Let me tell you the secret of my success (and yes, I am a successful person and I'm not too shy to say it). It is simple, I have extraordinary good luck in my life. I seems that at every turn, I've been blessed. I was blessed with amazing parents, who gave me all the tools to succeed in life. My Dad, a WW2 bomber pilot from Australia drilled it into me that there is no such thing as 'you can't do it'. His mantra was that you look for your chance and you take it with both hands. In my professional career in IT I had the luckiest of breaks. I did a 10 week TOPS Computer operations course. The job I got at the end of it was with SPL International, a top UK software company. It was a briiant environment. All of the other people on the course got humdrum, regimented jobs in large companies operations departments. I got a job where I could do as I please, as long as the work was done. I also got the chance to get into a really lucrative area of IT where I worked as a freelance consultant for a nearly three decades, that enabled me to develop my studio business. The studio business? I was lucky enough to have a Dad who owned commercial property and rented me space and encouraged me to develop the business. My band? Heaven only know how I was so blessed to work with Fil Ross, Graham Ramsey and Tom Hammond in the False Dots (along with a whole bevvy of amazing former members). It certainly isn't because I am talented! We have a blast though.
As for my personal life. If I hadn't nipped up to the Three Hammers in December 1985 and bumped into a bunch of pretty girls and invited them to our gig there the following week, I wouldn't have a lovely missus and three brilliant kids. Pure luck and chance. But as I said above, there are two parts. My Dad said "look for your chance and take it with both hands". David Grant on BBC Radio London said a really insightful thing at the weekend. He said that you need luck to open the door, but it's hard work that gets you where you want to go. All of the things I've mentioned above come with a huge amount of hard work. When I joined SPL, everyone else my age was a graduate. I had to catch up. I knew nothing about computers. It took me two years grafting, working late, doing private study to catch them up. The studio? When we started to build it up, I was doing 10 hour days in IT, then going to the studio and doing building renovations until 2am some days. When we started, we had no cash so we recovered building materials from skips, stockpiling bricks and timber for the next project. We did the work ourselves. I am a reasonable bricklayer and a good decorator. My business partner Ernie Ferebee was a brilliant plasterer and carpenter. We got mates to do the electrics, in return for free sessions. I have spent Xmas Day building walls at the studio. IT was hard work, but it delivered results. The band? To play guitar in a band requires endless practice and you have to keep it fun to keep the band engaged. We have a mutual support network, which gets us through. As for the family. That has been great, but hard work as well. I am not perfect, neither is my wife. We have to work on it constantly. But it does work.
And my failures? Yes, I've had loads. Why? Usually because I got lazy and neglected things that were important. Taking your eye off the ball is the biggest mistake of all, but the second biggest mistake is to think you are successful because you are cleverer or better than other people. You have to be humble at all time and keep people onside. Listen to other people, especially those with more experience. You don't always have agree with them or follow their advice, but listen and weigh up what they have to say. So my advice is be lucky, work hard and be humble.
Here is one of the fruits of my hard work, that I am rather proud of. We all love a party, by The False Dots
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