Stop Dreaming, Start Planning» Team Esc

A Conversation with Mike Howe, Escape the City’s USA Pioneer

Team Esc — Thu, 26 May 2011 08:43:37 +0000

Just two weeks before his departure to New York to open up Escape the City’s first USA office, Mikey took some time out of his day to chat with me, Liz the intern, about Escape the City: NYC, his ideal working situation, and Marmite.

Liz: How did you first hear of Esc?

Mikey: I first heard about it because I lived with Dom, and Dom wouldn’t stop talking about it.

Liz: What made you decide to join Esc?

Mikey: I joined it for a couple of reasons. I was supporting Dom, and also my job was boring and miserable. I could relate to the mission, since I desperately wanted to escape the city myself.

Liz: What have you learned since joining Esc?

Mikey: Too much! I’ve learned a huge amount about the tech and start-up world and the online media revolution. There’s a lot to learn when working for a start-up, from setting up the business, to the accounting, to doing the PR, to managing the social media networks. I’ve also been blogging for the first time ever. The opportunity I’ve got is great, and I think I’ve also learned that I could never work within the confines of my previous situation, doing banking in the corporate world.

Liz: What is your idea of happiness?

Mikey: At the moment, a lot of my happiness comes from having the flexibility to work in my own time, doing something that I believe in. And from not having people telling me what hours to work and when I can take my holidays and what work I have to do. I like having the independence.

Liz: What do you consider your greatest achievement?

Mikey: If Esc. does well in the US then I think that will be my greatest achievement. If we can get the US to 30k members in a year’s time then I’ll feel that I’ve really done something worthwhile.

Liz: What do you most dislike?

Mikey: I hate Marmite.

Liz: What’s your motto?

Mikey: Don’t be boring!

Liz: Lastly, what is your favorite word?

Mikey: syzygy.

Liz: What does that mean?

Mikey: I really don’t know.

Calling all graduates: We don’t need another accidental lawyer…

Team Esc — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 08:36:37 +0000

This is a call-to-action for anyone who has just graduated or is about to graduate and is wondering where to start their career.

Please do two things: 1) read this post and 2) check out the year-long New Entrepreneurs Foundation placement. It’s pretty incredible.

Where to start?

Of course you can go the graduate job route. It’s a great option: training, exposure, cash and a solid introduction to the working world.

Definite value there as long as you are clear what you are getting out of the experience and don’t get stuck / start wondering why you’re there.

Please, please don’t do a law conversion course just because you want to prolong your student life or you don’t know what else to do and it feels like a safe option.

Does the world really need another accidental lawyer? Surely it needs lawyers who really want to be lawyers!

An alternative?

You could stop waiting for permission and do it yourself.

It is far too easy to fall into the trap of thinking you need to keep amassing experience, credentials, and qualifications in order to finally ‘do your own thing’.

It’s not that all that stuff isn’t useful. It’s just that it’s not absolutely necessary.

I’m losing track of the amount of people we’ve met who never had a graduate job and have started impressive businesses straight out of uni:

Will founded Keystone Tutors – check out his interview
Tom founded Giveacar – was on BBC news the other day
Ric founded Hoodeasy at uni - check out his interview
The guys at Yearbook Machine are killing it
Raj started enternships.com – check out his interview
The list goes on… but I’ve got to get back to work!

How many of the CEO’s of the FTSE 500 have MBAs? Fewer than you would imagine. Some of the most impressive are uni drop-outs.

Certainly lots of successful entrepreneurs didn’t wait till they were 30 to start their own businesses. You have a whole different set of priorities by then.

The older you get, the less likely you are to ‘start up’

The best time to embark on the roller-coaster that is a start-up is in your 20s when you can take the punishment and have less to lose.

“Till recently graduating seniors had two choices: get a job or go to grad school. I think there will increasingly be a third option: to start your own startup. But how common will that be?”

http://paulgraham.com/mit.html

You can’t underestimate the power of being blissfully naive and charging at a problem you want to solve.

Bored of hearing excuses

Not enough experience
Not enough money
Not enough contacts
….

They all feel like valid reasons if you want them to be. Or you can just call them by another name – excuses – and get on with it.

You’ll learn more in a month of starting and running your own business than you will in a year on a graduate training scheme.

Trust us.

———————————————

And with the scheme the New Entrepreneurs Foundation are offering you now have even fewer excuses:

“In order to prosper in the 21st Century, Britain needs to develop and build new knowledge-based industries covering a wide range of sectors. The aim of the New Entrepreneurs Foundation is the creation of a new generation of outstanding entrepreneurs who will play a key role in driving Britain’s future prosperity and create new market leaders.

The Foundation has been set up to create year-long placements for 25 of the UK’s brightest, entrepreneurially minded graduates from a range of backgrounds with leading entrepreneurs.”

http://www.escapethecity.org/opportunities/32911/The-New-Entrepreneurs-Foundation

No related posts.

How to get an internship with Esc

Team Esc — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 16:06:24 +0000

Freya sent us an email back in February (you can read it below) asking whether she could come and help us out for a few weeks. She said that helping us out for free was hugely preferable to spending her days watching daytime TV and searching boring job sites. So we offered her a 4-week work experience aimed at a mutual exchange of value…

She helps us with hunting for exciting opportunities (which she would have been doing at home anyway), profiling inspirational people (esc heroes) and various other campaigns and projects that we’re running. In exchange we put together a 20-day learning programme (name to be confirmed – that’s Freya’s responsibility) which involves lots of reading, workshopping, drinking tea and discussing stuff that we wish we had known back when we graduated.

The objective at the end of the Esc-perience (did I just write that?) is for her to have a much clearer idea of what she is looking for and how to actually get it. So we’re working on everything from CVs and cover letters to target companies, introductions and networking, and plans for getting her foot in the door.

Thanks very much for all your help Freya. It has been a lot of fun so far!

Yet Another Lost Soul…

“Hello there,

After a brief flirtation with Farringdon, I found myself on your website.

Now, I realise I get no points for originality with that remark, however seeing as you assume the following of all damsels in distress:

“If you’re reading this, you’re presumably a successful professional. You’ve paid your dues, worked hard and developed some great skills and experiences.”

I may have an ‘in’ after all….. I am 23, graduated in May last year with a First in Arabic and French, and worked for a language service provider in their interpreting dept for 3 months before realising it wasn’t for me. (as you can see I haven’t exactly paid my dues yet!!)

Although there is no doubt that the sensible thing to do would have been to stick it out and sniff out other more exciting opportunities whilst still earning to avoid the shamefaced return to the nest, I let my heart rule my head and handed in my notice. oops

After 2 days at home I feel…

Stuck – you know that this is not the right work for you, yet it’s hard to figure out what is right

Frustrated – you have great skills and experience but can’t see how to apply them to a role you’d enjoy

(extracts from esc site)

So… tick, tick there.

I have always been an uncompromising idealist, who needs to believe wholeheartedly in what i’m doing to show my full potential, and so your website is a breath of fresh air.

Ideally I would like to be busy, using my languages and making a worthwhile contribution in a dynamic team…well I did say I was an idealist!

Any advice or direction you could muster would be very much appreciated, until then I’ll try to stay off the day time tv.

All the best,

Freya Griffiths”

Meet Escape the City’s favourite new intern

That’s pretty much how it all started… The next week I came in to meet Dom and Rob. My brother told me not to wear…well pretty much anything in my existing wardrobe and “to try and seem normal” – taking that advice firmly on board I turned up in a bright purple artist’s smock, colourful leggings, wearing a single feather earring…’no point trying to be something you’re not’, I thought.

The Monday after, I reported for my first day of duty as ‘the esc intern.’ I just realised after days/weeks of staring at ‘exciting’ job opportunities on sites like Reed and totaljobs that I was never going to find my dream job sat at home waiting for it to drop into my inbox! I had to make my own luck. So having heard about esc from my older brother, I decided to email them to see if there was any way that I could be an escapee without being trapped in the first place. It would be nice to leave that stage out all together wouldn’t it?!

Working with Dom and Rob has really given me the kick up the backside I needed. It has shown me that there ARE people out there doing something different, something they love and making a success of it. I’m not going to pretend that I have any idea what I am going to do next, but for the first time since graduating I feel excited and positive about the journey!! (The parents are still having some trouble sleeping though! Sorry Mum and Dad )

No related posts.

No prizes for guessing why we like this book…

Team Esc — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 10:35:48 +0000

… when it starts like this:

Everybody needs an Evil Plan.

Everybody needs that crazy, out-there idea that allows them to actually start doing something they love, doing something that matters. Everybody needs an Evil Plan that gets them the hell out of the rate race, away from lousy bosses, away from boring, dead-end jobs that they hate. Life is short.

Every person who ever managed to do this, every person who managed to escape the cubicle farm and start doing something interesting and meaningful, started off with their own Evil Plan. And yeah, pretty much everyone around them – friends, family, colleagues – thought they were nuts.

Thanks to the Internet, it has never been easier to have an Evil Plan, to make a great living, doing what you love, doing something that matters…

More…

Read the book: Evil Plans: Having Fun on the Road to World Domination
Check out: www.gapingvoid.com

If You Always Do What You’ve Always Done

Team Esc — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 17:06:43 +0000

Received this week from Steve Blethyn, Mountaineer, Wilderness Medic, Esc Hero, and all round legend:

“I can’t take the credit for these wise words but I saw them on a wall at a school I was at today and thought they were worth sharing…”

If You Always Do What You’ve Always Done
You Will Always Get What You’ve Always Got
If What You Get Isn’t What You Want
DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT!!

Thanks Steve.

All these people are willing to help you…

Team Esc — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 15:23:43 +0000

I just spent a few hours putting a back-log of Esc hero interviews live. Reading these profiles is one of the best bits of running Esc. I’m constantly impressed and inspired by what people are getting up to.

The final question on every Esc Hero profile is:

“Is there any particular way you could help Escape the City members?”

It is absolutely mind-boggling how generous people are prepared to be with their time. We have over 200 stories on Escape the City and most of them are contactable and willing to help. WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!

This is just a selection:

Circumnavigating the Atlantic Ocean

“We are always happy to talk to anyone embarking on a similar endeavour.”

Atlantic Rising - http://www.escapethecity.org/heroes/28588/

Wavehunters – a surfing lifestyle company

“We have lots and lots of contacts in our industry so come to Cornwall for surf and a beer and we will chat it through………. (or just drop us an email andycameron@wavehunters.co.uk)”

Andy Cameron - http://www.escapethecity.org/heroes/29318/

Taking a different route: rafting.co.uk

“Anyone wants to chat over setting up or puchasing a business I am more than happy to as I have started 3 and purchased 3 so starting to get to grips with it. Also happy to advise help anyone get into the adventure travel and activity business if that is their interest.”

Peter Syme - http://www.escapethecity.org/heroes/29442/

The founding story of READ International

“I’m a keen networker, connector, and coffee addict – so if anyone buys me a coffee I’m always happy to have a quick chat.”

Rob Wilson - http://www.escapethecity.org/heroes/29755/

Miss Jones: The PA’s personal assistant!

I am more than happy to help with the following:

Advice on starting your own business
Watch out for the pitfalls
Mentoring

Henrietta MacEwen - http://www.escapethecity.org/heroes/29868/

The story behind www.winebird.co.uk

“Yes. I can enhance their lives by teaching them the REAL basics of wine language! Seriously though, I’m a never-give-up-on-your-dream and life-is-too-short kind of girl. If anyone needs that extra push to remember why, I’m here to chat.”

Helena Nicklin - http://www.escapethecity.org/heroes/26804/

From Linklaters & UBS > Moolis restaurant

“Counselling! and feeding them the most exciting new food.”

Mathew Chandy - http://www.escapethecity.org/heroes/28763/

Lawyer turned CBBC assistant script editor

I’d just say don’t be afraid to email anyone you can find who works in the media! Media is all about the networking, and I’ve been surprised at how willing people have been to meet up and chat to me about their experiences, usually because they’ve been in the same position I was once and understand what you’re going through.

Deanne Cunningham - http://www.escapethecity.org/heroes/29731/

On starting ‘Open Society’

“There are lots of ways we can help people wanting to develop skills, expand their network, build contacts and start enterprises and projects of their own – just by signing up for free I am sure there will be something for everyone.”

Annie Broadbent - http://www.escapethecity.org/heroes/27046/

www.ex-citygirl.blogspot.com

“I think the best way I can be of help is mentoring people through the process of change and being someone to talk to about their hopes and fears for the future. I understand that changing your life drastically is a scary thing and sometimes you don’t feel that the people closest to you will understand. So if you need to off-load or talk about your ideas or your fears of leaving a life you know with anyone then I’m happy to listen, to brain-storm and to share ideas with you or just talk about the process of leaping into the unknown. I write my blog to help me sort through my thoughts and ideas and to document the steps I’m taking to change my life. Hopefully it will also give other people the sense that they can do so too.

“Finally, I’m open to lots of different potential careers and have a few ideas floating around in my head for start-up businesses. So if you want to share ideas, brain-storm or are looking for a business partner then do get in touch!”

Olivia Yacoub - http://www.escapethecity.org/heroes/14207/

Freelance personal trainer in SW London

People who go out to inspire others through sport are often ex-gold medalists or have some high profile link to the sporting world. I am a very average person with a slightly different outlook on life and sometimes, this in itself is nice to see.

If I do inspire you, the chances are, I can train you as well.

Richard Hume - http://www.escapethecity.org/heroes/27479/

My social enterprise adventure travel website

Our travel ambassador program gives people a way to earn a bit of extra cash on the road, build some new skills, meet people and explore places in a new light.

Other than that, always delighted to connect with people and share ideas, experiences and hopefully provide some sensible advice now and then (especially when it comes to taking some time out and exploring the world).

Alex Narracott - http://www.escapethecity.org/heroes/27593/

Ex-recruiter running a specialist oak business

I am looking to expand the business and would be happy to consider employing someone who may have generic business skills but not necessarily oak framing experience (as this was the situation i was in). in time, i would also like to offer apprenticeships to people looking to break into the industry.

Oli Guthrie - http://www.escapethecity.org/heroes/28832/

The story of an accidental entrepreneur

I love love love connecting with new people! If you’re in the Chicago-land area, come to an event. If you’re far away, reach out. I am constantly amazed by how generous and supportive people are, even if complete strangers.

I also love collaborating, referring awesomeness to my network, and cross-promotion – if you’re a part of awesomeness and think there’s potential for us to smush goodness, reach out. For whatever reason, people in my expansive network listen to my suggestions. So if you have a service, job opening, event that warrants spreading the word…

I know a lot of Brits are a part of the ESC community [you guys are so lucky to have this in your backyard!]. It’s a dream of mine to bring Mac ‘n Cheese events to Great Britain [my 2008 New Year's Resolution was to be more British, whatever that means], probably starting with London. If that happens, hopefully I can help you grow your community in person!

Saya Hillman - http://www.escapethecity.org/heroes/12772/

————————————————-

What are you waiting for? There are people out there who will help you if you ask!

Photo credit: www.gapingvoid.com

Reasons Why Not

Team Esc — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 16:26:13 +0000

If we had listened to the ‘Reasons why not’ we probably wouldn’t be here at all.

‘Reasons why not’ are an idea’s worst enemy…

‘Reasons why not’ are why so many people stay in jobs that don’t fulfill them and don’t take big decisions to start things.

We’re all really good at persuading ourselves why we shouldn’t do things.

WE ARE BORED OF HEARING REASONS WHY NOT.

There will always be reasons not to do things.

————————————————–

If there’s one thing we hope you take from the story behind Escape the City we hope it is this:

Once you take what other people deem to be a crazy decision and begin working towards it you’ll feel like the world is rewarding you. It’s not. You’re making these things happen… things that would never have happened if you hadn’t taken the first step.

————————————————–

“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favour all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.”

Introducing a new (very important) Esc team member

Team Esc — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 18:30:44 +0000

Escapees, I regret to tell you I’ve been putting this encounter off for a while. I suck at introductions.

So this post is going to be quick and short, exactly as I like my code…

I’m Ollie Judge, Escape The City’s new technical architect.

I’m a huge nerd. I love comics, Star Wars, video games, the works.

I create web experiences using Ruby On Rails, SQlite and a bit of CSS magic. If you don’t know what that means then just know this:

It’s going to be awesome.

Note from Rob & Dom: “Say hi everyone – Ollie is going to build us something amazing to help lots more people Esc. We are really excited to have him on board. Watch this space for a new and improved site coming later in 2011…”

Lessons from our speakers – SSYL

Team Esc — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 16:38:09 +0000

We got a really nice email from Lara Morgan on Thursday saying how much she enjoyed talking at our Esc winter party.

In true entrepreneur style she also had lots of ideas for how we could improve the evening for next time. One of them was to give everyone a print-out with lessons / takeaways from each speaker.

If you were at Guanabara on Wednesday you’ll know that Lara Morgan isn’t someone to quibble with. So… here they are… a few things Esc learnt from each speaker.

PS. Any suggestions for improvements or to add your own lessons please comment below.

A big thank you to our 4 speakers – really, really impressive stuff we thought.

Lara Morgan:

Lara talked about setting up Pacific Direct in her early 20′s, the challenges and excitements of growing it, and the eventual exit in 2008 for £20m.

The importance of brutal self-awareness: Know your weaknesses and seek skills that you don’t have.
No illusions: It is going to be tough. There will be difficult months (years even). And at some point or another your business is going to be tested in a way you couldn’t have anticipated. “Don’t be deluded, it is hard and there will be some hideous moments, but don’t ever give up. If you start something you love, you’ve got every chance of success.” Don’t give up.
Hold onto equity: Say no for as long as you can. EXIT on the right price and terms.
Ask for help: “If you ask you often get. If you don’t ask don’t expect.” Get out and network. Meet people. Talking with other people can be inspirational. Try to get a mentor (or several).
Stop fannying around: Stop making excuses for not doing something.
The importance of people: The power of those around you: find great people, treat them well. ”You need to do some dull stuff as your business grows, like appraisals, but actually they’re not that dull because if you do them the right way, with career development and reviews, your team will stay with you,”
Lead & motivate: Motivate your people with your big goal. “Leadership is the art of mobilising others to want to struggle for shared aspirations.”
Sell sell sell: Promise you can deliver then make sure you do. Cash remains king. Fake it – professionally.
Keep a scorecard, work with numbers: Measure the important stuff even thought it is boring.
Choose the life you wish to lead, plan it and make it happen

Zarine Kharas:

Zarine escaped the city herself. She founded Just Giving. She shared her story with us.

You CAN start your own business: Entrepreneurship is a profession and can be learnt. “It’s hard, challenging and immensely rewarding.
Persevere: It’s not going to happen overnight. You should persevere regardless of the set backs…
Slaughter sacred cows: Ignore conventional wisdom. Be brutally honest about what really needs to be done.
Be bold: Courage and boldness goes a long way. Be brave.
Leave your ego at the door: When you strike out on your own nobody cares who you are
Find great people: It’s important to be a people person – get the right team in place
Escape the city – sooner rather than later: Life is better when you’re working for something you really care about. Zarine used a couple of great phrases: “Corporate fugitives”. “Faceless conglomerates”.
Stop obsessing over killer ideas… instead look for opportunities. To be successful in business, it’s not necessary to have that “eureka moment”, you just have to be able to spot an opportunity.
Fundraising is soul-destroying
Do something good: Just Giving has shown that individual, real people can have an impact – so can you.

Al Humphreys:

Al left uni and cycled around the world. Determined not to waste this one, precious life Al has turned adventure into his profession. His message was simple: get out there and do stuff. Don’t waste your life.

It’s about time, not money – check out the Deathclock. Your time is infinitely more important than money so why fritter it away by plodding through a life that you don’t enjoy. Al quoted Dr Pepper: ‘what’s the worst that could happen?’
Set yourself a big scary goal and go and do it. Or don’t and waste your life.
Go micro – you don’t have to cycle around the world to have a micro-adventure. Al walked around the M25 and enjoyed it (mainly because it was miserable)
Anyone can do it - It’s not about being super-human
Say yes to stuff – exciting opportunities will come from saying yes to things. Al’s first journey sparked opportunity after opportunity, and he is now lucky enough to earn a living whilst travelling around the world.
What are you so afraid of? We are lucky to live in the decade and country we live in. Even if you’re not stinking rich you’re not going to starve / die if you quit your job.
Don’t over prepare – do it the Wikipedia way. Learn / figure it out as you go. You don’t have to know what the outcome will be before embarking on a voyage
Make a decision: What kind of life do you want to live? Now go and live it.
Most importantly. DO IT. Get out of your own way. Think to yourself “what’s the the worst that will happen?”. You will often find it’s not as bad as you’re making it out to be.

Ed Stafford:

Ed walked the length of the Amazon River. It took him over 800 days. Everyone said he would die. He didn’t.

Take inspiration: when in moments of doubt imagine someone you really respect looking over your shoulder saying ‘come on’.
Do it with the right people: Have a partner in crime to tell you when you’re being a wimp lying on the road naked 50 km from your goal.
You will find help everywhere: People will help you anywhere in the world – even if at first they look like they want to kill you.
Everyone will tell you you’re mad: and although your close friends and family will encourage you – they haven’t got a bloody clue what it will take!
Have a cause / do good: even if the original impulse is to do it for yourself.
We’re all really lucky: no matter how tough you think your lot is, there will always be people who are worse off. Ed told us about the guy who walked with him for a few weeks whose mother had been murdered the week before. We should remember how lucky we are.

Start Something You Love – speaker slides

Team Esc — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 11:31:58 +0000

Wow, somehow it is is 24th January already. The holidays seem like a distant memory and if you’re anything like us you’re busy making lots of plans for the rest of the year: bank holidays, micro adventures (TM Al Humphreys), etc.

We have neglected the blog so far in 2011. This is mainly because we were focusing on our big Escape winter party on Wednesday evening. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. We’ve received some great feedback which is nice (see below)

We’ve got a full write-up of the party coming later today (as well as an update on what we’ve got planned for 2011 and a look back at 2010).

Before we do that we just wanted to share the following presentations with you. The speakers were really pretty amazing on Wednesday evening – each of them delivering a powerful and proactive message to the rest of us.

Oh and some reviews to check out in the meantime:

Speaker slides

Lara Morgan

Lara Morgan is an entrepreneurial CEO and part owner of Pacific Direct. She started the company as a sole trader back in 1991, and sold a majority share holding of the company for £20 million in 2008.

Slides here.

Zarine Kharas

Zarine Kharas is no stranger to Escaping the City. After a career in Law and the City, Zarine Kharas’ great entrepreneurial idea was to form a company that makes it possible to donate to thousands of charities over the internet:

Slides here.

Ed Stafford

Ed Stafford has just become the first known man to walk the length of the Amazon river in South America from the source to the sea. No-one had ever attempted it before and everyone said that it couldn’t be done.

Slides here.

Al Humphreys

Al Humphreys is an adventurer, author, speaker and photographer. When he graduated he cycled solo around the world on his hoarded student loans. It took him 4 years. He is now a full-time adventurer.

Slides here.

Until one is committed…

Team Esc — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 18:13:36 +0000

“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.”

William Hutchinson Murray (1913-1996), from his 1951 book entitled The Scottish Himalayan Expedition.

Our Story #3 – Eureka!

Team Esc — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 12:35:10 +0000

This is the third in a series of blog posts which track the story behind Escape the City from the original idea through to what we’ve built today.

This instalment covers – June 2009 – when we read something that showed us how to turn the beginnings of an idea into a workable reality.

Eureka moments…

We spent a lot of time in pubs after work, on the grass by Tower Bridge during our lunch breaks, and (on the odd occasion) in meeting rooms at work feverishly scribbling ideas on scraps of paper.

This was a really exciting time for us as we were learning so much about the world we were about to enter. The more we learnt, the more we understood about what we could potentially build.

From our point of view there’s nothing more powerful than watching relevant videos and reading interesting articles with your own idea in the back of your head.

We were casting our net really wide in order to refine all our different thoughts into a viable plan. Every time we read a little nugget that was relevant to our idea we would send it to each other (or log it in a spreadsheet!).

We were constantly having lots of exciting little eureka moments. Tiny in the scale of things, but significant enough for us to start building some real momentum.

Our bible?!

Then, in June 2009, we both read Tribes by Seth Godin. The book is about a pretty simple concept: that anyone with an idea and the energy to make something happen has all the tools they need to assemble a group of people around their concept.

The message resonated on two main levels:

It validated what we personally were doing (i.e. quitting our jobs to work on something that we’re passionate about)
It showed us HOW to go about building what we wanted to build (i.e. from a practical perspective: how might Esc work?)

It’s not a ‘how-to’ book – it’s quite high-level and relatively anecdotal – but it really worked for us.

We realised that the two of us wouldn’t have the power to sell ‘just an idea’ to exciting organisations (our target clients). However, Tribes showed us that the influence provided by thousands of talented professionals using our site (i.e. our tribe members) would give us the credibility and authority to be listened to by our target organisations (and, through doing so, get the entire concept working properly to help our members escape!).

It was a real penny-drop moment for us. We weren’t going to build a business… we were going to build a tribe, a community, a movement.

This felt like a far more authentic way to approach the challenge that we had set ourselves (i.e. how to help thousands of people working in unfulfilling corporate jobs to find something more exciting?) and really gave us the confidence to begin thinking about taking some serious forward steps.

Taking it to the next level…

By mid-June Dom had set off on his Yukon Canoe adventure and his parting shot was: ‘I dare you to have resigned by the time I get back’.

Not known for making careful decisions, Rob duly handed in his resignation. He actually had another plan back in summer 2009 and that was to do a Masters in Oenology (wine-making) in Adelaide, Australia. So his resignation wasn’t quite as brave as all that.

It was only later, when the Esc blog was taking off, that the Australia plan was retired and we both committed 100% to building a business around this concept.

So, despite not knowing it at the time, we were escalating (like the pun?) our commitment month-on-month… building a base that was going to be the beginning of quite a rollercoaster for us over the coming months (and years).

Chicken and egg

As we began to get our heads around what we were going to build, we realised that it would be chicken and egg: you can’t build a proper business until you have a tribe… but how to attract the tribe in the first place?!

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The story so far:

Our Next Esc Wednesday: 12th Jan

Team Esc — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 12:03:12 +0000

Hello everyone – we’re looking ahead to next year and are planning the first of our 2011 Esc Wednesdays: A free introduction to our exciting Escape Coaching programme.

We are now at capacity – please email team@escapethecity.org if you want to attend.

Escape Coaching – an introduction

As you may know, we have built a coaching programme specifically for Escape the City members [click here to check out Escape Coaching].

Phil and Susie (our escape coaches) are going to be running a free introduction to the coaching programme and a Q&A as well.

We are now at capacity – please email team@escapethecity.org if you want to attend.

We’ll update this post with more information when we finalise the plan for the evening.

Details…

Click here to read our “What is an Esc Wednesday” page so you know what to expect and to see whether you would like to attend.

Wednesday 12th January, bar open from 6.00 pm, 7.30 pm start. Private bar above The Yorkshire Grey pub – London, WC1X 8PN.

The Escape Committee

Team Esc — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 10:34:37 +0000

Something remarkable is happening in a room in a famous old club in WC2, London.

Six highly skilled corporate professionals are gathered round a table plotting their Escapes.

Each member is committed to their plan – to “Do Something Different”. They’re ready, willing and able to create a new and exciting career path.

How does it work?

The group is supported by two experienced coaches – they’ve made their own Escapes and are on a mission to help others follow suit.

Every step of the way, the Escapees are guided in finding out what makes them tick, exploring the possibilities and setting challenging and exciting goals.

As the momentum builds with each meeting each member develops the confidence to make the plan into a reality. They have everything they need to change their life and find work they love.

After the last session, the group stays in contact with each other the coaches and Escape the City to share their successes – and fill out their Escape Hero story.

Are you ready?

We’re looking for the next Escape Committee members.

This is for Escape Members who are serious about doing something different.

Places are limited and filling up quickly, so if you think you’d be a good candidate, please click here to send us a message and register your interest.

We’ll get in touch to schedule a short introductory call to see if the Escape Committee would be a good fit for you.

What others think…

The Escape Committee is a powerful new way to plan and execute a career change.

The Escape Coaches, Phil and Susie deliver career workshops for many organizations including Teach First, LSE, The Foreign Office, Credit Suisse and Deloitte.

We’re on a mission to get people doing work they find fulfilling and meaningful.

Here is some recent feedback from our workshops:

“We worked on individual visions for careers and discussed strategies to pursue them. It has given me confidence. Brilliant your enthusiasm shines through”

“Feel very confident now and understand what I don’t want to do and why – developed a strategy to find a job in Ethiopia”

“Loved hearing others peoples experiences and drawing on their knowledge”

“Energizing, refreshing, confident and clear, interested in the individual. Very hands on - great. Lots of input and all very relevant.”

If you you’d be interested in taking part in the next Escape Committee, click here to get in touch and we’ll talk.

To find out more details about the Escape Committee, click here.

Or just email us directly: coaching[@]escapethecity.org

Looking for a band…

Team Esc — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 14:25:07 +0000

Hi everyone,

We’ve got our big Escape winter party coming up in January and we’re looking for a band. The evening is called ‘Start Something You Love’ – click here to see what we’ve got planned.

Last year we were chuffed to have The Correspondents play a live gig (which they rocked) and we’re looking for a similarly energetic live act to play this year. Anything similar would be amazing.

Please email team[@]escapethecity.org with any suggestions / introductions…

Thanks!

The details:

600 people in Guanabara Bar, Central London
An hour long set from about 10 pm
All sound equipment is provided but they can obviously bring their own kit

Free tickets to The Adventurists Xmas Party – next week, London

Team Esc — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 21:05:57 +0000

The Adventurists are to travel what Escape the City wants to be to careers. Their motto says it all: FIGHTING TO MAKE THE WORLD LESS BORING.

They’re kind and generous and have always been great supporters of our cause. They’ve now gone as far as giving Escape the City 10 free tickets to their London Christmas Party next Friday (10th December).

Read on to find out how to nab your free Esc Member’s ticket …

The line-up

The 2010 Christmas party is going to take place on Friday December 10 2010, between the twilight hours of 9 pm and 3 am, at the most marvellous Islington Metalworks in London Town.

The Metalworks will be transformed into a three-room steampunk universe with a blistering array of wonderments for your delectation. We’ve got Geordie-powered balkanicity from festival foot-stompers The Baghdaddies, psychedelic electronica from Wobbly Squadron, eclectic tunes from an array of disc jockeys and multifarious dancers, performers and oddities from Lillywhitesass and Sonic Sideshow.

Full details here

To win your free ticket…

All you have to do is the following:

Click onto The Adventurists Facebook page (Pls ‘like’ them, only polite)
Post a really bad Xmas cracker joke (If possible with an Adventure twang)
Get 3 ‘Likes’ on your joke (Yes, your ‘like’ counts if you’re really unpopular)
Email me – rob@escapethecity.org – to tell me your triumph (and your name)

The first 10 people to successfully negotiate this dastardly obstacle course will receive their £12 ticket for free and access to the hottest Xmas party in town (on perhaps the coldest winter in living memory!).

Team Esc hopes to be there on the night too – so come and say hi.

In other news…

If you can’t make next Friday but you love adventures, you love films, and you love parties… you’ll definitely love The Adventurists 2011 Film Festival on Saturday 9th April 2011.

“A showcase of the very best scare-yourself-stupid adventures caught on camera plus talks, prizes and other good stuff.”

You’re even invited to submit your own: “Three minute wonder, self-filmed seat of your pants or Adventurists teams – everyone can enter the festival with their glorious filmic mayhem…”

Check it out…

10 things we learnt from Keystone Tutors at last night’s Esc Wednesday

Team Esc — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 19:20:33 +0000

Last night about 30 escapees braved the cold to make it to the private bar above The Yorkshire Grey. It was the second Esc Wednesday since we put them on hold to concentrate on the website over the summer and it was a lot of fun.

This is a quick summary of what we learnt…

Firstly, a big thank you…

Our special guests were Josh Pull and Will Orr-Ewing: the entrepreneurial duo behind Keystone Tutors – a London-based school-facing tutoring company.

We just wanted to say a big thank you to both of them for sharing their time and experiences with the crowd.

Josh reeling out a gem - Will looking concerned!

10 things we learned last night…

1. Plans don’t always work out – but taking a leap opens other doors.

You might not necessarily end up doing what you thought you were going to do when you resigned from your job.

Josh’s resignation double plan involved: building up DysTalk into a profitable business and going to business school in the States. He now co-owns and runs Keystone with Will.

2. Not all businesses need to be based on original ideas.

Keystone Tutors isn’t the first tutoring agency in London. Chalkboard Learning isn’t the first online learning platform. It’s often about taking an existing model and tweaking it, improving it, and building your own niche within it.

Obviously it’s also nice to be the dude who came up with the idea for GroupOn.

3. The myth of the ideas-led entrepreneur

Following on from that, Will mentioned how he thinks that it’s a myth that starting a business is about ideas.

He explained how start-ups (and all businesses for that matter) need rigour, analytical thinkers, process gurus, numbers-focused people, etc, etc. At which point Josh reiterated the importance of things like reporting, forecasting, and budgeting!

4. Good business partners have complementary skills

We also learnt that having different strengths and areas of experience is just what a small business needs. Divvying up responsibilities within the team is essential if things are going to run smoothly as you grow.

5. In the early days you do everything

Will regaled us with some amusing images of him cycling from tutorial to tutorial with a big bag of tutoring brochures which he slotted through big West London houses en route.

Director of Marketing, Head Tutor, CEO, and (lousy by the sounds of it) Accountant all rolled into one.

It sounded like once your business model is proven and demand starts increasing is the time to put systems and processes in place. Before that it’s just about getting it all working (the thing that people pay you for – not all the nice house-keeping stuff that goes on behind that).

Now that they have Josh on board Will can afford to buy a three-piece suit which he wears it whilst roaming around London – thinking great thoughts.

6. Their marketing budget is £0

We learnt that more and more businesses (businesses that can afford it) don’t seem to be spending money on marketing. Instead, like Keystone, they reinvest it in their product, their systems, and their software.

The best way for people to spread the word about your business is by delivering an amazing service that people talk about.

7. Education is ripe for disruption

We learnt that there are masses of opportunities for progressive businesses to improve and evolve education. But… it’s quite a conservative sector, so be prepared for resistance to change (which isn’t always a bad thing in education according to Will).

We also learnt that the internet is a huge opportunity for businesses in any sector. You can start a business today with very little money. The internet has eliminated barriers to entry in so many areas.

8. Good ideas don’t come at your screen

The guys stressed how important it was to separate working ‘in’ your business from working ‘on’ it. I.e. you’ll never be able to think about the future of your business – the strategy, vision and purpose – if you’re running around like a blue-arsed fly cranking the pump.

They mentioned their Team Strategy meetings which sit loyally in the Google Calendar on a repeating weekly basis and are yet to actually have taken place.

9. Balancing profit with doing good is good

We learnt that although Keystone serves an affluent section of the tutoring market, they are also socially minded and want to build something that helps more than just a select proportion of the population.

What was great to hear is how Josh & Will are using the profits from that business to develop innovative education products that are accessible to a lot more people. They also use their tutor base to provide pro bono tutoring for less privileged students.

10. Esc Wednesdays can be a bit like the AA

And finally we learnt that if you stand up to ask a question at an Esc Wednesday and announce that you resigned the day before you’ll get a round of applause.

Despite the AA undertones it was a great moment, especially because the person in question had met his new business partner via Escape the City. Good luck to Toby and Carbon Census – their carbon footprint, energy conservation start-up.

What have we missed?

Did you come to the Esc Wed?
What have I forgotten?
What did you get from it?

We also learnt that if you get a bunch of likeminded people in a room, feed them beer, and provide an atmosphere conducive to chatting exciting connections will happen and great fun will be had by all.

Thanks to everyone who came. We’re already looking forward to the next one!

Friday Update: Focus, focus, focus!

Team Esc — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 13:43:58 +0000

In the spirit of using this blog to track the story behind Escape the City and share what we’re working on I thought it would be a good idea to post a bit of an update…

Dom is a stickler for focus and it is serving us well. If it weren’t for him we would probably be flying at dozens of different projects and running in circles.

So, every Monday morning after sending the newsletter we have a fry-up, brew a huge pot of tea, and use our big Escape dashboard (see pic below) to work out our plan for the week driven off our 4 priority areas (Platform, Content, Growth, Business – that’s for another blog post).

A wise man once said: ‘true priorities are like arms; if you think you have more than a couple, you’re either lying or crazy.”

We try to have no more than 3 main priorities for the week (I know, one more than we should). And this week it was…

1. Escape opportunities

The lifeblood of Escape the City is exciting escape opportunities. You can have all the inspiration and advice you like – but without that tangible plan / position you’re stuck.

Now that we have built up a bit of gravity we get quite a lot of phone calls and emails from organisations with fun and challenging alternatives to unfulfilling corporate jobs.

Sometimes the position won’t really fit the bill and we’ll have to turn them away (too corporate, not enough of an escape, etc) but more often than not we’re thrilled to have the chance to connect an exciting organisation with our members.

In the past month we’ve spoken to Google, Virgin, Playfish, Cancer Research UK, and Camfed – amongst many others – about them using our site to help you lot escape from unfulfilling ‘city’ jobs in order to find something more interesting.

2. A big party

We seem to have forgotten how stressful it was pulling off a 700-person party (or perhaps remembered how fun it was!) and we’re going to do it again in January.

Everyone loves a party and parties with a purpose are best of all (OK, I stole that line). Anyway, the focus for this week was to get the venue sorted and invite some inspirational speakers / special guests.

We’ve got some great high profile speakers lined up so watch this space for an announcement as to who they are and what we’ve got planned.

All we’re saying for now is SAVE THE DATE: Wednesday evening – 26th January. Central London. It’s going to be a lot of fun!

3. Finding a Tech superstar

The third and final focus for the week was to find our mythical third team member. We need someone to help us make all our exciting ideas a reality on your screen.

I can’t exaggerate how much fun it is going to be to have a programmer on the team (now I’m sounding like a real geek). We’ve had so many great suggestions (and here) and our own thinking for the Esc vision has evolved hugely this year.

We’re really looking forward to taking the hand-brake off and building something that can help more people, more effectively.

So we spoke to a whole load of interesting people this week and are hoping that we’ve found our man (not being sexist, just didn’t receive any female applications). You can see our job description here.

And (of course) we worked on a whole lot of other stuff too…

Planning another Esc Wednesday (next week) – come along
Promoting Em’s campaign to win Paradise Hunter – please vote for her
Recovering from SpringWise effect (flooded inboxes – popular site!) – our piece
Launched a Questionnaire to learn more about what you want – please take it
Update with Esc Coaches on the first ppl using the service – Coaching
Thrilled to be partnering with The Adventurists for their film festival – here
And probably lots of other things too but I can’t remember them right now…

Have a great weekend!

Want to travel the world for your job?!

Team Esc — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 17:04:01 +0000

Hi everyone – please get behind Em’s campaign to be 2011′s Paradise Hunter. She’s the only Brit in the final 40 and probably has more energy than the other 39 contestants put together. Please jump on and take 3 seconds out of your day to give her a vote. Thanks! Dom & Rob – VOTE HERE

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OK so that headline is unfair – Sorry. I definitely do want to travel the world for my job. However so do thousands of other people, which is why I am ridiculously excited to have made it to the final 40 of the Paradise Hunter Travel TV Show Host Search Competition.

Wow, that is quite a mouthful but who cares when the winner gets paid $60,000 USD to travel the world, hosting a show to find their version of paradise. I know it sounds too good to be true but it gets better; once you’ve found your paradise, you are given a property of up to $150,000 in that country as well. Literally just writing down what I could potentially win makes me jump up and down.

On the 1st January 2009, I decided that I would quit my job as a financial headhunter to chase my dream of becoming the next Holly Willoughby, Fearne Cotton, Dermott O’Leary. You get the picture and here I am nearly two incredible years later, getting closer and closer to landing the dream job.

Since quitting my job, I have presented for a ski channel, scrubbed toilets, handed out flyers, been a nanny, worshipped the Escape the City boys (if you don’t know who they are, you should be ashamed) and lived out in Cape Town for a year presenting and organising a 31 day music festival over the World Cup.

I am now back, jobless and penniless but have really found the most incredible job I have ever seen and getting people to vote is how I am going to make the top 10. So please please please help me avoid going back into the world of desks and paper and vote for me to host 2011′s Paradise Hunter show.

I will pack everyone in my suitcase to say thank you. Literally.

xxx

You can vote for me here…

A great call to action

Team Esc — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 18:45:41 +0000

This is the Holstee Manifesto. It is a great call to action to Stop dreaming and Start planning. In fact, Stop Planning and Start Doing. Get out there and make something happen.