Daniel Davies

Last year I was sat alone in my house in Tyseley, single, in a stable but mundane job and kind of bored. You see, I'm that "sensible one". I'm that guy telling his drunken mates to shush as they sing their way home at 3 in the morning. I'm that guy that keeps things simple, stays within boundaries and thinks too much. An introvert, so to speak.

No. That was a word I used a lot. Turning things down because I didn't really know what would be in store. I also used "but". That's a great idea, but... How boring? So I promised myself I'd try to be more positive, I'd say, That's a great idea and. When presented with the unknown I would not say no, or but. I'd just say yes and and. I'd see where it took it, after all, I'm still young and can start again at any point.

January

Nicky Getgood advertised her need for a lodger. I needed a place to live, so I said yes. Now I live in Digbeth, and I love it! I also saw a question on Twitter that month, "who wants to run a Twestival in their city?". Not in a million years would I have even considered running an event like this, but none the less I threw the idea out there to the guys from work, and then BrumTwestival raised £1,500 for charity! Unfortunately I didn't know anything about the following BrumTwestival, but I believe that it did even better!

Febuary

Dave Walker suggested I ditch control panel based hosting and do it all myself on the command line. I moved all of my websites to a new infrastructure and the experience took me on a crash course in Linux admin, and now hosting is one of my main incomes!

March

Someone said there needed to be a website that told you what the Sub of the Day was at Subway. A pointless idea, I'd look pretty sad making that website. So, I built it anyway, and as the most visited website I've ever owned its taught me some lessons. One, simplicity. Two, having a purpose. By combining a purpose, with a really simple idea you're likely to find yourself a success. No matter how sad an idea may seem, do it for fun and see what happens.

April

My mother suggested I spend a few hours speaking APTUK about their website and hosting. I'd shyed away from such large freelance work, but I said yes none the less. Little did I know they would become my first major client on the path to self employment.

May

Nicola, who wasn't my girlfriend at the time, suggested we meet up. She'd "accidentally" added me on Facebook once, mistaking me for someone else. We'd chatted from time to time, had a lot in common, but I'd never have considered meeting an Internet stranger. Anyway, I said yes! We're still together.

June

Nicola suggested we go to a car boot sale. They'd never appealed to me before, but now they're a bit of an obsession of mine (the thirty+ collection of 2nd hand video games is testament to this).

July

Rhubarb Radio (well, Mark Steadman), asked me for a little help setting up the Rhubarb Radio mail server. I said yes. It was too much! I learned saying yes to "everything" can be difficult, and will no doubt leave people disappointed. I setup the mail server as I promised, but made a conscious effort from then on to be more selective in the projects I get involved with.

August

Dave Walker (who seems to be having quite an influence on my life...) said I should start my own company. I didn't say yes straight away, but as the idea lingered around my mind I thought, "to hell with it, I'm going to do it!" By the end of the month I'd left my job, and haven't looked back since.

September

A company in London asked me if I could help them migrate some websites. It didn't look like much work, and it wasn't really my "niche". To be honest, any work I could get at that point was good work so I did it on the cheap anyway. Now that client sends me work at least once a month. I learned that when running a business the best income is a steady flow from a small client base, rather than hopping project to project.

November

Some folks at Clusta asked me if I'd be interested in having an office in their building. A big commitment indeed, after all, I thought I was doing fine working from home. But I said yes none the less. My productivity has increased ten fold since leaving the bedroom!

December

I went to see a band called Monster Magnet. I hung around after the gig to buy a t-shirt and after the crowds had cleared the band emerged. They came over and said they'd seen us at the front "rocking out". After a bit of chat they asked us (the people I was with) if we could take them for a drink. I said yes, without a moment's hesitation! But we didn't go... The people I was with weren't up for it. Apparently because the car-park closed in 45 minutes we wouldn't have time. This is when it dawned on me how much I'd changed over the year. I didn't care about the car-park, or getting home; I'd deal with that when the time came. To go for a drink with one of your favourite bands is one time opportunity, and by people saying no I saw what a bore I was last year.

How has saying yes changed me? Well the lesson I really learned is that life is more fun when you say yes. You experience new things. As my December entry shows, you only really regret the things you didn't try.

I've moved house, started a company, found new hobbies, found a very special someone - all because I said a yes.

I'm now more confident, more fun, less lonely and happier with life in general. I'd highly recommend anyone else who shys away from the unknown, or thinks too much just to give it a go. Say YES!