“I accept these tents wholeheartedly without reservation.”

Powerful words. Getty does not however lay claim to having written them, he references the words to President Abraham Lincoln which I think gives them even more kick.

I too accept these tents wholeheartedly without reservation.

If you get the chance, grab his autobiography pictured above. ‘As I see it’ shows 3/4 of last century from the eyes of a man who had some pretty phenomenal perspective from an vantage point of wealth, power, fame, empire and legacy that defies belief.

Respect.

Here are just a few of the applications I had in my iPhone / handheld lifestyle toolkit back in London:

The list goes on…

Right now in Indonesia however, the vast majority of smartphone users have a Blackberry… but Blackberrys can’t do any of the really cool stuff (especially around apps) that iPhone (and now Android) can… and the vast majority of the population can’t afford either an iPhone or a BB.

Enter the Blackberry eater.

Android is a Google project and is the first free, open source, and fully customizable mobile operating system that is Googles doorway for getting ‘search’ (and subsequent ad word revenue) into as many pockets (and handbags) as possible. The software is built to run any device and can, generally speaking, provide the user with the same cool, useful and customised functionality as the iPhone.

Basically, it’s Googles way of getting ‘search’ into as many pockets (and purses) as possible.

Now Android has its own App Marketplace which, if it maintains it’s growth, (it will) will soon surpass Apples own stable in the near future.

What does this mean for Indonesia?

In my opinion, because Android can run on anyones hardware, Sony, Nokia, LG, and a growing number of ‘no name’ manufacturers in Korea and Taiwan are producing a wide range cheap handheld 3/4G devices that can all run this super advanced software.

Now, for almost a fifth of the price, low end users (who would otherwise be confined to SMS) can access almost the same levels cool functionality, information and interconnectivity that was previously reserved for the iPhone.

The Android’s penetrations is going to be wide and deep.

These phones have not yet started really hitting the Indonesian market in a big way yet, but they will. My prediction is that Blackberry’s domination has a shelf life of about 12-18 months.

The impending popularity and viral engagement of a home grown Indonesian app market will relegate Blackberry to a phone for bankers and government officials.

Lifestyle and gadget hungry Indonesians will soon all be sporting the latest Android device en mass, and in their desire to customise their device will give independent local developers the chance to build his or her their own ‘killer app’.

The rags to riches stories that will ensue for both the developers and the entrepreneurs interested in fostering their talent, will be radical.

Watch this space.

I actually enjoyed writing my blog, I enjoy writing in general… but I keep getting told that as a blogger, I had to keep the reader in mind, and that I had to say important things and create engagement, and that I had to capture readers email addresses, and build a database and… well… quite frankly balls to all that. One of my greatest talents is talking shit, so I guess I stopped blogging because I got sick of trying to write an ‘appropriate’ blog.

I am sick of not writing anymore, and balls to the blog police… hence this little blog update.

Also, I have landed myself a fun gig in Bali working with a local surf company here called ‘Surfer Girl’. They have + 300,000 fans on their facebook fan page and I am running the project that is going to deliver them a kick ass retail experience from inside facebook! I can’t find anyone else in the world actually selling stuff and taking people through the entire browsing and transaction experience from inside FB (there was one, but its gone) – so until further notice, I am an Chuck Yaeger. Social Boom! haha. lame.

The Surfer Girl gig has somehow positioned me as a social media guru, which of course I am not (and never professed to be) because I have not updated my blog in almost a year. And I have less than 200 followers on twitter. And I actually delete people I don’t like from Facebook because spam is for loosers.

My fiancee Widya has decided she wants to build her brand (she could be the next global yoga brand) and asked me for advice… so now I am helping her get started in the world of social media.

Of course, I must point out that I have not updated my own blog in over a year…

(if you know me, you may have noticed that I did not have a fiancee at the time of posting of my last blog post, nor could I advise anyone on social media, but a lot can happen in a year)

Despite what you might think, I had a fairytale childhood….. My grandmother was eaten by a wolf. RT @GeneHunt

Just thought I would put that in their for laughs with the RT for industry clout. They say if you are writing a blog, you need to give value.

At this rate, you will have to pay me to read my blog.

More to come?

What happened over the next 8 hours will stay with me for the rest of my life.

We strapped the LED flashlights to our heads (like the guys in the mines do) and set off into the jungle with Wayan and Mudi bouncing around like they did this every day (they do). It began to rain as we were half walking, half climbing up a really steep, muddy jungle track as hopes of a clear sunrise at the summit began to fade.

Lorin, Roger, Myself & Darshana.

Chossy, knarly, slippery and really freaking steep conditions forced the group to split in two, as if we wanted any hope of seeing the sun come up from the top we had to get a wriggle on.

As we cleared the as we cleared the major cloud line after an hour of scrambling through the bush, the stars came out to play. Even at 1500m, the stars looked spectacular. As you go higher, the atmosphere gets thinner so there is less to distort the starlight which is why they don’t appear to ‘twinkle’ as much as they do at sea level, rather they just feel like they are jumping out at you.

The most intense blue sky I have ever seen.

The next 1500m was nuts. I can’t believe we made it in time. This is a serious 45 degree incline on the craggy face of a live volcano. The moss covering the rock is slick from an overnight thunderstorm and both Roger and I who had charged off ahead to ensure we would make sunrise had to seriously question what the hell we were doing.

Now keep in mind, if this was anywhere else, we would have needed to go through at least a half day safety briefing and be covered from head to toe in safety gear. Instead we were armed with out miners lights and instructions that consisted of “just head up and to the left… and don’t fall.”  Wikid.

At 2500m you could totally feel the thinning of the atmosphere. There sky was lighting up with a pre-dawn glow that ignited the mountain with intense blues and oranges that were so magnificent they took my breath away. Then again, it could have been the altitude.

At this point, Rog and I are 500m ahead of the rest of the crew, including our guides, and we were stuffed. Every time we thought we got to the summit, another 200m climb presented itself. We were pushing as hard as we could to get the job done. At one point we were both climbing a vertical rock face to escape a deep trench carved by piping hot magma from the last major eruption which did some serious damage to local villages back in the 60′s. I mean seriously, If you have not risked spinal compression for a great photo opportunity, you haven’t lived!

Roger Hamilton and I at the top.

Success. We made it. Just. We arrived at the summit, 2874m above sea level at 6.15am, just as the far edges of the Indian ocean released their grip of the god of gods. These photos don’t do justice to the majesty.

Sunrise at the summit

No sleep and 4 hours of hard trekking. I don't know how she does it, but I am glad she does.

Mount Agung is the highest and holiest mountain in this island and is considered to be a place of the gods. During our ascent, Wayan was telling us how important it was for us all to observe 3 principles while on the sacred site. The first was to keep our thoughts pure. The second was to keep our speech pure. And the third was to keep our actions pure. All I can say is that there is no church, mosque or sinagog on the planet that could ever come close to eliciting the humility, grace and awe that I felt up there. It really is a very special place.

Wayan tappin

Anyone who is familiar with serious trekking (this was my first rapid initiation) knows that coming down is way harder than going up. And so it was. It took almost twice as long to get down as it did to get up!

Besakih Temple "Base Camp"

We all coined Bali’s most sacred temple, Besakih, ‘Base Camp’ which the local who were serving us coffee and food at the end of the climb found terribly amusing.

If you get the chance to climb Agung, which means ‘the Great One’, do it. It’s hard work, and most people are not up for hard work while they are in Bali, but if you want to push yourself to the top, the gods are all up there waiting. And they are happy.

I got 2 major insights out of it all, although they had nothing to do with business.

1. Get lost.
I was chatting with Mike Southon who is well known in the UK as a business guru and best selling author. Basically, he sold his company for a truck load of cash and realised it was the worst day of this life. From then he began searching for what came next and his advice to me over breakfast was ‘go where your ego can’t follow’. What he meant was, don’t go somewhere where you don’t matter. Where there is nothing to hang your ego on. For example, go to the Sudan. No one speaks your language and no one cares who you are or what you have accomplished or who you have been. You can say “yes, well I built this great company and sold it for a lot of money and I am very special and important…” and they will look at you and say “ke?”

It’s when you are in a space where your past doesn’t matter that the real you can shine through.

I intend to follow that advice.

2. Give it up.

For the last 4 weeks I have been going through a process or re-creation. I have been telling people I am designing a lifestyle for myself that allows me to travel the world and get into all sorts of weird and wonderful adventures. I have been saying that I am creating a business that promotes products that can be marketed from and delivered to anywhere in the world, thus freeing me to create value (and revenue) from anywhere on the planet. I have been sharing my dreams of riding a motorcycle through the Himalayas, diving on wrecks in Vanuatu and learning Spanish in Peru. I have been expressing how committed I am to leading by example and documenting my journey using social media in such a way that inspires others to be unreasonable in their pursuit of living the life they love.

‘Wonderful’, says Martin, one of the worlds leading executive businesses coaches (who I have known for years and who was conveniently staying in the same resort as me). ‘You have just gone and made life all about you. Congratulations on doing that. You must be very proud’.

Crap. He was right. Of course Martin was gently reminding me of something I knew but had somehow forgotten.

If I wanted to truly make a difference I would need to apply my mind to how I could best give to life rather than what I could get from it. That’s what I love about great mentors. In just one sentence they can use my own words to shatter the bullshit and reconnect me to what’s truly important.

For the last few days I stopped talking about me and started simply asking people I met how I could best serve them. The shift was instantaneous as I connected with people at an entirely different level, and so it flowed. From invitations to become part of a film crew in New Zealand to mountain biking in Kenya to working with one of the founders of Quicksilver in New Mexico. How cool is that?

In a matter of just days life began to offer me so much more… and all I did was give.

Rock on.

The end of the week, I repeated.

“And you have never ridden a motorbike before?”

“Never” I replied, growing increasingly insecure.

“Good luck.” was all he said. I got the sense he thought I would need it.

Turns out one week is a stupidly short amount of time to go from never riding a motorbike to passing the practical examination required to get my license. I was however, not given much choice. My flight was already booked to take me from Perth to Bali on the 25th of this month, and there was only one test slot available. I had 7 days.

There were 3 things I learnt very quickly.

1. Riding a motorbike is not as easy as it looks.

Left hand, clutch and indicators. Right hand, front break and throttle. Left foot, clutch. Right foot, rear break. All of which need to flow smoothly and simultaneously to avoid stalling, falling over, flying over the handlebars or about 87 other possible ways to screw up and really hurt yourself.

My instructors personal doubt that such a sharp learning curve would prove fruitful made me think back to how long it took me to be confident driving a car. With growing dismay I remembered all those lessons with Mum and Dad, weekend trips, hours in empty car parks and quiet backstreets.

This time, instead of 4 wheels, and months of practice I had 2 wheels and a grand total of 6 hours of allotted training time to get my brain to coordinate itself with the rest of my body, and the bike.

2. Our brains are designed to screw us up.
No one likes to fail, and I am no exception. My slow turns and figure of eights sucked. My corners were wide and roundabouts were tantamount to… well, I can’t think of anything witty to say, but they sucked too.

The reality that I was going to fail began to set in. As it did, I began to screw up even more. My ability to indicate went out the window because I was so afraid of forgetting to indicate! WTF is that about? It may not sound like a big deal but when everyone in my life keeps telling me that motorbikes = meat mincers, it starts to mess with your head.

Then I remembered that I had just spent the last 7 years of my life at the leading edge of the personal development industry! Hooray! Surely there would be something in my brain that could help me upload how to ride a motorbike in a week.

If Neo can learn kung fu, I could learn to ride a motorbike.

Fear, I recalled is the assumption that at some point in the future I was going to experience more pain than pleasure or more bad than good in my life. Of course we all know that flies in the face of quantum mechanics and particle theory because those scientists with the fuzzy hair now know for certain that there are in fact hundreds of little mice behind the scenes making sure every event in our life is actuality made up of equal parts of both positive and negative – any perceived imbalance is just that. Perception.

The mice in my head however took too much acid when they were young and have since gone rogue.

They, instead of balancing me out, were insisting that failing my test was going to mean embarrassment, humiliation, self flagellation and ultimate financial poverty as payment for my examination was non refundable. One little Speilburg protégé went as far as forcing me to accept the emasculating truth that instead of me looking like Maverick racing F1-11 jets up the tarmac on his bike in Top Gun, I was going to look like Jim Carry with snot frozen to his face on his scooter in Dumb & Dumber.

My mice suck, but I know Kung Fu.

I sat down and found about 20 benefits to failing my test. Here are some examples:

If I passed after just 3 lessons I would probably be cocky and think I was gods gift to riding. Cocky and motorbikes go together like skydiving and narcolepsy. Failing, and accepting a small dose of humility to start my new life as a motorbike rider would actually be quite a good thing.

Failing would mean that I would need to take more lessons – further refining my skills under close supervision and ensuring I would look even better in front of the ladies in due course. Again, a good thing.

Failing would mean that it would take longer for me to actually buy a motorbike, saving me money and delaying the hassle of me needing to judicate over all the catfighting women who would surely be throwing themselves at me by then. Benefits everywhere.

Once the perceived positives matched the perceived negatives, *POOF* the fear disappeared, so did my nerves. I was now completely relaxed during my lessons, and could get on with actually having a good time.

3. Our brains can’t tell the difference between this world, and the real world.

There’s a story that someone made up once that talked about a prisoner of war who visualised playing golf at his local course back home while he was imprisoned. Upon his release, he discovered he had dropped 7 strokes off his handicap.

So, I watched the secret and visualised riding a shiny red Ducati 695, and what do you know! The next day, I opened the door and there it was!

Oh wait. No. That was just a load of crap.

I did however visualise every detail of the ACTIONS I would need to take to pass my test. Gear changes, head checks. To ever finer detail I focused my mind on what I needed to DO for perfect execution. I could feel the clutch engage as I went around my imaginary round-abouts, I could feel the wind hit me in the face as I accelerated up through the gears. To ever finer details I imagined myself riding flawlessly.

My examiner as it turned out was a young, athletic, 5′ll”, blond, blue eyed angry German male who wouldn’t look me in the eye. Excelent! I thought. I am not even going to make it out of the carpark and his guy is going to flunk me.

Although I was still a little wobbly on my slow turns, my execution was functionally perfect. Fate had also given me the last slot on a Friday afternoon so all my German friend wanted to do wanted to do was get the hell out of there. I passed my test with flying colors (apart from the wobbles) and immediately begun to think about all the drawbacks of now being fully qualified to ride like a bad ass.

Although boring, equanimity has its privileges.

Rock on.

These have been two significant deviations from the theme.

What do you think?

This is a quick update of what has been going on in my world since my departure from Triumphant Events, almost one month ago. It’s about what is inspiring me right now, and where I see myself heading next. It’s also the result of my first play with Final Cut Express… so excuse the effects, once I started I couldn’t stop!

(No. 1)

The primary standpoint of the conversation, aside from the ethical quagmire presented, was that the submissions were shortsighted, had not taken into account my long term brand strategy, and were breaking cardinal design rules (kerning??)


(No. 2)

Brand is a funny thing. I find that I am completely unable to launch a business, even a little one, that I am not inspired by. Last year I was able to spend time with Mike Harris who founded Egg credit cards, First Direct Bank, Mercury One 2 One. Basically he is a 3 time, multi-billion Pound brand builder (yes, Pounds), and his words just drip with gold). We were talking about brand and about how VITAL it is to get it right. It’s how the market knows what you/your company represents, its how they share your vision and, in spite of what most people think, it has nothing to do with the layout of your business card.

“Your business, and your brand, is an expression of who you are.” he said. Apple is Apple because of Steve’s love for it. Virgin is Virgin because of Branson’s love for it, not because of a logo or meaningless mission statement.

Mike talks about branding like farmers talk about the seasons. There is a grounded certainty to it all. Like he knows whats coming next. Talk to him for long enough and the message becomes clear. When love is infused into what we do, people respond. That’s brand.

TED.com has a super strong brand, but it did not come from their block red font. Branson scrawled the current virgin logo on a napkin and said ‘Just make it that’. It is an icon not because a bunch of designers sat around pontificating long term brand portability etc… Branson would have sacked em for thinking that far ahead.

(No. 3)

So, instead of thinking too hard about the long term impact of my current logo decisions, I am simply loving what I am doing. Instead of it just driving revenue, I also want it to be a reflection of who I am, but that is up to me, not the logo.

The latest submissions are throughout this post, a couple of which I really like. I hope the (kerning?? is ok!)

More to come,

No. 1

Click to checkout another 8 designs…

No. 2

No. 3

No. 4

No. 5

No. 6

No. 7

No.8

No. 9

3 days, 19 hours to go….