[Music]
identities a confusing thing right it
means different things for different
people now for me it means also the
question who is Timothy ami and this is
something which I struggle with pretty
much all my life and my hope is at the
end of this conversation with you guys
I’ll finally come to an answer about
this so this is actually me at six
months old I was born in Hackney and I
went to Ghana before my first birthday
to live in my nan for ten years and one
of the most interesting things is when
you live in Ghana you get you know a
really wide array of experiences the
first kind of struggle I had I guess
with identity was when I was three years
old and I was watching the Olympics 1996
Olympics and I saw the swimming
competition and I saw how these people
just glided and jetted through the water
and came out looking all glorious and I
said I want to be a swimmer and so I did
two things number one I told my Nana and
I said hey none right because that’s
exactly what I was talking out three
Hainan right I like two things number
one I’d like some floats and a swimming
trunk because I am now about to become a
swimmer and the second thing I said was
can you build me a swimming pool she
didn’t go with the second one but she
did decide to get me portable swimming
pool as you can see in the picture there
and when I got my swimming trunks on my
float I decided this is me I am now a
swimmer and I just walked around through
the whole house wearing these really
short swimming trunks and these floats
I even slept in them right which is
hella bizarre and when my Nan’s friends
came along and introduced my surface I’m
Tim oh the swimmer that was my identity
at that moment now how did that phase
actually end as you can see in that
picture there I have three friends who
were in the pool
and I am not so how did they actually
end the first time I stepped into the
pool I slipped my head fell face-first
into the water and as you can see it’s
not particularly deep but if you’re
three years old and water just smacked
into your face you’re basically drowning
so to me I imagine I have now had a
near-death experience and because of
that I am 23 now and I do not know how
to swim so this identity of Timo the
swimmer completely gone the next
identity phase I had was Tim oh the
magician now again similar to swimming I
watch a TV show and I saw these
magicians and I saw how they were just
command in the audience and everyone was
all in an hour and every single thing
they did and I said I’m gonna be a
magician and that is me right now went
back to my nan Hainan two things number
one I want a magic set number two I
realized that all the magicians
basically have they just look amazing
they all come out in these suits and
braces and tie so I said I won those
exact same things so as you can see in
this picture here I have a bowtie and
braces and they match as well just put
out there and that was me there that was
Tim oh the magician and I performed
magic tricks everywhere I went again
when I met mine and friends hello I’m
Tim oh the magician and I’ve prepared
tricks for them and they’ll blow oh my
gosh
weren’t you a swimmer two years ago but
you know it changes right now how did
this end as you can see I had my first
ever show it was so down when I say
sewed out there were four people my nan
her friend the gardener the gardener’s
friend and they all came to my sold-out
show and the trick that I was trying to
do here was this it’s kind of tricky to
you where you hold like Moe teases you
holding your hand but it kind of like
disappears as you do this the whole
ideas that goes into your sleeve when I
perform that trick
it’s stuck at the top of my sleeve so
that ended my magician face I was no
longer Tim o the magician if I couldn’t
do the most basic magic trick so here I
am as a kid a three and five of Happy’s
like identity crisis I don’t know who
the hell I am I’m not a swimmer I’m not
a magician what the hell I want
so leave that to them becoming a
teenager don’t see this property but
this is me as you can see and this is me
at 14 and when I was 14 I was again
really captivated by people like Rupert
Murdoch I know love more hate him but
Rupert Murdoch and I was reactivated by
the fact that he owned this media empire
which he was able to use to really
influence people and really change
perceptions about anything and that got
me thinking maybe my identity is to be
an editor maybe that’s it and so what I
then decided to do was I decided to run
for the university sorry for the school
editor-in-chief of the magazine
vocalise I ran i won and i then became
the editor-in-chief of my school
publication vocalise and i learned
somewhere that if you were to be an
editor you needed to do two things
number one you needed to have really
square glasses because that suggested to
people that you’d read a lot so I got
myself a pair of fake square glasses and
the second thing was I thought you need
to get these big headphones which you
can then connect with a recorder and go
around asking people’s views on topics
that’s exactly what I did and it said
the teachers to the students big
headphones here I’m listening to them
listen to you and that was great I love
that and from the age of 14 to 16 whilst
in secondary school I was the
editor-in-chief of my school publication
and I loved it and I told myself yes
this is my identity I am an editor that
is me no one can take it away from me
that’s what I went to sixth form and at
six form
I discovered this thing called
entrepreneurship I met a guy called Ryan
Ryan was 17 – and it started a blog when
he was 17 and was making 20,000 pounds a
month from it and I said I want to be
like Ryan because the challenge of being
young and being able to kind of build a
business like this was something which
really enthused me more than being an
editor-in-chief of a magazine so that
got me to my next thing my first proper
company I started something before when
I wasn’t really that was kind of like
play business right this is my first
proper business and the idea was
entrepreneur express it was a business
publication both online and offline and
the whole idea was can we create a
publication which inspires other people
to start their own companies which by
the way side note is the most like
hilarious thing he starts a business to
help other people start businesses and
so we had an offline version and an
online version we managed to secure
interviews with people as you can see
with Richard Branson people like Alan
Sugar James Caan we managed to cure this
big profile interviews and in the
offline version we managed to secure
distribution deals with the with the
country’s best universities so people
Oxford Cambridge Imperial LSE we signed
up them to be our distribution partners
and said hey this is what we’re actually
going to bring to you next September and
it’s going to inspire all your students
so I was 17 then and I forgot a
fundamental problem with this print
publication nobody really reads
pre-publication and advertisers don’t
really want to advertise in there unless
you are this big brand so what happened
there was we couldn’t sell enough
advertising to actually sustain the
offline version and so the offline
version tanked but we spent all our time
invested in the online version and we
built the blog up built it up made some
money and then in ten months I got this
email from a guy I’ll never forget his
name name was Joe Murray and Joe said
hey I really like what Entrepreneur
Express is doing would you like to have
a chat about partnering up I’m 17 I’m
like what the hell does I mean by a man
let’s have a Skype
I had to set up Scott 4:17 just for that
cool hilarious anyway and so he does
said actually ahead of our cool can you
like send over stats about your website
I sent over the stats and then in our
Skype call
he says starts the conversation of and
says actually do you know what
rather than partnering up with you guys
why don’t we just buy you guys and I
remember that image there I was 17 I was
wearing red Manchester United’s shorts
on a Friday at 2:00 a.m. and he said why
don’t we buy you guys for fifty five
thousand pounds and I said raw
because that’s 17 you’re like Jesus
Christ that is the ton of money and I
saw the company and I showed it at 17
for 55 grand
and to me that was my identity I said
yes
this is it I’m an entrepreneur I know
how to do business and then as I started
another company afterwards Fanbox
paralyzes the company I’m running now I
started this when I was 21 and I said
actually maybe my identity is being an
entrepreneur like that’s the thing I’m
able to do so therefore I’m going to use
this throughout my whole life and this
is what people are going to know me as I
started fan biased with my co-founder
here I think that you in the audience
right now and fan bytes marketing
company I said yes this is me we work
with all these big brands I said this is
me this is the buzz this is everything
that I’m going to do in my life I am an
entrepreneur when people asked me to
introduce myself hey I’m Tim early
entrepreneur
it wasn’t Tim or the swimmer was in term
of the magician wasn’t Timothy editor it
was Tim of the entrepreneur that was my
identity even we had things like this
featured in Forbes even a standard I
said yes this is me every single time we
had something good I was like this
enforces my identity but then I realized
something I realized I’m not
entrepreneur in the same way I’m not a
swimmer I’m not a magician I’m not an
editor it finally struck me that
actually this was the outstanding thing
here that I just created my own identity
there was no pre-requisite which said
Tim oh is this Tim oh is that Tim oh is
that there is no pre-requisite which
said this is what you have to do with
your life or this is what you actually
have to be and you have this ability to
me to be able to just create the life
that you actually want and the life that
you actually care about there is nothing
that says that you are this type of
person and to me this is one of the most
liberating things
the fact that I don’t see myself as an
entrepreneur I don’t see myself as a
magician I don’t see myself as a swimmer
I can’t swim
so therefore I can’t see myself a
swimmer but to me the most liberating
thing is I’m just tim oh’ and I can
decide to be whoever I want to be next
year tomorrow I could shut everything
down and go become a scuba diver if I
wanted to that’d be a problem because I
can’t swim but that’s beyond the point
and to me this is one of the things that
I really want to leave here with this
idea of embracing the fact that your
identity is not this fixed thing it’s
something that constantly changes and
these herbs and flows and anytime you
have this kind of fixation in your mind
that I am meant to be this person I am
meant to be a doctor I meant to be a
lawyer the most pressing things should
be the fact that you’re not actually
meant to be anything you literally
define who you want to be in three four
or five years I don’t think I’m gonna be
a lunchable oh lord knows what I’m going
to be doing but for me that is where it
gets incredibly excited and I embrace
the chaos and I embrace the fact that I
have no flippin idea what I’m going to
be doing in the next five years and that
to me is what identity constitutes the
chaos the craziness and the not knowing
who you actually are is the most
exciting part of your identity
[Applause]
[Music]
identities a confusing thing right it
means different things for different
people now for me it means also the
question who is Timothy ami and this is
something which I struggle with pretty
much all my life and my hope is at the
end of this conversation with you guys
I’ll finally come to an answer about
this so this is actually me at six
months old I was born in Hackney and I
went to Ghana before my first birthday
to live in my nan for ten years and one
of the most interesting things is when
you live in Ghana you get you know a
really wide array of experiences the
first kind of struggle I had I guess
with identity was when I was three years
old and I was watching the Olympics 1996
Olympics and I saw the swimming
competition and I saw how these people
just glided and jetted through the water
and came out looking all glorious and I
said I want to be a swimmer and so I did
two things number one I told my Nana and
I said hey none right because that’s
exactly what I was talking out three
Hainan right I like two things number
one I’d like some floats and a swimming
trunk because I am now about to become a
swimmer and the second thing I said was
can you build me a swimming pool she
didn’t go with the second one but she
did decide to get me portable swimming
pool as you can see in the picture there
and when I got my swimming trunks on my
float I decided this is me I am now a
swimmer and I just walked around through
the whole house wearing these really
short swimming trunks and these floats
I even slept in them right which is
hella bizarre and when my Nan’s friends
came along and introduced my surface I’m
Tim oh the swimmer that was my identity
at that moment now how did that phase
actually end as you can see in that
picture there I have three friends who
were in the pool
and I am not so how did they actually
end the first time I stepped into the
pool I slipped my head fell face-first
into the water and as you can see it’s
not particularly deep but if you’re
three years old and water just smacked
into your face you’re basically drowning
so to me I imagine I have now had a
near-death experience and because of
that I am 23 now and I do not know how
to swim so this identity of Timo the
swimmer completely gone the next
identity phase I had was Tim oh the
magician now again similar to swimming I
watch a TV show and I saw these
magicians and I saw how they were just
command in the audience and everyone was
all in an hour and every single thing
they did and I said I’m gonna be a
magician and that is me right now went
back to my nan Hainan two things number
one I want a magic set number two I
realized that all the magicians
basically have they just look amazing
they all come out in these suits and
braces and tie so I said I won those
exact same things so as you can see in
this picture here I have a bowtie and
braces and they match as well just put
out there and that was me there that was
Tim oh the magician and I performed
magic tricks everywhere I went again
when I met mine and friends hello I’m
Tim oh the magician and I’ve prepared
tricks for them and they’ll blow oh my
gosh
weren’t you a swimmer two years ago but
you know it changes right now how did
this end as you can see I had my first
ever show it was so down when I say
sewed out there were four people my nan
her friend the gardener the gardener’s
friend and they all came to my sold-out
show and the trick that I was trying to
do here was this it’s kind of tricky to
you where you hold like Moe teases you
holding your hand but it kind of like
disappears as you do this the whole
ideas that goes into your sleeve when I
perform that trick
it’s stuck at the top of my sleeve so
that ended my magician face I was no
longer Tim o the magician if I couldn’t
do the most basic magic trick so here I
am as a kid a three and five of Happy’s
like identity crisis I don’t know who
the hell I am I’m not a swimmer I’m not
a magician what the hell I want
so leave that to them becoming a
teenager don’t see this property but
this is me as you can see and this is me
at 14 and when I was 14 I was again
really captivated by people like Rupert
Murdoch I know love more hate him but
Rupert Murdoch and I was reactivated by
the fact that he owned this media empire
which he was able to use to really
influence people and really change
perceptions about anything and that got
me thinking maybe my identity is to be
an editor maybe that’s it and so what I
then decided to do was I decided to run
for the university sorry for the school
editor-in-chief of the magazine
vocalise I ran i won and i then became
the editor-in-chief of my school
publication vocalise and i learned
somewhere that if you were to be an
editor you needed to do two things
number one you needed to have really
square glasses because that suggested to
people that you’d read a lot so I got
myself a pair of fake square glasses and
the second thing was I thought you need
to get these big headphones which you
can then connect with a recorder and go
around asking people’s views on topics
that’s exactly what I did and it said
the teachers to the students big
headphones here I’m listening to them
listen to you and that was great I love
that and from the age of 14 to 16 whilst
in secondary school I was the
editor-in-chief of my school publication
and I loved it and I told myself yes
this is my identity I am an editor that
is me no one can take it away from me
that’s what I went to sixth form and at
six form
I discovered this thing called
entrepreneurship I met a guy called Ryan
Ryan was 17 – and it started a blog when
he was 17 and was making 20,000 pounds a
month from it and I said I want to be
like Ryan because the challenge of being
young and being able to kind of build a
business like this was something which
really enthused me more than being an
editor-in-chief of a magazine so that
got me to my next thing my first proper
company I started something before when
I wasn’t really that was kind of like
play business right this is my first
proper business and the idea was
entrepreneur express it was a business
publication both online and offline and
the whole idea was can we create a
publication which inspires other people
to start their own companies which by
the way side note is the most like
hilarious thing he starts a business to
help other people start businesses and
so we had an offline version and an
online version we managed to secure
interviews with people as you can see
with Richard Branson people like Alan
Sugar James Caan we managed to cure this
big profile interviews and in the
offline version we managed to secure
distribution deals with the with the
country’s best universities so people
Oxford Cambridge Imperial LSE we signed
up them to be our distribution partners
and said hey this is what we’re actually
going to bring to you next September and
it’s going to inspire all your students
so I was 17 then and I forgot a
fundamental problem with this print
publication nobody really reads
pre-publication and advertisers don’t
really want to advertise in there unless
you are this big brand so what happened
there was we couldn’t sell enough
advertising to actually sustain the
offline version and so the offline
version tanked but we spent all our time
invested in the online version and we
built the blog up built it up made some
money and then in ten months I got this
email from a guy I’ll never forget his
name name was Joe Murray and Joe said
hey I really like what Entrepreneur
Express is doing would you like to have
a chat about partnering up I’m 17 I’m
like what the hell does I mean by a man
let’s have a Skype
I had to set up Scott 4:17 just for that
cool hilarious anyway and so he does
said actually ahead of our cool can you
like send over stats about your website
I sent over the stats and then in our
Skype call
he says starts the conversation of and
says actually do you know what
rather than partnering up with you guys
why don’t we just buy you guys and I
remember that image there I was 17 I was
wearing red Manchester United’s shorts
on a Friday at 2:00 a.m. and he said why
don’t we buy you guys for fifty five
thousand pounds and I said raw
because that’s 17 you’re like Jesus
Christ that is the ton of money and I
saw the company and I showed it at 17
for 55 grand
and to me that was my identity I said
yes
this is it I’m an entrepreneur I know
how to do business and then as I started
another company afterwards Fanbox
paralyzes the company I’m running now I
started this when I was 21 and I said
actually maybe my identity is being an
entrepreneur like that’s the thing I’m
able to do so therefore I’m going to use
this throughout my whole life and this
is what people are going to know me as I
started fan biased with my co-founder
here I think that you in the audience
right now and fan bytes marketing
company I said yes this is me we work
with all these big brands I said this is
me this is the buzz this is everything
that I’m going to do in my life I am an
entrepreneur when people asked me to
introduce myself hey I’m Tim early
entrepreneur
it wasn’t Tim or the swimmer was in term
of the magician wasn’t Timothy editor it
was Tim of the entrepreneur that was my
identity even we had things like this
featured in Forbes even a standard I
said yes this is me every single time we
had something good I was like this
enforces my identity but then I realized
something I realized I’m not
entrepreneur in the same way I’m not a
swimmer I’m not a magician I’m not an
editor it finally struck me that
actually this was the outstanding thing
here that I just created my own identity
there was no pre-requisite which said
Tim oh is this Tim oh is that Tim oh is
that there is no pre-requisite which
said this is what you have to do with
your life or this is what you actually
have to be and you have this ability to
me to be able to just create the life
that you actually want and the life that
you actually care about there is nothing
that says that you are this type of
person and to me this is one of the most
liberating things
the fact that I don’t see myself as an
entrepreneur I don’t see myself as a
magician I don’t see myself as a swimmer
I can’t swim
so therefore I can’t see myself a
swimmer but to me the most liberating
thing is I’m just tim oh’ and I can
decide to be whoever I want to be next
year tomorrow I could shut everything
down and go become a scuba diver if I
wanted to that’d be a problem because I
can’t swim but that’s beyond the point
and to me this is one of the things that
I really want to leave here with this
idea of embracing the fact that your
identity is not this fixed thing it’s
something that constantly changes and
these herbs and flows and anytime you
have this kind of fixation in your mind
that I am meant to be this person I am
meant to be a doctor I meant to be a
lawyer the most pressing things should
be the fact that you’re not actually
meant to be anything you literally
define who you want to be in three four
or five years I don’t think I’m gonna be
a lunchable oh lord knows what I’m going
to be doing but for me that is where it
gets incredibly excited and I embrace
the chaos and I embrace the fact that I
have no flippin idea what I’m going to
be doing in the next five years and that
to me is what identity constitutes the
chaos the craziness and the not knowing
who you actually are is the most
exciting part of your identity
[Applause]
[Music]
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