When I first started freelancing, profoundly uninspired, I called my business TG Services. Last year I changed the name of it to 10,000 Services for two reasons. Firstly, because I do many things, and I wanted to underscore that in the name. Secondly, I settled on 10,000 as a number for a particular reason. It is a cute story, so I thought I would briefly share it.
Last year, I was working as a mentor to excluded young people with SEN or mental health needs. One day, as one of the young people and I went about our session, he told me that he was special, one in a million. He then swiftly corrected himself and said: no, my mum said I’m one in ten thousand.
What his mum will have been referring to is one of the conditions he has, but what I loved about his correction was that to him, one in ten thousand felt more special than one in a million. And as he said it, it instinctually felt the same way to me. There was an intimacy in being one in ten thousand that being one in a million lacked. I loved that he had internalised his mother’s message, in a world that claws down kids like him, and I wanted to honour him so a new business name was borne. I also felt that 10,000 Services felt like a manageable offering: many, but not so many that I am overwhelmed.