Resident of Seddon, Dad, husband
I have had a lucky life. I was in the Spinal Tap of families as we always had a family member leaving or being replaced. For the 1970s that was an unusual style of upbringing but we never lacked for anything. It wasn’t a typical nuclear family; everyone just assumes I went to private school and had everything handed to me. I didn’t. I’m thankful I had my head screwed on the right way from an early age.
I grew up in the Eastern suburbs in the 1970s, arriving here from England just before I started school. When I was a baby, Mum met and married Mr Green in London. He worked for Honeywell, and went around the world setting up the first computer systems in Australia’s diplomatic outposts. As a result, we travelled all over the world.
I have always wanted to travel. I did a Bachelor of Education which got in the way; by the time I graduated I already had too much of a life to be standing in front of a class. I was earning enough money and was worldly enough. I’ve done a lot of jobs in my life. One of the more painful ones was selling encyclopedias. I’ve delivered pizzas through uni, and even once had a carpet cleaning business.
One day I found myself running a Kodak shop. This was a lucky moment in life as I learned a lot and then moved on to a pro-lab. Not only did I meet my wife Lisa there, the industry was right on the cusp of digital and I was there right at the start. Another lucky moment was my 18th birthday when my stepfather gave me a computer. I have always found it more interesting to make games rather than playing them. I was doing computer animation, and when the photolab started going digital, I put my hand up.
‘I can do that,’ I said.
I self-funded a more powerful computer and purchased Photoshop version 2.1. Now, this was in 1993 and it was an exorbitant cost then. I bought a scanner that now costs $60 but was $1,200 then. I went to the CAE and did a lot of short courses, and this was the seed the allowed me to grow my software development business which I started eventually.
For ten years, I worked for someone else and in 2001, with all the knowledge I had picked up I started doing websites and promotional CDs for corporate showbags. This morphed into what I do now, which is producing e-learning for large corporations in the energy sector.
Ever since my daughter Ella was young enough to absorb the message, I’ve always told her the key to freedom and flexibility is multiple income streams. I’ve always had – and still have – a thriving vintage sports collectibles business, dealing mostly in football memorabilia.
I always collected stuff as a kid. Cereal boxes, bubble gum, bread packets, match boxes – it didn’t matter where it came from, I just collected them. In the 70s, life was less disposable. You didn’t download something then, get bored with it and throw things away. A lot of kids just started collecting stuff, and it became the stash they could control. You didn’t get the latest Atari when it came out. You had to wait for your birthday or Christmas, if you were lucky.”
When ebay came out in the early 2000s, I turned to Lisa and said ‘Online auctions? That would never work.’ Two years later, there was a joke in my extended family where if you stood still for too long, Derek would have you on ebay. If it wasn’t nailed down, Derek would sell it.
By 2005 I had built a sports memorabilia collectibles virtual empire. I was just suddenly connected to collectors all over the world.
I recently sold stuff to a TV presenter on USA’s Fox Network. He apparently has one of the world’s most valuable sports collections and he’s invited me to come to see it when I visit New York. He has a penthouse on Park Avenue.
Writing and travel have always been my thing and having the extra money made it possible. About 20 years ago I started writing about travel and fancied myself as some kind of a freelance journalist. Let’s just say it’s a tough gig, and there’s barely a living to be made in it.
Due to the nature of my work, I was able to work from anywhere and that enabled Lisa and I to travel more than what would have been otherwise possible.
My sister – and only sibling – lives in the UK and my family spends a lot of time there. Our travels have taken us to the usual places, but we also wanted to give Ella some experiences that might have been out of the ordinary. We once went to Russia, Finland and Estonia in one trip, we went to Morocco, Vietnam, and then we had the opportunity to take Ella out of school for a year.
We had always wanted to work in an NGO and teach English to students. About five years ago we did just that in Cambodia. Volunteering makes you realise one month or less is insufficient and with the skills I have, I realised I could help build their communications infrastructure and shape how they share information with the western world. I am now on the board of the NGO. It’s an ongoing commitment to bettering disadvantaged people’s lives. These are the kind of experiences you have when you exit the safe path of life.
When we took a year off, everyone thought we were rich or crazy. We were a little bit crazy but it was a good experience. By the end of it, I was the one who felt like I didn’t need to come back. Ella wanted to go back to school and Lisa had enough, was satisfied.
So in September 2014, I was looking to get out of the office a little bit more. To be honest, I would have driven a bus or mowed lawns, just to some get fresh air. Someone tagged me on Facebook for my current role in The Westsider Newspaper. I met the person who was setting up the paper, and he talked me into it.
At the start ,I had to run the ‘Work for the Dole’ program. I realised very quickly I could let people sit all day and do nothing, or I could get them involved in all aspects of The Westsider including writing, social media, web management and distribution.
‘Work for the Dole’ is a little soul-destroying, and I wanted people to feel like they are doing something worthwhile. I did four different groups until the funding ended. That’s about a hundred people there and many of them took a lot out of the experience. Personally, it was a good connecting experience.
Like I’ve said at the start, I’ve had a lucky life. When you bump into someone you met three years ago, and they now have a job and stability, you can only look fondly back at that period at The Westsider. They did things that helped them. It’s a heartwarming experience.
The Westsider gives people opportunities to learn new skills, network and become involved in the community. That’s what it is today. We have about 25 active volunteers and they are all there for their own reasons. Some of them are learning skills that they want to take into their new careers.
A couple of people who work for The Westsider were hassling me to profile myself. I thought ‘Why would I do that? No one would want to read that?’
I like roller coasters but would never do anything extreme beyond that. Here’s something few people know about me – I once played quarterback in a local gridiron team back in the 80s through to the 90s. I played and coached, as well as getting injured a lot, which was disheartening. This time last year I even played a few games in flag football, and I was the oldest guy in the league.
I’ve always had a positive inbuilt belief that everything will work out. I don’t worry about the big things as I’m a classic ‘sweat the small stuff’ person.
Belief is a big thing. One of the keys to success is working out what you want in life and pegging your own version of success against that, rather than what other people think success should be. 20 years ago, I thought success was a big house, a beautiful car, an important job and a massive bank balance. The reality was, I just wanted to enjoy my life and spend time with my family and find a good balance. With a roof over our heads and food on the table, what else do I need?
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More! More! Can’t wait to read Part 2!!