Devotion drives the startup owner and Devoted Fan is a great idea

There is one thing that comes out when you speak to startup entrepreneurs about their business. It is their devotion to what they do in their lives every day. Devotion is a major factor in being successful at anything and in today’s blog I take a look at a website that has been born from devotion and looks like it will be taking the next steps on to something big.

Devoted Fan is a great website that I have come across. It has been developed to show devotion to some of the things outside of the business world that inspire us in our everyday lives. I have written in one of my blog pieces before about inspiration and it plays a really important part of making us who we are. This great website takes it to the next level. This is a fantastic website where you can get the chance to-

•          Browse and vote for your favorite celebrities from all the different categories we have
•          Share those great selfies you have with your favorite celebrity
•          Tell the world about the impact a celebrity had or is having on your life in your own words

There is a dedicated page for each and every celebrity so you can see all the love they have and the stories, selfies and inspirations people share about your most loved celebrity. This is a great way to get involved with the celebrity or celebrities you love the most and let the world know just how much you love them!

Devoted Fan is a great idea for a website and you as a startup entrepreneur can use the inspiration that it brings to your own business. The fact is that celebrity sells and people always want a forum to voice their opinions. If you can provide either of these for your startup business then you will stand a much better chance of being the entrepreneur that survives. In your own industry or specialism you can tap into how people want to share their ideas and inspirations to help your company to succeed.

Check out the website today at Devoted Fan then you can see what a great idea it is and share how your favorite celebrity has inspired you in some way. Perhaps we can get a category going for business leaders! I put forward the name Sir Richard Branson to start the discussion rolling.

weecordtv is a great place to get inspired by the best new musical talent

I’ve looked before in my blog about the inspirations that keep us all going as startup entrepreneurs. They often come from outside the world of business and I know from the contact I receive that there are many people that are hugely inspired by the world of entertainment and by the stories of other entrepreneurs. Today I combine both of these areas in my blog. I bring to you www.weecordtv.com where there are music videos from independent artists for you to enjoy and be inspired by.

It isn’t always seen as a form of entrepreneurism but recording and promoting your own music has huge similarities with other areas of startup business. You need to be dedicated to your business, become a master marketer and get the exposure you need to sell your music to the wider world. www.weecordtv.com is an outlet for talented musicians to join a streaming music video channel for independent musicians. It gives independent musicians a place where they can have the same exposure and opportunities as mainstream musicians. The app (coming soon!) are supported by a social media presence-

Twitter www.twitter.com/weecordtv

Facebook www.facebook.com/weecordtv

www.weecordtv.com the app is where you go to enjoy watching what you’re listening to.

The best thing about it is that they are always looking for fresh content from music video to interviews, vlogs, or live content. This means that it becomes a conduit for the best new musical talent to get seen and heard.  This means that the website is a network for musicians to see and be seen. The result is that the best talent is spotted and promoted.

I know that startup owners are great supporters of other startup businesses and I urge you to check out the website and app and find out about the top new musical talent. There is always something to be learnt from looking at other entrepreneurs and how they strive to succeed.

I think that this is a success story waiting to happen and an inspiration for startup entrepreneurs from start to finish. Firstly you can listen to the best new music and hear it before anyone else. Then you can see the parallels between the entrepreneur musician and your own startup business. Finally you can see the entrepreneurial spirit of the website www.weecordtv.com as they look to promote the best new musical talent.

"Hey You" by Chris Davidson is a great listen - and actually increase your inspiration!

I feature products and services of all kinds on my blog. I love to get in touch with entrepreneurs of all shapes and sizes and one thing that constantly comes up during discussions is the subject of inspiration. Not many people have an inner drive that constantly feeds itself and doesn’t need a little inspiration every now and again. It seems that so many entrepreneurs share a love of success, a love of achievement and a love of music. Music has been the background to so many new ideas and innovation that have gone on to become successful businesses.

If you are one for searching out new artists and seeking out new music then you must listen to “Hey You” by Chris Davidson.  It's a wonderful new album that mixes perfectly a combination of indie and alternative rock. This is a great new album from a rising star in the UK music scene and will see Chris Davidson go from strength to strength.

Chris’s own influences are of David Bowie, Tom Watts, Radiohead, the Beatles and Flaming Lips and the album echoes a life of listening to music and breathing in the influence that it brings. He has been signed by Jim Breach, who was Freddy Mercury's manager so his talent has been spotted by the best. I recommend that you listen to “What If It Is Me?” and “Hey You” first of all as these are the stand-out tracks from an album packed full of great tunes.

 “I was always frustrated by other musicians being unreliable and not getting me the sound I wanted, and so I finally gave up on bands and stopped music for a number of years. I started learning home recording and it took about two years to get the hang of the software properly and it has grown from there.”

The songs are really well developed and you can feel the time put into the lyrics and production that just complement the beautiful guitar playing perfectly. This album is a modern day classic and you will want to play it over and over again. It stays with you for hours afterwards. The songs just stick in your head and lift you up whatever you are doing that day. 

The album is available on Spotify, iTunes, Apple Music, Amazon, Google Play and YouTube so you can get your fix from many places to keep your inspiration going!

Too many balls to juggle - what to let go?

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As the snow has set in to my part if the world this week, and I'm almost half way through the 245 days, it's become clear that I need some fresh impetus to be able to move forward.

The home office is more organised and is set up to take the next steps in weatherproofing, but the sealing needed on the roof and the painting on the inside have completely stalled when the weather is like this. With a few major other jobs to do around the house to get that up to scratch, I've struggled to make the time to get anything else done in the road to opening my estate agency.

I listened to a radio interview on BBC Radio Five Live a couple of weeks ago with the author Emma Healey. She spoke about dedicating your energy to one thing at one time. She said that if you are writing a book then put losing weight or any other long-term goals on the back burner as writing a book takes enough energy and concentration of its own. At the moment I've possibly got too many balls in the air, including-

Writing five different blogs

Writing a self-help book for home buyers

Attending a college class in photography

An Open University course on creative writing (with a view to writing a novel)

Mystery shopping, where I aim to conduct 10 shops per week

Expanding my Amazon and eBay selling accounts to generate income

As well as trying to set up the business, work part-time and live as part of a family of four with two children aged 8 and under.

I'm probably biting off more than I can chew and I need to look at everything I'm doing and decide what is important.

Watch this space.

Inspiration comes in many forms

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I've always been one of those people who has hot something out if every day, every seminar, every meeting. I think if I have spent the time doing something then I should be able to take something practical away with me from it, even when an employer is paying me to be there. I am a practical learner, and I need there to be pragmatic outcomes to anything I attempt in order for it to engage me and for me to get the most out of it.

Whenever I come across a problem at work, I always analyse the situation and how I'm handling it to ensure that I can approach it in the most efficient way next time it crops up.

I am a determined individual and I ensure that I've I come across something that I can't solve immediately, that I get it solved and pass this solution on to my customers and colleagues.

When working in a lettings agency before, I constantly came up against the same problem - landlords renting unfurnished properties and tenants wanting furnished properties. So I came up with the solution of providing a furnishings list that can be provided by a 3rd party (our company) upon request. These items would belong to the tenant got the duration of the tenancy and we would usually buy them back from the tenants at the end of the tenancy, of they were reusable.

It's providing these services that make the difference in standard operations and those that go the extra mile for the customers.

And going the extra mile usually earns the extra money!

This is how I will approach every day when I open my business.

Some of my inspirations

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You can be inspired in all sorts of ways by all sorts of people.  Some of my inspirations are as follows-

Music
I love the music of Hootie and the Blowfish, and their lead singer Darius Rucker.  They can be found all over You Tube, but they also have a jukebox on their website-

http://www.hootie.com/internal.asp?catID=21218#content

I also love the music of Foo Fighters, Red Hot Chili Peppers and David Gray.

Art
I love all types of art and have been to many art museums in cities all over the World.  My favourite artist is Mark Rothko.  I don't get into the whole modern art debate, I just like his paintings-

Television

I think that TV is starting to take over from the movies as the premium entertainment vehicle of it's genre. Recent programmes that have caught my attention include True Detective, Hannibal and the recent Dr Who

series have been excellent.  My favourite show has just finished airing in the UK, it's the US version of The Office.  The characters had more depth and more time to develop than the UK predecessor, and the programme was witty, funny and hugely entertaining every single week.




I think that originality and creativity runs through the likes I have for all of these things, and I hope that shows in my work. How about you?

Poetry to be creative?

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I'm starting to think creatively and I feel I need to get as much creative process as possible going as I can. I've never been an actor or a painter, but I used to write a lot of poetry in my teens and early 20's.

I've started bits again, mainly inspired by events and situations I've found myself in.

Here are 3 recents poems-

Methadone

The methadone metronome

Teeth like melting snow

Framed by black

Eyes that betray the presence of the body

Are you aware that you're here?

If not, where do you think you are?

Clothes that haven't seen a washing machine in months

Skin likewise with soap

There's an army of these, each it's own sleeper cell

Unaware of the tens of thousands in a similar trance, with similar hunger

What can feed the need?

Anything that can be sold on for money

Money that will sit in the pocket for only minutes

This army of zombies attack the retail trade and soak up resources

They soak up resources from the Police as well

Their offspring are paperwork, CCTV images, statements

These replace the offspring that were taken into care

Where next?

Who is understaffed?

What can we sell?

Who's on to us?

We are all on to you,

But we grow tired too

Bored

Sick of abbreviation (abbr.)

Thick Scottish accents leave me dumbstruck

Car indicators that are never used

Far from what was learnt on driving lessons

Noise for the sake of noise annoys

Toys used to be toys, not apps with in-app purchases

Health and Safety has become it's own industry

Wealth earned from advising people to use common sense

A beard is now a fashion accessory

A weird change from it being seen as someone who hadn't shaved

Miracle creams from every provider under the sun

Satirical TV stations have sprung up from repeating others leftovers

Dave, GOLD, Watch, Pick, Challenge, all in HD

Save me from these flashbacks of my childhood, teens, twenties

Notes from a talk

It's been changed to a bigger room because "it's such a hit."

But there's only 5 minutes to go, and there are only 4 others here

A pair of windswept silvers in row 2, look like they'll get a flask of tea out soon

The other 2, at the front are actually part of the staff, they're leaving now,

Awash with self-important utterings in  RP pronunciation

I've actually walked in with the crew, might get mic-ed up if I don't keep moving

Here come the crowd, and it's clear that I'm dragging down the average age

I expected besuited estate agents, university professors and civil servants

I've got retired civil servants and university professors - the estate agents are out of suits at home,

Or still in suits at work, they're not here

I'm looking for information, debate, society and

Well, I'm looking for a way in, a different way of working

An epiphany that awakens my senses to a money train

My sense of energy, my sense of self, my sense of commercialness

All asleep for a while

But not now

Just a bit of fun, hope you like them!

Keeping up the spirits takes things to look forward to

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When the weather is awful, as it is today, it can be difficult to raise your spirits and raise your mood. Especially as today feels to me like the first day of what's going to be a long Winter.

So, what do I do to get in the mood to work, develop and get my blood going.

I've already mentioned in previous editions of my bold that I have taken up brain training and have goneback to   running. Both make me feel alone and ready to go for the day, but on a non-run day, and with brain training over and done with for the day, what keeps me going?

The light at the end if the tunnel seems far away, and most of what I'm getting into for the business are slow burners or things that are still at the planning stage. There is the burning desire to do this properly, the countdown that you are at the top of every blog page (now only 231 days to go) but I need smaller steps along the way to keep spirits up and focus on the task at hand-

I went to the Sunderland v Stoke march on Saturday with my family

It's my eldest's birthday on Saturday, so we're going out for the day.

We're going to see the family and meet up with some friends in Essex for 5 days in late October.

There's a midweek evening kickoff Sunderland match in early November that I'll take myself along to.

We always do something really Christmassy in early December to start off the season. It was the Polar Express train ride last year.

Christmas and New Year will be celebrated heartily in our house, with children of only 7 and 6.

In January I'm looking to go to Spain with  the lads for a few days of drinking and relaxing in the sun.

My birthday in February.

We're planning on a family trip to Disney/Florida in March, or to Disneyland Paris and a trip around France (depending on finance.)

All these small steps build up to give me the next focus and keep me on an even keel whilst working full-time and trying to prepare a new business at the same time.