Posted by Azam Editorial Team as Life
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p style=”text-align: justify”>So we have waved goodbye to the the decade without a name and find ourselves taking the first steps into another block of ten years we haven’t come to a consensus about what to call (the teenies, the tens, the teens?)
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p style=”text-align: justify”>The passing of a year and even more so a decade invariably leads us to muse on the time that has passed, reflect on unrealised hopes and aspirations, and motivates us to resolve to better our existences.
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p style=”text-align: justify”>It doesn’t take much brainpower to recall what I did in the noughties which was little more than 14 hour stints on computers interspersed with business meetings.
As I stood on London’s Embankment to see a resplendent firework display herald in a new decade, just as I had done ten years earlier on the 1st of January 2000, I resolved to be the driver in my life and not the passenger.
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p style=”text-align: justify”>The clock of life is ticking and my unrealised dreams are many. My New Year resolutions are mainly aimed at being more focused. I have vowed, for instance, to not waste much of 2010, as I have done previous years, travelling from one corner of London to the other to help Del Boy entrepreneurs who would always be “too busy” to assist me or my colleagues in return (though funnily enough they always seem to find time to hang out in pubs for hours on end).
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p style=”text-align: justify”>I’ve discovered 90% of the meetings I’m called into end up producing zero ROI; they will consist, for example, of a bunch of relative newbies – whose ‘successes’ on the internet consist of building a voucher code site with an Alexa ranking of 16.3 zillion – discussing launching a “unique” web tool/network/search engine which will never get off the ground because the blokes end up blowing whatever venture capital they may have had within six months on fat cat salaries for themselves, swish offices and, of course, the must-have Official Launch Party of Tin Tin Media.
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p style=”text-align: justify”>So how would I rate my personal performance in the noughties? I can’t say anything more than a zero out of ten; if I’m feeling a bit gentler on myself, perhaps a zero point one. Anybody who knows me knows I am my fiercest critic, but even putting that aside, I am aware I have not taken the revenue-generating opportunities the web has presented, or when I did decide to stride down particular alley ways they usually ended up being dead-ends. I could easily blame the scores of people who sold me bagfuls of nonsense, but the fault lies exclusively with myself because of my gullibility in believing them.
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p style=”text-align: justify”>Anyhow, the one thing the school of hard-knocks has done is taught me to be a lot savvier, and from 2007 to 2009 Azam Marketing began to realise the potential it should have done a decade earlier from 1997 to 1999. Our agency doubled in size in 2009 and, after a year of hard work on new initiatives, I am extremely excited about the plans coming to fruition in 2010 and, in the third decade our business has existed in, Godwillingly enabling us to realise our true potential.
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p style=”text-align: justify”>On behalf of myself and all my colleagues at Azam I wish each and every one of you a happy, healthy and prosperous 2010!
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p style=”text-align: justify”>What are your resolutions for the new year and decade? Leave a comment below.
Related blog post: 2008 New Year Message.
8 Responses
Paul Newton
January 2nd, 2010 at 9:27 pm
1I hope with some of this extra focus on the “low hanging fruit” you will be able to find some time to get up to Newcastle? If not, I will force you to catch up with me on one of my occasional trips to the smoke.
Wishing you a prosperous, happy and healthy 2010.
Paul
Asadski
January 2nd, 2010 at 10:15 pm
2Super post, though a rating of 0.0-0.1% is harsh indeed. The man who is taking on the Internet, the recession and the economic powers that be, and winning? We think so!
N Azam
January 3rd, 2010 at 2:57 am
3Paul – Happy New Year! Believe me, if I had a choice of going anywhere in the UK, it would certainly be Newcastle. Yep, I certainly hope to catch up with you either up north or next time you’re in the big smoke.
Asadski – I look around my room as I type this and I see pictures of three blokes: Obama, Maradona and Bebeto. Whatever achievements I may have had are minus 9.9% compared to my heros! Heck, I can’t even compare to Bebeto’s son 🙂 … check this out from last month: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1234657/Bebetos-baby-boy-Brazil-15-years-THAT-goal-celebration-USA-94.html . Here’s a compilation video just for you: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AucZSZ1R8ng
el d.
January 3rd, 2010 at 7:24 am
4Yes, I can definitely see that we share the same view on the noughties and on 2009 as well…by the way, I think you should trademark the word ‘teenies’.
Elaine
January 3rd, 2010 at 8:15 am
5Hey Nadeem stop being so hard on yourself, not everything’s about ‘achievements’ – just being a really nice bloke ranks high in my charts 🙂
Joe Connor
January 3rd, 2010 at 12:02 pm
6Happy New Year Nadeem!
0.1% is the productivity rating I’d rate most meetings ever achieve. Deb has to sit in on loads of meetings at work and has come up with a theory meetings should be limited to 30 minutes with a written agenda – she believes anything past 30 minutes and she’s probably right.
Don’t be so harsh on yourself, I’ve had similar experiences to you in this industry and so long as you learn from your mistakes it’s still useful experience. If it all comes together this year that’s great, if it doesn’t but you’re still moving in the right direction, don’t worry, be happy 🙂
N Azam
January 3rd, 2010 at 7:02 pm
7@El Director – I’m not going anywhere near that phrase (you’ll understand what I mean if you do a search for it)! I would say we have to both keep our chins up despite a fairly lacklustre decade (though anybody who cite trekking through deserts in China as a regular experience like yourself is a superstar in my book). I’m determined “my decade”, as I’m calling it, will be different to the noughties.
@Elaine – you’re right, life’s not just about “achievements”. Wise words I’ll bear in mind for the new decade.
@Joe – I think you & Deb are spot on. I’ve just managed to wriggle out of a meeting which would have involved a 440 mile round trip and said to the guy we can have a conference call instead. I’m finally learning to say “no” and just in the last hour have written to three different blokes I can offer no more input on their proposed business ventures unless they pay. As Jess says so wonderfully, “my website is not called freeconsultancy.com”.
New Year Images
September 13th, 2017 at 9:49 pm
8Hello, I want to subscribe for this website to take latest updates, so where can i do it please
help.
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