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***As I make plans to return to the sun-kissed lands of the Canaries, a look back to last year when I embarked on an adventure there. This was the first of a couple of posts covering some of the antics of those few months…***
First up – why Tenerife and what am I doing?
A few months back when re-assessing the next phase of my life, I got chatting to a chap called Simon on LinkedIn, who was working with a company called Canary PR over in Tenerife, initially through the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs program. He said it could be something worth looking in to…
Indeed it was. After writing an article for Canary PR to see if we jived – fast forward a few months, an application to EYE, a bit of back and forth and right now I’m writing this in an apartment in Playa San Juan, half-way up the west coast of the island.
I won’t go in to the program much here, you can check that out for yourself… suffice to say, the ‘young’ part of it simply means the amount of time you’ve been in business (ie. under 3 years) rather than your age!
It’s an initiative through the European Union (I’ll get on to some irony later… don’t mention the B word!) providing funding and support for those with ideas and a desire to make things happen. You bring those to the table and you could receive funding from them along with support from a ‘host’ entrepreneur, ie. a person with an ongoing business of over 3 years who will help give you the boost, structure and momentum with your project(s), in exchange for you bringing some of your skills to their business.
Of course, there are many other places you can do this across Europe and even the world. I didn’t so much select Tenerife, but rather it chose me in the sense that I never looked at other options due to the sequence of events. I’m fairly happy how it turned out though ;). No stranger to Tenerife as I had holidays here as a kid along with a month one summer in my 20s… this is obviously a slightly different scenario but a nice twist to proceedings.
It’s a small world!
Since arriving, I’ve met up with the charismatic John Beckley who is my main contact. I’m pleased to say we all have a similar ethos in the way we should work and live. No bosses, no hierarchy, no fixed workplace. A person steering the ship (John), sure, along with building our individual personal brands along of that of Canary PR (and wider future projects for sure). Plus a central office base where we can go to work and see each other in person, but certainly not clocking in and out, those days have gone (or are on their way out). Also, the importance of work and play being closely linked and not mutually exclusive.
Not only that, I found out in our first conversation that John (who is from South Africa) spent time playing cricket in my home town in England… what are the odds!
So, what’s my contribution?
My core business is copywriting, so I will continue building my own client base as well as contributing to that of Canary PR and their associates. There are potential projects galore on the horizon, so watch this space. I don’t see writing as my end game but it certainly will be a strong feature in bringing it all together.
In terms of the length of time doing the program, that depends a little on certain political situations ironing themselves out. That B-word I mentioned earlier. Yes, good ol’ Brexit (please, no more. In, out, shake it all about but let’s all move on and not speak of it again). Ideally I’ll be doing 5 months taking us right up to August but it could come to an abrupt halt at the end of the this month (March).
Either way, I intend to stay and continue my work. It just might not be through this EU initiative but these few weeks at least give me a chance to get established and get things moving.
What have I done so far?
I’ve already gone on a few excursions and written about them for the Pearly Grey hotel in Callao Salvaje. I will add the links here to those articles, but in short; a full day bus trip around the west of the island, a 4 hour boat trip cruising the coast and a trike ride in there too!
Next week will be about getting sorted with new accommodation, shooting some promotional videos, more writing and project planning.
Do follow along with me/us. Get involved on the Socials below!
Twitter: @adambarratt
Facebook: @FortressFree
Instagram: @adam.barratt
Canary PR Twitter
Canary PR Facebook
Canary PR Instagram
Hopefully, I’ll look to do a weekly round up of these kind of posts. I’m in the process of deciding what to centre in on as my main project/base and updating my various profiles, so there could be some changes afoot. Whichever way, there will be an update or 2 around the interwebs 😀
Salud!
~ Adam
@adambarratt
P.S. I also wrote another post on the Canary PR blog which is similar in nature but with a few twists (including a video) so check that one out too!
* Images my own
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