one of the most important lessons to learn

CONCENTRATE ON KINDNESS, IT'S THE MOST VALUABLE CURRENCY THERE IS

8 years ago today I learned one of the most important business lessons; kindness and collaboration are the key to success. At that time, I was working a 9 to 5 desk job in the corporate world, hardly seeing my family and really not enjoying my work. In any spare time I had, I was also experimenting with Facebook pages, building a community of 8k people around my observations about the town I worked in.

It was through this page that a photographer called Matthew Brown contacted me, telling me that he enjoyed the page and that if I could get a tee-shirt printed with my page’s logo, he’d like to show his appreciation by taking some promotional shots for me.

This photo was the result and little did I know at the time, but the model was Hayley Clough. Sadly Matthew is no longer with us, but that one act of kindness and collaboration set the tone for everything I would do in business from then on.

This raised profile of the page as a result, got me noticed by Alan Donegan who invited me on his radio show to talk about my observations and he has been a firm friend ever since. He later founded the PopUp Business School with Simon Paine and when I finally got fired from my corporate job because I was far too obsessed with opportunities social media represented, he was the first to book me to speak at one of his events.

What followed were more speaking gigs at places like Henley Business School and working with clients like Playboy Club London amongst others. But through it all, I have never forgotten the importance of kindness and collaboration. I owe a lot to the people mentioned here, for reinforcing that and for the opportunities they gave me.

Nowadays I always talk about their importance and wherever possible try to find opportunities for others, the same way they were offered to me.

Concentrate on kindness, it’s the most valuable currency there is.