neilmartin.me
Beats, Business & Life
Proud Dad and family man. A lifelong obsession with music. 3 decades in business and technology. Stuff about this thing called life that I’m still figuring out.
Latest
Fresh off the press
Start Smaller Than You Think: Arnold Bennett on Beginning With a Little
Why so many new habits die in week one, Arnold Bennett’s warning against undertaking too much at the start, and the one page a day rule that made me a reader.
Little Things Sink Businesses: Benjamin Franklin and the Missing Nail
Franklin’s missing nail, a business turning over £50,000 a month that was quietly losing £200 every month, and the questions that help you find the small leaks in yours.
Slow Down by Maverick Sabre and Jorja Smith: The Record for Small and Steady
The Vintage Culture and Slow Motion house remix of Maverick Sabre and Jorja Smith’s Slow Down, the Brand Nubian classic it beat, and a record for taking your time.
Know Your People and Know Your Business: Sun Tzu Without the Enemy
A fresh take on Sun Tzu’s advice to know the enemy and know yourself, and a simple way to get AI to interview you so you understand your business and its people better.
Track by TrackA soundtrack for Today
Slow Down by Maverick Sabre and Jorja Smith: The Record for Small and Steady
The Vintage Culture and Slow Motion house remix of Maverick Sabre and Jorja Smith’s Slow Down, the Brand Nubian classic it beat, and a record for taking your time.
Previous tracks
138 Trek by DJ Zinc: One Bassline, Three Tempos and Knowing Your Own Lane
DJ Zinc’s 138 Trek: the slower track on the end of a 2000 drum and bass EP that changed his life, reached number 27, and later came back at 174 and 128 bpm.
Video by India.Arie: The Record for Loving the Person in the Mirror
The 2001 Motown single that picked up four Grammy nominations, and a record for when you need reminding that the person underneath is enough.
Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat) by Digable Planets: The Record for Keeping Your Cool
The 1992 jazz rap single with that Art Blakey bassline, the facts behind it, and a record to put on when you need a cool head and a warm heart.
Keep On Movin’ by Soul II Soul: The Steady Groove for Getting Through a Long List
Soul II Soul’s 1989 single with Caron Wheeler, the sound system story behind it, and why a steady groove is the way through a long list.
Beats
From the Decks
A lifetime of following music down the rabbit hole. The beats, the lyrics, the samples… but more than anything, how it makes you feel.
Sunday Selector
Sunday Selector: Student Once
Ask me what I was listening to as a student and these are the songs that come out first. Twenty five of them, about an hour and a half, from Audioweb to Dinosaur Jr.
I was at UEA, the University of East Anglia. Nobody ever said it in full. On campus there was the Large Common Room, and nobody called it that either. It was the LCR. On Thursday nights it was the big student club, and the rest of the week it hosted some incredible gigs.
read more…Slow Down by Maverick Sabre and Jorja Smith: The Record for Small and Steady
The Vintage Culture and Slow Motion house remix of Maverick Sabre and Jorja Smith’s Slow Down, the Brand Nubian classic it beat, and a record for taking your time.
138 Trek by DJ Zinc: One Bassline, Three Tempos and Knowing Your Own Lane
DJ Zinc’s 138 Trek: the slower track on the end of a 2000 drum and bass EP that changed his life, reached number 27, and later came back at 174 and 128 bpm.
Business
Business In Plain English
Some of it’s about tech. Some of it’s about teams. All of it’s about the conversation that changes everything.
Little Things Sink Businesses: Benjamin Franklin and the Missing Nail
Franklin’s missing nail, a business turning over £50,000 a month that was quietly losing £200 every month, and the questions that help you find the small leaks in yours.
Know Your People and Know Your Business: Sun Tzu Without the Enemy
A fresh take on Sun Tzu’s advice to know the enemy and know yourself, and a simple way to get AI to interview you so you understand your business and its people better.
Swap Your To-Do List for an Achieve List: Wattles on Doing All You Can Today
Five questions that turn a to-do list into an achieve list, so you finish the thing that matters most and know exactly what comes next.
Life
Everything Else
The stuff off the clock. Good food, fresh threads, and trying to be a bit better than yesterday.
Start Smaller Than You Think: Arnold Bennett on Beginning With a Little
Why so many new habits die in week one, Arnold Bennett’s warning against undertaking too much at the start, and the one page a day rule that made me a reader.
The Less You Try to Impress, the More Impressive You Are: Emerson on Keeping Your Own Counsel
Why the need to fit in can quietly cost you your own opinions, and how to keep your own view in a room that pulls the other way.
Separate the Moment From the Meaning: Epictetus and the Story You Tell Yourself
A simple way to pull apart what happened from the story you’ve told yourself about it, so the meaning you carry is one you chose.
About
Hi, I’m Neil
I got my first turntables in 1987, when I was 12, and I’ve been playing records to people ever since. I’ve been in business for three decades and I wrote a book called Done Beats Perfect. This is where I write it all down.
By day I’m Director of Marketing & Edutainment at ActionCOACH UK.
DJing since 1987Three decades in businessAuthor, Done Beats Perfect
The book
Done Beats Perfect
A short, honest book about putting things off, and how to stop. Paperback, Kindle, or the audiobook read by me.
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