Episode 193: One Year No Beer with Ruari Fairbairns
Being laser-focused is what success is all about and alcohol might be impeding it. Ruari Fairbairns found out that alcohol gives more trouble than he realized which is why the One Year No Beer challenge was founded. Presently, One Year No Beer is in 90 countries with over 80,000 members, and getting there is not smooth sailing. In this episode, Adam Stott talks with Ruari Fairbairns about how he was able to create a business and marketing out of his passion to help the community to change their relationship with alcohol once and for all.
Show Highlights:
- Having ADHD as a child and why Ruari’s parents chose therapy over drugs for him
- Why Richard Branson became instrumental in his development after Ruari’s failed suicide
- Becoming a certified serial ‘Failpreneur’
- How Ruari chose between earning a lot as an oil broker and giving service to the community with One Year No Beer
- What happened to Ruari’s life after he finally took a break from alcohol
- Challenges Ruari faced in marketing One Year No Beer and why is it a “commercial suicide”
- On meeting the Dalai Lama and the realizations he had after
- Building relationships with successful people
- How Ruari raised six digit capital with the help from their members
Links Mentioned:
Big Business Events Members Network
One Year No Beer
Transcript:
Please note this is a verbatim transcription from the original audio and therefore may include some minor grammatical errors.
Adam Stott:
Hi everybody, Adam Stott here. Thanks for checking out my podcast business growth secrets, you’re absolutely in the right place. This podcast is going to reveal to you all of the secrets that you’ve been looking to discover. They’re going to allow you to cure your cash flow problems, attain more clients, bring in more leads for your business and create systems and processes that give you the growth that you want. You are going to discover the business growth secrets you have been looking for that I’ve used to sell over 15 million pounds worth of products and services on social media and help clients everywhere to grow their businesses on the mark. So, let’s get started on the business growth secrets podcast.
Hello everybody and welcome to tonight’s big business live, big business events business growth seekers podcast. Tonight we got really special guests. I’m looking forward to welcoming on; he’s got an amazing business at a really brilliant chat just beforehand and just a couple of months only bringing him on. So the guests are brought bring on tonight’s Ruari 01:19 from one year no beer. I think what’s really interesting about his story I’m gonna let him sell that, but he’s built a business has got over 80,000 members, and the bit that I find really interesting is he’s gone into 90 countries.
So really started a movement something that has hit a nerve with people, something that’s inspired people, and I think tonight, this is going to be a massive thing for a lot of people, especially that is very topical during what we got for right now in terms of lockdown and, you know, for me, I’ve been on Instagram hitting up about how you should be creating daily success habits and one of the success habits that you want to avoid is something we’re going to talk about tonight which is certainly maybe an over line 02:02, which is where the start over Ruari’s company was built, so I’m going to bring him on in a moment.
As always, when I do these interviews. For me, the purpose is, I want to bring super successful people to the audience that watching which is you tonight. So you can learn, so you can grow, so you can ask questions, you’ve got an opportunity tonight, where you can ask questions you can pick the brain of somebody that’s going out build great business in 90 countries. Please give a big welcome tonight, make sure you come on the silo. So Ruari know, I’m going to bring into the stream now. So how are you doing buddy, we’re good.
Ruari Fairbairns:
Excellent. Thank you. Thanks for having me on. Hello everybody thanks for joining us live.
Adam Stott:
Awesome. So really interested to have a chat tonight and I think that’s something that your business is done really well, is you found something as inspired people. And you know that inspirations come I think from your journey so we want to hear a little bit about that tonight. I think the fact that you’ve expanded it so quickly gone to so many countries is really admirable and I really want to hear about that story as well so big welcome to you. And why don’t you kick us off and tell us a little bit about where the idea came from for your business, and maybe tell us a bit about your story and how that works and we’ll take it from there.
Ruari Fairbairns:
Awesome, thank you for giving me the space. So first thing I just want to apologize to everybody because I just spent the last hour. This is the brand new podcast set up; I’ve got curtains and sound deadening and like brand new microphone arrived today, all of that stuff. And about a minute before we went live the Wi-Fi went down, so I’m now streaming off my phone so I apologize if 03:39 and I’m sorry. Hopefully it’ll be okay. But that is the world of working from home these days isn’t it?
So just to wind back a bit about my story and give a little bit of understanding. So, you know, you said very special guest, and, you know, there’s something about that the wording in there is that when I was younger, when I was six, I was ADHD, you know as a child I was super hyperactive, my parents were given an ultimatum for me drugs or counseling, and I’m really lucky that they chose counseling because it started this process of me trying to understand what was going on in my hyperactive brain, and it created this sort of divide because my parents said I was special and gifted and the outside world said I was bad naughty, and those two things drive different behaviors, behaviors through my life and you can see them as a stream.
It was also very confusing. I didn’t really know where I sat, but after, thankfully, unsuccessful suicide attempt. And my parents encouraged me to write a letter to Richard Branson again flipping from these two spaces of. I actually want to leave this planet to actually I’m going to stay here and have a really big impact and so I wrote a letter to Richard Branson and I said, I’m gonna have a massive impact on the world, and I’m looking forward to having lunch with you.
At 15 I set up my first business and left school before the legal age to run that business for two years, that failed. I set up five different enterprises to prop up businesses and three projects really and never really got off the ground, or failures, I call myself of serial 05:06. And so, now whenever people ask me, business advice, I’m like I can’t tell you what to do, because I’m still working that out but I can tell you a lot of things of what not to do.
Ruari Fairbairns:
And it was actually through the TV program, The Apprentice, which kind of sad after my fifth final failure. I somebody encouraged me after a few pints in the pub to set going, you know, I know where all these failed entrepreneurs go they go to this TV program, The Apprentice you should go there to not quite how it went. But you know what I mean.
I applied for the apprentice got accepted went down to the beginning of the filming, set aside the studio, eventually said look, you’re not going on the show this time we can’t explain or fly you back to Scotland and I was like so 05:46 going to 05:47. And I bumped into an oil broker in 05:49 and that’s where I became an oil broker and I spent the next 13 years of my life.
And when you look at what happened there and you know I started on crude oil big name for myself very quickly, and then I set up the jet aviation desk, is that, in essence, all of the operations of the business had been taken away. And yeah, I was dropped in as an entrepreneur to build a business so I made the jet desk, the number one jet desk in the world within three years in a market which was already saturated; they said it wouldn’t break into. And that made me reflect on something about my previous businesses, I was like, do you know what, I realized something. I am 95% absolutely useless and 5% genius. And if I’m in my 95%. I’m just gonna bring stuff. But if I’m my 5%, then things will move forward.
So when you know I was working and I broke and I kind of stumbled into this I was meditating on the train. Using headspace in the early years, I thought, you know, I think, alcohol is causing you more trouble I realize, and it was never a problem drinker I wasn’t carrying on going home and drinking I wasn’t doing any of those things, but alcohol was prevalent right I might be entertaining clients once or twice know times a week, whatever it was and I might be celebrating with friends at the weekend. Some people would have called me a lightweight, but yet still in the back of my mind I thought I think alcohol is causing you more trouble and I realized, so I decided to take a break from booze approached my boss and he said, You are committing commercial suicide if you stopped drinking.
Ruari Fairbairns:
So absolutely huge peer pressure. 07:18 Yeah, it took me another six months to pluck up the courage and then I took a break from booze and that was it. I mean, suddenly I was fitter, faster, healthier, happier, better dad, better husband; my business grew niggling health issues disappeared. We will go into the details of just how impactful a break from alcohol can be and is on many people’s lives. But I would say, hang on a minute. This is totally the opposite of what I thought taking a break from alcohol was like a thought not drinking would be social 07:50, nobody’s gonna like you’re gonna have no friends and you’re gonna be bored for the rest of your life. And yet, what it really was, just everything was better.
Business is better, productivity was better. So that’s what I said, I got together with Andy and we realized, you know, how are we going to help other people realize this, I know, let’s create a challenge, let’s just make it a challenge. No stigma, no labels, no judgment. It’s just a challenge. And that’s where we come up with the idea of one 08:14 which we launched back in 2016. That’s the whistle-stop tour.
Adam Stott:
Awesome. It’s a great lesson in there. Some different lesson it’s actually really important. I think even going all the way back when you talk about ADHD, I think is something that you see in a lot of entrepreneurs. A lot of entrepreneurs have that hyperactivity, I think that I’ve certainly been told I’ve ADHD in the past. Some of my top clients have been taught the same as well. And it’s because you’ve got that constant thinking and that he’s right, you know, you’re going to be the people around you’re either going to be positive for positive reinforcement or negative reinforcement.
If you can get into the positive reinforcement and you’re lucky enough to have that and it’s great but some people on. I think that is inspiring to hear that message from someone who’s going on to, you know, create a great business like yourself. So one year no beer, for me is a bit of a commitment for people to go a year without, you know, I think there is a bit easier for one year. So, you started the business off. Tell us a little bit about, you know, why we don’t talk about marketing the business because this is something that a lot of ideas, a lot of people can come up with an idea. You’ve driven this idea home, you took it to 90 countries, and you’ve got 80,000 people that took the challenge. So tell us a little bit about how you went around, marking the business, why don’t we start early stages, you don’t market the business of beginning, you got the idea what did you do first to get it off the ground?
Ruari Fairbairns:
Okay, so first of all I would never do what I did in starting a business. So, did it all completely and utterly wrong, no plan rushing, given a shot, etc. So when we were looking at this thing, we created a book, we created a 90 day challenge. We wanted to break through peer pressure because what we established was that was the main thing that kept people drinking was the peer pressure around alcohol and what you’re drinking like.
I’m not actually drinking alcohol. What’s wrong with you, you know, so that was, we were trying to do something to counteract that so one year, it’ll be, I’m doing the one year there’ll be a challenge was a big enough sort of smack in the face to leave you alone. Right. Perhaps a 90 day challenge in the beginning, and when we first launched it, we gave it all away for free.
So, again, I was sort of channeling this, I want to have a massive impact in the world. And I believe we can do that by giving away for free. And the reality is I put, you know, nearly a quarter of a million parents of my own money into the business in the first year, trying to get it to go and all sorts of marketing things and trying social media stuff and not having a clue is the reality of what we did so I would never do what we did backwards but if when you look at the, what happened because of that, because first of all when we gave it away for free, we were doing a disservice to people because later when we started charging for it. People watch more videos, had more skin in the game, and engaged more had been around outcomes, but it wasn’t helping anyone.
They weren’t really paying attention to, but in saying that it did spread all over the world because we were giving it for free you know we had front page of Yahoo in about 10 different countries and within a month. One month, two months, three there was people popping up in India going. I love your program it’s amazing are Argentina, how do we bring this to Argentina was like, Wow, this is amazing, like, you know, we thought we were just creating this for the brokers in the City of London and here it was people resonating with all over the world. So, I think.
Adam Stott:
11:36 I mean, you say, you know you want to do it the way you did it again but perhaps, but a lot of people underestimate the power of actually giving something away for free in the beginning to get your brand low and actually build relationships to people, but I love your comment, where people haven’t gotten into the game and I think this is absolutely 100% correct, people only give the effort and the attention to the things that they invest in. If you don’t invest in something and I find that a lot of entrepreneurs, and as much as we’re going to give tons of value tonight and we’re going to give lots of information to people because it’s a live stream or free live stream and sometimes even a free podcast, they’re not necessarily going to act on it and I think that that is exactly what you put your finger on there.
Now when it comes to how you would do it again I think if we asked that question, you know be interesting to see what would you do differently?
Ruari Fairbairns:
Yeah. So the thing that I would do similarly is focus and double down 100% on community. So now, I mean back then it was less about communities so this is five, six years ago, we weren’t community obsessed but now every brand is talking about community. And so the thing about community is all the things I know that create a very powerful community is strong. 12:55 and that is how we’ve cultivated a very unique, passionate, highly engaged community.
We’ve had people come in and look at our community and be like, we’ve just never seen engagement like it like this is unreal. How have you created this? So, but it took a lot. It took till three o’clock in the morning to answering people I mean I was, I was still a senior shareholder running a team of guys, earning high six figures a year as an oil broker, one of the top brokers, and yet here I was with my laptop open up my desk, literally answering people’s problems and things about alcohol and trying to support people. And you know, throughout 2017 that was like one of the hardest years of my life because Hiro was still doing everything trying to bang the door and everything else.
So, anyway, focus on community, creating these true fans you know there’s that whole piece around 1000 true fans. A thing about building community now is that the platforms out there are there for you to build community really for free, like a Facebook group is for free. You can start opening up and creating content putting it out there, you know, there’s cheap ways to build podcasts. Gets that community aspect going?
Adam Stott:
14:11 So I was just gonna say it’s funny cuz when we had a conversation earlier, I explained to you, depending on when people want to know tonight is in the comments on YouTube, you’re watching on Facebook, where you’re watching watch on the Facebook group big business events page, and actually sent to you, you know, even though my Facebook volumes were 400,000 people, we get more engagement in my 15,000 Facebook group.
The reality is, you’ve got the ego your fans in there, you know, and your fans and the people that work with you and the people that know you and the people that follow you staff are going to be the people that, you know, are engaging and, you know, certainly supporting you and a lot of don’t focus on it. And a lot of people have got the patience to focus on, you know, essentially you have that high level job, but you chose to focus on saying now after a different question which you might have been asked before maybe ever been asked before your six figure job because there’s a lot of hard work and a lot of people right.
They’ve got six figure jobs or they’re earning good money they got to leave their job, and they’re worried, you know there’s a lot of fear around that. But how rewarding has it been for you to be able to go and build a business that’s inspired that many people. How does that feel to you? What was it actually like? Is there a people that want to do exactly that?
Ruari Fairbairns:
Before I answer that I’m going to give a bit of context as well. So when I started on this project my boss, my bosses, those people they saw what I was doing and they were like, Wow, this is a really big thing that you’re doing, go for it. In reality, in the year running up to me departing the company. So maybe a year after, I’m still two years and working those two things at the same time. And you know, 2017, nobody wants to repeat, I don’t want to repeat the guys I was working with don’t repeat, my wife doesn’t want to repeat it was just about us, because it was like so full on doing the two things at once, but they supported me while I spent 60% of my time, even at the desk, working on one you know beer, because they saw the impact I was having.
Now when you can align people to a social impact to something that we just having do good in the world, and you can really align them, you can achieve amazing things like maybe you haven’t thought, you know what, if I actually spoke to my boss about this and got them to understand what I’m trying to do here, they would support me a bit more. Okay. It also happens that I was very good at my job and had built a team and all of those kinds of things that could take away but a bit of the slack.
But the decision to move became at a moment when I wasn’t expecting it and I had no, there was no decision to make. Okay. It was the only decision. So I sent a tweet to some journalists I actually got very frustrated with PR, but you know I could do this better. I’m going to start tweeting journalists directly, and this would be my side note here is that I would encourage business owners to create direct relationship with journalists. 17:02 And the best way to do that is find research, which has been, find research which has recently been published just like I did, and then say hey have you seen this. Right. And as soon as you do that and they haven’t seen it, it probably adds value.
Ruari Fairbairns:
So that’s exactly what I did and I got a response from a BBC journalist and she said hey I’m doing a piece about AA and women can have a chat and have a chat with her, she said you know I’m not going to do about AA, I’m going to do about your company because it’s so amazing, we ended up with a 10 minute feature video feature interview on BBC World News in over 200 countries. And I mean that kind of exposure is just, you know, 17:41
Once again, you’re doing something potential impact that people can really get behind I’m sorry I think my connection is really poor. And when you’re doing something like that, all sorts of people like the BBC might get behind you. So I think that that’s what we want to see more, of your more businesses which are having real big strong social impact and do something for good, because doors will open for you.
Anyway, a friend of mine called me up in Italy, and he said, Ruari, I’ve just seen you on the news, I think what you’re doing is amazing. I’m meeting the Dalai Lama next week, would you like to meet him. Bear in mind that my journey. It started with this meditation on the train.
So I was aware of meditation I’m not religious, but I was aware of meditation. And I was like, yes, I’m in definitely. So I got my ass over to 18:23, and all sorts of crazy thing. I mean, I ended up getting to ask him a question from the 1000s of people in the central Piazza then later we were supposed to fly home that afternoon but we ended up staying at the Dalai Lama’s hotel and meeting in the morning and my life totally transformed.
One of the main points was, I had realized I remembered back to that letter at 14, and I remembered back to this part about knowing that and knowing that I was here for a massive impact and this recurring nightmare I used to have as a child is something that I felt the moment I stepped off stage had felt it for two decades. I stepped off stage and I put it flashed me and I was like, that’s it. I know why I’m here. I absolutely know that this is my purpose in life.
So I went in on Monday morning and handed in my notice, and my boss was like, what, I mean, we’ll support you can do the two on the same side, you don’t need to quit. You’re crazy; don’t throw all this money away. I was like, I can’t do another day. I know why I’m here, so much on purpose. And I got to go and do it.
So, there was no decision, and I don’t know how other people would translate that into their thing into their things but I think that, again, you know when you’re doing something which has real powerful social good, which is having a big impact in the world, which is what we are planning to do we’re planning to have a very big impact in the world that I think stuff shifts for you. I think doors open that wouldn’t naturally open. I think opportunities arrived that wouldn’t naturally arrive, and that’s what we’ve seen time and time again.
Adam Stott:
So we, what we do, what I do is I coach people on how to become more successful in their businesses. And a lot of the traits every time I’ve interviewed so many people now you’ll see some big behind me I’m sure when we got in touch, there was gonna put that forward. And what I’m always looking to do is discover different success habits that people have and how anybody like anybody watching tonight can really learn and grow and take inspiration from what we’ve got to say.
A lot of things that you’re doing that were 100% teacher is always the same with any successful person you may they say yes, you know that’s one of the things that a lot of people underestimate the opportunity of saying yes, this is a reality, somebody else has probably had that opportunity to go and meet the Dalai Lama or something like that, some big opportunity, do you want to go and do this, and people turn around and I go, Well, you know, I’ve got the kids next week I can’t go. I can’t find the time. Oh, I’d love to do that. That’d be amazing but I can’t. I mean everything. Yes. And then when do 20:53 you know, and I think saying yes it’s just a big part of it isn’t it because that’s what it is old principle.
Ruari Fairbairns:
It’s saying yes and running with it so I was listening on clubhouse. I’m sure you’re talking about podcast, and they were talking about what it takes to get a mentor, right, or how you get somebody a mentor or how you get on the radar of a really big person on a podcast. And you know, I’d identified Joe de Sena as an inspiring person, the founder of Spartan races.
So I was like, Okay, I want to be on the Spartan up podcast, this is what we are. This is what we are aiming for. And so I started doing some inroads and I started to ask around and etc. And luckily somebody put me in touch with him and I ended up getting on the phone with Joe, like this and so he very short and he was like, Hello, what does it tell me, and I was like, Oh, you know, changing relationship with alcohol etc. And he’s like, oh good, but he doesn’t drink right so I knew that he was going to be interested in that message. And he said, how on a minute.
See if we can convince my wife to stop drinking and put the phone over. Next, for literally half an hour about her daily wine habits. And I was like, so you’re gonna do the challenge. She was like, Okay, I’ll give it a shot put it back in a sec right. You got me at my attention so my wife’s attention. I said, Well, Joe, he said, what do you want, I said look like. All I want to do as a podcast with you. And he was like, Okay, sure. And I said, he said, Okay, sure. I do want to book it next week, and I lied and said, Oh, but we only do them in person, right, because I knew that that wasn’t going to be the only way. And he said, Okay. Where are you, and I said London he said okay well I’m in the US. And I said 22:31on a plane tomorrow jokes, no problem. Like no idea like how would I play. What’s my wife gonna say, doesn’t matter, irrelevant.
And he said, Well, I’m gonna be in Iceland. In December, so why don’t you meet me there and I was like, Yeah, perfect. I’ll see you there. Great. See you later bye, click. Spartan, what’s in Iceland in December, Google, my God, it’s the Spartan Ultra World Championships. Now I know right with Joe because he’s such a hard ass. If I don’t enter, there’s no way he’s going to be interested in because he doesn’t want to work with any wet blankets, so it was at that moment I knew I had to supposed to sign up to the Spartan Ultra World Championships, just to get on Joe’s favor.
All of that, what did that lead to that needed 200 grand of investment from Spartan into one year no beer it led to a great partnership where we were every single one of their races. We’re at Spartan up podcast Joe’s personal friend I mean I’m speak to most days we are always chatting stuff going back forward so that was the thing is that when you want to try and really get somebody, you have to orchestrate these things it’s not just like just a ping, you have to create all of the things around like sneer at and then really go for it. Yeah.
Adam Stott:
That was amazing, amazing story. I think that the principles of success are not that difficult for people to work out. It’s just a case of are you going to do that. Because what you just said to me, business is about relationships and then how many times and tell people that you got to build relationships, you’ve got to go out your way to build relationships, and you’ve got to understand situational awareness, and I think a lot of people don’t understand situational awareness in the, you know, if somebody is up here, you know, you have to go to them, you have to do what it takes, right, you have to go make effort with somebody and if you do, and you break through that, that relationship stays, you know, and you can build some fantastic relationships with people I think that’s awesome.
So, brilliant stuff and you open that door there by the sounds of it, and went on to get an investment. And in addition to an investment massive promotion, and that trip to Iceland, you probably really enjoyed it I mean how much more enjoyable is alive when you start and building relationships. 24:46 awesome things. Funnily, enough Katie’s just commented that is her last coaching session with me, I said who wants hang on people in your industry that are above you. Do you have a great relationship with? She said well Adam, you know, I’ve got brilliant relationships with lots of people who are the top 10 people above you, in your industry our relationship with and it’s not always about some people think. It’s always about getting something, and it’s not you know it’s not about getting something, you know, we’ve come on and we start to build relationship I don’t want anything from you, but I know that one day you know we might meet up or something might happen.
You never know. It’s about building relationships with successful people, and the more you build that the more you give, the more you always receive and I think it’s a principle people start to practice.
So it’s awesome, so in terms of so we went and we did that which was awesome. Now the business is starting to grow. Why don’t you talk about your employees, 25:44 your business has got worldwide? You’ve got 80,000 people, 80,000 members right. What’s it been like managing that how did you actually start to manage that in a more effective way Ruari, like how did you start to build that manage that in an effective way? And what were the challenges or challenges that helps a lot to understand, you know.
Ruari Fairbairns:
Million percent, so straight after leaving job it was about hiring people. So we’d been featured on the BBC that features on the BBC generated 70 grand in revenue in 10 days. So, just from that one piece of news, there are a lot of new customers coming in. We started hiring people, but then we went through all sorts of iterations and I think multiple lessons here, number one, hiring good leaders is really tough.
I think that is, you know, not just hiring good leaders is really tough but perhaps I heard somebody slightly more cynical than me on again clubhouse. The new addiction, saying that you know the reality is finding the gem in your leadership team is going to be one in three maybe one in five, maybe one in 10. Therefore you need to hire more people because you’re going to have this circle. And if I wish, I wish I’d known that in the beginning, because it was such a painful journey to go and have, you know, go backwards and forwards and all this kind of stuff.
So, but then when you look at how the business transformed. You know, we, the second thing is, after about, I think maybe six months or seven months I was still living a broker lifestyle, so I still had a, you know, huge five bed house in Buckinghamshire. The cars are 27:25 and yet here I was earning nothing so I hadn’t paid myself from one year no beer and for the first four years, I took absolutely nothing at the business so still paying into it for the first three years and in the fourth year, took absolutely no salary. I was a volunteer for this thing, just so passionate about it.
Then we were thinking about going crowd funding to get this to try and really lift off. And somebody said you know why don’t you see if you got a six figure investor in your members got bad idea you know I wrote to my members weekly anyway and all that kind of stuff so I wrote an email I just said hey you know, this is where we’ve come from, but this is where we’re going, we really want to change the world we’re not just going to say that like your 2.7 billion people drink alcohol affects 1 billion people drink hazardously, you know the damage to society that cost 52 billion is the cost estimated in the UK, you know, alcohol is absolutely decimating to society’s, families, but if we can help people drink less and drink more sensibly, then that will change the world.
Ruari Fairbairns:
So we really want to have that impact. And I shut this email off and thought maybe I’d come into one or two emails oh so I said, Look, if you know somebody who’s a six figure investor maybe you could introduce those to them. And I think at the time we had about 40,000 members may be less 30,000 members, something like that, and sent this email off and thought I’d come into one or two emails, I came in the next day to 74 emails and we raised 1.1 million in five weeks, just for our members. And who were the members. Right. you know, Ex Global Head of merchants acquisitions at HSBC, a 10 year director of Facebook, the chairman of the biggest Angel network in Scotland, I could go on.
These are very successful people who’ve gone on to transform 29:17 even if I lost the 100 grand that can invest in one year, it would be equal to the value your life changing program has given me. Wow, you know, this is amazing look at the momentum we’ve built up here. If you look at where we’ve now raised over three and a half million in funding, predominantly all from our members.
And that is that is a 29:44 that’s a powerful community that we have given so much and you know I could say regret giving away for free. I could say I regret, you know, there are other people out there, all the way through this journey, Ruari you’re not charging enough, like the value you give you need to charge more, this coaching you’ve got there, you’ve got senior people signing up for 109 pounds these guys should be paying two grand, five grand and everywhere I had to come back to sort of touch into this base right in here which was like, what am I trying to do. And the bit I couldn’t do is have a massive impact in the world, right, and people were like, oh Ruari you could create a nice lifestyle business for yourself, you know, you could create 5 million turnover business with a million spitting off in profits and living a really nice lifestyle, and I was like yeah that sounds lovely for me and my family.
But what about the massive impact in the world. And that’s what it brought me back to every single time does like know the pricing has to be less than what people pay for alcohol, like nobody, nobody can look me in the eye and say, I can’t afford one year no beer. Because unless you’re brewing moonshine in your garbage, you can afford one year no beer. And so those guiding principles were there. Has that caused more struggle? Has that cause more difficulty? Yeah, like it’s hard to convert on Facebook ads when your lifetime value of a product one off product is low, it’s hard right and so that, you know, course we could have moved those prices up made things more expensive all of those kind of things, but it was, that was not what the mission is that’s not what the purpose of what we’re trying to do here.
Adam Stott:
And I think, you know, for everyone watching, I think that hopefully you’ve been inspired so far. Make sure you hit that share button, as you want. The more people can hear about this. I think he’s a brilliant cause and also you know if you’ve got questions so simple a few questions in the comments, put your question in. You know, Ruari’s grown a business now to 90 countries, 80,000 members change people’s lives. How many of you would like to do the same.
Ruari Fairbairns:
Look, I want to add, I want to get on to the specifically about the outcome. All right, I want to talk about the outcome because I know categorically that the biggest upgrade. 31:59 in clarity, energy, purpose, and connection to what you’re trying to do. Energy, drive, motivation, health, improving family is to take a break from booze.
And I know it from now over 80,000 people in 90 countries, the reality is we’re actually over 100,000, but we weren’t allowed to count the free people who came in for the crowd funding thing. So over 100,000 people in 90 countries and I know from all walks of life, all types of drinkers’ right. If you’re drinking more than three glasses of wine a week. Then you will see a massive transformation in taking a break from booze and, you know, the other part in here is that I’ve just done some great examples.
We had a well-known entrepreneur come on to our podcast, do our challenge in the UK. And he said, six months into his challenge of doing a year, so to do a year on alcohol free. He said, Ruari, I’ve just realized that I have been spent the last decade building businesses operating on 80%. As an entrepreneur, would you like 20% more? Right. Wait, one of the world’s top productivity gurus came and did our challenge, and he was like, I don’t really think this is going to have any impact on me because I just drink two craft beers a day, I never drink more than that, I come home and have a couple of craft beers a day. He’s like Ruari, I spent literally the last 20 years searching for two to 5% upgrades and productivity and you just gave me 20%.
So, that’s the thing is, like, people don’t understand the impact alcohol is having on them on their business on what they’re trying to do. And that actually and this is what I talked about so much attack to go break from alcohol. Consider a tactical break from alcohol. So, at least 28 days, but for most people 90 days, could be the best thing you do in 2021. There you go, that’s my pitch, any questions.
Adam Stott:
So, you know a lot of people would certainly benefit from that I mean I drink way less than I used to. Back in the day you know when I was running, you see my previous business I’d be able to about 40 million a year in revenue. I had 120 staff, I had five sites, and I would at the weekend, hit the booze, Because it was kind of like, I should release 100% pressure release and imagine as a broker, it’s on the final day for friends you know that all broken and broken and all sorts. And I know that they you know they were on alcohol in a big way but then I realized this is making them less productive, you know, 100% so I think what you’re saying is absolutely spot on. I’ve got loads of questions and things coming in.
How many of you would like an extra 20% or 20% power, right now, you would put a few number and 34:52 oh yeah. And look, you know, usually when I bring people on I won’t promote this on, but I actually think what you’re doing is a great cause. And I think that that is you know any of you listening so I’m gonna go and do it. Go and check out, Ruari does what they think is a great cause. And I think he’s gonna open thing. 35:12 that’s efficient, your product must be good. What’s the importance of having a good product talk to me about your product a little bit. How have you made sure that your product has become 35:21
Ruari Fairbairns:
So I think this again, I think we were very lucky and we stumbled into something in the in the first stages so we were looking at, you know, Andy my co-founder, at the time, he had just done Master’s in 35:35 psychology and LP, and what we were trying to think of is, you know, We were looking at how to integrate that. And so we kind of mapped out what was our feeling of a 90-day program, what happened to us during these 90 days? What were the key things that we wanted to address for us? And then map them with some brilliant science habit change stuff etc.
So, When we you know I think year two, or year three of pushing out this product and by the way when we sent it out there we have no idea. But then, you know, the torrent of feedback came in, like, oh my god this changed my life. And we’re like, Well, I mean, a handwritten letter from a son, saying I got my dad’s back. Right. Well, I’d be lying in bed next to my wife at night reading these stories and emails like tears in our eyes just completely gob smacked by the impact we’re having on people, so we knew we were having a positive impact on people.
2,000 and so about three years into it. And we’re starting to get more serious we had Sterling University work for us and they quantified our thing in terms of behavior change techniques so BCTs, and they found 14 different BCTs and we were thinking about we’ll go down to clinical study stuff and etc. So, that is still absolutely on our plans has not been done yet. But the second thing that happened is that all of a sudden we got a knock from the NHS and we got the BCTs done, and get the NHS and alcohol concerns that we want to have a look under the hood to see what you’re doing, and we were like, Oh shit, you know, are we gonna get found out here, do we really know what we’re talking about. And they looked under the hood and they came away they went; you know you are miles ahead of us.
Ruari Fairbairns:
And the part of it is that we, because we came in at such a fresh angle, so unique and it was like we didn’t carry with us the stigma that is changing people’s relationship with alcohol we didn’t carry the whole, you’re going to have a problem or you have a problem or all of this stuff came in it totally fresh and we were like this is not about having a problem. So, I think, over the time since then, we’ve had to do a lot to prove our product in fact most investment of our product ever in the last nine months you know we’ve built an app, our app launches internally, in the beginning of February. The app is where all the scalability comes from so if you think we’re sort of building headspace for alcohol. That’s the front end of it.
Then we’ve been building out all of our customer products which is basically live life better platform so I’ve changed my relationship with alcohol now what I want to focus more on the meditation on exercise, nutrition, diet, etc. That’s becoming more of a wellness business and building out our coaching programs. So, what was always the dream, somebody who has their life changed by a program that decides you know what I want to become an ambassador for one year no beer, so we give them all the tools and infrastructure to be able to run a localized community anywhere they are in the world.