Climbing With Scars

Today on Climbing With Scars I’m sharing an experience I was lucky enough to have with one of our customers and the unexpected value of learnings received. From a customer competition we had that allowed the winner a three-hour workshop with me, the big lesson was when giving and sharing you get more back than expected. I share the three biggest takeaways I took from this 1 on 1 opportunity and the learnings of how to do more for clients that grow more than just sales. Get ready to be Wow’d.

In today’s episode on Climbing With Scars I’m joined by Dr James Muecke, Australian of the Year for SA 2020 and founder of Sight for All, a non-for-profit company dedicated to overcoming world blindness. From 11 years old James had a passion for medicine, with an even bigger passion to help others. Today he shares how his experience working as a medical student in Kenya taught him many life lessons, revealing how he overcame the many obstacles and dangers of working and doing business in a foreign country. Tune in to find out how taking yourself far out of your comfort zone builds up the amount of resilience it takes to build any business. 

Moving forward is more than just heading into a direction. Forward movement takes us into the future, towards places we’ve never been. We learn this from when we’re toddlers, taking forward steps towards the unknown, yet somehow many adults “unlearn” this and stay still or worse look behind, go backwards and never end up where they could. This week on Climbing With Scars I talk about what moving forward actually reflects in all of us, how it leads us into the future and guides us to positive outcomes. I not only share how this happens in entrepreneurship and business, but reveal what I’ve found as the key ingredient to unlocking the doors to go where you want. Take a walk forward with me on this episode, I’m sure it will move you towards where you’re destined to head.

Really enjoyed this open and honest chat with Sean Baxter who shares his story of how a budding entrepreneur finally found his way into the groove. From university graduate in journalism to product ambassador with iconic spirit labels and then as one of the last 20 contestants on the MasterChef 2014 series, Sean reveals how he overcame doubts, fears and uncertainties until he found himself into the Never Never. This is a great story of one of the Co-founders of Never Never Distilling Co. that explores his journey and how passion ultimately finds the way through. A raw and endearing recount on a story that will give listeners a refreshing perspective on how the world of start ups and entrepreneurship actually is. Don’t miss out on getting a taste of this story!

On this episode of Climbing With Scars I’m joined by Leila Henderson, CEO and founder of Newsmaker, an Australian press release company. Leila began her entrepreneurial journey when she fell in love with journalism and found herself landing a job working with Australian icon Ita Buttrose on the Australian Woman’s weekly! Working with such a strong female role model, Leila shares her experiences and lessons learned that propelled her forward to other  passions that  came from left field Into the area of information technology. Join me on this one where we go deep into Leila’s journey, touching on many aspects to growing a business, females in business and hearing her views on start ups she now works with that impress.  

Today's episode is a special one, where my team surprises me with a little celebration here at the office for my 100th podcast episode on Climbing With Scars and invited the first three podcast guests to join me on this channel 2 years ago, John Caporaso, owner of Mercato, Mary Centofanti, Managing Director of Davroe Haircare, and Anthony Kittel, CEO of REDARC Electronics.   In today’s episode, we talk about how quickly time passes while growing a business, and how important it is to take the time to celebrate the little wins. We share the knowledge that we have gained and learnt over the past two years, diving deep into the new strategies we implemented in our businesses for furture growth. Join me on this one to find out how these three entrepreneurs have taken their businesses to the next level in as little as two years.

This week I’m joined by Cheryl Shigrov, the Managing Director of Precious Cargo Education, an early learning education centre that follows the Montessori teaching method. Like many successful entrepreneurs, Cheryl’s motives behind starting the company was never about the money, but instead was about a genuine belief and love of her beliefs in how to teach children. In this one we go deep into the “not so pretty” parts of Cheryl’s journey and how she found the courage to persevere and keep going when faced with the most daunting challenges. Join me this week on Climbing With Scars to find out how Cheryl went from an anti-risk taker, to courageous single mum and successful entrepreneur.

This week on Climbing With Scars I talk to Kirk Drage, the CEO of LeapSheep, a company focusing on empowering entrepreneurs and increasing start-up success rates. From a young age Kirk had a passion for science and mechanics but little did he know that would lead him to a journey of entrepreneurship. I was fortunate enough to pick his brain on this one where we dive deep into how and why the global success rate for start-ups is as low as 5%, answering all kinds of questions about venture capital, investors, and patents. Join me on this one where Kirk spills all his secrets on successful start-ups.

I often hear “leader” and “manager” used in the same context, but are they the same? Is the leader of the business a good manager of the business? This week I talk about being in charge, but you may be surprised on what being in charge actually means for the leader.  I’ve come across many great leaders that have led the way on this and I’ve been fortunate to learn from my time as an entrepreneur on how important it is for any leader to truly be in charge of their business and in a context many overlook or realise. Join me this week where I share how this differentiates businesses that thrive and those that are stuck at road blocks. Get ready for a charge of a different kind.

This week on Climbing With Scars I talk to Adam Carpenter, joint founder of Prohibition Liquor, that lives and breathes the entrepreneurial spirit. After 14 years of running his own graphic design agency he and his business partner Wes decided to enter the world of creating a gin brand, and not just any gin. Hear the story of how from working inside his home garage, the creation Prohibition Liquor Co evolved to enable a clever unique brand find its way onto the shelves of some of the largest liquor retailers and bars around the country, after only 4 years of operation. Many lessons here on how to utilise design to do it different and stand out from the crowd. Join me to hear how this Bootlegger shares the joys and challenges of turning a passion into a brand, that is now finding its way onto shelves across Australia and into export markets.

This week’s podcast is inspired by the business trip I recently made to Toronto, Canada, where I was lucky enough to meet Peter Diamandis, someone that I have admired for a while now. Peter often speaks about the rapid pace at which technology is growing at and the importance of longevity and adaptability. Today I give my piece on how I have learnt through my entrepreneurial journey that embracing and not fearing this change is the key to a successful business and future. Have you ever wondered how you can beat the change before it happens?? Join me on this one where I reveal my secrets on how to prepare your business for the future.

This week on Climbing With Scars I’m talking about Sharing The Experience. Why is it leaders sometimes hide and withhold our failures from our people? Is it that we feel embarrassed or ashamed? This week I share my learnings from my entrepreneurial journey and how restraining the truth of your experiences is a big opportunity missed by leaders, compared to the wins you gain when sharing the experience along with all the flow in effects that happen with your people around you. Join in on this one to hear my share.  

This week I’m joined by former AFL player James Podsiadly and current founder of AFL Max. Loved this time with James as he was so honest, warm and real in sharing his story on so many levels. James reveals the truth behind how he finally made it to the AFL as a 28 year old rookie along with the struggles and realities of entering into the business world. Lots of gems where we dive deep into how the parallels of business and sport intertwine. We talk openly about the internal battles of starting and growing a business, with the transition from pro athlete to budding entrepreneur. If you want something bad enough, you’ll find a way through – join me on this week’s Climbing With Scars episode to hear James Podsiadly lay down the truth to this.

Too often entrepreneurs find themselves explaining and justifying their decisions and choices to others, but have you ever wondered why? The best seem to just get on with it while others need to explain what they are doing and thinking. Having been guilty of this in the past I learned after many years why I thought this way, realising how anchoring these thoughts were in my entrepreneurial pursuits and the draining effects they had on me. In this week’s podcast I go deep and wide on why we get caught into the trap of justifying what we do and how to avoid falling into this mindset. Join me this week to hear how I’ve climbed out of this negative mindset and how you can too. 

Today I’m discussing the most fundamental skill in both business and everyday life, selling. There are many different stereotypes around people working in sales; the most obvious one being the second hard car salesman, the person always giving the hard sell. But I’ve learned too often entrepreneurs forget that what they ultimately do is SELL. In this week’s episode I discuss how my journey in entrepreneurship has shaped the way I think about the selling process, revealing my truths and secrets that anyone in business can focus on, as ultimately selling is an everyday process that we all engage in. Enjoy this one.

Often the best outcomes and learnings come from not having a Plan B and instead, forcing yourself into a place where you don’t have any other option but to work through the situation. Too often we dwell on what could go wrong and ensuring we have a backup plan in case things don’t go to plan, but this often leads businesses into creating the undesired outcome. In this episode, I dive deep into my learnings and experiences on how playing it safe in entrepreneurship is not always the objective, and the fall out of what really happens when you learn the Art of Not Playing It Safe. Enjoy.

On this week’s Climbing With Scars podcast I give you a live unscripted recording of our Brewing With Spirit event, where you hear firsthand two inspiring stories from entrepreneurs who turned their passions into a business. And these are not just any businesses, but competing against some of the corporate Goliaths in their markets. Great gems for any entrepreneur to hear the real struggles, fears, doubts and challenges that these businesses overcome along the way to making it happen. Enjoy this treat.

When something doesn’t go as planned or when the proverbial really hits the fan, are you playing the blame game or looking for someone else to take responsibility? This happens often in business and stifles entrepreneurs from progressing, anchoring them to the ground that holds them back with future endeavours. On this week’s episode of Climbing With Scars I go deep into my experiences of the blame game and share how when I learned to flip the blame something extraordinary was found that I realised is a common trait amongst successful entrepreneurs.

Building trust within your workplace is one of those key pillars in developing a successful business. Where people trust they take risks and when they take risks they grow.  In this episode, I share my personal experiences on how to build trust within your company along with the harshest lessons of when trust is broken and how leaders make all the difference in strengthening the bonds of trust, both inside and outside the workplace. Enjoy this episode of Climbing With Scars, I look forward to hearing your comments.

Which voice do we listen to? Are we listening to the internal voice inside our head or the external voice that we allow to enter our heads? Sometimes we can have a positive influence from outside voices to move us forward, but how do we know the external voice that propels us forward VS the outside voice that holds us back? From firsthand experience I share how I’ve listened to both internal and external voices and the difference it has made for me. Ultimately what we listen to either drive us towards where we want to go or place doubt in our minds. Join me this week to hear about those voices we allow into our head.