EPISODE OVERVIEW
Duration: Approximately 42 minutes
Best For: Trapped entrepreneurs who know they need to lead differently but feel too exhausted to figure out how
Key Outcome: Discover why knowing yourself is the foundation for delegation, freedom, and finally stepping back from the daily grind
He spent 32 years teaching leaders how to lead. Then he watched them burn out anyway.
THE BOTTOM LINE
You built your business to help people and create freedom. Now you are up before dawn answering emails, micromanaging every decision, and wondering where the years went. Ron Reich has spent over three decades training leaders at companies like Toshiba and major pharmaceutical firms. What he has learned will challenge everything you believe about control. The trapped entrepreneur who tries to do everything becomes good to nobody, including themselves. Ron burned out at Toshiba trying to say yes to every request. He moved back in with his parents during a brutal divorce. And from that low point, he discovered something that changed his trajectory. The best leaders are not the ones who know everything. They are the ones who know themselves well enough to let go. This episode gives you permission to stop being the bottleneck and shows you exactly why getting to know yourself, your triggers, your values, your limitations, is the first step toward building a business that runs without you.
WHY THIS EPISODE MATTERS TO YOU
You will understand why your inability to delegate is actually a self-awareness problem, not a trust problem, and what changes when you fix that
You will learn the "oxygen mask" principle that prevents burnout while actually serving your team better
You will discover how making your own schedule becomes possible when you stop letting ego drive your decisions
You will recognise the hidden cost of staying trapped, missed moments with family, declining health, relationships that suffer while you tell yourself you will get to them later
KEY INSIGHTS YOU CAN IMPLEMENT TODAY
When you get to know yourself extremely well, delegation becomes natural. Ron shared that understanding your strengths, limitations, triggers, passions, and values transforms how you work with others. The trapped entrepreneur who skips this step keeps micromanaging because they do not trust themselves to choose the right people or communicate clearly.
You cannot help anyone else if you are not okay first. The oxygen mask principle applies directly to your business. Ron burned out at Toshiba because he said yes to everything. When he crashed, he was no good to anybody. Your team and clients need you functioning, not heroic.
Freedom means choosing not to work when you are tired. Ron finished two intensive days with New York City government. The next day, he chose to do very little because he could. No boss questioning why he was leaving early. That is the freedom you built this business for, and you can have it.
Being present requires knowing how to switch off. Ron walks his dog every morning at 6am. That hour gives him exercise, quiet time for informal meditation, and space to think about who matters in his life. The trapped entrepreneur who is always on never recharges. You cannot read the label from inside the jar.
AI tools can help you overcome your limitations without replacing the human element. Roy shared how he uses Claude to write in his voice and apply storytelling frameworks he learned from Dennis Ross. The technology handles what he struggles with. The human connection and authenticity remain irreplaceable.
GOLDEN QUOTES WORTH REMEMBERING
"You cannot read the label from inside the jar." - Roy Castleman
"If the God forbid the oxygen masks come down, put yours on first. Then you can help others. Because if you are not okay, you are not going to be able to help anybody else." - Ron Reich
"Nope, not at all. Just our little corner of it." - Hawkeye from MASH, quoted by Ron Reich on changing the world
"You never know when you are making a difference in someone's life. You just never know. It can be as small as a smile." - Ron Reich
"Nobody's that important." - Ron Reich on the ego that leads to burnout
QUICK NAVIGATION FOR BUSY LEADERS
00:00 - Introduction: Ron's 32 years in leadership development and the phone call that changed everything
04:30 - The entrepreneurial journey: Why stepping out of structure into freedom requires real insight
08:15 - The energy cost of coaching: Why holding space for others drains you and why that matters
12:45 - Making a difference: When a participant realised her environment was toxic and chose to leave
17:20 - Mental and physical wellness is profit: Why trapped entrepreneurs put everyone else first
22:30 - The burnout story: Ron's Toshiba experience and what happens when you say yes to everything
28:00 - Being present: The skydiving lesson about doing the minimum work to live
33:45 - AI as a tool for freedom: Using technology to overcome limitations while keeping the human element
38:30 - The challenge: Get to know yourself extremely well
GUEST SPOTLIGHT
Name: Ron Reich
Bio: Ron has 32 years of training, development, and consulting experience with organisations including Toshiba, The Chubb Corporation, and several pharmaceutical companies. An avid reader who has consumed over 400 leadership and management books, Ron believes no one graduates from Leadership School. Every leader needs to be a work in progress, always learning and growing.
Connect with Ron:
LinkedIn: www.linedin.com/ron-reich-7809829
Instagram: instagram.com/leadership_rlb
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ron.reich334
YOUR NEXT ACTIONS
This Week: Take 15 minutes to write down your top 5 values and your top 3 triggers. Notice how many of your daily frustrations connect to those triggers. This self-awareness is the foundation for everything else.
This Month: Identify one task you micromanage because you do not trust anyone else to do it. Ask yourself whether that is actually a trust issue or a communication issue. Then have the conversation you have been avoiding.
This Quarter: Build one non-negotiable recharge practice into your weekly schedule. Whether it is a morning walk, quiet time, or time with family. Protect it the way you protect client meetings.
EPISODE RESOURCES
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie, mentioned as a foundational resource for understanding human connection
Ron Reich's free resources on self-awareness and leadership, contact him via LinkedIn for access
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READY TO ESCAPE THE TRAP?
Take the Freedom Score Quiz: https://scoreapp.atpbos.com/
Discover how trapped you are in your business and get your personalised roadmap to freedom in under 5 minutes.
Book a Free Strategy Session: https://www.atpbos.com/contact
Let's discuss how to build a business that works WITHOUT you.
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CONNECT WITH YOUR HOST, ROY CASTLEMAN
Roy is the founder of All The Power Limited and creator of Elevate360, a business coaching system for entrepreneurs ready to scale without burnout. As a certified Wim Hof Method Instructor and the UK's first certified BOS UP coach, Roy combines AI automation, wellness practices, and business operating systems to help trapped entrepreneurs reclaim their freedom.
Website: www.atpbos.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roycastleman/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@allthepowerltd
I'm here today with Ron, and Ron is a coach,
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:a business coach. He supports. He helps people at every
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:level understand what they are and what they need to
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:do. He's a trainer. He's been doing this for 30
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:years, I think you said. Yeah, 32. Whatever. Long time.
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:Long time. And more importantly, he's been married for 25
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:years. This man needs a gold medal just for. Yeah.
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:Understanding how to go through that. So, Ron, welcome to
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:Power Movers. I'm really glad to have you here. And,
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:yeah, just give us a little bit about how you
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:get to be doing what you're doing. Oh, Roy, thank
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:you. It's good to be here. And the backstory, actually
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:is very interesting because I began my career all those
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:years ago in human resources, and I enjoyed it. It
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:was fine. It wasn't something about which I was passionate
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:for whatever reason throughout those first 10, 11, 12 years,
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:whatever. It was like, boy, you know what? Getting into
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:training and development would really be fun. Long story short,
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:here I was working with a consulting firm, an HR
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:consulting firm. The five of us were there. We were
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:friends for a number of different reasons. We shut the
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:doors. I was going through a very uncomfortable, very nasty
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:divorce at the time. Moved back in with my mom
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:and dad because I had nowhere else to go out.
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:Excuse me. Out of nowhere, I get a telephone call
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:at my mom and dad's house from a guy in
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:Dallas. I know who you are. I've tracked you down.
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:I have a job with Toshiba that is the exact
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:opposite of what you are. They are looking for somebody
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:who has a lot of training and some hr. You
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:have some training and a lot of hr, Ron. I'll
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:get you in front of them. I guarantee you. I
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:can get you interviews. You need to get them to
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:flip their competencies. I went in, they flipped their competencies.
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:I got into T and D, and I've been doing
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:it ever since. And it is just my absolute calling.
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:I love it. It's fun. And I say proudly, and
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:I hope it comes across that way. I'm good at
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:it, and I make a difference. It doesn't get better
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:than that. It's amazing. Right? The. I love the entrepreneurial
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:journey. And you've just described very well. Yeah. That first
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:stage. Because it takes a real effort, it takes a
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:real will, and it takes a real set of insight
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:that I think only entrepreneurs have to step out of
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:the normal, step out of the structure, step out of
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:the jail, into the freedom. And I really talk
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:to this a lot. The freedom that entrepreneurs want that
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:they go into. This can be so inspiring. It can
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:be so great. You can feel so empowered with this
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:if you do it the right way. Roy, for me,
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:what you just said, I think that's probably one of
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:the things I enjoy the most about what I do,
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:truly. It's the freedom. It's doing what I want, when
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:I want. I can make my own schedule. And one
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:of the things I love. I was in Manhattan Tuesday
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:and Wednesday. Yesterday, two day session with some people and
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:with the New York City government. We had a wonderful
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:time. Two very long days for me. Just a lot.
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:So a lot of work and everything else went wonderfully.
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:You and I are chatting right now and I'm looking
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:forward to it. We'll have a lot of fun. My
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:point simply is I'm not going to do much else
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:today because I'm tired and that's my choice. It's not
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:like a boss is around. What are you doing? You
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:don't look very busy or. What do you mean you're
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:leaving early? What do you mean? I say I'm not
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:going to do much today and oh, by the way,
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:that's my call to make sure. And I just want
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:to touch on something you said there because this idea
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:of coaching is such a powerful one and people
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:often look at us as coaches and they say, actually,
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:why am I paying you six grand a day to
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:come in and do this work? And there's this element
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:of the amount of energy it takes to sit there,
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:to hold the space, to understand the different dynamics of
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:the people in the room, to understand the right questions
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:to ask, to get them to open up and to.
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:You have to be authentic, you have to be vulnerable.
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:You have to share your stories. By the end of
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:that day, it feels like you've worked a week. And
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:equally as important for me, on the other side of
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:that, I finished the session yesterday. Okay. This morning I
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:got an email from one of the participants, Ron. What
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:a great two days. I got so much out of
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:it. She outlined some of the things she enjoyed. Her
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:bottom line is I realize the environment in which I'm
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:working is very toxic. You have helped me to learn
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:that. The stories you told, Ron, helped me to understand
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:it. I'm going to leave this organization and I'm like,
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:how cool is that? Not that she's leaving, that she
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:realized it through some of the help or some of
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:the information she gleaned from the stuff we covered. That's
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:what it's all about here. And again, I'm not. I'm
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:not trying to say that I hope people aren't getting
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:the message any listeners. He makes people leave. No, not
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:at all. Help people to understand who they are, what
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:they are and if it's culturally, is it a good
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:fit or not. And to that point this ability to
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:take. I've got 30 odd years in business. You know
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:I started my first business when I was 19 years
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:old in South Africa selling mushrooms from a, from the
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:back of my little Golf VW Golf. And I realized
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:that this was what I wanted to do from 11
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:years old. I was trying to make money and sell
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:my, sell newspapers and I didn't come from a wealthy
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:family and that this idea of coaching to me is
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:the ability to look to somebody else, to accept the
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:help and to learn from their lessons because that allows
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:you to shortcut. If I knew now, you know, at
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:the ripe old Age of 53 what I knew back
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:then, I would have made millions. So knowing that investing
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:20, 30, 40 grand, whatever it is in the right
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:coach that resonates with you, you will be. Will allow
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:you to shortcut so many different pains and problems and.
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:It'S. Yeah, I can't. There's nothing I want to add
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:to that. Right there really isn't. It just resonates so
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:much with me. I have a client in Indianapolis, a
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:heavy duty transport slash towing company and it's
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:the same thing where they. It was so fortunate and
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:very grateful they did not balk at the amount of
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:money that I charge them. It's a unit. Is it
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:huge? No, it's a good amount of money. There's no
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:getting around that. And the plus point is they're embracing
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:it. It's helping, it's making a difference. I just got
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:an email from the one VP yesterday. Hey Ron, could
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:you please take a look at this assessment one of
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:my colleagues got and just, could you just give me
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:your thoughts on this? Of course I will. And that's
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:what it's all about is making the actual difference with
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:the work and in addition the ancillary ways you can
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:help people. Yeah. I have a client, Karen. Yeah down
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:the road here. He's a remote client and I'm just
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:visiting my partner so you know, I get to go
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:and just see him and say hello and. Amazing guy
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:Spencer. And Spencer runs a company that removes moles from
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:gardens. And when I met him four months ago, he
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:was stressed out. He was really stuck working in the
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:business and you know, a month ago he had a
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:baby. Scotty. Yeah. And I just, this just really is
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:why I do this. He's been able to take the
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:five weeks off so far. Really giving the family the
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:time, really enjoying the stage with his family that he
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:wouldn't have been able to do otherwise. And yeah, just.
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:That's the gift of running your business and your business
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:not running you. Yeah. And not being able to read
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:the label from inside the jar. You can't see this
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:yourself because you get so stuck. That's right. And his
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:turnover's up in the four months. His turnover's up 61%.
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:He's not. Not actually out doing the work anymore. We've
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:got growth plans to take him up 10x in the
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:next two years. And they're all realistic growth plans. And
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:this is just the power of being able to accept
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:help, I think. That's right. That's right. And there's another
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:thing that pops into my head here. Old colleague of
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:mine, David, used to say all the time, and I
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:believe this is that you never know when you're making
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:a difference in someone's life. You just never know. It
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:can be as small as a smile. It can be
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:a stray comment. It can be going through a training
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:class, just anything like that. And you make a difference
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:in people's lives. And there are so many people out
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:there that have no clue what a difference they have
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:made to me. And again, it can be through formal
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:coaching, which is critical, along with just everyday life. Yeah,
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:I love that. Yeah. One of my things I did
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:years ago was Dale Carnegie is how to. How to
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:win Friends. Friends and influence people. Yes. And what a
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:terrible name for a book. What a terrible name. But
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:one of the things he says in there is. Is
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:this walk out and smile at people. The. And I
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:do this. I try and smile at people all the
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:time. And you go out and you smile and that
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:person just. There's an energy exchange that happens and then
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:they can smile and then they walk to the next
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:person, they smile and suddenly the ripple effect can end
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:up in China. Right. And literally has this. That's right.
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:Ability and positivity is such an important thing. Yeah. Yeah.
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:Being not caught in this era where everything can be
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:so negative and. Yeah. I don't even watch the news
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:anymore. Yeah. Let. I try too. Let the world carry
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:on with what it needs to do. I can make
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:a difference in my sphere. And if I do the
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:things that I know and love and trust, then making
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:that difference to me is the best that I can
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:do without outside influence. I'm getting older myself. I said
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:I'm 65 and what you're making me think about. I
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:loved the TV show mash. If you remember it at
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:all, an episode from mash. Hawkeye and
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:BJ ground a helicopter pilot because he is. He's
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:been taking little kids into the fields where there are
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:mines. I want you to go find metal and go
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:find stuff so I can sell it. And he'll give
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:the kids a couple of bucks. Except he's putting these
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:kids in grave danger. Hawkeye and BJ find out about
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:it, and they ground him. The pilot is furious and
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:he's saying to them right at the last scene, what
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:are the two of you trying to do? Change the
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:world. Hawkeye's comment. And I always remembered this. Nope,
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:not at all. Just our little corner of it. I
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:love that. And there it is. There it is. Now
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:I want to transition into something that I feel very
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:passionately about. Yeah. Mental and physical wellness
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:is profit. Yeah. That to sink in. Mental
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:and physical wellness is profit. Now, as I talk about
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:this and as I get more understanding of how people
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:accept it as business owners and entrepreneurs, what I see
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:so often is we don't value ourselves. We put everybody
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:else first. We have this propensity. We're there in the
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:world to fix a problem, and we drive after that.
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:Fixing a problem so much, we affect our relationships, we
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:affect our staff, we affect all of these things. And
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:entrepreneurship is such a lonely journey. And we can touch
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:on that later. If you can value yourself, if you
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:can really understand that you are the beginning, the middle
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:and the end of this whole journey. And when you're
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:in power, when you have the focus on today, when
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:you're not worrying about the past, when you're not worrying
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:about the future and you spend time on yourself, you
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:are so much more powerful and so much more profit
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:will come. Again. Right. I'll add nothing, truly.
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:It is just absolutely critical. And what I think about
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:the analogy for me is the classic on. On when.
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:Whenever I fly, if the God forbid, the oxygen masks
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:come down, put yours on first. Then you
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:can help others. Because if you're not okay, you're not
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:going to be able to help anybody else. And I've
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:done that. I have absolutely done it. Where I let
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:my ego get in the way and just some other
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:things. Many years ago, when I worked for Toshiba, I
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:was doing everything. I'll go to California. Sure. I don't
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:mind. No, I don't mind going to Florida. The week
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:after that, Dallas. Sure, no problem. And, oh, that's right.
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:By the way, I burned out and it was no
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:good to anybody. Just no good to anybody. And whose
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:fault was that? Look in the mirror, Ron. That's on
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:you. Nobody's that important. Yeah, nobody. You know the stats
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:in the UK at the moment and probably worldwide, in
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:the last 12 months, 53% of business owners have reported
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:being super burnt out. Have reported being in a stress
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:state. Have reported. I'm not wanting to carry on one
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:of the biggest sets of suicide in the world. Men
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:between the age of 25 and 50. Yeah. And this
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:is because as men, what we do is we take
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:on the responsibility of everybody else and we don't look
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:after ourselves. Yeah. And that's something that needs to change
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:and that's something that I'm pushing really hard to change.
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:And yeah, to me, the things that we need are
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:the tools that work for us. I do. I've done
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:the Wim Hof training, I've done various other breathwork training.
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:I've done meditation. And these are. There's tools within this
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:that have given me so much power to be able
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:to be in the moment. And that for me is.
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:It's simple stuff, sometimes it's free stuff. It's stuff that
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:you just need the tools to understand. And if you
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:have these tools, wow, how much more powerful can you
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:be? Because we go out in the world as entrepreneurs
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:and yeah, I love entrepreneurs. They are just the lifeblood
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:of the world. Right? Yeah. They. We see a problem,
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:we say, you know what? I know how to fix
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:that problem. I'm going to take this fix to the
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:world and I'm going to go out and this is
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:going to help people. And that's where those are the
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:people that I want to work with because those are
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:the people that really, they have the passion, they have
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:the drive. It's not an easy journey, but it really
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:isn't an easy journey. It's not. Yeah. And there's a
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:lot to learn. And as we go out into the
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:world with this whole piece, we're in the situation where,
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:okay, now that becomes our entire world. Right. And we
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:unfortunately let other things go. We let family relationships go,
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:we let. We don't. It's very lonely. Right. It can
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:be a lonely career if you let it. So this
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:concept of your, okay, go out and do this, but
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:do it from a position of power where you are
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:the. You understand, your power in the situation is so
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:important to me. Yeah. There are two, two things. I
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:loved what you just said. Absolutely two things stood out
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:to me. The one thing that I believe is so
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:critical is That I heard you say you need to
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:do what works for you because everybody's
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:different. You know, I've seen so many people. Roy, you
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:need to exercise an hour a day. Roy, you need
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:to read more. Roy, you need to. Because I know.
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:No, Roy, here are some options we are. Or here
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:are some things you need to think about. Some different
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:dimensions of the life. How can you work within them
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:so it works for you. Oh. And I'll give you
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:some suggestions. Fine. My point though, who the heck am
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:I to tell anybody what to do? And I believe
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:that so strongly. Yeah. And the program that
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:I work with is I have 10 different things. It
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:might be walking your dog, it might be breath work,
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:it might be a crazy ice bath. Something is going
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:to resonate with you and you need to go and
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:try them. Right. We're entrepreneurs, we try stuff all the
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:time. So go and try the stuff and then see
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:how it works. One of the. One of the things
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:that works. And again, just for me, I tend to
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:be a fairly early riser. I will get up or
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:whenever I'm not traveling, I will get up around 6
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:o' clock or so. By 6:30, the dog and I
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:are out and we go for an hour walk every
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:day. So I get some good exercise, she gets some
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:good exercise. It's quiet time for me, so I can
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:do some informal meditation there. I'm also thinking about the
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:people in my life who's important to me, what's going
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:on with them, who do I need to contact? I
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:will also think about this morning. I was thinking about
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:our podcast a little bit. What are some things we
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:might talk about so I can be prepared and just
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:those kinds of things instead of, we started at 11
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:o' clock Eastern and see, it's not 10 of 11
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:here at home. Oh, that's right. I have a podcast
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:in 10 minutes. Oops. Who is this guy and what's
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:he all about? So I don't look stupid? No, I'm
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:ready. Yeah, exactly that. And this brings me to another
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:point. When you go into this journey, you're always on.
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:When you're in your 95 job. Yeah. You can leave
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:your at 5 o' clock and you can turn off
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:and you can worry about it tomorrow and you'll have
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:various people deal with that differently. But when you're an
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:entrepreneur, you're on 24 hours a day. Right. And you
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:need to know how to manage that. You need to
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:know how to manage the stress. You need to know
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:how to put yourself in the right situation there to
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:Your point? Having that quiet time, super important. And that.
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:That's where, though, Roy, too, for me, at least one
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:of the real key things. People need to get to
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:know themselves so well. So that when you're. When I'm
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:not on, I know how to relax. And I. And
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:I know myself, I am more of an introvert. I
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:recharge my batteries by having quiet time and just hanging
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:out with my wife or whatever it might be. There
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:are other people who recharge by going out and going
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:to dinner and let's go here and let's go there.
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:There's nothing wrong with either one of those. You got
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:to find what works for you. And the other thing,
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:I never forget this. An old friend of mine, mentor,
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:Rich Michaels is his name, we were doing. We were
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:working together. He made a comment to me, ron, anytime
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:you are doing a class and anytime you are with
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:a group of people or even with just one person
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:individually, you need to be on every single second.
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:And he said, the reason I say that whatever you're
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:covering, whatever you're talking about is important to somebody
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:in that room or to that person. It may not
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:be important. It won't be important to everybody. It's important
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:to somebody, and they deserve your best at every moment.
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:And I was like, wow, Rich, that's really good. I
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:like that. In about the year
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:in 2000, to this point of being present, I
352
:went out to Spain and I started my skydiving career.
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:And so many people looked at me and like, right,
354
:yeah, you're just a adrenaline junkie. Just an adrenaline junkie.
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:And I. It took me a few years to realize
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:this. That was one of my things. Yeah. And that
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:was when I get to the edge of that plane
358
:and I stand and I look out. One of my
359
:coaches said to me at some stage that the thing
360
:about skydiving that differentiates it is when you decide to
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:take the decision to jump out the plane, you have
362
:to do the minimum amount of work to live, and
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:there's nothing else in the world like that. And yes,
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:for sure, there is all of that stress with it.
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:But then you get to be present. You have to
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:be in the moment to your point. Right. You really
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:have to be so present in the moment that you
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:can't worry about everything else, and you can't worry about
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:the fight with the wife. You can't worry about what
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:the next thing is going to be. And that one
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:minute of free fall and then five minutes of, you
372
:know, a canopy work down below. Yeah, that for me,
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:has sustained Me to be present and taught me to
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:be present when I'm in the meeting room with people
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:and really giving my all to that group of people.
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:Because if I can't be present, then I can't be
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:honest. Oh, yeah. And it just. Yeah. Be present. Enjoy
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:the moment for what it is. We were on a
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:cruise quite a few years ago and we were sailing
380
:into the Caldera in Santorini. Santorini, Greece. I don't know
381
:if you've ever been there or not. Okay. Anyway, we
382
:are. We were due into Santorini, let's say at 7,
383
:7:30am it's about 5 o' clock in the morning. And
384
:the captain of the vessel came onto the intercom. He
385
:said, listen, folks, I'm certain I'm waking a lot of
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:you up and I'm sorry. He said, something's happening here
387
:that very rarely happens. The water as we sail in
388
:here is so phenomenally calm today. I'm going
389
:to open the bow of the ship. And he said,
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:I encourage you go out because as we sail in,
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:folks, I consider this to be one of the most
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:beautiful places in the world. Laura. I looked at my
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:wife and I was like, Laura, let's go. Threw our
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:clothes on, got out there and Roy, as we sailed
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:in, I'm holding her hand. The mountains are there. It
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:we're getting closer. And the beauty, the awe. And I
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:just looked at her and I was like, do you
398
:have any clue who gets to do this in their
399
:lifetime? And she was like, oh, I know. I was
400
:like, wow, what a moment. And I'll never forget it.
401
:Present, present. G me Goosebumps. That's it. That G me
402
:Goosebumps. Oops. You got. Yeah, I lost the video. Let
403
:me see if I can get it back. There we
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:go. Yeah. So let's transition now for the last section
405
:of this and let's talk about the world we're going
406
:into. And we haven't spoken about your view on this.
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:So this is coming at you from the left side,
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:shall we say? 2026 is going to be a different
409
:year in so many ways. And we can look at
410
:this different year with fear. We can look at it
411
:with the negative space, but we can choose to look
412
:at it from the positive point of view, particularly AI.
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:AI is just changing the way that everybody does everything.
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:We're now in the next evolution. We're in the stage
415
:of information is free. We have to understand how to
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:use the tools that are coming to us and how
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:to think about them. What do you choose to think
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:about? AI as we go into this. First of all,
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:I want to comment one thing. Everything in my life
420
:is a choice. Everything that's critical. That
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:said, I choose to look at AI as a helpful
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:tool. And I think what, I think what I'm hoping
423
:people will do, how I like to look at it,
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:yeah, it's going to give a lot of information, it's
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:going to give a lot of resources, whatever you want
426
:to call it, people are still involved. And that's
427
:the key here. People are still involved where it's like
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:there's still interaction going on. People still need to know,
429
:from my perspective here of what I do for a
430
:living, they need to learn how to listen, they need
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:to learn how to give each other feedback. There needs
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:to be a culture where people are open to exchanging
433
:of ideas. There needs to be the, the development of
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:a mission statement and leading people, managing people. Just all
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:of these different things. AI is going to be there.
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:There's no doubt. The people aspect becomes even more important
437
:with that. From my perspective, I think the lessons.
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:We'Ve learned in 2025 have been just so valuable. And
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:I went into the beginning of the year, I had
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:an AI community and I was talking about tools and
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:I was talking about what they could do. And I
442
:was super excited about this. And I've learned a few
443
:things through the year. AI actually forces you to communicate
444
:better. AI actually allows you to think outside
445
:your brain. Right. AI allows you to do so much
446
:more with so much less. And I'll give you an
447
:example. I'm busy writing a book, right? Got lots that
448
:I want to share. So I spent the last week
449
:in Florida on a book writing camp. And I'm not
450
:a good writer. I'm just not. But I accept that
451
:I don't type very well. I can't handwrite. I should
452
:have been a doctor, but I can talk into AI.
453
:First of all, I went to Claude. I used Claude.
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:I won't use all the tools. I went into Claude
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:and I said, Claude. So here's the thing. Yeah, I
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:want you to just take the story and I'm gonna
457
:just stream of conscious my stories into this in timeline
458
:from when I was born in Zimbabwe or how I
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:traveled into South Africa and all the way through my
460
:journey. But I want you to understand what my voice
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:is and I want you to create a skill. The
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:Claude has these skills that you can put in and
463
:it becomes a program. I want you to create a
464
:skill which allows you to talk in my voice. So
465
:point number one, point number two, I then did this
466
:amazing course with a guy called Dennis Ross. And Dennis
467
:Ross is a chap that allows you to understand how
468
:to craft words, how to tell a story. He has
469
:a system that he uses that allows you to actually.
470
:It's so important as we're going out and we're communicating,
471
:what we're actually doing is being able to put our
472
:message across in a way that people can accept it,
473
:not in the way that you want to give it.
474
:Exactly. Yeah, that's exactly right. Yeah. So I. I learned
475
:this stuff. I did this video a whole bunch of
476
:times, and I took the key lessons out of this
477
:and then said to Claude, right, I want you to
478
:create me another skill. This is what I want to
479
:take from Dennis's Ross, Dennis Ross's work. And I want
480
:you to help me apply this to my stories. So
481
:now you have my voice. Now you have my story,
482
:my voice, and you have Dennis Ross's methodology, shall we
483
:say? Yeah. So then I write, you know, my first
484
:27 stories that I put out there, and I'm like,
485
:okay, here we go. Take this story. Yeah. That you've
486
:given my voice. Now apply the Dennis Ross methodology to
487
:it. I read the first one, Ron, and I'm not
488
:ashamed to say I burst into tears. Yeah. Oh, yeah.
489
:Yeah. Just because it really. Yeah. It allowed me to
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:understand that I can think outside my brain. I can
491
:use. When I don't have a skill, I can use
492
:other skills that I know will work and bring them
493
:into the process, and then I can actually really honestly
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:and truly get my message out there. And this is
495
:the power to me of AI. This is what's possible,
496
:let alone the automations. We finished this podcast. It would
497
:have taken me two and a half days to edit
498
:it, to make my YouTube description, to get my blog
499
:post ready for it, to do all my social media
500
:posts. I take this video, I drop it into a
501
:folder, and all of that gets done in my voice,
502
:with my message, with your details on, with everything on
503
:it. And it comes together. It takes me less than
504
:half an hour. Now. This is where the power is
505
:going to come in. Whatever process you have that can
506
:be automated directly to your point. Right. We have to
507
:bookend it with human. The more we bring human to
508
:the surface in the future in 2026, if you're. If
509
:you have a company with 10 people in it and
510
:you're now worried, so many people are worried about. But
511
:I'm going to have to make people redundant and it's
512
:not going to work. Don't make Them redundant. Just think
513
:about how do you 10x your company? Yeah. You let
514
:these people work 6 hours a day and you let
515
:them do exactly what it is that they want to
516
:do and be more human. One company that would then
517
:be everybody's creating connection. We had this massive thing in
518
:Covid and I lost millions of pounds in Covid. We
519
:had this massive thing, Covid, where we got separated from
520
:other people, we disconnected. And AI can really give us
521
:the ability to reconnect again as humans and bring that
522
:forward. And the companies that do that will be the
523
:ones that make millions of pounds, serve their mission, get
524
:their clients exactly what they need and become much more
525
:powerful. That's right. That's exactly right. I believe that. And
526
:to what you do, this ability to create culture, disability
527
:to the. The companies and the people that are doing
528
:the human work, those are the ones that, that really,
529
:if people understand it, you can't get coaching from AI.
530
:AI can't sit in the room with. You actually feel
531
:the different tensions that are coming up, the energy going
532
:between people, the words that they're using that tell you
533
:actually, you know what, the CEO is really pissed off
534
:with these three people. We need to get to the
535
:bottom of this and that's where the power is going
536
:to be. That's it. What's your. What are your plans
537
:for AI as you go forward? I'm sorry, say again?
538
:What are your plans for AI as you go forward?
539
:I've got to think about that, Roy, I really do.
540
:I think you. You have me thinking, though, because people
541
:have been after me for years. Ron, you should write
542
:a book. And Roy, you and I are very much
543
:alike because I don't write well, I don't. I. My
544
:handwriting is terrible. Someone told me one time, you should
545
:be a doctor. And it's. I'm thinking about, though,
546
:those kinds of things where, how it can absolutely benefit
547
:me, where I can take some of the limitations I
548
:have and still work within them with some help. Yeah.
549
:And it's. I have two business coaches, I have two
550
:skydiving coaches, I have freediving coaches, I freed up as
551
:well. So I go up and I go down. Yeah.
552
:And I realized many years ago that the ability to
553
:be coachable is so important. Yeah, that's right. Which is
554
:a choice. Yeah, which is a choice. Because as an
555
:entrepreneur, you know what, I knew everything. I knew exactly
556
:how to do it. Yeah. And when I got to
557
:£5 million turnover and I was working 7, 14 hours
558
:a day, 7 days a week, I suddenly realized I
559
:don't really know everything because people out there are doing
560
:no work and they're working, making four times more money
561
:than me and I just can't grow through the ceiling.
562
:And. Yeah, so that. Yeah, I love your introspection there.
563
:I love your being able to look inside and say,
564
:what am I good at and what am I not
565
:good at? And how do you elevate yourself? How do
566
:you bring yourself? How do you thrive? Yeah. And that's
567
:to me. Yeah, I'm paying. I get the money in
568
:every month and I pay a lot of it out
569
:for coaching because, yeah, this is just such an amazing
570
:opportunity as we go forward. And I think you should
571
:write a book. I think the way you talk things
572
:out, there's three things in terms of communication. Firstly,
573
:depending on your tool, you can talk into it, right?
574
:You can type into it. Yeah, not so good. I
575
:don't know if you touch, type. I don't. Should have
576
:learned, didn't you can. You can type into it. Secondly,
577
:you can talk into it. My. My accent, my way
578
:I'm talking. You know, I'm doing voice coaching because I
579
:want to be more clear. But this has been a
580
:big problem for me. Chat GPT came out and it
581
:could actually understand me. And I was like, whoa, this
582
:is amazing. And then you can. So you activate a
583
:certain brain center when you do that. When. When you're
584
:talking. Sure. You can also brainstorm with it. It can
585
:talk back at you. So now this activates a different
586
:brain center. Yeah. And you can brainstorm and you can
587
:get everything out. And so now I use my AI
588
:for journaling, I use my AI for brainstorming, and I
589
:use my AI for anything streamer conscious that I need
590
:to get out. And just understanding these tools that are
591
:available to us just can make us so much more
592
:powerful in what we're trying to achieve. That's right, yeah.
593
:Anyway, I think we've had a really good chat one.
594
:And what I'd like to do is close off now
595
:and I'm going to give you a challenge. What is
596
:the one thing that you could tell our listeners out
597
:there that'll change their lives? To me, it
598
:is simply get to know yourself extremely well. The
599
:better you know yourself, the more effectively you're going to
600
:work with other people, the better relationships you'll have. And
601
:that's been true for me. I've recommended that to so
602
:many people who have just said to me, absolutely, what
603
:are my strengths? What are my limitations? What triggers me?
604
:What are my passions? What are my values? And all
605
:these different things. And if anybody's interested, I have resources
606
:that where you can learn about that and I'll be
607
:glad to share them. You can share them with me
608
:and I'll put them onto this. Okay. Yeah. And if
609
:people want to get hold of you, what's the best
610
:way to get hold of you? I'll put your contact
611
:details below. Probably the best thing is LinkedIn. Just
612
:through LinkedIn, my name, RLB Training and Development. That's me.
613
:And I welcome the chance to chat with anybody. Ron,
614
:it's been really great speaking to you. Thank you, Roy,
615
:Amazing insights. Thank you for being here. It's been my
616
:pleasure. Thank you for your time.