The book that changed my life

As a graduate in 1998, I had always believed that the only way to become a highly skilled entrepreneur was to become a chartered accountant. For five years, I took exams, passed some and failed some. When it came to getting training contracts I struggled to get one despite being well-qualified to be a trainee accountant. I had personally paid for and taken my exams myself and hoped employers would be impressed by my initiative and determination. I was beginning to think that my rejections were due to my surname (foreign), or perhaps that it was a class thing or snobbery…

The fact that I was depending on others for employment was very painful but a necessity to progress in my planned career. The main reason for choosing accountancy was so that one day I could be self-employed. My father had always told me that an accountancy career provided you with the most comprehensive business experience, which would arm you well in your business life. While this may be true, it was not the only way to get business experience - as I was to find out. This should have been obvious to me - but unfortunately the goal of a career in accountancy had been drummed into my head so thoroughly that I believed there was no other way.

When I finally secured a role as a trainee, it was a dreadful experience. Then one day I stumbled across the book that would change my life: “How to succeed in business without working so DAMN HARD" by Robert J. Kriegel.

Immediately, my purpose became clearer; accountancy was not the only way to get to my destination. I had many choices and ways to get to my goal and it was this discovery via this book that changed my life.

The Dgoose Technologies Project

The Dgoose Technologies project is all about my conceptual ideas on how to solve modern-day travel problems. Over the last ten years, some of these ideas have been implemented by other companies. My blog is an attempt to launch the rest in a fledging on-line business. I will use this forum to chronicle my successes and failures as I attempt to launch Dgoose Technologies software projects.

My aim is to have this start-up operating before the end of 2010. However in an environment where there is a recession and the availability of credit is almost non-existent, my chances of success are 50:50 , I guess another aim for the blog is to ensure I success in this challenging project.

ORIGINS

Every since I had the strange experience of solving a programming problem in my sleep, I have always written down ideas or solutions in my diary. The year I had this experience was in the winter of 1997. I was a Computer Science undergraduate. I had been working all day on this programming problem and just could not figure it out. My stubborn nature also meant that giving up and failing the test was not an option. Before long, it was midnight and I had to leave the computer room (in the winter, night and day were usually blurred because of the daylight darkness).

As soon as I got into bed I fell asleep almost immediately but subconsciously I was still trying to solve the coding problem. Then, all of a sudden, it came to me: the code and the reason for the errors I was getting. I woke up, scribbled it all down on a piece of paper and went back to sleep.

The next morning, I brushed my teeth but skipped my shower and breakfast (usually I do both) and raced straight to the computer room to try out what I’d figured out in my sleep. To my amazement, my programme worked perfectly - no compiling errors. I was astonished at how my brain had figured out a solution in my sleep rather than when I was awake and fully concentrating on solving the problem.

So what does this story have to do with my Dgoose Technology project? This was the catalyst for a lot of my conceptual and problem-solving ideas. Creating a business out of an idea is the ultimate challenge and for me it would be a very fulfilling experience.