Entry Log 019

13 Oct

THE WORLD CAN WAIT

Sometimes the most extraordinary things happen when you stop trying to make things happen.

There's something rather amusing about watching a man who has spent most of his life organising other people's adventures attempt to take a day off. Stu isn't particularly good at it. Give him a quiet afternoon, and he'll find three things that need sorting, two people he ought to call and at least one completely crazy idea that, by teatime, has somehow turned into a potential business. And lately, there's certainly been no shortage of those.

Terra Nueva continues to evolve. New relationships are forming, conversations are developing, opportunities are appearing and, slowly but surely, the pieces of a much bigger picture are beginning to find their places. Not everything happens at the speed he'd like, of course. There are investors to find, properties to explore, partnerships to develop and a rather ambitious vision that still needs the resources to bring it fully to life. And alongside all of that, House of Tours Global continues doing what it does best, with Stu preparing to head back out on the road for another few weeks of touring around Europe. So plenty is happening.

But there's a peculiar stage in any great adventure when you've done an enormous amount of work, you can see where you're trying to get to, and yet you're still waiting for certain doors to open. It's not quite standing still. But it can bloody well feel like it sometimes.

A little experiment with rather big consequences

And then, of course, there's Stu-e. What started as an experiment to create a conversational digital twin to support people in the music touring industry has developed into something rather extraordinary. Thousands of conversations, multiple languages, people asking all sorts of questions from all corners of the globe. And the fascinating thing is that Stu-e is proving something much bigger than whether an AI can answer questions about tour buses, carnets and backstage passes. He's proving that people actually enjoy having a conversation with technology.

Which got Stu thinking. Because apparently, building a digital version of himself to help the music industry wasn't ambitious enough. No. He's looked at the whole bloody planet and thought, “I'll have a go at that next.” And that's where MNDO comes in.

Hang on. Have I even mentioned MNDO before? Well, I bloody have now. It's pronounced Mundo, the Spanish word for world. Except Stu's taken the U out. M-N-D-O.

Why?

Because, as he so eloquently and diplomatically explains it... “The world means f*** all without U in it!” 😉

And there you have it. A global business philosophy delivered with all the subtlety of a brick through a greenhouse.

But here's the clever bit. MNDO takes everything Stu-e is teaching us and turns it into something with genuine global potential. Imagine landing in Tokyo, walking through London, exploring Timbuktu or finding yourself in some little town you've never heard of. Instead of scrolling through seventeen websites, downloading six apps and reading reviews written by people who apparently hate everything, you simply have a conversation. With a local character who knows the place, speaks your language, understands what you're interested in and helps you discover what's happening around you. Events, music, venues, attractions, hidden gems, places to eat, things to do. The lot. And each destination could have its own personality. A New Yorker in New York. A Cockney in London. And yes, Stu has already created a Dundonian in Dundee!!

Can you imagine what happens when they all start talking to each other? It's a global network of local characters with local vernacular, connecting real people with real places and real experiences. And the whole point is that technology shouldn't replace the experience of discovering the world. It should make that experience even better. So yes, Stu has effectively decided that having spent a lifetime travelling around the world, he'd now quite like to put the world in everyone's pocket. As you do!

But there's a much bigger story behind MNDO, and it's still being written. That particular adventure deserves a Journal of its own. For now, just think about the sheer audacity of it. One bloke in Dundee, a lifetime of travelling the planet, and an idea that might just change the way people experience it. Will it work? Who knows? But then, when did not knowing ever stop anyone from doing something extraordinary?

The world's a big place. Eight billion people, thousands of cities, millions of stories waiting to be discovered. And Stu's philosophy is wonderfully simple: The world means f*** all without U in it. 😉

So get out there. Explore it. Experience it. Make some memories. Meet some people. Get wonderfully, gloriously lost occasionally. Because the world doesn't belong to the people who sit around waiting for something to happen. It belongs to the people who get off their arses and make something happen. And if anyone tells you the world's too big to take on?

F*** 'em. It's a big world. There's room for everyone. Especially U.

Meanwhile, back on planet Earth...

Of course, there's something rather ironic about all this talk of discovering the world. Because sometimes the world has a way of reminding us that we don't actually have to build anything to experience something extraordinary. Sometimes we just have to go outside. And fortunately, Stu has two rather persuasive reminders of that particular fact. Loki and Juni.

Two huskies who couldn't give a flying toss about business plans, investment proposals, AI or the future of immersive entertainment. Their priorities are refreshingly straightforward. Walks. Fresh air. A bit of attention. And preferably something interesting to sniff. They don't care whether an investor has replied to an email. They don't care whether the next big partnership is about to materialise. And they certainly don't care whether Stu's got another seventeen things on his to-do list. When it's time for a walk, it's time for a bloody walk. And perhaps that's exactly what he needs. Because those moments away from the desk, walking through the parks and countryside, watching the dogs enjoy themselves without a care in the world, have a rather wonderful way of putting everything back into perspective. There's a life happening outside the laptop. And it's a pretty extraordinary one.

A different kind of light show

Then came the weekend. Stu found himself in the mountains just a few miles from his house, looking up at something even he couldn’t have organised, produced or improved upon. The Northern Lights. And what a spectacle.

After a lifetime spent around stages, lighting rigs, productions and some of the most elaborate shows imaginable, there he was, standing beneath a sky putting on a performance that made the whole lot look rather modest. No production manager. No lighting designer. No running order. No frantic radio calls asking whether the bloody thing was ready to start. Just the night sky, alive with colour. There's something quite beautiful about that. For all the technology we're developing, all the virtual worlds we're imagining and all the extraordinary things we're trying to create, nature has been putting on the greatest show on Earth for rather longer than any of us have been around. And it doesn't even charge admission.

The things that really matter

Perhaps there's a lesson in all of this. Not every moment needs to be productive. Not every conversation needs to lead to an opportunity. Not every day needs to move a project forward. And not every beautiful experience needs to become something bigger than it already is. Sometimes it's enough to walk the dogs. To spend an evening with someone you love. To stand beneath an extraordinary sky and simply appreciate the fact that you're there to see it. Because when you've been through enough in life, you begin to understand just how precious those ordinary moments really are. The ones that don't appear in business plans. The ones that can't be measured in revenue, investment or audience numbers. The ones that remind you why you're working so bloody hard in the first place. And perhaps that's the real connection between everything Stu is trying to create and the life he's living along the way.

Terra Nueva is about bringing people together through music, creativity, technology and shared experiences. Stu-e is about making knowledge and support more accessible. MNDO is about helping people connect with the world around them. But none of it means very much if we forget to experience that world ourselves.

The road ahead

There will be plenty more to tell. The conversations continue. The plans are developing. The search for the right people, places and opportunities goes on. And before long, Stu will be packing his bags and heading off across Europe again. No doubt with a laptop, a telephone and enough ideas to keep half the continent occupied. But for now, perhaps there's no great announcement required. No dramatic revelation. No need to pretend that every piece of the puzzle has already fallen into place. Because it hasn't. And that's perfectly all right.

We're approaching Entry Log 020, and I suspect that will be a rather appropriate moment to look at how far this adventure has come, where we find ourselves and what might lie beyond the next horizon. A kind of Base Camp, if you like. A place to gather our thoughts before setting off again. But that's for another day. For now, there are dogs to walk, people to love, places to discover and a world that remains gloriously, magnificently unpredictable. And after everything life has thrown at Stu over the years, there's something rather wonderful about seeing him still looking towards the horizon. Still curious. Still dreaming. Still determined to make something extraordinary happen. But perhaps a little more aware that extraordinary things are happening all around him already.

Because while we're busy building a better tomorrow, we mustn't forget to live today.

And sometimes, just sometimes...

The world can wait.

Captain Scott Woldian

Terra Nueva Journals — Entry Log 019

Stu Phillips