New Communities

It is an interesting journey for me at the moment. I dropped out of highschool and to work in the family business in 1986. I loved every moment of it but had a crisis in 1991 when I started to reap the financial benefits (see picture). I left the family business in 1992 to pursue the lifestyle of a missionary and did a couple of theology/divinity degrees. I was never much of a man of the cloth but I do have the heart for social change.

Throughout the 10 years of youth/missionary work I learned to focus on helping people form communities that could be a support for change in their lives and the world around them. The first technology venture I got my hands into was a platform for community communication (which cost me everything at the time...and tanked).

When I connected with my business partner Bobby John and we launched Creationstep, Inc a few years back one of our main areas of focus was to recreate the workplace that can enhance the dignity of each person and their ability to contribute to society in a meaningful way. We vowed this to be our primary focus no matter what new opportunity came our way. It has been a tough road and some have misunderstood us however there seems to be a bit more of an understanding and desire today for something new.

Webworker just posted an article I wrote recently which encaptulates some of the thinking Bobby and I share. I have also attached a more indepth paper I wrote a while back that expresses some more of how we think.

I am finding myself coming alive more every day at the moment as  the space to contribute and share my passion through building new communities is back in focus. One of the things we have been doing in Creationstep is launching branded communities of independent workers. This allows each person to have the freedom they desire, great billing rates, while also being part of a community. This alongside Indoor Playground is turning out to be a lot of fun. Below are a list of the communities we have helped get off the ground so far (with a few more coming soon):

QA Room
Empty Tray
Service Cloud
Band of Coders
Glassrocket
Brainpark

Download selfmanagement.pdf

Comments

[Deirdre White]

Just drove past Rumpoles - it no longer exists > the good old days. IT's bee nreplaced by some swanky thing called "The Advocate" (at least it keeps with the legal theme :) )

[Deirdre White]

Hey Mark !

Good to see you are getting back to your passion. You were such an encouragement to me in the early days - all those lunches and dreaming in Rumpoles :)

We should do a reunion next time you are over....

deirds

[Mark Dowds]

I coundn't resist the rich kid option in my story. For once i became vulnerable on my blog...mind you this evening someone asked if I was going bald as a child :-)

[Mark Petersen]

Love the newspaper clipping!!