Simon Squibb: What’s Your Dream? Finding Purpose, Overcoming Adversity, and Living with Mission

Summary

In this inspiring episode of "RISE with Roxie Nafousi," Simon Squibb shares his incredible journey from homelessness at age 15 to becoming a successful entrepreneur and investor. Known for asking strangers, "What's your dream?", Simon dives deep into his childhood experiences, the importance of dreams, and the essence of living a life with purpose. He shares his perspectives on overcoming adversity, entrepreneurship, and the true meaning of wealth and success. Simon emphasizes the significance of giving without expecting in return and living with a mission that aligns with personal values and purpose.

Highlights

• Simon Squibb's journey from being homeless at 15 to a successful entrepreneur. 🌟
• Sharing personal childhood experiences and their impact on building resilience. 💪
• The power and importance of having a dream and a purpose. 🎯
• Giving without expectation as a path to true happiness. 🌈
• The significance of helping others as a way to fulfill one's own dreams. 🌍

Key Takeaways

• Dreams and purpose are closely linked; tap into your pain to find your purpose. 🕵️‍♂️
• Failure is a powerful teacher; embrace it as part of the journey. ✨
• Giving without expecting anything in return leads to genuine happiness and fulfillment. 😊
• Live with purpose to power through life's challenges like a superhero! 🦸‍♂️
• Everyone is capable of entrepreneurship; it's about finding and fulfilling your own mission. 🚀

Overview

Simon Squibb's life story is nothing short of inspiring. Overcoming the odds from a young age, he was homeless at 15 but transformed his trajectory to become a successful entrepreneur and investor. His childhood experiences taught him resilience and the importance of having a purpose, which he now shares with others, asking, "What's your dream?"

In his conversation with Roxie Nafousi, Simon emphasizes the value of failure, not as a setback, but as a stepping stone to success. He believes in the power of dreams and encourages people to dig deep into their pain to discover their true purpose. His message is imbued with hope and practical wisdom, offering listeners profound insights into achieving personal and professional fulfillment.

Simon's approach to life and business is driven by the principle of giving without expecting anything in return. He believes that kindness and patience lead to genuine happiness and success, challenging conventional notions of wealth. His current venture, Help Bank, is a testament to his commitment to making social media a force for good, supporting people in achieving their dreams.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 01:00: Introduction and Setting the Stage The chapter "Introduction and Setting the Stage" explores themes of wealth and happiness, emphasizing the notion that kindness and patience can lead to a fulfilling life and eventual success. It discusses the potential dual effect of money on happiness, suggesting that money can enhance happiness if one is already content, but can exacerbate unhappiness if one is not. The chapter shares a personal anecdote about homeless experience at age 15, driving home the point that self-reliance is crucial. Ultimately, it discusses the connection between dreams and purpose, suggesting that having a mission gives one the capability to achieve anything, likening oneself to a superhero.
• 01:00 - 07:00: Simon's Childhood and Early Challenges The chapter delves into Simon's childhood and the early challenges he faced. It underscores the importance of failure as a valuable learning experience, suggesting that one can learn more from failures than successes. A significant emphasis is placed on a touching story Simon shares about his father, who passed away recently, highlighting the influence and legacy of his father in Simon's life. The chapter opens with a motivational question about personal dreams, setting the tone for introspection and inspiration.
• 07:00 - 15:00: Homelessness and Building Resilience The chapter titled 'Homelessness and Building Resilience' features an interview with Simon Squib, a visionary entrepreneur and investor. Simon is known for his unique approach of stopping strangers on the street and asking them about their dreams, aiming to inspire and guide them towards achieving these dreams. The chapter explores the motivation behind Simon's efforts and delves into practical steps that individuals can take to make their dreams a reality. The discussion likely touches on themes of resilience, ambition, and practical entrepreneurial strategy, providing listeners with insights and inspiration on pursuing personal aspirations.
• 15:00 - 22:00: Entrepreneurial Journey and Finding Purpose The chapter focuses on Simon's story, beginning with his difficult childhood and situation of being homeless at 15. It highlights his entrepreneurial journey and the path he took to find purpose, ultimately leading to his success as an entrepreneur. Simon's presence in the chapter serves as an inspiration, showcasing the power of manifestation and resilience. The conversation opens with a recognition of Simon's achievements and sets a positive tone for the rest of the discussion.
• 22:00 - 29:00: The Concept of Living with Purpose The chapter titled 'The Concept of Living with Purpose' begins with a reflection on past challenges. The narrator recounts an anecdote from their childhood in a town called Bedford, which is close to their home. At the age of eight, after an argument with their mother, the narrator was left alone, a situation hard for them to fathom now as a parent themselves.
• 29:00 - 41:00: Failures, Fear, and the Path to Success In this chapter titled 'Failures, Fear, and the Path to Success', the narrator recounts a pivotal moment of realization when they were unexpectedly left alone at a location. Initially expecting it to be a prank, they soon understood that no one was coming to help them. This experience was eye-opening, instilling a sense of independence and responsibility. Despite the fear and embarrassment of being left alone, and without seeking help out of concern for potential consequences, the narrator took decisive action by finding their way back home on their own. This episode highlights themes of facing fears, learning from failures, and understanding the importance of self-reliance on the journey to success.
• 41:00 - 54:00: Investing and Business Wisdom A person shares a childhood memory of trying to convince a bus driver to let them board for free, as they had lost their money. A kind woman gives them the fare, questioning about their mother, and they manage to return home safely by fabricating a story about meeting their mom at the bus stop.
• 54:00 - 67:00: Balancing Dreams and Practicality The chapter titled 'Balancing Dreams and Practicality' introduces a pivotal moment in the author's life where they first realized the necessity of navigating unexpected situations. The narrative highlighted, amidst chaotic circumstances, shaped their character and resilience. Initially perceived as a negative experience, in hindsight, it was a beneficial event reinforcing their belief in overcoming any challenge and thriving despite adversities.
• 67:00 - 75:00: Generosity, Kindness, and Giving without Expectation The chapter discusses the author's complex emotions regarding their mother's actions during their childhood. The author reflects on a particular incident that, although not directly helpful at the moment, ultimately contributed to their personal resilience. The narrative suggests a broader theme of abandonment and neglect during childhood, though the author stops short of fully painting their mother in a negative light, indicating some level of understanding and acceptance of the past. This complexity hints at broader themes of generosity, kindness, and giving without expectation, as the author's experiences are framed within the context of personal growth and emotional development.
• 75:00 - 85:00: Personal Reflections and Influence The chapter delves into the narrator's strained relationship with their mother, characterized by a lack of communication despite attempts to reconnect. The narrator reflects on their childhood, acknowledging that, while subjective, their parents were generally acceptable in their role. They don't feel neglected but describe their mother's inconsistent affection, being alternately favored and then met with annoyance.
• 85:00 - 94:00: Community, Support, and the Help Bank The chapter explores the themes of community, support, and personal growth through the perspective of parent-child relationships. It reflects on the author's childhood experiences and how these shape the author's approach to parenting. The author acknowledges the emotional challenges faced in childhood but views them as a mix of positive and negative experiences, which were ultimately balanced. A significant part of the discussion is about building resilience in the next generation, with an emphasis on allowing children to express their emotions freely rather than suppressing them. The intention is to foster emotional strength and independence in children.
• 94:00 - 98:00: Conclusion and Closing Thoughts The conclusion chapter highlights the importance of allowing children to express their emotions and understand the reasons behind them instead of suppressing their feelings. The speaker reflects on their parenting approach, emphasizing honesty with their child, as children tend to emulate their parents' actions rather than follow instructions. Additionally, the chapter touches on a personal anecdote, revealing that the speaker experienced homelessness at the age of 15, hinting at a challenging family dynamic with their father.

Simon Squibb: What’s Your Dream? Finding Purpose, Overcoming Adversity, and Living with Mission Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 I want to help everyone get rich I love that why can't kind people make money if you're kind and patient and you're not after something so quickly from people you'll have a happier life and and eventually you will win if you're happy and you get money money can make you happy if you're unhappy and you get money it can make you even more unhappy and I've seen that play out by the age of 15 you were homeless I kind of realized probably no one's coming to save you how do you think a dream is related to a purpose if you have a purpose a mission you can just do anything I feel like I'm I'm a superhero
• 00:30 - 01:00 because it Powers me up what would advice would you give to somebody that is chasing a dream and it doesn't work failure is a good thing I've learned more from my failure than my successes can I um share a story about my dad who he passed away uh five weeks ago I think it'd be very proud of you we'd absolutely love this conversation hello and welcome back to rise with Roxy let me start with a question what's your dream it's a b
• 01:00 - 01:30 question to consider but whatever your answer is today's guest is here to inspire and guide you towards making it a reality Simon squib is a Visionary entrepreneur and investor who's been involved in building and funding hundreds of businesses you might recognize him as the guy on social media who stops strangers on the street to ask that same life-changing question what's your dream but what drove him to spark these conversations how can we take steps to make our dream dreams come true
• 01:30 - 02:00 and how did Simon rise from being homeless at just 15 to becoming the entrepreneur that is sitting with us today Simon welcome to rise with Roxy thank you so so much for being here pleasure to be here I think you manifested this did you absolutely we did and I love our books look very good together I have to say so Simon I want to go right back to start with your childhood um I know that you've been open about some of the really tough
• 02:00 - 02:30 challenges you faced and I was wondering if you might be able to start by uh talking us through that experience and journey I wrote about this in the book actually and and I talk about how when I was 8 years old I had an argument with my mom and uh we were in a little town called Bedford which was quite close to where I lived about an hour away from where I lived which was s maybe 30 minutes she just one day left me there and I was 8 years old so you know I can't I've got a seven-year-old so I I actually can't even imagine this now but my mom just walking off like annoyed at me we had I can't even remember what it
• 02:30 - 03:00 was of course but I remember just feeling like wow how do I how what do I do now and so I kind of expected just to come back and and and and find me you know like she was hiding somewhere as a joke or something but she didn't she went home and she left me there at this the first time I kind of realized probably no one's coming to save you kind of idea like okay I've got to work my way back home now and I was embarrassed of course I didn't ask people and say oh my mommy's left me I was scared of the repercussions or something like that so I I just basically went to the bus stop I begged
• 03:00 - 03:30 the driver to let me come on for free he said he couldn't cuz he'd get into trouble and then a lady who was getting on the bus I say little old lady she probably wasn't that old she was probably only 40 but you know 8 years old in my head she was a little old lady and she gave me the money uh for the bus and then the bus driver again I remember him asking me like well where's your mom she's meeting me at the other end but I lost my I lost my money I kind of lied anyway I got on the bus I got I got back to cetes and I I got home safe yeah it
• 03:30 - 04:00 was just but it's the first time I remember like just realizing that you kind of have to just any situation come at you just somehow get through it and that's one of my first kind of stories in the book I talk about because it's these things shape you and when I'm telling this story people might think it's negative and of course at the time it's kind of crazy but I actually think it was in a weird weird way being really good for me it's kind of helped me there there's nothing you can throw at me that I can't get through you know there's there's literally no situation where I feel like I couldn't survive and I wouldn't Thrive even and I think as much
• 04:00 - 04:30 as my mom maybe didn't do that to help me that day in a way she actually did help me she gave me resilience I mean that incident is you know really heartbreaking and especially like you say you've got a child almost that age and you can't imagine it happening was that quite is that experience quite symbolic of what your whole childhood was like was there this feeling of Abandonment or um NE like emotional or physical neglect yeah uh no I my mom's
• 04:30 - 05:00 still alive by the way so I I should be respectful we we don't talk any anymore I've tried many times to rekindle my relationship with my mother but we we don't talk now but um actually In fairness to her my childhood generally growing up I felt like my mom and my dad were were okay parents I mean as a kid you don't know what he's a good parent and what is a bad parent anyway I mean it's a bit subjective isn't it but I certainly don't think that I was neglected my mom would be very hot and cold I've got three brothers you know I'd be the the favorite and she'd you know love me and then she'd be annoyed
• 05:00 - 05:30 and shun me and and as a kid that's quite high and low emotional frequency thing but I don't look at my childhood as bad even that story of being eight years old honestly see it as like probably a good balance the the only difference is I I think that my mom didn't do it to help me I am actually trying to do these things I don't leave my son of course but I do actually try to give my son resilience yeah and so when he cries I don't tell him to stop crying for example you know I let him work it out and so I I I I basically let
• 05:30 - 06:00 him be him and I don't say oh you know suck it up and stop crying which I think was a bad part of parenting when we were young like I think expressing emotions and letting him figure out why it's upset him like if he ask me if I'm upset if I am actually upset or not having a good day I tell him I never lie to him because then you're teaching kids to lie uh because kids don't do what you say they do what you do right yeah exactly exactly so um I know that by the age of 15 you were homeless and how did you find yourself in that position the short version of this story is is my father
• 06:00 - 06:30 died suddenly of a heart attack I was 15 years old and I had a big argument with my mom about 3 weeks after my father had died and my mom kind of again she she'd lost her husband I'd lost my father so it was for me it was all about me right but for her she'd lost her husband so it was all about her and I think we just clashed in that moment you know and and she said get out of my house and I left and I never went back and so I literally just walked out the door and I think we're both stubborn people so again I don't want to put it all on my mom I
• 06:30 - 07:00 think I I reflect on it and I I was 15 years old hormon driven probably I wasn't a bad kid I don't smoke I don't drink I don't even now I don't I don't I'm not a bad person but I was probably a little bit difficult at 15 years old like all 15 year olds are and we're naturally meant to rebel against our parents right that's an age where we start to find ourselves right and who we are leave the nest as it were so um just a combination of emotional structures with my father suddenly dying and my mom and I just not getting on
• 07:00 - 07:30 and and so I was so stubborn I just literally didn't care about sleeping in the street rather than go home and let her win and so um I was actually only homeless for eight weeks so I'm always careful about this because institutional homelessness is very different to what I experienced yeah and I slept on some friends couches and I slept at my girlfriend at the time's parent house for a week I didn't tell them I was homeless by the way cuz I I didn't want my girlfriend's parents to judge me and I did try begging which was an awful experience someone first time I tried to
• 07:30 - 08:00 beg for money to eat someone spat at me so I I remember these experiences but again and must must sound really weird to your listeners I look back at that stage of my life as like I got to see what it's like to have no money and live in the street I mean a lot of people think homelessness they hear it I've seen it up close people don't understand what it actually is and I was just looking at the numbers of it like in 1990 there was 21,000 homeless people there's now 338,000 just in the UK alone
• 08:00 - 08:30 so why does this happen and I don't think if I hadn't experienced homelessness I wouldn't be looking at this subject and caring as much as I do but a lot of people think it's because of drugs and alcohol that people are homeless the truth is and I saw this firsthand most people get into alcohol once they become homeless because the pain of being homeless having no one around you that loves you being cold and wet and and hungry alcohol is an escape for a lot of people so it's not I'm not saying all cases but people misunderstand they think people are alcoholics and become h Hess often the
• 08:30 - 09:00 some landlords kick them out of their home because they've not been able to make ends meat they become homeless and then to do the pain they might do alcohol drugs but I managed to escape all that and Entrepreneurship was the thing that helped me escape all that so before we go on to how you escaped um and you and you have touched on it but I want to ask you I mean these are incredibly difficult situations and and challenges to go through a really young age where 15 I mean most we haven't figured ourselves out we don't know our place in the world we I think we're a
• 09:00 - 09:30 lot smarter than we are how do you think those experiences um gave you an advantage and if there is any disadvantages later in life personally and professionally I would say up to the age of 40 it was complete Advantage because I had nothing to lose I could risk it all and I sometimes describe this as like my father gave me one gift before he died he kind of gave me the chance to just risk it all take chance take risk
• 09:30 - 10:00 because before that if you'd ask me like before my dad died what I was going to do I was going to be a lawyer and every time I was ever asked what will you do when you grow up I would say a lawyer my parents that's what they wanted me to be but I didn't really know what I wanted to be so once I was in that situation where there was no peer judgment I I left school as well at the same time so I didn't have you know my friends at school judging me I didn't have my parents judging me or deciding for me I was it was the first time I really asked myself who am I what I want now I didn't
• 10:00 - 10:30 have the answer at 15 it took me a long time to have the answer but what it did do is it gave me like this freedom to take risk and so as my friends were talking about they're going to University and they're doing this I started building businesses and I failed quite a few times but I I didn't mind there was no one really around to judge me and failure for me like my first business was a gardening company and it for the first six months it did so well and then it failed but people don't understand about failures I made a lot of money in those six months before it failed winter came so it faed failed but
• 10:30 - 11:00 I made a lot of money before before that happened so although failure eventually came it didn't break me it actually gave me all the training wheels I needed to do what I did next which was an accommodation business but I think up until about the age of 40 all of this was an advantage because I I moved to Hong Kong at 23 and I didn't need a lot of I didn't need stuff I realized that I was happy when I had nothing and I learned this really young I think sometimes people they go to university they get a good job they think they're going to buy a house get a car they're going to think all these things are going to make them happy and they're searching for that happiness ironically
• 11:00 - 11:30 I've had happiness having nothing just enjoying what I did every day that is something people don't default to enough if you can get up every day and just do something you love I think that should be defined a success forget how much money you earned now of course if you can do both do something you love and make a lot of money brilliant but I think we have been redefined as a society into thinking that money is what's going to make you happy the more you earn you happier you'll be and it's a cliche but it's not true and I discover that by having nothing I was actually pretty happy I do think money exaggerates who you already are yeah
• 11:30 - 12:00 there it exaggerates so if if you're happy and you get money you can be really happy money can make you happy if you're unhappy and you get money it can make you even more unhappy and I've seen that play out so you got to got to stop love that so before long you were flying to the Far East in Hong Kong and that is where you found your purpose or your mission how did that happen and and what was the moment you realized that you were doing what you're supposed to be doing interestingly enough I I don't think I really found my true purpose until I was 40 really yeah so when I moved to Hong Kong I set up a company
• 12:00 - 12:30 called fluid and basically I was helping people start businesses but they were paying me a fee right later on I I started an investment company I'd buy equity in the company and then I would help them so first company service business I charge people for help the second business is equity so I charge equity for help and now what I'm doing I help people for free but the thing is what I'm the reason I'm explaining this a little bit history quickly is because I didn't realize I was working on my purpose the whole time my purpose has actually being help that 15-year-old me
• 12:30 - 13:00 who struggled to start a business but I didn't realize when I started the service business I was doing that and then when I started the equity investment business I was doing that and of course when I sold my company and could do anything I want I'm like I want to help people but for free but before I had to charge a service fee and before that and after that I had to charge for Equity fee you see what I mean like a lot of people might not realize they're actually working on their purpose it might just simply be a question of your environment so make sure you own where you work own Equity where you work that's very important no boss wants to tell you this and and no employee will
• 13:00 - 13:30 know it but you can't scale unless you own Equity so either own Equity where you work or build something where you own Equity you can't scale by selling time so for anyone listening can you just quickly explain what is equity Equity is an ownership stake in a business a percentage of a business so I own 85% equity in help bank.com so it's a percentage of ownership in a company that's it just out of Interest so people that work on your in your team yes do they own Equity yes they do everybody in my team own yeah except one person will
• 13:30 - 14:00 who's working on another project which he wants to do which he will eventually have equity in incredible yes so I have 18 people on my team every single one of them owns equity and what they're working on wow just think about it if someone works on something for 5 years and then for whatever reason you have to cut them you have to let them go not always your choice it happens in business but a lot of people just cut people to save money that's it five years of your life building up a brand you no longer have anything your salary okay yes you can get another job but you're back to like nothing doesn't that's not fair I wouldn't work on something for 5 years
• 14:00 - 14:30 and then not have a brand at the end of it that I own what and and the thing is entrepreneurship a lot of people if they're listening they might think entrepreneurship is hard right because we say it all the time it's so hard entrepreneurship but it's a lot easier to work for yourself than work for someone else and the reason I know this is because I've I've seen it play out for people right it's harder working for yourself at the beginning only from a learning curve point of view it's good to be learning but it gets easier over time right so I built businesses and eventually I let bring someone else in to run them I'm still making money I'm not running them anymore right but
• 14:30 - 15:00 working for someone else is easy at the beginning and gets harder over time so people need to do the hard thing now and have that learning curve the hard thing is actually the learning curve which by the way once you wake up I haven't met many people who say it's so hard being an entrepreneur they're willing to give all their Equity up and go work for someone else they won't not none of them I mean you talk a lot about obviously purpose and we've just you know you said that you found yours probably at 40 right and you know I see your viral video and you go up to people and you
• 15:00 - 15:30 you know I'm obsessed with watching them and everyone I speak to knows them thanks you know and you ask people you know what's your dream how do you think a dream is related to a purpose well I think A Dream Is An Open question and I I love the question because it gives people a chance to tell me where they're at in life so by their answers I can see like a pyramid of like where you are right so if people haven't found their purpose sometimes they might say I want to own a house or I want to travel so
• 15:30 - 16:00 then if you dig into it you can find out why they want to travel or why they want that house so a lot of their past life experiences maybe they maybe they were homeless for a while maybe they they felt an insecure life so they needed they need now to have that house to feel secure right but I think people need to tap into their pain to find their purpose and sometimes that pain doesn't manifest itself in the way that you think so if you were homeless and I ask you what your dream is and you say I want to own a house and we dig into why and they say cuz I was homeless I say maybe your purpose is to help people who
• 16:00 - 16:30 are homeless find a house right and if you find a house you can teach other people who are homeless how to find a house so sometimes our purpose is just one step away a little bit deeper thinking so it's an open question to get for me to find out where they are in the in the Pyramid of stages of life right now some people have found their purpose which I it's always amazing when people know exactly what they want that that but that is very rare yeah most people I would say 90% of the people I interview are caught in fight or flight mode and if they're in fight or flight mode their bra will not let them imagine and they
• 16:30 - 17:00 can't imagine what their dream is so it becomes very basic it's literally like I want to earn more money I want to be rich the very basic level right so I think the the finding the purpose Point by the way how do you find purpose couple of ways first of all ask yourself that question every day don't be shy don't be scared dig deep find out what your pain was and see if you can turn your pain into purpose figure out what a problem in the world that matters to you can be solved by you maybe but if you
• 17:00 - 17:30 still can't Discover It Go work with someone with purpose you'll be infected by it I have purpose I sense you have purpose it's like a different spark in the eye it's like a different energy like Dudley who works with me just on the way here was like someone I don't know how you're working so hard I've never had so much energy I've never I don't think I'm working hard I think I'm on a mission that I enjoy I'm going to fix the education system I'm going I'm going to solve problems in society that need solving before I'm gone and so you can't stop me and I think people will will see it and they'll know what it
• 17:30 - 18:00 looks like and they'll they'll get infected by it so go hang out with someone with purpose and or just keep asking yourself that question and don't don't don't block it off like oh I haven't got one or I don't I don't like doing anything everyone's got a hobby they like doing sometimes it's good to start there what hobby do you have just double down on it try to make it an income stream around your hobby that that type of structure if your first step is just enjoying what you do not a bad First Step MH I love this and I actually talk in Step One be clear in your vision this is just the first step
• 18:00 - 18:30 of my seven step manifesting process I talk about the fact that you know at this first step when we're trying to think about our Big Dreams our hopes our desires our goals I'm always amazed that our fear and doubt you know our insecurities are so strong that they don't let us even imagine it so in workshops I'll sometimes do something where I'll say imagine like imagine how much money you want to earn in the next year and most people in the room will think of a number that they think is realistic you know because they actually don't dare to even allow themselves to
• 18:30 - 19:00 open their minds to it so I feel like we're saying the same thing in different ways for you it's people being in fight or flight and for me it's being kind of um just so overwhelmed with insecurity um and limiting beliefs limiting beliefs is a very big problem a lot of people also the system I'm not a conspiracy theorist but if you want to know how things work follow the money but a lot of the time the system wants you to just consume it just wants you to buy things it doesn't want you out of F or flight fight or flight means you don't charge
• 19:00 - 19:30 by the hour anymore it means you start thinking about what value you br Society beyond the amount of hours you put into the system and that doesn't really work for a structure that requires you to work hours so there are two pieces of advice that you always give and I just want to discuss them with you now because I think they're so wonderful the first is give without take I really love this and in my new book confidence there's a step which is be of service to others this really resonated with me and I was wondering if you could talk through because I think especially as as an entrepreneur isn't the kind of advice
• 19:30 - 20:00 that you usually hear um how did you come to this people listening will be very used to the saying give and take if I say it it sounds reasonable right anyone listening is like okay look um I'll help you you help me it's become quite normal and almost Fair it's not how we're built it's not our natural default setting so we've been a reprogrammed a bit and there's various reasons why we've been reprogrammed but part of it is if I help you and I don't
• 20:00 - 20:30 charge you it's not taxable there's no transaction which means there's no income for the government so there is a there is a incentive to create a narrative that only help people who give you something back and then there's a transaction now this is a reality if you just go back in history we used to live in tribes of 5,000 okay and what used to happen is if someone in our tribe has a problem let's say their tent blow over and they need somewhere to stay then you say come and stay my tent and we'll get your tent fixed tomorrow right so basically the
• 20:30 - 21:00 whole idea is whatever the person's problem is in the tribe you want to help them fix that problem so they're a happier member in the tribe now if I help you stay in my tent you're not even the person maybe to help me in return I don't need anything from you so it's just a question of making my tribe happier now if I help you for free okay now you can afford to help someone for free and the person you help can afford to help someone for free and three years from now if I have a mental health issue and I need help there'll be someone there to help me and it won't be like yeah are you need I'm on Harley Street
• 21:00 - 21:30 I'm very expensive um you can't afford me so I'm sorry you can't get help with your mental health so sorry about that all because I was charging that person has to charge so look I know people need to make a living and I understand the capitalistic structure I'm a capitalist myself I believe in capitalism but I think there's a line and we've crossed it and everything's become about how to make money and so we need to go back to our default setting and we need to say right it's not give and take that's not natural for us because here's the problem i l my older brother money and he didn't
• 21:30 - 22:00 pay me back and I didn't speak to him for 15 years I didn't see his daughter's and Son grow up his daughter now works with me she works with me every single day so I get to see her now but I didn't see them for 15 years because I lent him money and my expectation was he should pay me back and he didn't what is the point I should have just given him the money why did I make it have a give back model right he needed my help I should have just given it to him right so I can blame him I actually blame me I went
• 22:00 - 22:30 into it with the wrong attitude now anyone listening I'm sure most of their life pain comes from expectation of something they did they didn't get back so most people's pain comes from that nearly 90% I would say people's pain if they analyze their pain would go back to some expectation they had of someone that didn't come through so you want to be happy learn to give without take and a lot of people be listening say well I I can't afford to do that I don't care how poor you are you are it's everybody can take four minutes
• 22:30 - 23:00 today to help someone without any expectation of anything in return for example hold the door open for someone and don't expect anything like some people get annoyed I held the door open they didn't say thank you just chill you know don't worry about it do it because it's the right thing to do you know and I think like you can share someone's story of their business on your story today or you can like their post or give them a little boost by giving them a comment none of things cost money I've decided to give money out to people every day right but that's my choice that's my way of doing it right cuz I'm trying give people hope and and belief
• 23:00 - 23:30 in themselves and their first customer but what I'm trying to do with give without take is highlight that actually it's a selfish act if you do something without any expectation of anything return actually your sleep better oh I absolutely love this it just I honestly couldn't stop smiling listening to it because it feels good to do good and I think you know my mom always told me growing up it's nice to be nice yeah and I yeah I just I we lost it haven't we we lost it long the way where's it gone and I think it's funny cuz I give the exact same example of you know when you're
• 23:30 - 24:00 driving and you let someone in and someone doesn't say thank you and you think oh dick and it's like and then you regret doing it and you shouldn't and so I think actually for people to you know use your message of give without take yeah challenge yourselves to do exactly as you're saying these little things each day and actually it becomes this like domino effect you realize how good you feel from it and it encourages you to do more and I also heard that kindness is contagious yeah so if people watch you doing kind things actually
• 24:00 - 24:30 they'll be more inclined to do it as well I'm glad you said that because you know um one criticism of me that I get a lot is that if you're doing kind things don't film it I got I get a lot of hate for this and what I try to explain is first of all these tools are here to help us so if I can film someone getting help that promotes the person I'm filming first of all so that helps someone get the help they need from not just me but the community listening so I was 11 million people following me right if every single one of them helped one person today the world would be by next week we I think we'd end Wars you know
• 24:30 - 25:00 like just be kind to each other but I think the the criticism is do kind gestures behind close doors now now I understand why some people do that but I think some people hide behind this too they say oh I do my I do all the kind things um behind closed doors and privately I'm like but why why why don't you show people what you're doing so people feel inspired to do the same why would you do it behind closed doors now there might be some some circumstances where I understand closed doors might be but I I actually think the opposite it I think social media for social good if
• 25:00 - 25:30 you can record helping someone you're genuinely doing it it's not for likes or views you're genuinely doing it then inspire people and and I don't want to blow myself up here but like on the way here probably about 10 kids stop me on the way here asking for a picture saying oh you've inspired me and and and that that helps a younger generation realize that kindness can also equal money yeah and why not why can't kind people make money what you are doing is so powerful because I I completely agree that making kindness cool is a good thing I think
• 25:30 - 26:00 kindness is a patience game yeah if you're kind and patient and you're not after something so quickly from people you'll have a happier life and and eventually you will win you will win you just need to stay in the game you have to keep giving as much as sometimes it might feel like you're getting taken advantage of and learn to just keep giving it's really weird but if you do you come through the other end happy when you make money whereas I know people that have become corporate evil they make money and they're unhappy CU
• 26:00 - 26:30 they had to change themselves to do what they were told was the right way to live which is threaten other people to get ahead right which is so wrong I agree and I also think just last kind of like point on generosity that kindness and generosity is so representative of a uh abundance mindset right it's a belief that there is enough for us all there's enough money there's enough love there's enough success for everyone so you know let's say whenever somebody asks me for a contact or or some advice I mean I'm
• 26:30 - 27:00 any of so many of my friends have written books and they come to me and I give them all the help I can because I don't think that their success is going to take away from mine I think that we succeed together in helping each other and that I'm sending a message to the universe that I believe that I am already abundant and that there is an abundance for for us all and I think that as a result you do end up attracting more back to your life the second piece of advice that I wanted to talk about that you always share is the purpose of life is to live with purpose could you explain that one for us yeah
• 27:00 - 27:30 um I stole this from someone else and I can't remember who so I should be crediting it but about 10 years ago I heard this saying which is the purpose of life is a life with purpose and it just really resonates with me and I and I feel like if if you have a purpose a mission you can just do anything like I like I feel like I'm I'm a superhero because it Powers me up and I Tred to describe why purpose is so important to people I ask people in the street who what their dream is right I come across a lot of nurses interestingly enough who
• 27:30 - 28:00 tell me when I ask them what their dream is they tell me they're living it they're helping people and so you know nurses in this country in England I don't people might be listening from all over the world but people listening in England nurses haven't gone on strike in England in 150 years now in England that's quite unusual nurses were meant to go on strike uh and they called it off but you know they should be on strike because they're underpaid yes so why is it that when I ask a nurse what her dream is she says she's doing it she's not earning a lot or he is not earning a lot and and when I dig into it and I I basically have discovered that
• 28:00 - 28:30 it's because they have this sense of like if they don't go to work and help that person today then that person's going to be in pain and they don't want that or that person could die and they they feel responsible so they have turned their um their life into a mission now arguably they should be paid more definitely nurses should be paid more but they're not thinking about the money they're thinking about that sense of Duty and I Feel It In what I'm doing
• 28:30 - 29:00 now I feel a sense of Duty and it sometimes is painful I don't want to make purpose out to be that this Blissful experience I mean three people this morning in my DMs I haven't replied to them yet I almost cried at one of them like and I don't know how to help them and and so purpose can also cause you some pain so when describing this the purpose of life is a life with purpose I don't want to pretend to people that it's this Blissful experience but it is hell of a motivator like it literally I I want to live forever so I
• 29:00 - 29:30 can solve these problems you know what I mean I feel bad that I can't help those three people in my DMs this morning I will try at some point today but I haven't yet supported them so that's pain for me like I can't support everybody but that is part of the course of having purpose and we need pain that's why when people retire they die young right you need a bit of pain you need a bit of stress to make you fight so you've helped lots of people Simon and I wanted to ask you what is one of the the most surprising or unusual
• 29:30 - 30:00 dreams you've helped someone fulfill the dreams I love the most are ones that are deep in their pain so people that have had something happen to them and they've used that difficult moment that bad luck and somehow they've turned it into good luck for example there's someone called kelly she's launched her own Kelly canine it's called her own dog grooming and pet grooming business and she's openly talked about this and she's
• 30:00 - 30:30 shared her story but uh her stepfather abused her and she talks about how a court case ensued and uh her stepfather was ordered to leave the country and her mom left with the stepdad so she was left all alone homeless as well and she found Solitude in pet groming and the way she describes it is that pets are just so giving anyone that's got a pet will know this animals are so naturally connected to
• 30:30 - 31:00 humans and they give right ironically dogs and cats give without take someone argue cats don't but I I think they do um and and you know dogs in particular I've got a dog that dog just will give me love all the time but Kelly gets so much satisfaction from helping an an animal doesn't have a voice right to tell you it's in pain or it's got a problem so she's giving an animal a voice by checking it making sure it's okay and she gets that kind of connection and Solitude with with an animal anyway shares that pain of something that's awful that happened to
• 31:00 - 31:30 her and she turns it into something that she wants to do with her life I think those stories are the ones that really get me and it's really hard for people to be vulnerable like it took me a long time to share my story as well you know like I know I know what it's like I was actually embarrassed that I was homeless I was I was ashamed I was even ashamed I didn't go to university when I was younger I was like well I'm not going to University and everybody else is you know like there's a but I I I think when you start sharing your pain and you start turning your pain into something POS positive it is so empowering and I
• 31:30 - 32:00 you know I just I just love stories like that and seeing people like Kelly it's not easy for her she hasn't made it yet I think made it made it is a bit of a funny thing you know what is made it people what is success I I would say she's successful because she's doing something she wants to do every day yeah and so that that to me is successful has she made Millions no this this isn't Dragon's Den I'm not doing Dragons Den this is this is about helping people do what they love Yeah AB I love I love that I think you know and you mentioned it earlier already but I think it's a
• 32:00 - 32:30 great point to bring up again that for anybody listening who maybe they don't know what their purpose is maybe they don't even know what their dream is but they might know what their current pain is well they can use that as a kind of little guide so okay what are you going through now what hurts and how can you actually transform that to help other people in in this in a similar position what would advice would you give to somebody that is chasing a dream they are trying they've gone for it they've put the themselves out there and it doesn't work well failure is a good
• 32:30 - 33:00 thing yeah I've had many businesses that have failed I've learned more from my failure than my successes a lot of my successes I can put down to luck but my failures I 100% know what went wrong I can learn so much from it it makes me interesting you know if you failed then great I think I mean it's cliche but like you know if you fall off a horse get back on the horse yeah you've only failed if you stop in reality and so if your purpose is strong enough you won't stop these cliches I often think what happens is we
• 33:00 - 33:30 hear them so much that we kind of habituate to them so we get used to them and we stop really considering their meaning but actually like failure is the best lesson it is the driver and I for me I think the difference between success people who are you know successful and whatever sense that means it's just the people that are willing to persist through their challenges and obstacles and rejection and not allow their failures to kind of become this confirmation of the ways that they're not good enough one thing I think might be useful for people to frame failure is like failure and fear are very aligned
• 33:30 - 34:00 as two things right so and fear was is actually a superpower so what what fear used to be is a lion's coming towards us we feel fear do you know this makes us run faster and so fear actually makes us think differently too so it uses a different part of our brain which is the creative imaginative part right we need to get away from this lion how are we going to do it right right so you need to feel fear you you need to say yes to things more because now it's so easy for
• 34:00 - 34:30 us to say no right I I did a TED Talk recently I kind of was scared I almost said no because I'm like oh I don't I haven't got time and I said yes and honestly for the three months building up to the Ted Talk I was like panicking and so but at the end of it the Euphoria of having done it and the pushing yourself through that pain is the kind of high from the low but people need to like lean into fear more say yes to crazy things yes to their own crazy ideas and and use fear as a superpower I
• 34:30 - 35:00 I actually look for fear now and fear I'm building a tech platform right now and I'm going to use fear to drive up my creative brain use that superpower to make sure it doesn't fail but if it does fail I'm also okay with it and that to me is what confidence is yes fair you have invested in hundreds of people and many businesses and I have just started doing the same um investing in companies it's really exciting and I wanted to know do you invest in an idea or a
• 35:00 - 35:30 Founder The most important thing for me now when I invest in someone is three things first of all I like them it's going to be fun that's actually my number one criteria because when you invest in someone it's a bit like a marriage you like I'm I've invested in a company 14 years I'm still talking to the founders you know like it it's insane if you're going to be there along the journey with them you better make sure you like them and you better make sure you got the same moral code and you
• 35:30 - 36:00 better make sure it's going to be fun and so that that's important the second element is does the founder really care about the problem that they're working on so I've seen I've invested in my early career in businesses where they said to me we're filling a market Gap there's a market Gap and we're filling it and I used to think that was enough I was wrong what matters is that problem they're solving is personal because then they won't stop they will not stop until it it's solved
• 36:00 - 36:30 right if you invested in my platform I'm not stopping until it's solved that's it what I've got right now my or work but I will keep going till something does that's it and then the final bit is kind of a does the purpose matter to you thing so a lot of people when they start out Angel Investing is they think it's about how to make money yeah it's not it's how to create value agreed money is is not a real thing so what you have to look at that business and say one can I add value as an investor can I bring
• 36:30 - 37:00 something to the table that brings value because you want a competitive Advantage as well if you're investing something it's just money well there anyone could do that you want to be able to bring a competitive advantage to the table when you invest so value and then the actual product business service should bring value to a problem that matters to you yeah then if you get those things all lined up then it's such a great journey investing but if you miss any of those I think sometimes you can fall over what makes a business plan stand out to you I hate business bus plans oh okay do not do a business plan it's just a monologue
• 37:00 - 37:30 of information the best thing what I do for all my businesses and every business I invest in to I try to help them do this is a mind map okay so a mind map is a much healthier way of doing it so you put your purpose in the middle then you put what your business does in the middle and then you connect the dots so so for example my manmat from what I'm doing now I start off with my purpose in the middle and I fix the education system give people belief in themselves give people the ability to do what they love and enjoy their work and then I start off with podcast and then I then I
• 37:30 - 38:00 go into YouTube content education content and then I go into help Bank a LinkedIn competitor where people can help each other and they're going to merchandise and they're going I'm going to launch a coffee shop soon coffee shop brand and I basically show all these things and at different points at different moments these things can come alive right so if I find someone that says hey um weworks is closing down why don't you take over all the weworks right so then I'm okay well that's an opportunity to go after one of the things in my mind map now right so so otherwise when you do a business plan it's sometimes very staged and it's not
• 38:00 - 38:30 real I mean I think it was Mike Tyson says everyone's got a plan to get punched in the face the better way to do it is have your General Vision and then look out for the moment when one of these bubbles can become real and work towards one of these bubbles becoming real every every week oh I love that okay so there is something that I write in my book there's a line which says um accepting that something isn't working isn't a failure it's a power move and what I mean by that is that sometimes
• 38:30 - 39:00 we're scared to just admit that look this thing that we're working on isn't working because we're worried that people will judge us we feel embarrassed we feel shame um and so we continue kind of flogging a dead horse essentially and and it's only doing us a disservice where do you think is the line and how do you think people can understand when it's time let's say they've started pursuing a dream when is the moment that you think they could just say you know what this isn't working King and it's time to accept it as a failure and move on it's a really hard question to answer
• 39:00 - 39:30 without context around someone's life and what they're working on I can give a general answer which is I think people aren't listening to themselves enough like that gut instinct so I've interviewed lots of billionaires on on my platform and nearly all of them have this one common trait which is when they went and asked their parents a question their parents would say to them what do you think so they'd learn to listen to their own intuition not just what the parent told them to believe so I think
• 39:30 - 40:00 people need to really dig into that right because I think structurally let's say you've got a business and you're no longer enjoying it you've got two choices I think well you've got three choices probably First Choice is you change a job role so you can enjoy it so maybe you're getting too stuck into the customer service get rid of these things that are taking away your joy and taking away your energy and like for example I can do accounts but it takes a lot of my energy so I don't like doing accounts so I bring someone else into it every time I've ever had to do my own accounts I've
• 40:00 - 40:30 slowly not enjoyed the business because I'm chasing people for money I hate it I don't want to do that so I think make your job role redefined so you can enjoy again the second thing is can you bring someone else in to run it before you close it because someone else is might love what what you're about to give up and I've discovered that I had a business that I didn't love anymore but I built it up it was so big I didn't enjoy it anymore I almost shut it down but then I said aie I'll just bring someone else in to run it a revelation I bought them in and they loved it they
• 40:30 - 41:00 doubled the size of the company in a year and then the Third Way is okay look this business is not serving me anymore it's trapping me a bit like relationships I say this with people in relationships just let it go there's plenty plenty more things you can do in this world we know hopefully we're going to be living to 88 but I don't think that should be the default mind you I I don't think quitting should be a default but I do think there is a moment where I I know someone recently who contacted me very successful person they've got a business that's making a lot of money but they don't enjoy it anymore and they
• 41:00 - 41:30 they literally are trapped by the amount of money they're making and it's almost like a self forf falling sadness they're making so much money they can't give it up right so I'm like how much money do you need back to your point earlier you were saying about you know how much do you actually need well I've got everything I need so why not just stop why not just stop this and they're like I can't give up1 million pounds a year I'm like well that1 million P owns you that money owns you so when you get to that sit situation where you let money and things own you you've got to be
• 41:30 - 42:00 really careful okay so for someone who wants to quit their job do you think uh people should start let's say they've got a dream they want to start their own business should they start it as a side hustle first if they don't have the financial safety without the job they're in or would you say just quit your job take the leap find a way to make it work I have actually spent a whole chapter on this this subject that you're now asking great it is actually really nuanced and
• 42:00 - 42:30 really important to understand someone's life before giving any sort of blanket advice around yeah my general overarching you know theme around this point is if you have a service job and you're thinking of quitting that service job to start something as long as you've got a couple of months savings I think you should do it you can get that service job back quite easily the the Gap in the market for talent let's say you're a marketing
• 42:30 - 43:00 manager somewhere you'll get that job back there's so many people that will give you that you probably get a pay rise you have two months off you probably get a paywise would mean you get more at the end of the year than if you didn't have those two months off so I think in service business framework you can get that job back now there are certain situations certain people doing certain jobs where getting a job back might be hard so before quitting maybe just consider that I I would say I was in the book I talk about having a parachute so whatever your get your cost down first of all because sometimes the the parachute is your cost of living for 6 months but a lot of people have got
• 43:00 - 43:30 caught in lifestyle inflation they've got a flat they can't quite afford and they're renting spending more they they bought a car on finance they didn't really need and they got themselves into credit card debts you know like get your cost down to the bare minimum get your lifestyle inflation right down and then extend your personal Runway now it depends on your business that you're starting but if it's a service business you can make money from day one you don't don't need any money to start a business you need to make money from day
• 43:30 - 44:00 one and you can from day one so people just need to understand financial literacy and how to make sure their account system allows them to make money from day one so a quick example if you're starting a um marketing manager role business where you may be helping people do posting on social media you tell the client your service and then you say they say yes and then you say you want a 50% deposit now if you priced it right your 50% deposit should be all your costs covered to execute that service so you get the deposit you do the work then you get paid your profit
• 44:00 - 44:30 the other 50% so in other words it cost you nothing to start and you get paid in advance client day one which should cover all your costs even if they don't pay you you still can live but if they pay you you start making profit and it's compound after that right so people just need to understand business financial literacy which I tried to teach on my YouTube channel but like help your people understand that make sure you've got six months more for your mental framework I tell you a true story I I met someone 25 years ago who told me their dream I didn't ask them what their
• 44:30 - 45:00 dream was I just was talking to them I didn't know that L but and they were telling me their dream and I said why don't you do it and they said I don't have enough money in the bank to do it I need this I need to buy this I need to buy that I need to do this I need how much you need they're like about half a million pounds I was like right I'm going to give you half a million pounds I said but I don't think you need it and this is why you can like I just described get the client to pay you in advance and you can rent the equipment or buy the equipment so you can use the deposit you're getting anyway I gave her the half a million pound she put it in her bank because she was too scared to
• 45:00 - 45:30 quit her job and do this without the money so I put the half a million pounds in the bank a year later she'd never touched that money not once she just basically charged clients she rented the equipment she made loads of money she didn't even she gave me the money back a year later so for a lot of people it's psychological okay it's that Safety Net in their mind but you can create it yourself well if that is what the book is like advice like that I absolutely absolutely I'm running to it everybody else should as well thank you okay what
• 45:30 - 46:00 is the most I love this question what is the most unexpected or silly business idea that you didn't think would succeed but did a lot of people will pitch me an idea that people think are silly and so for example someone pitched me they want to open up their own restaurant and and when I put the video up people in the comments oh that's a hard business that's a hard business to make money in and oh they shouldn't do it you know and
• 46:00 - 46:30 and what it what I think is wrong with that is that the person who dream that is they would enjoy it see we forgotten we're all unique and individual and and what you might not like or I think is a bad business model for someone else this person David's name is gets to cook every day for people that makes him happy now sure it might not be the biggest way to make money unless you scale it into a big chain or something like that but there's something really powerful in someone knowing exactly who
• 46:30 - 47:00 they are and what they want and then Society can judge away if it wants so I have I I lived in Thailand for a little bit and I watched people that used to sell fruit on the side of the street and stuff and I remember talking to one of these people once they loved it they absolutely they were free they had they did that the time that they wanted they worked when they wanted to work they were selling fruit so they felt like they were helping people be healthy and not eat bad stuff that chocolate and all that rubbish around right and they love their customers hearing their stories and getting an update a sense of community now you might walk past this
• 47:00 - 47:30 little Fruit Stand holder and say oh standing in the street all day selling fruit what an awful what an awful life I think I've even sat with a western person driving past someone saying that like you know your your idea of what is a good business and your idea of what is a good life is very different to someone else we're all unique we've all got our place in the tribe and so I think people should stop judging people's other people's ideas and understand what's good for that person Absol absolutely I really like that and it is true it's what I've always heard about restaurants
• 47:30 - 48:00 right I know everybody says it yeah In fairness I've invested in three restaurants they all fail so I should I should caveat that as a business model it is tough but but there are also a lot of people that are actually making a lot of money out of it and if money is the measure of success which I don't think it should be but it is one of the measures and certainly there are people that have actually done quite well in the business there will be lots of people listening who perhaps don't feel like they are natural entrepreneur rurs they don't even feel like the idea of
• 48:00 - 48:30 starting their own business is something that they want you know some people really like the idea of just finishing at 5 and going home and not having to think about that who name one person see people say this to me all the time and I and Linkedin in particular well not everyone wants to run their own business I'm like tag down below who doesn't want to run their own business tell me show me every single time even people don't tag anybody or the person they tag they don't know them and it's not true right I think the thing is of course there are different risk
• 48:30 - 49:00 tolerances in humans and we are a combination of nurture and nature okay so so some people are introverts and some people are extroverts right we have different structures but I have not met anybody who doesn't one have the capability to do it right and two if you dig deep enough would do it if you help them because you know when people say self-made millionaire or self-made billionaires there's no such thing it's impossible I had help everybody had help it's impossible to do it on your own absolutely impossible so so that person
• 49:00 - 49:30 may need more help than someone else but I haven't met anyone that couldn't do it or or shouldn't consider it that's for sure so you think that really everybody is capable to have their own business to become an entrepreneur 100% everybody's capable can I um share a story about my dad who he passed away uh five weeks ago I'm so sorry no it's okay he is was the most incredible businessman I've ever met he was incredibly philosophical I actually haven't cried about him since
• 49:30 - 50:00 he died so and I actually feel um yeah quite moved but he finally maybe some emotions are coming he um he died wearing his Primark shorts and this watch which if I showed you a picture was was like the oldest test watch with the like fake silver paint coming off he had spent the last three months of his life giving away making sure that not even his phone bill was in his name and he died with
• 50:00 - 50:30 literally nothing and he was so proud of that and he was so successful but did not ever want for a single thing in his life like he never went out he never had he didn't socialize he didn't buy himself anything it was all just for his kids and for the people around him and I remember growing up I used to think he was stingy and tight and like
• 50:30 - 51:00 he never spent money and he would never like you know give anything to us but actually it was uh it was all for us you know in the end and I only saw that when I got older and I think that's why he was so successful and he died really peacefully in his sleep and his lunchtime nap and I honestly think that was a gift from the universe for how selfless he was and i' I've just felt compelled to share that as we're talking about this idea of generosity and yeah I
• 51:00 - 51:30 hope I'm like your dad when I get older I want to be like your dad I also want to leave this I want to leave with nothing I want to give it all away and I want to help people realize that actually that's true success yeah yeah yeah absolutely very proud of your dad that's amazing and it's amazing you can see that you know as a kid we don't understand right yeah I don't think my kid thinks I'm stingy but I'm sure he's like why is Daddy giving away to people all the time you know and then there's the whole thing when Dragon stand like giving away your inheritance I'm giving
• 51:30 - 52:00 away my inheritance if I invest in you like give it all away you can't take it with you anyway exactly but it takes discipline to do what he's just done there that's real discipline and that that is that is a special Dad what's your dad's name Mahmood yeah you would be uh yeah he'd absolutely love this conversation oh my God I'm so happy I'm finally crying it's taken me a long time sorry it took me 25 years to cry about my dad and I had to go to therapy to do it and then I buried myself in my work I buried myself in the
• 52:00 - 52:30 fight and it wasn't until I sold my company and just sat there with a pile of money and thought okay why am I like this opened up that Pandora's Box because it's really gets harder as time goes on and and it has to come out at some it does have to come out yeah so you have created uh help bank and you are a social media sensation and I I think you just said you're opening your coffee shop but what is next on the horizon for you and can you tell me about the coffee shop yeah sure um yeah
• 52:30 - 53:00 basically I I think we Works got it the wrong way around you know we Works sold a chair and gave coffee for free when the model the best model is just charge for coffee and the seat is free so I want to create a space where people feel they can go and have uh a conversation about their dreams so I'm opening up a coffee shop it's tentatively called busies I haven't really talked about this yet um we're looking for a site in London I haven't yet found one that really clicks um the first the actual site will be first at
• 53:00 - 53:30 my staircase in Twickenham but we're looking for a big fancy location we can do it in London but I I just I want to create a place where talking about your dreams you don't feel awkward and you know if someone's in this coffee shop that they're also dreaming trying to create something that other people might judge yeah wherever that is and I want a place where people can feel comfortable to go and have a coffee and chat about their dreams with other people that are dreaming so so that's the plan um help bank is going to be next 30 Years work
• 53:30 - 54:00 for me I want to create a place I want I want to use social media for social good and I think right now most platforms aren't quite ticking that box most of them are a bit of a drug that an unnatural drug right where we get an algorithmic drug um and I want to create a natural drug environment so a natural drug environment is you go on a platform and you help someone it takes a bit of time but you get a natural happiness feeling if you help someone you feel better so it's a form of meditation so help bank for me is is going to be the
• 54:00 - 54:30 next 30 years of work to make that a platform where you go there and help people and you go there to get help for someone that doesn't know could you explain exactly what help bank is sure yeah I just assume everyone knows at this point you're right so help bank is well the original idea behind help Bank was what if you could go somewhere and ask for help and not feel bad about it so you can just go somewhere and say I need this help can anyone help me back to your point some people just need an introduction to someone to change their life they need a new customer they need just one person to promote them on their
• 54:30 - 55:00 social media to get the the the uplift they need to make their dream happen so I wanted somewhere where people could go and get help and that was the original premise of the idea we launched the platform a year ago 190,000 people have now signed up and here's the mind-blowing thing I thought it was a place for people to go and get help but the most amount of people on the platform are people who go there to help so people want to help what we discovered is you have to make it convenient for someone to help so a lot of people want to help but they don't have much time especially the people
• 55:00 - 55:30 that know what they're doing right people that can actually help you are pretty busy so we did some by accident we built somewhere where people can go and help and make it convenient for those helping so we no longer say it's a platform to help you we say it's a platform to help people help people I love that and it is so exciting to see every day that people can go somewhere get help and there's someone there to give them that help and it's not a transaction I'm even paying some people to go there and help people for free so I pay you to help someone for free free and we have a leader board where we every single month give people you know
• 55:30 - 56:00 thank yous and anywhere we can cash and prizes money can't buy to say thank you to the kind people to those that go out of their way to help someone and so that's the whole idea behind the platform oh that's beautiful I absolutely love that I have one last question for you which is that for anyone listening uh who wants to pursue their dreams or change their life what would you like to say to them believe in themselves just just take a moment to believe in yourself whatever the self-doubts are whatever you've read in the media about businesses failing you know 90% of businesses failing the first
• 56:00 - 56:30 year is a lie that is not true really yes if you believe 90% of businesses failed in the first year you've been brainwashed into not working for yourself in England statistically 23% of businesses failed in the first year 64% of businesses failed in the first three years both of those things have happened to me in the business that failed within the first three years I still made2 million pound profit before it failed and I learned so much that my next business really worked so failure is part of the process but I want people to believe in themselves that's the biggest
• 56:30 - 57:00 thing I see people have a lack of confidence or they they find it hard to ask for help to make their dream happen or they're so stuck in a life that fight a flight they can't even think about it just take a moment assume you're rich and ask yourself what is your dream could you before we go actually just tell us a little bit more about your new book if you want all my knowledge it's free on YouTube actually cuz I I don't want 20 this book cost to be a barrier for people so this you can get all my knowledge for free on YouTube you don't need to spend 2020 to get it for my book so that's
• 57:00 - 57:30 important I want people to know that but if you want to understand my story maybe get an update on some of the dreamers I've been helping and have a step-by-step guide to make your dream happen then go bu the book and I'm using all the proceeds from this book to fund people's dreams and scaleup help bank.com to help people for free so your money will be used to help grow people's dreams so and I always say the one theme in the book is if you want your dream to happen help someone else's dream happen and that's what this book's about trying to help you understand how we're all connected and how you can make your
• 57:30 - 58:00 dream happen step by step beautiful thank you so much thank you Simon thank you so much for joining me on rise with Roxy if today's conversation inspired you please don't forget to hit subscribe and share it with someone who might need just a little extra encouragement and for even more ways to rise above life's challenges you can now pre-order my brand new book confidence 8 steps to knowing your worth remember you can find us wherever you get your podcast and you
• 58:00 - 58:30 can watch us on YouTube too I'll see you next time