Episode 376
Britain’s best business podcast meets the UK’s #1 motivational speaker Brad Burton
EP 376 - Our guest this week freely admits to have totally made up the idea of the UK having a #1 motivational speaker (to be fair, it’s not a chart rundown show we would watch anyway).
Brad has some interesting things to say about how getting your belief and your attitude right is the key to success. He also has practical tips on how to create that optimism, find peace, and live more in the now. The last two involve turning off your phone.
Crisps, Maltesers and wizards also get a mention.
*For Apple Podcast chapters, access them from the menu in the bottom right corner of your player*
Spotify Video Chapters:
00:00 BWB with Brad Burton
01:14 Meet Brad; Resilience and Reinvention
03:38 The Power of Belief in Business
08:37 Living in the Present: Letting Go of the Past
12:36 The Impact of Digital World on Modern Life
18:06 The British Moat: Self-Belief and Humility
24:35 Chasing Dreams: When is Enough, Enough?
26:33 Finding True Happiness
27:26 The State of Society and Business
27:52 Challenges of the Modern Economy
31:09 The Benefits Trap
34:35 The Importance of Mindset
38:50 Work-Life Balance and Business Success
46:08 Quickfire - Get To Know Brad
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Transcript
The UK's number one motivational business speaker.
Speaker B:How does anyone even know whether they're the number one motivational speaker?
Speaker B:I mean, how do you work it out?
Speaker A:The UK's number one motivational business speaker.
Speaker A:It's a term that never existed until I made it up.
Speaker B:What is it like to be on benefits?
Speaker A:You don't realize you're on benefits.
Speaker B:You don't realise.
Speaker A:No, you don't.
Speaker A:Until you come out the other end and go, oh, you know, I've done four years on benefits.
Speaker A:I've been addicted to drugs twice.
Speaker A:I got shot out of 21, I delivered pizza at 31.
Speaker A:Am I that guy with no qualifications or am I the guy who's written four books, who started a business, 25 grand in debt and built up a million pound business?
Speaker A:Come from council estates, living above a chipper on a masonette today and getting a five bedroom house in Somerset, detached, no neighbors.
Speaker A:And it's like, how much is enough?
Speaker A:You look at the country right now, you go about 20 years ago and look at the difference between 20 years ago and now.
Speaker B:It's got bad or it's got worse.
Speaker A:As a country, we are at war.
Speaker A:I don't see how it's going to change.
Speaker A:I just see it going worse and worse and worse and I'm positive this is what I do.
Speaker A:But, but I'm looking at a way through this for the mass populace and I don't see it.
Speaker B:Hi, and welcome to Business Without Bullshit.
Speaker B:We're here to help the founders, entrepreneurs, business owners, anyone who wrestles with the job of being in charge.
Speaker B:And if you like what we do here, please rate and review us on Spotify and Apple and and come say hi on YouTube if you fancy watching us in action.
Speaker B:Links are in the episode description or just search for wblondon.
Speaker B:This week I meet the UK's number one motivational speaker, a claim he admits he may have totally made up.
Speaker B:Like most Brits, I find the idea of motivational speakers really cringeworthy.
Speaker B:But Brad has a lot of points to make and he makes them.
Speaker B:Well, he, he thinks that we are coming at business all wrong.
Speaker B:We need to get the belief factor right before we do anything.
Speaker B:The country, not just business, suffers from a lack of optimism, which is what ultimately is holding us back.
Speaker B:I think that's very true.
Speaker B:Plus how phones are ruining modern life.
Speaker B:And when you boil it down, not every moment needs to be important or meaningful.
Speaker B:We also talked about Chris Maltesers and wizards.
Speaker B:I didn't really get the bit about wizards, but you might and I'll also be sharing my key takeaways from my chat throughout the show.
Speaker B:I am Andy Ory and today we are joined by Brad Burton.
Speaker B:Brad is an entrepreneur, bestselling author and the UK's number one motivational business speaker.
Speaker B:From dead end jobs near bankruptcy to building the UK's largest business networking group, Brad's journey is all about resilience, reinvention and raw honesty.
Speaker B:He's been shot at, hit rock bottom and bounced back stronger, proving that success isn't about where you start, but how you adap.
Speaker B:Brad, welcome to the podcast.
Speaker A:Andy, thank you so much.
Speaker A:There's a couple of things there that need to be changed or adapted.
Speaker A:I started and I built the largest joined up business network in the uk.
Speaker A:And then the other thing about that is I did prior to the pandemic wiping us out because you know when you run 500 networking meetings across the UK every single month and the pandemic and Boris Johnson says, please stay at home, that's exactly what we had to do.
Speaker A:So it wiped me out.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:And joined up.
Speaker B:What do you mean by joined up?
Speaker A:So my network was called for networking and it allowed you to go to any networking meeting.
Speaker A:So you could join in Manchester, that would allow you to go to Cornwall, Scotland, you know, Leeds, and that was the only network in the land that allowed you to do that.
Speaker A:So we used to run, like I say, 200 meetings every single fortnight, anywhere.
Speaker A:And you could, you know, could network 3,000 times a day if you wanted to.
Speaker A:Morning breakfast and evening.
Speaker B:What's behind this?
Speaker B:What's this?
Speaker B:You know, I mean I, I, you know, for the British listener, I always find this, that whole sort of motivational events and stuff and it's quite an American thing.
Speaker B:You know, Brits aren't very good at clapping along and getting excited sort of.
Speaker B:But what drives you?
Speaker B:Where's this coming from?
Speaker A:To make a positive difference, you know, to make a positive difference fundamentally.
Speaker A:I was a one man band.
Speaker A:I used to run my own marketing firm and I needed to belong and it's a very lonely place out there.
Speaker A:Being a small business, you kind of got to, you got to find your community and we're social animals and we need to belong.
Speaker A:And that's what I did.
Speaker A:I started my network off to do that and I kind of, as I would be speaking at these events, these four networking events up and down the land, I realized something that people would say to me, oh you so motivationally, so inspirational.
Speaker A:And I'd get that over and over and over again and at Some point I thought, how do you become a motivational speaker?
Speaker A:Just make a website so you're a motivational speaker.
Speaker A:And that's exactly what I did.
Speaker A:And then people were booking me and it just kind of take light.
Speaker A:And I've been doing it now for 15 years.
Speaker B:Okay, if I may use that terrible comparison still.
Speaker B:But, you know, in America, it's all about the American dream and everybody sort of, you know, they all see themselves as a character in their story.
Speaker B:I mean, I was just in America again recently, which I love.
Speaker B:But, you know, it's like what I noticed there were three of us there as Brits.
Speaker B:It's like.
Speaker B:And we were in Colorado for the sake of people wondering where.
Speaker B:But any, you know, if someone's a bit into something, they go all in, like how they dress and they, you know, they live their life.
Speaker B:They get their Harley or they, you know, they're all in pink and they're wandering around with this guy on the train we were on was just like.
Speaker B:It was just in like this giant fur.
Speaker B:I mean, I can't quite describe it.
Speaker B:It was obviously like a thing.
Speaker A:Welcome to America.
Speaker B:And then he kept.
Speaker B:I kept then looking at the British us, you know, and we, we were very much within this quite narrow band of acceptability, isn't it?
Speaker B:You know, quite sort of toned down.
Speaker B:You know, maybe we've got a little something on us to show we like hip hop or something, but, you know, very subtle and it's all in that subt.
Speaker B:And I find, you know, to get British people to sort of.
Speaker B:British people definitely want to be motivated and stuff like that, but, you know, I don't know whether they're thinking about the dream, are they?
Speaker A:So I think from where I come at it is the British version of that.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:And right.
Speaker A:Are they right.
Speaker A:Are the envelope.
Speaker A:Pushing the envelope on that front.
Speaker A:In terms of its mindset, fundamentally, it's called its mindset.
Speaker A:It's mindset, it's energy.
Speaker A:If you had low energy, you and I are doing this podcast now.
Speaker A:If you'd been out to the west end till 4 o'clock in the morning and it's now 9 o'clock and you and I are doing this, it's unlikely to yield a positive results.
Speaker A:So that I think principally shows that energy has an impact.
Speaker A:Belief has an impact.
Speaker A:So if you have energy and you have belief and you have motivation, then the likelihood is that your business is going to be better for it.
Speaker A:So if you think about all your team, your staff, if you used to lower their energy, if you used to demotivate them, then the impact they would have on your business.
Speaker A:So I think we've been coming at business growth from the wrong perspective.
Speaker A:We need more sales.
Speaker A:I think you need more belief.
Speaker A:If you get the belief right, you get the sales right rather than if you get the sales right, you get the belief right.
Speaker A:So it's got to start somewhere, wherever you start.
Speaker A:And I'm living proof of this.
Speaker A:I've turned my life around.
Speaker A:You know, the guy that sits before for you now is a different guy to the one that was 20 years ago.
Speaker A:And we can all change.
Speaker A:And that's what a motivational speaker is about.
Speaker A:It's about.
Speaker A:How many motivational speakers does it take to change a light bulb?
Speaker A:One.
Speaker A:But the light bulb is going to want to change.
Speaker B:I haven't heard that joke.
Speaker B:And did you come from a sort of positive family or like, you know.
Speaker A:People in Look, I think it's fair to say I'm from Salford, Manchester, you know, so probably the best way to describe it for your viewers is Coronation Street.
Speaker A:That's where I was kind of brought up, on Coronation Street.
Speaker A:So my life, you know, I've got no real sob story.
Speaker A:I've been the earlier parts of my life.
Speaker A:My dad left when I was six months old, my mum broke.
Speaker A:Well, it is.
Speaker A:But you know what, you adapt.
Speaker A:It's a bit like saying to a fish, what's the water like?
Speaker A:And the fish says, what?
Speaker A:Give water.
Speaker A:You know, the reality is you don't know any different.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:So I had a good upbringing, if I'm really honest.
Speaker A:However, you know, with any life you're going to get ups and you're going to get downs.
Speaker B:Why did you move home so many times?
Speaker A:Well, we were single parent.
Speaker A:My mum and I moved 14 times from the age of 8 to 14, 14 times we moved just through circumstances and every single time my mum would say, hey, we don't really need to move anymore.
Speaker A:And on occasion, for whatever reason, we.
Speaker A:And you know, look, it is what it is and I wouldn't change a single thing about my background.
Speaker B:Nothing is there was a moment or something.
Speaker B:If you're saying you were different before.
Speaker B:If I met the old Brad, would the old Brad be kind of pessimistic about things and there was a sort of shining light moment that changed you.
Speaker A:Yeah, I think, look, I think I've always been positive, surface level.
Speaker A:Positive.
Speaker A:Always.
Speaker B:Yeah, that's what I'm wondering.
Speaker B:So when you're saying so you have always, you know, because you kind of got to be A person.
Speaker B:A half glass, full person.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:No, no question.
Speaker A:And I think there's two ways that you can be in life.
Speaker A:You can either be positive or you can be negative.
Speaker A:That's the reality of it.
Speaker A:Why would anyone choose to be negative?
Speaker A:Like, they wouldn't, but somewhere along the way they can't let go of the past or they can't let go of things or, or something that's going on.
Speaker A:I describe this as a bit like having a hot coal.
Speaker A:It's like holding onto that hot coal, what they did, or, you know, we lost a deal or whatever it be.
Speaker A:At some point you've got to let go.
Speaker A:And I think that that's really where my life changed.
Speaker A:When I realized that actually the life that I wanted for my family and my future was never going to happen unless I could let go of the past.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:It's tricky holding on to the past.
Speaker B:Are we supposed to live in the present?
Speaker B:What are we.
Speaker B:What are we supposed to do?
Speaker A:Let me ask you this.
Speaker A:I want you to rewind to a time in your life when if you'd have made a different decision, your life would have been fundamentally different.
Speaker A:Maybe it was a job, maybe it was a relationship, maybe it was a decision, whatever.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:You can't rewind.
Speaker A:And too often in life where people end up stuck is they're trying to go back to a time and a place that no longer exists.
Speaker A:And when we think about the past, I think we have a tendency to get depressed.
Speaker A:When we think about the future, we have a tendency to be anxious.
Speaker A:So you can't rewind, you can't fast forward.
Speaker A:All you can do is press play on today.
Speaker A:And I think fundamentally, at its core, it's this moment.
Speaker A:This moment, the way you and I are speaking, everything's good.
Speaker A:Outside of that, we might have problems in the past or in the future.
Speaker A:So if we can stay within this moment and not waste a single moment, that's why I kind of eulogize and I stare people towards.
Speaker B:Yeah, my.
Speaker B:My wife said it casually when my sister's dying.
Speaker B:Yeah, there's no.
Speaker B:There's no past, there's no future, there's only now.
Speaker B:And she started to remember saying that.
Speaker B:But I keep thinking, yeah, that's a simple way of saying it.
Speaker A:But that's what life is, is it now?
Speaker A:Now and now and now and now and now and now.
Speaker A:And my life is better for me living in that way.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Sometimes easier said than done.
Speaker B:Although it's someone with my mindset, I always feel like I am living in the now and it's just not moving fast enough.
Speaker A:But where are you going and why?
Speaker A:Where's the rush?
Speaker A:Because the future that you live right now, the current, that was the future that you once wanted.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:No, no, no.
Speaker B:For sure.
Speaker B:Well, when I mean it, it's in from a very sort of adhd.
Speaker B:It's like, I'm very like.
Speaker B:I, like when I was.
Speaker B:We used to read about it.
Speaker B:I'm like, like I'm in the present.
Speaker B:That's what's, that's, you know, I just.
Speaker B:I just want everyone else to move faster with this presence.
Speaker B:You know what I mean?
Speaker A:I'm ADHD and I've been diagnosed.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:No question about it.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Let me explain something.
Speaker A:Where are you rushing to and why?
Speaker A:And this is the bit that's been a realization for me.
Speaker A:I'm 51, 52 next week.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:I have, I have recognized.
Speaker A:We almost like with life, we almost got like a remote control and we're fast forwarding, trying to get to the good bits.
Speaker A:And then one day you're going to get to the end of your life and you're going to wish that you could have rewind and actually live those boring bits, which actually is called life somewhere along the way.
Speaker A:This is a modern affliction of modern life that every single moment has to be filled with something.
Speaker A:And if it's not filled with something, we fill it with something.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:And actually, what are we.
Speaker A:What are we trying to avoid?
Speaker B:Well, the most boring moments, often the important ones really, aren't they?
Speaker B:I mean.
Speaker B:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker B:No, I, you know, it's.
Speaker B:I relate to what you're saying, I guess.
Speaker B:I guess for me, you live in your moment.
Speaker B:But I don't know if personally I'm trying to get anywhere.
Speaker B:I just want.
Speaker B:I'm just trying to make more to that point.
Speaker B:I want to make it as interesting as possible.
Speaker B:So it's kind of like living.
Speaker B:Living in the, you know, get, get the energy going.
Speaker B:Almost like, you know, let's have a laugh, you know.
Speaker B:But you're absolutely right.
Speaker B:Peace is really nice, you know.
Speaker B:But you, you.
Speaker B:I thrive off.
Speaker B:I thrive off chaos, so.
Speaker A:Likewise.
Speaker A:I used to be addicted to the fight, right.
Speaker A:I would love having a challenge and I would fix it.
Speaker A:Superhero syndrome.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:And, and.
Speaker A:And there's a danger when you're addicted to the fight.
Speaker A:If you've not got a problem, you make one.
Speaker A:And I've realized very similar to Ewan in a lot of respects.
Speaker A:And I think what happened to me, if I think about the Pandemic.
Speaker A:The pandemic came along.
Speaker A:Boris Johnson, please stay at home.
Speaker A:March 20th.
Speaker A: th,: Speaker A:My entire world was turned upside down.
Speaker A:My normal of running a national organization and having 15 staff and this, that and the other, I changed instantly, through no fault of my own.
Speaker A:And then I remember just wanting peace.
Speaker A:I remember just wanting peace.
Speaker A:And yet I'd been striving for a fight and I'd got the biggest fight of my life, and actually I didn't want to fight anymore.
Speaker B:You just wanted peace in.
Speaker B:In terms of the situation or just.
Speaker A:You know, mental peace, because actually for, you know, because it's all fun and games, having fights or having interest and excitement until it goes wrong.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:Well, I mean, I think.
Speaker B:I think the battle to stay in the moment is.
Speaker B:Is an interesting one for all of us, particularly with the phone, because the phone is just a very strange device to come in life insidious.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Let me explain something.
Speaker A:You have a life that you've got to balance.
Speaker A:Your business, your home life, your physical, you know, body, physical world, your emotional world, your spiritual world.
Speaker A:And now we've thrown another world called digital world that didn't exist 20 years ago.
Speaker A:So now not only have you got five worlds that you're trying to balance, you now throwing a six on there.
Speaker A:Something has to give.
Speaker A:And this is why I believe the affliction that we've got modern society, these are insidious.
Speaker A:And I think we've been domesticated by our devices.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And it's curious.
Speaker B:I've been having a particularly bad customer experience recently.
Speaker B:But then it started a lot of conversation whenever I've just been joking about it.
Speaker B:And other people keep.
Speaker B:The way people respond is basically, when did.
Speaker B:When did it become the point that nobody knows anything about anything?
Speaker B:You know, every shop, no one knows anything about any, because.
Speaker B:Oh, we can Google it, mate.
Speaker B:It's like.
Speaker B:It's like we don't know where around London because of gps or we don't know the phone numbers, but actually it's deeper than that.
Speaker B:It's like.
Speaker B:And I wonder whether we're even retaining the information anymore.
Speaker A: in the olden days, a child of: Speaker A:Yeah, okay.
Speaker B:All down the library, right?
Speaker A:And we don't do that.
Speaker A:So what?
Speaker A:We don't.
Speaker A:We don't bother going to the library anymore.
Speaker B:So therefore, Encyclopedia Britannica disappear.
Speaker B:I'll be back that's right.
Speaker A:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker A:This is how you cut up frogs.
Speaker A:But you know, you look at that whole thing there and it's like we don't have that.
Speaker A:So what happens is you don't get off your ass, you don't go to the library anymore.
Speaker A:Therefore the libraries are now not, not a think.
Speaker A:They've kind of fell away.
Speaker A:Everyone uses the device and they get whatever the first output of Google or chat GPT is.
Speaker A:That's your, that's, that's, that's your history.
Speaker A:So grandpa no longer has the conversation.
Speaker A:He's been disconnected because the kids are now on the phone.
Speaker A:We're in danger zone.
Speaker B:Is that what you.
Speaker B:There's a book on the table.
Speaker B:Do do.
Speaker B:Hold it up.
Speaker B:Get, get off, get off your ass.
Speaker A:That's the first one.
Speaker A:My first.
Speaker B:That's your first one?
Speaker B:Is that what that's about?
Speaker A:No, that was about the reality of what it's like to start a business off, you know, which is low sales, no sales, depression, a whinging wife.
Speaker A:You know, I think when you start a business off it's all.
Speaker A:We're gonna have glass fronted offices and we're gonna have a five series BMW.
Speaker A:But the reality is in my case it was down the back of the sofa looking for twos and ones.
Speaker B:Yeah, I think the glamour of business even in, in any industry.
Speaker B:Well, let's, let's keep so, so for sure.
Speaker B:I mean get in it get you know, get the energy right in your business and get the belief right as you put it.
Speaker B:I mean what's your, what are your tips then to get the belief right?
Speaker B:Are the other.
Speaker B:Is there a methodology?
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker A:Something I do called leader maker.
Speaker A:What I do is I look at.
Speaker A:I'm a big computer gamer.
Speaker A:Massive.
Speaker A:Are you a gamer?
Speaker B:No.
Speaker B:Although we do.
Speaker B:I do work for a few video games company.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:So I'm a gamer.
Speaker A:So when I'm playing a computer game I'm a level one wizard.
Speaker A:You're a level 20 dragon.
Speaker A:I've got no chance of defeating you, right?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:So I can throw a couple of magic missiles, then need to sleep because we've got no mana left.
Speaker A:What's the difference between a level one wizard and a level 20 wizard?
Speaker B:No idea.
Speaker A:Fights, Fights, battles and experience.
Speaker A:And every time that we have a battle, every time we have a battle, we pick up experience, we pick up treasure.
Speaker A:And every single time of these treasure which are not pleasant, these fights but every single time it levels you up.
Speaker A:That's what I do.
Speaker A:I look at individuals when I work with senior leadership teams, I look at the individuals and say, right, what have we got to do in order for you to be the best version of you?
Speaker A:There's two versions.
Speaker A:You and there's a good version and there's a not so good version.
Speaker A:How do we lean into that best version of you?
Speaker A:And I have systems and processes that are proven.
Speaker A:100 proven.
Speaker A:It's not 100 proven to work.
Speaker A:And I'll tell you how I know they work.
Speaker A:Because I changed who I was.
Speaker A:You know, I've done four years on benefits, I've been addicted to drugs twice.
Speaker A:I got shot at 21, I delivered pizza at 31.
Speaker A:Am I that guy with no qualifications or am I the guy who's written four books, who started a business, 25 grand in debt and built up a multi million pound business?
Speaker A:I'm not a guy that speaks to the highest level as a motivational speaker.
Speaker A:What changed?
Speaker A:I did.
Speaker A:And that same system that I use for me, me, he's for the people.
Speaker B:How's it proven?
Speaker B:How'd you prove it?
Speaker A:I can, I can track, I can track.
Speaker A:I don't think you've probably got one in there.
Speaker A:I could show you, but I can track you.
Speaker A:So I could see all the elements.
Speaker A:So if you think about a car, you've got a car, you take it for an MOT and what happens is they are the, the tires, their advisory, you need to change them, your windscreen wiper needs replacing your bodywork is, is a pass.
Speaker A:I've got the same system.
Speaker A:I've got 10 key things that we evaluate.
Speaker A:So how happy are you, how motivated are you?
Speaker A:And we go through it.
Speaker A:So you say I'm a fail, fail, fail.
Speaker A:So out of the 10 criteria, family, health, finances and so forth, you go, I'm two passes, four 50 50s and four fails.
Speaker A: those four to a pass or to a: Speaker A:If you don't fundamentally believe 100 believe in, in, in, in fixing, you've got no chance.
Speaker A:So I work with that so effectively in a lot of respects, I'm almost like a technician going in there and kind of fixing mine.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:You don't 100 believe in fixing yourself, you're saying, or fixing your belief.
Speaker A:If you don't 100 believe in you, you're not going to convince anyone else.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:So, so first things first.
Speaker A:If I said to you, I 100 I'm almost misguided my self belief, right?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:But if I didn't 100 believe in my products, my services and things I offer, don't get upset when other people don't 100% believe in it either.
Speaker B:Belief is quite a hard thing to do.
Speaker B:Especially you know, again, equating it with a sense of being humble as a, as a Brit, like it's, it's sort of hard for you to express.
Speaker B:I mean I've talked about this before but you know, Americans are very good at sort of saying I'm great at something, but as a British person, I can't say whether I'm good at something.
Speaker B:Someone else has to say that because how do I know you know, you.
Speaker A:Know know, you know.
Speaker A:So you can, you can tell me that this all day long, you know, you know what you're good at, you know what you're good at.
Speaker A:Because let's be quite clear, this would never have happened if you wasn't good at something.
Speaker A:So therefore you know.
Speaker A:However, what's happened is you've allowed the Brit moat, that is the, the British moat, to step in.
Speaker A:And I don't really know anything.
Speaker A:I'm the British moat.
Speaker B:You describe it as.
Speaker B:Do you think what psychologically, what sort of the British moat is the.
Speaker B:What is it?
Speaker B:What does it mean?
Speaker A:Well, I think someone needs to go first.
Speaker A:Someone needs to go first.
Speaker A:If you have run a race with 100 people, someone's going to come first, someone's going to come last.
Speaker A:Why not you?
Speaker A:Why not?
Speaker A:You can't come first.
Speaker A:And this is the bit.
Speaker A:So this moat, this.
Speaker A:Oh, I considerably British.
Speaker A:You know, one of the things I realize, right, is that how did I become the UK's number one motivational business speaker?
Speaker A:I just made a fucking website and said, I'm the UK's number one motivational business speaker.
Speaker A:And the first person you have to convince of your brilliance is you.
Speaker A:If I said to you, I am the greatest, I'm the greatest, which boxer am I referring to?
Speaker A:To Muhammad Ali.
Speaker A:The reason we refer to Muhammad Ali 50 years on as the greatest is because he referred to himself.
Speaker A:So unless you can somewhere along the way flip this, you know, what changed?
Speaker A:I'm 51 now.
Speaker A:What changed at 31?
Speaker A:I did, I started on this process and then suddenly went from there to there.
Speaker A:It didn't work like that, but it was the steps and you can't skip the steps and that's what I've done.
Speaker B:It's funny though, when you were talking about belief, I was thinking it's hard in a business.
Speaker B:You know, people don't give that much of a.
Speaker B:About the business.
Speaker B:I mean, they give a bit, but if it's not theirs, you know, there's a funny balance to get right on.
Speaker B:Sort of, you know, some people that just want to do that job.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:Decently and go home and I think, you know, what I would say to people and you know, obviously, but get off your ass.
Speaker A:Was the bible for starting a business off is that being employed is a bit like being self employed.
Speaker A:You've got one client, your boss, and if your boss no longer wants your services, that's you gone.
Speaker A:And we kid ourselves that there's security and you know where you stand.
Speaker A:You don't know where you stand.
Speaker B:I don't know employment rules.
Speaker B:Pretty protective once you've had two years.
Speaker A:Okay, well, you get eight grand, you know, and that's you on your toes again.
Speaker A:So it's not, you know, I, I just, I don't know.
Speaker A:Once again, I think the pandemic has kind of shook everything up.
Speaker A:It's almost like a snow globe.
Speaker A:And I don't think that, I think the world is still punch drunk.
Speaker A:I think the world's still punch drunk.
Speaker A:You know, working from home, all very romantic until you realize that actually you're now going box room isolation.
Speaker A:And not everyone's cut out for that.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And what is the culture of the business you think people should be in, in an office all the time or.
Speaker A:Look, I, I'm a one man band now.
Speaker A:I don't have an office anymore and I would have probably encouraged my stuff to be there for them, for them.
Speaker A:And you don't.
Speaker A:Look, that first pandemic, when everyone was furloughed, drinking, you know, summer fruit cider in, in, in some, in the garden.
Speaker A:Great.
Speaker A:But you know, after you start protracted and you start spending three hours, three months, six months, nine months, 12 months, you start getting disconnected and the walls start closing in.
Speaker A:And I think that, you know, we can think about the romantic side of it, but I do believe this problem.
Speaker A:I think it's problematic.
Speaker A:So look, it's on a case by case basis.
Speaker A:It's not for me to say and I'm no authority on this.
Speaker A:I'm not a guy who has to, you know, has to work from home, but I choose to as a, as a one man band.
Speaker B:It was also interesting when you're saying, look, I had to believe that I'm the number one motivational speaker.
Speaker B:How, how does anyone even know the number one motivational Speaker.
Speaker B:How do you work it out?
Speaker A:I don't.
Speaker A:This is just made up.
Speaker A:Completely made up.
Speaker A:I did on purpose.
Speaker A:And this is the point I'm making, right, is it sounds like it's always existed.
Speaker A:The UK's number one motivational business speaker.
Speaker A:It's a term that never existed until I made it up.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:So if you go on Google right now and type in the UK's number one, you'll find me.
Speaker A:That's all you'll find.
Speaker A:So what happened is it was a bit like a 20 pound note.
Speaker A:If you and I see a 20 pound note in a nightclub, say, and they put that up, you go, you pick up your narrow and as we're talking about it, D comes along and picks a 20 quid note and now we're recriminating.
Speaker A:Well, you should have picked up.
Speaker A:You saw it first.
Speaker A:I saw an opportunity.
Speaker A:I saw an opportunity.
Speaker A:I don't even use that term anymore.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:I genuinely, I've stopped using it.
Speaker A:This is the first time I've used it.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:I've moved to motivational leaders, a brand.
Speaker A:But the point is it served me beautifully.
Speaker A:But there's no league table of motivational business speakers.
Speaker A:So therefore, you know, I think like.
Speaker B:A lot of people every time you go to America you come back and think, God, I need to be more positive and like we can do stuff and things like this, you know, there's some funny bits of it.
Speaker B:I mean we're very self deprecating, we have hilarious humor and as I say, I really notice how we live within a band.
Speaker B:Like we live within, like how we dressed and how we acted was all within a bit.
Speaker B:And then one of the people I was with saying yeah, and the thing is with British people they'll give you little hints and about maybe what they're really into or what they're good at and because it's all understated but there's the you, there's, there's a world under there.
Speaker B:Do you know what I mean?
Speaker B:And that's quite nice as well.
Speaker A:So I run a business networking organization.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:So in total I've run 68,000 business networking meetings in the UK.
Speaker B:Jesus Christ.
Speaker A:And I'm 68,000 over a 16 year period.
Speaker A:So my job in my four networking we had three 10 minute one to ones.
Speaker A:So you'd have three 10 minute appointments, 20 people in the room, you choose three, you swap a one for a one or two for two or three for three and then you'd have 10 minutes with them in group time.
Speaker A:So I've had four and a half thousand 10 minute appointments with small business owners.
Speaker A:I'm probably the person in the UK that's had more sit downs with people and the opening question that I would say is anything specific and they're all just a catch up.
Speaker A:That would be my opening gambit and it would enable them to, to open that conversation.
Speaker A:So I understand people, I understand what you've just said which is this ability to be okay, what's the hook here?
Speaker A:What's the angle to speak to a person that enables you to get some kind of connection.
Speaker A:So yes, 100% out of all of.
Speaker B:This, obviously it's been quite a journey between sort of where you were and where you are now.
Speaker B:I mean where, where are you trying to get to?
Speaker A:I'm not anymore.
Speaker A:No, now I'm not.
Speaker B:That's the piece.
Speaker A:You know it's funny, yeah.
Speaker A:I've had my daft car, got me daft house.
Speaker B:I've got a BMW i8.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:So you know a daft car.
Speaker B:Have you got rid of it?
Speaker B:No.
Speaker A:Oh, go.
Speaker A:Yeah, all gone.
Speaker A:So, so I, I use my wife's 12, 13, 14 year old X trail now.
Speaker A:So I'm no longer competing there.
Speaker A:I'm no longer having to, to, to work and earn money to fund that lifestyle because yeah, so it's a really interesting one.
Speaker A:I've reached that point in my life, you know that come from council estates, living above on a masonette today and getting a five bedroom house in, in Somerset, detached, no neighbors and it's like how much is enough?
Speaker A:And I think what we end up doing and people don't know where enough is and that I wanted a 10 bedroom mansion at this mind's eye version of a 10 bedroom mansion with twin staircases and if I'd have realized my dream currently I've got a five bedroom house and there's one room that I don't go in.
Speaker A:But my point is, is that if I would have realized my dream of a 10 bedroom mansion, guess what?
Speaker A:I'd have six rooms.
Speaker A:I don't go in going.
Speaker A:And we end up chasing this stuff because we believe that society get a 14 inch television.
Speaker A:Now you need a 60, now you want an 80, now you want 100, now you want 100 curves.
Speaker A:Now you want yourself a home cinema system.
Speaker A:It's got to be a 10 foot and now you need to when does it end?
Speaker A:And I think that this is a bit about humanity and humans and this is a message is that whatever you're chasing is right here is right here.
Speaker A:And that doesn't mean don't be ambitious, don't be driven.
Speaker A:But if your ambition and your drive is causing you to be unhappy, that you need to move from here to there.
Speaker A:When you get there, you're still gonna.
Speaker B:Be if you assume that it's going to bring you happiness, I guess.
Speaker A:But I think.
Speaker A:But why are we doing it?
Speaker A:Why?
Speaker A:You know, so if you, if you think about a, a mansion, sacred this conversation, right?
Speaker A:You have, you know, you've got a bowling alley, you've got an arcade.
Speaker A:Why, why, why, why?
Speaker A:What is that about that?
Speaker A:Is it so that when neighbors come around, you can show them at a dinner party.
Speaker A:What are we doing this for?
Speaker A:Now the reason I know this is because when I got my car, I rem parking outside the pub once and go into the glove compartment to get something that I didn't need so that people can see me going in the.
Speaker A:What is going on?
Speaker A:And I think that that is what's gone wrong with society.
Speaker A:I think we've become so obsessed with what other people think about us, even.
Speaker B:Though they're not thinking about us at all.
Speaker A:And we need to think about ourselves.
Speaker A:That's what we need to do.
Speaker A:We need to stop worrying about what other people are doing.
Speaker A:There's a reason that racehorses wear blinkers.
Speaker A:They don't give a toss about the competition.
Speaker A:Focus on you, focus on your life and ask yourself, what will make me happy?
Speaker A:Happy?
Speaker A:What will make me fundamentally, at my core, happy?
Speaker A:And actually if, if having a 10 bedroom mansion is, is what you believe it is cool.
Speaker A:And when you get your 10 bedroom mansion, then what is that?
Speaker A:Is that you done?
Speaker A:Are you happy?
Speaker A:Or are you then three months later going, oh, I need to get a bowling alley.
Speaker B:Do you find this word happy a bit loaded?
Speaker B:Like, you know, it's a pretty transient state, happiness, you know, I mean, I just, I don't know, maybe content's a better word.
Speaker B:Maybe.
Speaker B:No, no, I mean I'm, I'm being semantic about it because we throw around the word happy constantly and you can.
Speaker A:Never be happy consistently and ever.
Speaker A:Mountaineers don't stay at the top of mountains.
Speaker A:And I can tell you right now is that no matter how happy you are today, one day you're not going to be.
Speaker A:And it's like this is going back down to that, what I said, which is when you're happy now, be happy now.
Speaker A:When you're upset or sad now, be upset and sad now.
Speaker A:But just be aware that when things are good, things are good.
Speaker A:You look at the.
Speaker A:The country, right?
Speaker A:Now you go about 20 years ago and look at the difference between 20 years ago and now.
Speaker B:It's got bad or it's got worse?
Speaker A:Oh, come on, worse.
Speaker B:I mean, it.
Speaker B:Well, it depends.
Speaker B:I mean, society moves forward.
Speaker B:What metric, what are we looking at?
Speaker B:We're looking at our country, I think so.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:And we're talking about disparity of wealth, disparity of wealth.
Speaker A:And we're talking about, overall, I think contentment.
Speaker A:Contentment is devoid of people.
Speaker A:People are.
Speaker A:You know, look, when the pandemic came, my business was thousands of small, micro and small businesses.
Speaker A:That was.
Speaker A:My business members were that that whole swathe of business has been wiped out.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:They knocked them over because there was always precarious, hand to mouth, three months worth of money.
Speaker A:Once that's gone, they're wiped out.
Speaker A:So there's this kind of grassroots now of business that is trying to rebuild and doesn't really have an option, doesn't, sorry, have the opportunity that it once did.
Speaker A:You know, you look at some of the big organizations, right?
Speaker A:Your Apple, your Starbucks and so forth, right?
Speaker A:And Amazon.
Speaker A:These are like heat sinks, taking everything away.
Speaker A:And we're all guilty of it.
Speaker A:Oh, look at the high street.
Speaker A:The high street's empty.
Speaker A:Oh, the high street's empty.
Speaker A:One click, seven hours later, something arrives.
Speaker A:We're all guilty of it.
Speaker A:We are turkeys voting for.
Speaker A:For Christmas.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And I don't see how it's going to change.
Speaker A:I don't see how it's going to change.
Speaker A:I just see it going worse and worse and worse.
Speaker A:And I'm Mr.
Speaker A:Positive, this is what I do.
Speaker A:But I'm looking at a way through this for the mass populace and I don't see it.
Speaker A:It.
Speaker B:And let's be a bit more specific or what?
Speaker B:Because I think you have to be a bit more specific because things are changing or, you know, there's better, there's.
Speaker B:I mean, the NHS may be more of a mess, which my wife would agree, but, you know, it's more medicine now.
Speaker B:Or there's more.
Speaker B:This now.
Speaker A:There's more illness now.
Speaker B:Yeah, well, it's.
Speaker B:The more illnesses.
Speaker A:Yeah, well, there's more bad diet.
Speaker B:No, I think you're right.
Speaker B:There is more illness and there's more of weight.
Speaker A:I was five foot seven.
Speaker B:More hypochondria, you know.
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker A:And actually I've got fibromyalgia, so I can't go work.
Speaker A:So there's all these things that, that didn't exist.
Speaker A:You've got ADHD.
Speaker A:I've got ADHD.
Speaker A:My son's got ADHD.
Speaker A:He's been diagnosed with it, right?
Speaker A:He gets £400amonth for having ADHD.
Speaker A:It's like I've lived 51 years of this world.
Speaker A:I'm not saying it's all bad, I'm saying it's different.
Speaker A:And you know, for people to be able to get ahead right now, right, I have lived hand to mouth, right?
Speaker A:I've, you know, lived on benefits.
Speaker A:So I know more than most people, right, what it's like to be there.
Speaker A:I've also had a multi million pound business.
Speaker A:I've also.
Speaker B:What is it like to be on benefits?
Speaker A:You don't realize you're on benefits.
Speaker B:You don't realize.
Speaker A:No, you don't.
Speaker A:Until you come out the other end and go, oh, because you know, you borrow a cup of sugar, you have three days of no food and you're having margarine and, and spaghetti, you know, 12 and spaghetti.
Speaker A:So you don't realize at the time.
Speaker A:But when I look at how the, I mean I'm an anomaly in terms of breaking through from council estates, really.
Speaker A:I mean it's like I didn't realize it was an anomaly until people said you're anomaly, okay.
Speaker B:Oh, that you, you put, you pulled yourself up by your bootstraps, right?
Speaker A:Because nobody gave me.
Speaker A:I didn't get any grants or loans or.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, so I did well.
Speaker A:And I think that from my perspective, I think when you look at the opportunity that presents itself, I think education is a mess.
Speaker A:I think education is a mess in that, you know, I don't have a qualification to be named, but what they should be doing is, remember I talked to you about that system that I use?
Speaker A:If you integrated that into kids from, from, from an early age to start looking at the health.
Speaker A:Where's my health?
Speaker A:Is it a pass?
Speaker A:Is it 50?
Speaker A:Is it fail?
Speaker A:Is my mental health good?
Speaker A:All these kind of criteria, that's what we need to be doing right now.
Speaker A:If change society, it's a 10 year run at this thing.
Speaker A:But I don't think there's any hunger for change in society.
Speaker A:So therefore we have this whole thing where there's this disparity and it's only going to go bigger and I don't see a change.
Speaker B:There's a hunger for muse, hunger from lots of people to change lots of things in society.
Speaker B:It's just really hard to change a oil tanker.
Speaker A:So I know people who are on benefits, it doesn't make financial sense for them to go and get a job.
Speaker A:Yeah, so they work 40 hours for an extra 10 hours.
Speaker A:So, so, so why would you do that?
Speaker A:So, so therefore you stay in this trap, this benefits trap.
Speaker B:Yeah, there's a few of those about not wanting to earn more than certain limits.
Speaker B:So the X happens or Y happens.
Speaker B:So what do you think they should?
Speaker B:I mean, isn't benefits a sort of, you know, it's just a solution to a difficult problem, isn't it?
Speaker B:You know, I mean, they should design it differently, should they?
Speaker A:So, So I did four years on benefits, two years, 18 months and six months.
Speaker A:You'd have got me off my ass if you'd have said in the event that you've not got a job in six months, you're going to be whitewashing or you're going to be doing civic duty, picking up litter around a village or a council state.
Speaker B:Yeah, they do that a bit in Germany.
Speaker B:My friends, sisters struggles with alcohol and stuff.
Speaker B:But yeah, they, she can collect her benefit, her doll, whatever you want to call it, but she has to work.
Speaker A:In these places and go some way to actually start having, encouraging some civic duty.
Speaker A:And now that's not about slave labor, far from it.
Speaker A:But they also need to do something to enable people to get jobs and to, and, and, and, and you look at the way that the national insurance contributions and stuff at the moment, it's not encouraging.
Speaker A:I am a one man band now.
Speaker A:I'm a one man band at 15 staff at one point I have one man band and guess what?
Speaker A:It's encouraging for me to use subcontractors.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:Or hire overseas.
Speaker B:No, I mean both actually.
Speaker B:We had Alex on the podcast recently, he knows Rachel Reeves well and she, she cheered me up a bit because she said, Look, I 100% on all, you know, they're doing a lot of things which are upsetting entrepreneurs.
Speaker B:But she did defend her a lot and say, look, she's, she's tough, she's listening and she, look at what she's trying to do to regulation.
Speaker B:I mean, it's true if I read some of that, you know, build the fricking third Runway at Heathrow.
Speaker B:I mean, I can't believe we're still talking about it.
Speaker B:And I'm glad she's saying.
Speaker B:What I've been thinking for ages is they say, oh, but pollution and whatever and it's like, yeah, but we're circling Heathrow for five hours to land.
Speaker B:I mean we've just got to get on with these things.
Speaker B:But there's a real tension there between, you know, the sustainability or there's, there's always this, you know, certainly there's always two sides to it, isn't it?
Speaker A:But, but this is the thing.
Speaker A:Everything's 52, 48 now.
Speaker A:Everything, the Brexit syndrome, everything is 52, 48.
Speaker A:And this is, this is.
Speaker A:As a country, we are at war with ourselves and it's like we need unit.
Speaker A:And I think if I look at Blair, okay, history hasn't been good for him, but within nine days of Tony Blair there getting in, I'd got a job, I've income from long term unemployment and things could only get better.
Speaker A:And there was a real euphoria.
Speaker B:Well, it was optimism.
Speaker A:Optimism.
Speaker B:There's a lack of optimism.
Speaker B:They've been bugger, They've been buggering that up in the government, really, haven't they?
Speaker B:I, you know, I can't stand, you know, bless Alex and I'm sure Rachel Reeves is a lovely person or whatever, but, but yeah, I really don't like the whole, like, it's their fault, it's their fault.
Speaker B:I just.
Speaker B:You feel like you're 12.
Speaker B:I just had one of those phone calls yesterday when this, this people have been winding me up.
Speaker B:We're going on about, oh, but you did this.
Speaker B:And I'm like, are we seriously getting into exactly who did what wrong when?
Speaker B:I mean, who cares?
Speaker B:Let's move forward.
Speaker A:So I believe that an expert is someone that's made all the mistakes in a particular niche field, right?
Speaker A:So therefore, in politics, when somebody makes a mistake, get him out.
Speaker A:So they never learn, right?
Speaker A:We never learn.
Speaker A:We're just so provocative.
Speaker A:Look, I think, think this is a bigger conversation.
Speaker A:And I mean that, right, is that we've got a tangent on about politics.
Speaker A:However, I think we're in danger zone right now because we, we, us, everyone needs hope.
Speaker A:And this is what my job, I believe my purpose is to give people hope, to be better, to be better.
Speaker A:I am living proof that you can turn your life around.
Speaker A:And the way you turn your life around is by turning your mindset around.
Speaker A:We have been coming at this from the wrong perspective.
Speaker A:You want to fix, fix this country.
Speaker A:Let's start fixing the mindsets of the people in around.
Speaker A:Start giving them hope, start giving them beliefs that, giving them optimism.
Speaker A:Because at the moment that dial is right down.
Speaker B:Well, it's what America is very good at, isn't it?
Speaker B:And actually, whether you like or hate Trump, you know, he, he has a sort of optimism whether you like or hate Boris, you know, there's a kind of, there's a kind of Optimism to them that we all, we actually quite like to sort of like, oh this, you know, it's something, let's do something.
Speaker A:I had somebody say to me, you know, your style is not for everyone, Brad.
Speaker A:And I said to them, tell me one person in the history of humanity whose style is for everyone, I'll wait.
Speaker A:And I said this is a problem.
Speaker A:The point is, this is that we are so worried about what other people think that we don't do.
Speaker A:And actually I've had to over the years turn down the volume on those people that tell me I've got it wrong.
Speaker A:Critics.
Speaker B:Well you can do that if you've got a strong sense of belief.
Speaker B:Certainly the fear of what other people are thinking or saying is a huge factor in people's lives.
Speaker B:Lives.
Speaker B:And that, that great phrase that I said before about, well, don't worry about what other people thinking because they're not thinking about you at all.
Speaker B:People are thinking about themselves.
Speaker A:You know.
Speaker A:When I started my business off, nobody told me, nobody gave me a belief, nobody.
Speaker A:My wife didn't want me to do it, my wife didn't want me, she said don't do it, you know, and I had like well meaning people saying oh yeah, you know, go and get a proper job.
Speaker A:You know where you stand.
Speaker A:If I wouldn't have done, if I wouldn't have ignored every bit of advice, I wouldn't be sat here now.
Speaker A:So you've got to, you've got to have your kind of North Star and know where you're going, why are you doing it?
Speaker B:And now a quick word from our sponsor.
Speaker B:Business without is brought to you by Ori Clark.
Speaker B: ancial and legal advice since: Speaker B:You can find us@oriclark.com Orey is spelled O U r Y Before we press on, just a quick reminder to come say hi and watch whatever social platform you like.
Speaker B:We're pretty much on all of them.
Speaker B:Just search for.
Speaker B:At BWB London, your moment now in life is that you feel you want to have peace or you want to not be chasing something and then you're see you now seeking something deeper spiritually.
Speaker A:Not necessarily.
Speaker A:I'm about helping other people find their purpose.
Speaker A:Purpose, yeah.
Speaker A:Okay then I can do that because I think once again think about my life, think about what I've been through.
Speaker A:Think about the network with four and a half thousand one to ones meeting business owners.
Speaker A:Think about me losing a million pound plus business with the pandemic and getting myself open and no qualifications in my background.
Speaker A:I'm In a really.
Speaker A:It's an interesting.
Speaker A:There's a kid that did a Venn diagram.
Speaker A:He said an entrepreneur circle self, a street kid and you're right in the middle and it's like that's such a unique skill set.
Speaker A:But.
Speaker A:And also you're charismatic and you're a presenter and a speak on stage, you know, thousands of people.
Speaker A:So you bring that together and it's something pretty.
Speaker A:I can, I can unite tribes.
Speaker A:So whether I've got, I've got clients that I'm.
Speaker A:Billion dollar businesses and they've got people at startups and I also go into prisons to help it.
Speaker A:So there's this strange messenger.
Speaker B:You've been through a lot of different things.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:You know, experience gives you some wisdom to really help them.
Speaker B:Do you find you focus therefore on, on you focus on the, the individual to get the business right rather than.
Speaker B:Yeah, you're focusing on how they're wired up.
Speaker B:Rather than tell me about your business.
Speaker B:You should cut, you should cut your expenses.
Speaker A:I can do that.
Speaker A:I can absolutely do that.
Speaker A:But I.
Speaker A:So for instance, there's a guy that I was working with and you know, we're like two sessions in and he said, when are we going to talk about my business?
Speaker A:I says, well you're.
Speaker A:So we can talk about your business if you want or we can fix you, then we can worry about the business.
Speaker A:Tell me.
Speaker A:I mean I'm, I'm.
Speaker A:So we, I think we fix you first.
Speaker A:First because you're the managing director.
Speaker A:Let's fix you, let's fix your home life.
Speaker A:Then we can work on a business or if you really, really want, we can talk about your business.
Speaker A:What would you prefer?
Speaker A:And Penny drops him in.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:So, you know, and this is what happens is that I think we once again trying to rush you can't skip the steps.
Speaker A:And I think we, you know, I say to people, never be in a hurry to lose.
Speaker A:Let's get you right, then we can get the business right.
Speaker A:And I think we've been coming at it from the wrong perspective.
Speaker A:I need a business coach.
Speaker A:I need a business coach.
Speaker A:No, no, no, no, no, no.
Speaker A:You need to stop being so stressed out.
Speaker A:How do we get your stress?
Speaker A:Because people under stress don't make great decisions decisions.
Speaker A:So in order for you to make great decisions, fundamentally where you end up in your life and your business is down to your decisions.
Speaker A:We need to stop being stressed.
Speaker A:Then you can make the decisions that you need to make.
Speaker B:What do you think about work life balance?
Speaker B:You know, it's such A term.
Speaker A:Now, I was on work life balance before it was a thing.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:You know, and although saying that, you know, there was a times when I've kind of burnt myself out doing 14, 16 hour days consistently in pursuit of that success.
Speaker A:Work life balance is essential.
Speaker A:But what I'd rather do with my, the way that I work, I'd rather do four hours at 100% than eight hours pretending.
Speaker A:Who is John?
Speaker A:Hi, John.
Speaker A:Yeah, just working on it.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:You know, it's bollocks.
Speaker A:They know it's bollocks.
Speaker A:But it's the game that you play when you run a business.
Speaker B:Again, I'd say it's quite British, isn't it?
Speaker B:The Germans turn up and get on with it.
Speaker B:I don't know, something about us is quite faffy, you know, of course it's like.
Speaker A:But, but once you accept that humans are not robots and you accept that people do switch off and just because you pay someone eight hours a day doesn't mean they work eight hours a day.
Speaker B:No, don't.
Speaker A:Doesn't.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:And it's this, this whole thing from my perspective, I look at, when I go to work with boards, I look at the directors and their focus is on profit and loss headcounts.
Speaker A:And I say, what about contentment?
Speaker A:How content are the directors?
Speaker A:How happy are the directors?
Speaker A:And that's something I did from a team building perspective.
Speaker A:Completely left field.
Speaker A:But you're.
Speaker A:Sorry, that's not a question.
Speaker A:It's not one of our metrics, our KPIs.
Speaker A:But maybe if it was, was because you're coming in here and you've got your toes curled up because you can't stand him and he doesn't like you.
Speaker A:Why don't we have that conversation now?
Speaker A:So actually if you don't like each other, let's be brave enough to, to have that conversation.
Speaker A:Or let's work out what the problems are.
Speaker A:And I have the conversations that most people don't want to have.
Speaker B:Would you split them up individually at that point for like.
Speaker B:Because there's such a difference between individuals and groups.
Speaker B:Like let's say you walk in and it's like, you know, let's talk about contentment.
Speaker B:And then it's clear two of them don't get on and just split them up.
Speaker A:No, no, I'll get them on the same page.
Speaker A:There's something I do called teammaker, which people literally, figuratively on the same page.
Speaker A:So I recognized like where we are joined when we first started.
Speaker A:Let's say you and I are directors when we first started, we had that day one enthusiasm.
Speaker A:I was behind you, you was behind me and was together.
Speaker A:And then somewhere along the way we out a little bit and then over time we've ended up here.
Speaker A:How do we get back here?
Speaker A:Do you want to get back here or are we done and have that brave conversation?
Speaker A:Because pebbles, pebbles in shoes don't magic the way out.
Speaker A:And if you don't deal with these things, they become bigger problems.
Speaker A:I bought a house.
Speaker A:When I bought this house, my wife wanted a wood burner and I genuinely had no idea what a wood burner is.
Speaker A:Right, the idea that you light a fire and don't run for insurance purposes.
Speaker A:But anyway, we had the house and in each of the corners of the room was a spider.
Speaker A:And I said to wife went, someone spider jump me to get them out.
Speaker A:So it's all right, I don't mind small spiders.
Speaker A:I said, kerry, where do you think the big ones come from?
Speaker A:And every single individual, every single business has small spiders that they don't deal with.
Speaker A:And that's what I do.
Speaker A:I come in, I'm like a fixer and I look at the small spiders and I deal with them.
Speaker A:I get them out.
Speaker A:I get them out and actually ask the individuals and the director, Sydney, leadership team, if we get these spiders out, will this company be worse or will it be better?
Speaker A:It'll be better.
Speaker A:Why aren't we getting the spiders out?
Speaker A:And because nobody wants to get the small spider out.
Speaker B:It's because, I mean, I can imagine you doing it and I can imagine one person saying, well, if you want to be really honest, that's because he never listens my ideas.
Speaker B:There'll be some sort of breakdown in respect, won't there?
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker B:You know, so let's, let's have it out.
Speaker B:Let's have it out.
Speaker A:So why won't we fix it?
Speaker A:And it's not about having a punch up, but right now you're coming into this board meeting and you're not happy.
Speaker A:It's quite clear you're not happy.
Speaker A:And every day you go home and you're bitching to your wife that you're not happy.
Speaker A:So why don't we make you happy?
Speaker A:Let's see if we can make you happy.
Speaker A:And if happiness business means freeing up your future, then let's do it.
Speaker A:Because this is not where.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:And that's what I do.
Speaker A:And I do it in a way that most normal people would never dream of doing because I approach business without bullshit.
Speaker B:And so, any top tips for founders and entrepreneurs?
Speaker A:Yeah, Recognize it's going to take four times longer than you think it is.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Which is they're hoping a week, isn't it?
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:You know, it's going to take you four times longer and then, and you've prepared.
Speaker A:And the other thing is as well is that, you know, I've never had any investment and whether I've done it wrong or not, I don't know.
Speaker A:But if you're not prepared to put your own house on this, do you, do you believe in it 100%?
Speaker A:I think, I think if you not prepared to put your own house in it, you don't believe in it 100%.
Speaker A:And if you don't believe in it 100%, don't get upset when other people don't either.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:They can sense it almost.
Speaker A:We leak the truth.
Speaker B:Right, then, let's boil my chat with Brad to my five key takeaways.
Speaker B:Number one, your business mirrors your mindset.
Speaker B:Suffering from low energy, belief or motivation, your business will reflect that.
Speaker B:Shift your mindset first, then sales and success will follow.
Speaker B:Number two, you can't rewind or fast forward, only press play.
Speaker B:Too many people dwell on the past or stress over the future.
Speaker B:Brad's advice, focus on today and make every moment count.
Speaker B:Count.
Speaker B:Number three, being busy isn't the same as making progress.
Speaker B:We rush through life avoiding stillness.
Speaker B:But where are we going?
Speaker B:One day you'll wish you'd savor the moments you're now racing past.
Speaker B:Number four, convince yourself first.
Speaker B:Brad didn't wait for approval.
Speaker B:He called himself the UK's number one motivational business speaker and people believed it and it became true.
Speaker B:So if you really think about it, confidence isn't arrogance, it's strategy.
Speaker B:After all, you don't back yourself, why should anyone else?
Speaker B:Number five, success has no shortcuts, only experience.
Speaker B:Every setback and failure is an experience that levels you up.
Speaker B:Brad built a multimillion pound business by embracing the process, not looking for shortcuts.
Speaker B:Finally, I mean, did you have any mentor in this or is there any like, you know, some of these ideas and things you've had?
Speaker B:You've obviously had to pull yourself out of some difficult situations, but, you know, you got any heroes in this?
Speaker A:Oh, I've got lots of heroes.
Speaker A:You know, my biggest heroes are the people who are.
Speaker A:Somebody said to me, oh, who's your business idols?
Speaker A:My business idols are those people who are holding down three jobs to keep a business.
Speaker A:I've had mentors.
Speaker A:I've had mentors of various levels.
Speaker A:Whether it's, you know, Literally conversation I had with someone for 10 minutes or somebody for 10 months.
Speaker A:I've had numerous mentors and, you know, it's been invaluable.
Speaker B:And finally, finally.
Speaker B:Is there anything in business?
Speaker A:Oh, lots of it.
Speaker A:Lots of it.
Speaker B:Any particular thing that we need to fix is.
Speaker A:Yeah, I think LinkedIn.
Speaker A:I think LinkedIn.
Speaker A:I think it's bad.
Speaker A:Look, I use LinkedIn and my mission for 20, 25 is not using LinkedIn.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:We've got ourselves into a arms race place.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:You've got kids on there, 25 with a cat back, getting out of a rented Lamborghini, as if there's some authority.
Speaker A:And nowadays, if you think about LinkedIn, not only have you got to be good at writing, you've got to be good at photographer, you've got to be photogenic, you've got to be.
Speaker A:And we're playing this algorithm, you know, it rewards bad behavior and I think we need to get back to rewarding good behavior.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, well said.
Speaker B:I wonder too whether the AI is going to do it all for me anyways.
Speaker B:It's going to listen to me and then just post my life because apparently I need to tell people about.
Speaker B:Right, we're going to just have a bit of fun now to end.
Speaker B:Going to ask you some quick questions.
Speaker B:You should know the answer to them.
Speaker B:De's queuing some music.
Speaker B:Just answer quickly.
Speaker B:What was your first job?
Speaker A:I was a.
Speaker A:Worked in a computer game shop in the Arndale in Manchester.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:Yeah, definite computer game fan.
Speaker B:And what was your worst job?
Speaker A:I was a window cleaner.
Speaker A:I lasted three hours.
Speaker B:Cold, old.
Speaker A:No, no, he was lifting up those, those ladders, those triply ladders and they're just like.
Speaker A:That's.
Speaker A:I'm not, I'm not built like that.
Speaker B:Favorite subject at school?
Speaker A:Physics.
Speaker A:And I'll tell you the reason why.
Speaker A:It was Mr.
Speaker A:Lawrence, the teacher, and he used to go on a ramble and he taught me everything that I need to know about storytelling.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:Big up, Mr.
Speaker B:Lawrence.
Speaker B:I wonder if he's still alive.
Speaker A:What's your drive?
Speaker B:Tracking him down, Good teachers, the magic.
Speaker B:What's your special skill?
Speaker A:Giving people hope.
Speaker A:Genuinely, you know, you go and give me.
Speaker A:That's what I do, I give people hope and I give people the belief that they can be better.
Speaker B:Yeah, that's magic.
Speaker B:What did you want to be when you grew up?
Speaker A:Car salesman.
Speaker B:Did you really?
Speaker A:Ford car salesman.
Speaker A:Once again, you know, I'm a kid from Salford Mansion running.
Speaker B:I'm having the last three days as a full car salesman.
Speaker A:It was Funny.
Speaker B:But that wasn't me to hook me up.
Speaker A:That was as much of a.
Speaker A:Of an aspiration that I could get as a 10 year old kid from Salford.
Speaker A:That was as good, you know, to get a Sierra and to wear a suit.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:What did your parents want you to be happy.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And what's your go to karaoke song, Brad?
Speaker A:What?
Speaker A:This way.
Speaker A:Run dmc.
Speaker B:Nice.
Speaker B:Are you a hip hop fan?
Speaker A:Big time.
Speaker B:Nice.
Speaker A:Oh, original.
Speaker A:Original.
Speaker A:All.
Speaker A:I'm talking 88 all the way through.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:Okay, we have to talk hip hop.
Speaker B:Give me a favorite rapper or two.
Speaker A:Dmx.
Speaker B:Dmx.
Speaker A:Dmx.
Speaker B:Energy man.
Speaker A:Energy.
Speaker A:Energy.
Speaker A:Dmx.
Speaker A:Big Daddy Kane.
Speaker B:Big Daddy Kane, man.
Speaker B:Dmx.
Speaker B:They always talk about like his energy, you know?
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:No, my favorite song is Party Up.
Speaker B:Party Up.
Speaker B:Office Dogs.
Speaker A:Is this all?
Speaker A:Listen.
Speaker A:What works for you?
Speaker A:See, I think he's ones that again.
Speaker A:No, but I've got.
Speaker A:I've got two.
Speaker A:I've got labradoodles and it's like if it works for you, great.
Speaker B:Doesn't work for me today.
Speaker B:Opening the door every 10 minutes.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, get that one.
Speaker A:Please let me out.
Speaker A:I need to come back in.
Speaker B:Oh my God.
Speaker B:In winter.
Speaker B:Just praying for it to get warmer.
Speaker B:I'm sure he is too.
Speaker B:Like, you know.
Speaker A:But you know what?
Speaker A:None of us are getting out of this alive.
Speaker A:And actually one day you're not going to have a dog.
Speaker A:You're going to wish that you had time.
Speaker B:Oh, I know.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So true.
Speaker B:Have you ever been fired, Brad?
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker B:Oh, where we got.
Speaker B:Where'd you get fired?
Speaker A:I was a journalist, a computer games reviewer and I got fired there.
Speaker A:Major redundancy.
Speaker A:In fact, I've been fired three times, I think.
Speaker B:Okay, that, that, that sounds like a good job.
Speaker B:Otherwise, you know.
Speaker B:And what's your vice?
Speaker A:Computer games.
Speaker A:Computer games.
Speaker B:And you into Fortnite and stuff?
Speaker A:No, no, no, no, no.
Speaker A:I love computer games.
Speaker A:Computer games are my passion, genuinely.
Speaker A:And I think there's something I've learned so much about being a business owner and I think that's probably why I've been quite good.
Speaker A:Methodical.
Speaker A:What do I need to do here to get this side quest or this main quest?
Speaker B:What's your favorite game then?
Speaker A:Of all time?
Speaker B:Tough choice.
Speaker A:No, no.
Speaker A:Wildlands, which was.
Speaker A:It was.
Speaker A:You're a squad of special forces Americans going in to take the cartel down behind Colombia.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:And is it recent or very old?
Speaker A:2017.
Speaker A:But you feel special forces, you know, like tango down and night.
Speaker A:Night vision goggles.
Speaker A:Just a fascinating game.
Speaker A:Honestly, it's a.
Speaker A:I think that's a.
Speaker A:To be a special force is as near as I've ever got to being a SAS man.
Speaker B:On that bombshell, Brad, thank you very much.
Speaker B:You've been great.
Speaker B:You know, I really appreciate your honesty, you know, and all the thing you're trying to bring to the world.
Speaker B:Let's.
Speaker B:Let's be positive.
Speaker B:That was this week's episode of Business Without Bullshit.
Speaker B:Thanks, Dean.
Speaker B:Thanks, Brad.
Speaker B:Thanks, Romeo.
Speaker B:And we'll be back next Wednesday, and until then, it's ciao.
