Eid Mubarak. Have a blessed day with your loved ones. Cray cray times out there; today is a day to just switch off and be present to celebrate. On a personal note, the Minotaur Ramadan Challenge has finished: No junk food No fried food No fizzy drinks We did it! Althing we failed on the no desserts. Just had my first bit of fried food on Eid. Already regretting it!! Need to go even harder with the discipline post ramadan. Anyhow, enjoy your day! 🥳🎉🎈🎊

Not only a phenomenal story for AI and brand building - this guy has regularly spoken up about Palestine. You can imagine the hate he will have gotten in return, so to still do this is extraordinary. Also emphasises why we need to build more proper tech brands and companies. The impact on changing lives is huge, as well as changing society. But the influence that also comes from it puts it on another level. Think of your brands as more than just profit generating enterprises. Because they are so much more than that. Especially at a time when we need to realign focus of brands legitimately uplifting humanity as opposed to destroying it as long as it makes a profit.

Your mind is an intricate maze, buried deep inside is the Minotaur... ...symbolic of fears, doubts, insecurities, anxieties, ego and self deceptions. In today's world, one of the biggest self-deceptive Minotaurs is faux-outrage. Getting angry, upset and worked up about everything and anything. Not because it's entirely legit, but because it gets attention. Even when it's legit, the Minotaur creeps up and turns sincerity into rage-baiting attention seeking. Don't succumb. Reflect instead using the TECA framework: Think Evolve Contribute Ascend Inner work and deep thinking is the only way to evolve. Once you improve yourself, then you can contribute by helping others. Done for the right reasons, and not for attention-seeking ego, is what leads to spiritual ascension.

Anytime I’ve not got to where I want to be… …it’s been because I refused to change my habits & behaviours. Thinking is easy. Changing behaviour is hard. Don’t default to believing strategising is progress. Don’t think results will come without dealing with your internal Minotaurs. Visibility won’t come without exposure. Exposure is daunting alone. Get the support you need to overcome these trainable issues. The Minotaur Video Exemplar programme was built for this…message me.

There's a rise in Muslim brands, which is great to see. However, there's an element to be weary of if you decide to do the same. And that's you will be held to a higher standard, but also you'll attract comments from peeps who won't like the religion being used for branding purposes. It's also down to how quite a few are doing it all wrong by utilising over-hyped American style marketing. Might work in America. Doesn't work in the UK. Certainly doesn't align with many Muslims' standards. This is not to discourage it from happening. But to just be ready for judgment, even if your intentions are pure. And to use the right type of marketing; because if not, the backlash will be severe.

Batley-maxxin' has become UK-maxxin' big time. The UK Gov has just launched a new £500M venture fund for AI founders. With a £1T tech market, the UK has the largest AI sector in Europe. If you were looking for signals as to why be optimistic about the UK, these are it. Naturally, it's not just about learning AI. You need a cross-sectional skillset as mentioned the other day. AI means nothing without a problem solving mindset first and foremost. Solve real problems using AI - don't just use AI for the sake of using it. Strong communication skills become paramount. As does visibility - you can have the best AI product, but if hardly anyone knows about it, it's not going anywhere fast. The quartet skillset we're focusing on with the Batley Entrepreneurship Club via Minotaur Video Exemplar and the recently agreed AI partnership: - AI - Problem-solving - Communication - Visibility Register your interest here to get involved with AI initiatives - link below. We'll be reaching out post-ramadan.

Batley Entrepreneurship Club Exclusive: AI Partnership & Opportunity

They tell me it’s over for Muslims in the UK. My LinkedIn feed has been full of wonderful iftaris happening up and down the country. I’ve attended 3 this year: - Manchester - Bradford - Batley Every single one has been great. Not only is there a lot of talent in our community; we have professionals and entrepreneurs at the highest level. The above pics were taken at the Bradford iftar. Lovely surprise to see Waqas Barbar in our ends all the way from Burrrmingham. Shoaib Khan’s a kool-kat I met for the first time in Manchester and then again in Bradford. And Naheem Khaliq - my former law firm partner - didn’t hesitate to take the opportunity to try and convince me to come back into law 😂 Shout out Rehan Ahmed of Quantuma for the invite again - and Rooful Ali for taking some amazing snaps 📸 I might still be in the minority, but I’m very optimistic about the UK.

Day 19 Minotaur Ramadan Challenge... ...no idea how I managed to stay disciplined yesterday but did it 💪🏽 Starters of fried pakoray, chips and juicy looking donner 😂 At one point I genuinely did think it was over, and was about to dig in. But can't be a 'Minotaur' challenge if there's no difficult minotaur to overcome. Discipline in one area, leads to discipline in other areas. Diet challenge aside, this is more a mental discipline exercise. With all the shizzle poppin' off around the world, can easily get lost without discipline - which tbf I have faltered with. Last 10-11 days to go - not riskin' it with outside food anymore.

Day 18 Minotaur Ramadan Challenge and i've been on the ropes last couple of days. Iftari dinner on Friday night wasn't too bad, albeit really tempted with the fizzy drinks. Yesterday the family ordered take out food. The pizza was calling to me like crack calls to an addict (so I imagine 😂) Despite even my son tryna tempt; we stayed strong. Final iftari dinner tonight, which hopefully should be the last big test. So let's see. How you getting along with your challenge?

Intelligent people and professionals are held back because they care about what people think. I’m not sure if this was due to corporate programming or what. But the fear stems from being judged by their peers. It’s why you often see the “corporate, professional telephone voice” or demeanour which changes compared to how they are in person. What holds them back further however, is not being able to admit to themselves they care about what people think. And funnily enough they’ll be the ones with their chest out proclaiming they don’t care. Recipe for disaster. If you can’t admit to yourself you have an issue, how do you expect to fix it? I speak from experience. I used to say I don’t care what people think, when I clearly did. Once I admitted it to myself, I was then able to work on doing something about it. Honest self assessment is the first step. Inner work is needed. And then taking action to improve yourself. If you need a systematic way to do this, send me a DM. The Minotaur Video Exemplar programme will rip this out of you, and have you releasing videos to build your brand/project without being held back by what people think.

The UK is still one of the best places to be in the world right now. I got quite a bit of stick for saying this previously. But more and more people are starting to see it, and say it now too. The AI scene is blowing up in London. But it's not just reserved for London, it's in other parts as well. Turning Batley, and the North of the UK in general into an AI tech hub is the vision. Quite a few things in the pipeline. For now, register your interest below:

Batley Entrepreneurship Club Exclusive: AI Partnership & Opportunity

Day 16 of the Minotaur Ramadan Challenge - keepin' up with no junk food, no fried food and no fizzy drinks. But the real big test comes today, with the iftari dinner at Aagrah in Bradford. Shout out to Rehan Ahmed & Quantuma for the invite. Let's hope temptation is resisted. Let me know if you'll be there tonight, will be good to catch up.

662,316 views across social media in the last 90 days. Big numbers to some. Small to others that get those with one piece of content. Context matters - comparison will always make you lose. It's no good me telling others you are a media company, if I don't back it up myself. I am a media company, and this is my media distribution. I've been a bit of a hypocrite - telling others to focus on 2 platforms maximum. Whilst i'm active on 5-7 (more considering different brand accounts). 2 is the right move (unless you have a team). You'll get better results faster. But i'm taking a risk on a different strategy. I have small pockets of "influence" on different platforms - which collectively are now adding up. I've switched from trying to go viral, to organic targeted volume. The people coming to the events are not from 1 platform; they're trickling in from the different platforms. There's a strategy on getting "1000" true fans, and you'll be set. 1000 true fans in that context is 1000 people buying your product or service. I'm not after 1000 true fans. I'm after 1000 true partners, collaborators, action-takers. Attempting to curate a high-calibre network; rather than just a large network. If each of those 1000 have just 5 other high calibre contacts in their network; then it becomes solid network of 5000. Repetition. Reputation. Relationships. Repetition of content, to build reputation, leading to solid relationships. This is why I keep bangin' on about visibility and communication. A few years ago I had neither visibility, network and below par communication skills. So much so when I opened up a law firm, and started other businesses, they went nowhere. I was technically good at delivering. But if there's no work coming in, there's nothing to deliver on. So as a shy, social anxiety ridden introvert, I did the uncomfortable shizzle of learning how to become visible after decades of trying to hide from the spotlight. Most smart, intelligent professionals are in the same boat. Fantastic at operations, delivery and completing high level work. Which is great when the work is given to you. But what happens when you have to find the work, client, customer yourself? It's the lack of visibility, network and relationships that will destroy you. If you're ready to fix that, send me a message. MVE exists specifically to help professionals & smart people become visible, build networks and attract opportunities.

Every. Single. Time. You’d think after the Epstein Files, it might be different. But nope. Only way to respond is to build yourself, build your community and build your own media.

Post-career era is upon us. This is in part due to a generational shift. Exacerbated by the advancement of technology. Millennials were never comfortable with the traditional “career ladder” Most checked out mentally. They either started their own thing. Or stayed in what became known as “quiet quitting” But now with tech, there are so many more options. The generations after won’t partake in a traditional career for long. Most will elect to either do their own thing or work as part of a small team. Work will fit around lifestyle, not the other way around. Cross-dimensional skills will be paramount. Focus on being an expert in your field but also: - communication skills - visibility; and - AI

Day 14 Minotaur Ramadan Challenge. Nearly half way there. But two potential difficulties on the horizon this week with iftari dinners.

Life in the UK: Calm Peaceful Pleasant weather Life on online: The world’s burning. Only a matter of time before more people start to build locally for their communities. Being online for long periods is a net negative. Use it to get visibility. Take the visibility offline.

Focus on building 3 things: Self Esteem - the relationship with yourself Confidence - the relationship with others Communication - the bridge between the two You need all three. Most however neglect the first and work on the other two. But if you don't focus on yourself and do the inner work, everything else collapses. Esp. in an age where there are so many angry-birds online waiting to take digs in the comments of your posts, which unfortunately is the reason most choose not to put themselves out there. This was another video lost in drafts, but resurrected and edited by my 9 year old 😁

Minotaur Ramadan Challenge Day 12 and we continue. Really craving the samosas today; will be challenging to refrain. Less about the diet now, and more about developing discipline. Discipline in one area leads to discipline in other areas. Something we're all going to need with the idiotic war that's been started.

People in Dubai are getting a lot of heat and mocking when there should be sympathy. This is the result of all those influencers and people that used Dubai as means to flaunt wealth, status and material success. This will be the result for anyone that flaunts this; which happens a lot with online marketing. The people ahead of you will lose respect for you. Your peers will envy you. The ones behind will resent you. It’s bad energy you don’t need; and people will rejoice at your downfall when struggles come. This type of marketing has becoming so dominant, that young people are following it and implementing. Don’t do this. Stay authentic. Document the journey. Be you. Share lessons learnt. Build brand, reputation and goodwill for the long term.