I have finally read the Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson over the last couple of weeks. It is really good and highly recommended reading for anyone with an interest in entrepreneurship, technology, or design. I am not entirely sure why it took me so long to get round to reading it - but it … Continue reading Jobs Done

Right now, here in the UK, we’re in COVID-19 lockdown, which is all kinds of weird. Some of us have more time on our hands stuck at home, others of us have less time particularly if we’re entertaining small children whilst still trying to work from home! I’m in that later camp so I’ll keep … Continue reading The Lockdown Side Project

It’s been a while, sorry. This side-project of mine sadly succumbed to the day-job rather dominating the last few months. However, it’s time to get back in the saddle with a great exemplar of side-hustling. This particular story takes in personal passions, transferable competences, a future plan that recognises some sensible personal preferences, and more … Continue reading Side Project Stories #17: Eat Better with Briony

The academic team from the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CFIE) ran an interactive seminar at the International Enterprise Educators Conference (IEEC) annual conference in Oxford in September 2019. The subject was central to our core mission of enabling innovative and entrepreneurial students and how to handle the inevitable failures that arise from the process … Continue reading How to succeed at failing

I recently presented my initial work on this idea to the International Enterprise Educators Conference (IEEC) in Oxford and this blog is intended as a written summary and supplement for that session. It is very much a work in progress, so feedback is gratefully received. It’s based largely on my own experience and the experiences … Continue reading Entrepreneurial Alignment: Finding Founder-Fit

In my own experience side projects don’t always appear outside of the day job; a lot of my own projects are fundamentally interwoven with my job, even if they’re rather on the periphery of my actual job description… so this time I found a friend and peer who is possibly even more prone than me for … Continue reading Side Project Stories #16: The day-job side project

Last week I got together with a couple of colleagues to record a webinar and podcast for the University of Bristol's Bristol Institute for Learning and Teaching (BILT). We were there to talk about embedding enterprise into the curriculum and we happily wittered away for about 48 minutes if you're interested in such things. Who's … Continue reading Embedding Enterprise Podcast

Happy New Year! Let’s try and start 2019 as I mean to go on; with a few more regular side project blogs! Developing good habits kicks the arse of goal-setting, so this is me trying to start a habit for the new year. Here’s my pitch: I increasingly believe that a having a side-project is … Continue reading Making 2019 the year for Side Project success

Over the last couple of months I've been thinking a lot about creativity so it's time for a quick download of thoughts. For about a year I've been using the "garbage in = garbage out" principle that creativity is in some part related to the quality and diversity of your 'cognitive diet'. As part of … Continue reading Creativity: Diet + Exercise

When I first started exploring side projects Alex Thomas and I drew a simple diagram to capture our initial idea that side projects were a hybrid activity that looked like a bit like a hobby or personal interest, and a bit like a job or professional role: From there I developed a three-circle model in … Continue reading Overlapping Circles