Still asking yourself, "Where's my next client coming from?" I keep asking myself that. Have done since I left full-time teaching — must be ten years now. Teaching was simple. Turn up. Do your stuff. Go home. Get paid at the end of the month. Then I left, and there was no client waiting for me. I had to go and find them myself. First one's the hard one. Because once someone's seen me, once they've experienced what I actually do, that bit's easy. Getting them there in the firs

How Do You Choose to Use the Force? I've been reading $100M Offers by Alex Hormozi this week. He's the American entrepreneur behind Acquisition.com, and the book has become something of a bible for people who want to sell more. One of his key ideas is to build a chain of upsells. Sell someone one thing. While you're delivering it, a genuine follow-on problem surfaces. Fix that too—for a fee. Then the next one appears. Hire a car. Now you need petrol. Now you need insurance. E

How to Check If You've Actually Got a Bright Blue Banana By Patrick M. Tarpey | Log "My business is different," they tell me. "It doesn't play by the normal rules. Every other business runs by them — mine doesn't." "Really?" I say. "Okay," I go. "Let's just assume yours is completely unique. Doesn't obey any of the rules everyone else seems to run by. Let's give it a go." Right, I've done this enough times to know there are patterns almost every business follows. The job isn'

You see impossible. I saw the finishing line. By Patrick M. Tarpey "The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the man who will win."— Roger Bannister I’ve got a running vest somewhere from the London Marathon. On it: "You see impossible, I saw the finishing line." So I had to find it and try it on — it’s been a while. Lo and behold, it still fits, a bit more snug than before, but it fits. That line’s been sat on my chest for the best part of two de

Be a little kinder today.To yourself.To someone else.Without announcing it. By Patrick M. Tarpey This morning, while out for my walk, I noticed a series of signs that have been popping up around town. I've seen them before — usually from the car, often around the ring road, half-noticed and quickly forgotten. But today I was on foot. I had time. So I stopped and looked properly. The messages are simple: You are doing great. Be who you want to be.Don't break yourself to fit in

By Patrick M. Tarpey | 30Jun 2026 There's a particular kind of bunch of flowers you buy when you care — just not quite enough. You know the ones. Plastic sleeve. Over-bright colours. Technically flowers — emotionally… debatable. They're not bought with bad intentions. They're bought with urgency. With a vague hope that effort will stand in for thought. And here's the uncomfortable bit: they rarely do. Not because flowers don't matter — they do. But because how you show up mat

Direction, Distance, Duration, Description, Destination. We get the map out, we read the ground, and we plan the route off it. That's it. That's the whole trick. By Patrick M. Tarpey When I teach young people to find their way around, I teach them the five D's. I don't mention the sixth. The sixth one scares them, and there's time enough for that later. The five are Direction, Distance, Duration, Description, Destination. We get the map out, we read the ground, and we plan th

Don't Let Your Business Become the Lake District Hotel By Patrick M. Tarpey | "Bad service makes good comedy. But it ruins businesses." — Patrick at Magnitude The Big Trip Our Liam and his girlfriend Sandy had flown all the way from New Zealand. When you come that far, you don't do it often, so you pack a lot in. The plan was simple enough: A few days in London A visit to Aberdeen to look up some of Sandy's relatives Meander south with a stop in the Lake District Finally, on

You Can't Vote for Success While Living Like a Spectator By Patrick M. Tarpey "Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become."— James Clear That might sting. It did for me, too. I didn't write this post from a mountaintop of perfection. I'm not immune to bad habits, distractions, or the allure of "just one more episode." In fact, writing the three series this post is based on, Mistakes That Kill Momentum, How to Achieve Mediocrity, and Habits That