Hi, I’m Robert Needham and before starting my online business I had a professional career as an Architect, which later led me into Construction and Property Development. 

Now many people would see this as a worthwhile and fulfilling path, right? But many times through my career I had a strong sense that something wasn’t quite right, like something was missing. 

My early aspirations of being a creative designer with appreciative clients and a fulfilling lifestyle were quickly replaced with long hours in the office or in the car, endless email, meetings and networking. And as I became more senior, it only got worse. It didn’t feel like the career I wanted.

Having always been ambitious, I found that over time I had lost my drive. I didn’t feel fulfilled or like I had a purpose. 

I began to feel like I wasn’t in control of my own time or future. In fact, it felt firmly in the hands of other people, and I didn’t like it!

I felt like I was moving further away from who I really was. 

But for a long time I stuck with it. Having spent 7 years studying at university to become an Architect, and having built a career in the property world I thought I had too much invested to change direction and start again. And anyway, I wasn’t qualified to do anything else, so I had to stick with what I know!

I thought my my only real escape was to do what I had seen many others do before me, and start my own consultancy business. But I also knew that these other people still worked long hours, networked for business and ultimately trade their time for money – which is exactly what I wanted to escape from. 

The Shift 

The real moment of clarity came for me when my wife and I decided to start a family. I was clear that I no longer wanted to spend so much time working or being out on the road. I didn’t want to miss out on the early years of my children and so wanted to be able to spend more time at home and creating memories. I wanted to be a big part of my child’s life. 

I came to realise that it was my time to make a change. It wasn’t something that I could put off and ignore any more (I always told myself I would make a change later). Many years of frustration and lack of fulfilment had to end.  

I knew I wanted MY life to be back in MY hands. 

I started to look for ways of creating income that also gave me the freedom to live the lifestyle I now (and had always) wanted. 

To do this I created a list of requirements that had to be met by my new venture. And I made them non-negotiable. They were:

• I wanted complete flexibility over where and how I worked
• I wanted to choose how much I worked
• I wanted an income that didn’t trade my time for money
• I didn’t want to retrain before I could start earning an income