The Art of FUN in Business: Our Manifesto on Doing It Your Way

The Art of FUN in Business

Back in 2002 when I was working for Fujitsu, I was creating a Power Point for a presentation I was going to deliver and my boss, told me to remove the explosions as it was crass and not ‘professional’. 

I felt slightly put out by this as for me, they 100% weren’t crass or unprofessional, they were exactly what made me smile! And, I knew if they made me smile, then, they’d have a bigger impact on me and my day! And surely, I couldn’t be the only one who thought like this?

The thing is, accepting somebody else’s way of doing this is exhausting, it takes up precious brain power and time.

Because, here’s the thing nobody tells you when you start a business. The version of you that you perform for other people, the polished, professional, buttoned-up version, costs you something every single day. Energy. Joy. The thing that made you start this whole mad adventure in the first place.

Because why did you start your business? To do what you love, to be you, right?

And, as per Primal Scream sampling Peter Fonda on Loaded…

“Just what is it that you want to do?“

“We wanna be free. We wanna be free to do what we wanna do. And we wanna get loaded. And we wanna have a good time. That’s what we’re gonna do.”

So, why do we change? Why do we put on a suit and deliver elevator pitches? That’s not why we’re here, surely?!?

Now, this isn’t a piece about being silly. It’s not even about taking business less seriously.

It’s about giving yourself permission to show up as the actual you. Because the actual you, unfiltered, unpolished, fully present, is the most powerful business tool you will ever have.

That’s what ‘The Art of Fun’ is really about.

Not fun for fun’s sake. But, fun as the bravest, most strategic, most human thing you can choose to do in business.

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So, let’s start at the beginning as always.

What is fun, exactly?

Fun is defined as ‘light-hearted pleasure, enjoyment, or amusement. It is the positive, engaged, and often playful state of mind experienced during recreation, leisure, or activities done purely for the sake of the experience itself‘.

Now, we’re the first to admit, that in our pursuit and love of fun, that just like happiness, it is extremely subjective…

It’s also time sensitive and very relevant to where you’re at and what you are doing in your life!

You may find fun & happiness tricky on a certain day when things are not going to plan, the bills are due, the contract failed or illness is rearing its frustrating head!

Alternatively, you may find joy and happiness in the simple things like a sun rise or sitting in the silence of the loo while choosing your next burger recipe from your favourite Weber BBQ book!

“fun” for us, is not a shallow corporate buzzword, and it 100% is not just a distraction from hard work! It’s a delivery method and it changes everything you do…

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The Art of War vs The Art of Fun

Sun Tzu’s ‘Art of War’ suggests that victory should be achieved through superior strategy, preparation, and psychological manipulation rather than actual combat.

And, many people think business should be done like this….

And for some, we imagine that actually works… I mean, who are we to disagree with ancient military strategist that has helped countless wars to be won!

But, we live in a world of AND. We’re not fans of the ‘OR’ approach..

We have dark & light, sunrise & sunset, night & day, Apple & Android, Ant & Dec and so many more…

So, what does fun and ‘The Art of Fun’ look like and how does it balance with war, ‘The Art of War’?

Well, it doesn’t need to balance. Like dark & light, it’s a contrast. They don’t co-exist at the same time, they exist individually. And, they 100% both have their place…

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The art of fun: Our manifesto

So, we’re proud to share with you our manifesto on it for it to balance out, but ultimately work with war…

1] Filtering by fun

We don’t use yellow, lemon shirts, and giant inflatable googly-eyed bananas just because they are silly, we use them as they make us smile and look epic in photos. 🤣

We’re also then using it all to find the other businesses that it makes smile. 

We are our niche and all of it acts as a beacon of joy & fun for our target audiences, the adventurous sole traders, product businesses, and SME founders who value human connection over perceived & unnecessary corporate professionalism.. We don’t change our messaging or tone of voice, we all unite on this adventure called business over a love of being human..

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2] Fun as a permission slip to unmask

As someone said to us the other day.. It’s quite tricky to keep mask up when you’re screaming on a rollercoaster together! And you’ll definitely run out of pre rehearsed chat within about 45mins!

The business world is flooded with people pretending to be or thinking they need to be “professionals,” which can be incredibly tiring for them. Our approach is all about letting people know that there is an alternative way to do it.. You can ride a rollercoaster and do business! You can turn up in bright yellow clothes and still deliver your message and your service. You can still make your clients very very happy. We’re also providing a place, a safe haven for these business owners to hang out and be themselves…

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3] Business is hard work and ongoing!

The Funpreneurs BIG Day Out is all about this… Gemma Warren, chose to come along on her birthday back in 2025.. To have a stupidly magical day with a bunch of strangers.. A year later, we know that she’s been doing ‘business’ with some of the other Funpreneurs.. Gemma, 100% chose FUN and it worked.

Regularly we talk about how if you can run a business, you can run an ultra marathon. Not only is the mindset the same, but so is the practice of resilience.. 

Getting up every single day and delivering, is hard work and tiring.. So, let’s make sure we enjoy it on the way.. What do we actually want to remember when we’re on our death beds?!? How hard it was or how much fun we had? Also, when we have fun, it makes the hard work, so much simpler to endure… Rather than just keeping your head down and getting on with it…

For us, 2021s first ever 🎪The Digital Circus LIVE was a perfect example for this… After the days online conference, focusing on human connection in a digital world, we finished with ‘Sundowners’, an online gin tasting session.

And, when the close came, the end of the conference and session.. No one left! Everyone stayed on camera and in the chat area, all enjoying being human together… It was a pivotal moment for us, as the business facade dropped and we all just enjoyed being there..

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4] ”Hard Fun” is as hard as ‘Hard Work’

If you think we turn up and ‘wing’ The Funpreneurs BIG Day Out or anything we do, then trust us, we don’t.. Firstly, everything is built on over 40 years of experience and learning. Tweaking and adjusting always. Then the final delivery always takes a lot of energy.. Because we know that you get out of life, what you put in, and we want our life to be AMAZING.

Having fun is not about not doing any work.. It’s a delivery method.. Making the work & business more accessible and consumable.. The strict serious teachers never had the same impact on learning as the teacher who made learning fun, right?

And, just like the teachers who made it fun, who I imagine the system didn’t like [cue Dead Poets Society]! It takes energy and effort to do, it isn’t the path of least resistance, it’s the correct path that takes effort and probably way more effort than not doing it! But, the returns are massive.. It is always worth it…

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5] So what does that mean?

A large percentage of Funpreneurs are back for their third year and the 2025 WhatsApp group has never stopped chatting for the entire year. It’s a fab & fun place to be.

In our world, fun changes the entire transaction of business from a cold interchange of services into a shared human adventure that we’re enjoying and is making us happy. It turns casual followers, your audience into a committed team of individuals coming together to do it together, and it replaces unnecessary stuffy elevator pitches with stupidly magical, lasting connections.

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Finishing off…

The Art of Fun is not just about The Funpreneurs BIG Day Out. However, The Funpreneurs BIG Day Out is, we feel the best way to bring The Art of Fun to life right now as we grow and evolve this methodology.

It’s interesting though, isn’t it. Lots of business advice suggest that you have to run your business in a certain way, you have to follow the ‘blue print for growth’.. But, for every business with a polished business plan following the experts, there’s some person just buying some tat off of Alibaba and flogging it on Amazon and making a fortune!

The point is, that neither way of doing it is wrong. But, do choose the way that is right for you as an individual living your life with your own personal goals. Remember, you need something to sell and you want someone to buy it. Most other things are totally adjustable!

So… Do work on your strategy, do get the foundations in place, do ensure your systems are set up and ready to go for growth.. Then choose fun as your delivery method.. It will have a way bigger impact than you could ever imagine…

And, if you’re not sure what that looks like today.. 

Then today, it’s all about us giving you permission to be you.. Because we’ve proved that it works…

Thank you so much for reading and please do blimmin have fun always.

Alan

PS. Remember, you don’t have to be serious to do serious business.

PPS. A lot of this is about challenging the status quo. The way people have for decades. I watched a great REEL from BBC Radio 1 Breakfast show host Greg James the other day on Steven Bartlett and optimisation is destroying fun! Steven was suggesting that he shouldn’t have had 3 glasses of wine as he ended up losing focus for a good few days afterwards and he ‘podcasted badly’! Greg suggested that, why do we need to ‘optimise’ our life! And, that it is ok to drink the wine, enjoy the hang over and have fun.. Both are successful people…

PPPS. If you like this and fancy reading more on The Rise of the Funpreneur, then you may like to give that a click and have a read of that blog.