Motorcycling - a risk taking behaviour

Taking risks is essential in small business. I believe that taking new opportunities even if they are outside your comfort zone, will normally end up with at lease learning something new and at best with increased growth for the business. Accepting new challenges and then working out how best to achieve them is how Gateway Media grew it's service offering.

This week I took the risk of taking my motorcycle to a track day and if you crash on the track your insurance is void. Luckily I didn't crash and I even got to have a go on a new Ducati Superbike for a test ride which was great. If I had done the clever thing it would have to not take the bike onto the track but where is the fun and experience gained in that? In the end me and my friends who are also track day novices all agree that it was one of the best days of our summer. See an opportunity, calculate the risks then have a crack at it, you won't be disappointed.

Here is a video I put together of my day taken from a few compact digital cameras that were filming (please note this was not produced by Gateway Media).

Greenscreen rebranding

QuackIT was an IT refurbishment social enterprise that I took management of in early 2008. It specialises in taking large stocks of outdated office hardware and selling it on or giving it to charity. To date I have sold over 200 units and given 100 units to Computer Aide International. My task was to initially sell the current stock we had and then to realign the business in light of the governments Waste Electronic and electrical equipment regulations. After carrying out research into WEEE through attending events and asking clients opinions on the legislation it became apparent that QuackIT could no longer operate in the same way.

Using our resource of apprentices and IT professionals we decided to offer an office moving service to smaller clients in line with and scrap the refurbishment service. I worked with a marketing professional called James Spake to rebrand the business with the aim of updating the brand image to reflect the environmental nature of the business. Greenscreen has now been born and will operate as a secondary business while we focus on Gateway Media. This is a clip of a few of the unwanted PC's going down a long drop at the local dump.

The Bus - Cleveland Estate iMedia Course

City Gateway (our parent charity) operate a Double Decker Hip Hop Bus used for outreach and engagement to NEET (Not in Employment, Education or Training) young people in Tower Hamlets. It comprises of a downstairs DJ and chill out area and an upstairs recording studio and teaching area. The Bus originated from Yorkshire 30 years ago and is made by Dennis, it has a 6.8 litre Mercedes engine, and was given to City Gateway and repainted in 2006. At the moment I am the only person trained to drive the Bus which makes for a random yet nice change from being in the office. We also use it as an enterprise tool for local events, during these commercial contracts the Bus is managed by Gateway Media.

This week we successfully won a contract to run a 12 week iMedia course run from the Bus on the local Cleveland Estate for a group of young people. The result will be a community website and accreditation for the participants. Below right is a picture of myself with Jerry our marketing manager and Mokeef and Grant who represented the young people and selected Gateway Media and The Bus.