BreakingOut.NET

You might have noticed that BreakingOut.NET now has a new tagline: Let’s Do Things Differently”

I think “doing things differently” sums up neatly the essence of how I see life and how I live it.

What’s more, that’s how I like it – and that’s how it will always be.

I’ve realised just how much my outlook on life differs from many people.  The fact is, I’m just not a conformist. I can’t stand line-toeing and I hate mind-wash.

In the past, I’ve often found myself kind of trying to fit in, like tailoring my responses to fit what people expect to hear.

I’ve always thought that you should consider society and the community first and yourself second. After all, we have to work for the greater good of society and others – and so we should put ourselves last.

Rejecting “Cabbage Patch” Thinking

A good example of this is job and contract interviews.  Like when I get asked why I moved to Germany – or recently, to Belgium.  It’s like you’re expected to just stay in your ancestral village. Or else justify it in terms of some grand plan that you have to keep to.  In particular Germans seem surprised that you want to come to live in their country. Other expats have told me they’ve also experienced this.

In Belgium I’ve even met people who are surprised I’ve moved from Germany to Belgium – even though the countries are right next door to each other and are both members of the EU. I get the impression they think perhaps there must be some ulterior motive involved – like some tax dodge, or on the run from the police, or something. It’s a bit irritating but also amusing.

Sometimes I’m half tempted to just say I stuffed my wife under the floorboards of my old apartment in Germany- that’s why I’ve moved to Belgium. It’s almost as if that’s the kind of thing they want to hear!

The reason I’m in Belgium, or Germany, or anywhere else for that matter – is simple. Because it exists. Because it’s there.

I want to experience living in at least a few other countries during my life. And I’ve limited myself too much in the past.  And it’s not as if moving from UK to Germany and to Belgium is like travelling to the other end of the globe. It’s nothing exotic.

This  ”cabbage patch” or “small backyard” thinking you can encounter gets a little tedious at times.  The world – not to mention the universe – is so vast – and yet people’s minds can be so small. Anyway, I’ll talk more about cabbage patch thinking in another post later on.

Rejecting “Nine to Five” Thinking

The other thing is that I’m just not into the 9 to 5 way of life.  This is a big big one for me. I’ve always kind of known it, but I tried to suppress it and tell myself to be “realistic” and accept it in order to fit in.

I put up with it for nearly 5 years back in Germany -and it nearly killed me. I’ve also had my brush with tedious banks and other companies and that was also the kiss of death.

It’s not even just the work. Worse are some of the people you come across in these jobs. The dronery aspect of the work culture you encounter in these places is the real killer.

It was when I switched back to becoming a freelancer again and worked at a large company in Brussels spending a year down in their Chamber of Horrors basement IT department that it finally led me to look the facts in the eye and say simply: enough was enough. No more 9 to 5 for me. And no more dronery.

Burn the CV!

And another thing. I hate CVs. I’ve had enough of them.

Working as a freelancer in IT as I have done on and off over the years, your CV is structured a little differently to that of a conventional 9 to 5 employee. They tend to refer to it as a “profile” rather than a CV. The emphasis in the “profile” is mainly on your skills and completed projects.

In contract interviews at least you don’t tend to get the “what do you do on Saturday afternoons, hobbies, interests, bla bla, show-me-100-uses-for-a-paper-clip, what-are-your-strengths-and-weaknesses, how-do-you-see-yourself- in-five-years-time” textbook interviewing bullshit.  But other than that, the differences at the end of the day are really just minor.

So I’ve decided there will be no more “CV’s” for me. As Sean Ogle from Location180.com said in a podcast I heard the other day, if a job requires you to “submit a CV”, then if you’re an entrepreneurial type it’s probably not worth bothering with in the first place.

I’ve Always Done Things Differently

I left school with no qualifications. I did my A-levels to qualify for university entry at evening college whilst working full time. I learned German as a side subject whilst at uni. On graduating I moved from London to Berlin, whilst everyone else wanted me to stay in the UK.

I became a freelancer, rather than being a fixed 9 to 5-er for one employer. Later I quit my job to take a gap year to travel and move to another country.

I’m more or less vegetarian. I say more or less, because I don’t make any big deal about it. I eat fish -and I’ll eat the occasional piece of meat when I feel like it as well.

Doing Things Differently is the Essence of True Entrepreneurship!

In becoming an entrepreneur it means you are doing things differently to the majority right from the start.

I think that if you are a contrarian, then you’re ideally suited to running your own business. It’s the opposite of the mainstream passive 9 to 5 outlook. And you should also aim to do business differently to others. Be innovative. Think out of the box, as the cliche goes. Doing things differently is an excellent recipe for successful entrepreneurship.

I’ve found being a contrarian is also useful in investment. This is something I’v pursued for many years. I haven’t always taken the right decisions – and with investment few if any people do – but taking a contrary position has made me money on occasions – as well as saving me from losing money.

I actually thrive on being a bit contrarian. It’s the way I am and come to think of it, it’s the way I’ve always been. I’ve always been the one who does things differently to the group.  It’s also why I’m not suited to big companies, being married with kids, being saddled with a mortgage and a job for life in a large corporation. Nein danke!

I like to see things change. I like to see rigid ways of doing things and rigid assumptions being forced into crisis and toppled. Technological change, marketing innovations, financial crises, revolutions…

Although these upheavals undoubtedly have their bad side, they do at least force people out of the daily lethargy and the taking-things-for-granted way of living.  I think just “ticking over” is one of the worse ways for us to live.

Regarding my point at the start of this article about the concept of putting society and community first..

Much of what we do is or should be related to serving others.  That’s basically what a business – a good well-run business is about or should be about: serving others first. But it shouldn’t mean that you have to commit “hari kiri” of the self in so doing.  That’s a mistake. I think you should always recognize and respect your own individuality.

It’s not about one over the other, they should both be mutually inclusive and treated as such. That’s the difference.

So I’ve decided that from now on, I’m going to fully embrace being different – and doing things differently 100 percent.  No more trying to fit in with people and attitudes that I don’t want to fit into. If you like, it’s my personal brand.

Doing things differently is the name of the game for me.

How about you?

Image courtesy of Marko Cvejic

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