A huge thank to you to Lev Wood from Secret Compass for a really fantastic talk and Q&A at last week’s Esc Wednesday. Secret Compass is an expeditionary service that provides adventures in some of the most remote and undiscovered locations in the world. Lev gave us all a great insight into his extreme travel experiences and [...]
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As some of you will know, Dom and Rob are escaping to New York for the autumn to help launch the US edition of Escape the City. Before we go we’re excited to be invited to speak at an upcoming TOMAX talk in central London and thought it would be a good opportunity to have a [...]
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The dream of upping sticks and taking off to a far-away land that basks in year round sunshine and sets nerve-endings tinkling with the promise of the marvellous unknown is nothing new. As far as top destinations go, Latin America has long been a star player, but as the world’s economic markets continue to shudder [...]
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Seth Godin has been an incredible inspiration to us. This extract from Poke The Box is a great one for anyone who wants to start doing something they love, but needs a kick up the ass. We’ve all been stuck in the situation where you coast along, unsure of what direction to take. Before EscapeTheCity I [...]
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Its not that often that you read a book that is more than just inspirational. We are constantly digesting books, and Jonathan Fields will not just inspire, but give you practical advice on turning your passion into a genuine living. He will open your mind, change your perspective, and give you the kick you need [...]
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This is the fourth in a series of blog posts which track the building of Escape the City from the original idea through to what we’ve built today. This instalment covers August 2009 – when we realised that the best way to see if our idea really had legs was to commit to getting it [...]
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Rich Rosser and Nick Patterson are a couple of ex-McKinsey strategy consultants who have started MoveMeOn.com (connecting successful professionals with the right headhunters in London). We love Rich & Nick’s story and can relate to them on multiple levels. Firstly they were both consultants and secondly they are building something to help people transition away from [...]
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Hello All! If you’re reading this then you are one of the lucky ones. This is our first US Newsletter and I am extremely proud to be the one introducing it to you. From now on I’ll be here to help. I did four years of banking before I decided I just couldn’t handle the [...]
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Last night I stayed up until 3am reading this book. It was fantastic, buy it and read it today. I liked it so much that I sent Derek an e-mail thanking him for writing it immediately after I finished it (at 3am). I actually got a very nice reply back. Its only a short one [...]
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Chris Guillebeau, author of The Art of Non-Conformity, is immensely popular. After reading his book, I see why! The Art of Non-Conformity, based on his online manifesto “A Brief Guide to World Domination“, encapsulates a philosophy that strikes a chord with many Escapees/wanna-be Escapees. Below, a few notes and exercises from this amazing book! NOTES [...]
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Those of you that were at our birthday party in January would have heard a 20-minute no-nonsense tour-de-force from Lara Morgan on starting a business. She has just published her first book – More Balls Than Most – and is celebrating with a ‘book blast’ (a collection of special offers for people who buy the [...]
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Sadly, my time as an intern with Escape the City is drawing to a close- that is, until they hit the jackpot and hire me as Chief Ethics Officer or Executive Party Planner or President of the Blog. For now, a few lessons I’ve learned in my time here about start-ups, being a marketable candidate [...]
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One of my favourite books by Jeff Jarvis will completely change the way you approach any idea. I really don’t do it justice so go and read it. Here are some points I took from it, please send me yours. 1. You need to make mistakes well. Actually make things that are half-baked, learn [...]
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Ed Stafford is many things; boring isn’t one of them. First of all, the man walked the length of the entire Amazon River in 860 days, despite the fact that several experts told him it was impossible. Second of all, Ed knows how to tell a story. At this week’s sold-out Escape Wednesday, Ed captivated [...]
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At the beginning of 2011 we started a campaign called Start Something You Love. We kicked it off on 19th January with our big Esc winter party in front of 600 people at Guanabara bar in central London. We are now following it up with 365 bits of advice from real people who are doing interesting and inspirational [...]
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1. We believe in having a mission, we will be successful if everyone in the team is genuinely excited about the problem we are solving. 2. We believe in building a purple cow (a business that is remarkable). Not just our mission but in terms of how we operate. 3. We believe happy people [...]
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There are lots of reasons (or excuses) people use to explain why they can’t start their own business. One of the main ones is money. This is closely followed by a lack of know-how. The objective of this post is to show you how many (often free) tools there are to help you start something [...]
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This week, I got to check out a start-up talk in London called ‘And then the world presents…Re-Boot and Start-Up’. The speakers included: Elizabeth Varley, the co-founder of Tech Hub (Mike Butcher is the other co-founder), the Silicon Roundabout incubator, and one of the Wired 100, Wired magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people [...]
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We’ve got a really exciting evening planned for August’s Esc Wednesday. WEDNESDAY 24th AUGUST - ADAM STREET CLUB. Bar: 6.30 pm | Talk: 7.30 pm Our special guest is Levison Wood. Lev is co-founder of the unique expedition service Secret Compass, a full time expedition leader, travel writer and photographer. Lev will be talking about his life [...]
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Something that Escape The City and Open Society have in common is that they both work to create an atmosphere of opportunity. Opportunity is the main motivator for young start-ups today. Some see an opportunity to change their life and escape their job. Others find an opportunity to meet a social problem with their business [...]
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