NEIL JOHNSTON

The office at home…

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:15:29 +0000

The office at home…

ONLY 2 SPACES AVAILABLE on the @StoreVanMusic US Schools tour!! Dates in Michigan & Washington...

Sun, 13 Nov 2011 03:40:34 +0000

ONLY 2 SPACES AVAILABLE on the @StoreVanMusic US Schools tour!! Dates in Michigan & Washington D.C - @edudemic : http://t.co/ZKNRdeaO

WOWSERS! Universal to Buy EMI!!! http://t.co/40B0SfCa

Sat, 12 Nov 2011 09:52:39 +0000

WOWSERS! Universal to Buy EMI!!! http://t.co/40B0SfCa

RT @ICTEvangelist: RT @alexgingell: Had 2 share this from @ICTEvangelist ‘s CPD sesh 2day...

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 08:15:15 +0000

RT @ICTEvangelist: RT @alexgingell: Had 2 share this from @ICTEvangelist ‘s CPD sesh 2day http://t.co/P81HWFsl Great video, music & lear …

Should I quit watching @xfactor out of principle? Discuss. #misha2win #sophwasrobbed

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 12:14:50 +0000

Should I quit watching @xfactor out of principle? Discuss. #misha2win #sophwasrobbed

YEASS!! Finally my signed @Lord_Sugar book has arrived! #thewayiseeit http://t.co/eLsGasFC

Sat, 29 Oct 2011 07:52:43 +0100

YEASS!! Finally my signed @Lord_Sugar book has arrived! #thewayiseeit http://t.co/eLsGasFC

RT @coldplay: We’ve just heard that Mylo Xyloto has hit Number 1 in every iTunes Store in the...

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 18:21:58 +0100

RT @coldplay: We’ve just heard that Mylo Xyloto has hit Number 1 in every iTunes Store in the world (all 35 of them). Amazing. Thank you …

cannot understand why @coldplay #amexUNSTAGED is not trending with everything that is going down on...

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 14:52:31 +0100

cannot understand why @coldplay #amexUNSTAGED is not trending with everything that is going down on YouTube right now. Just. WOW…

RT @captic: A music class as you never dreamed about before http://t.co/CYbkHhWn via @InnovativeEdu...

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 12:17:05 +0100

RT @captic: A music class as you never dreamed about before http://t.co/CYbkHhWn via @InnovativeEdu #ipad

RT @Dave__Ashton: ‘Anti-capitalism’ protesters at St Paul’s have a blind spot when...

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 19:38:43 +0100

RT @Dave__Ashton: ‘Anti-capitalism’ protesters at St Paul’s have a blind spot when it comes 2 coffee - queues outside Starbucks gives th …

Bruno Mars = Best live band performance I’ve ever seen on #xfactor . Genius

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 06:34:49 +0100

Bruno Mars = Best live band performance I’ve ever seen on #xfactor . Genius

hey @piersmorgan time for another @rickygervais interview me thinks! C O N T R A V E R S I A L

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 01:11:34 +0100

hey @piersmorgan time for another @rickygervais interview me thinks! C O N T R A V E R S I A L

RT @andrewrennie: Some more excellent work from @StoreVanMusic showing the potential of iOS devices....

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 12:34:30 +0100

RT @andrewrennie: Some more excellent work from @StoreVanMusic showing the potential of iOS devices. #SVMiPad http://t.co/QyTTuPix

RT @terminal: iBand HD | Amazing! 24 Piece iPad Performance In School | #SVMiPad...

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 11:11:43 +0100

RT @terminal: iBand HD | Amazing! 24 Piece iPad Performance In School | #SVMiPad http://t.co/2o5YOIyh via @youtube

Curved Ball Day - Business Competition

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 19:08:00 +0100

I like being able to refer to myself as an entrepreneur, it sounds ace and it’s implications are great!

Today was an office day. Which Sound’s thrilling, I know :) but an integral part of being an entrepreneur…

Currently office life is busy, there’s a lot to do over the next 6 weeks so there’s no shortage of things to get on with. And from what I’ve learnt from business thus far, it’s that business has a great ability to stop you in your progress and throw in a curved ball… today was one of those days, a curved ball day.

Around noon, I recieved a phone call from a good freind of mine who’d happened upon a new rival company to my own. It’s always a funny feeling hearing someone phone and say those words, “Isn’t this what your company does Neil?” and the emotions start to run through your head…

“Oh crap. Oh crap. Oh crap”… which then casually evolves into “FIND and DESTROY them”… “Who are they? Where have they come from? What’s their website like?” etc etc etc…

Now my area of business isn’t entirely unique and I know of quite a few competators in the locality that offer similar services to our own in education. However, discovering a new one always creates a rush of panic around me…

I know that we offer the best, I just want to make sure that continues…

So the hunt begins…I spend an hour or so chatting this new business over in the office, phone a mate, chat it over with him, start researching…

When you’re in this panic state, you’re longing to find enough information, and it is STAGGERING what you can find!

I knew within half an hour the names of the directors to this rival offering, I even knew where they lived, (same town as me!) I knew where they went to university and what previous jobs they’d had (isn’t facebook wonderful) and much to my delight I knew they hadn’t yet registered their company name as a limited company! Whilst I was fighting back the urge to buy the business name in it’s incorporated form before they had the chance to, I realised it was getting a bit rediculous!

So I stopped. There’s something about business that means you have to be ruthless, you can’t just be nice and accepting all the time, you can’t just let people take over. I find that hard, especially in these situations. I want to see young entrepreneurs succeed, do well, I do not want encourage failure!

So whilst I evaluated my moral obligations in this situation, I gathered my thoughts and came to a conclusion…

Today may have been a curved ball, but a learning curve is the outcome…

Today I’ve learnt that my knowledge of my business is better than that of my new competition. I’ve learnt that I am comfortable in the knowledge that hours and hours of work is needed to make this type of business a success. I’ve found with 4 years experience here, that I need 2 parts to the make-up of my business, because financially, 1 part takes a good 10 years to bring home some serious cash… and I’ve learnt that I’ve made and learnt from the mistakes this new company is yet to make.

Most importantly however, I’ve learnt that 90% of my business is me.

There are no copies, no duplicates, just different ideas and personalities. I will ensure that my company goes one better on any competition - but whilst any new company may attempt to take our business, our ethos, or our image. They won’t succeed to take 90% of what we’re about. Regardless of how hard they try.

Bring it on me hearties,

I’m ALL OVER IT.

Neil.

M-Audio Keystation Mini 32

Fri, 09 Sep 2011 13:57:00 +0100

Today I received the Keystation Mini 32 from M-Audio/AVID, a new, exciting solution for portable audio performance/composition…

The user interface is excellent with a few added extras you wouldn’t expect, plus the key distribution and size is just perfect for playing on such a small device. I strongly see this being a much better alternative to the Korg Nanokey set-up, due to the much more playable key distribution.

You’ll no doubt see me debut this product at the various Apple store shows coming up over the coming months here in the UK and the US.

Already rocking mine with my iPad 2 and GarageBand!

Nice one, M-Audio!

So this video is all about showing the creative uses for iOs...

Sat, 20 Aug 2011 00:06:23 +0100

So this video is all about showing the creative uses for iOs devices, even as a professional composer - they have a home in my music creation platform, as this new video will show, loving using it as a tool…

We’re using the OWLE bubo for our new video - we’ve...

Sat, 20 Aug 2011 00:05:10 +0100

We’re using the OWLE bubo for our new video - we’ve got the iPhone 4 Pro HD kit, it’s a brut, with some great results too…

It’s been 2 days of solid graft filming a follow up to our...

Sat, 20 Aug 2011 00:03:00 +0100

It’s been 2 days of solid graft filming a follow up to our recent iPad viral.

I’ve been employed to compose music for a new iPhone game that is just awesome! I’ll be releasing the new video upon the games release!

So a simple small video shoot to an entertaining piece of music for a bonkers iPhone game… easy right? NO! check the amount of gear I ended up using!

RT @piersmorgan: Love this picture, these people are the REAL Great Britain: http://t.co/6E3VGje...

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 08:59:23 +0100

RT @piersmorgan: Love this picture, these people are the REAL Great Britain: http://t.co/6E3VGje #riotcleanup @Lawcol888