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Alex Gadd

Helping One Build Their Life

Bio

Life is tough and getting tougher.
And for many of us, life seems to be racing ahead and leaving us behind.
I can help you get ahead by figuring out what you want in life and how to achieve it.
And provide you with a new way to go about attaining it.

Recent Answers

Productivity

How can one create a more efficient and effective daily routine and have "time well spent" each day, to bring him closer to his goals and visions?


Alex Gadd

Helping One Build Their Life

The secret to achieving big goals is to take consistent action on a regular basis. The action itself doesn't have to be big on a daily basis though if carried out on a consistent basis, the work will accumulate and ultimately enable you to achieve your big goals. In the old days, I would have brought myself a schedule with a number of days listed out in advance. Else I would have brought a wall chart with a number of days listed out in advance. Then I would fill in each day the tasks that needed to be done towards the achievement of my goals. Nowadays I would use an app like Google Calendar or any.do. These apps allow me to book out a series of dates in advance (beyond just the end of the year like old schedule books go up too). Anyhow these apps are easy to use and provide one with the ability to book in advance to the distant future what they need to do on a daily basis. And with the click of a button you can set it up so that a task will be repeated on a daily or weekly basis till you no longer need to do the task. Anyhow if you would like any more advice, I am happy to book you a 1-2-1 consultation for free by sending you a VIP link.

Entrepreneurship

What advice do you give to a 16 year old entrepreneur with a start up idea?


Alex Gadd

Helping One Build Their Life

Well done for having gotten this far at such a young age. Your question is written in the style that a 40-50 year old would ask it, not a 16 year old. Now there I'd good news, bad news and better news that I see for you from your current situation. The good news is you have brains, youth and ambition on your side. That will take you far. However the bad news is that from what you hinted about your start-up, it sounds like the type of start up you'd get at Silicon Valley. In other words you would need a team of talented people to get your company off the ground. The first bit of the bad news is that whilst these start-ups can make you ultra successful (think Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, etc) these businesses have a very, very high failure rate. And those who do usually get these start-ups off to a success had both years of experience with failure beforehand. The second bit of bad news is that these start-ups usually require a combination of round the clock work as well as finances to get them going. If you have wealthy parents who can back you then you are off to the races. Yet if like most people your parents are average earners, then I'm afraid it probably won't be feasible. One more bit of bad news (I swear I'd go on to the better news afterwards) is that your idea already needs outsourced talent. Being the age of 16, you might find it hard to get the respect of adults to come and work for you. It should also be added that it might be easy for someone to take your start-up idea and run it as their own.  And being 16 years old, you will have a hard time coming up with a patent and copyright to prove it was your idea. Sorry for the negativity but just laying out the problems you will face with your start-up. However there is better news. You may not like it but bare with me for it will drastically shift the odds of success in your favour. And this is to start a business that isn't based around the Silicon Start-Up model. It is to start a small business that can grow to make you money. Once you have this business off the ground, you will then have the experience of delegation and lessons learnt to turn your hands on your initially planned start-up Besides which the business you set up will give you the money needed to start your start-up idea. What sort of business am I referring to? One business idea is to become a reseller: flipping products (digital and physical) onto others for profit. Think eBay, Amazon, etc. You could also try making money flipping domain names for profit (though competition for this is slightly tougher than Amazon). Once you have grown this business to the size where you have supplier contacts, a few employees working for you, etc and turned it into a hands off business which can run without your full input, you stand a better chance of building up your original start-up. Also people will be more willing to invest capital to help you out as you would already have success in business. And you will have better skills at people management, ability to sniff out a problem, etc. This is my advice anyhow. Please don't take my answer to mean don't set up your own start-up. Just start up an easier, proven business first. Grow it into a success and you have the resources plus talent to work on your startup. Lastly, remember that Elon Musk didn't start with SpaceX or Tesla. He started with Zip2, a small business he ran with his brother. Likewise Richard Branson didn't start with Virgin Airways but a printed student magazine he made.

Entrepreneurship

My startup just failed. What could I start to "immediately" generate $1,000/mo?


Alex Gadd

Helping One Build Their Life

Whilst this question was asked 8 years ago and I'm sure the questioner has hopefully moved on to a better financial position, I would still like to share my answer to anyone else who is stuck in a similar situation. Hopefully it will be of help. Anyhow first off all, I am sorry that your startup failed. Startup companies can be very risky and you worked your heart and soul into getting something off the ground only to not work out. At least you have learned from it and got yourself back on track. If you want to immediately start making $1000 a month, there are three options that come to mind. The first is to get a job which pays you $1000 a month. There are many jobs out there that would pay this amount, from shelf stacking to office assistant.  Now I am not in anyway suggesting you stick with such a job for the rest of your days. But at least it help you reach your financial goal. The second alternative is to start a business where you are flipping physical products on platforms like eBay, Amazon, Craigslist. Essentially Buy Low and Sell High. I am not kidding when I say that many people in your situation have been in the exact same position and gone on to start flipping product businesses which make them far more than $1000 a month. The key here is to make sure that you start cheap (or free) purchasing stock. And when you sell some stock, you reinvest into more stock to sell on. The third option is to start some service based business. Ideally one you can promote to those in your local community though with sites like Upwork and Fiverr, you can offer your services on a global basis. Again with this option, you need to have some skill which you can provide as a service. Be it copywriting, freelance writing, programming, etc. Yet even if you have no such skills, no need to fret. Gardening, window cleaning or domestic cleaning are services that you can also offer to set up as a service to your local community.  If you wish for any advice on how to get into one of these businesses as well as improve your overall situation, feel free to book a consultation.

Career Advising

Where can I find resources to motivate myself to pursue a new goal now that my previous goal is unattainable?


Alex Gadd

Helping One Build Their Life

First off, I am sorry that things didn't turn out as expected. Now that 7 years have passed since you initially posed the question, I can only hope that things are better for you. However, if you are still lost as to what to do in life (or anyone else reading this answer is feeling unmotivated) there is a way to regain your motivation and find your direction in life. And the way to do this is via psychological momentum. What is psychological momentum? Well you may recall times in your life when you didn't feel at all motivated to do something: like going to the gym for a workout. Yet once you have forced yourself off the sofa and got your gym bag packed, it becomes slightly easier to undertake the next step: like leaving the house and getting into your car. This is psychological momentum: the process of moving along more easily in a certain direction once you have already started. In a similar way, a car if left unused for a while upon starting will initially struggle to get going. Yet once the car has warmed up, it will move along more smoothly. In a similar fashion, once you have decided to move towards a certain goal, it can often be hard to get going to begin with. Yet once you have started taking small actions towards your goal, more often than not your resistance will decline. In fact, once the momentum gets going, it will be easier to just carry on taking action towards your goal instead of stopping. So if you are stuck in a rut and not sure what to do, the first thing you ought to do is just pick something that you would like to do. On doing so, then undertake a small bit of action. Then take a break: perhaps even giving yourself a small reward for taking some action.  Then do the same again with a bit more action. Basically keep on doing this and sure enough, the momentum (or motivation) will pick up and you will soon find yourself progressing forward towards your goals. This is the way to overcome lack of motivation: whatever direction you wish to head towards. Yet if you would like some more guidance in achieving your goal, then feel free to get in touch for a 1-2-1 coaching session. In such a session, I will personally guide you along towards your goals as well as hold you accountable to its achievement. So don't remain stuck in a rut: contact me today.

Lean startup

How can I smoothly transition from full time worker to self-employment?


Alex Gadd

Helping One Build Their Life

When it comes to transitioning from a full time job to running your own successful business, there are several ways to which you can go about doing this. The following is ranked in list from most risky to least risky. Quit Your Job, Start Your Business In the book 'The E-Myth' Michael Gerber mentions how many employees tired of working for someone else one day decide to just quit and start their own business. Usually they do so out of frustration at their work and imagine how much better life would be if they were their own boss. Unfortunately they don't realise the hard work and risk involved. This approach can be summoned to jumping out of an aeroplane and building your parachute whilst in mid-air. Unfortunately for most of these people, they run through their savings, etc and never actually get to launch their business. Save Up Some Money, Then Quit Your Job To Start Your Business The second approach is to carry on working in your job for 6 months to a year where you build up your savings. Then when you have enough stored up in a bank, you quit your job. Whilst this approach is a little less riskier as you will have savings keeping you going for longer to work on your business, don't get too complacent. For time will always tick away and if your business doesn't take off on time, you will have to get another job in order to keep yourself afloat. Wait Until Retirement To Start Your Business This approach may seem like the safest option of them all. Just keep working away at the job until you retire. Once you reach retirement, then you are free to build up your business. The trouble with this approach is you will be waiting till your later years in life to get your business going. Hence delaying your dreams. And you will never unfortunately know what the future holds. Will you make it to retirement age in good health? If at all? And in years to come when retirement does come around, will your business idea be financially viable by than. Start Your Business On The Side - Grow It Until You Can Leave Your Job In my opinion this is the best route to go. Yet I must say that it is the one which would probably require the most work. For not only will you be working in a full time job but also working on growing a business. However I would strongly recommend you consider this approach for a few reasons. The first is that you will be learning whilst you grow your business: learning skills like accounting, sales, marketing, etc. All whilst having the comfort of a job. Second of all, if your business reaches the right size, you can pack in your job and live off your business net profits. Now a question that may be going through your mind is "what if the business I plan to start is one which will initially require my full time presence: like opening a physical shop?" Well in that scenario, I would recommend holding off from starting such a business. Instead work on a business which can be scaled up whilst it is worked on part time. And then once it is up and running, quit your job and use your spare time to start your other, more time intensive business. If you would like help on taking the steps required to get this done, do feel free to book a 1-2-1 consultation with me.

Coaching

What are some of the biggest marketing challenges life coaches and other coaches are currently having?


Alex Gadd

Helping One Build Their Life

A good question and one that I would be interested in learning more about myself as I am in the early stages of setting up my own coaching business. I like the other answers, especially around marketing, copywriting and building a brand. The only thing I can really say is that any task can be accomplished if broken down to small enough steps: and you focus on one particular step at a time. If you would like to know more, do feel free to book me for a 1-2-1 📞.

Creative Writing

What should I consider when deciding to write a romance novel?


Alex Gadd

Helping One Build Their Life

Interesting question and although I shall say give you my best answer, I must add that I have never written a romance novel (though have written a few non-fiction books on Amazon). Yet I shall give you my best perspective. In writing a romance novel, one thing that you would want to make sure is that your novel flows smoothly. By this I mean characters come and go as the story depicts as well as the story has a sequence of some sort. An example of these things not being met would be a story where one of the characters who has a part to play in the plot just disappears midway through. Or if half way through the story, you start writing about something else occurring. Such flaws would just confuse the reader as to what is happening. Whilst you may wish to make notes beforehand to make sure such events don't happen, in reality you can probably remember all the characters, etc. Unless of course your book was going to be as popular as the next Lord Of The Rings novels! On completion of your book, do expect to do spelling corrections and going back a few times to do redrafts. This is something which all authors have to do. Also expect to go through your book fixing grammar and incorrect spellings. Finally the last thing to expect is a long slog of writing your book until it is done. This will take time and can get quite boring at times. Yet remember how you feel once the book is complete! One way I have found to keep myself motivated when writing is to break the work down into individual chapters and look at each chapter like you are writing an essay. For once you have 10-15+ chapters, you will have enough for a novel. Good luck with your venture and hope it one day is sold on the bookshelves of bookstores around the world. If you would like some more motivational advice on writing your novel, feel free to give me a call.

Career Advising

Is remote work the future of employment or just a temporary trend?


Alex Gadd

Helping One Build Their Life

This is a very good question and to be honest, I can't give an exact answer. Before the Coronavirus pandemic, I would have said no, remote work wasn't the future of employment. Although certain jobs were done remotely from home, I would have said that the future was going to be the majority of people working in the office. Yet during the global pandemic when many of us went into lockdown, I began to think that this was the case. Thanks to technologies like Zoom and Microsoft Teams, employees were able to work from home. As such, it seems that remote work was going to be the wave of the future. Now that we are out of the global pandemic, many employers have insisted that their staff come back into their place of work. Whilst many people have gone back to work in the office, many other employers have come to the conclusion that it is cheaper and easier to have their employees work from home. Whilst it is too early to say which approach will become the future of work, I would say that ultimately working remotely is most likely to be the way of the future. The reason I believe this is because as technology improves and better versions of technologies like Zoom, etc come about, these will show employers why it can be more beneficial to have their employees work from home. For one thing there would be no need to pay rent on an office space or pay out for things like office supplies, etc. This is my view at the moment but I am willing to accept that things may change again very quickly and the return to the office model eventually wins out. Hope this answers your question and if you like any more advice, particularly in the areas of life coaching and overcoming problems that you may face, then do feel free to book me in for a consultation.

Java

Where to Find Java Developers


Alex Gadd

Helping One Build Their Life

I admit that the answer to this question is 10 months old and so you may already have the answer to your question already. Having said that, I would like to add my two cents worth. One good place to find Java Developers is through freelance platforms like Upwork, Freelancer or even Fiverr. On these sites you will find many Java Developers who are willing to help you with your research projects. Hope this answers your question and if you need any help with overcoming difficulties in life, then feel free to book a consultation.

Job Coaching

Should I go back to old job?


Alex Gadd

Helping One Build Their Life

A tough question for without prying too much into your financial situation, I'm assuming you are looking for a job out of need rather than because you want to feel like a contributing employee again. While I cannot answer this question for you as I am not you, you've already mentioned several key factors in your question as to why you shouldn't go back to your old job. For one thing, you implied in your question that your previous employers have not said yet whether they want you back. As they are hiring, there may be a chance that they want younger people who are inexperienced in the job: hence they can mold them into the type of employee they want the candidate to be. No disrespect but in the 7 years since you left, you have probably changed somewhat and so are no longer the desirable employee that you once were. In fact you even mention how you have less energy now than you did back then: implying that the job has a somewhat physical aspect to it. From what you have mentioned, I would personally move on and seek work in a different company instead of with your former employers. It is often forgotten but there is more to a job than just the paypacket you bring home and the friends you may make at work. There are also the new skills and abilities that you will develop at the job. Unfortunately if you were to take up the old io again, the chances are you won't be developing any new skills or abilities but simply relearning the ones you covered before. As such you won't be developing as a person. If you want to discuss this further and help going forwards, why not book me in for a consultation.

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Goal SettingLife CoachingMotivational SpeakingMindfulness