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Its been a while. in fact its been 6 flipping months since I last wrote a blog!
I has been the hardest 6 months work of my life! My friends, family and work mates have been very patient with me : )
A long time ago I wrote a blog called ‘Writing Stories Vs Telling Stories’, and this has definitely been a season for trying to write a new story so I have had my head down working!
In August one of my mentors challenged me “When are you going to let one of these businesses define you?” It left me with that awkward gut wrenching feeling like I knew he was right and I was going to make a change but it hurt a bit : )
I decided it was time to focus all of my attention onto Givey.com and commit to the task of trying to make giving everyday to the people and causes we care about a normal activity that is FUN!
Since then SO much has happened with me and Givey, here are a few highlights…..
– Givey was accepted 0n Ignite100.com, moved to Newcastle and gained £100k Investment
– I found a wonderful girlfriend : )
– I shared my story at TEDxManchester
– We got £50k in grant cash from NESTA’s Innovation in Giving Fund
– We started working with 2 of the biggest Tech Companies in the world to change the way the world thinks about giving.
– We moved our London staff into an office on Leonard St in Shoreditch, very dingy and cool, then moved out 3 months later as the internet was rubbish and now are working in Covent Garden…awesome!
– I talked with Bill Clinton at Google’s Zeitgeist Conference about getting the next generation giving.
All the bullet points I have listed are dreams becoming reality for me and I have felt very blessed, and I am absolutely loving the journey but it has come at a real cost me…
Unlike some people who are able to get up at 5, bake bread take a granny for a walk, go the gym and still be at their desk at 8.30 I cant, I need 9 hours sleep to be really happy and I cant do 12 hour days and keep the rest of my life in check so I have written almost no music, no blogs, I have done no dancing, little travelling, my relationship with God has suffered and I have become unfit and chubby to say the least : (
What I have noticed though is since I committed to one vision and one team rather than helping on many projects there has been a huge acceleration in ‘trust’ in me as people are no longer concerned that I may swan off with the next exciting project as they can see I am rooted now in Givey which has been fantastic and wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t decide to cut my other interests
I think for short bursts it is ok to lose a little balance in the aid of focusing to deliver something hard and valuable, but setting expectations and gaining buy in from loved ones and acknowledging the real; well being cost of doing so is vital.
I think we are out of the peak of it now so hopefully it won’t take me 6 months till the next blog 🙂