#120: Simon Beard: After Achieving Everything You Ever Want, What’s Next?

30:18And I'd just push them out of the way and jump in there. But then I, it was my catching myself and training my ego is that if I keep doing this, I'm just going to be stuck here. And you realize to go to the next level, that was, and that was so important because that skillset that I developed in teaching and breaking down was worth to me in Culture Kings, hundreds of millions of dollars. Cause that's what built our whole store model being so successful. our store training to start, how we created this emotional connection that people remembered the brand from an in-store experience when they went back online and they got hit with an ad.

30:55We only remember something that shifts us emotionally is that that experience when they saw the ad, oh, I know Culture Kings click through buy a shop again. The lifetime value, I was trying to, like, I couldn't even calculate it on the training of what that, But it's hundreds of millions of dollars, actually one of the most linchpin parts of building the model of culture kings. And it came from me taking those step backwards at the markets to unpack it, to learn it and teach it that people could actually deliver a very similar result. So emotion plays a massive role then. So the way people are feeling through the stuff that you're doing, do you think that's the most important part.

31:39Yeah. People, I always looked at Bernard Arnault. I studied LVMH, richest man in the world, all top 10, only one not in tech. And it's just purely luxury brands, Louis Vuitton, Dom Perignon, all these products. Someone doesn't buy a$5 ,000 bottle of champagne because it tastes that much better, right? No one's buying a$5 ,000 handbag because it's some better quality than another one. It's because of the feeling, the emotion is that when that girl puts that handbag on the shoulder, when that guy holds up the luminous bottle of Dom in the club, it's a signal, it's a status. They feel more valued in their group or a community.

32:20That's that biological part that's wired into us, that status, that recognition. That is what I learned from him. And then, okay, how do they do it? How do they break it? How do they focus on the experience? How do you deflect the customer from the price? One of the smartest things, if you see Louis Vuitton does, if you go in there, there's no prices on anything. And they make it awkward if you ask the price, like no one's ever asked that question before. They actually look like, oh, how much is this? It's looked like they sucked on a lemon. They're like, oh, let me see. And they fumble around.

32:58It's crazy. But this is the whole part. But Bernard Arnault makes the whole experience, the price is the worst part of the experience. You want to lap them up in it, in all that emotion. And if you watch and you go the whole way through, you'll pay and you won't even see it. It'll be a tap. It'll be a sign. It's all designed that way because it's focused on the experience and that pain is actually the worst part. And I think a lot of businesses I've showed this to and how they can implement it can just make a massive impact of just, you don't need to show the price again. That's actually creating a negative jarring effect.

33:36Instead, focusing on the outcome, on the result, on that feeling. But breaking down, the reason I tell this, Bernard and Olt, there's so many lessons in there of, but the biggest one that I took away and embedded in Culture Kings from day one is people do not buy a product. They're buying a feeling and emotion. How do we reverse engineer that? That's the only thing we remember. That's the only way we represent a brand. And to focus from that as our North Star, as our first principle that we focus on is connecting that emotion. That is what we're after. That's what all the product, the marketing is designed to do is to connect more of that positive emotion into the product.

34:20How are you doing that with your new business, Creator Army? What are you doing there to try and capture a feeling and an emotion from obviously it's a marketplace, having the brands being really excited to come on board and then also having the creators play a big role in actually creating the content? What are you doing from a feeling standpoint to capture that? But the biggest part is that I'm training all the creators on this exact sale structure and format of understanding how they connect emotion through short form video and how it's actually the same as a sales process in real life. And the big thing I'm teaching is I don't want to make brain rot content.

35:03A lot of people think content, it's like a meme page. It's not worth anything. It's worth zero. unless you influence someone to action you can have 500 followers but if you learn how to sell through short form video that skill in the market now the leverage is insane and what i do is i break it down it's the same processes in real life the same connection when two people meet as long as there's rapport whoever has more certainty influences the other person so you have to make sure you get this connection in the first three seconds as well you need to stop the scroll. As well, you need to position yourself really quickly as a figure of authority, as an expert of why they should listen to you.

35:44You've got to get all that across in that first couple of seconds. But then overcoming objection is the body. It's that us versus them. It's creating the features and benefits. It's a sales process and then finish with a call to action in a video, that last thing at the end that gets you to click through. That is just the same as a close in real life, you have to position that. And this is what we've had. Some of these most amazing creators are really good at making the viral content. We got one guy who's had a billion views on YouTube shorts and he was so good at getting the connection, but he just didn't understand the sales process.

36:22But oh my God, once it clicked, he is like, he, his value just 10, a hundred X, I believe in the marketplace because that was the missing link and you don't it doesn't matter about what especially now the creative does the targeting it's such that's why a big part why i started creator army is it that i've always been obsessed with looking for the alpha in marketing i always said culture kings was really a marketing company just why we're a marketing agency why would why would i sell other people shit why wouldn't i just make all the money myself and you know we never had anything external. Our entire marketing funnel was completely integrated, was built.

37:03Every day, I'm in that dashboard, daily P &L, ad account every day since 2012, always looking for that alpha edge. What was that new way that we could stay ahead? And I've been obsessed. That's fun for me, always investigating and looking to it. And what I saw why I created Creator Army is like, But these winning brands that are hitting it out the park now, the results that are unheard of, they're content production houses. That is actually the game. It's width of content because we all know social media turned to interest media. You don't get the photos of your friends, you know, selfies or dinner and shit anymore.

37:44It's all interest media. The creative does the targeting, but you need this massive width to win in that game. and you need this variation. You need this huge amount of quantity to even know what quality is. I hate it when people think quality is their judge of the eye. It's like quality is what the freaking algorithm says. We all get, and that's why it is the ultimate equalizer. Someone now can start a new account and smoke someone with a million. I had this big billion dollar brand we were helping and scaling. I was just like, forget your socials. We'll start all burner accounts. they'll get more like so we don't need the approval process so we can move faster because we need to operate at this level of speed and that's what the market and this feedback loop that's that was a key part of culture kings but i built it because i really wanted to i saw a lot of young kids i was like how could i give the skills that i wish i got if when i was 18 and i I was like, oh my God, sales, if you learn sales, but learn how to do sales in short form content.

38:50I was like that right now. And I teach them to be a full stack, what I call a full stack content creator. It's like, they're a director producer. They're a videographer. They edit it. They understand the marketing ad account metrics, and they can even act in the video too, if they need to. Or with an iPhone as well. I guess the thing that I think is key in all this message is how important conviction is. Yes. And actually having the confidence and conviction in whatever you're saying. And if we tie on the people, like the big brands that have their skeleton ways of doing things and they don't want to move quick, the problem with it is, especially with the algorithms, your judgment is the worst judgment.

39:34Like just look at the data, like look at what's going well and do that. And a lot of the time, none of it's going well. So consistently shit may as well be nothing. You've got to be consistently improving. And then once you find something that works, then you be consistent at that. And then it grows. It's like when I speak to people all the time and they have been posting for three months straight and they've got zero growth. I'm like, yeah, you posted consistently every day for 90 days, but you posted consistently shit content that doesn't work. No reflecting, no feedback loop. So when I started on social media, Louis Mocko was the guy in Brisbane who sent me the content challenge.

40:15What he said was, he said, I want you to post a video every day for 30 days. But the key here is I want you to look at the video that you posted today and I want you to make the next one better. Yeah. And so at the end of 30 days, you've improved 30 times. Yes. Let's not try and reinvent the wheel every day, but just go, okay, did the background audio match? Did we cut out the words? Was the script very good? Was the hook good? Was the lighting good? Was the zoom enough? Did it capture? Was it in 4K? And you make 30 improvements over 30 days. All of a sudden you get to 30 days and you're through the roof far greater at what you're doing.

40:51I think there's this element of people not actually improving the thing that they're doing and they get disheartened by the results that they're getting, but wanting great results without improving anything is wanting a lie. You're not going to do that, especially how competitive it is. a hundred percent. I would always, we had this, that's why I do the daily standup every day. I would go through the daily profit and loss. Like I did this up to return over 300 million and I was still doing it every day. Standup, going through the ad account and seeing which of the top performing ads and then trying to break down, well, why, why do we, why was this ad so good?

41:28Why did it work? And we, we actually looking and understanding so that we can make pivots and change. And I think this was one of the biggest, you know, we just ran it, although it was a big company, we ran it so lean and fast turnaround. And one of the biggest problems is that once I sold and private equity public company, we needed to do a yearly marketing budget. I did the marketing budget basically to the day because it was a traffic light system. Basically, if it was green, we scale. If it's yellow, new content, new creative. If it's red, oh we'll dial it back we're losing money and but it's that balance that enabled us to pivot and move faster and in i remember in april 2020 when job keeper was announced you know start of covet we tripled our marketing spend in april 2020 and i was like always said this if we had a yearly marketing budget i couldn't have done that well that made us how many millions of dollars because we could see the data it's green oh my god everyone else pulled back there was the opportunity and I believe this is where it's such an exciting time for entrepreneurs now because you can literally build a business and eat these dinosaurs lunch because they're all stuck in the old ways and they're all trying to you know protect their own job and you know almost sweeping AI under the rug like I don't want to look at it because I've spent my life learning pivot tables and all I got to do now is throw it in chat GPT and ask the question and what took me for six hours before it gives me the answer in 60 seconds.

43:00They don't want that realization. And this is the opportunity for small dynamic teams that are nimble and on the front foot that can grab that momentum. The whole disruption, obviously, if followers mean nothing, interest media, it is no better time. It's like all these ones trying to sell me their company now, I just keep saying at this time, it is so much better to build a company from scratch than actually buy an existing one because you've got to deal with all the dead weight unless there's huge some fixed cost advantage it's actually way harder to untangle it you know all this rather you can set the software clean stack ai first from the go much nimbler team using contractors and that's why i built basically creator army is that part when i'm like we can be the whole bolt-on marketing function and i love marketing that's that's fun for me so i was like if i could just do the funnest part i'll just do that and then find the the businesses that have a real moat brand protection and you know we don't even don't even have to charge us we just take equity because we know how valuable our when we throw the the army out at just how much we can get those uh to to just break that that chart just go vertical yeah When I was interviewing Andy Elliott, he talks about underdogs will crush Goliaths.

44:25And he's like, these big Goliaths, they're so set in their ways. And as an underdog coming in, you just need to find the cracks in their castle, find the things that are leaking that they're way too big to even address. And then if you can make those improvements in your business and as the underdog, make the improvements where they're lacking, you'll be able to see a way past them because you can be nimble. You have this flexibility to be able to move, adapt. And I think that's really key. I mean, I remember you were telling me about how it's better to start a business than buy a business. I remember you were saying the next Nike is not going to be Nike.

45:02Nike is going to die by death by a million cuts. Yeah. I mean, you were saying there's going to just be a million other people taking market share as AI is automating the world. People are just craving human connection. People are craving association with community. and there's going to be a bunch of little communities that slowly just eat away at the big brands. Do you still believe that? Yeah. And I feel a lot of those athletes will make their own brands. They'll be smaller, but they'll be way more beneficial for them. The whole supply chain in the back really breaking down of how easy you'll be able to bring that product to market and innovate.

45:39Their big economies of scale isn't the advantage that it was. It actually turns from to actually a disadvantage because it's so slow and they have so much communication costs. And this is why I see those infinite niches that smaller brands will be able to create, grab market share, grow, scale. And it is, maybe they're not, they don't get this massive exit, but you can get a$10 million business pumping out$3 million free cashflow profit. I'm like, I'm telling you, if you can make that, you've won the game. There's nothing else to buy. There's something like that is, and I feel there's going to be so many that will crack that.

46:21Yeah. What do you mean by communication cost? So one of the biggest problems of a big company is communication costs of meetings. Cause you've got so many people where, how do we update everyone? How do we, and this is why I created Army. I created the full stack because I realized I used to have 16 people in my marketing team, right? at Culture Kings, but it's like, well, this person had to speak to this person. Well, this person had to approve the videographer. The videographer had to send to the editor. The editor had to go back to the marketing director. And all these times where it's like, we need it now.

46:55If one person understands all that and can deliver it back in the head, you don't have those baton passes that slow it down and the information gets leaked. And it's not as clear. Those communication costs when a company gets big can be, that's what slows it right down. And this is where you don't need a meeting if one person does it end to end. They've got it all in their head and their AIs, their agents that they're pulling together. They have all the context, all the knowledge, and they can just deliver the end product. And that's what I'm finding is when we get this right, it's just the difference is unbelievable of not only is it 10 times faster, 10 times cheaper, it's actually way more effective and better quality as well.

47:40Yeah, that's an unlock right there. Maybe this Goliath approach of business is kind of like Chinese whispers as well, where one thing gets shared to one person, then it goes to the next person, and then it keeps evolving and changing the story. And then when it comes around to where it needs to be, it's actually completely different to what it started. And the bigger the ego's in there, it's, you know, politics that get involved in big bureaucratic companies is, well, who takes credit for it? Whose idea was it? And, you know, I've seen this play out in, like, public companies and stuff. As stuff gets to the board and I know underneath it's like, that's complete bullshit.

48:19Because I knew the levels of detail down and how it just got distorted through so many layers. and that's the problem is that the people at the top are making decisions but not off real truth not off the real info and that's where there's when you collapse that because all those communication costs it runs so much tighter this is why i think too is i study so much of elong how elong runs his companies and how it's all just engineers how he's involved in those key problems it's just so different to any other company but if you actually if some if if anyone was really studying business you would think all those mbas are worthless just study elong because he's literally it's like he's been beamed down from space and has created this whole other way to run or how many trillion dollar companies it's it's so disproportionate to anyone else but how he does it is so different and there's so many lessons in there.

49:22I always take, I'm always every podcast, every part in really trying to take takeaways from him. A really big one I've put on my goals for next year is context switching. He speaks about that's how he can run so many companies at once is the problem we get into is that when we context switch. So if I've got different projects is that I try and stay focused on that one. You don't want to be like, oh, I'm doing this and then get an email from something else and then jump across here you want to really dedicate that time to go deep in that flow state because context switching is one of our biggest like that's where we lose our momentum that's when we lose our progress and uh when i heard this from him i've really i've ingredited my 2026 goals for all our teams because i was like this is it i know my biggest breakthroughs have come when i'm deep in that flow state when i haven't switched context when i've stayed on that one project for a whole day, but going deep, not just skimming across stuff.

50:23What do you mean by context switching? So say, for example, Elon does it. If he's working on SpaceX, he stays on SpaceX that whole day. He doesn't go, oh, an hour meeting here on SpaceX, and then an hour meeting on Tesla, and then an hour meeting on Neuralink. He doesn't do any of that. He stays on that context and how he triages the information to work on, well, what's that biggest constraint the bottleneck and then how does he focus on what's the bottleneck that needs to be solved the hardest problem and he goes to where that problem is he will fly there he'll go to the people to the engineers on and he stays in it until it's solved and that is i was like fuck it's so simple but so it's it's simple but it's very hard to do and extremely powerful with yeah so dissolving the problems as quick as possible and not like building up this plate of problems in all different realms, especially when you're trying to run different companies.

51:21Yeah. But, but as well, it's finding what is the biggest problem. Because some fires you can let burn. So many mistakes people do is they get, they gravitate to the problems that are easy for them to solve and they get their ego of like the fire extinguisher of everyone. Oh, what do we do? Get the fuck out of the way. Put it out. And they feel like, but you've got to be careful. Are you just doing that for your ego? And it's like, well, should you be solving this further upstream? Why did that thing catch fire anyway? That's the actual bottleneck. But they want to come in. I know this feeling too of being that value of like everyone's, how do I do it?

51:58And coming in the ad account and being like, and it just fixed. But that again, that's where Elon is so good is that he triages that, finds that real bottleneck where it is from first principles and he runs that five-step algorithm. them if you haven't heard about it oh my i'm obsessed with it you know uh simplify the uh question the requirements is the step one you know understanding what what what do we have to question of of the project do we actually need it um to you know and what what's most important is you automate last where a lot of people try and automate stuff where you can just delete the step completely, but Elon's theories and stuff I'm obsessed with.

52:47And I think so many that are learning like traditional ways or MBA, I'm like, that is, Elon is the blueprint to take everything possible from there. And how can you break off chunks that are relevant to how you can operate in your operating system today? Yeah, I feel like there's a lot of lessons we can learn from Elon and his companies just because there's like even just, you know, going from buying X or Twitter and then cutting all the stuff and all of the ways he's operating, he's seeing so far into the future and he's adapting quick. I'm fascinated to know about family and how this ties in because, you know, you're living a life and a lot of people see the things you have and they would admire to have that as well.

53:35How have you gone balancing family, kids while in pursuit of building business? And has it been a switch of focus since the big exit? Has there been an underlying theme throughout your whole career and journey? Or talk to me about that pillar of your life and how you're managing family, relationships, loved ones. Yeah, it was massive. So we had two kids right in the thick of building Culture Kings and it was a big part of us. We would leave at six o 'clock in the morning and race back to read them a book during the week. And Tani and I, we were just all in every waking hour, basically into growing and building Culture Kings.

54:18But when we did have those kids, we realized like, okay, how can we be able to unwind and unstep back more? And this actually caused us to think a lot more strategically in how we can leverage and get, build a better business, which I think was so important because it actually built us in a business that's actually sellable. Because so many people think their business is sellable, but they're freaking not. Because if you took them away, it just falls, it falls to nothing. So we, the kids forced us to do that. but we did realize like you know for anyone in you know building a great business like this we didn't have we had 99.9 % of our wealth in one asset class we couldn't really pay out these big dividends or anything too because we always needed that money to grow and take on the US so we thought it would be best to how do we take some money off the table where basically we net we've earned the last dollar we'll ever spend.

55:18And then the rest is all house money. And that was such, but once we did that, we did realize, oh my God, it is the family and so much more we can dedicate time for that. And then we've had two more kids. So we got four now and it's just incredible. We really prioritize it. You know, I have this real strict goal. I'm not away for dinner breakfast or dinners more than 25 nights a year. And so always trying to make sure that I'm there and present and the games and the engagement that we have with them. We go away every school holidays. We have these amazing trips and these moments together. It will be a big thing as they get older.

56:01One of my biggest challenges I know is how do you bring up kids with all this resources and wealth, but still give them They still have that hunger that I did to start at the markets and that FU energy. How do they get the FU energy if they've already got the reward? But that's one of my biggest challenges that I know orchestrating how to deal with that coming up. But it is something too is that having that time with the family now post exit is absolutely euphoric. I love every moment of it. Hmm. So you'd say that the biggest challenge has been how to parent them knowing that what's got you to where you are today is that harder, tougher upbringing.

56:51And now that you can give them the world, it's trying to find a balance between what you actually give them and what you don't. Yeah. And especially how we still want to experience, you know, that we've, we've, we've worked hard we want to earn these trips we want to experience these things but how do we then also give these experience to our kids without ruining them in the process that's that's something I'm working through we're trying to balance them my wife and I argue about this we're actually going camping on the weekend so it is this not they're not all the bougie holidays You know, we try and balance it out as well, uh, so that we can give them that.

57:33But the most important thing is the connection. But I just, I really encourage the big thing about family. I believe so many young ones put it off. They're like, oh, we got to wait till we have more money or we're going to wait till I'm more further ahead. And I can, having employed a thousand staff and seeing this pattern so many, never has it happened that when a couple or a male or a female, when they're having a kid, they go to the next level. I never see the personal development growth than when that moment triggers. It happens every time. They straight away start thinking, oh, well, how do I add more value in the business?

58:13How can I be more valuable? And it's just not delaying thinking it will come. is like that is so often the catalyst that just ignites the growth. And I just think too is that so many push it off when it is the funnest part, it is the most enjoyable and just don't put it off thinking that there's going to be this perfect time. There's never going to be a perfect time. And I would just strongly advise that the earlier the better because there's nothing that will ignite your growth, give you this level of happiness, expand your thinking emotionally, spiritually, everything than having a kid. Yeah.

58:59Someone said on the show, you want to make real money, have kids, you'll never work harder in your life. Yeah. There's also this thing from dads that I speak to. When they leave to go to work, they value their time more. Yes. Because they know that they're away from their family. They know that their wife's at home just looking after the kids by herself. They know that they're not spending time with their kids when they're at work. Yeah. So every minute they ratchet this gear, the intensity every time I see it. And it's so good. And so many of us when we're younger, we don't realize that. We just piss time away in our 20s or whatever.

59:40I'm such a believer in those kids being the most amazing catalyst for that growth. I know it not only happened with ourselves, I saw it just so many times with staff and in our business dealings. Yeah, I wonder if people are just being a bit short-sighted maybe, like they're in their 20s and they go, I just want to live up my 20s and do that, but they're not really looking at their life in their 40s and 50s and 60s and how much more flourishing they will be having kids there and having all of that in their life. Maybe the view is just a bit short-sighted and all about them, to be frank. I think they just get the perception wrong because they're like, oh, but because we're going to go to Europe next year and go on a holiday.

1:00:25And it's like, that's a fucking week. It's like when you actually put it compared to a kid, once you have a kid, you realize that doesn't mean anything. That was like a drop in the ocean of how much the kid enriches your life. So, you know, obviously we're in the population is decline is a big threat to part, but I just do believe people delay it thinking that there'll be a right time. There's never going to be a right time. I can stress you that. And that if you want to grow, you want to go to the next level. You want to ignite this level of energy, of responsibility, of care. That feeling, the second you see your wife's pregnant coming, you're thinking, oh my God, a kid's coming into this world and I am responsible for it.

1:01:16Bang, you just grow straight away. What about personally? There's this nature of high achievers that kind of don't really give themselves much credit. and I see it in all my biggest high-level athlete friends. They don't get the outcome they want or they want more. They don't achieve it and they just like self-sabotage, kind of beat themselves up because they haven't yet got to that thing. And I often wonder that it is this nature of you climb a mountain and straight away there's another big one looking up and you keep going on to the next thing. I feel people seeing your life would struggle to understand why you still keep going, even though you've achieved so much.

1:02:00How's your relationship been with yourself and the inner dialogue? Do you pat yourself on the back or do you find that's a hard thing to do? I always try and practice gratitude consciously. Just little things like when I look at my boat or look at my pool or walk through, I get this and I take this breath and be like, oh my God, I can't believe this is my house and reset to that and really feel it in my body. not just be like, oh yeah, cool house. Like I consciously do that to bring that presence to it. I do think if someone can look and be like, and I hate people who say, oh, you know, money doesn't buy happiness.

1:02:41I always heard that as a kid and I was like, shut the fuck up. I'm going to find that out for myself. And I can tell you, it's an amazing, it just amplifies whatever you're doing. You can just do it at a bigger level. Even in business deals, we can do bigger business deals, more exciting, more fun, more impact. You know, you love experiences. You can just do crazy freaking experiences. It just amplifies, but it isn't a gain to what I sort of found in consciously is that success or money, it can be a drug just like anything. I met some others at way levels above me and it was a big conscious of like, oh shit, I don't want to be like that.

1:03:24where they're just fucking obsessed about the next thing and their life's a fucking mess. You know, apart from that, I do believe, you know, and that's why I speak so much about rounding it out, all the other aspects of the life. But for me, work and business, it's fun. It's my game. It's like playing golf. It's like playing a video game. I get all the same kick, the energy out of it. It gives me energy. it doesn't take away energy so and i just got to build it in the right settings in the right framework to make sure i just don't get too obsessed with it and go down that rabbit hole where that's it becomes the drug just like anything i've been thinking a lot about stories recently yeah and how important having stories to tell her and i think i think when when we get so consumed with just making the money or doing the thing.

1:04:26It takes away from the actual experience and process of doing the thing itself, which then creates stories that you can then touch on and talk about. When I think about the most enjoyable people to hang around, it's the ones that are kind, energetic, have conviction, but they actually have cool stories to tell. The people that have the cool stories are the ones that light me up and give me energy. And so when I look at that, I struggled and being in America all year and meeting all these people that I never would have thought I would ever be in rooms with. And then you're at the dinner with them and they're not even sharing stories.

1:04:59They're talking about like the ROAS or whatever, you know, the whole dinner. And I just go like, you look at the people that have the most like fruitful life, at least from what I can perceive. And it's the ones that are like lit up by what they're talking about and they're sharing it and they're excited. Yeah, they've made a boatload of money too, because that's unlocking all the ability to be able to do all of the things that they want. But I feel that there's this passion piece that a lot of the time I've just from observing, a lot of the time the money can take people away from that and that can make them less excited if they just constantly chase, chase, chase.

1:05:37And I feel like there's this broader approach to life that yes, achieve the money, make a boatload of it. But be able to see beyond that and not have your worth tied to the amount of money in your bank. I think that's a really important pillar. Would you agree? Definitely. But as well, like at the dinner, some people's passion can be the roll ass. Yeah. Right? That's the other thing too, is that the passion is that other people go, oh, it's that number. It's that unlock. It's that value creation. It's that, that little alpha edge. That's why they want to talk about it is the passion. But, but if they're speaking at it in a passionate way.

1:06:19Yeah. And so here's the thing is like, like that would be considered a story and they're passionate about it and they're explaining how well like this and then it changed to this and, and you can see it in their energy that they love it. And that's great. And a lot of those rooms that we, people like us are going to sit at, we're going to talk about certain stuff like that. but it's when you when you see this like mundane surface level approach to things that people are telling I struggle to go oh you've really cracked a code here because I just it just feels mundane I'm like what's the point like I make something that that you get excited about that you're passionate about and I feel like that unlock there brings the best out of people yeah it's like I I love this idea of making a lot of money I love this idea of making a lot of impact I love this idea of building an awesome family, I kind of like the idea of being able to try and master all the areas.

1:07:11And I feel like that's something that you've probably, ever since the exit, you've turned a switch on where you've gone, I need to focus and obsess over my health and prioritize that. I want to spend more time with the family. I want to go to the Tony Robbins events. I want to work on the relationship. Do you feel like a phase in your life right now is trying to be a bit more holistic with your life? Definitely. And I bring it back to So happiness is being challenged yet on top of things. It's that feeling of like, oh, you know, am I going to pull? And yes, that is. So you, one of the biggest parts is that as you grow, you've got to take on a bigger challenge.

1:07:49You can't just do the same thing you were doing before and get challenged from it. It has to give you that feeling. And that's what I try. That's what I got out of my health too. you know i put it in chat gbt okay i want to be the top one percent for my age for every exercise right and it breaks it down pull-ups five kilometer vo2 max blood work bench squat and set it okay here's my current result this is what i want to work towards and that feeling of like setting that as a goal like fuck how could i you know these are some of these you know it's like a high rocks right they're conflicting uh goals but in building towards that it's that challenge but as you pull it off as i did the 35 pull-ups or whatever and it was like you got that big dopamine hit that feeling challenge but when you pull it off amazing and so that's what i do is i try and structure those challenges in every area and it's this relationship, even our level of holidays, the level of presence that I have at home, you know, for no screen time or this, or come up with these exciting games.

1:09:03And in every area, I always try and bring it back to that North Star. And this is what I always did for our team at Culture Kings, is how do I set them so it's challenge? How do I get that? But they get that, yes, pull it off feeling. Because if you can keep them there, they will do their best work. They will enter a flow state. They will unlock their potential. They will, it will create value. It is that, that sweet spot that you have to, that, and this is again, comes back to pattern recognition to be able to see where those spots are for people. And you've always got to keep pushing it. But it is, it was a big lesson as, as I hit these big goals is like, shit, these next challenges that I felt like, oh, like this is, this is big and it still gave me that scary and then I realized I can't just do the same level or below where I've done before I've got to swing bigger yeah and so on on the element of your romantic relationship with Tani because you know we've touched deep on on family pillars and business pillars that's one that you're actively working on and trying to thrive and and we alluded to it earlier around how when businesses fail, a lot of the key denominators, you look at something outside of it, maybe a divorce or whatever it might be that crumbles people.

1:10:26So you've clearly put an emphasis on making sure that you're not just a roommate, you're actually a thriving relationship. Talk to me about what you've been learning about relationships through Tony Robbins, through the events you're going through, through the knowledge that you've been having. What have been some key things that you've learned to set yourself up for a thriving marriage just that in a so many relationships end in a they're just roommates they're just going through their life but the polarity is that if you have that true masculine and feminine that creates that tension that is the biggest energy unlock that just travels throughout the rest of your life and so many relationships just plateau out in that or drift or despiral is that how do I consciously create that polarity how do I come up with the environment the ideas the creativity the knowledge the words the language patterns to help spark that and create that that polarity because one of the best parts is, you know, I got to do not only what I love, but with who I love.

1:11:39And it's just that unlock of energy through it. I know through those hard times at Culture Kings, if Tani and I weren't in it together, I probably would have crumbled. I would have gone, ah, and thrown it in. But because I was there with my wife, which I, you know, you, you would do so much more for someone else than you'll do for yourself. It's like, I won't let this happen. I will find the way i'll make the way i will protect them when they feel scared that energy and that unlock and now how we have to create it in other ways because we don't have the the back against the wall you know we got what i sort of see is too big a safety net right it's just like if you the part of the fun is is not having a safety is no net makes you focus makes you engage makes you like there's no way this is coming apart.

1:12:26But that's what I'm really focusing on, on that marriage, on that polarity, on that energy of putting our relationship first ahead of the kids. So many people make that mistake. They put all the love towards the kids, not the other way, but you create this whole weird dynamic and it stuffs up the kids and ruins your relationship at the same time. you know really trying to ignite and create that polarity and what i i've got all these crazy goals i always try and tell tani is you know all this new technology is coming out you'll basically be able to do skin cells and make a baby completely outside of the womb and i was like you know when we get to like 60 or something i reckon we'll have a whole nother round you know a whole another 10 kids and evolve like we can just uh because why not you know if we have the the health the energy the the polarity that i just know that will force us to grow to be challenged yet on top of things even more so yeah i i love how you're saying i don't think the connection would have would be the same if we didn't go through the hard times through culture kings together i truly believe that the and from from the relationships that i have in my life the closest ones i truly believe that the quality of the connection you have with someone comes down the depth and the polarity of the polarity of experiences that you've had.

1:13:48So the extreme lows and the extreme highs and the gap between the two is a good indicator of the strength and the connection. Because if you've been able to go that deep and then go that high with someone, you've experienced so many different emotions, so many experiences, and it strengthens the connection like no other. Because it's the flexibility. Yeah. I love it. And it's like, you know that you've been down here before and you know that you've made it out together. Yeah. So that when you're presented with something that maybe isn't as bad, you have the confidence because you made it out of something deeper.

1:14:21And then you know how great the highs are together. So you know that there's compatibility there experiencing the highs. So ultimately, if we know that and if that's our pattern, when we get presented with a low time, no matter how low it is, we know that it's only just going to strengthen the relationship. So you want a stronger relationship, then those things are only going to make it stronger. Exactly. I think that's great. When you talk about the polarity, masculine, feminine, it is a trending topic. It's quite a buzz term. But what do you actually mean by when you're working on building that polarity?

1:14:56What does that actually look like? So the most common mistake people make is that women, especially in business, can enter into a masculine energy because that's what's required to get shit done, make it happen, push things forward, they can enter their masculine. And what can happen a lot is that they're a go-getter achieving in business. That masculine lens, though, creates the male to switch to a feminine energy in being a pleaser. Is it, okay, I don't want to piss her off. I don't want to disrupt her. And you become this pleaser. And when you do that, it's like you're each wearing a mask. You lose the polarity.

1:15:37There's no charge there. It just becomes this existing. The key part though, that I learned, you know, and in going through these, um, learning process is how I need to, that, that true masculine energy is that when she's going to that fear is that I have to go to that next level, make her feel safe, be present, be really clear. And it's just like these little things that I learned that were as a game changer, but I've told it to a lot of guys, but I'm like, if you just like really look into their eyes, you know, when they're feeling that scared or they're stressing about something, but just repeat over in your head with that conviction you talk about with that, but you just got to repeat those like, I'll love you.

1:16:23I'll protect you. I'll worship you forever. Right. And you're just repeating that over while looking. It's like, fuck, it just pierces them. It's crazy. Yeah. You got to be careful too. I tell it to single guys to do it. I'm thinking it's like, oh, you got to be careful. It's like, it's, it's a fucking superpower, but it's so good in this relationship to just, that's, that's what they need to know. And part of that craziness that they go through is to test you is that, are you going to be with me? Even if I'm batshit crazy, when I'm going through perimenopause, when I'm going through menopause, when all my hormones, when I'm not as, you know, when I'm getting older, when I'm not as beautiful, are you still going to be there with it?

1:17:03It's like these tests. And that's that when you come from that frame and you give it, it's just like dissolves it so, so quick and so good. So do you think that a woman's biology actually just subconsciously does these tests for a man? Like it just like kind of like they just end up doing these things. I think it's like, yeah, it's part of that fear. It's part of that, you know, are you still going to love me if I'm crazy? for which every woman goes through those periods, goes through it. It was really good at that Tony Robbins Relationship Seminar. There was a lot on that perimenopause. The most common age for divorce is 43, inflicted by the women at that age.

1:17:48And it's like right in that peak of perimenopause. But it's just there's so much learning of like guys, you know, testosterone can sort of go down slowly where women's can just, estrogen all their hormones can just jump all over the place and it is this part of understanding that as a male understanding when they're going to is is being that rock being that solid foundation not you know fueling it by just you're fucking crazy fuck off you're like not not letting the those spirals kick off and i always try and give it back to my emotional chart i always talk about is unless it's a life or death situation, a decision made from that stress, from that negative emotion is most likely wrong.

1:18:34Like that cortisol, it's amazing, saves your life in a big, you know, if someone's attacking, someone's killing your family, that anger, that rage, that it can save your life. But if it's not a life or death situation and you're making a decision, that's, it's most likely going to be wrong, is that you have to shift that state first and position it, breathing breath work a lot easier said than done but it's a muscle like anything you've got to practice it that's literally what we're talking about at the very very start around being certain in uncertain times exactly it's like that being that rock for her in a sense like i guess i guess that's that key of it because what i'm trying to talk about is and touch on is we talk about this creating this divide of masculine feminine and we we hear it all the time but understanding what that actually means.

1:19:24And what I'm trying to think is so the feminine can feel safe, we need to make them feel safe. And if you're uncertain and chaos and on edge, that's like they're standing on a, on a rocky foundation and they're going to feel like everything's going and crumbling down. And the moment you can just be firm, they feel, oh, okay, well maybe I'm actually just overthinking this. Maybe I'm in my head. And that's what can open up that, that female energy. Cause that's that that's what we're really attracted to as men's that feminine energy when you see a girl that feels free and open and it doesn't it doesn't even need to be about the looks we're attracted to that energy and to create that in our partner we have to take that responsibility of i have to build that environment the foundation the certainty the the part that and it's it's not easy you have to do the reps to create it, but it, but it is, it's a hundred percent worth it.

1:20:23So when you were, when you were building Culture Kings, obviously Tani was very involved as well. You guys were, you guys were building that together. Now that you're in that exit and you've, and you've, you've, you've exited from Culture Kings and you're kind of working on all these other businesses, is Tani still involved in business or she put her priorities and focus somewhere else? and would you say that she's in a very different phase of her life than she was when you're in that building phase? Yeah, I definitely felt she felt a little bit guilty with our two older kids of just not being there and sort of really, she's so much there, drops them off every day, you know, is very much involved.

1:21:04She's still involved in a lot of my business ventures and what I love, I wish I could get her more involved because she's just so, she's just, she just sees it. She's got such a creative touch of like looking at something and being like, you're so good at culture Kings. Cause the entrepreneur in me would try and make every dollar. She was actually the, the cool factor that the finger on the pulse of what was culturally relevant. And just like, that's fucking cringe. Stop doing it. And she even gives me all the time about, you know, my content or my, ah, you know, reel it back. Like she has that, that point of touch and it's so good to just, whenever I get her involved, to get her sort of opinion, but it's very much, it's not like at Culture Kings where it's balls to the wall.

1:21:49It's very much this advisory sort of nurturing, more chairman, chairwoman sort of role in the, um, companies. But I do feel like we'll be ready, like when we want to do something together, all in and balls to the wall. Like I definitely feel she's, she's definitely got a lot more in her to really build something, um, massive and stuff. I know she still really loves the, the fashion side. For me, I'm a bit like, ah, sort of been there, done that. And it's not as exciting to me, but we'll see. She's, she's an absolute weapon in a retail, like her retail genius to be able to run and operate these stores, you know, she'd have to be one of the best retailers in the country.

1:22:37Honestly, if you just look at the results, like 10 stores doing a hundred million out of just 10 stores, you know, 30 % EBITDA. It's like the only thing that beat, it's probably like Apple. Yes. It's crazy. And that was, that was really a huge chunk of that was all her. Yeah. That's cool. I want to commend you dude. What's exciting you at the moment. What's, uh, what's happening in your life. That's exciting. I just, I'm really excited about Creator Army. I really love teaching and getting these frameworks into these and seeing these ones that click, seeing some of the AI creators in from their first video, just absolute fucking slop.

1:23:18And then a week later, like, holy shit, just the rate of improvement in there is wild. And I just really feel I can create these opportunities, teach these super valuable skill sets and we'll create value out of it. And we'll create lots of value for businesses, but as well doing it in this right way, in this point of leverage where I can make this impact. And, you know, every one plus one equals 11 was one of our core values at Culture Kings. How do we get that synergy? How do we unlock? And that's what I'm really excited about. But as well, just honestly, I have so much exciting things in my calendar and stuff to look forward to and fun all the time.

1:24:00Every time when I wake up every morning, I head straight to that cold punch. But whenever I'm in there, I'm always just like, oh my God, I'm so grateful I get another day of this. It's so freaking fun. So sick. What element of your life, just as we close out, what element of your life do you think you're most proud of?

1:24:22the most proudest moments is those moments when i was when i was scared shitless but i still took action and i i know them when i when i was doing a first sort of store meeting and i was speaking and my voice was cracking but i still did it i still kept i didn't stop i just i pushed through and those conscious moments of when I was like, I wanted to try something. Everyone was like, oh, is this going to work? And I was having the self-doubt, but I overrode that and went through down and did it. And that evolved into something so special. It's just, and that's courage, right? Just scared shitless, but you do it anyway.

1:25:08That is, that is, uh, that is what I'm most proud of. And yeah, I was still chasing those moments and that's the part to get scared now. It's like, oh shit, it has to be quite big. But even starting a personal brand was that for me. It was hard. I had the big exit. I had the thing and I was starting from scratch. My first video I posted got one like and it was my mom and I panicked and deleted it. And I was just like, oh, but it was that I had to overcome. I've got to start somewhere. I've got to build. I've got to think. How do I talk? I'm only used to speaking to staff where it's just like they're on the clock, right?

1:25:46listen to me and do what I say, where it's different to, I've got to engage and inspire and, and try and get them to take action. When I don't have this control, I had to learn all this and it's, it's a challenge, but you know, I'm, I'm working to get on top of it and, and it takes, and it's been courage because a lot of it's like, it's cringe as fuck. And that's part of it is that you have to go through the, the valley of cringe. So, yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's have 300 million in the bank, still delete your first video. It's so funny. One of my favorite, as you're saying there, the uncertainty is actually the fun.

1:26:29One of the famous Kobe Bryant speeches, he was like, those times where you get up early and you work hard. He's like, those times where you stay up late and you work hard. Those times where you get out of bed, even though you didn't feel like getting out of bed. he's like the uncertainty the doubt the fear he's like that is actually the dream yes and he goes he goes that is actually the dream it's it's it's not about the the destination it's it's the journey of those times not the highs it's it's those times because when we're looking back those are the things we cherish those are the moments where we go do you remember when we did that thing do you remember when we had the most delusional vision and tried to achieve something that was so impossible and we pulled it off.

1:27:14Like all of those things where there's so much uncertainty and doubt, that is actually the dream. And that's the best part. You don't always want to get put back on those things. It's easy to look back in hindsight. But I think that's a cool frame to be in when it comes to going through hard times and how to deal with them. Yeah, 100%. I couldn't agree anymore. Thanks for coming on the show, Simon. second time. You are episode five or six. The first time, this will be episode 120, I think. And yeah, I appreciate all your support and helping me out as well and shedding your wisdom on me. It's really helped the journey and I'm grateful.

1:27:59It's so awesome to see your growth. I can't wait to see you the number one podcast in the world. This is going to go out on Spotify and on YouTube. We're going to review all of the comments. Here's what we're going to do. Come up with the best comment, whatever stops us in our tracks the most, whether it's the most valuable takeaway, the most entertaining and funny comment, whatever it can be around relevant to this conversation or what we've been speaking about today. Simon's going to fly you out and take you on the Lambo boat and have a cool experience with him. Yeah, a heap of other entrepreneurs, network.

1:28:33We'll do a big 63 knot pass, show the rooster tail. world's fastest yacht. It'll be a hell of a fun. And what I, what I really love to do is give people an experience and give them the exposure. Cause I, I believe in the theory, we only dream at the level we're exposed to. When you're exposed to it, you dream it. I know my house, I would never have it unless I went to Tony Robbins house and I was like, holy shit, people live like this. What the fuck? There's levels. And when you're exposed to it, you can dream it. If you dream it, you can believe it. If you believe it, you can make it happen. So I want to bring someone out, give them the exposure and I know it will work wonders.

1:29:10It will quite literally change your life. Let's fucking go. We're going to shoot some watermelons out of the back of this and drive at 63 knots. I'm very grateful. Thank you guys for tuning in. If you've made it this far, screenshot this and tag us on your Instagram story to let us know you made it to the end so we can personally thank you all. But we're going to sign out and we'll see you very soon. Bye-bye.

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