Second Innings

The declaration, April 2024

On the last working day of March 2024, I decided to conclude the first innings of my life. In cricketing terms, I declared the innings and remained not out.

My first innings began around the age of sixteen, helping my father in his workshop. Fixing punctures, repairing suspensions and tuning cars. I had been at the crease for quite a while. My brain told me I might be a bit late in accumulating these runs. My heart and faith reassured me that I was right on time.

The initial phase was slow. I didn't have a clear strategy, but I believed that staying at the crease and figuring things out was my best course of action. Runs trickled rather than flowed.

Then I became too comfortable. Too many dot balls and maiden overs. Simply occupying the crease wasn't enough. I risked running out of daylight, or days. Plus you never know when rain might stop play.

I changed my strategy, taking risks with jobs and skills, and eventually establishing a business that helped me accumulate the runs I needed. I sometimes wonder whether I should have changed sooner. But the time at the crease and those early runs gave me the confidence and safety net to take risks. I also learned a lot about the rules of the game and my opponents.

Broken cars, broken computers, broken businesses, and then broken lives are the themes of my journey.

There wasn't one big reason to declare. I had been at the crease continuously since sixteen and had scored enough runs to give us a fighting chance for the rest of the game. April 2024 also brought a milestone birthday, an anniversary and a financial milestone.

It was time to rest, refuel, shed the sweaty kit and return in fresh whites with a different strategy.

I wanted a physical, mental and spiritual reset. Time in my own head, reflecting, organising years of accumulated experience and thinking about the next innings. A journey of self-discovery and repentance, praying for the strength, endurance and wisdom to follow through. To return with a refreshed mind, body and soul, but more importantly, fortified faith, in'sha'Allah.

I hoped and prayed the second innings would be enjoyable. With runs on the board, we could take more risks and relish our time at the crease. God had been kind. Even if I got dismissed for a low score, even a duck, we would still have a respectable total.

I didn't know exactly what I would do next. It might be brief, or it might become my legacy. Only time would tell.

Back at the crease, August 2026

I'm a recovering entrepreneur. And the recovery isn't going particularly well.

I invest in businesses, advise a few, help solve interesting problems and occasionally relapse into starting something new. Somehow, in trying to work less, I seem to have ended up working more, without a sensible job title.

The main difference isn't how much I work. It's that I now get to choose what I work on. I choose the people, problems and opportunities that interest me, and walk away from the rest.

That is where anj.am begins: money, work, business and life, seen from the other side of that declaration.