaks and troughs, the swings in the roundabout so to speak, so although I may not have been visibly blogging, I certainly have been running things through in my mind - most of which is fundamental to the next 18 months or so, and thus the quality of blog posts here.
My little freelance / contracter practice has grown bigger and faster than I anticipated, so I’m now paying wages, and going to sleep at night just after I mentally do the books. Anyways, the spin off of this is that I’ve been able to finance the development of the prototype for our first web app, and am lucky to have a good friend and trusty accomplice working with me now to get the web app off the ground and into public beta.
Over the coming months I’ll be looking to grow the team into more of a web SWAT team, and less of a web mini-SWAT team; while still doing the client work I’ve been doing of late (mainly backend stuff, with some consulting and project management sprinkled in for good measure and sanity). I’m also going to be setting up a formal business site for my company, a business blog to discuss business stuff that’s important, and quite possibly moving into new shared offices with some other businesses run by mates of mine. So all in all, the next few months are going to be exciting ones to say the least!
I’m going to Greece tomorrow (I’ve never been) and only now do I feel like the kid in the candy store - if I was any less tired I’d probably feel excited. The upshot is that I’ll get some kip on the plane, and then it’s a week or so of rest, relaxation, sunshine and swimming in the Med. I can’t wait - I only hope that my lilly white ass doesn’t scare too many folks away. I’ve charged my camera batteries, had my Lomo fixed, and have a few black and white spools for the F70, so I’m really looking forward to taking some cool photo’s and just forgetting about work - sometimes I have to pinch myself to remind myself that there’s this whole world out there beyond my monitor, mouse and keyboard…
The only negative thing that I can think of for now is that I am absolutely knackered. I have dark rings under my eyes, my eyes have started twitching again (they do at about 2am), and I constantly feel like there just isn’t any more energy left in the tank. If I allowed myself to, I could fall asleep anywhere and anytime (when I was in university, I mastered the 10 minute catnap between lectures so sleeping on the train is easy), so this holiday is coming at exactly the right time. So my intention is to forget about everything, get some rest, and come back to London with a different approach and renewed vigour.
They say that successful captains know how to re-align the ship onto it’s course when the ship starts to go off course - now I’m not saying that I’ve gone off the rails (hardly, just not sleeping enough!); but just that the last few months have made me realise a few things about myself, and also about the industry I work in, the way I conduct my business, the work ethic I have, and the way I want to live and lead my life.
I’ve kinda come to the conclusion that as an entrepreneur, there simply is no nirvana of a 9-5 work-life balance - it’s not possible unless you have seed capital at least - the only balance you can have is to make sure that you don’t work all the time, you get distracted with other stuff that interests you, and that you maintain your human relationships. So on my return from holiday, I aim to puruse all of the above, rather than to the exclusion of… Playing hockey again soon is going to be cool too (I went to my first fitness session of the season yesterday and my body is aching like it should) 
And that about sums it up - I’ve drawn a blank, have a real need for some shuteye, and can’t think of anything more to add here.
Adios, and seeya on the flip side - if I’ve got a mail from you in my Inbox, it WILL get replied to on my return; if you’re in Greece over the next week, look me up - I’ll be the big guy with white legs on the beach oggling all the skimpy bikini’s… - and if you’re a blogger, stop blogging, go get some air/sleep/food/interaction with other humans!
