Game your career | #152

Craft+Work, Conversation Stations, and walking London

I enjoyed Craft+Work - six speakers shared startup stories and lessons learned over the last year (cue cards, no slides!). Vibrant and transparent talks, which was refreshing.

Fun to gamify it, too—after giving us all a prompt to reflect on, each speaker had to pick a card from the School of Life card set and answer the question.

It was mainly e-commerce folks in the Shopify ecosystem, so lots of agency talk that went over my head, but fascinating to hear from companies large and small in a different industry and see we're all struggling with the same things. 

It felt a bit weird to take notes when people were being so open and vulnerable (it's not recorded), so here are a few observations on the bigger themes of the day from the talks I heard, plus some prompt questions to ask yourself at the end.

Ellen Donnelly , Founder at The Ask

Know yourself and what game you're playing (financial success, freedom, or fulfilment). Having all three is hard.

Only a couple of folks raised their hands to that. Everyone's playing their own game in business, and it's not equal: other players may block or help them to succeed. 

We play different games at different stages of life, and that's ok. Figure out what you need right now.

The 'six-figure online business' narrative is seen as a success marker, but it’s hard to tell who’s winning from the outside. The reality of it is different and it can feel empty on the inside when you get there. 

Faye Oakenfull , B2B marketing consultant specialising in e-commerce

How the need for perfection can get in the way of marketing a brand.

Think about hiring people who aren't traditional (i.e. qualified) marketers, as they tend to think outside the box and may have better business insight. 

Entrepreneurship is all about timing and luck. 

Piers Thorogood , Culture Drift & We Make Websites

Culture is something people can feel in a meeting, and they will buy into it (it can seal the deal).

Folks can tell when you care about your craft and they want to be part of it. People bought into him, and his co-founder Alex as the face of We Make Websites, and their partnership works as they have complementary skills.

Ensure you invest in a good culture all year round—not just when things are going well. If you're fully remote, it's crucial to hold team retreats to stay connected; otherwise, it's hard to keep the culture going (and you'll also attract good people). 

Officevibe is a handy tool/app to test a company's culture and how you're doing (this got me thinking about the culture of my 'company of one' and what needs to change). 

On knowing yourself: he loved the scrappy startup phase before they became mega successful more than the day-to-day running of the business after they joined BORN Group. 

Conversation Stations

We got into small groups and had an hour to answer three questions. Great ice breaker!We all got very excited about B: Internet rationing and how much more intentional this would make us. We’d work offline and then meet online at a specific time or get together in person (an old-fashioned meeting, imagine that ;) We’d probably get back to bartering, skill swapping, and peddling our wares in the town square.

I think about my internet/phone use a lot and worry that we’re so dependent on it - if there was a mass cyberattack we’d be fucked - look what happened to the NHS when their systems went down briefly. Chaos in the corridors.

Final question of the day

When I was a child, I felt happiest when...

I was playing, creating new worlds through the Conifer trees in the garden and at the back of my big wardrobe (thanks, Enid Blyton & C.S Lewis). Travelling, exploring, dancing, playing music, reading and writing plays with moral endings!? 

There was a general sense of overwhelm in life, business growth, and the economy, with folks feeling like slaves to marketing, content creation, and social media. A desire to simplify things and slow down. Maybe that’s because many of us are Gen Xers who can remember what life was like before the internet (reminiscing over dial-up when you had to wait for web pages to load!) 

Thanks to Keir and the crew for a fun and thoughtful event. 

Walking London

My heart is full! We stayed in town for the weekend and did lots of walking—from Tower Hill to Whitechapel (I gave Julieta a tour of Brick Lane vintage shops) - my fave: Garmasutra (also powered by Shopify!). Whitechapel Gallery, and then we walked through the City to Covent Garden. 

Long dusty roads punctuated by ye olde pubs every few yards stitching it all together.

The mix of old and new gives the City a real charm, a history that’s grounding with red dots on the skyline and a sense of progress that feels exciting.

Maybe this is how we should approach AI - honour the craft and tools: use a pen and paper to write and reflect, then use the tech to connect and share our ideas with the world.

This is an excerpt of my newsletter for entrepreneurs shaping the future of work.

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Nika ✨