I’ve always had a dream of running my own business.

Looking back, the signs were there early. I ran a secondhand bookshop out of my parents’ greenhouse and we lived on a lane with no through traffic, with the greenhouse a good 100 meters from the road. At school, I started a music fanzine until my teacher shut it down. Whether it was music, collecting things, or later getting into whisky, it’s always been about understanding value and making money. Almost, making a business out of my interests and hobbies.

But here’s the thing… I’ve never had the confidence to actually create and run my own business. I’ve dabbled, sure, but never really put my heart into it due to a lack of belief.

Now I’m in my mid-40s, and it’s time. The tools are there, the opportunities are there, and this is it.

What This Blog Is About

This is my personal journey documenting the launch of Bottle Bond (an idea I’ve had brewing for years), starting up a consultancy, and growing clients to bring in actual income. Plus anything else that comes up along the way… whether that’s directory sites, small SaaS projects, or experimenting with AI tools, which I’m genuinely fascinated by.

The Real Difference

Here’s what makes this different: I’m doing this on a very, very small budget.

I’m fortunate my wife has an income so bills are covered, however the reality is with 2 young children, like everyone else, we need more coming in! I see posts on X and LinkedIn about £10k MRR but never what they had to do to support themselves whilst building that part. That’s what I’m going to try and bring to this blog… that element of having to chase quick wins over dreams and long term strategy sometimes, because bills don’t care about my five year plan.

Keeping It Real

I’m using this as a way of holding myself accountable. The plan is simple: post on X each day and try write one blog post a week.

Full transparency – I’m using AI to help polish these voice notes into proper posts. The thoughts and experiences are 100% mine, but I’m letting AI help me sound more coherent than I do at 6 AM rambling into my phone as well as automating the posts to save me time.

Let’s see how this goes.