At Long Last

I finally have a proper networking site hallefuckinluah

Modo Fac Site

at last a proper virtual home of our own, we are still tweaking it and I havent broken it yet.

Statistics and Targets

Yesterday I spent some time with a friend of mine who works in a place I used to work, she works at the sharp end of things distributing a street newspaper, dealing with the dangerous, the lost and most of all people who are homeless trying to get back on their feet. She didnt need to tell me what was going on as I knew already.

She told me that unless you are a serious alcoholic or drug addict there is no help for you and the organisation was more interested in keeping people as statistics as they get to keep the funding and that actually all the services and agencies play the same game.

And for those of you that get railroaded into thinking setting up a charity or not for profit thinking that you have to play the games with them in order to get funding, I hope one day you wake up to the fact and see what is truly going on and maybe you will have enough courage to find a way to make things happen without adding to the game playing as although it may help you now you should really think about the future, yes the future for people like myself and others like me and just spare a thought for the barriers you are helping to keep in place.

People at different networks are starting to realise it's all about recognising the individual as having the power to make a difference, which is great, but when you are that individual and go for things that are needed you are faced with more doors shut than anything else unless you give in and play the system, just because it is the only one out there. If it dont feel right what they do then dont play, yes it is hard not playing their games but just consider the future and do you really want more of the same old bullshit.

Pamela Hartigan at the Schwab Foundation gave a presentation at last years Social Enterpreneurs Forum which she said "Although you maybe run a charity or a not for profit, you are not a social entrepreneur and that they are a very rare breed of people.

I thought that this was quite apt as all I have met people who have classed themselves as social entrepreneurs were graduates with no real grasp on the reality of those they are trying to help, and most were in charge of charities which they get funded very nice for and are paid quite high salaries.

I hear people talk about new paradigms and wrap things up in intellectual words because it makes them feel clever, but whilst they are talking about these new paradigms they are failing to recognise the people who are actually living them and trying to bring them about. Ignoring them is easy as it is tougher to understand the fact of what IS, and the theory sells more books.

I have just one favour to ask is if you do come across people like myself that you dont talk them round the houses, you dont try and fit them into boxes just because you dont understand them, you dont jump in and offer some half arsed advice of the reality of your world and you dont just wade in thinking you are adding value when you dont have no comprehension of what they are talking about and dont railroad them down avenues they dont want to go just in order to make you feel better. I have had around 4 years of such behaviour from others who thought they had something to offer me when they dont, I was told today that these people would benefit more from me than I from them, which I didnt really see.

So for the people just starting on their journey, don't go with what feels wrong, trust your intuition and yes it does get lonely and you will be alone with your black times as no one will have the strength to handle them with you or join you while you are in that space, yes there will be people who pretend they understand and will project allsorts of their rubbish on to you. You have found your path, your purpose in life or whatever you call it and you will find it feels futile along the way and people let you down left right and centre, it will feel like it is your fault as you dont have the right words or phrases. When the going gets tough, you realise that those not for you will take the easiest exit available to them.

Believe in you, believe in what you are doing and above all know that you are doing the right thing even when you know you are up against the system, you may spend your whole lifetime doing it as there is no alternative. You are one of the ones that fell into the abyss and managed to crawl out, others dont get a chance to crawl out, so it our duty to go back and help them find their way out out by whatever means that takes you, dont do them a disservice by playing the games that help to keep them in there.

Something else that puzzles me

Yes I do get puzzled quite a lot, I do belong to lots of sites where there are lots of discussions on what to do about poverty and "the poor" as they get called. Lots of people who are intelligent and from academic backgrounds, plenty of wealthy people from business and with all the brains and resources at their fingertips and yet they still don't have any answers. They do come up with hair brained schemes and plans when the answers are under their noses.

I have to ask have they bothered to ask those people who they call the "poor" what exactly would they need for them to not be poor anymore.

Probably not, they probably don't mix or rub shoulders with people who are as they really wouldn't fit in with their golfing buddies or their twin set and pearls.

Having been below the breadline myself and still am to this day nobody ever asked me what it was I needed but I did know what changed it for me and have tried to set up something that would allow those out of it, but they do not see my simple idea as it's too simple so they choose to ignore me and hope I go away as I probably make them feel uncomfortable or tell me that the charity sector does enough when I know differently, I have never come across anyone in charge of these organisations who knows what it is like first hand to have nothing and to be homeless in different cities so what gives them the right to decide what should be done yet these are the people who make up the policies and programs.

Something that has puzzled me for ages

Why do people feel the need to invite you into other networks after they have connected to you in one place, especially when they cant even be bothered to say more than two words to you except when they are pushing their wares on you and its all about them. So I think I have probably seen the best and the worst of what networking has to offer, nobody actually writes to you to ask how you are or what you are up to and many miss the point. The important point of building up relationships so its not just a one way street, best laugh of all is linkedin with their boilerplate invites. Perfect example of one received this morning saying "seeing as you are a person I trust" well for a start they don't know you so how can they say that, and then its the usual blurb of how to use linkedin, if they took time to notice they would already know that you know that.

Empty Words and False Promises

After being talked endlessly round the houses, the other thing you face when you come to do anything that has a social purpose is that people are so full of shit. They come at you with their empty words "such as I really admire what you do", "keep up the good work", "you will get there in the end" but none of them actually mean it, if they did they would support what you do properly and I just dont mean in cash terms and their own opinions. Everybody seems to be an expert all of a sudden. It does make me laugh as they are quite happy to wade in on you and talk you round the houses. From my own point of view none of them have experienced homlessness or even been on the receiving end of the charity system, so they think by railroading you into that they are being very clever and supportive. There words mean nothing and action does really speak louder than words. So if you are getting a little upset with reading this, then I am glad as obviously anything I have said previously did not register. So unless you can come at me from being in the same boat, I suggest you keep it to yourself as I dont have the energy to even bother listening to you

When you just dont fit in

Most people who know me, know my reasons for setting up Modo Fac Central as a business instead of a charity or non-profit organisation. I have been getting some help with a networking event in London to raise funds for the centre. Today I get a message from my friend Alan at the creative forum saying that there are members of the group who are anti-capitalists who won't support what I am doing because I am adding to the corrupt system, they say this after not bothering to find out what I am all about and what my mission is with Modo Fac Central or even to bother having a conversation with me. My reasons for not being a charity are ten-fold as the charity sector is all about how things are done rather than what is being done. I, and countless others are turned away from charity organisations when they do end up homeless on account of them not being alcoholics, drug addicts, having mental health difficulties, a criminal record or having lots of children. This still goes on as you dont have a funding tag attached to you and is quite disgusting, the reason for setting up Modo Fac Central was to help the people who fall through the gaps like I did and to maybe stop one person from killing themselves as they are not deemed bad enough for help. I have lost countless friends who have committed suicide due to nobody noticing and nobody reaching out to them in time. I set it up as a business for the freedom aspect to help those that need it not because I wanted to make money off the backs of the poor, this has shut many doors on me which I know is not ideal and a lot of people don't get it as they cant imagine what its like being homeless themselves and think it will never happen to them, they soon find out that when it does happen to them there is no help and by this time it is too late to do anything about it. I dont expect you to get what I am doing or even understand but I do know there is people out there who do. So before you judge me and what I do at least have the courtesy to get in touch, I am easily found. And just because I use a language you don't understand is because I am better verbally explaining than in writing. What I have is a simple idea, create a melting pot network and have a drop in office so those stuck in the nightmare of catch-22 can get work experience and get on their feet with a bit of dignity and freedom and to be treated as a number instead of a statistic.

Technological Torture

Why does technology prefer to drive you bananas. All I ever wanted was a community site for Modo Fac Central that would help raise money through subscriptions for the refurbishment fund. In reality this should have only take a couple of months, but I went from the chip pan to the fire in about 8 months, got shafted by somebody who promised me they could help and knew what they were doing, only to find out he was a bit of shark, lost £500. Then somebody else offered to do it, great I thought all my prayers were answered till I found out he didnt have a clue what he was doing and had to write to people to find out. Cue techie guy no 3, who knows what he is doing and understands what he was doing but had cancer for a while, so I can understand that it wasnt going to go according to time frame. But things still started to go wrong after that and here I am nearly six months later and getting to the end of the tunnel in terms of having a proper site we can play with, I keep kicking myself as this was 6 months of me not really being able to be anywhere. I have tried fitting into other networking sites but what I am doing doesnt belong there.

Network, Network, Network

That is all you hear when you go along to conferences, so you join online networks, you go along to offline meetings, you try and arrange meetings for others and does it work, well it depends on what you mean by work. I prefer to get to know people before I dive in there and shove what I am doing down their necks, so I spent hours and hours saying hello to people, I must have said hello to over 7000 people on a variety of different networks, I was only ever after 500 people to become Inukshuk members to help with the refurbishment of the shop and become a melting pot network of people who I could trust and respect and build a special community to help those that fall through the gaps, did that work, nope. I spent ages sending out individual invites, I did get around a hundred people believing in what I was doing and I am thankful they did. But mostly got ignored which really did hurt my feelings. So I am still at it, networking in the vain hope that someone out there will eventually get what I am doing and join me.