Choosing Your Uni

It’s New Year’s Eve, and my coffee table is covered in old photographs. Decades of memories, some so distant they almost feel like they belong to someone else, waiting to be looked at properly and digitised.

Somewhere between scanning one photo and the next, a thought lands, uninvited.

And suddenly the maths becomes unavoidable.

Oh bugger.
My life is half over.

New Year’s Eve has a way of doing this to you.

It’s already a slightly melancholic day, one that quietly forces reflection whether you’re in the mood for it or not.

You look back at where you’ve come from. You glance forward at where you’re heading. You take stock.

I keep scanning.

There are photos from my Year 10 formal. Kids in grown-ups outfits. Girls glammed up looking great. Boys looking out of place in suits, and holding the kind of confidence that only exists when you don’t yet know how little you know.

Grainy shots from my student exchange and a travel club trip to Cairo. The pyramids sit crooked in the background. Blurry smiles. Proof that I was there, even if the camera struggled to keep up.

Then there are the photos that make no sense at all, like the poorly framed, badly lit snaps from a house party where I met my wife-to-be.

If you didn’t know what you were looking at, you’d skip straight past them.

But they’re all we’ve got. In the analogue world, these imperfect little rectangles are the only evidence those moments ever happened.

They’re not curated. They’re not beautiful. They weren’t taken for an audience.

They’re just real.

Some of the people in these photos are no longer in my life. Friendships that drifted. Relationships that faded.

People I could have stayed in touch with if I’d made more effort.

If I’d tried harder. If I’d been better at holding on.

That realisation sits heavy.

But then something else clicks.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve had the same New Year’s resolution. Not a goal. Not a habit.

Just a simple promise to myself: to make next year the best year yet.

I’ve said it at 18. At 25. At 40. Every single year.

And suddenly these photos stop feeling like evidence of what’s gone.

They start to look like proof of what built me.

Every one of those people shaped how I show up now. Not just through the good times, but through the mistakes too. The moments where I was arrogant. Or careless. Or hurtful. Or just a teenager who thought he knew more than he did.

I got things wrong. Often.

But those moments mattered.

They taught me, sometimes the hard way, how I wanted to live in the world. How I wanted to treat people. What kind of friend I wanted to be. What kind of partner. What kind of person.

Those friendships aren’t failures.

They’re foundations.

I’m deeply grateful for what those people gave me, even if I didn’t always give enough back.

The earlier chapters of my life aren’t competing with the ones I’m living now. They’re the scaffolding underneath everything that’s still unfolding.

It's the ultimate reminder that the past isn’t gone.

It’s in me.

1 week ago | [YT] | 3

Choosing Your Uni

I'm heading to PERTH this week!
If you're a current student at one of the unis in Perth, and would like to be part of one of my videos, please DM me on Instagram! ‪@ChoosingYourUni‬.

1 month ago | [YT] | 8

Choosing Your Uni

It was a bunch of fun to be back on ‪@griffithuniversity‬’s Gold Coast campus. I love how every time I visit this place I discover something new - this time it was the view from the upper level of the Ian O’Connor building, and the tv studio in the Communication building.

Lots of things happening at this uni, including a brand new Brisbane CBD campus coming in 2027.

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2 months ago | [YT] | 6

Choosing Your Uni

Heading to one of my favourite destinations in Australia for students, whether you’re a local or from overseas.

I’ll tease it: great beaches, sunshine, awesome unis and lifestyle by the bucketload.

Where am I going?

2 months ago | [YT] | 3

Choosing Your Uni

Well THAT didn't go quite as expected.

As you build a Start Up, there's a mountain of things that you don't know and are trying to figure out (preferably as quickly and cheaply as possible!)

Before we even started building our digital platform for Choosing Your Uni, we'd done a lot of "validation testing": dozens and dozens of phone calls, deep dive meetings with people and organisations in our target markets, and a thorough investigation of existing technology and solutions.

We knew there was a big gap to fill, and the first public version of the site last November provided crucial data to show we were on track.

We've now got a tonne of initial users on the platform, and it's growing organically every day via digital channels .

However, it's very different when you're trying to convince a human being, face to face. That's why the stakes felt particularly high at our first, in-person Careers Fair yesterday.

Would our "value proposition" pitch be up to the game?

We only got the call-up for the event a couple of weeks ago, and it's funny how we suddenly realised that we needed to create all the in-person collateral that established businesses already have: flyers, banners, demo videos, etc.

It's been hectic... and we've been asking ourselves that whole time... "Will people actually be interested?"

But as the first people sauntered up to our table yesterday afternoon, curiously asking "What's this?", we knew we were onto a winner.

In total, we talked to close to 100 students (and close to as many parents) in 3 hours.

The most typical response?

"This is awesome... it's exactly what I need!"

And it wasn't only the students and parents, we got mugged by careers advisors and other exhibitors too!

(That was a great reminder that while you can always "reach" more people, all business is human-to-human. Nothing builds trust and rapport faster than standing with someone and chatting face-to-face).

This morning, our statistics are showing a clear bump... so we've also got data to back up our qualitative experience.

So great work team, a fist pump to celebrate, and onwards to the next milestones.


#startup #careers #university

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9 months ago | [YT] | 15

Choosing Your Uni

Super good to connect and share some stories with Siri, Aavash and Vincent at ​⁠the University of Southern Queensland in Toowoomba.
These legends have respectively come from Thailand, Nepal and Nigeria to pursue their studies in Oz… and they’re loving UniSQ.

Great to meet you guys and thanks for the great experience on campus!

​⁠@usqedu‬

9 months ago | [YT] | 2

Choosing Your Uni

Sneaking up on 15k subs 🤗
Thanks for the support! Can you help out getting me over the line?

1 year ago | [YT] | 5

Choosing Your Uni

A little while ago I was back at the ‪@uniofcanberra‬ to update my review of the institution. The campus is looking great and the institution has really continued to punch above its weight in so many ways!

So here it is, just in time for students considering their 2025 study choices: CYU's updated UC Review.

1 year ago | [YT] | 0

Choosing Your Uni

ATARs are released this Wednesday for year 12 students in NSW. To "celebrate", I'm holding a live webinar, followed by an AMA. Find out more at webinar.choosingyouruni.com/you-have-your-atar-wha…

1 year ago | [YT] | 0

Choosing Your Uni

Hey hey! I'm trying something new - a LIVE WEBINAR on getting your choice of degree, and university, RIGHT.
Find out more (or sign up to come along) here: webinar.choosingyouruni.com/how-to-choose-the-righ…

It's taking place next Wednesday, 11th December.

1 year ago | [YT] | 1