A very simple plan

I'm in the process of starting a business, which is a relatively simple thing to do. People start businesses every day, everywhere, from every background. In fact, there are 11 women starting businesses in the small seaside town I live in right now, and we all met up today. We're doing this course, a brilliant free course to help us start our businesses. Every woman in that room has different strengths and different goals.

Mine just seems to be a little more different.

And ok, maybe a sleepy seaside town in rural England isn't the *traditional* location to start a tech company. And ok, maybe I am operating on a business framework and system that I can’t seem to find any information on because *maybe* no one has tried it yet. And ok, maybe my vision for this platform is *ambitious* for someone with no money.

But I don't think any of those are facts that can count as evidence against me.

I deal in very simple logic. It works, or it doesn't work. I have a good idea, or I don't. I can sell it, or I can't. And when it comes down to it, I can make it work, it is a good idea, and I can sell it. That seems, in my mind at least, enough to make a business.

Since moving to the coast, my life has become much simpler. And I think for the most part, I am happier for it. I no longer feel the need to prove myself and earn my place the way I did in the city. I can just be. I have experimented more with art and creativity than I have done in years. I've become more aware of different viewpoints and thoughts, and have been forced to co-exist with clashing ones. I'm starting to find a way to hold onto myself whilst being exposed to extremes. My life has become seasonal, and in doing so, Change is noticed and monitored in the weather, the tides, and myself. Something as simple as Skin, my skin used to be a to-do list or a never-ending problem to be fixed, now it’s a warning. I forgot that Skin is an organ; it has purpose. Yes, it holds you together, but it's also a warning system: too hot, too cold, too little water, too few hours sleep, too much sun, too little sun. How did I never know that? How did I manage to forget that the reason it exists is to warn me? Every spot, crack, and oil is a sign communicating what is going on. But really, that’s a very, very simple thought, the skin is a warning system.

But that gets lost. That simple purpose and reason for existence becomes forgotten and in turn ignored. Suddenly, the quick fixes and the makeup come out, the lip balm and the concealer. Instead of the water and sunshine. But Bodies need water more than lip balm. Bones need Sunlight and vitamin D more than concealer.

But it's more than that. These lessons have blead into my understanding of my industry. Of its sustainability. Of its warning systems. I can see the blinking alert flashing bolder and bolder now. And I know I need to fix it.

I never thought I would be the wanker staring out to sea dreaming of a world a little less shit. But here I am. Almost every day I go and look at the sea. I watch and I wait and I see what it has to tell me. Most days it tells me the same thing "What has always worked will always work"