When I met AJ and Melissa Leon from Misfit-Inc I was living in London, single, mid 20’s, proud of my lifes achievements, but looking for much more.
After approaching the Misfit duo at a work conference; we met up, dreamed up “martynsibley.com“, and I dreamed of everything it could lead to. I imagined my personal story inspiring disabled children of a brighter future, my blogs educating society about disability in a positive way, being a spokesperson on national media, leaving my job to run my own business, creating innovative projects, falling in love and travelling the world.
Now, 5 years on, you know what? It all happened, and more! Flying a plane, SCUBA diving, European Roadtrip and John o Groats to Lands End included.
Interestingly a lot of my articles in the past year or so have been more about my health and finances. For me this shows we always need dreams, but we all struggle, we adapt resiliently, learn relevant skills, connect with new people, hopefully succeed or have a rethink, and then repeat the cycle.
When I started my own business in 2010 I believed that by doing work I loved, and by serving others; income would sort itself out. I had early successes. I was asked to speak at events, run Social Media training days, write strategies for organisations and facilitate webinars for disabled people with councils.
The problem was by being a consultant I always had to be present. The business model wasn’t scalable. I was doing the same projects, when I like variety. I had no regular income, when I like to pay the bills.
I was on a treadmill. Things had to change.
Concurrent to my blog and consultancy services, Disability Horizons magazine has exploded with success. Srin and I have worked hard this year on having a company that has; a big dream, good principles, a plan, is aware of the hurdles ahead, and knows what defines it’s own future success.
As a result we’re working together better than ever, sharing the load, managing a team of volunteers, launching a rebrand with the Misfits, publishing amazing articles, improving our engagement on social media, and growing our impact.
We’re so proud of our team and Disability Horizons progress.
To ensure financial liquidity we now run a Social Enterprise. Various clients partner with us. We take a message, have our agency staff create great content and we disseminate it.
“A creative agency, run by your target audience”.
In 2015 we are launching new products and features around care, equipment and leisure. Plus our message is stronger than ever; disabled people shouldn’t be made to feel anything less than equal.
The sky is the limit and we hope you’ll join our flight?
Martyn
Tweets @martynsibley
World Changer @ www.martynsibley.com
Co Founder @ www.
Social Media Man @ sma.sunnierdays.co.uk
Healthy Goodness @ www.todaherbal.co.uk
