He Has £240,000 and No Idea What to Do Next

0:05Welcome to the first official episode of Simon Says. What can you expect? First of all, we're going to try and hear from people with dreams and we're going to try and figure out how to help them. Hopefully together, I'm going to give some advice. We're going to hear their problems and hopefully we're going to learn from their questions because sometimes in business I've discovered you don't even know the questions to ask. So by listening in today, hopefully you'll hear some of the questions that people are struggling with in their lives in their businesses and we can help them make their dreams come true in addition we've got some fun stuff coming up we've got some clips we're going to show you we're going to react to some clips out there in the world and see what you think see what what the world thinks of these things that are trending what's happening in the world that might be interesting to you we're also going to talk to some people that haven't got a dream and help them figure out how to find their dream so we've got lots and lots of fun things planned on this first episode i hope you enjoy it don't forget if you do you can go watch the episode on spotify go reserve it so you don't miss an episode this will be every single week a live show where you can also ring in and share your story and get some help so let's get started who is our first guest hi abigail from cambridge yes i will start this i'm starting this new show with a simple question because i give you advice but i want to know where you are before i give that advice so what's your bank balance um it's about three to five hundred at the moment pounds okay good now i want to give advice that's relatable to your financial situation so it's important to understand that so go ahead tell me what's going on there we go so um i'm a artist and um my main role really is as a stay-at-home mum i'm home educating my two send children um and i'm trying to navigate um managing their educational needs their send needs while my external support child care finances and available time is basically being reduced by the system a system that i'm obligated to be a part of until i can generate my income so managing my needs for my family and having a desire to be self-sufficient.

2:30We lost you a little bit there, Abigail, but I think I caught the gist. So have you got anybody helping you right now? So I've got a small team of friends on the business side helping me with a little bit of marketing advice and getting my story ready to share with people, getting my artwork ready to share. I've got obviously my husband is around for help I've got a little bit of help with kind of childcare but obviously that all needs paying for and since my needs of my children are kind of outweighing the capacity I have to go out and work my resources for outsourcing the help I need is very limited

3:23so i home educate my son as well so i can understand that side my my um my quick take on this is you need to build up your community more yeah i think i again i i home educate my son and you know every day he has some sort of play group or community activity so some of the parents you know they we share the responsibility of the kids from day to day and so i don't know how old your kids are but um how old are your kids so they're seven and nine yeah seven and nine so yeah i mean seven and nine my son's seven so they're quite grown up actually at that age surprisingly i think yeah of course they're not ready to go out there in the world on their own or anything but but i think um you know support is is is key i i always think it's interesting to me when you see kind of that self-made uh description someone self-made impossible you you need help no one can do it on their own so my instinct is you just need to work a little harder on building up your network of support it sounds like you've got some some stuff there but i feel like you need more maybe to give you some time yeah and i think that's that's what i need is i need because my time is my currency as it were that's what um is most valuable to me um and because I haven't got the resources to pay for care and things like that because my children have their additional needs alongside the education side of things.

4:55So trying to meet their additional needs without even starting the homeschool stuff is... Understood. so i'm at this middle ground of the resources i need to grow the resources then come in they get fed into paying for time basically i i understand abigail i'm yeah i am i am a father so i understand the parental side but i don't understand your educational special requirements at all yeah sorry i'm not very good at basically but in business i'll tell you yeah i'll tell you on the business side i had a quick look at your uh your art and your social media it's amazing by the way you're incredibly talented thank you again if i and i i married a designer so what happened when i when i met my wife was she was designing and she was trying to win clients and she was managing clients and she wasn't able to do the things she was great at enough so i also think you could think about getting a co-founder someone that can help you on the business side maybe someone who's not an artist but maybe they're very organized maybe they're very good at getting quotes to brands or or you know zoos or whoever you may end up you know working with who will pay you to do the work and you don't have to deal with any of that stuff and they can work on like a co-founder type structure so if they go out and win the work you can then spend time doing the thing you actually love to do which is clearly the artwork and so i i think i would also consider if i was you getting a co-founder getting someone that can actually help you with the business that getting co-founder doesn't mean you have to necessarily pay someone there might be a you know a a person out there who's looking for some part-time work or they maybe they've they've got to a certain stage in their life where they they don't want a full-time job and they just want to help someone like you who's very talented you'll be surprised how many people out there are like that and they might come in and just work on a what they win they share with you kind of basis and if you build up a business together that can also become something you know quite quite quite valuable i would think about it um and i'm going to chuck on screen now for everybody who's listening um your social handles so that people can follow you and support you but um abigail i hope that was helpful to you thank you so much for calling in i really admire you you're doing a great thing it's not easy um looking after children and and doing you know your your business your artistic work um which has to be a business for it to be sustainable so well done just to quickly say to the audience listening after listening to abigail sometimes when building a business there is an element of um how to obtain freedom it is initially when you when you start you know making money say from your hobby or your business it is it is hard work because you don't have any infrastructure i always tell people that running a small business is harder than running a big business so you you need to build infrastructure and and um and maybe you guys listening you you can you know figure out what what does freedom mean to you when you're building your business because i find that if if studying your own businesses is your idea of freedom then you need to plan for it if you just if you end up being the person who bakes the cakes who sells the cakes who comes up with the recipes for the cakes who deals with the accounts who deals with the social media posting then you're not going to be free and so you need to figure out how to scale and i think part of that is accepting it's better to have 50 of something that's three or four times bigger and and 50 of something you really enjoy than 100 of something that doesn't give you freedom because a big part of entrepreneurship one of the reasons i really promote it is because it can lead to freedom but you need to structure your life so it does lead to freedom otherwise you can get a bit tough like like it is for abigail right now right um is this what you want me to say or is this what this is a new show folks we're learning how to do this so my j my producer's put something on my screen but i don't know if i'm supposed to read it to you or whether i'm supposed to okay right i've got some questions that have been sent in so um if you're listening and want me to answer your questions leave a comment on spotify guys one day you're going to look back at this first episode and laugh you're going to say simon squib and jay who are running this Simon Says podcast.

9:13Look how amateurish they were at the beginning. You go back and look at the first ever Amazon office. You go see how amateurish the logo looked, how amateurish the office was. His desk was a door, an old door. I'm practicing what I preach. I'm launching a show that is not perfect. That's how you get good. And I'm willing to fail in public, live on every single one of my channels to show you that I'm launching a new podcast today called Simon Says, and it's not perfect. Of course it's not. We get perfect by doing it, by trying to make it work. I'm reading all the comments, by the way, online. Thank you so much for your kind comments and support for today's show.

9:52Right. So if you've got some questions, go on Spotify and drop them on there. I think we've got some questions coming in. But before that, am I going to read it on screen? It's on screen. You can read it in the comments. OK. And who's it from? It's from Rhythm. Okay, Riddhan in India sent me a business question, and it is on screen for some. It is, I want to build an agency that combines AI and marketing to help businesses grow, but I need clients and credibility. Okay. Sometimes when people are building a business, they get this the wrong way around. It's not have a business, get a client. Sometimes it's have a dream and then get a client.

10:39so i always think most of the time like i i most of the business that i built with no money where my first client is often someone i work with who i believe can if i look after them and win them over can be my marketing partner so in other words there's a client that's maybe high profile or well-known or someone that has a good network and then i basically do something for them i show them my service in your case you could come up with a marketing plan for someone and then you you once you once you deliver that marketing plan for them and they're super happy then they can tell people about you plus they may then start paying for your services now a lot of people don't believe in free and and i bet you if you compare their success to mine they won't be as successful as me i think free has so much value and and i know for a fact that if you've got no money and you're starting a business ironically going after the client you want and helping them initially for free can lead to them promoting you if you go to a client and say pay me this can be a barrier now i don't know how many people you have approached to sell your service because there is a counter argument to my idea here which is go and pitch to 10 people your service and your price and see if someone says yes why not but i i think the easiest barrier is get one client and then you know within a couple of days you could have delivered a piece of work for them you could have made them feel excited and happy and if you don't charge them you can build up the relationship without it being about you getting money out of them and then they can be your biggest advocate they can be your biggest salesperson they love what you do and they love what you're offering they can go and tell people and that's worth more than what you'll get out of just charging them so So Ridham, I hope you got some value from that.

12:28And thank you so much for your question. I've got another question from Alex from Montenegro. I'm dyslexic, by the way. So I'm definitely going to start saying words wrong. See, again, I'm not perfect. I'm a multimillionaire. I've built successful businesses. I've built and sold companies. I had the best life ever. But I can't even read properly. So, you know, everyone's got their superpowers. right next up the question is i dream of becoming an actor and telling stories that move people but i'm broke and don't know how to begin how can i break into acting when i have no money and don't know where to start okay look i i think these days you know young people can't afford a house right just accept it young young people can't afford a house and and i and i think Instead, what young people have is the opportunity to go super viral on social media.

13:25I'm just looking at my live numbers right now on my channels here. We've got nearly 6 ,000 people listening in across all the channels. And, you know, it really doesn't cost much. And I think people don't realise how powerful social media is and people aren't leveraging it properly. And it's a big mistake. And so if I was an actor and I was trying to become an actor today, you can go the traditional route and go and apply to the movie studios or whatever you know the method get an agent right and then and try and get a gig but i always think about it from a point of like someone else controls the keys to your future you're waiting for someone else to spot you you're waiting for someone else to give you their thumbs up i i would just start making content on on social media i i love i love the people that do um you know they play two characters and those two characters talk to each other and it might be around a social issue that's bothering you or they might be reenacting friends it doesn't really matter you can show your your acting skill and the great thing is you can go on these platforms and start acting and you can literally start getting videos going by but it doesn't matter how many followers you've got people always say oh it's okay for you simon you've got 17 million followers it does not matter how many followers you have anymore that is just old news you're you can go on social media you can make a video and you can get millions of views if it's good.

14:46Now, good is subjective as well. It doesn't have to be polished. It just has to be interesting, funny, or bring value to people in some way. So if you can make people laugh with your acting skill, if you can make people cry with your acting skill, if you can entertain people with your acting skill, just start. Stop making excuses. Stop waiting for the perfect moment where, you know, Titanic 2 accepts you as an actor. You know, like, don't wait for, you know, that organization to say, sure, you're now an actor. Tell yourself you're an actor. Start acting. Stop mucking around. Start applying yourself to the things that you can control instead of waiting for someone else to give you the right to do what you want to do stop waiting for that to happen and start fighting for your future and that requires you to push through fear start applying yourself to new ways of getting your name out there an actor on tick tock in my opinion i was looking at the story of superman the other day the original superman was on tv and it was very very popular and he was not happy because he wanted to be a movie actor but he was so basically the story is that he uh unalived himself and i think you know because he didn't feel like being a actor on tv was cool enough nowadays people would be very happy to be an actor on tv like netflix right but i actually think the next cool thing is people on social media who are actors they have control of their own channel they can put out the content that brings them happiness they're not told what to be and what to say and how to do it so why wouldn't you be part of the modern new tv and go start making acting stuff on your own social media no one could ever cancel you then except the public so go and do it okay i've got a caller on the line meg williams i think i met her in the street recently

16:43meg you there hello meg can you hear me i can hear you meg i'm asking everyone in the same question in the opening line how much money you got in your bank account not enough not enough okay that that's swerved you've got to tell me the exact number so i can give you advice that matches your finances oh uh probably currently probably about 150 pounds 150 pounds oh oh gosh okay and when when are you you're gonna get paid soon yeah monday monday that feels a bit tight all right but at least you're not overdrawn i have to say i think it's a but okay um do i owe you some money i think i do do i i don't know maybe probably so so meg okay tell us what's up how can we help you um so essentially me and my flatmates want to come up with this new business on rain bonnets so we want the world and its wife to have rain bonnets as they can't live without accessory we want to bring them back all right i remember this now the picture you've got of your rain bonnets makes me want one and i definitely don't think they were designed for me and so um all right now for the audience listening i i met your boyfriend on the street who said don't i don't my dream i'm not sure but i've got to get my girlfriend for you she's got a great dream and then he ran i said i haven't got time to talk i haven't got time for him to wait for him to go find you and then i said just call in on the show so here you are but then i walked away and we went around around the corner and then somehow you and your boyfriend ended up running past us yeah right yeah so and then and then we got we got a new clip to drop next week we're going to drop the clip where it's in the edit room right now of that engagement with me and you so next week on on the channels we'll drop that story so everyone can watch it but um but i offered you a thousand pounds right to help you and be your first customer as it were right indeed so so yeah I haven't forgotten just so you know um so so maybe for the audience listening since that interaction how are you feeling are you going to take the leap what's what's your plan um so essentially as like as soon as I met you and then left you I called my flatmate while I was on the run and I was like Georgia you're never going to believe what's happened it's it's fate she's a big believer in fate I'm a big believer in Fate and yeah it's all kind of just gone a bit mad and we've both kind of said to each other like this is we're gonna really give this a good crack you know if not if not now when so we've been brainstorming kind of names which has proven quite difficult I think but also we've been thinking about you know where we would like to maybe source them and how we'd like to source them and how we'd just go for it I think oh I'm excited for you I mean the great thing about this sort of product especially in England is it rains all the time yeah yeah it's the middle of July and it rains yeah so I think I think it's a it's a great idea and I and I I think look you know you have one life right so have some fun with it and um yeah naming wise just just real quick on that sometimes with naming we can overthink it i think um you know you can have some fun with the name but don't overthink it and the only thing you need to be careful of is that you can get the trademark for it so um don't don't over overthink it but you know have some fun with it maybe i i think with the rain bonnet model for me it's literally like make it a word that you can own later yeah and um yeah so um yeah and feel free to share the journey with people too so when we put your video up of course hopefully it'll bring more followers to you about this but but I think also enjoy the journey and bring the community along people listening here for example might have some ideas for good names crowdsourcing is a great way to find out what you should call it and also then bring the community in to be a part of it yeah definitely I think we want this I mean we're both 25 and we use TikTok a lot we use Instagram a lot and I don't know I don't know about you but I love seeing how people that how regular people have built things and especially in like the fashion industry I find it so interesting and I think sometimes when you look at some big brands it feels so far away but then when you actually see people building stuff from the beginning it makes it feel a little bit more realistic like anyone could do it so So I think we definitely like to do something like that as well and take people kind of on the journey.

21:30Makes total sense. And just remember that at the end of the day, we only regret what we don't do in life. We don't regret trying to do something and it not working. Most people in their 90s when they're interviewed about what they regret is they regret what they didn't do. So if this doesn't work, which I think it's going to, by the way, I think you're going to become a massive, cool, fun fashion brand. but if it does if it doesn't work it does you know you've tried it but give it a good go right give it a good go and is your boyfriend going to join you in this in this venture is he going to take control of sales i think so he's been he's definitely been pitching he's been pitching to us what he thinks he could do i think because this whole idea came about a festival he was like let's go to a festival let's get a stand i'll be your sales rep yes good get him to pitch for the role i like that you know get him to work for it he has the early spot i like that but i have a feeling sometimes he he didn't have a dream and i think sometimes what i find interesting is to find your dream or to make your dream a reality sometimes the best way to do that is help someone else with their dream so when i met him i could tell he was thinking about what to do and what his dream might be but i think his dream could be initially just to help you make your dream happen and that can help him find his dream which may well be by the way like who knows it might be male bonnets who knows um which sounds a bit rude for some reason i don't know why bonnets can be for everyone but yeah bonnets can be for everyone exactly exactly but your company slogan i see it it's not just for the queen no it's not all right exactly awesome well done i'm excited to see the business launch and for everybody listening uh we'll chuck your social handles up on here now and um yeah you can follow meg and her journey in building her dream her video will drop next week you guys are going to love it meg thanks for coming on thanks so much you are welcome okay our next caller is gareth from london gareth are you there i am here how are you good welcome to the show and gareth um i'm asking everybody this question it's a little bit awkward but uh how much have you got in the bank uh so right now um i still bad for saying this but there's context um so i've got about 240 000 but that's only because um i uh actually spoke with my partner and we sold our house so my half of the house is sitting in my bank account currently which i don't really want to touch like it's going to be in my heart well um yeah you might not have to touch it by the way but what it does do is it gives you peace of mind to go and take some risk right and that's the only value a house value has most people who build up their house value don't ever realize that they could set themselves free by taking that money and just gives mental freedom so i i have very different advice for people that have some money in the bank to what i just gave a minute ago to make so so tell me what's up what can i do to help you um yeah i I think I'm kind of in a position where I almost feel a little bit lost.

24:40So I've been very lucky. I've had a pretty decent career. So I made it to director and senior director. I took a risk and went into an AI company. And I actually just found myself on the back end of just massive burnout and having to walk away from it. So now I'm almost kind of like in this position where I'm trying to recalibrate and rebuild. And I guess my question is there's two parts in my mind right now. One is, do I build something for myself? And the experience I built up, so I used to do, or rather I was doing RFP proposals, doing it at a really, really high level. On the other side of like, do I use that experience or do I go back into work?

25:29So I love working with teams. I guess I need help finding direction. So maybe it's not like a traditional request of like, I have this business idea and I know exactly what I want to do. Yeah. Do you know, if I could frame this up and hopefully you won't be offended by this, but I don't think you have a clear dream. And this is very common, by the way, because, you know, I'm going to I don't know your background, but, you know, you've gone to university. I'm assuming then you've got a good job and then, you know, you've made some money and you've kind of taken this risk, which, you know, you felt burnout maybe for the first time.

26:05and so you've kind of been a little bit of a treadmill frankly you know you've been a little bit like set on a path and you followed the path and you know it's brought you what i describe about offense hopefully is a middle-class life and the thing is is that fair to say feel free to push back yeah no no my only correction was um uh because i totally get the um uh the conclusion actually i never went to university i actually i actually didn't get a single gcsc or a level i I absolutely grinded to get where I was. So that was my only correction. No, fair. No. And you know what? Sometimes why I like to know the bank balance because it's kind of interesting.

26:48The people I see free often don't go to university. So it's interesting. Okay. So I think maybe just one step back a second because I want to help you just maybe figure out your dream. Let's try this, right? Thank you. give me give me two minutes and answer as honestly as you can and we'll try and figure out what your dream might be because if we can figure out your dream it's your north star then and it will help you on the next step because i i actually think burnout comes from the purpose not being strong enough and and so but burnout don't go wrong it can be a mental issue it could be a financial issue it can be a physical issue but i think burnout is a bit broad so i don't actually know what happened to you but if you just felt like oh my god i can't do this anymore and you're working too hard it's probably because of you didn't work life integrate and the actual mission wasn't important enough again feel free to push back i don't know you no i i think i think some of that's uh true so i think what i faced was working out the uk but working for a silicon valley startup um so that was actually like an r an ai company in the same space i work in that kind of proposals rfp um era which is like winning a big uh a singular business for people that maybe aren't familiar with it um and actually what what it what it was it almost felt like it was taken over my life so it was turning into like 14 hour days um and i think you're right you said something that really resonated which was maybe if that was my own thing or if i was working with with a company where I really believed the mission, that it wouldn't feel quite as much like work.

28:23Whereas with this, it definitely felt like it was so chaotic in that business. It almost felt like the people that were running it, I guess, almost felt cynical of like, oh, well, we have AI background. This is an AI problem, rather than like, actually, we love this subject and we understand what we're doing. And that didn't feel like it was there. So yeah, I think a lot of what you said really does resonate. it's tricky it's a tricky situation because okay so i do know what let's just go back a step okay again i just want to go back let's figure out your dream real quick tell me the most painful thing that's ever happened to you oh boy um i think i i mean that i mean there are family pains i i came from kind of a family with with a lot of domestic abuse i would say um but i think the the thing that kind of keeps me up at night or or kind of like i guess like uh like a daily fear maybe is a is a better one um or daily pain is that feeling of i guess i've never really felt like i hit my potential um like i fell into my career rather than than than seeking it and despite being somewhat good at it and try not to be egotistical here um but never really feeling like i do not what i'm doing actually really really stretches my ability really gives me the ability to show what i'm made of and maybe some of that is again like kind of failing at gcse for one reason or another and and um you know i did my a levels but never took the exam um so i kind of ended up with this sort of like personal chip on my shoulder of like i really need to prove my success and my partner is is um extraordinarily smart um and then there's probably a bit of me as well that is also like i really want to show up and prove that there right my wife's smarter than me by the way so i can relate to that as well you know i love i love i love i love marrying up i think if i was keep wanting the show today it's like if you can marry up because it does make you want to be better so i love that but hey it's inspiring it is it is it totally is and i and i um i i've learned so much from i i've become smarter because i married someone smart i genuinely think that um but just just there's some mixture of stuff here so one thing i would ask you is and again this is really personal it's hard to talk about sometimes but like when you say you haven't hit your potential i partly feel like that that is a never-ending stress right and so it's there's even your pain helps you find your purpose this is my my my my my realization now i don't know whether it's in the domestic abuse side where your purpose is or whether it's in this hitting your potential thing but if you like i don't think i've hit my potential but i'm not beating myself up about it i'm just taking one step at a time trying to get better at say for example being a podcast host or helping people learn business or you know being better on youtube so more people will watch the content where i teach them you know financial literacy in business so basically i've given myself these steps you know what can i do each week it's about like getting fit right if i if i beat myself up that i had an ice cream yesterday then i basically what's the point but today i cannot eat an ice cream and i went for a 5k run this morning which i did you know what i mean like i think potential is this could be where your purpose is as well like helping people manage their potential because potential comes over time right you look how far you've come how old are you

32:00sorry i um i turn 40 actually tomorrow wow okay on sunday on sunday the 27th right no problem you sound you sound younger by the way um thank you but you know but but but 40 to me like there's still you've got four decades ahead of you and so like your potential it's not even you've still got lots of time basically um and i kind of feel like don't underestimate how far you've come there are many people sitting with money in the bank right i think that's actually an achievement in addition it sounds like you've learned burnout you've learned about yourself or what you like generally doing and this whole winning work thing sales is such an important part of life i think sales again is one of the hardest things sales and meeting your full potential very similar because sales could be a never-ending thing you're like got one sale you need to get another you've got another sale you're gonna need to get another it can actually be very exhausting sales and i think that's the same kind of mindset when it comes to potential so i think there's something in um and i don't know enough about the domestic abuse stuff so i'm gonna put it aside but it might be there.

33:07But I think there's something in this, like helping people reach the potential and also appreciating where they are. And because you're feeling this, it keeps you up at night. There might actually be a business in like, what is success? Right? I think in society, there is a real skew around what is success. If you ask people what is success, most people will mention money and a number. If you ask me, you've got a healthy relationship. You've got a relationship with someone you respect. And that to me is success. So what is meeting your potential? Well, I think I've been with my partner 24 years.

33:42I actually think partly in my relationship, I'm meeting my potential because I've managed to make my relationship work with my partner's help, of course. So I think that this potential thing's really interesting. I reckon there's a consultancy, an app, a running club, or there's something you can, things you can do around your hobbies that link to this thing. Because I think if it's keeping you up at night, you think how many people it's probably keeping up at night. A lot of people don't feel they're meeting the potential. That's what all these course sellers try and tell you. You learn this course and you'll be able to reach your potential.

34:16Half the time it's bullshit. Potential comes from inside, in my opinion. What is my target this week? What is my target today? I want to be the best father I can be. So I spent the morning with my son. I've reached my potential for that day. Anyway, I don't know what does that sound like we're getting close at all yeah I think so I think it's I think I'm sorry I'm kind of like assimilating everything at the same time and trying to like work my way through but I think um well I think when I say potential what I mean is like I feel like I haven't I mean you're absolutely right I'm very lucky like I mean I'm in a new relationship with someone that I admire and adore.

34:57And I've been somewhat lucky to a degree. It was a lot of hard work that went in. I think when I say potential, what I think I actually mean is I feel like a part of my skill set is underutilized. So I love, for example, I love working with businesses. I love trying to help them grow and trying to help them um yeah win those harder businesses not everything is like it's super transactional um but i'm also really creative and and strategic and i think it's kind of um yeah i think it's it's trying to figure out like how do i utilize that in a way that has value and maybe that is like consultancy or maybe it's like finding that that dream company to work with um just one thing i'll say to you i think i think you know look it this is never you know done in a done in a day you can let's let's talk again another time i i feel like i'll just say to you one thing to conclude though sometimes your sun can cost what you've learned to this point you can shed that skin and be something else i don't know if you necessarily you know if you if you if you have you know this untapped potential for sales then you know maybe you need to put yourself in them in uh what's the word like okay another way of putting what i'm trying to say here is like what what are your what would you do and you weren't getting paid to do it like what would you like to do where every single day and you wouldn't get paid but let's say it's fishing Maybe you should just focus on building out that life, that you do the thing you love.

36:42And then hopefully, you know, you don't want to eat your savings so you can make a living from it. And give yourself that kind of break for a minute. Because sometimes in this rush to be successful or go to the next level, you might have a sunken cost problem here, where you think you've got this skill that you're not fully utilizing. I don't know if you necessarily, are you enjoying it? and if it burnt you out before maybe there's some control problem you've got around this like again like i'm good at sales but i i now rather do marketing and i'd rather be here helping you than sales even though i can do sales i'd rather be helping you so i think maybe just rethink a little bit what is your priority maybe um using this this so-called skill you've got isn't necessary.

37:31Instead of thinking about skills, think about hobbies and have a little bit of time out and think about hobbies. And when I say a bit of time out, maybe a couple of weeks. Just have a little dig into what makes you happy every day if you did it and take out money from the equation and take out this sunken cost and this skill set. It might come back into the equation, but I think for right now, it's kind of putting a bit of pressure on you to somehow perform more. and I don't think necessarily performance comes from having a skill set I think performance comes from having a mission and so I got I've got better at social media because I have a mission to fix the education system I wouldn't say that I would I could beat myself up that I haven't fulfilled my full potential I don't that wouldn't drive me every day I think what drives me is can I get better at this thing to help people with their with their education and business knowledge and so maybe have a little think about you know your hobbies and just take this thing out of the equation for a little bit thank you so much for calling in i really enjoyed talking to you and thank you for your honesty and openness and i just i just really appreciate it i think a lot of people are going to resonate with where you are in life which by the way you can build a business on that and i hope to speak to you again i really enjoyed your insight and your honesty thank you so much okay so um i always like talking about the importance of sales uh this in my opinion might be the most important entrepreneur skill at school and as you become an adult sales is always seen as this dirty word i think it's made the dirty word when it and it isn't it's it's literally a thing that can set you free if you can sell and everyone can learn to sell then you can find a job you can convince people to invest in your business you can convince people to join your business you can convince clients to use your business like sales is something everybody can do You've been told it's for the special few or for select types.

39:20It's not true. If you're an introvert, you can sell. If you're an extrovert, you can sell. I've actually done a really long YouTube video on this, how to sell. And you should go watch it. If you think you can't sell, watch that video and then I'll prove you wrong. But thank you so much again, Garth, for calling in. Right. I want to show you guys a clip. And then I'm going to give an reaction to it. But I want to see what you guys think as well. So roll the clip, Jane. get good at sales yes you need to get good at marketing and they're not the same thing they need to get good at brand building so i'm going to define those three things i believe that selling is uncovering the value you have so well that people are happy to exchange the money they have in their pocket for the value you've revealed so selling is not talking people into buying something they don't want don't need and can't afford right selling is making something available people that they've been looking for anyway and you just uncover i've got this thing you value and when they value your transformation the transformation of your product your service your opportunity when they value that more than they value the money then the money is it's easy to pay the money i just think people don't understand this and they need to sales is simply telling a story.

40:41My best salesperson in my last company was my accountant. When I interviewed her, she's one of the best accountants in the world. I wasn't telling her she was going to be a salesperson because she probably wouldn't have taken the job. All I did was explain what the business does and how we help people. And she went off and accidentally sold it to all her other CFO friends and so then those cfo friends would go back to the office talk to the ceo and then my company would get a phone call sales is something you guys should learn i do think it's important as well to understand the process of sales and very simply i'm going to share real quick with you the most important three steps in sales number one get to know the person you're selling to not the company the person understand the person that you're selling to what their objective is people don't want to lose their job so if you're selling to someone something that's very risky you've got to understand their risk appetite you've got to understand their agenda you've got to understand if they have the same pain feeling that you have so you've got to understand the person you're selling to do do they like you and do you like them the second thing you've got to really understand in the sales process is do they need it too many people are selling something that the person you're selling to does not need and then you wonder why you don't get sales you know the the analogy of like sell me this pen people still don't understand this whole story and wolf of wall street about selling this pen it wasn't very well explained in the movie it's never about just selling someone a pen it's about understanding whether or not someone needs a pen and if they need a pen what type of pen this is a very expensive pen this was given to me as a gift by my wife this is a very expensive pen not many people will want this pen but i could try and sell it to the thousands of people that are listening to this right now and no one will buy it and i think i'm a bad salesperson no it's because i'm not selling it to the right audience yesterday i was sitting at a lunch with 20 people that had all sold their company and one of them we had to sign this blog book where we all signed when we were there to say what was going on in our lives.

42:53One of the people there didn't have a pen on him and I know he's got money. So that's the person I should have sold this pen to if I was in the business of selling pens. So people don't understand. Second step is, do they need it? Do they like you? Do they need you? Do you need them? Right. Do you need them? Do they need you and they like you? I promise you the third step of the deal terms payment amount product servicing sell the sizzle not the steak once you've got that bit this first bit's right the third bit every single time works if they like you and you like them if they need you and you need them the third bit the deal always happens so try to learn to follow that process and uh yeah so great right okay I have one more caller Sophie Clark Hello So good to speak to you again Sophie are you there?

43:43I am can you hear me? Yeah the tech is working we can hear you so Sophie tell us how much is in your bank I don't want to answer that question Come on I know I can't answer that question because it directly affects other people and I was so nervous when you were going to ask me that listening to others suddenly my anxiety went through the roof I was not I'm sorry that was that was not my aim I think when I'm giving advice to people I always want to know their financial situation because otherwise I can't tailor it I know some people have money to invest in an idea and other people don't so I try to understand the baseline because I know how money also makes us react if you don't have money in the bank it can cause fight or flight which means I can give you all the best ideas in the world and you might not be able to do it because your brain won't let you because you're worried about paying the bills this week or next week or food today or the electricity bill so i try to understand people's financial situations i know my advice will mean nothing if they don't have enough money to eat today for example okay but i understand so tell me what's up i can probably tell you a bit um about what's in my bank account and it will probably sound quite shocking um but it's really changeable and i've learned to get really comfortable with that because there's days on the day that i met you i had zero pounds in my bank account um today i have 1500 pounds in my bank account i'm 35 years old in a couple of weeks so that will probably sound quite shocking to a lot of people that that's all i have in my life um but next month i could have 10 grand in my bank account and that's just the way that my business goes at the moment because of our personal circumstances it's not the business that's not doing well the business is doing it has always done very well i'm very lucky um but yeah my personal circumstances life happens alongside a business and that's really important that people understand that that life still happens and the unexpected can happen at any time maybe for the audience sophie we should just play the clip of when i first met you so people understand a little bit more so should we play that yeah sure i think sorry to bother you do you have a dream What is your dream?

45:53I have a business called Mini Pease Hair Club, but our personal circumstances have meant that it's stuck. What's the problem? Cash flow. Most of the time, cash flow is just not enough sales and not enough margin. Yeah. So build the margin and get more sales. Because I've had cash flow pods my whole life. I'm not getting emotional. Don't, don't. It's not embarrassing. Asking for help is so hard. I just never know to. I think what you should say is, what I really need is£5 ,000 to buy some products so I can sell that product. to give you 5 000 pounds of my product is that what you need i'm happy to give you 5 000 pounds but i don't want to give a fish i want to give a fishing rod yeah in life so i can give you my book which has all my knowledge in it so that's like nine hours of my time but the most important thing is and this will be the thing for me like i'd love to put a video up about you so that people can buy your product you're not alone okay yeah i still feel emotional just watching that again so since since that moment how have things been going yeah so a lot better I mean the the last time we spoke honestly was a real turning point in my life you can probably see from the video I was really emotional I was rock bottom that day and I have to catch my breath because watching that video it makes me you've got this uncanny ability to make people cry no no it's a good good thing it's happy happy tears I like no it's it's nice um I mean that day you gave me five thousand pounds no strings attached and it really changed everything um like I say I I was really at breaking point and the business was surviving but I wasn't and And when you gave me that money, to me, it wasn't just money.

47:43It was belief. And that's what I needed. I wasn't believing in myself anymore. And it just allowed me to reset, breathe and keep going. And that's what I needed. I've never, ever, no matter how hard it's got. And it's been a real rollercoaster of a journey. I started this business almost four years ago now. And it was a complete accident, by the way. I didn't sit down. you know and say I was going to start a business I always wanted to um I always wanted to make a lot of money and be really wealthy and I was always trying to you know these get rich quick ideas and what can I do what can I do and this kind of just happened and I believe with every fiber of my being that this is meant to be and that I will be a millionaire from this I know that in my core in my soul um so I just keep going and I guess that I suppose to give people an understanding of what we actually do because I don't think it's really clear in that video either and it might be helpful I know you've seen my page and my things and things like that but for you as well um the business is called mini please hair club and we fall into the imagination play space i would probably say um and we design like these colorful hair pieces that are clipping braids for kids and they look like they've been intricately styled into the hair with like the color hair extensions that you probably see like when you go on holiday and stuff but they're actually just clipped in and now we offer like full events for makeover parties with glitter hair styling and you know the full works and we get flown out to amazing places like monaco which is amazing so it doesn't make sense there's only 1500 pounds in my bank account today because we get to go to the I feel like sometimes I'm living a double life you know I'm surrounded by the rich and famous and celebrities and high net worth individuals you know we've serviced people like the king of Qatar the Eccleston family and so it really and then I come home and it's like my life alongside the business so it's really it messes with your head a little bit in some ways yes I understand well look Sophie I think I think you've got that entrepreneur thing that it is a process what I like about your story is first of all you're very authentic and you're sharing the highs and lows and I think a lot of people feel that feeling of like I'm going to call it imposter syndrome sometimes like you know that feeling that businesses is there it's it could be like you say it's going to be really successful in the long run but there's going to of these highs and lows of turbulence as you go on your journey and sophie i just think i think it's amazing that you keep pushing through and i know you've got a lot going on at home i know you've got a lot of you know like me family and you've got to you've got to look after your family but i think you're a superstar sophie and um and i also know by you being so authentic and sharing the struggles a lot of people feel relieved that they're not alone and they're not the only ones and doing it like you're having to do it.

50:51I've never said entrepreneurship is easy. I've never said that. I said it shouldn't be something. I think everyone should be able to do it. And I personally think it's still easier than working for someone else when that person isn't a good boss, when that person can just fire you, when you don't own the brand and they're telling you what to do. But I never said it was easy. It's meant to be a challenge. That's what makes it rewarding, right? But I admire you, Sophie. And thank you so much for coming on the show and saying hello again and sharing your your story okay so uh that is our last quarter for today um i think it's important that people understand that things continue after the videos i want people to hear the stories and follow the dreamers like sophie after they've been on the simon scribb social media system you know we we try to help people's dreams get out there we try to help people who have a dream get promoted get supported get community get get orders get an investor get a co-founder whatever the dreamers need but it's important i think to realize you know the journey doesn't stop with the video and please follow these people please follow these dreamers they will actually inspire you and some are succeeding and some will fail but i think failure is the best lesson of all and the ones succeed are giving back and and i don't think anyone can be successful on their own i'm going to make this the theme of this show.

52:13It's impossible to succeed on your own. School teaches you this lie that sitting down and doing on your own, this exam, this life thing is how you're meant to do it. You get an A or you get a D. It's all your fault. It's all on you. You're an idiot. You're smart. No, you have to do it together. There's no other way. We need to do it together. That's another part of this show. I want to make it a community show where we help each other. So please go Go follow us on Spotify. Please comment, engage and follow the callers. Follow the people that ring in here and help them in any way you can. Everybody here, if you're rich or you're poor, you can give five minutes to help someone today without any expectation of anything in return.

53:02Give without take, not give and take. Just give five minutes and your life will be better because the world will be better. Thanks for listening. I want to hear your dreams so give us a call in the next show this will be every week we will be doing Simon Says you can now follow us on social media on most channels it is Simon Says we're still securing those social media handles but go and find us Simon Says and if you want to be on the show there will be a link somewhere around here wherever you're listening to for you to sign up to come on the show and in addition if you want to help anybody who's on the show just go follow them on Instagram and give them a DM.

53:41If you're watching live right now, please go to Spotify and follow us, Simon Says. Again, there should be a link in the bio. And I hope that together, not only can we help people find their dreams, we can help people's dreams work, help people's dreams get out there in the world. Because again, if you want your dream to come true, if you have a dream and you want it to come true. I've learned this thing. I was 10 years old when I remember my granddad saying to me, just as I was about to blow out the birthday candles on my birthday cake, he said, Simon, if you want this wish to come true that you're about to make, make the wish for someone else.

54:26Don't make it a wish for yourself to have this, that, and the other. Make the wish for someone else and then it will come true it's stuck with me and i made a wish that day that wasn't for me and it came true so if you want to be successful if you want to be living your dream help someone else with their dream please feel free to subscribe wherever you're listening to go on spotify and let spotify know this is the best podcast you've ever listened to and you want to see it more because Spotify then can promote this podcast and we can start to help people help people and we can help people's dreams happen.

55:10And if you don't know your dream, then the best thing you can do is hang out with dreamers on this podcast. Thank you for listening, everybody. We'll be back in a week. I hope you enjoyed it. If you did, let me know on stories. Let me know on Spotify. Let me know what you thought of the show. Let me know what we could do better i want to make this the best podcast in the world i want to bring you value i want to make you smile i want to make you surprised shocked excited i am tired of the boring old podcast formats where we just listen to rich people talking to rich people i want to hear your stories i want to help you follow your dreams and i'll see you next week