What’s the story?

Hello, my name is Damien, I am 39 years of age, I live in St Leonards down on the south coast with my wonderful partner and I have a passion for business. 

I’m sometimes unsure if those two words go together, passion + business... They seem an odd pair, but let me explain.

I have a passion for good business and what I mean by good business is business with an authentic energy that connects people. Business with soul. 

My first business experience was watching my dad work for himself at my home in the East Sussex countryside where I grew up. My dad made signs like his dad and he loved his work, he was very capable with his hands and also loved designing - a perfect match. 

He loved his work so much that he could work as much as he wanted and it never tired him out. He cared about what he did and valued his craft, he was and still is a master craftsman.

Me and dad at the Rugby World Cup 2015 (not working)

That probably tells you a lot about where my passion began at least. Seeing my dad at work and making it look effortless seemed like the most natural thing in the world to me, he would have a 30-second commute to his workshop and I saw him all the time.

I would later work with my dad and help build his business to a size neither of us could have ever dreamed. But that's another story 

Back to this story and it wasn’t until I was 33 that I would follow in my fathers footsteps and start my own business. After working for many other businesses of all shapes and sizes and learning lots about how you run one I created a business that I absolutely loved and my passion went to a whole new level.

My business was called Community Oven and we made great food and brought people together to eat. It wasn’t until I sold the business 4 years later that I fully realised how much I loved the experience. It was one of the best things I have ever done.

The business came from a place deep within me, a very private and personal space which gave it great authenticity. Authenticity is an interesting quality, hard to describe but when you see it there is no mistaking it. 

This authenticity resonated with other people as well and because I was very connected to what I was doing it naturally connected them to my work. The story of my business spread like wildfire and before I knew what was going on  it was thriving with more work than I could do.

I realised that I loved my business because it was an expression of me and who I am. It represented what I wanted to see more of in the world and it gave me the excuse to have a lot of fun while making money. 

But most of all my focus was on what I cared about, the work became very important to me, I had no ambitions for it, I just valued what I was doing for the sake of doing it.

It was this that I realised was the secret ingredient in my business, my dad's business and so many other successful businesses. We were all doing something we loved doing, we saw the importance in it, and therefore it became fun and grew.  

I recognised that other people can tell the difference between a business which has this energy and a business which does not. People are attracted to this authentic energy. 

It is the law of attraction in effect. If you have fun with what you are doing and you care about it, you will be culturing an energy inside yourself that will manifest outside of you.  

I have seen it happen multiple times in my life, it is only now I recognise fully what it is. The old adage is true, do something you love and the money will follow. Simples.

So I now work with other people to create businesses that are fun, connected and have authenticity in their DNA. I choose this work because it is important to me, it is who I am and I am already having a lot of fun doing it. 

So that’s my story, thanks for reading it and let’s see what happens next.