Blog is back!
After much consideration I’ve completely brought this blog back from the dead. Minus all the previous posts because there’s plenty of things in there that people don’t need to read.
I wanted to start by talking about what’s written in this title. How one person really can make a difference and I’ll explain how this happened to me.
Okay, we’re listening
As many of you know (and some who probably don’t), when I was 14 I won the State Qualifier and National Championship for a Halo competition. Winning this provided me the opportunity to head to Hong Kong & Korea, represent Australia and compete internationally against the best players from other participating countries. Organising everything so I could take up this opportunity wasn’t really straight forward though.
At 14 years old, my parents were rightfully hesitant to let their son board a flight to two foreign countries by himself. My father doesn’t ‘trust planes’, but that’s a conversation for another time. It meant that I could only go, if my mother came with me. The cost of accommodation and flights were covered for me because I won the opportunity, it was my prize. There was nothing about providing flights or accommodation for my mother though and my parents (despite never letting me go without, ever) didn’t have several thousand dollars lying around so my mother could accompany me on a two week trip to Hong Kong & Korea. So they asked my grandparents.
My grandfather didn’t hesitate. Everyone knew how enormous the opportunity was for me, my grandfather didn’t bat an eyelid. Without his contribution my mother never would have been able to go and I never would have gone either.
Why is that important?
Good question. So glad you asked. It’s important because competing in Korea connected me with a whole bunch of people who I otherwise never would have met. The connections of these people and their people ended up with me working for companies associated with the Microsoft and Xbox brand. I had learned things I never would have learned, I had real life experience, I had a portfolio of work and I had things to show on my resume. These connections and this work landed me a full time job in web development, which expanded to marketing and online business.
I’ve been lucky to work at the places I have because I was given the opportunity to learn things from people and connections I met in Korea. Which never would have been possible if my grandfather never paid for my mother to come along for the ride.
My grandfather set me on a path and positively influenced my life 16 years ago when he made that decision.
Am I making sense?
I don’t know if I’m making sense. The point is this – if my grandfather never paid for my mother to come to Korea with me, I never would have gone and I never would have met the people who taught me about business and marketing and as a result, never would be where I am now. One person really can make a difference.
