Raw 02 - September 2008 - (Page 17)

COLIN STROUD RAW The Changes! The new century has brought a number of significant changes in my life. The year 2000 turned with me living in Green St Green, Kent with my partner, her son and our toddler. I drove a van delivering time sensitive loads across Europe to as far as the Eastern block, horror stories and I can only thank Debbie for not making our story a similar one. I have a wonderful son who I love dearly, see regularly and enjoy incredibly. Anyone who knows Harry will tell you what a character he is - so how can I regret any of these changes? In around 2004 I was reaching burn out at work. 13 years of travelling Europe was taking its toll, we worked incredibly hard, ignored any driving regulations or guidelines and our workload was increasing. I won’t go into how many miles we covered a week because you would think I was exaggerating but believe me looking back I can see how dangerous it was. I had a massive accident in the late nineties and I should have seen that as a signal for change but I didn’t. An argument with my boss at the time resulted in us both throwing our toys out the pram and I haven’t spoken to him or driven for a living since. Sometimes I do regret the way that ended – So I’m sorry for that Tim but I can see it was for the best now, I needed to get out and too much water has gone under the bridge, we were both very stubborn but I wish you well and hope all is good in Euroflyer world! Career Change I was lucky enough to have increased my circle of friends after moving to Chelmsford and as luck would have it a job opportunity arose with two of them who ran a web design business. This was a major change for me, I looked after the project management and oversaw data entry on what proved to be their biggest client and over the next three years I increased my skills and helped develop a new web directory among other projects. Even though my previous job seemed to be very different on the surface I can now see that both my old and my new careers depended on similar things – Being methodical, planning ahead and a certain amount of hard work to name a few. Turning 40! Now this was a change I didn’t enjoy! They say life begins at 40 but all it represented for me at the time was a milestone to take stock and question whether or not I had got anywhere in life. I was recently unemployed, the company I had worked for had gone to the wall, I won’t make judgment here over whose fault that was – they know who they are deep down and once they realize their part in the downfall they can move on like the rest of us have. I had also recently become single, the relationship I had been in had ended in installments over a period of months and it had taken its toll on me. In short I was hard up and fed up. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do and what direction things would take me. Then Came Million Impossible! Another change. At first I was very wary of the people involved (as I’m sure they were of me), I knew of them but I didn’t know them – all I could do was give it a chance, it seemed they needed me and I definitely needed them, money was tight, Christmas was coming and my goose was definitely not getting fat! The Mi concept was a totally new thing to me, Bradley is a real human dynamo and sitting in a very sales oriented environment was a complete culture shock. I can only thank Heidi for being the focal point that everyone can anchor to. She definitely helped me come to terms with a very new situation. My role grew within Million Impossible, I have seen people come and go (and in one case come back again!), I have had to stretch myself and accept change which brings me back to “Who Moved My Cheese?” What did I take from the book? Most of us, in my opinion, fall into one particular character trait outlined in the book and what I’ve taken from it is that I should recognise change earlier than I do. I can look back now and see that I have always been capable of change and shouldn’t allow human nature and fear to hold me back. I will always be wary of change just for change’s sake but I do understand that some people love change and prefer it if they have change to look forward to. Either way as long as you know what type of person you are, you can do something about it and rein in your “Thanks for the book Bradley, I read it, enjoyed it and took something from it” enthusiasm or be more accepting of change. Thanks for the book Bradley, I read it, enjoyed it and took something from it. If anyone would like to read “Who Moved My Cheese?” it’s available from Random House Books - www.rbooks.co.uk - in paperback for £5.99. If you do read it, or have read it in the past, I would love to know what you think of it – email me at colin@ millionimpossible.com. Welcome Mi welcome Blackwood Productions I would like to welcome Chri s Wright of Blackwood Productions to Million Impossible. Blackwood will be embarking on a concerted SEO campaign for us over the coming months, raising our search engi ne profile and so helping us raise our awareness to prospective members through search engines. If you have any SEO questions please raise them in the forum – www.millionimpossibl e. com/forum/deafault.asp - , Chris will be paying particular attention to any post related to SEO and SEM. If you do have any SEO enquiries for Chri s you can also call Blackwood on 0845 468 8001 millionimpossible.com 1 7 http://www.rbooks.co.uk http://www.millionimpossible.com/forum/default.asp http://www.millionimpossible.com/forum/default.asp http://www.millionimpossible.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Raw 02 - September 2008

Raw 02 - September 2008 Contents Scott English Rachael Elnaugh Colin Stroud Heidi Weir Chris Wright Million Impossible Emma Thompson

Raw 02 - September 2008

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