The Second One With Tony Edwards

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:00:33]:

Hey. Hello. Welcome back. Welcome to Another episode. I have, a returning guest for, for this episode. That’s turning into a bit of a theme for series 5. We’re catching up with some of our previous guests, which I have to say, I’m really enjoying. Now my guest, for this episode is a gentleman called Tony Edwards.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:00:51]:

We met him, in August 2022, series 3 episode 20, where he shared his journey to self employment. If you haven’t checked that one out, Do check that out. It’s a fascinating journey, and, some amazing things that he overcame in order to create what is now an award winning business. I’ll let him mention that, a little bit later on. But my guest today is Tony Edwards. He runs Winchester based IT support company, Bitsmart Technology Limited. The business was started during the COVID nineteen pandemic, and he goes into a lot more detail about that in series 3 episode 20, And it provides all things IT to small and medium sized businesses. That’s my guest, Tony Edwards.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:01:36]:

Here he is. Hey Tony, how’s it going buddy?

Tony Edwards [00:01:39]:

Hi, Keith. I’m all good. You?

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:01:41]:

Yeah. Can’t complain. Well, I can, but nobody will pay any attention. So We’ve, we’ve we’ve heard your bio very briefly, but who is Tony? Who’s the man behind it all?

Tony Edwards [00:01:55]:

That’s a really good question, Keith. Because, I was thinking about this when we were talking before we pressed record and it’s like, There’s just so many so many elements that make us all up, isn’t there? You know, I’m a husband, I’m a father, I’m a stepfather, a business owner, cricket enthusiast, an Elvis fan.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:02:19]:

There are

Tony Edwards [00:02:19]:

so many different facets to our lives and It’s funny because when you look at people on especially especially in the age of social media, all you see is what people want you to see. You don’t always see The bad stuff or the the turbulent times they’ve gone through that you just see their Best life, which I suppose kind of leads us onto what we’re gonna talk about today, really.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:02:44]:

It does. It does. Excuse me, and we’ll come to that in just a second. I’ve I’ve gotta give you the space to boast because because quite frankly, you you deserve it. And just today, you got another one. I mentioned you’re an award winning you’re award winner. Four awards now. 4th 1 came in today.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:03:00]:

Tell us about those. Tell us about them. Go on.

Tony Edwards [00:03:04]:

So this is the hardest part for me, Keith, because I’m not somebody that naturally brags. But, yeah, I’ve won 4 awards this year for the business which has been great. The first one was, that one there, the Business Success Network Expert of the year award, run by Stacy Calder, who I think has been a guest a few times on your podcast.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:03:27]:

She has indeed.

Tony Edwards [00:03:29]:

That was an, you know, an award I wasn’t expecting to win. I’d I’d entered the business growth one as well and I was a fanless in that. Was the one I was kind of expecting to win because I’d gone from, you know, turning over just under 10,000 to turning over Over 30 in the 1st proper 12 months of the business. So, you know, that’s quite a big, quite a big growth. So I was kind of Hoping I’d won that one but I didn’t, but I won that one instead which was equally, it was awesome, but yeah, probably a harder category to win due to the number of finalists. The second one is the one there which is the Technology support service of 2023, that was a Southern Enterprise Award run by, SME News. That one kind of came out of the booth. Somebody nominated me.

Tony Edwards [00:04:19]:

Don’t know who, even now. You don’t get told, you just get told you’ve been nominated and then you’ve won. So I’m not cool. So that was probably a customer. So if you’re listening, thank you very much for the nomination because yes, I did win. What’s the third1? 3rd1 came, I say it’s an award, it’s a little bit of a grey area but I was a theophetist Small business Sunday winner. Back in November, essentially all you do is go on to Twitter or Instagram on a Sunday night between 5 and a half past 7, Shout about your small business, make it unique, make it interesting, tag Theo and I think it’s hashtag SBS And essentially you’re entering your small business into joining a a network of other small businesses for free. And there’s a big event in February which, is good fun.

Tony Edwards [00:05:17]:

So that was the third one. And then this last one which I found out about at 1 AM this morning Just as I was closing the office, yes, I do work that late, which was for, Britain’s Top 50 managed IT service providers 2023, which again is open to any IT service provider in the UK to enter. I don’t think that many did because obviously I’m I don’t see myself in the top one thousand, let alone top 50. But again, that’s my Me being probably over hu over humble.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:05:53]:

Yeah. No. That that is that is impressive. Four awards. Every single one of them, I I would say, are well deserved, and they’re definitely very valid awards. You you’re gonna you’re gonna need a bigger shed to house all of these awards. Carry on at this rate.

Tony Edwards [00:06:08]:

Yeah. That’s what, my wife said. I thought she said so she sent me a text earlier saying You’re gonna need a wall of fame. I thought she said I needed a hall of fame for it, so I was gonna buy another shed.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:06:22]:

Better than a wall of shame, I suppose.

Tony Edwards [00:06:24]:

Yeah. Definitely.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:06:26]:

So so yeah. I mean, you you you’ve you’ve created a successful small business, An award winning small business, you launched it, as as we discussed previously, you launched it during the the COVID pandemic. Your Successful business, it’s it’s growing, it’s it’s making good turnover, and it’s it’s continuing to grow and develop, serving lots of people. Many people are recognizing the, the great skill and service that you provide, hence the awards. All of that, or none of that really, paints a picture of someone who you would you would think, suffered from, bullying. And yet, that’s what we’re gonna be exploring today because you, you you suffered from bullying when you were, at school when you were growing up. And the reason that we’re covering this is partly it shows how you can overcome it And grow and develop from it. And also Tony has, spoken, he speaks at schools on on the topic of bullying as well to help Help loads we’re going through, so that’s what we’re exploring today.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:07:31]:

But tell us a little bit, I mean, obviously, I don’t wanna drag too much up. But tell us a little bit about Gonna set the scene for what was going on.

Tony Edwards [00:07:42]:

So I didn’t deal with the bullying very well when I was growing up. I didn’t know how to deal with it. I’m by no means fixed, I think is probably the apt word. Everybody goes, you know, 95% of people will go through some sort of bullying during their lifetime, predominantly when we are a child. Because we don’t under necessarily always understand right from wrong, people’s Parenting techniques are obviously different, but 1 in 4 kids right even right now experience bullying at school. And as you mentioned, I’ve, I started I went and did a talk at my old secondary school a couple of months back. That was the first one. And what was interesting was they have expelled 13 kids since Easter.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:08:47]:

Wow.

Tony Edwards [00:08:47]:

Now, I don’t remember 1 child being expelled when I was at school for bullying. So you have 13 children just for bullying. Yet, 1 in 4 are still experiencing it, which is which to me is just crazy. So it all kind of started when I was in primary school, you know, a little bit of teasing, little bit of name, The usual playground antics. I was despite me being 6 foot 2 and about £300, When I was at school, I was very, very little. I was short, it’s there was, you know, a gust of wind could blow me over sort of thing. So I was an easy target. And as I got older, Surprisingly, it got worse, because all of these other kids were going up and I was still A short ass.

Tony Edwards [00:09:43]:

It’s the only one I can only one I can describe it. It got wet, You know, and it did get worse, you know. I would try to hide bruises and cuts and things like that and a lot of people didn’t believe that it was happening. So I would go to my head of year and say, look, this person’s being horrible. They’re doing this, this, and this. Here are the cuts and bruises to kind of prove it. And I didn’t believe it. I was getting very, very little support from school.

Tony Edwards [00:10:13]:

My mum, she went up to the school, she Back then, she’s gonna hate me for saying this, but she was a rottweiler. If she got something if she didn’t like something that got in her teeth, she would, yeah, Scream and shout until it was resolved, which was great. But, yeah, the bullying one was didn’t quite go like that, Because they didn’t, they didn’t believe me. The school didn’t believe me. They would just say, oh, the other child’s going through, Their parents are being divorced, it must be something to do with that or something like that. What’s quite interesting is my aunt taught at my secondary school. She didn’t know I was on receiving end of any bullying until I went to speak to her about Potentially going to the school to talk about bullying. And I was, I turned 40 this year.

Tony Edwards [00:11:05]:

Wow. The reason I decided I wanted to go and speak to the school was because my son has Started secondary school this year and I felt it was probably time to, I suppose, communicate to some To some people that might be going through similar things to me that I went through, as a way of helping them understand but also a way of Me actually getting it off my chest because my way of dealing with it was putting my head in the sand And it just built up. It’s just built up and up and up over the years and getting the the physicals, the physical stuff disappears over time, but all the mental stuff is just, It’s still past year. And I’m I’ve never really dealt with it until this year, really. And it’s had a massive effect on On everything it it has held me it’s held me back, you, you know, you’ve got a book, The Masks We Wear. I’d have a different mask for every situation for every day of the week. I can imagine. So nobody really got to know the real me.

Tony Edwards [00:12:16]:

I was scared that I wasn’t prepared to go to university, so I put it off for 7 or 8 years. Don’t get me wrong. If I hadn’t have done and gone to university, I wouldn’t be where I am now because, you know, a completely different person. But it meant that I was able to go and work for jobs that taught me other skills. And probably the lowest, You know, you just feel worthless. Like, what’s the point going on? Like I said, I didn’t really develop any coping mechanisms. And at one point, I knew he did a 1/80 and became a bully myself without even realizing without even realizing.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:13:09]:

Interesting. How how did you how did you kind of catch that and and stop yourself from becoming But from becoming a bully and and inflicting on the next next person.

Tony Edwards [00:13:20]:

Somebody just meant some somebody just I can’t remember I can’t remember the situation. Somebody mentioned, how would you feel somebody said, how would you feel if they if you if they spoke to you like that? And it it what it, you know, it I’ve gone a step over I’ve I’ve overstepped the mark.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:13:40]:

Yeah. You

Tony Edwards [00:13:41]:

know, because let’s face it, in life there is that invisible line in the sand where people will go up to and potentially push. Yeah, I’d gone way over it. And it was when they said that I was like I just I I knew that I’d gone way too far and That just, it was almost like somebody slapped me around the face and said, you’re being a bit of a dick. If you keep doing this, All of these things that you’ve done, which are, are helping you in a way, deal with it subconsciously, you’re just gonna fall down. You’re gonna go back where you started.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:14:18]:

Yeah. Goodness.

Tony Edwards [00:14:24]:

But but bullying’s a weird one because it’s changed So much over the last few years, especially, if you so when I went, I went, I went to school in the nineties, Sorry Keith, I know we are. There was a little bit of an aging out there. But you know, back in the 80s 90s when you were bullied, When you got when you walked through the front door of home, bullying stopped. You you you were kinda safe Because we didn’t have these.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:14:55]:

That’s right. The phones and the tablets and the internet and everything. Yeah.

Tony Edwards [00:14:58]:

Don’t get me wrong, the mental element of bullying is always the harder thing to deal with, but what kids have to go through now is unreal because It’s 20 fourseven. You know, you’ve got, you know, technology made it so much easier for us to Communicate but it’s made it so much easier for bullies to not only target other people but also harass them. And like I said, it’s 20 fourseven.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:15:25]:

Yeah.

Tony Edwards [00:15:25]:

And you look at some of the celebrities that get abuse online, you know, they’re

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:15:30]:

Oh goodness, yeah.

Tony Edwards [00:15:31]:

Celebrities that get filled up so much, especially with especially with social media But then one bad thing happens and it’s all taken away. You know, you look at, Johnny Depp when he got accused of beating up, What’s her face, Lee?

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:15:46]:

Amber Heard.

Tony Edwards [00:15:47]:

Yeah. And it it as it turned out, it was the other way around. But

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:15:51]:

Yeah. Yeah. But

Tony Edwards [00:15:52]:

But you don’t see that. You only see what social media portrays. And

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:15:57]:

Indeed. Indeed. So, I mean, if if, if somebody is on the receiving end of bullying, what what And I know, I remember from what you were saying that you would tell people about it, but but nobody believed. What what what does And you then basically just repressed and kept it all in, and and which as you say is is never the best way to deal with anything. What what what are some things that, You feel people might be able to do to at least help them get through the day and help help them cope until until they’re able to to find someone who believes them or find a way out of it.

Tony Edwards [00:16:38]:

So there is a lot more support out there now. I think it’s the way the world has changed over the last 20 years, I think a lot more a lot more information is accessible, you know, through through the internet. You know, I I think back to when my parents would, you know, would tell me about their school days. You know, my mum would get, you know, she got bullied a lot, you know, she used to get Chairs throwing at her and things like that. I mean, she went to a rough school in Winchester. There aren’t many but she went to one of them. And again, the the teachers didn’t just didn’t know how to cope. Fast forward to the nineties, the teachers still didn’t really know how to cope.

Tony Edwards [00:17:27]:

A lot more emphasis has been put on bullying, There’s something called the Diana Award which is an anti bullying program, And that’s what schools are using now to educate students on bullying, the different types of bullying because again there are various different types. You know, anything that’s negative essentially is bullying and you don’t think about that, you know, You can go and sit in the pub and have a bit of what’s what would normally be deemed as banter with your mates. Technically, that’s bullying.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:18:04]:

It certainly can be, if especially if if the person receiving it doesn’t doesn’t feel that it’s allowed for a joke.

Tony Edwards [00:18:10]:

Yeah.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:18:11]:

Yeah. So many people don’t so many people don’t tend to to to realize that, do they? They I mean, so often you hear, oh, come on. It’s just a bit of banter. But You’re right, when it when it’s affecting the the recipient and they’re not feeling that it’s a laugh and a joke, and they’re starting to feel it a bit personal, and it’s it’s chipping away and wearing away at them, Absolutely. That would that would certainly be be bullying.

Tony Edwards [00:18:33]:

Yeah. But, yeah, so there’s the the Diana Award, which is, like I said, there’s a school program that Is all about anti, anti bullying, developing anti anti bullying ambassadors within the school. So when I went and talked to my pre at my old secondary school last, back in October, there was about 50 children in the room.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:18:55]:

Mhmm.

Tony Edwards [00:18:56]:

And they got to hear my story in a little bit more detail. But it was really good because I’ve been I’ve essentially gone through the program with them. It was a 2 and a half hour session, and it was interesting to see how they viewed bullying as opposed to myself. But there’s like I said, there’s so much more support out there. Teachers and parents now are more aware.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:19:22]:

Mhmm.

Tony Edwards [00:19:23]:

They’re more aware of the social impact of bullying as well and I think a lot of that has come through the evolution of LGP LGBQT plus.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:19:40]:

Yeah. I

Tony Edwards [00:19:41]:

never remember the flack for him. Yeah. But, you know, we we As a as a cult as a populist, we’re more accepting of people’s identities and people being different, and I think that makes it easier for people to now recognise some of the signs of bullying and I think it also means that People that are being bullied feel that they’ve got somebody to speak to. And what they’ve done in my old secondary school, brilliant, you know, they’ve got an app that they, that the children have got access to and they’ve built an anti, a way of reporting bullying into the app so they can do it almost anonymously. And it means that if somebody spots something that isn’t quite right they can report it as well.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:20:30]:

That’s interesting. Yes.

Tony Edwards [00:20:32]:

So that while technology can be a, an entry point for bullying, they’re also trying to use it as a, as an exit point?

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:20:39]:

Yeah. Yeah.

Tony Edwards [00:20:45]:

The biggest the the biggest thing I can recommend is if you’re going through bullying is to Find somebody that you know that I can trust and talk to them. I didn’t I didn’t have anybody that I could trust. At that, at that, at that age, I didn’t, I didn’t know who I could trust because fre people that I consider friends would then start Beating me up and things like that. So it’s like when you’ve got that going on as well, it’s like you you just don’t know who to trust which is why I think I just kind of

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:21:12]:

Compressed. That’s the only one. Yeah.

Tony Edwards [00:21:16]:

But yeah, the the things that the Diana Award are doing with the anti ambassador, anti bullying ambassadors is Great. And it’s something that’s just that just keeps evolving. You know, there are some statistics that they, that they put out. I was trying to find them before we, before we came on but I just can’t find them, you know. I think it was 1 in 4 people Yeah. Experience bullying but then out of, say, out of 10, 9 of them will develop depression, 7 of them will develop anxiety, 4 of them will, develop an eating disorder, 5 of them will consider ending their life and there were 6 6 or 7 of these statistics that they’ll put up on the board, and I’d experienced 6 out of the 7.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:22:00]:

Goodness.

Tony Edwards [00:22:04]:

Which is I didn’t even think about until we bought that until the teacher had bought that slide up.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:22:11]:

Mhmm.

Tony Edwards [00:22:12]:

I just looked at him and was like, yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. And it’s like, wow. Good.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:22:24]:

So so what what about, on on the other side well, not the other side, because the other side would be the bullying. But what about if you become aware of some or you you suspect someone might be being bullied? Because I guess it’s not always an easy conversation to have. Hey. Are you alright? You’re being bullied? No. I’m I’m fine. Even when you’re not because there there isn’t Trust or they feel that it’s not gonna be believed again. What what can somebody in that sort of position do to to to help the person Who they feel is they believe might be being bullied?

Tony Edwards [00:22:55]:

Again, it’s it’s a really difficult question to answer because, Again, it takes different forms. You’ve got, like I said, you’ve got different types. What 1 par what you or I might consider to be bullying, Other people may just consider to be a con what’s what they would call a conflict which is where both parties have, you know, 6 of 1 and a half dozen of the other. If you suspect somebody’s being bullied or picked on, again, well, It’s different with a child, again, because all you can do is be there with the with the child, you know, make sure that they know that they can come and talk to you if they want to. Let’s face it. As adults, looks at bully bullying goes on. It doesn’t matter how old you are. I think with adults, it’s harder.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:23:43]:

Yeah. Yeah.

Tony Edwards [00:23:44]:

Because we’ve got a thing called pride where we think

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:23:49]:

That’s true. Yeah. And

Tony Edwards [00:23:56]:

because of that pride, it’s, you know, it’s very, very, you, you, you struggle to find anybody Put their hand up and go yes, I’m the victim of, I’m a 40 year old man and I’m the victim of bullying right now. Don’t get me wrong, it it happens. But you you, you know, people work with their handoffs. All you can do is just, you know, if you’ve got a friend that’s a little bit down, you’re not quite sure why, Ask them if they’re okay. Mhmm. Just send them a message.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:24:23]:

Just, you

Tony Edwards [00:24:24]:

know, again, just try and be there as Almost a shoulder to cry on without saying, look, my shoulder’s here if you wanna cry.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:24:31]:

Yeah. Yeah. So basic, basically be there for them and create the environment so that If they do feel able to open up, then they they can.

Tony Edwards [00:24:42]:

Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:24:44]:

Wow. Yeah. It’s it’s a really it’s a really hard topic, and, I wanna thank you thank you so much, Tony, for for being Open and honest about this with with us. I know it’s it’s not an easy one to talk about, but Certainly, what you’ve what you’ve shared with us will, will hopefully at least give some some some hope to some people who are going through it. Particularly, When they look and see what you have gone on to achieve having been in that awful situation, and now here you are, 4 times award winner with your own company, and, your own family and, all sort of things. So there is there is always a future there.

Tony Edwards [00:25:27]:

Yeah. Absolutely. And, You know, like I said, I’m, I’m far from complete. It’s funny. I’m just looking at the notes I, I took with me when I went to talk at the school, you know. If it wasn’t for 3 or 4 people pushing me, nudging me in the right direction, I probably still wouldn’t be where I wouldn’t be where I am now, you know? I’ve been really lucky to have found small groups of people who have provided me with French can support, yourself included in that. And I’m now, you know, I’m now at a point where I’m able to begin to talk about this, know, even 12 months ago talking about this would have been a massive struggle. I probably could have done it on a one to 1 situation but Recording it is getting completely dead.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:26:14]:

That that that

Tony Edwards [00:26:15]:

big piece. You know, I’ve I’ve got a lot of baggage that I need to deal with, and I think I hold on to a lot of that baggage and emotion now more because I don’t wanna let go of it because it’s always been there.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:26:30]:

Yes.

Tony Edwards [00:26:31]:

That’s I think is now gonna start holding me back because, you know, I don’t speak to anybody I went to school with. I don’t speak to anybody I went to college with, I speak to very few people I went to even went to university with. And that’s not because I didn’t like any of them, it’s because my life is just, that’s just the way I like to be. I’m quite a introverted person, I I enjoy my own company or, you know, and I I do have a very, very, very small circle of friends, and I’m okay with that. But because I hold on to all of this negative stuff, it it has it it has affected me adversely, you know. I am I can be quite quick to anger. My wife says I do have anger management issues. It’s it’s all it’s I can, like, I can probably Work it all the way back to all of this stuff.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:27:21]:

Sure.

Tony Edwards [00:27:22]:

You know, there’s stuff that I’ve I’ve gone through that I’ve never told anybody And I probably never will, but being able to have this conversation and like I said, go and, you know, talk at the school has helped me to realize that all of this stuff is holding me back. But there is, you know, the fact that there is all of that support out there now means that I I’m quite comfortable knowing that my son, who’s not in secondary school now, He might have a little bit of name calling on that sort of thing, but it it I very much doubt it’s gonna go any further than that. Yeah. My stepdaughter had 1 incident in year 11 and that Was it? And, you know, as soon as we found out, I just, I went, I, I turned into the rottweiler that was my mum. I walked straight, I walked into the, I just drove straight up to the school, I said I wanna speak to the head of your 11 now And she’s like, well, he’s in a lesson, like, you need to pull him out. Not because I’m not happy, you know. My wife is of, You know, English isn’t her first language. My stepdaughter, her, you know, her dad, again, not not English.

Tony Edwards [00:28:42]:

And it was a racial, A racial attack essentially saying go back to your own country and I wasn’t gonna have that. Yeah. You know, it that you nobody should have to deal with that. It doesn’t matter where you live, where you’re from. And I think because of everything I’ve gone through, like I said, I’ve, and knowing that The schools when I was there, didn’t know how to deal with it. I just

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:29:12]:

had

Tony Edwards [00:29:13]:

to make it in the bud. And luckily it was, you know, the child who Said the staff got ex I think he got excluded for a couple of weeks. Because it hadn’t been it wasn’t the 1st time he had he’d been reported. So, You know, it was good that that school was sort of doing something. I do just wanna say That if your child is going through bullying and they’ve got access to technology, Keep them off the social media apps, especially if they are under the age. You know, they have age ratings on them for a reason that’s to Protect them to put boundaries in place, and kids get pressured to to download these apps because everybody else is. It’s not everybody else means, like, 1 or 2 of their friends.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:30:09]:

Yeah.

Tony Edwards [00:30:10]:

That that’s that’s that’s what I’d love to experience, you know, my My son downloaded Snapchat when he was with his when he was with his granddad a couple a couple of years ago when I’ve got shown these these pictures and I’m like, how have you taken them? And he said, oh, you Snapchat? I’m like, but you’re not old enough to use Snapchat. Oh, granddad said it was okay. I’m not I don’t care. It’s not okay. And we we removed it. Again, Purely because they’re loud. Absolutely. And lastly, you know, kids These kids these days.

Tony Edwards [00:30:49]:

That make me feel so old.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:30:53]:

Alright, granddad. I do.

Tony Edwards [00:30:56]:

Chill because of the way life is now

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:30:59]:

Mhmm.

Tony Edwards [00:31:00]:

Children are growing up too quickly.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:31:05]:

Act yeah. Yeah. That’s a fair point.

Tony Edwards [00:31:06]:

It’s strange because they’re not, you know, a 12 year old is a 12 year old. But a 12 year old in 1995 Was a lot wasn’t allowed to do half as much as what a 12 year old can do in 2023.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:31:23]:

Yeah.

Tony Edwards [00:31:26]:

You know, so if you’re a child, if you, you know, don’t grow up too fast. Have fun while you can because let’s face it, life gets serious too quickly.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:31:35]:

Certainly does.

Tony Edwards [00:31:36]:

You know, my parents would say that school years are the best years of your life. I never believed it because of what I went through, but they were. I had no responsibilities. I didn’t have to pay any bills. I thought I could kind of eat what I wanted, do what I wanted, like I said, to a degree. But, you know, it was almost carefree, you know, money I had for my paper round was my money. You know, I saved up for my 1st PC, you know, Delivering newspapers. But kids don’t kids don’t have to do that anymore.

Tony Edwards [00:32:14]:

I don’t I don’t even think there’s a paper route a paper round in Winchester anymore. So you know, because of that kids just get stuff and they don’t have to earn it and when they go to work they then realise how hard life is and they don’t like it. So yeah, Kids don’t grow up too fast. Have fun as long as for as long as you can because as soon as you hit 16 or 18, that’s it. You’re working for the next 60 years.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:32:43]:

Yeah. It’s

Tony Edwards [00:32:44]:

If not if not more by the time you’re that age. Well, yeah. Exactly.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:32:50]:

Yeah. That’s a whole different discussion, but yeah. You’re right. Yeah. Thank you for sharing all this, Tony. What’s what’s what’s next for you on this journey do you feel? Or you’re just taking taking it as as it comes along?

Tony Edwards [00:33:04]:

So, I’m gonna be reaching out to more schools. Mhmm. Because it was really in going back to my old school was was surreal. So when I approached them, I hadn’t actually stepped back in the school since I went to pick up my GCSE results in August 99. So that’s nearly 25 years ago. And going back in there, walking through the the double doors into reception, looking around, almost nothing had changed. Goodness. You know, I then walked down some of the corridors to the, the deputy head’s office and we walked past this row of lockers and I’m like, That was my locker.

Tony Edwards [00:33:48]:

And it was the same locker. Wow. And, you know, so there were little things that had changed but The buildings and things, it was like, it was like, oh you probably don’t remember that being like that? I’m like, I kinda do. I think it’s been painted since but Yeah. That that doesn’t look too dissimilar. So, yeah, I I like I’m, you know, I’m still in contact with my school with my old school. There’s potential there to go deliver more talks. I’m also gonna approach some the schools in Winchester to see if I can go and talk that to them.

Tony Edwards [00:34:22]:

I think because It was nice to go back but I think that some of the things I’ve gone through can help It could help any school. And yeah, okay, that, you know, there is a time commitment there but That’s one of the benefits of working for me. I can choose what what 18 hours a day I wanna work. I want 6 hours, I wanna sleep and or go and do anti bullying talks and things like that. So yeah, that that’s Part of my plan for 2024 is gonna do yeah. Try and do some more anti bullying talks, continue to work on the business and and grow and develop it. I’m probably gonna hit pause on the awards for next year, though, because I think 4 is enough to start with.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:35:08]:

Lea leave some for someone else to to have a I don’t have a chance to win. Well, Tony, thank you thank you so much so much. I’m turning to Sean Connery there. Thank you so much, Tony, for for, taking time to to share this with us, particularly given it’s it is such a difficult topic to to talk about. Really appreciate that. Hopefully, some listeners will will have drawn some some comfort or some inspiration, from it. I hope eve even if it only helps 1 or 2 people to avoid bullying, and have been bullied, or come to terms with what has happened to them and realize There is a better future for me there, then then it will be worth it. Thank you so much, Tony.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:35:50]:

Quick shout out. We we said at the start, your company, Bit Bitsmart Technology Limited, you you help people with, all manner of IT IT issues. People wanna find out more about that sort of stuff, where can they where can they find you?

Tony Edwards [00:36:03]:

So, I’m on all the social media channels that you can probably imagine. My website is one of the easiest place to go, so it’s bitsmart.tech which She’s on the screen, look at that as if by magic, that is undergoing a redevelopment right now, That will be going live, touch wood, in the next month. Thanks to, a mutual contact of ours, mister Chris Dawes.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:36:30]:

Nice nice. Fine. Brilliant. Well, again, thank you so much, Tony, for, for cup for coming back.

Tony Edwards [00:36:38]:

Thank you for having me, Keith. It’s always a pleasure.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:36:40]:

My pleasure. Congratulations on the awards. Good luck with the anti bullying side of of things that you do as well. I know that is gonna be a a lot of help to to, to many people. And thank you, dear listener, For, for joining us, check out Tony, bitsmart. Tech. Check out some of the episodes. If you’re a Patreon, check out the Patreon channel where there’s lots of bonus content there.

Keith Blakemore-Noble [00:37:06]:

If you’re not a Patreon, check it out anyway. You can you can sign up and get access to that. Do give us a like, a comment, a share, and subscribe, review, and we’ll catch you in another episode very soon. For now, I’m gonna leave you with, Tony’s favorite quote. It’s from Walt Whitman, and the quote is, be curious, not judgmental.