Diary of an ex-Banker — Part Two: First steps
So what have I been doing for the last year?
If you ask most of my friends and family they would probably tell you I’ve been on holiday. This still grates a little, but it’s funny how once you move outside of the conventional world of 9 to 5, people struggle to relate and need to find a label for you.
The truth, or at least my version of the truth, is that I’ve spent most of the last year pursuing various business ideas. The simple fact is that there are no shortcuts. You start with an idea, always exciting, and see how far you can take it. Some ideas come and go in the blink of an eye. Others take weeks or months of research and development before you have to accept that they won’t fly. The hope is always to find that elusive, magical idea that excites you on Day 1, still excites you on Day 101 and has a decent chance of being turned into a viable business.
So where have my ideas taken me?
The starting point was an idea pitched to me by a friend, Sandy. A primary school bag with a see-through A4 plastic pocket on the outside where teachers could put notes to parents…apparently prone to being lost inside bags. A good idea, but in the end we thought it would become obsolete as more and more communications are made by email, WhatsApp etc.
Next up was a sitting / standing desk, nicely designed so that you would actually want to have it in your home as most of the ones out there at the moment are designed for offices. This was suggested to me by another friend, Georgia. Definitely a market for this, but we decided we didn’t have the right skill set for the project.
Then things went to the next level and got a whole lot more interesting when I took the plunge, put my money where my mouth was, and bought a 3D chocolate printer with the same friend, Georgia. But more on the printer and Georgia in another post.
From there, in quick succession, some of the other business ideas I explored were:
- a kitchen bin with a self-sealing bag (lots of time spent researching patents at the British Library…a big fan of their Business and IP Centre )
- importing Asian pear juice (can lessen your hangover), and
- all year round Advent calendars (why not have one counting down to a special birthday, anniversary or Valentine’s day?).
I’m now developing a polling app called Just Six Questions but I’ll come to that later.
What is the common thread running through these ideas? Well, I’d be the first to admit that there probably isn’t one. But does that matter? I don’t think so. Over the last 12 months I’ve come to accept and embrace who I am and the meandering, slightly chaotic and rarely scripted way I work.
Originally published on www.jsixq.com
