Three Fivers

There’s little doubt that late 2020/early 2021 will be calamitous for business. The combination of Covid-19 lockdown economic inactivity and Brexit will destroy vast amounts of businesses, large and small. And yet, from some perspectives, there’s never been a better time to go into business. The arguments in favour off this are as simple as they are brutal; people going bust sell their goods off at knockdown prices, businesses that begin and make it through what will almost certainly be the worst economic events since 1929 are fundamentally sound business models, and information technology has democratised business tools to an unprecedented level. Consider the children’s story, ‘The Indian in the Cupboard’. In the story, a boy receives a cupboard for his ninth birthday. Putting things in this cupboard changes them and brings them to life. By putting the right things in, complicated new things can be made, explored or brought to life. 3D printing is rather the same; things that you coul...

I once worked with someone who had done some consulting for Richard Branson directly, as opposed to working for one of his companies. He told me of his excitement on the first day of the contract, to be going in to meet the man himself. Being a creative, he was expected to go into his presentation straight after the introductions. His presentation - effectively a pitch - was about a new venture for the company. He began his presentation. Within a minute or two, Richard spoke with an idea - "what if we create a...", that being briefly debated and parked, the presentation continued for 30 seconds. Again, a voice interrupted, "why don't we market a...". And so it went on. Fizzing with ideas, Richard interrupted time and time again. The presentation's impact was lost and the whole experience was a dreadful chore. A while later, the company got back in contact to offer another similarly lucrative contract, complete with a presentation. My acquaintance found that,...

The Dresden firestorm bombing burning the Second World War is, admittedly, an unusual place to begin a blog about micro business, but bear with me. When planning the bombing of Dresden, to shorten the war, planners were informed of Threshold Effects. In this context, that translated to: if the proportion of incendiary bombs being dropped breached a critical point - the Threshold, the uncontrolled burning would create a low pressure of air, like stormy weather, and stuck oxygen in from surrounding areas to create super combustion. This threshold effect razed the city to the ground. Difficult to bridge this to creating businesses from £5 each, but not impossible. Back in the day - in 2005 - I got my first mortgage. I loved the idea of living in a house older than America, so bought a cottage from the 1750s. For this tiny slice of history, the mortgage was the princely sum of £661 per month. Inevitably, as anyone moving in to a new house, there was a load of things we wanted to change, im...

The Covid-19 virus and lockdown have changed things, somewhat. Brexit changed things somewhat. Things will change again, somewhat more. Having worked, over the years, for a number of corporations either American or with strong American influences, the path we are headed down, is strongly American. American colleagues get PTA (paid time off), not holiday. They are guaranteed only 8 days annually - everything else is discretionary. They got into work when they are ill, because labour laws allow arbitrary dismissal. They, by and large, have a ‘side hustle’ going on; a secondary source of income. They quite often have second jobs too. And what has this to do with an obscure blog called “Three Fivers”? The title is a nod to the Three Tenors concert which was huge, way back when, because something popular (football) mixed with something relatively unpopular (opera). I wanted to explore whether it is possible to create money - wealth - from limited means, ten or fifteen poun...