Welcome To My World!
A world that is magnificent and a world that often gives gifts hidden in such a way, that at the time they seem to be burdensome, but only the deserving get to take of the wrappers of the gift to find the true bounty within.
And so true was this of me, when at 16 I left school with a handful of useless certificates that were never going to get me very far in the corporate world.
At the time, I thought this was a curse, but it would later prove to me the greatest gift that could ever be bestowed upon me and it was a number of years later, before I saw the tresure that I held in my hands.
Hunger is a great motivator and will little money to support myself, I had no option but to find enough money to support my basic needs.
I looked around at my resourses, saw what I needed, picket up a bucket and ladder and knocked on my 1st door. 30 minutes later I was 1 pound better off and excited about what would come of this new venture.
At the end of the day, with 30 pounds in my pocket, I feasted like a king (you could do that in 1979 !) and an entrepreneur was born!
Entrepreneurs are often created in the same way. Many say that an entrepreneur is passion driven, which with time they maybe, but I think that many entrepreneurs, just like me, were desperation driven.
However, desperation or passion, it ignites something inside of us, something special, a burning flame that kindles all we do.
I did not know it at the tme, but I had just taken the first layer of my gift.
Many years later and many windows, floors and other medial jobs, I happened to be in the right place at the right time for the right man and I was offered an opportunity that would change my life forever.
I had been worjing for a number of years as a trainee in a restaurant in London to keep the bills from the door, and one day a customer walked in and told me that had been observing me over the last few weeks and they liked the way I worked and would I like to be an assistant to the manager?
Would I?
I jumped at the opportunity and this led me to becoming manager for them, opening two new restaurants with this group and an incredible education in management and responsibility.
Another layer was taken off the gift!
One door leads to another and I soon found myself with the keys to my very own night club and restaurant in the North of England and for two years liked the life of a wealthy businessman untl two years later we shut down due to poor business management.
However, the club had a small 100mw laser in it and throught Universal generosity I found myself the owner of nothing else, but this small laser. I had lost everything else to get this one small box.
And so I started providing small shows for small venues in order to keep the hunger and bills away and this led me to a meeting in September 0f 1991 where I was offered one of the biggest life changing opportunities I would ever be given.
I was talking to a man who told me about a show in Sevilla in Expo 92 they had the contract for and he was bothered that none of his staff could go because they had family obligations, mortgages and the such and they could not commit to a year wawy from home.
I offered to go and when the question came "Why should we send you? You know nothing about lasers or show production, why should we send you?"
I replied, "Because I can go!"
And so it was that on the 1st October 1991 I started learning all that I could with regards to lasers and in March 1992 I found myself inside a truck that would take me to my new home and a new adventure...on my way to Sevilla.
Another layer was removed from the gift!
I spent the next 4 years in Spain and absolutely loved the life, the freedom and lifestyle. I seemed to bounce from one opportunity to the next until in 1996 I went out to Brunei to host the 50th birthday party for the Sultan of Brunei in a concert that also included Michael Jackson and I spent the next two years providing shows for the Royal family unitl it all collasped in 1998 due to massive financial losses created by Prince Jeffrey.
I went to Manila, due to work permit requirements and met an man who had another project up his sleeve.
Over lunch the first weekend I knew him, he offered me a project that would create the avenue for my new amazing life. The Philippines was celebrating 100 years of Independance and I was chosen to be the project manager of the center piece laser and water screen show that would run from 1 year.
And so I began my new life in The Philippines in 1998 and have been living here ever since.
After the project closed, I decided to stay here (I was enjoying it after all) and opened my first company here called Argon Attraction Inc and my business partner and I promoted a new technology to the Philippines and became the first company with laser technology based in Manila.
All was good until, after completing the 1999 - 2000 Millennium show in the heart of Manila, my business partner ran off with all my money and assets, leaving me ina bankrupt situation for the second time in my life.
Here I was again with nothing in my life except the clothes that I stood in and less than $20 in my pocket, but that was all I needed to launch myself into the greates part of my life.
And another layer was taken of the gift!
Again I had the need to look at my assets to see what I could do and my greatest assets at that time were my list of 5 or 6 true friends who helped me get back on my feet.
One of those was a guy in Singapore who gave me some work in Bali, to get some funds together and combined that with passion and desperation (again) I started putting life together and just jumed back into creating my new future.
On 20th August 2001 I launched my new laser company called Argon Animation Inc and over 10 years later, it still is the only registered company dedicated exclusively to laser show production in The Philippines andbusiness is good.
I also started another company about 5 years ago called Argon Management Training Inc which was a micro sized endevour that promoted being an entrepreneur as a journey to solve our problems.
I think I am qualified by the obstacles and jurneys in my life to promote such a concept!
As so today I am Managing director of both companies and this year (2012) I am embarking on the biggest challenges of my life. I have just completed the purchase of 6,000 sq meters of land in Palawan (paradise) and will be constucting a house and training center so that we can carry on the training in luxury and I am also hosting an international convention called 12.12.12 designed to inspire attendees to greatness through the pursuit of being an entrepreneur.
Life is wonderful and as I take of another layer of the gift, I marvel at what my life has given me.
I do not know how many layers this gift has, but i know the closer I get to the center, the greater my life becomes and the gift of life as an entrepreneur become even grander.
And that is the reason that I advocate and promote life as an entrepreneur to all those that have the same magic running through their blood.
Join me in taking life in our own hands and enjoying the gift of FREEDOM
Tim Bennett
Manila 25th January 2012
Tim Bennett
Argon Management Training Inc
5th Floor, Builders Center Bldg,
170 Salcedo Street,
Legaspi Village,
Makati, Manila
Philippines
Contact via: http://www.ArgonManagementTraining.com/tim