Climbing With Scars

There is a belief that being a natural is the key to success and greatness. Are the greats of our world “naturals” and gifted to dominate, and if so what makes a “naturally talented” entrepreneur. Or are we looking for excuses to not achieve because we perceive ourselves as not “naturally talented”?  Join me where I share my firsthand experiences on this topic and talk of the naturals I’ve dealt with along with where it ranks in the pursuit of success.

Today I’m diving deep into a very popular question, when should we retire? There are so many different answers and opinions to this question, and today I’m giving my piece on the matter. I discuss in depth the way societies stereotypes and the education system have skewed the way we think about work and when we should retire. I then talk about how my passion in entrepreneurship has shaped the way I think about retirement, and spoiler alert, it is not to retire.

While many businesses treat staff and employee’s as a cost, the differentiator for an entrepreneurial business is to look at your people as an investment. In this episode on Climbing With Scars I explore the importance of the perception you have on your people, and discuss how it can affect the performance of your business. I dive deep into my learnings on utilizing human investment as a strategy and how focusing on relationship equity both inside and outside of business has benefited my journey in entrepreneurship and how this approach can help you.

We get so caught up in the work, that we forget to reflect on the true meaning behind what we do and why we do it. In this week’s episode I dive deep into my personal experiences both inside and outside of business and discuss how they have helped shape my true meaning behind what I do and why I do it. I share my dealings with other entrepreneurs on how they judge their business’s success based on dollar signs, but forgot there is more than just the $$ and the focus of money is only a small part of being successful. Get inspired from this week’s episode to know what your meaning is behind your entrepreneurial journey. Enjoy!

In this week’s episode, I discuss how being excited is one of the most underplayed emotions, both in business and everyday life. We tend to overlook many ideas and thought processes when we’re excited about something, because the feeling overtakes the mind and our decision-making capabilities. Although this may sound like a disadvantage, on this episode, I go deep into the advantages of utilizing this emotion both in business, and when facing everyday life challenges. 

In this week’s podcast I discuss how having a degree or qualification doesn’t necessarily guarantee you a successful career path, and how we need to stop putting ourselves at a disadvantage by believing that it does. I go deep into what actually does separate the successful players in any industry, and it is not about degrees. 

Why is it when an idea, a thought, or a plan that is shared with others we often hear the line "Sorry this may sound like a dumb idea, but I've been thinking....". On this episode of Climbing With Scars I explore the reason why many people when stating their ideas and passions fall into the mode of being apologetic and making themselves feel unintelligent and to the point that their idea has no worth. Where did this thinking come from, why is it often a default  stance, and more importantly how do we break it? Tune in to hear my piece on why and how we can stop apologising.

Successful entrepreneurs have a knack of finding a way to make things happen, and often people say they’re lucky, or have great timing, or find themselves in the right place at the right time. Coincidence, luck or planned? On this podcast I explore further on getting what we look for, and that focus of what we’re looking for makes all the difference. The pursuit of success starts with where our attention goes, and on this episode of Climbing With Scars  I go deep into unlocking how to look for what we really want.

On this week’s episode I talk about how there is always opportunity to be found when challenged with a problem or adversity. I talk about examples of how I’ve found and created opportunities when challenged with major hurdles and barriers, but also talk about some of the best known products in the world that became mega successes after the first intention for those products were disastrous flops. More importantly I cover how learning to have you and your team looking for opportunities when faced with problems can be game changing for your business to thrive forward. Seeking opportunities through problems we’re facing starts with what we look for. Enjoy this episode.

It is a natural tendency for entrepreneurs to get caught up in their vision, their ideas, see the future opportunities and get caught up in what the big picture looks like, yet many of us forget how to start back at the basics with the simple things. It has always been a trait of mine to focus on the big picture and over time I’ve learned that when you don’t start with the simple you miss the opportunity for a good idea to become a great product or service. This week’s podcast I go into examples all around us from social media apps to the mammoth brands globally that have demonstrated  how Starting Simple enabled them to deliver products and services we can’t do without…. Along with a dose of my lessons firsthand on the value to Start With Simple.

On the journey of building your business, growing as an entrepreneur and taking our career to new levels, there is the reality that you cannot do it on your own. At any stage of entrepreneurship, whether a startup or an experienced journey man, you will always need others.  This could be a coach, a lawyer, an accountant, a mentor, a financier, consultant, a colleague or a trusted confidant. While it pays to listen to others who can offer advice, whether paid for or not,  how do you know “Who” to listen to,  and for how long? This week on Climbing With Scars I talk about my experiences with decisions made on many important relationships I engaged with to help drive my business forward and also how I came to the realisation of when I had to move beyond these relationships in search of others to listen to.  Every entrepreneur needs others along their journey, choosing “Who” is important but also knowing when it is time to move on can be the difference between winning and losing.

In a world now where the term “entrepreneur” seems trendy, cool and a label many use to self describe, I talk this week about how it’s not the Who, but the How. When it comes to entrepreneurship people often focus on the personality, the glamour or who that person is, however the common thread amongst entrepreneurs is not what they’ve achieved but how they go about their business and how they do things, every day as part of their DNA. Whether it is Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson or the local successful entrepreneur in your own community, how they approach their passion and ply their trade is the common trait I see in entrepreneurs and these are the key traits that separate the real entrepreneurs from the rest. Join me this week on Climbing With Scars to hear my take on “how” entrepreneurs go about life is more important than “who” they arrive to be.

Whether you have goods or services you are selling, the value will measured by what needs are satisfied, as ultimately this determines what price someone is willing to pay. Entrepreneurs and businesses often focus on the profit they wasn’t to make from the transaction, what they will get out of it but forget to focus on the value they can deliver. This creates attention towards price instead of the connection that can be made through delivering true value.  On  this episode of Climbing With Scars I share lessons I’ve learned about the true meaning of “value” and how to increase your real value by focusing on the other party and what you can actually deliver. The human to human connection is the hidden secret of knowing and enhancing the value of you, your product or service. I’m sure you’ll gain some value from this one.

While so many of us are now focused on the importance of keeping our physical well being in shape, regular exercise, correct diet, sleep and meditation, yet we often forget about the Mind Diet. In this week's episode I talk about how the Mind Diet is as important, if not more important, than the diet of what we consume daily into our bodies. What we feed our mind will define our results, our persona, the quality of our lives and the path we end up taking. Join me on this episode where I share the importance of the Mind Diet and how to ensure we're on top of it in our pursuit of greatness and happiness.

We all love to hear the stories of the big businesses and how they made it, but we often forget to capture the start up and the phases they go through from idea to passion to a business that makes a living. This week I share a chat I had with Craig from Big Shed Brewing Co. where he tells the story of with no experience in hospitality, no experience in food or beverage, no manufacturing experience and no selling experience, 2 friends decided to go all in and start their own brewery business. And let me tell you this is no normal brewery business, with beer brands like F-Yeah and Californicator, this is not your stock standard beer maker we’re talking to, this is a passionate entrepreneur that knows exactly what he wants and how they are differentiating themselves from the pack. This is a great story for start ups, intrapreneurs and anyone who has had an idea but didn’t know what to do with it – listen to this, have a laugh, get inspired and enjoy!

On this episode I discuss the importance of patience and how it is key to finding that creative spark. Creativity and success is a long term goal, success is not over night and neither is creativity. Tune into this weeks episode where I discuss importance of patience when it comes to creating or innovating.

On this weeks Climbing With Scars I talk about the importance of not playing safe, and how the digital age won’t allow any business or entrepreneur to thrive  if they go on the defence. Attack, Create and make it happen to move with and beyond the pace of change. 

We all get caught up in the “small” stuff every day, yet somehow for many the small stuff takes over the day and the time to dream, get creative, and let the mind wander to bring ideas to life often takes a back seat. Join me on this podcast where I delve into how important it is to make the time to Dream and more importantly protect that time. Not only do you find the creative juices flow when you protect this time, but I explain how every individual that goes through this time realises a massive breakthrough to create the building blocks for success. Dream time is more than just a time to get creative, it is a gift we need to guard. Enjoy.

This week's podcast goes deep into creativity and how it is the differentiator to brands, businesses and individual progress. Contrary to common belief, everyone has a creative spark inside of them but how do we find that spark to move forward, position ourselves to stand out, have our products or services shine to a place that connects with others? Join me on this episode where I share my experiences along with examples of how some of the most simple things in life have captured our attention through letting the creative spark be the key to unlock the door to opportunity.  

It was a pleasure to be apart of first Polaris Group business breakfast for 2019. On this episode I have tried something different and that is record myself while featuring at an event as a keynote speaker. The speech I delivered included topics such as entrepreneurship, business in the future, innovation and disruption. At the end of the speech there is a Q and A section where the audience had an opportunity to fire questions away, so tune in for that. Enjoy the raw and organic audio from my latest keynote speech!