Balls of Steel – Sneaky Peek

“Balls of Steel” has been a work in progress since about April 2012 and it follows the story of how just £10 changed a business idea in to something that would affect many people across the county of Kent!

Your subconscious is a magical place where there are no limits and no limitations

Do you remember when you were a child and the world was a magical playground. The games of make-believe were so detailed and you embraced them with all the passion you could muster inside. Your mind was ready to explore anything it was introduced to and record the most colourful of images on the blank canvas in your head. The excitement you felt when you climbed a tree for the first time and looked out upon your Kingdom or when you found yourself hiding in a garage, determined not to be the first person found in the game of hide and seek. What happened to this level of excitement? What happened to the freedom to let your thoughts run wild and play hand in hand with your imagination?

The world started to change you. You began to be influenced by external factors such as school, where you were taught ideas, taught theories and taught to stop wanting to climb trees. It’s not your fault; it’s the way things generally pan out for us within the social obligations of the modern world.

Imagine how powerful it could be to allow your subconscious mind to lead your conscious mind in a world where there are no boundaries. Even as an ‘adult’ there is room for fantasy. You have the key to unlock a very powerful side to your brain that will lead you to excel in whatever it is that you set out to do.

So, what happens when you have a dream that you would like to turn into reality? Whether you believe you can make your dreams come true or you can’t, either way you will be right. Adopt the magical attitude and allow yourself to believe and you may just surprise yourself.

HOW TO GET IN TOUCH WITH YOUR MAGICAL MIND

Your conscious mind sends regular signals to your unconscious mind, which then takes over and completes tasks as though on auto-pilot. You know what it takes to get dressed in the morning; it’s not taxing on the brain. Think about your morning commute to where you work, you don’t actually have to ‘concentrate’ on getting there, it just happens. You already know inside what it takes to get on the train, get in the car or walk in to the home office. This is an example of your magical mind working its magic. So imagine what you could achieve if you let your magical mind take control of your other desires? Your conscious mind is often the bossy one, but the magical mind has the power to make everything you think about….actually happen. It’s really easy to get in touch with your magical mind; it just takes a little bit of effort on your part. You will have to relax and be in a place you are unlikely to be disturbed.

Meditation isn’t all about calming music and scented candles, although that can be lovely. It’s taking time out to think, to let your mind run free and pay attention to what it is telling you. Getting in the habit of letting your mind run free has potential amazing consequences. There are no boundaries to emptying your mind and reconnecting with your imagination.

Close your eyes, breathe deeply, let out the junk clogging up your mind and let your mind wander off. It may take a bit of practice but it’s really easy! TRY IT! As you become more comfortable with this, try steering your mind in the direction of something you really want, play out the scenario in your mind and think back to the freedom of thought you had as a child.

ALLOW YOURSELF TO DREAM

As a child I was intrigued by the magicians of the day and loved having them at my early birthday parties. It was wonderful to ponder how they performed the illusions, never quite getting it. I always wanted a black top hat, a wand and a box of tricks to play with but for some reason I never did get them. I picked up the odd magic trick and card trick but I never got the top hat! Why? Because I never actually asked for it! I never imagined having all those ‘tricks up my sleeve’ and it was only when I saw a version recently in a shop I remembered this silent desire as a child. There was nothing stopping me buying it now but of course things have changed. My own box of magic tricks is active daily and is always with me, in my mind.

“We are going to host an awards ceremony for Independent Business Owners in Kent!” I announced to my business partner Sue as I climbed the stairs leading up to our cosy little office.

“We’re WHAT?” She exclaimed as she gave me that look. The one where her eyes rolled in a ‘what have you got us in to’ kind of way.

As I blurted out the idea and tried to allow my mouth to keep up with the pace of my brain it started to make more sense. It existed in my mind already, I could picture it. I launched in to an on the spot presentation using the flip chart, good old pen and paper to demonstrate to Sue how this would be the beginning of something amazing, not only for our own business, but also for that of the small business community in Kent. I could see she ‘got it’ and the input she gave helped structure the project right from those early days. The finer details would follow but at this stage we had the foundations to a solid plan and we were both committed to it. The important thing was we had a plan to start working to.

Only one thing would potentially scupper the project, we didn’t have any budget to launch a whole ‘bells and whistles’ marketing campaign. Rather than be disheartened we looked at ways we could make it happen. Surely we had some tricks up our sleeves, some resources we could call upon to make this a reality? What did I really need to get started? A domain name. How much is that? Under £10. Let the challenge begin!

So we agreed that we would start this off with just £10 and then see what we could do with it. The fact we were limited with financial resources actually made the whole concept even more appealing. It felt like a little business adventure that we would make as fun as possible. No one would believe it started off with just £10!

People thought we were mad, not an uncommon response to us and it’s one that makes us smile. I consider my own ‘madness’ to be a fundamental part of the way I work and in turn, the way I get things done. So I decided to take all these comments as a compliment. After all, we weren’t reinventing the wheel, it wasn’t as though we were trying something totally knew, and we were simply putting our own stamp on a concept.