I was maybe 14 years old. The thought of washing cars for a day or wandering around our school selling homemade cakes filled me with dread. I wanted to go bigger than that. Much bigger. 

I decided we were going to put on a disco with a live band. (I don’t think I let anyone else have much of a say if I thought we could make it happen – not much change there over the years.) 

Someone’s mate knew the band and they said yes. This was a big deal – we had a gig! 

We bought a few 7 inch singles with the small amount of money we had between us and looked deep into our own collections. 

We made our own tickets and got someone else’s friend to design a poster.

I think we called it “The Nite Spot” and the image was of a spotty-faced kid with a huge one on the end of his chin. Just writing this makes me gross out. I think I still have the original poster somewhere.

Teachers got involved. We had a soft drinks bar and I have no idea how this worked out but it all made money. Add on ticket sales and we did very well for young kids. I think the school charged us a fee to use the hall at night but there was cash left over at the end. 

It was so exciting to be a part of.

It was a live event and anything could have gone wrong. I was worried that some of the older kids would cause trouble, maybe start a fight or two, but it all went well and we had no issues. 

I forgot about it for a long time – probably not until I had ideas for my own business back in 2005 and, by then, the flame it had lit was well and truly snuffed out by years of corporate bull shit. 

But I’ll never forget it. 

It was frightening and scary to take on such a task and all the responsibility that went with it. And when it was over, we all breathed a sigh of relief.

If I could do it all again tomorrow, I would. And a whole lot more, too.