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Life doesn't stop just because you are starting a business

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From the blog's silence in January, you might be forgiven for thinking I'd given up my commitment to blogging or even given up the business venture. What happened was life.  When you commit to a business vision, you may be fortunate enough not to need to earn a living. You may be blessed with stability in your personal life. Or you may be me. I am like millions of entrepreneurs round the world.  So, what happened in January? Rapidly developing opportunities and networking for NeuDICE - but without the capacity in January to follow through. Today and tomorrow are blocked in my diary for making sense of what has happened, drawing the threads together, planning to follow through on what already is and planning next steps. The consequences of deciding in December that competitive Olympic weightlifting had been a wonderful chapter of my life and I was content to move to the next chapter. I needed to focus energy on NeuDICE. And I needed less risk of injury. So I tried horseriding. ...

Why me?

Each of us goes through life with two intertwined resources: who we are and what we experience. Who we has a profound impact on how (whether) we reflect on our experiences. Who we are also impacts the kinds of contexts and experiences that may be open to us and the opportunities that appeal to us.  As we experience life moment by moment, we accumulate information and knowledge. If we are lucky, we get the opportunity to bring all of these things - who we are, our learning from our experiences, and our unique store of knowledge - with us to work. More often, as we reach the workplace threshold we are required to box away most of what makes us a unique human and put on a predefined work-specific role. That's cool if what is needed is a standardised result flowing from people operating a standardised process in as close to a standardardised way as possible.  I must admit, this is one of the reasons I prefer to be my own boss. I want to know that I can always bring the whole of my...

Why a start-up?

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 In Wales today there are thousands of business start-ups and a myriad of support services.  Some people start a business because they have a burning ambition to turn a concept into a money-making venture ( Business Wales ) or to address a social injustice ( Social Firms Wales , Social Business Wales ).  Others are nudged or forced into it by their life circumstances or who they are. These are the people who are uncomfortable in employment or who find themselves unemployable - at least until employers begin to be more flexible. I leave the challenge of sorting out employers to the likes of the amazing  Delsion  and, for those who are neurodivergent, to  Do-It Solutions .  I am uncomfortable in employment and employers become uncomfortable with me. I simply cannot work to my best within the kind of employment situations that have been available to me. Being brutally honest, I struggle to get a job and I'm not sure I blame the employers. I am neurodiverg...