Retire by 40
The definition of retirement is changing and we're all screwed. According to the government: "Default retirement age (formerly 65) has been phased out - most people can now work for as long as they want to." Well. Thanks a lot.... that's one way of putting it! Even...
Daily Ideas – Turn Yourself Into An Ideas Machine
I believe that coming up with good ideas is a skill, and just like any other skill it needs to be trained. Your 'ideas muscle' can be given a regular workout simply by coming up with daily ideas. I didn't come up with that myself, I stole it from James Altucher and...
Step-By-Step Guide to Creating and Selling a Physical Product
What would spring to mind if I told you I make a living designing and selling table tennis equipment? Would you imagine me standing on a street corner trying to convince unwilling passers-by to purchase my products? Or perhaps you'd picture me inexpertly trying...
This Blog’s First Six Months Earning Report
"So. What do you do for a living?" Has got to be one of the most common questions that people seem to ask when we first get introduced. It is a question that has been causing me an unnecessary amount of stress. What do I say? I sometimes say I started a coffee shop,...
My First Month Of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
There is no beginners course at my gym, it's straight in at the deep end. Sink or swim. I turned up for my first session without a clue what to expect. I had done a bit of googling but really my entire knowledge of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu could be summed up as: "no...
Blogging & Thinking Outside The Box With Ben Larcombe
This is an interview that I had been looking forward to doing for a long time. Ben Larcombe is one of my closest friends, he is the coach behind the Expert in a Year challenge, we have been business partners on quite a few ventures and he is the founder of probably...
How to Write and Publish a Book in 3 Days
As you many know, Ben and I are currently attempting to write a book about the Expert in a Year challenge. It's going well, we've written roughly half and are solidly on track for our 9-month deadline. Our plan had originally been to go the self-publishing route, but...
Investing Made Easy
Ever since launching this blog quite a few old friends have got in touch to ask for advice. You'd think they'd want to know about table tennis, coffee, gambling, or anything really that I claim to be a bit of an expert at. But nope, the most common thing I get asked...
What Happens When Your YouTube Video Goes Viral?
In the last week over a million people have watched me prancing around in short shorts playing table tennis... How on earth did that happen?! Bzzzzzzt. Bzzzzzt. Bzzzzt. As I slowly gained consciousness, I blinked bleary eyed at my phone. 3am, the phone said. You have...
5 Biggest Business Mistakes I Have Made
I'm not your standard business or money blogger. I don’t have any spectacular stories of successes. I don’t have any profound lessons I've learned from massive failures. I haven’t started a billion dollar company and I haven’t lost it all, gone bankrupt and ended up...
Retail Arbitrage – Flipping Products With Amazon FBA
Have you ever heard a about any of the legendary eBay millionaires? One of a select group of people who would cram their houses full of bits and bobs that they bought cheaply and are selling for a profit on Ebay. Turning junk into cold hard cash. Well, Amazon is...
Hobby Arbitrage – Learn Skills, Make Money, Become Happier
Hobbies? Who has time for hobbies these days! Well, we should all make time. Having a hobby is one of the best ways to increase your happiness, the evidence is pretty convincing on that. But hobby’s are expensive and time consuming. So how do you choose which one to...
Should I Try and Spend Less or Earn More?
Which do you think is better worth your time: spending less or earning more? It’s actually a harder question than I initially thought. There are some important pros and cons to both, and they’re not immediately obvious. A pound saved is worth more than a pound earned...
Spectacularly Failing to Become an Expert in a Year
In December 2013, my friend Ben talked me into taking up what he called the Expert in a Year challenge: "Do you fancy playing table tennis every day for a year? I think that if you do the right training you can get into the top 250 players in the UK - a level that...
How and Why to Start a Coffee Shop – The Wren
“What did you do this Sunday?” “Well, I went to church” “Oh... cool.” Well, churches aren't cool. He doesn't think they’re cool. That’s the end of that conversation. In November 2012, after a little over a year of on and off preparation we met with the senior...
Goodbye 2014, Hello 2015
Merry Christmas! A time for reflections and resolutions. It has been quite a year. I have played table tennis almost everyday in the Expert in a Year challenge, started a coffee shop, jointly bought a buy-to-let flat in Sutton, became the best selling table tennis bat...
Rising House Prices are Bad for Homeowners
Warning. This post is a bit of a rant. It really bugs me when we read about the households “enjoying house price rises”. Really who apart from landlords enjoy rising house prices? Well people like me who would like to buy a home at some point certainly don’t, everyone...
Funding Circle – Get a Higher Return
This article was written in 2014 and quite a lot has changed! A lot about this article is still relevant, but you may be more interested in my most recent post on peer-to-peer lending and why I am moving my money from Funding Circle to Ratesetter. Out of all the...