Profiting in my youth
As a child I liked money. I had one of those tubular toy money counters in which each type of coin had its own slot. The aim seemed simple to me; build up each tower of coins as high as possible. I did not save because I wanted a particular toy. I liked the challenge of trying to stack up more coins than my brother and two sisters. It was a competition.
Whenever I received cheques for birthdays and at Christmas I always banked them. Like the coin towers, I wanted to get the balance on my Woolwich building society book as high as possible. The annual interest, which seemed like free money, was always an incentive to save more.
I was ten years old when I chanced my first profit. It was a Saturday and I had finished reading the comic book stories in the Funday Times. I started flicking through the ‘grown up’ sections and stumbled upon a list of company share prices. Out of curiosity I asked dad if he held any shares. He did. I decided I too wanted to own a share in a company that was printed in the newspaper each week. I raced upstairs and pulled out a £10 note from my savings to buy some of dad’s shares. I was soon the proud owner of £10 of BT shares (well kind of).
The following Saturday I checked the paper to see how my BT shares were doing. The price had gone up! I decided I wanted my money back and dad duly returned my £10. Aware that the shares had gone up in price, I asked if I was due any more. I got an extra fiver.
(Written January 1st 2009. Republished from Tim's personal blog on startups & small businesses)
Clear Books – a new business set to take off
2009 is the year that my business, Clear Books, is going to take off. That might sound like a bold statement when you consider I don't have a single paying customer, we are in a global recession, and I am 27 years old. To fulfill my goal I need to successfully execute an innovative business idea. My online accounting system for small businesses, Clear Books, is that idea.
Young celebrities and sports stars are increasingly writing an early autobiography. They are criticised for being too young to reflect on what they have achieved. I am neither a celebrity, sports star nor have I achieved anything of significance. The purpose of my story is to tell you about the experiences that led me to starting Clear Books.
Perhaps you are thinking of starting a business, perhaps you are nosey and interested in how this chap thinks he will build his empire, or perhaps you do not want to hear another success story but rather a story that is vying to become a success. What is certain is that this story will remain a testament to whether I achieved my goals or not.
(Written January 1st 2009. Republished from Tim's personal blog on startups & small businesses)
A preface to my startup story
In the lazy week between Christmas 2008 and New Year, I was taking a break from my first five months coding Clear Books and began to jot down some thoughts about how I ended up co-founding Clear Books.
A few evenings later, on the 1st January 2009, I had finished. I put the document to one side and forgot about it for nearly three years... until today, 4 November 2011.
Clear Books is a fast growing business. We’re on an exciting journey but one of the most interesting aspects of building a startup is figuring out the best way to do, well, everything. With this in mind I am always keen to find out more about the experiences of other business owners to learn from their successes, failures and how they made it.
That means a lot of holiday reading and as I’ve recently been on holiday I was inspired to dust off the cobwebs and post my story. It’s nothing more than a collection of my very ordinary experiences. I will post an extract each week.
(Republished from Tim's personal blog on startups & small businesses)
