Day 419: Bringing goals into focus

I met with my personal trainer in Paris this morning. I see him 3 times a week. As I get a little older, I understand the importance of keeping physicially fit as an enjoyable way to a long an healthy life - intellectually also.

But a little more on my personal trainer. He is devoted to his profession, and from a very early age, he knew that professionalism in fitness was his life aim. I envy him having known this so early on. He has led a path of education and personal fitness which has made him, at a young age (he's 31) to be one of the better - I would subjectively say the best - personal trainers in Paris.

Over the past 12 months as I have led the project for EDF in Paris, we have discussed at great length our ideas and dreams. To a point where we were to embark on a partnership that would bring his vision for a premium store - eventually a premium brand - to the streets of Paris.

And until very recently, we were very close. I would provide the strategic management and short-term funding. He would capitalise on his contacts, and in large part provide the vision. He's a classy guy - Parisian, of course. And quite rightly he sees the wealthy, fitness-focused people of the French capital as a market crying out for excellent quality, for which they are willing to pay the price.

However, once I began devising a short and medium-term business strategy for out concept, I realised this was just a little too much for him to cope with. He has the enthusiasm, but not the capacity to see the big picture, nor to pursue it. And we ended this embryonic phase swiftly, and extremely amicably. I know that one day in the future we will once again work on a successful project together. Until that time, he will continue to pursue greatness in his chosen field.

For me however, this led to a very clear focusing of the mind. I have had the opportunity to attempt, single-handedly, the creation of a fitness-related business opportunity. But I did it alone, and due to the pressure to continue working as a software consultant working primarily in another part of the world, I decided to call it a day, happy that I had tried, broken even, and gained a wealth of experience in the process. I had been one of the first companies in Thailand to legally import, market and distribute a brand of whey protein products to the rapidly expanding fitness market in the country.

The focus that came to me, really is the culmination of prior experience, and the fortunate nature of my international mobility over my entire working life. I have the vision and capability to see a niche that is entirely unrealised, and bring it to a market that is crying out for it.

Now however, it is time to be serious. I need the right contacts - the support of a larger organisation, partners who not only have the enthusiasm, but the skills that - when brought together as a team - can fully realise the opportunity.

Today, my vision is still related to the fitness world. I have lived in countries where the maturity of the fitness market is, to the say the least, minimal. Yet I see from afar, the development and maturity of existing organisations, particularly in North America, who have been successful in bringing hard working, fee-paying customers, the products they want and need to make the best of the investment they have made to achieve their physical goals.

Whether it will be bringing an international fitness chain to France for example, or introducing a "brand of excellence" within the nutrition sector to Asia, I can't - and I won't - yet decide. But I know it needs skills - and financing - I don't yet have. But believe me, I've tried.

Working with my personal trainer has given me the confidence in my beliefs, that particularly within the fitness industry, there is a great deal of immaturity in markets around the world. And within those markets, particular niches can operate which will each, individually, bring something to a demographic that will in return make for a hugely successful and profitable business.

I heard recently, for example, that Madonna is launching a very particular brand of gym, or fitness centre, of whatever she would prefer to call it. My immediate reaction? Yes! Let me take your vision, and I will bring it, implement it, somewhere in the world. It needs money, motivation, and a desire simply to do things "the right way".

Day 420: Columbia or Bust

One lesson I've learned while living in Paris for the past two years is... to take time to reflect. "Réfléchir" they call it.
So last night I spent a very long time researching the three alternative - but potentially more successful - options given to me from accepted.com - Stanford, MIT and Trium courses. Sloan Fellows courses are evidently aimed at us older more experienced folks, but from a live-in full-time perspective, Stanford seemed the only reasonable choice.

I spent hours researching the Stanford program, and to be fair the course looks amazing, the alumni truly great, and the location superb. I even downloaded all the iPhone apps to look around the place, and checked out the on-campus accommodation options.

You know, I actually believed for a second this was a viable alternative. Then I paused to "reflect".

Today was a very wet day in Paris. It has rained almost non-stop, which hasn't happened for a long as I can remember this year. It's still raining now, and the drips are beating down on my roof. A sound I find calming and reassuring. Must be a British thing. So I have had a long time to reflect.

And you know what? No. No to Stanford. It has to be the Columbia Full-time MBA, and I will do my darndest to get in.

Although living in New York City has been a dream for as long as I remember, that is only partially the reason for the MBA at Columbia. The main reason - my long-term goals, and the connections and networking I can do in NYC that I know will be without parallel anywhere else in the USA or the world.

I have a dream to bring small, profitable and promising companies or ideas and expand them into international markets. To do that alone, I will need venture capital. To do it for a company, I will need international contacts and money, the like of which exist nowhere but in New York. And to be taken seriously, the words "Columbia MBA" will be the clincher.

I've lived all over the world. And when I say "lived", I mean I didn't just go somewhere for a couple of weeks. I've lived - rented apartments, paid bills, opened bank accounts, got local travel cards, paid taxes, you name it. Abu Dhabi, London, Kuwait, Dubai, Bangkok, Shanghai, and Paris. And I count amongst the cities I know very well, Hong Kong, Singapore, Bahrain, Bombay, Stockholm, Bolzano... and more.

Now I'm ready to take someone, or some company, or some idea, and with the benefit of living and working in all of these places, help them to globalise. And where better to set myself up with the capability and contacts, than the world's true "global capital city". New York. And where else to gain the qualification in this city other than... Columbia.

It's nice to get doubts out of the way quickly. The French approach to thoughtfulness and reflection is superb. But you can't beat the anglo-saxon approach to taking an instinct and running with it, if you feel it will result in success.

Day 421: falling at the first hurdle? I hope not.

Ah, how difficult it is to dent my enthusiasm and divert me from my goals!

Yet, I have come across my first challenge, it seems.

My goal - a Columbia MBA. I don't care how I do it, but that's what I want. I want to be at Columbia, I want to study hard, I want to be in New York City!

So, fool that I am, I began to start looking at the demographic of successful applicants. How did i not notice this before? The age range of 2010 entrants was 23-37. Ouch! That would put me two years ABOVE the eldest entrant, if I'm successful for January 2012.

Undeterred, I sought advice from what appears to be an excellent MBA advisory website - www.accepted.com. I posted a brief resumé of my age and experience and education goal. The response? Consider an Executive MBA (or EMBA). It's aimed at older applicants with significant work experience.

So off I go, to the link for the Columbia EMBA - Americas and Europe to find out more. I see that working full-time is a pre-requisite, which is not an issue except that... oh wait! If I want to be based in NYC, how on earth do I get a visa to live there, let alone work there?

I like straight answers - and fast. So I called the contact number and spoke to a very pleasant lady and explained my plight. The result? This is going to be tougher than I thought.

First, I have to be in full-time employment. Great. I can work. But can I work in the USA? No, of course not. This isn't personal concern as I have the funding to study without working if need be. But can I get an education visa to allow me to stay in the USA if I am accepted to the EMBA course? Of course not.

Various other options were explained. The fact that I could regularly visit NYC to attend seminars. Or, since I'll be working in China, do likewise in Hong Kong. Great. None of this gets me relocated to NYC - remember, my dream? Study an MBA at Columbia. Not be an occasional visitor. I could do an online course with any university in the world and go to NYC on vacation, were that even a desireable option (which it isn't).

So, day 2 into the master plan... and some significant issues to... well... conquer!

Day 422. Perhaps the first day of the rest of my life?

I've always been a little on the presumptuous side. For those who know me, you'll immediately say "No, it's simply not true!" (and we both know, that itself is not true...)

But after many years of debate and reflection, I have finally made one of life's monumental decisions. I will embark on the Columbia MBA program in January 2012. 422 days away from today.

For those who look back on my blog in the years to come, when I am the Chairman, President, or whatever, of a very successful technology or fitness behemoth of a company, I hope you'll be inspired to read my path to getting there.

So far, aged 38 and sat in my appartment in Paris, I already have a past filled with amazing events which occurred in some fascinating locations around the world.

But after a large number of years of work and travel under my belt, the urge to excel internationally has finally caught up with me. My path to achieve this goal is clear. To be the best requires me to seek the best. The Columbia MBA. The essential stepping stone to leadership in the global world of business.

From a small town in the English countryside where I grew up and had a happy childhood, I have since lived in places as diverse as Kuwait, Bangkok, Shanghai, Abu Dhabi and Paris. I have worked on a one-square-mile island in the middle of the Arabian Gulf, to a nuclear research centre on an island in the Seine on the outskirts of Paris. I feel I've paid my dues and excelled in what I've achieved.

And so to Life - Phase II. Next stop, excellence in business education.

I have over a year until I set foot on the hallowed floors of Columbia's Manhattan campus. I've yet to finish my project in Paris, and by the end of this month I head out to China to work on the project which will fund this next step.

As you can no doubt imagine, this will make for another intriguing and unusual series of events to add to the patchwork of experiences which have led me to where I am today - and brought me to this significant decision.

I can't promise to entertain my readers throughout the charting of my progress, though I hope by accident this may happen. It is instead with dedication to my cause that I write this blog, so that it may inspire and educate those who may one day follow me. And essentially cut down on the effort it will one day take to write my memoirs!

So welcome aboard this adventure, and hold on tight. From Wiltshire, to Paris, via China, to NYC, it's sure to be a novel ride.