People always talk about the effort to launch something, to start a magazine, to start a band, to start whatever. They spend so long thinking about what it should be, fretting whether it’ll work and planning every last detail that when they actually come around to getting to work, it’s too late. Somebody has done it already, or the window of opportunity has passed, but why the 21st century is so great is because you don’t need anybody or anything else, you can just do it.
Back in September 2005 from my university dorm room I wanted to start a digital magazine, so I found a few writers, taught myself Photoshop and put it together there and then. Seven years later, that’s what you’re reading right now. Sure, it’s come along way, but it all began with that spark of inspiration, an idea and some drive, and FAN THE FIRE was first born.
Since then I got a lot more into music and wanted to start a club night, so the next day emailed a few venues and had offers within a week. It can be that easy, the stumbling block for a lot of people is putting in the effort.
Ambition is a funny thing, it saps out of some, while other harbour big dreams with little work ethic, but at the end of the day, if you want to be successful, you’ve got to put in the hours. I’m not going to lie, teaching yourself half of Creative Suite is a daunting task, and it’s taken these seven years to be proficient for what I need, but every late night if I even slept at all, every working weekend, every unreplied email was worth the perseverance.
People talk about whether you work to live, or live to work, but you should be doing both. Make your passions your dayjob and your dayjob your passions, you won’t regret it.
Do you want to sleep or do you want to live? Get some inspiration from Eastpak: http://bit.ly/P0OzAq