Episode 485: From KFC…to building businesses that have generated over £186 million

From working at KFC at 16… to building businesses that have generated over £186 million!

In this episode, Adam Stott shares the mindset shifts, mistakes, and one big warning for entrepreneurs that could completely change how you approach business in 2026.

If you’re building something of your own, you’ll want to hear this one… 🎙️

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Transcript:

Please note this is a verbatim transcription from the original audio and therefore may include some minor grammatical errors.

[00:00:00] Hey, team. I’m super excited for what I’ve got to share with you this week on the Business Growth Secrets podcast. I was invited very recently to go on a podcast with James Martin, a great entrepreneur, and he interviewed me deeply on my business journey. It was a lot of fun. Uh, it was … I really enjoyed it, and I thought it was a really interesting conversation.

[00:00:22] Now, I do a lot of podcasts like this where I go on other people’s shows, and I guest and, and have a great time, but I don’t always share them. The reason I wanted to share this one is because I thought James was a great interviewer. I thought it was very different, and I told a lot of different stories from my background and my past that I don’t usually share.

[00:00:44] And I thought that it would be awesome for my existing audience to be able to jump on and really hear some of the content from a business journey perspective. We speak about ups and downs, failure, resilience, bouncing back, growth, revenue systems, [00:01:00] AI, and so much more. I think you’re gonna get a tremendous amount of value from listening to it, so I hope you enjoy, and I look forward to seeing you in person soon.

[00:01:09] We were sort of thrown together by people that said that we should be on a podcast together ’cause we’re locals. We’re in the same sort of game. You do a, a mastermind and training schemes- Yeah … and coaching, um, and we do the same here. I wanted to really get down to why are we still Burning shed loads of time coaching, teaching, and we also have multimillion pound operations going on.

[00:01:34] What, what’s the itch? Why do we do it? Well, for me, I love it. I, I love the, I love the game, I love the impact, I love the impact that I, I’m able to have on, you know, other entrepreneurs and business owners. And one of the things when I do do my events is I, I go back to there’s a certain image that I use in presentations, and that image kind of always takes me back, and I look at that image and it’s like, “This is what it was like when I was [00:02:00] starting.

[00:02:00] This is what it was like when I was clueless. I didn’t know what I was doing. I was stuck. I had no money, I had no customers. I didn’t know what to do.” And I always go back to that. I’m just like, “If, if you feel like that, I, I know how painful that is-” Mm … and I really feel like I can help you.” Yeah. Like, that, that, that is for me, that keeps me grounded in- ‘Cause in, in the pre-chat we just had, we did- Mm

[00:02:22] touch on that, that, you know, w- what is the, you know, that, that showing off. We don’t need any more money to help for our lifestyle, so why do we do it? But there was a real thing to make the economy a bit bleeding better, that would help. Mm. And that means it only comes from growth from people staying in business and not failing.

[00:02:41] Yeah, yeah, absolutely. We know that the fail rate is horrendous- Yeah … for, for businesses. It’s very lonely. That’s something I wanna talk to you about- Oh, absolutely … a bit more. And al- also, how do we just help them? And my expression that I said to you earlier was, you know, they can trip but they can’t fall.

[00:02:56] We want them to trip and stumble, but they can’t fall. [00:03:00] And by giving out s- loads of information, you know, I do it on my Instagram, you do, free information daily, every day of the week we’re giving out free information. But eventually, if they want to come into the inner sanctuary and come on a, a, a program or come- Mm

[00:03:14] and work with others- Yeah … like us, then there is that opportunity to do it. And I really wish in my 20s that stuff existed. Yeah. All I had was Brian Tracy on a disc- … and you had to send to America- Yeah … to get him to turn up. Yeah. You know? Yeah. My dad, my dad’s often said to me, he’s like, “Adam, I, I ne- I never had had the stuff that, that, that you guys do, and I wish I’d had it.”

[00:03:34] Yeah. You know, he built multiple businesses. He had ups and downs in his life and, you know, he’s, he’s eventually he’s, he’s got there, but he worked very, very, very hard over a long period of time. A- and definitely. I, I love the industry, I love coaching. I’ve been a student of personal development my whole life.

[00:03:49] Yeah. You know, I didn’t have many prospects when I s- I left school at 15 with no GCSEs. I know that you’ve, you’ve been famed for talking about dyslexia- Yeah … and, and, and things, and, you know, I got one [00:04:00] GCSE, which was a B in drama, and I got a U, a U in everything else. It was a B in drama. I got a B in drama.

[00:04:05] And then the stage work Yeah, I know …that’s a contradiction in terms. It is, it is a bit weird, isn’t it? It is a bit. But I always liked that. Yeah. It just felt like- Yeah … that was what I enjoyed. Yeah. But I just sucked at everything else, and, you know, I couldn’t figure it out, and often I felt lost and, and confused in those types of environments.

[00:04:19] And it just, just didn’t do it for me, and I left school with very little prospects and, you know, all my teachers saying I was never gonna amount to stuff. And I know it’s like y- y- you know, a poor me type story- Yeah … but, but the reality is I was just lost. Yeah. It’s not that I was y- you know, I was just lost.

[00:04:32] I didn’t know what to do. Um, and, you know, my dad and my brothers and my family were all in building, and that’s what they did, and I’d… I was, like, the worst person ever, like, at building or anyt- I, I, I j- I just couldn’t do anything. Right. And it just didn’t come naturally to me. I was, like, so awkward. Yeah.

[00:04:49] I’m still awkward at it. But you, you, you said about your dad then- Yeah … and he, he worked so hard, and I, I got into that loop when w- when we were building up the company Ruskin’s back in the day. No one could work as hard as me. I mean, you [00:05:00] just couldn’t. Mm. But it didn’t get me anywhere. All it really got me was working hard, and it was r- actually trying to find the way to work smart.

[00:05:08] Mm. And the only way to work smart was through education of myself and a mentality change. Yeah. How can I change this mentality of, well, if I put a million hours in, I’ll get a million pound out? And guess what? That didn’t work at all. Yeah. It just doesn’t work, does it? Well, I, I think that the best thing someone can do is work on themselves to get that, get that return, and you g- you gotta be, you’ve gotta be the person and build your skills.

[00:05:33] I’m a big believer in skills, and, and when you start off and you start any business, you don’t typically have the skills. You don’t have… No one’s born with the marketing skills, the sales skills, the operational skills, the management skills, everything that it takes. Yeah. Nobody comes at it with all of that, so it means it has to be learned.

[00:05:49] Now, you can either have the mentality where you go and learn it, or you can ignore it, but ignorance is not bliss, and if you ignore it, it ends up- Yeah … hurting you- I, I- … typically … I, I do [00:06:00] agree in a way, but I, I disagree in another way. It, is, uh, uh, I, I was- I stumbled with trying to learn some of that stuff.

[00:06:09] But the, and the, you know, and a hark on poor me, poor me with dyslexia, but I got very good at finding a great bookkeeper- Yeah … at finding someone that was good at marketing. Yeah. ‘Cause I had a vision of what I wanted it to all look like. I, I was all right on getting the fantasy, looking out the window- Vision, yeah

[00:06:25] daydreaming bit. I was all right on that. But to actually implement it- Yeah … I needed help to do it. Now, over the years, Adam, I am… I can understand the dialogue when we’re talking about marketing- Yeah, yeah … and ROAS- Yeah … and I, I g- I get all that. Yeah. And, you know, when we’re looking at a, a, a dashboard on, on, on a spreadsheet, I say, “Just tell me where the red lines are.

[00:06:44] Okay, and that goes to green.” So I can understand. Yeah. But y- you know, we should capitalize on our skillset, our, our natural skillset, and that might be l- for me, it’s being in front of customers- Yeah … and solving problems. And vision by the sounds of it as well. And, and having [00:07:00] vision. That’s it. Yeah, yeah, for sure.

[00:07:01] Um, I think that, I think that came later to me. It sounds like it came earlier to you than it did to me, um, because I st- I, I, I think that I didn’t really, especially it probably took me my first five years in business- I didn’t really get great people in to help me, and I think I paid for that because I didn’t really understand the concept of build…

[00:07:22] I had that kind of, like, hero dependence. I don’t know if you’ve ever had that yourself, but I wanted to be the hero. I, I kind of had that chip on my shoulder in the beginning where I wanted to do everything. I wanted to prove to everyone I could do it, and that ends up getting you nowhere. But I definitely did that in the beginning.

[00:07:34] Uh, certainly now I don’t think like that at all. Yeah. I, I’m definitely more aligned with what, what you’re saying here- Yeah … is in that you’re building that great team and you’re building complementary skillsets. But I think everyone goes on a journey. Everyone’s different. Everyone’s doing something differently.

[00:07:45] Yeah, no, I do. And, and I think y- and, and you talk about it in… And I’ve watched this, you know, some of your, your, your, uh… where you’ve been interviewed on, on some other- Yeah … YouTube videos, that, you know, y- you talk about the, the, the, the, the, the Spades, the Clubs, and the- Yeah … [00:08:00] Diamonds, et cetera. And can you just go through that but in brief?

[00:08:03] It’s so s- ‘Cause the version that I saw was very long. How brief, yeah? I, I… sh- sh- sh- No, but e- So yeah, yeah … explain it because it was, it was to, it was to do with marketing- Yeah … and it was to do with day-to-day life- Yeah, yeah, yeah … and h- how you actually- Yeah … interact with your staff, your team- Absolutely

[00:08:17] your customers. But it was also about how you keep people warm to stay in- Yeah … and you’re not frightening them off by saying, you know- I- You, you were talking about the- Yeah … the, the people w- want everything all very quickly- Yeah … and they’re, they’re a Spade. Yeah. Or other people that wanna digest it slowly.

[00:08:32] Yeah. Or everybody wants to… love everybody. But you do your, your version of that. Yeah. I’ll, I’ll do that in a nice, brief, brief way. I had a, a great mentor- Mm … a guy called Jim Francis, um, where I origin- originally learned that concept was actually in professional speaking. Um, but the thing is, the concept then moves from professional speaking into marketing, into management, into recruitment in other areas.

[00:08:52] So essentially, the concept that Jim taught me is that there really, there’s four different personality profiles. You have a personality profile [00:09:00] of a Spade, and a Spade is somebody that’s very, very fast-paced, obsessed with winning. They want to win over everything else. They hate to lose. So that’s their, their concept.

[00:09:10] They are somebody that likes to get to the point, likes to get to the bottom line, doesn’t want distractions, is just, you know, “Point me in the right, right direction, I’ll go and do it.” That’s like your Spade. Um, and you will all know a Spade, someone of that character. You know, I for one am, am definitely fall into that kind of- Mm

[00:09:24] kind of character, character line. And then you have someone that’s more of a Diamond. They definitely have traits like a Spade, but they’re more obsessed with fun, right? They want everything to be fun, everything to be adventure, everything to be exciting, and that’s kind of what they like. They love the- Yeah

[00:09:39] love the fun of it, and they hate to be bored. Yeah. Therefore, they’re always chasing new ideas, putting different things in place. You know, they’re running from thing to thing, and probably start loads of different businesses- Yeah … often get distracted, um, and they obsess over, over fun and a- adventure and variety.

[00:09:54] Then you have someone who’s more of a Club. And a club is somebody that’s very… They l- They absolutely have to [00:10:00] be right. They hate to be wrong. Like, that’s their primary driver. So each one of these has a primary driver, and the person that, that has to be right is always looking for proof, so they’re proof-obsessed.

[00:10:11] They’re data. They’re very data-driven, very analytical, very detailed. That’s your club. And then you have your hearts, which they love to be loved, and they love to love. They hate to be hated. So their obsession is about people and, you know, feeling cared for and support. And, and typically what we’ve found is that people fall into these four categories.

[00:10:31] Yeah. So where you can apply this principle is if you’re on stage, for example, I would come out and I’d be talking, uh, within segments. So you’ve got an audience of 100 people. 25 of them are spade driven, 25 of them are diamond driven, 25% are g- uh, club, and 25% are heart, and obviously you mix that up. Mm.

[00:10:47] And I’ll be coming out and saying, “Hey, how many of you are here to win? And you wanna win, and you wanna build incredible businesses. Raise your hands if you do.” Mm. And everyone’s gonna raise their hand. It’s like, “But how many of you not only wanna win, but you wanna do it by getting it right, making sure you follow the details?[00:11:00]

[00:11:00] You do this in a step-by-step way so you can get proven results?” Yeah. And- So your, your neuro-lingustic, you’re actually putting it over the audience in that, in that- Well, I’m engaging- Yeah … every category- Everybody. Yeah … of person- Yeah, yeah … to be able to have a dialogue which- Yeah … suits them, um, in a way that I can present my product or service- Yeah

[00:11:16] in a really compelling way to get them. I, I, I went… Years ago, I went to Richard, Richard Bandler- Yeah … NLP. Yeah. And I actually went to America and did- Yeah … his course with him. Enjoy? And yeah. I- Is he still alive? I don’t I don’t know if he’s still alive. Can you look him up- Yeah. … Richard Bandler, Ollie?

[00:11:34] Producer Ollie, is he still alive? I don’t know if he’s still alive or not but age 76. Is he? Interesting. Oh, really? He, he was very, uh… He was, um, uh, insulin dependent and the stuff. Anyway, but whatever. He was great, but it was a version of that. Yeah. And there’s lots of versions. Yeah, yeah, of course. There is.

[00:11:49] They do it as animals, and they do the, the- Yeah, communication skills … what’s the other one? The, the, uh, circle one. What’s it called? The… We had it done here for the staff once. Disc. Disc profile. Disc. Disc profile. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. So I, I… And I think that the more as a, [00:12:00] as a business owner and entrepreneur that you understand- It’s just communication

[00:12:03] that communication skills- Yeah. Mm … it’s actually all about communication skills. Absolutely. You know, we are PRing ourselves every single day. Yeah. We are selling to the bank. We’re selling to investors. 100%. We’re selling to staff to come and work for us. Yeah. We’re selling the vision of what we want- Yeah

[00:12:18] and models and profiles o- of new business ideas to come to. What… It, it ends up being quite responsible, though, because everything… I always remember someone saying to me, m- a, a, a old guy used to come in my father’s pub when I was young, and he, he would say, you know, “It doesn’t matter. Whatever happens- It’s your fault, and never forget it.

[00:12:37] I love that concept. Yeah. Because it is our fault. Yeah. It, you know, it’s always, it stops with us as the owner of the business. I 100% that as part of my philosophy. Yeah. You know, there’s different things you’ll pick up along the way. I’m certainly s- not saying that that I invented it- Yeah … but I definitely buy into it, and, and I do try to look at that.

[00:12:55] Whenever something goes wrong, which it invariably does, or whenever you have a diffi- difficult time, [00:13:00] one of the questions I ask myself is, w- what part did, what part did I play in it? Mm. How did I help create that? Because for me, some people can’t handle that because they don’t wanna be to blame, but I, I’m definitely a learner at heart, and I would love to learn to make sure I don’t make the same, same mistake again.

[00:13:16] And, and I do feel as the leader, you play a part in, in everything. And I do believe as well, for all the entrepreneurs that are listening, is if you can get that personal responsibility, and you can take it, that it actually gives you a different dynamic because I think that most business owners are so keen to blame someone else, blame an employee, bla- blame a supplier- Yeah

[00:13:36] blame this going wrong, blame the economy, blames… I just like to go, “Right, what did I do to create this?” ‘Cause you can always put… You always did something. Yeah. And I can learn from that. And, and you, you, you… In running the companies, you know, we run several companies- Mm … both of us. You, you, you also, you’re focused, highly focused on this one, and you’re highly focused- Yeah

[00:13:55] on that dynamic of that one, but then you’re on holiday for a week, and then you come back, and then [00:14:00] things slip. Yeah. 100%. And then you see a mistake coming- Yeah … and you go, “I know why it is, because I’ve not been in there-” Yeah, yeah … fettling, making sure everybody’s on, on energy- Yeah … on, on point. I, I said to, to, uh, uh, uh…

[00:14:12] I was coaching, we were doing a one-to-one, and I was saying to this person, “You’re so miserable. When you go into your team, bring the weather with you” Yeah. And the weather is the energy. Yeah. You need to bring it every morning- Yeah … so they bring it up. And then the only reason I knew that is when I met the team, they were very much like him.

[00:14:27] Really? He was dictating what it was like. Yeah. And it was a low vibe energy. Anyway, we worked with him. He’s, he’s doing very well now. But it- it’s those, it’s those incremental steps to what- Yeah … you need to have, these skillsets of understanding that communication skills. Yeah. But they, they are the highlight…

[00:14:46] They underpin everything else we do, aren’t they? Because, because- 100% … you know, the, the… It works… Nothing works without that, that, that communication of- Yeah … whether you’re talking to staff, customers, or whatever it is. Sorry to interrupt. I just wanted to take a [00:15:00] moment to let you know about Baddow Park Mastermind.

[00:15:04] I have created a mastermind for high level entrepreneurs. There’s only 16 spaces, and we’ve only got a few left. If you often find you’re the biggest fish in the pond at other masterminds, click the link in the pod description, because this just might be for you. Now back to the pod. Can… Just to get some numbers in.

[00:15:26] Yeah. What, what are you turning over in your, your business pro- your business, uh, portfolio now? What do you turn- Yeah … over a year? One of the things that I do- Mm … is I’m, I’m all about focus. Yeah. My existing business is a coaching business, does about 15 million a year. Yeah. And then I’ve got other property, um, interests within that- Yeah

[00:15:43] and within, you know, that kind of business, and a few side businesses, investments. But one thing I’ve found, um, and it sounds perhaps maybe even a little bit different to, to, to what you’re doing, ’cause you said you’ve got multiple- Mm. I’m definitely a, a much better if I focus. Yeah. So if I c- I’m, I like to be all in on- Right

[00:15:59] on my [00:16:00] main thing- Yeah … and drive that one thing. Like, I’ve always found, I’ve always found that actually all of my success that I’ve had has come from focus, and whenever I’ve split that focus, I’ve, I’ve really struggled. Um, and I, and again, I, I, I really believe that all entrepreneurs are different. You’ve got some that are able to do 11 things at once- Mm

[00:16:18] and, and, but that’s never been me. I’ve definitely like- Yeah … the person- That’s very different, yeah … that does the one thing and goes all in on the one thing. ‘Cause I feel like I can make one thing great. I think it’s hard to build any business- And is that… I- so then, I don’t know, are you saying that- Yeah

[00:16:30] that is the coaching company really? Yeah, my, that, that, that, I’m all in on that, yeah. That, that is where your, your main… Yeah. And then the, the commercial property portfolio and stuff, that more or less- Just investor profits, yeah … runs, runs itself- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah … with, with other- Absolutely, yeah … agents looking after it or whatever.

[00:16:41] Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I think that… What do I think about that? I think that I’ve, because of my necessity to have people to be able to do it ’cause I can’t- Yeah … I got very good early- Yeah … in my late 20s on building teams- Mm. Yeah … uh, uh, of specialist people that I probably overpaid [00:17:00] for to bring them in early- Yeah

[00:17:02] to be able to… You know, I brought in managing directors- Yeah … to manage and direct- Yeah … the company. I could still look down on it and give ’em focus- Mm … and, and helicopter view of what, where we’re going with the, with the future. But I was good at doing that, and I, and I, and I, and I’ve kind of carried that on.

[00:17:19] And what else do we, we really look, look at? I like not meddling, ’cause I think it allows, it allows those people that run them businesses that they feel like they own them. Yeah. And they need to make their own mistakes. Mm-hmm. And so we, we have like a culture here where we, we talk and when we have our team meetings every Tuesday with all, all department heads and everybody comes in- Same as us with Yeah

[00:17:41] Which, why Tuesday? Yeah, I don’t know. There’s a random one. Everybody get a bit warmed up. Well, ’cause Mon- ’cause Monday’s a bit like war. Yeah, yeah. And Tuesday’s the first opportunity to be refreshed, right? So that’s, that’s very good. That, that’s- Yeah. So Tu- Tuesday meetings. And then we, you know, we say that, you know, you can make mistakes in this empire here.

[00:17:55] Yeah. There’s no problem. Mm. You just can’t make them twice- Mm … ’cause you need to make the mistake and learn from it. But you need to [00:18:00] be able to… You know, you don’t need to phone me up. You know the answer. Yeah. And it’s to empower them to then feel that they have a career with us and not a job. Yeah. And that’s, I’m a, a big advocator of that.

[00:18:10] Yeah. I don’t want people to have jobs with me. Yeah. If you want a job, go, go and stack shelves. 100%, yeah. You know, if you want a career, we are gonna give you the opportunity- Mm … ’cause we’re buying new things, we’re doing bigger ideas. Yeah. We’re expanding the companies. I’m, I love training. Yeah. I’m a big believer in training, developing people.

[00:18:25] Yeah. Giving people op- I think people only leave when they can’t grow anymore. Yeah. Yeah. You give them the opportunity to keep growing- Absolutely. Very good … they stay. And, and, you know- Yeah … that’s 100%. What, what do you see the business doing? If you’re doing those numbers now- Yeah … if we could move you forward to six years- Yeah

[00:18:38] what, what have you got your eye on? Six years future or back? Yeah, future. As- Don’t go back. Yeah. Now what, what, what do you see it looking like in the next- Yeah. Do, do you know what? Is, is I’m- quite, quite fluid. I’ve been on a journey probably out with this business over the past five years, where it’s been growth and growth and growth and growth and growth.

[00:18:57] And we’ve got to a point where I’ve got a really [00:19:00] lovely operating model. I’ve got a really great team. You know, we’re getting to the point we’re really serving the people at a high level, and I’m, like, obsessed over how do we make the products better, how do we make the experience better, how do… You know, and I’m finding the innovation and the excitement in what we’re doing.

[00:19:13] But I’m definitely in a period of stability where for the next one to two, you know, I wanna stabilize and just generate the profit and, and focus- Mm … on that because we’ve just got grown and grown and grown. Yeah. I think that’s a pattern in all the businesses I’ve had have rapid growth, and I think that’s because I’m really good at marketing, and I’m really good at sales.

[00:19:29] Yeah. Like, that, that’s, like, my special skills. And but with this business, I wanna be super focused on clients, products, experience, operations. But you’re, you’re, you’re wearing that attitude to business- Yeah … now from a scar from before. Yeah, of course. Yeah. ‘Cause in the pre-chat you were telling me that you had a sizable turnover- Yeah, yeah, yeah

[00:19:46] of business in your, in your, when you were young. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And you nearly lost it all when, you know, it, it- Yeah, absolutely … you, you take your foot off the gas or whatever or you- Absolutely. I’ll definitely learn the lessons from the past. Yeah. And I think… I th- I th- you know, I don’t know. Mm.

[00:19:58] Again, it’s like [00:20:00] I’m sure there’s kindred spirits- Mm … in, in some way, but I always knew even when I had nothing that I wanted to do something important- Yeah … and that I wanted to- That’s a funny thing, isn’t it? It’s a real thing, isn’t it? ‘Cause I always knew that- Yeah … even when I was sitting in that classroom- Yeah

[00:20:16] at 11 years old looking out the window going- Yeah … “I don’t get any of this shit, but I know-” Yeah … “I’m gonna do something and be somebody.” I wanted to. That’s exactly- You know, and- … what I wanted to do … but that’s a weird thing, isn’t it? Is it weird? I, I don’t know. I mean, maybe it’s a common thing, but I just knew- Well, everybody has it, and then they just put it down- No, no, I-

[00:20:30] down, downstairs in the cupboard … no, I, I meant as, like- I mean, I don’t know. Yeah … a common thing between entrepreneurs maybe. Oh, entrepreneurs. Yeah, I d- Yeah … I don’t know. I think, I think that there’s gotta be something. I don’t know if it’s ego. But it’s almost like- I don’t know if it’s- It, it, it’s funny, Adam, ’cause it’s, it’s a bit like, who do you think you are?

[00:20:44] You know, it, you know, with that, with that thought. Mm. Who do you think you are with that thought? Yeah. I, I don’t know. I think you have different people though. Yeah. I mean, I remember telling people that when I was younger, and they’re like… And I remember one friend of mine, still a good friend of mine today, um, he said to me, “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Adam.

[00:20:58] You’re gonna be broke just like the rest of us.” Yeah. And I [00:21:00] was thinking, “Well, you-” Wow … “What, what, what are you talking about? Like, I, I’m, I’m not.” Like, I didn’t ever believe that I would be. Do you understand what I mean? Like, that’s how I was and- And I don’t know. And I, and I decided that I wanted to achieve something, and I didn’t know how.

[00:21:14] I had no idea how I was gonna achieve something, what I was gonna do, and no idea where it was gonna go, what it was gonna be like. I… But I just knew I wanted to do something. And this is the thing that kind of, without going too, too long into it, the thing that saved me from pretty much obscurity and building sites and achieving nothing in my life was sales.

[00:21:33] Mm. I, I got a job in sales. I finally found something I was good at. I don’t know if you, you had a moment like that, but I, I found something I was good at, and I was really good at sales. And then I got a lot of positive feedback, and I was like, “This is the thing.” Yeah. Like, I finally have some type of control.

[00:21:47] Like, I… If I sell something, if I make more money, oh, I just sell loads of stuff then. Yeah. And then I started to get obsessed with it. Yeah. And that’s where the personal development came from. I, I, I, I think that the… I, I, I was lucky to bump into somebody, uh, and I, I went to an [00:22:00] arboricultural conference.

[00:22:01] There was a few, few people… And w- and that was, uh… Ruskins was this big- Yeah … company we were at. And, um- He said to me, he, he, he said, “Yeah, I know, it’s all, it’s all very well” he said, “But you’ll, uh, you know, you’ll make it.” And I said, “Well, why are you saying that?” He said, “No, no, I can just see it in you.

[00:22:17] You’ll make it.” And I went, “Oh, that’s very kind of you,” said. He went and he grabbed my arm- Mm … and sort of squeezed it a bit tight , a bit tighter than you would as a friendly person. He went, “No, no, no, son, you will make it.” And it was a very strange moment, ’cause it, it was just the smallest bit, you know, my- Mm

[00:22:33] with the sad story, my dad had left- Mm … and I was, you know… And it was the smallest thing that you just only needed one person- 100% believing you … to say one little thing. Yeah, it makes a difference. To just have that one little moment, and I look back, even as I’m telling the story, my, my back’s hairs are going up.

[00:22:46] ‘Cause it was, it made, it just turned on the possibility that I could actually- Get belief … go through it. Injection of belief. And then it was then, th- then, uh, uh, somebody said, “Oh, you, you…” Well, I said, “What are you [00:23:00] listening to?” ‘Cause he wa- uh, we were on a train journey. Mm. And he said, “Oh, Brian Tracy.” And Brian Tracy, I mean, poor old Brian Tracy, he’s in his 90s.

[00:23:07] He’s still alive today. But I’ve listened to everything he ever had, and then from there, I mentioned books, you were talking about education books. Mm. And I’ve just, I dunno, I must have read thousands- Yeah … of books, and a lot of it’s the same stuff delivered by- Yeah … a different format or a different voice or a different way, but we’re always hunting for a book for, to keep up with, is there a nugget that we’ve missed?

[00:23:31] Mm. Or when you read a book, it’s only 10% that you can ever digest on the first time. Now, I’ve got books I’ve read, like, seven times. Yeah. You know, I just go back to them and just, you speed through some of it, ’cause it’s just a, an analogy of trying to force- Mm … home the point. But we, we, we go into that education stage.

[00:23:48] Adam, what was your first book? What was your first author that sort of got you going? So first one, when I go back to finding sales, I read a book by Richard Denny called- Yeah … Selling to Win. Yeah. I, I- And it was [00:24:00] the most basic book that you’d ever s-… Yeah. But the thing is, people forget, and I think, I think, I definitely feel, I would imagine you do as well- Mm

[00:24:06] when you have students in, is actually where people are at- At this stuff very early. In Selling to Win, it was very basic, it was like, “Make sure that you dress up smart.” Yeah, yeah, yeah. Mark, I would dress up smart. Make sure you polish your shoes. Yeah. Make sure that you, um, you ask that extra question. Turn up early, leave late.

[00:24:22] Yeah. It was just, yeah, it was just like all the basic- Yeah … basic principles. Yeah. Was like, okay, well, I need to do that. Yeah. And I need to… And then you start building these, like, blocks. Mm. And I started doing that. And my dad also gave me a book. The funny thing is my dad loves properties, always loved property.

[00:24:36] Um, and I’ve done a lot in property, but it’s never been my love. Like, I’ve never loved it. I actually find the pace of it, it quite frustrating. Very frustrating. Yeah. I’ll tell you. Oh, my God. So, yeah. How many stories do you want? We’re eight years in, and it’s still no playing, you know. Yeah, yeah. It’s terrible.

[00:24:49] Yeah. Very frustrating. But my dad gave me a book and it inspired me because I actually read… When you talk about reading now, a lot of the time I read for inspiration actually, which is different. Where I used to [00:25:00] read for tactics, but now I kind of- Yeah … I’ve been finding that now I read more for inspiration.

[00:25:05] But one of the books that inspired me earlier on, some people hate this, but I read, um, Donald Trump’s book, The Art of the Deal. My dad gave it to me. Listen, I say, I mean, I’ve read them. Yeah, yeah. And I tell people, and they go, “Well, Donald Trump, he’s a… You know.” Oh, I read it. It was a great book. I read it, and when I read it, I was just going through it- Yeah

[00:25:21] and I was like, “What? Someone can just walk in and buy a building?” Yeah. And someone can look at something- Yeah … and say, “I wanna buy it.” And so and I was just like the audacity of this man. Yeah. The irony of now. Yeah. But I’m reading it just like, “Oh my God, like, I wanna do that.” Yeah. That, that was kind of the thing that inspired me.

[00:25:35] That, that was one of his early books- Yeah … or the first book. The first one, yeah. And then the next one was The Art of a Billionaire or so- Mm … or The Billionaire So- Mm. And he talks about, uh… Have I mentioned this before, Ollie? I think you have, yeah. Yeah. Oh, a bit boring. Sorry, people. Yeah. But we, we talk about, um, how to be a billionaire- Yeah

[00:25:51] is to rub up against billionaires. And, and he says in there so- somewhere, he says, “And everything is possible. You just need to be okay.” Yeah. And we look at where he is today. I mean- [00:26:00] Yeah … l- love him, hate him- Great stuff. … whatever you wanna do. But I mean, you’ve gotta take your hat off to him- Yeah … somewhere along the line of, of what he was like.

[00:26:05] The- So in what… Just go back to the question. Mm-hmm. Where do you see this business? Oh, yeah. Okay. Where do you see it in the future if we could move- Well- … along six years in advance? Yeah. I’m really looking to create the best business training company in this country. That’s what I’m looking to do. That’s what I’ve been looking to do since the beginning.

[00:26:23] I, I want to br- I want to be known for building a, an incredible business training company, respected for it, and I want it to be. I think in the industry that I’m in, there’s a lot of bad press. I think there’s a lot of people that are, you know, that perhaps not always their intentions are, are right. What, what do you mean by that?

[00:26:41] W- what, get rich quick schemes or whatever? Yeah. No, that exactly what I mean by it. Yeah. I think there’s a lot of that, and no, I, I hate that. I w- I wanna build something incredible. I wanna build something that helps people. Mm-hmm. I really do, and I, I love seeing entrepreneurs. I wanna help a lot of people.

[00:26:54] Do you, do you not, do you not think though? ‘Cause I, I hear what you say, but I don’t necessarily… It doesn’t come on my radar [00:27:00] that it get, we get a bad press for what we do. I, I don’t… I’ve not seen that. I, I’m a great believer, Adam, that the, the, the general public- Yeah … whatever you wanna call them, the general public, but tho- tho- those people out there that are looking for something, they can smell bullshit from a mile away.

[00:27:16] Yeah. 100%. And I think that, you know, that they’ll, they’ll troll me for a little while, then they’ll DM me, then we, we have a conversation, and then eventually they might become a customer. But I think that the, that whole thing of having this personal brand out first- Yeah … allows them almost to try before they buy, and I think that’s the real secret to it.

[00:27:35] Oh, I definitely think- Yeah … that has an impact. It’s just in the relation of where I wanna go. Yeah. I wanna build an incredible training business. Yeah. You know, that, that’s what I’m looking to do, and I think that obviously we’ve done that really well. We’ve served thousands of people. I, I love it. I love the impact we make on people.

[00:27:50] I… And I And the reason I say that is I think sometimes people almost because it’s a coaching business, they don’t look at it like a bus- I mean, I’ve run other businesses- Mm … marketing, PR businesses, car servicing businesses, [00:28:00] auto businesses. I’ve had f- uh, car dealerships all over country and stuff like that, and it is very much a business.

[00:28:06] Do, do you understand what I mean? Yes, I do, yeah. And I think sometimes people don’t look at it like a business, but, but it is- Mm … especially when you’re doing it at scale, and I think the pursuit of excellence in that business is, is the top of my agenda. I feel like I’m creating something that can really help people and, and that’s what I want to…

[00:28:21] I want to be known for, for making an impact on people building businesses. And on, on nuance, on, on- Yeah … on coaching- Yeah … versus, versus mentorship. Yeah. Explain what your definition of that is- Yeah … ’cause they’re very different things- They are … aren’t they? They are. Explain what you think of that. Yeah.

[00:28:35] I’ve… I have, um, mentors. Mm. I have coaches. Mm. And the difference is, is a mentor, for example, Sarah Willingham, I’ve been working as one of my mentors for many years, and I go and I sit down with her and we talk about the future, the direction, the business model, what we’re doing, what we’re looking to achieve.

[00:28:51] You know, obviously I have board meetings and things with them as well. Um, and she mentors me and she guides me and she helps me to make better decisions. That’s where I see a [00:29:00] mentor as, as a guide. Mm-hmm. Um, she always says, “Adam, you know, you’re a world-class racehorse.” Mm. “I’ll point you in the right direction, I’ll slap your bum, you’re gonna run after it.”

[00:29:06] You go. Yeah, yeah. Right. And where coaching is, “Look, this is, um, this is a program that we’re looking to, to achieve. I’m going to coach you through the education of this program and help you to implement this education, and this is the program.” Yeah. So mentorship is, is wider and often vaguer, where coaching is directive and directive on the, the elements- See, I, I-

[00:29:27] you’re looking to go through … I, I think that, that, that, that is important for, for, for listeners and viewers to understand that, i- is what do they need, at what s- 100% … at what time of their life what do they need. I like both. Because… Yeah, and I think both is needed- Yeah, yeah … over the time. Yeah. I think the early days for, for getting people into a stewarded mindset of getting them out of their own way- Yeah

[00:29:48] is, is about being coached- 100% … and held to responsibility. That’s exactly right. Early- Yeah … you need coach. Yeah, yeah. Early. Yeah. Late You don’t need a… So this is the thing- Yeah … you’ve got a lot of experience in commercial- Mm, yep … property. Yeah. And [00:30:00] if I wanted… And I said to you- Yeah … “Can you… Look, I’ve got this deal.”

[00:30:03] Yeah. And you go, “You know what? I did a deal like that- Mm … 10 years ago- Yeah … and you need to- Yeah … watch out for this.” Yeah. That’s mentorship. Yeah. Yeah. But actually, how do you structure a commercial deal? Yeah. What does a commercial deal look like? Yeah. The basics come through coaching. Yeah. ‘Cause, ’cause, ’cause co- coaching is gonna give you structure- Yeah

[00:30:18] and mentorship is gonna give you 10,000 hours of other… somebody else’s- Guidance, yeah … scars and guidance to say, you know, y- y- you wanna do that, but what will that look like in 20 years’ time? ‘Cause I don’t think that will be investable. I don’t think that will be needed- Yeah … or AI is gonna come and take your lunch.

[00:30:30] You know? Yeah. Or, all these things where my dyslexic brain was very good at future-proofing things, so when things were offered to me back in the day to, to invest in or do, I was very good at sa- of… You know, I don’t know how my brain works, but it works in a different way to other people. But it would go forward- Okay

[00:30:46] and say, “Is, is this saleable? What does this look like in 10 years’ time?” Mm. I’d do this weird thing and just disappear into- Mm … what does it look like? And then come back from that and be able to look at, you know, will people really buy [00:31:00] that? Is that credible? Would it, would it look right? Would I still have to be there?

[00:31:03] I don’t really wanna be there. All these things would go through my head to try and work out whether I wanted to be involved in that, that, that- Mm … that, that thing or not. But I think the, the, the mentorship that I’ve been lucky to stumble on in some cases with, with building up relationships- Mm. Yeah … and we just do, don’t you?

[00:31:19] Yeah. You meet people at seminars. Yeah. Meet people at BizFest- Mm, yeah … or wherever we are, whatever we’re doing. If we’re doing keynotes or- Mm … e- even doing Q&As, you, you meet great people. Yep. And I, and I think even making the podcast, and you was telling me how many episodes you’ve done. Yeah. How many episodes is it now?

[00:31:34] I, I think we’re on about 500- Yeah … plus. I don’t know exactly. Well, guess what? You’re being schooled every day you make a podcast, aren’t you? Oh, I love it. I love it. I mean, it is… And we’re do- we’re doing it today. Yeah. And, and that whole thing- This relationship with you- Yeah … is great, yeah. And keep sharpening ourselves.

[00:31:47] You know, I’ve, I’ve come out of podcasts going, “That was a really smart guy-” Mm … “talking about that AI stuff.” Well, guess what? We went over there and implemented shitloads of AI- Yeah, yeah … ’cause we were left behind. Yeah. And he, he, you know, he, he got me bubbled up and then [00:32:00] enthusiastic to, to- … implement stuff quicker.

[00:32:02] Yeah. Websites with AI. Mm. We… They’ve all got- Yeah … to have AI on them, haven’t they? Yeah, we’ve- They’ve got… There’s a, there’s a little icon now, Oliver. You seen that? When you look up some websites, it’s got a little icon on there that says they are embedded. Oh, what? It’s, uh, got like a chat bot? Yeah Mm.

[00:32:16] Like a, like a… Yeah, but it’s like the- they’ve got AI attached into them, so they can come and gibber talk. So AI can come and browse- Yeah … your website. Well, if you haven’t got it, AI can’t come and browse it. Yeah. It can come and browse it manually, but it would choose to go where it can talk- Yeah … on gibber talk and not- It’s, it’s insane

[00:32:32] Yeah, yeah You know, we’re, we’re using and training throughout all of our organization, our teams, Claude Code- Yeah, yeah … and all the different thin- features of… You know, we’re saving money in so many different areas- Yeah … in funnel building and automation, all these different areas by implementing AI- I mean-

[00:32:44] It’s very exciting … there is a whole podcast- Yeah, yeah … there, isn’t there? Yeah. What, what, what is, what, what is AI’s future- Yeah, yeah, of course … in your business? Yeah. But do, do you… Implementation, when you’ve got people in front of you, from the early days to where you are now, how frustrated do you get [00:33:00] with when they don’t do what you say?

[00:33:02] Look, if you… Do you know, it’s, it’s interesting that you ask the question because that’s the only piece of the business that I sh- I actually struggle with. Yeah, me too. Because… Yeah, I d- I do struggle with that, but I think that- I turn off. Yeah. It’s, it’s a d- it’s a difficult thing because you, you are trying to will things into existence with your energy, and- Yeah

[00:33:22] sometimes your energy isn’t met, and that’s difficult. But I think what I’ve come to, to learn after doing… I’ve nearly done, doing this for 10 years now- Yeah … um, coaching many, many different people, is there are different stages that people need different help and education. So in the early stages, there, there is better people than me to give the basics.

[00:33:40] I know, I know that- Yeah … uh, the basics will be better delivered by my team, will be better delivered where somebody can learn those a-ha moments- Yeah … through the basics. But when they get to a larger business, um, and they start working with me directly, it means that they’ve overcome the fear. They’re not worried about rejection.

[00:33:57] They can sell. You know, they understand branding. They [00:34:00] understand marketing. They understand team building, recruitment. They’ve had some knocks, some ups and downs. And then you send them to me, and I’m gonna pull ’em right up, right? Yeah. You know, so there’s different stages for my team to work with people and me to work with people and go on the journey, if that makes sense.

[00:34:13] Yeah. So I know where to place myself now- Yeah … where I think in the beginning I wanted to place myself everywhere, and I found that quite difficult. And you want it to be- Yeah … o- over everything. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think that the- You know, there’s, there’s, there’s only one of you and, and you’ve got to, you’ve got to get it right that you’re adding value at the value point.

[00:34:29] Yeah. But I think that, you know, I was doing a lot of one-to-one coaching and it… I was just exhausted. I was… Yeah. It, it, you know, it, it, it- People don’t realize … no, it was just- People don’t realize … ’cause y- you’re- Yeah … you know, the, the, you can earn money out of it, blah, blah, blah- Yeah, yeah … whatever you wanna do.

[00:34:42] Yep. To be bothered to get it right and to make sure they are a success, and to make sure they implement, and stuff like that. In the end, I was doing, sort of, eight of those a, a month and I was just… It was just, I was knackered. Yeah. My brain was on fire. And, you know, they, they can WhatsApp me and talk to me.

[00:34:56] But in the end, we went to just to this model where my [00:35:00] time was more, um, economically used- Yeah … to help people move to the next level. And, and we’ve, we’ve s- we’ve touched on it briefly, Adam, and I, and I want your, your, your thoughts on it as well, is how do we get them out of their mindset? Because the mindset is sometimes shutting people down.

[00:35:18] Yes. You know, “Oh, well, I can’t ever see myself doing that.” Well, guess what? You will not be doing it then. Yeah. You know, ’cause your mind hears what you say. Um, well, what a big question. I, I, I think that- Comes back to those personality styles a little bit. You can give… And I think this is definitely for categorizing people in a coaching environment.

[00:35:37] If you give a spade a concept, they’re gonna implement it pretty much as soon as you give it to them. That’s their mentality because they’re so competitive and driven to win. Where if you give a diamond the same concept, they’re gonna play with it, they’re gonna get bored, they’re gonna do something else.

[00:35:51] Mm. So- They’re the w- they’re the hardest ones- … to stay in the game- Yeah … aren’t they? Yeah. They just are. Yeah. The flamboyant, you know, you used an expression- Charisma … with the pink, the pink [00:36:00] hair and the- Yeah, yeah … colored waistcoat. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They’re the ones that are a problem because they’re all gusto and, and then- And they’ve usually got- Yeah

[00:36:06] masses of charisma- Yeah. And they don’t stay in … so they’ve stayed in through life- Yeah … based on charisma- Yeah … where they’re able to wing it a little bit and get- They, they kind of- Yeah … they kind of find shiny things- Yeah, yeah, yeah … and can go off on a tangent. Yeah. Yeah. I think that, I think giving them the principles, ’cause sometimes people operate…

[00:36:21] Everybody operates from their frame of reference. Yeah. Right? Everybody has a frame of reference. I’m a big believer that people that are more successful typically have built a different frame of reference to people that are not, right? And a lot of the time people haven’t really… Their frame of reference is, “Oh, I just do loads of random things to make money, and then some of them come off and some of them won’t, and that’s my frame of reference.

[00:36:43] That’s what I’ve done my whole life.” When I find someone like that, I’m like, “Look, we’ve gotta change the way you see things. We’ve gotta change the way that you operate, and these are the baseline principles that are gonna help you to become more successful, and you need to drop these habits, and you need to adopt these habits, and in time you’re gonna see better results because of that.”

[00:36:59] So there’s [00:37:00] almost a, a change in the principles that they adopt in order to create better results. Have you, have you had to make anybody aware of where… Again, just, just… Sorry, I’m jumping around the place here, but going back to AI, have you had to, with your clients, actually had to make them aware that they need to be very cautious with their model, whatever they’re in- Yeah

[00:37:18] that could be gone? You know, this could be disappearing. Well, I think the first thing on that is that they need to adopt it in their business. That’s the first- Yeah … the first thing they’ve gotta do, is they’ve gotta start using it, and they’ve gotta start adopting it as much as they possibly can because…

[00:37:31] in their business, so they can stay on the forefront of the movement. Yeah. Because I think if you take a copywriter as an example- Mm … and you look at Claude at the moment- Absolutely … with, with copywriting. Oh, my God. Yeah. I mean, ChatGPT, like right now you can go on Chat- You can go and look at people’s… I, I cringe at the moment- Mm

[00:37:45] when I look on LinkedIn or I look on Instagram and people are like, “Ah, I’m so inspired. I walked in the room and it w-” Mm. And it’s just like this embarrassing l- like everybody’s stuff looks the same. Like that, that’s embarrassing. That’s somebody that doesn’t know how to use AI very well [00:38:00] other than going, “Wri- write me an Instagram post.”

[00:38:01] Yeah. Bang. Yeah. Right? So they’re not prompting- Yeah … the right way. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They haven’t built their tone, their style of voice- Yeah … and things like this. So I think that what people have to do first of all… Let’s say you’re a copywriter The first thing that you’ve gotta do is you’ve gotta start using AI to increase your ability to, to output, so you can get things done faster, and then that’s gonna free up different areas.

[00:38:20] And then you’ve gotta look at, okay, well, now I’ve got this part and I’ve got all my time back here, where could I add some different value? Yeah. So right now I’ve been doing the copywriting, but hey, right now these people, they don’t know how to use a CRM system. Yeah. Maybe I should start to say that I’m gonna actually implement it for you.

[00:38:34] So now you’ve taken a different part of that away, right? Because an AI agent right now is not gonna go into your Constant Contact and start entering the emails out, and then you build from there. Right? Yeah. And I think that’s what people need to- I, I think that- … to look at doing … you know, the copywriting’s a great example- Yeah

[00:38:48] ’cause you, we can just press a button and it will bring up- Yeah … but could you make that more Gen Z friendly? Yeah. Yeah. Just, and it does it for you. Yeah. Uh, someone we both know is Mark Creaser that I work with. Yeah. Mark has got a bot next to him now- Yeah, yeah … that he’s put everything he’s [00:39:00] ever written into it.

[00:39:00] Yeah, perfect. And then he just tells it- Yeah … “Write that” Yeah, perfect … and it writes it, but it writes it in Mark Creaser’s style. Yeah, yeah, perfect. So we, we, we get it out for that, and it does it quickly while he, he’s over here doing some research or development- Yeah … for a brand or whatever it, it might be.

[00:39:13] But that’s a winner, right? Yeah, yeah. So I’ll, I’ll give you my concept first on that- Yeah … is that most entrepreneurs don’t understand that you have to step out- Yeah … to step forward. Yeah. So then Mark, in his head’s gone, “Right, I’ve got 10,000 emails I’ve written. I’m gonna take a week out my business.” Yes.

[00:39:29] “It will survive.” Yeah. “And I’m gonna get all this together, and I build this asset,” and now Mark wins. Yeah. But the problem is, you gotta remember, is most entrepreneurs are not like that. Right. Most entrepreneurs will just keep going as they are, and they will do the bare minimum, therefore they’ll get the bare minimum.

[00:39:43] Yeah. So it’s, it’s still the old- Yeah … principle of supply. Yeah, it is. Yeah. You gonna step out? Step up? Yeah. You know? He was, he was showing me, he’s invested… He’s, he’s now doing a, um, uh, he’s got a hedge fund. They’re investing in AI products- Yeah, great … and that that’s what they, they do. And they were, they were, they were showing me a product there [00:40:00] where we have, we have a consultant that comes in and looks after our, our, our SEO.

[00:40:04] Yeah. Um, and then we have another one that just does our pay-per-click. Well, the pay-per-click side of it, there’s now a bot. You just stick it in, and instead of that, that pay-per-click expert having 40 customers- Yeah, yeah … that he’s looking after- Yeah … “Oh, God, it’s Wednesday. We’ll do a little bit on that old part, waiting event.”

[00:40:19] Yeah. The AI bot is working on it 24 hours a day- Yeah … seven days a week, watching the market, clicking this, doing that, and it’s all built. Mm. You know, w- we, we, we t- we talk about this AI. Guess what? It’s here, and it’s really here now. And unless entrepreneurs, for entrepreneurs conversation we’re talking about it now today, you really need to be paying attention.

[00:40:41] A- a- are we laboring the point here? ‘Cause we’ve done this on quite a few of the, of the, um, podcasts where I go on a rant about AI. Here I am ranting about AI again. Well, I think the concept is quite interesting. I don’t, I, I … A- and there’s also different people’s opinions. Yeah, I think it’s just, you know- My, my opinion- Yeah

[00:40:57] what I would say on it, is I [00:41:00] would say that you’ve got the m- you know, you know the stats, 5.6 million businesses. Yeah. Most of them stay small- Yeah … because they don’t actually do- Yeah … the things that are gonna move the needle. Yeah. Right now, AI is one of the things that move the needle. Mm. The people that get involved, the people that learn it, the people that assess it…

[00:41:16] People could be bothered, ’cause let’s be honest- Yeah … most people can’t be bothered. No, they can’t. Right? The people that could be bo- ’cause most people are too busy cranking the lever- Yeah … to stop cranking the lever- Yeah … to go and look at the thing- Yeah … like we said with Mark’s example. So there is an advantage for people that, that take it up now.

[00:41:29] Yeah. Yeah, there is. Yeah. And, and they’ve gotta take that advantage. I th- I think the, the, the other thing is- There will come a reckoning, but we’re a little way off But I think it’s, I, you know, it’s gonna be, it’s gonna be such a big shift and change. Mm. You know, I’m looking at people that are bringing business, uh, uh, models to me, whatever, and I’m really having to scrutinize that and say, you know, “What does that really look like in five years’ time?”

[00:41:50] ‘Cause I don’t think it would exist- Yeah … in five years’ time. Well, I’ve definitely had to go… So it’s interesting you asking the question about going six, six years forward in- Yeah … in the coaching business because- Yeah, what will this look like? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, 100%, [00:42:00] ’cause you have to ask yourself that- Yeah

[00:42:01] that question. And, and I do feel that there is undoubtedly information is more readily available- Mm … for people to be able to ex- uh, uh, access, but I almost think that’s the problem. And I’ll tell you why. It’s because people can’t… I don’t know if you’ve ever done this. It’d be interesting to actually hear your perspective on this.

[00:42:17] Have you ever gone so deep into AI that you’re more confused than when you started? Hm. Yeah. Do, do you know what I mean? Yeah. ‘Cause you’re like, “Oh,” and then, and then you get this, like, overwhelm and you can’t see through the wood from the trees. And I think people will do that, and I think people do actually need someone to still sit with them and say, “Right.”

[00:42:33] Yeah. “You, you’ve gone through this. Now let-” Yeah, I’m glad you said that … and actually give the certainty. Yeah. Because that’s basically, a lot of the time making moves in business is about people having the certainty or the confidence to be able to do it. And why does somebody that’s successful create more success?

[00:42:47] Mm. Because they’ve built those yards and they’ve done- Yeah … those reps, so they have the certainty. But they’re… All the small business owners out there, they still don’t have the certainty, and they can talk to AI all day long. It is still, I don’t think, providing people with the certainty to [00:43:00] take action- Mm

[00:43:00] as much as it… I’ve seen people building funnels and building automations and building- Mm … emails. They still don’t send it out. Yeah. You know? Yeah. So the action taking, the execution’s still important, right? I, I, I think it’s, I think it’s absolutely right, and I th- I think the, the, the advantage that you’ll have, and I, I, I will have, is our stagecraft to delivering the message.

[00:43:19] Yeah. Because I think people want an experience. Yeah, absolutely. And, and this is in the- Yeah … future world of AI- Yeah … when it comes to the… everything’s blended- Mm … to this, this- Yeah … automated, you know, the videos will be made up. Ollie, Ollie’s worried about his job, you know, and it… And he shouldn’t be, ’cause what, what we’re gonna do is do…

[00:43:35] We’re gonna be smart, and we’re, we’re doing it already, is making sure that we are very authentic and we’re very not- 100% … not polished and- Uh, I hate the copyright … the copy- Yeah … you know, it’s, it’s, it’s just that you can see it or I, I know I can see it like you a mile off ’cause we’re in it and that’s what we do.

[00:43:53] But I, I, I genuinely think that the quote, inverted commas, “the general public”, they can sniff that out eventually. Mm. That, that, that [00:44:00] they can smell that from a long way off, and I think the authenticity and the event now on and the realism of, of actually being able to con- you know, g- go to something for real, I think like f- uh, theater prices, tickets will go through the roof because people actually wanna go and feel the vibration of being at the event.

[00:44:21] You know, uh, stage shows, whatever it’s gonna be. Yeah. I think all of that’s gonna have a real big need for people to feel it really when they, they, they can go… What’s the thing, ABBA? Have you- Abba Voyage, yeah. I went a couple weeks ago … have you, have you been to see it? Yeah, I went a couple weeks ago. Was it good?

[00:44:35] It was, uh, the technology’s amazing. Yeah. It was a real… And as well I think the, it’s the IP that is the star of the show- Right … just all of those people there with the music. And the technology is just sort of, well, we get… We’ve, we’ve gotta charge 100 quid, so it has to be a spectacle. Yeah. And it is But you gotta like the music So could they roll it out on another, like, a, I don’t know, a James Bond night or a, or a, a, an Elvis night of that- Like I say, it’s the IP.

[00:44:59] [00:45:00] They’ve got so many, like, amazing songs- Right … and they’re so popular That that’s really what you’re after, yeah They can fill out the whole concert with, like, songs that are- Yeah … like, number one hits- Yeah … which not many artists can do. Yeah. But I think that, yeah, I, I think that is it, Adam. I think that the, that that being able to have the, the, the real experience, and if that’s in coaching or, or, or a- actually having something that…

[00:45:22] You know, we, we talk about it here at Baddow Park. What is Baddow Park? Pile of bricks where you can have a wedding. But you get this real experience because the team are highly trained to deliver your day thoughtlessly, professionally, and you want for nothing. Yeah. Well, that has a massive value. That’s why we’re dearer than most, because you can’t choose eggs for eggs with it ’cause you don’t get our team.

[00:45:44] Mm. And that’s what… That’s the advantage. Yeah. You know? I, I, I think as well it’s like anything, especially with coaching, it may well be the AI implementation- Yeah … becomes a big part of it. Yeah. And you’ve gotta be able to show people the way- Yeah … in the things that move the needle. Yeah. ‘Cause what, [00:46:00] what are you really doing?

[00:46:00] I’m a business coach, so what am I doing? Mm. I’m showing people how they can make their life easier- Yeah … less stressful, and create better returns- Yeah … for their efforts. Yeah. Right? And if I use AI to do that, great. Yeah. I’ve been using, showing people for, for a decade- Mm … meta ads and- Yeah … you know, obviously Facebook ads- Yeah

[00:46:18] prior and stuff like that because that moved the needle. So- Or whatever, whatever it takes, what- Whatever it is- Yeah, yeah, yeah … that moves the needle is what I’ll be teaching them. And how do I know? I’ve gotta go and do it first. Yeah. That’s it. Yeah. And you, a- and you… It’s a whole new set- Yeah … of proprietary language- Yeah

[00:46:31] that we need to really- Yeah, 100% … understand in a, in a, in a, in a very comprehensive way- Yeah … to be able to give that stewardship and that, and that, that care and attention to what their businesses are, are, are gonna be. Yeah. What do you do, Adam, what do you do for downtime? Where’s, how’s leisure look like in your world?

[00:46:48] Yeah. It’s… I, I… You know, this weekend I’ve had my little boy, um, with my girlfriend and my nephews and my family. I, I love spending time with my son. Yeah. My son is 11 now. Uh. Um, he’s, you know, [00:47:00] just li- like my world. I just love spending time- Yeah, lovely … with him. That’s my favorite thing to do. Um, you know, we do…

[00:47:05] We… His, his name’s Sammy, so I love doing that. I love spending time with my girlfriend. We’ve got lovely places. I mentioned to you earlier, I’ve just bought a really nice place in Norfolk, a, a big barn up there, so occasionally- Yeah, that’s fantastic … I’ll be there on the weekends. Yeah. I’ll, I love going on holiday.

[00:47:17] Yeah. And I actually get a lot from… I don’t know what- whether this is the same for you, but getting off the grid And I think it’s something I recommend to entrepreneurs, is when I am on holiday, usually my best ideas, my most creative thinking, um, that adrenaline switching off and just getting into the place where I can just flow, and all of a sudden I get into flow state, it’s the best time for me to be able to just get the right- And I-

[00:47:40] right ideas and execution. I absolutely agree with you, and I promote it heavily with my, my content and stuff like that, that, that I’m, I’m… I do outdoor swimming and stuff like that in my little camper van, running around all over Europe doing that, and it is… That is the best time that I have, you know, peace and quiet away from the melee of the day-to-day.

[00:47:58] Mm. And that’s where I come up with [00:48:00] the future-proofing, what I think the idea w- can be made, will it, will it work? Coming up with, you know, m- m- my mind being clearer to be able to see what I think the future’s gonna look like. Because w- it’s our stewardship for our company. We sit at the front of it. It’s going back to us being responsible for it- Mm.

[00:48:19] Yeah … to what the guidance is gonna be going forward. What, um- With your… How does home work life work? ‘Cause we asked this question of a few people, we get funny different answers to that. What does that look like for you? Do you know what? When I… If I went back in time- Mm … f- in my first business, especially in the early years, I was out early in the morning.

[00:48:43] Mm. I was going out at 7:00 AM. I was getting back at 10:00 PM at night. I was working six days a week. I didn’t have any home life. Mm. I didn’t have any home balance. I think this is the interesting thing about not being on your first rodeo- Yeah … is because you end up doing, doing things a lot different.

[00:48:58] But the reason I say that, ’cause I don’t want… [00:49:00] I, I think when you come on this and somebody listens to it, like, “Oh, yeah, well, he’s just saying he don’t work that much- Mm … and he gets to do all this stuff.” I’ve definitely been there, where I’ve put in six-day weeks, every hour other than the sun, working as hard as I can possibly work, working myself to death, being tired, being worn out, putting on weight- Mm

[00:49:17] feeling, feeling horrible- Yeah … and just grinding out. I did that for years. Yeah. For years- Yeah … and years. And I found I found that, again, a, a great mentor, um, helped me to see it differently. That was again with Sarah and, and, and I’ve, I’ve got back into fitness, and now I, I’m so much more inclined to just say, “Right, I’m gonna go in late because I’m going to the gym.”

[00:49:41] Yeah. Like and I will do that most days. Yeah. And I don’t care what anyone thinks about that. Mm. I know that my health is the most important thing. Yeah. So I wanna go, and, you know, I’m not the, I’m not the fittest guy in the world, but I like weight training- Mm … and I like looking after myself. I think it gets a better energy.

[00:49:56] Yeah, definitely. I think I get my energy better. Yeah, yeah. So what does life look like for me at the moment? [00:50:00] You know, I’ll go into work most days at half nine. Um, I’ve got a PT that I train with, usually for an hour in the morning, or if I haven’t got my PT, I’ll train on my own, and I’ll train as many times as I possibly can a week because I feel like it energizes me.

[00:50:14] I usually leave. I’m back for half five, 6:00 o’clock. I’m relaxing, spending time either with my girlfriend or with my son when I’ve got him. Yeah. And I, I don’t work weekends. I- Yeah … I dread to work weekends. I don’t wanna do that anymore. I did that all in my early years, so you know, I missed all the foot- going to play football with my mates and, you know, being a part of a football team.

[00:50:31] You know, I was just working, right? My whole first, like, first business and also when I worked in car sales, I didn’t have any weekends. So now I love my weekends. Yeah. And I feel like I’ve got… And I love my holidays, and I’ve got a much better balance now. And, and, and how old are you now? I’m 42. 42. Young.

[00:50:47] God, I’d love to be 42 again. How old are you, Ollie? 27. 27. Yeah. Pappy. I think, I think the- It’s took a long time to figure that out. Yeah Do you know what I mean? Like- But [00:51:00] the, the, what… Yeah, the, the balance. I mean, I was shit at it. I was crap at… I mean, two, two marriages in, baby. I mean, I was just, I was just rubbish at it.

[00:51:08] I just, that whole thing, I could never get it right, and th- there’s a, there’s a- Have you got it right now? Pff. Not really. Have you not? No. I, I don’t feel successful. I don’t feel fulfilled with it. That’s interesting, isn’t it? Yeah, but I just… It, it’s just that ism of, of wanting to keep doing stuff for the sake of doing it a bit, and I am…

[00:51:27] I, I mean, I, I admit it. I, I’ve admitted it on other podcasts as well, but I just feel that it’s… I, I feel a bit of an addiction thing to, to, to turn up and be there all the time, and I think I, I need to sort of marshal myself a bit on that, that, you know, I’ve built other teams that can do it, do all the work like that, but I’m always wanting and having to restrain myself from coming into the…

[00:51:49] to whatever we’ve, we, we’ve built up to stop fiddling so hard is what I’ve have. And I’ve, and I’ve got a lot better over the last, say, 10, 12 years. I’ve got a lot better at it. But I don’t think I’ve got that right. [00:52:00] I, I, I, I do my stuff that I do, uh, away from the, away from the work, but I sit on a beach, and I’m still t- I’m trying to work out how much the ice cream seller’s making by doing the maths in my head.

[00:52:10] It’s just a nightmare. Yeah, but I think that’s normal, right? Yeah. Is it? Well, I, it’s normal- You and I can say that … it’s normal to me. Yeah. It’s… Yeah, I think that that’s part of it, isn’t it? Yeah. And then there’s excitement for stuff like that, but I do think- I do think that I’ve definitely got that, that balance piece down now.

[00:52:25] Yeah. And one of the things is when… Obviously, I, I split up with my, my ex, who I had- Mm … a little boy with, right? And when my little boy was three, he got diagnosed with autism, and I knew nothing about autism at the time. I knew nothing about it. I’d never experienced… I, I’d never, I don’t think I’d even heard of it, right?

[00:52:42] Right. It was just not in my, in my world in any way, shape, or form, and it kind of knocked me for six, to be honest. Like, I just didn’t understand it, and I… It really hit me hard, and around that point, I think that created pressure in that particular relationship. We ended up splitting up And I wanted [00:53:00] to, I wanted to be there for him more.

[00:53:03] That became really, really important. So I wanna be there for him more. And when I went through that breakup, my ex, in a good way, probably in a good way now when I look back, was very, very insistent on me picking him up from school. Very, very insistent- Yeah … on me having him, taking him to school, and all these different things.

[00:53:19] And, and I’m actually really glad she did now, ’cause actually some of the best joy in my life comes from- From that, yeah … from picking him up from school, dropping him back in, in the morning, having the weekends, and being a dad, actually. Yeah. And I think that that’s really helped me to… Because when I leave work on a Tu- I dropped him off this morning, but when I leave work on a Tuesday at, like, quarter past 2:00, I leave it behind.

[00:53:40] I don’t think about it. Yeah. I really don’t. I go and get him, and we play, and we play in the garden. I don’t care. Yeah. They don’t ring me. I don’t talk to them. Yeah. I don’t wanna know. Yeah. If there’s a problem, it can wait till tomorrow. And, and I do think that that, that break of me actually learning that it’s possible- Yeah

[00:53:56] and then me also learning it’s possible to… In the b- in the beginning, you feel a bit of [00:54:00] guilt. Like, going to the gym, for example, in the morning, going, “Well, really I should be getting there because, you know, if I’m there at n- like, I don’t wanna tell people to be there at half 8:00-” And then you’re not there

[00:54:07] and I’m not there at half 8:00. Yeah, yeah. But in the end you go, “Do you know what? What am I even doing this for?” Yeah, yeah. Like, actually, if I wanna go in at half 9:00, I’m gonna go in at half 9:00. Yeah. Like, I don’t wear a tie, ’cause I hate wearing ties. Yeah. You know, so eventually there has to be some upside and some benefit.

[00:54:20] Now, it’s probably… People could point and say, “Well, it’s easy for you to say now,” because I’ve certainly had a, you know, a fair bit of success over the years that I’ve been doing it. But I feel like I’ve now created some boundaries. Yeah. And I like those boundaries, and I do feel like actually I’ve got a bit of the life balance.

[00:54:34] I mean, I was in Barbados last week. I had a terrible week. So, so as I say this, there’s no hard rules. Mm. The funny thing is, you watch a podcast, and you see me three months later, and I might be in a slightly diff- I don’t know if you ever feel like that. Yeah, yeah. But be in a slight, slightly different place.

[00:54:48] But I was in Barbados last week, and I actually had a real problem come up when I was away. Like, a real, a real horrible situation came up while I was away in Barbados, and I did have to deal with it. And I got on the phone, [00:55:00] and I had meetings with solicitors, and lawyers, and different stuff like that. And, and I was on, probably for four, first four days, I probably spent six hours a day, um, on the phone with, with- Wow.

[00:55:09] So, y- yeah, just crap. Basically dealing with crap. And it was horrible, but do you know what I did after I put that laptop down and I walked out the door, is I forgot about it. Yeah. And I didn’t let it own me. And I do think that I’ve actually got to that point. But you’re grooming yourself to do that compartmentalization- Yeah, I am doing

[00:55:24] where, where, where you can switch it off. And, and I, I talk- I’ve talked about this before, but e- even, um… Oh, and I’ll ask, I will ask you that question. But wh- when I go to bed at night, I, I th- I imagine the whiteboard. I get the rubber, and the, all the squiggles on the whiteboard are what’s happened in the day, and I just wipe them all off, pick up a cloth, wipe all the edges all the way down.

[00:55:43] Yeah. Close my eyes till I see a star. See the star disappear, go to bed. And I literally- It’s a nice process … go to sleep. And I do it- I take magnesium. Yeah, yeah. And I go like…

[00:55:54] He drugs himself to bed And it used to be a bottle of red wine, but I don’t drink [00:56:00] it anymore- No, I definitely can’t do that … so I’ve stopped doing that, no. But I’ve gotta say, by the way, magnesium- Yeah, that’s it … and ashwagandha- Mm-hmm … which are really healthy for you, really, really been actually really good.

[00:56:08] Well, I’ve got that sleep- Quite a good tip … that sleep there. And we need sleep. Yeah, definitely, yeah. My, my, my, my, my, my daughter’s boyfriend is, is Sam Wright, and he does, he does this program online stuff. Sleep, we need eight, eight hours sleep. Right. You know? Mm-hmm. The body really needs to repair itself.

[00:56:21] But I think that the, you know, what, what you say there is, you know, being away and you think that what… Of all the days and the time it could happen- Yeah, of course … is when you’re away and you’re trying to get some leisure time. But the buck… It goes back to what we talked about earlier, the buck stops with you.

[00:56:34] You gotta do it. And it’s only you that you c- that, that can mend it. You can’t moan about it, because at the end of the day, that’s the life you chose, isn’t it? Yeah, it is. Yeah. And, and I, and I, and I think that… Do you know what? My, my other half is a, a superstar. Um, she runs her own businesses. Uh, she’s got a, a clinic.

[00:56:49] Um, after seeing and being with me for six years, she also started a coaching business for salons, and she’s just… She’s very, very understanding. Yeah. She’s a bit… I don’t know of… You said you’ve had two, two [00:57:00] divorces. Mm-hmm. I don’t know much about those, but obviously I’ve had one big breakup, and then… But the person that I’m with and I’ve been with for the last six years gets entrepreneurship.

[00:57:08] Yeah, yeah. And it’s been really good. Yeah. You know, I, I, I think- I think that’s very crucial. Yeah … yeah. Yeah, yeah. I agree. I’ve… That experience for me is if you are an entrepreneur, you could be with an entrepreneur, I think it’s, uh, it’s, it’s actually a really nice thing, ’cause she understands. Yeah. She goes, “No worries.

[00:57:21] I’ll go and…” I’m on the phone- Yeah … six hours. She’s like, “No, no worries. I’m gonna go on the beach.” Yeah. “I’ll read my book.” Yeah. “And when I come,” she’s like, “You all right?” Yeah. I’m like, “Yeah.” Yeah, with no malice. She, “Do you wanna, do you wanna talk about it?” Yeah. “Nah, not really.” No. “All right.” Just regurgitate all the problem again, isn’t it?

[00:57:36] Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. “No, let’s just leave that.” Yeah. I invite you to have a look over my shoulder at my newsletter. If you wanna hear about the things that grab my attention each week that could bring you value, sign up in the episode description. Now, back to the pod. Do you wanna go onto Tombola Time?

[00:57:54] Do you wanna do Tombola Time? Bit… Is it, is it… Oh, no, we’re f- 56. That’s all right. Yeah. Tombola Time’s [00:58:00] big, though. I mean, are you prepped, ready? I’m, I’m ready. Yeah? So we’re now doing Tombola Time. You’ll love this. I love it, yeah. It’s Tombola Time Right, here we go. Tom Boulder time. We have no idea what is in store.

[00:58:20] Right. I’m wondering what I’m gonna win. Yeah. We should really do a… We should do a bonus ball that- Yeah … if you pull it out, and there is your prize. Yeah. So that you’d be able to see it. Will I get a free wedding? No, no, no, no. But just a number. Yeah. See, look. See how he put that promotion in there- Yeah, yeah

[00:58:34] that he’s looking for. No, but we could do that. That’s a good idea. Oh, I- One number relates to a prize, but a real crap one, something really good. Right, pick a number. Oh, God. Let’s go pink. What we got? 18. Drop it in there. Where does it go? Down here. Yeah, just there. Yeah. Right, question 18, Ollie. What we got?

[00:58:51] What’s a bad business model you see people chasing in 2026? Oh, wow. Wow. Online [00:59:00] sales through, um, uh, a product on Amazon, something like that. They’re giving all the money to Jeff, and it c- like could snuff you out like that. You did that fast. Yeah. That was quick. I mean, I, I see that. I know- Yeah … I, I come across that a lot, and I just think, “Oh, God, that’s quick.”

[00:59:12] I d- I don’t love e-commerce models- No, no … if I’m honest. Um, but I would say, um, network marketing and affiliate marketing are, are both really difficult. I think with network marketing, you can learn some of the baseline principles of business, as in putting yourself out there, going to have a conversation- Yeah

[00:59:28] to building relationships, all the baseline- It’s like grooming … but yeah. Yeah. But it’s not your product- Like getting yourself, yeah … it’s not your profit. You’re never really gonna make any money. You- You’re never gonna sell it, are you? Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah. So, uh, uh, essentially, that would be one for me.

[00:59:39] But I’m with you on what you said as well. I think that, Ollie, when you, when you ask that question, i- is… The models want to look like you have something down the road to sell, you know? And a lot of people are in business, they’ve got this business model, whatever they’re doing, and as long as they’re there, there’s a lifestyle from it.

[00:59:57] But I, I really want to try and get people into models that [01:00:00] they’re building something that runs without them in it, but they can also sell it further down the line. So there is something down the line. Or has big enough- The answer is backwards … big enough margins to create- Yeah, you need- … a sizable capital ret- capital return.

[01:00:12] Turnover is not enough, Ollie. Yeah. You need, you need profit to reinvest and to bring stars in to run the business- 100% … and all the rest of it. Yeah. Okay. Next one. Good, I did like that. Another one? Jingle. It’s Tom Boulder time. What number’s the free wedding, then? Yeah. We should do that. That’s so good. We, we’ll put that in there.

[01:00:34] Right, grab one of those in. Is it number five? No. Number four. It’s the free wedding. Uh, what’s a decision that you made early on that changed everything for you?

[01:00:50] There’s been loads, um, for me. Um, I, I, I think the, the biggest decision that I made early was [01:01:00] to reach out for advice and to stop trying to figure out everything myself. I think I had, in the early days, this, this mantra that nobody wants to help you, nobody wants to give you anything, everybody’s your enemy, business is war.

[01:01:16] You got… Like, I had that all in the beginning, but I think that’s such a false belief. I think that actually people are open to helping and open to share, and as soon as you drop your ego and you actually reach out and you start developing relationships and building relationships with good people, it can, can do a lot for you.

[01:01:31] So I think that I didn’t do that in the beginning, and that would be my answer to that one. Oli, just do the question one more time for me. What’s a decision that you made early on that changed everything for you? And I think, I think I, I have said this o- on, on o- other socials and stuff, that the not hard but smart.

[01:01:51] I had to get that into my mindset to just stop working so hard and to get smart. And w- when I started getting i- i- in, in that mindset- Did you decide that on your own? … in the [01:02:00] brain. Yeah, after someone said it to me, and that, and that, and I sort of digested it for a little while, and then I realized that… I actually realized that I couldn’t work this hard.

[01:02:09] I was hurting. Yeah. I was aching. I was, I was knackered. Do you know what it was? It was, I was… It was weary. It was, it was wearing me out as opposed to keeping me fit. I was, I was, you know, I was knackered, and I thought I had to show off to the team to be there as the guy that could do more than everybody else, and, and I, I think that, that was that one.

[01:02:25] Do you wanna do an- one more? Let’s do one more. Uh, do we know the ball that’s got the free wedding in it? Great. All right, Adam Here we go. Nice. Dive in there, baby. Ah, what’s this one? Number 11. Lucky 11. There’s no free wedding. What is a lesson that you learned the hard way?

[01:02:58] Don’t have a [01:03:00] 50% partnership- … with no d- uh, director’s memorandum in place, ’cause it will come to bite you so hard up the ass. Please do not ever do that. Anybody in business, it is just the worst decision I ever made. It has cost me over £4 to 5 million worth of loss easily, easily, and it’s still not resolved today, and I have mentioned this in, in, in other things- Yeah

[01:03:23] before. It’s just crap. Yeah, my… One of the things my dad always told me is, “Adam, don’t have partners.” Like- Yeah … and, and I don’t necessarily think that’s the right answer either- No … but I think a structured partnership- Yeah … definitely is something that’s really, really important. I- I think one of the things that cost me badly is losing focus.

[01:03:43] I think for me that’s been one of the biggest things, is I know that I’m elite when I’m following one path and focusing and keeping my innovation- Right … into one place. As soon as I split and I try to do too many things at once… I think I did that w- with my first [01:04:00] business. I had a business doing, you know, 33.9 million a year, and I just literally completely abandoned it to go and look at something else, and it ended up costing me a million quid- Yeah

[01:04:10] um, which I, I ended up having to pay, and it was a, a million pound net, net, net cash in the bank, out my pocket on a personal guarantee. Wow. You know, that’s like… This has cost me a million quid. I think people- Mm … to actually net, net, net a million quid in your bank- Yeah, yeah … is a lot of work, isn’t it?

[01:04:23] Right? It’s a lot of work. And, uh, and, uh, it’s just literally just a, a mistake on focus. I know me, and I’m not saying- Right … it’s right for every entrepreneur that’s, that’s listening, but I know that all of my great results have come when I’ve followed one path and I’ve kept my innovation and my focus, and I definitely won’t make that mistake again.

[01:04:42] I think that- I would always sell- Yeah … before I move to the next project- Yeah … I think is the lesson I would give. I think the, the, the, the scars, Adam, are, are, are those lessons, you know. And we, we say we w- we want you to, to, to trip and stumble but not fall. Sometimes a really good fall is just so valuable.

[01:04:59] Oh, it definitely makes [01:05:00] you better. And, and, and you’ve just got… The, the only way to d- deal with it, um, Ollie, sometimes when that happens to you, is f- start framing it right. And if you can frame that mistake, that actually gives you value back from it. You know, the, there was a bit of, uh… I- in this loss, it was g- it was loads of money.

[01:05:17] Uh, we could do it against tax, so that was a win- Yeah, yeah … ’cause we could off- Yeah … offset the loss to that. Yeah. Uh, the lesson d- runs deep. I actually teach that lesson now- Mm … so I can pass that bit of knowledge on. 100%. It’s how you’d frame that big cock-up mistake and, you know, w- we, we try to mitigate that now, but that, that, that was probably that, that, that answer to that.

[01:05:41] Um, where do you wanna go? Shall we go to what we’re reading? Do you wanna do what we’re reading? Let’s do it. Good. Please go back in. Now back… W- what do you want? Just stay there for con- for… Yeah, that can just stay there. What are we reading? Well, we’re listening, not reading, because I don’t read, ’cause I find it very boring and awkward and difficult and- [01:06:00] Listening.

[01:06:01] Yeah, listening. I- Listening or reading, is that the- Yeah … the game plan, yeah? Rory Sutherland. I’ve… I know Rory. Yeah, Rory. He’s a very nice guy. Hacking the Unconscious So Hacking the Unconscious, and we’ll put these up on the screen. This is a piece of work. I’m a great fan of au- audible, Audible books and au- au- au-, uh, books- Yeah

[01:06:22] you listen to, blah, blah, blah. This is a production. Is it good? Oh my God, it’s done by the BBC. BBC have produced- Mm … this piece of work- Yeah, yeah … with him. But the sound, this isn’t a book. I don’t think you could… Oh, uh, you probably could buy it as a book, but it’s not worth it. It, it’s a show. It’s a show with him on narration.

[01:06:41] He has other people- Mm … on there that he interviews. He talks about, um, brain cages, and he goes on to this. Mm. It is very good piece of work. I’ve just listened, I’ve just this minute finished listening to it as I was driving back from, from Craft. What did you get out of it? That I really like Rory. Yeah. I think he’s great.

[01:06:57] I think his brain… Let’s, let’s have his brain. Yeah He came to, um, [01:07:00] one of our masterminds. Yeah. Like, literally there was only, like, eight of us in the room at this time and, and just talking to him. Yeah. He’s just a lovely fella. He’s a very generous man- Yeah, a really good guy … with his time, his time and his knowledge.

[01:07:08] And I, I think what, what it showed me was how we, we, we view the s- the, uh, our brain set to what you think it will do than what it actually does. Why do we… Please do not put an earbud in your ear, it’s very bad for your ears. But guess what? Everybody does it anyway. Why do they do it? ‘Cause they like the feeling of it-

[01:07:30] and it feels a bit weird in your ear, and you do it, and that’s it. And he was saying that it doesn’t matter what you try and tell people to do in, in advertising is not necessarily what you think they’re going to do, the behavior, and he’s all about behavior networks and why things work, why things don’t work.

[01:07:46] It was just very good, and that will be one that I’ll probably listen to three or four times. There is a lot packed into it. Yeah. What will you apply from it? Will there be anything that you’d actually apply from that, do you think? Yeah. I think I, I, I’ll apply more of a broader look to when we’re doing campaigns and [01:08:00] try and future-proof them to see, you know, is that…

[01:08:02] I- just because the stats say it’ll work- Yeah … will it work? And, and to have more consciousness- Yeah … of what, what’s gonna come from it. What I found from, from him is he’s just all psychology, right? Yeah. So it’s just all about the psychology of advertising- Yeah … which I love, actually. Oh, yeah. I find it fascinating.

[01:08:17] Yeah. Yeah. I really enjoy it. Yeah. Yeah. Which is cool. Very good. Yeah. Yeah. What about yourself? I’ve just read a book, um, while I was away. Mm. I mentioned I was away in Barbados, and it was f- so detailed. It was, like, one of the most detailed books I’ve, I’ve ever read called The Founders. I don’t know if you’ve ever, have ever read it.

[01:08:33] And basically- I’ve heard of that. Yeah. I’ve not read that. I have heard of The Founders. Oh, it was a- Yeah … it was a hell of a book. It was about this thick. It was s- seriously, you know. And do you read? Yeah, I read that. Yeah. Yeah, I read that. Yeah. And do you, do you scribble in notes or anything in your- Yeah, sometimes.

[01:08:46] I didn’t- Yeah … on this particular book, but a lot of the time I will do. Mm. I’ve definitely found, and I, and I don’t know whether people listening have found the same, is I’ve found that my attention span for reading has become more difficult than it was in the past. [01:09:00] I used to be able to lose myself in a book, but actually I really did find myself, with this particular one, is…

[01:09:04] I really enjoyed it, it’s really good too, but I’ll about it in a minute, is I found it quite difficult to just draw myself back to it and not to get distracted, and I think that’s the phones. I think that’s the scrolling on the phones. Mm. And I think that they… It’s quite distracting. Anyway, the, uh, the book, The Founders, i- is about- The PayPal Mafia.

[01:09:22] Oh, wow. Right? So it is about- Yeah, that’s right. It is, yeah … Elon Musk, um, Reid Hoffman, um, Le- Levokin, Levokin, and, um, what’s his name? Peter- Peter … Peter Thiel. Yeah. Yeah, that’s right. Yeah. And all of them. And it is- Is he the one that’s gonna live forever or something? Oh. Is it, is it one of the- Oh, I don’t know whether he will or not, but he probably wants to.

[01:09:40] I don’t know. That’s- Yeah … uh, Johnson, Robert Johnson. Oh, right. Okay, right. Okay. I forgot who I’d read. I’ll tell you what, it was just an incredible book. Was it? It really was an incredible book. Yeah. I found it really inspiring. Um, when I talked about reading for inspiration, I find now that I don’t really wanna open up a tactical book as much anymore.

[01:09:56] Yeah. I used to wanna read tactical books and get tactics and stuff like that, but I [01:10:00] don’t really feel like I can get that many tactics anymore, so I look for… I’m really into story now. I used to be into tactical books, like Fred Hale. Wow. Yeah. But I’m really into entrepreneurial story, um, for stretching the imagination and things like that, and I’ve, I’ve really enjoyed all of the stuff about Elon Musk, reading his, um, his biography recently, uh, the founder’s book, which I found really interesting.

[01:10:22] I love his way of thinking, um, which is cool. His biography, Adam, just doesn’t go far enough. No. It stops. It, it, the, the, the- Well, it- Where’s the next chapter? Yeah, yeah. It, it must’ve been finished about 10 years ago. Yeah. It, it- Unbelievable … you know, it was… Uh, who is it? It’s, uh, it’s a great guy that’s wrote it.

[01:10:36] Um, he did Steve Jobs as well. Yeah, Walter Isaacson. Yeah. Yeah, Walter Isaacson. Yeah. That’s it. Really, and he lived with him and- I love Jobs. I love that book as well. Yeah. Yeah, very good. I thought Walter Isaacson’s book- Yeah. He does it in a very good style, doesn’t it? Yeah, I love it. The way he does it.

[01:10:47] Yeah. Very easy to read, actually. Yeah, it is. Really, really good. Yeah. Uh, so I was reading that, and I found that to be really inspiring, really motivating. I love the, I love the way that it flowed. I thought the detail was insane. Yeah, [01:11:00] the research and stuff, yeah. I don’t think I’ve ever… Oh, my God, it was insane, the detail.

[01:11:02] It’s really, really cool. I’m also reading, um, or listening to, actually. I’m not reading this one. I was just listening to in the car. Uh, I think it’s called The Alamac of, uh, Charlie Munger. Um- I, I’m not s- I’ve not, I’ve not seen that or heard that, yeah. Yeah. Basically, Charlie Munger, which is Warren Buffett’s partner- Yeah

[01:11:16] um, who invested with Warren Buffett, basically is his principles, his, his philosophy for- Okay … doing business and investing, and basically he was, uh, he did 11 talks at universities and massive business functions and things like that, and what they did is they’ve took the principles of his 11 talks and built them out about investing and principles- Oh, wow

[01:11:37] investing and stuff like that. Can we put that up? That sounds really interesting. Yeah, it’s an interesting book to read. Our, our audience would love that. Yeah. Yeah, it’s a cool call, and I think it was… You know, from that one- It’s actually just so simple. And basically, I think Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger both sub- subscribe to patience- Yeah, they did, didn’t they?

[01:11:54] and, uh, long-term, long-term bets, and actually making a [01:12:00] few really good bets over a long period of time. Yeah. They talk about really buying really good businesses, and how they analyze their businesses, and what, how they analyze what good- Yeah … businesses are, and how they don’t actually buy for management.

[01:12:12] Where a lot of people say you invest in the entrepreneur, they talk about, “Look, we, we definitely value management, and we value the quality of management. But what we value more is the quality of the business model- Yeah … and the longevity of the business.” And it’s just a really interesting concept, yeah.

[01:12:26] They were sort analysis, though, weren’t they? They would absolutely- Yeah … understand- Oh, yeah. Crazy … mining in- Yeah … deepest Africa or something. Yeah, yeah. They would understand, you know, lithium or whatever it was they were investing in. Yeah. And then they, they, they would wait, wait, wait, wait, and then boom, they’d pile in.

[01:12:40] Shows you diligence. Yeah. I think, I think- Yeah … that they’re just top, top-notch at- Yeah … diligence. I just don’t- Yeah. Maybe, maybe it’s not even… Like, it’s that club mentality- Yeah … that you’re talking about, where it’s not necessarily they wanna be right- No … and they wanna do the diligence, and they took their time to make the decisions and, and obviously have been two of the most successful- Yeah

[01:12:56] people that ever lived. Yeah. So, I thought that was really interesting. Well, we’ll, we’ll put them up because- Yeah … that, that [01:13:00] would be good, wouldn’t it? Yep. So, that is the end- Recommend them both … of what you reading. That’s it. Such a good feature. We’re so professional on this podcast now, aren’t we? It’s great.

[01:13:08] Yeah, we’re getting there. You know, you know. Um, dead or alive, who do you wanna have lunch with? Well, I think the easy answer would be El- Elon Musk, I think. Yeah. But then I’m- It’s whether he’d stay in the room and talk to you. Yeah, yeah, I know. It’s, it’s whether it’s- Whether he’d just walk out- Yeah … if he’s bored, he’d just E- e- exactly.

[01:13:29] I think that… Do you know what? I’ll, um, there’s probably… I actually think Tony Robbins would be a very, very inter- Yeah. That’s quite an interesting- You know, I know, I know he’s old school and- He would dominate the conversation Yeah, yeah, I know. He’s… I know he’s… I say he’s old school, but I think he definitely inspired me when I was…

[01:13:44] at the beginning- Yeah … and gave me the mindset and stuff like that. And I do think… I think he’s obviously amazing, and I’m sure that that would be quite, quite an interesting one. I think there’s a lot, isn’t there? I think, uh, uh, definitely Tony Robbins, definitely, uh, Elon Musk would be right up there. We had somebody [01:14:00] in the other day that said the Queen, and we thought that was very good.

[01:14:03] Oh. I’d like to sit down with the Queen and have a cup of- Yeah. And I loved The Crown. Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. Did you watch it? But… Yeah, I did watch it. Yeah. But the, but the, the Queen would be interesting. I mean, you know, she was a- I’ll tell you what, I’m gonna change my answer. Yeah, go on. Can I change my answer?

[01:14:15] Yeah. Do you know who I’d love to actually sit down with? Churchill. Yeah, Churchill would be good, wouldn’t he? That’s who I’d like. If I… If you’re going old school. Yeah. He was a strategy monster, wasn’t he? Oh, I just- He was really good. Yeah … I just think, “What a legend.” I th- I would love to actually… I’m gonna say Churchill.

[01:14:25] He was very good at, at mapping it out in his mind- Yeah … wasn’t he? He, he, he could s- He, he would map it all out to what his strategy was. Just love his resilience. Yeah. I love his resilience and- ‘Cause the early days- Yeah … mate, he was nothing, wasn’t he? Mm. Yeah. Like, didn’t… Nobody liked him. He was just a pain in the arse, wasn’t he?

[01:14:38] Yeah. And then it came to his time to be that prime minister at war. Yeah. I like this game. Yeah. I probably could come up with a few more as well. Yeah. Adam, if, if, i- i- if people are inspired by w- w- what they’ve heard today and stuff like that, how do they find you? Sell it to us, please. I, I would say if, if they’re a podcast listener- Yeah

[01:14:57] actually, my podcast would be a really good [01:15:00] resource. Yeah. And what is that called? It’s called Business Growth Secrets. Okay. And you can search it on Spotify, Apple. That’s usually a great way. Um, and obviously there’s 500 episodes. I’ve had very, you know, uh, dragons and billionaires and A-listers and all sorts of- Cool

[01:15:13] on that chat, uh, you know, which are really, really cool. So some great episodes there, and lots on my business philosophy and how I do business, so I’m sure that’d be really helpful for podcast listeners. That’s it. Great. Okay. Thank you very much for your time today. Pleasure. Appreciate that. I loved it.

[01:15:25] I’ve really enjoyed it. Cool. Thanks. Thank you. If you’ve enjoyed this episode, like, subscribe, leave a comment. If there’s someone you know that could gain something from what we do here, pass the pod. And if I’m lucky, I’ll see you on the next one