EP141 - How To Be Spectacularly Direct | Brad Burton - WHOLE MAN ACADEMY

Welcome to the Whole Man Academy podcast. We cut the bullshit and get real about building your ideal life. If you're done with settling and you've got the guts to aim higher, you're in the right place. We bring you ideas, strategies, straight talk and real stories from guys who are living life on their terms. Men who refuse to settle for mediocrity. They're here to share the raw truth about what it takes to break free from the mundane and step up your game. Why? Because the world needs strong men now more than ever. And it all starts here at the Whole Man Academy.

Okay, so this is the Whole Man Academy podcast, episode 141. My guest today, it's taken me 14 years to get him on the podcast. Sounds ridiculous, but I'll explain that he's known as UK's number one motivational business speaker. But I know you're a lot more than that, Brad. First off, how are you and where are you, brother?

Kicking ass and I'm over in Somerset. I originally from Manchester, but I got bored getting shot at. So now I live. The only thing that gets shot around there is grouse.

Well, I, I'll take you and me back to, you know, over a decade ago when we first, you know, first time I saw you speak properly and I think I'd heard you on a podcast. It was at one of the London Real events in London and, and what I like there was and funny, I saw it on your website where you were spectacularly direct. And I know, and you know, especially for me, dealing with a lot of men, that some people can't handle the direct approach and other people lap it up and love it, they need a kick up the ass. But take me back to let's say the younger Brad, let's say the 20 year old Brad, living where you were with what happened and although you don't need to unpack it for ages because I know it's one of those, it could be a long story, but in a nutshell, for the guys to understand like how you started off with, let's say adversity to like where you are now.

Well, listen, I think just to put your mind at easy, I'm from Salford, do have a shaved head, they have tattoos, but don't worry, I'm not a drug dealer anymore. But we can all change. And I think that's what I'm living proof of that. And I go back down to that time and I'm not going into specifics, but you know, needless to say, I was in the hanging out with the wrong crowd. Which actually at the time, to be honest, was probably the right crowd. It was certainly the fun crowd. And, you know, and I think it was interesting as a fish Lonnie grows as big as its fish tank. And back then, my vision was pretty low, you know, my, my, my. The biggest aspirations that I could have was having a semi detached council house with a, you know, an XR3I and a cat backwards. That was as good as it got for a kid like me. And I was always a class clown. Left school with no qualifications. I got involved in the rave scene. Great fun, by the way. I wouldn't necessarily want my kids doing it, but nonetheless, great fun. Backing. No, but, you know, it was. And the Left school with no qualifications. Dad left when I was six months old. Mum brought me up as a single parent. Look, I'm a motivational speaker. I'm supposed to have a sob story, but I, you know. And they got shot out at 21 year old. And then it caused me to kind of move away. And what was really interesting about moving away is I had to just forget who I once was. Had to let go of everything where I lived, all my friends, everything, had to kind of start again. And I moved to Somerset kind of reluctantly. And I remember thinking to myself, well, this is, you know, this isn't ready. Rock and roll. I don't want to be here. And I think there's been a lesson throughout all that, which is in life, you're going to have situations and circumstances that you're not necessarily happy about, or it should have been different, it could have been different, it would have been different, but it's not.

Yeah.

You know, and actually, at some point throughout all that, you need to accept that you are where you are. And that applies mentally, emotionally, physically, financially, spiritually. You need to accept where you are. And only when you can accept where you are, only then can you start rebuilding your life, which is exactly what I've done. And at 31 years old, that was my original kind of version of myself. In fact, I'll shut up. You're the interviewer. Bum gone.

What I always find funny with interviews. I interviewed a guy the other day and we were talking about trauma. And, you know, if you accidentally traumatize your kids. I think most people accidentally traumatize their kids, or if you have. And for you, I always think it's that. It's the resilience of that thing where you have shots fired. It doesn't really matter where they were going. The point is that if you're around that, that is, you know, a chance of imminent danger for you. And I wondered, then it's interesting, why Somerset? Why relocate to there?

Couple of reasons. One holds my eyes. Got a pin, dink. True story. Bristol. And actually I then realized that actually my mum had been to a place called Western super and the seaside resort and actually I was on benefit. So I thought to myself, you know what, if you're going to be on the dole, why don't you be on the dole? Well, I see. And that's exactly what happened.

It's. And this is why it's interesting because sometimes, you know, you can never. It's like a domino effect. You never know the, you know, connecting things, going forwards. And I wonder if you. At what point then, because how do you go from being on benefits, you know, kind of basically escaping where you'd been to suddenly reinventing yourself as a motivational speaker? Because it's not an obvious move. You don't see many people go, do you know what? I think I do. Fuck it, I'll do motivational speaking.

So. Well, look, so what happened? When I was 31 year old, I told my employer to shove the job up their ass. I got myself a job. I was working over in London and the company I was working for, I blagged myself as a job as a head of marketing, right? And you think, how did this kid do that? When I was 26 years old, I blagged myself as a, as a, as a job as a shop manage of a computer game shop. I'm a big gamer. I've been gamer for 40 odd years. So I understand there's two things I'm really knowledgeable on. Computer games and UFOs. They're my kind of interest, right? I'm really like, no, Jo, like exceptional. I would put myself up against anyone on those two subjects.

Fantastic.

Yeah, yeah. So I was into computer games, blagging my way into a job. Now this is where it gets really interesting about what you just said a second ago. When I was 26 years old, I shacked up with a girl over in Somerset, Martina. Thank you. And what happened with Martina was I went for a job at the shop and I got a application form. Now my writing is terrible. Like terrible. A good example of it there, right? My writing is terrible. I should have been a doctor. And they give me an application form. I didn't fill it in because my writing is terrible. And what happened, unbeknown to me, the girlfriend at the time, she filled it in and Submitted it.

All right.

Amazing. Now, I would not be talking to you right now if she hadn't done that. True story. So she fills that in, I get an interview, I blag my way to a job as a shop manager. I had previous experience in shops retail eight years prior. And I smashes it to pieces in terms of my ability as a, as a, as a, as a shop manager. They had 12 stores at the time, independent computer game store, and they had a Bristol store, which is twice the size of mine, next to McDonald's. And I was outpacing them and they're thinking, what is this guy doing? So. And what it was doing is almost like a pit boss. So I always had a good vision. I'd stand at the end of the, on the Saturday at the door and as people come in, hello, buddy, how you doing? So you straight away, there was a vibe and then they'd go and pick up a game. Oh, FIFA 97, they'd have it in the hands. So I'd be on my guys. They go up to, ah, played that last night. Oh, the banana kicks it. Boom. You know, how can I help you at all, sir? So anyway, with that, a bit rapport building. Absolutely. So, you know, that was a natural thing. I ended up being promoted to a regional manager. Regional manager of the 12 stores. And it's completely. Anyway, with that, I then got a job during the dot com boom as a head of marketing for an isp UK online. Plugged my way into that job. And then. Anyway, so bottom line was I blogged away to a head of marketing for a security company over in, over in London. And they asked me to put a market report together. I spent three days on it and then produced, delivered this marketing report. And they went, oh, we tried that in 1977. We did this. That never went, you know what, why am I wasting my time? I said, you know what? Shove your job up your ass. And I walked out on December 18, 2004. And I think it's fair to say my wife was delighted with that decision. 25 grand in debt, newborn boy, baby Ben, and no idea what I was doing. She said to me, why couldn't you keep your mouth short for five days and get your Christmas page? You had a point. You know what, the thing is, when I started my business, there was like, you know, low sales, no sales, depression. And. And in my case, a winding wife. There's no book on that. There is now. Get off your ass. But look, the bottom line was I wrote that back in the day. And you Know, it's like a bible for what it's like to start a business off. So I started my business off as a marketing business. Then I went to this business networking stuff. I don't know if you ever been to a networking event, but I went to business networking events. Didn't like what a loony left it, didn't like what a hard right did. Where was the mainstream of networking? I started an organization called 4 Networking, 25 grand in debt, nobody gave me a chance and I ended up becoming a organization that generated millions in revenue and I was running, I've run 68,000 business networking meetings in the UK. You know, not bad for a thicker from Salford. And I think that's the point, I think that's the point is that somewhere along the way there's a good version of us and there's a not so good version of us and more often than not we don't engage it. Oh, there is reason I can't work anything out is because, you know what happened when I was six, my dad locked in a cold shed or I'm a working class lad or I'm a Salford lad, I've got no qualifications or bollocks. So. So with that I started a networking business and every time I'd have to go to a networking, we'd launched all these meetings over the course of 16 years, every time people would tell I'm the founder, people would want to hear me speak. I'd never done any public speaking and when I first started I used to speak like, yeah, nice one. And actually people couldn't understand me and I think to myself, would I get booked on an international level if I still saw like this? No. So I had to change that, I had to change how I spoke, right, still me. But I had to change our spoke, I had to change our delivery, I had to change out the entire approach. And it's funny because when I first moved from Salford down to Somerset, I'd walk around with a scam, what are you looking at? You're not bed. That kind of mentality to protect myself from this threat, it doesn't exist because I'm still living the sulfur threat. So I'd walk around like that and you know, it just. And look, you know, we are what we think. If you want to change your life, change how you think.

I, I wondered for you, at what point did you start to think, you know, with, let's say with launching the business of the networking, at what point did you think this is working as opposed to. Because I Know people. I know how hard it is to run your own business. Especially even if you've got loads of support, let alone if you in debt, you've moved away, different place, what have you. At what point did you think, okay, this is, this is something that I, you know, can make a career out of.

So the first year in my network in 2006 we launched 11 groups. Second year was up to 24. Third year, 56, year four, 120, year five, 200 groups nationally. And I remember driving from my own Somerset all the way to Manchester and every single motorway junction. We had one of my four networking then I'm thinking, hell. And that was it. That was the, the moment when I drove from my house 200 miles away and every single junction. Gloucester, you know, Gloucester, Cirencester, Swindon, Reddit, every one of them. And I'm like hel, everyone. And it was just. And that, that was a, that was an absolute turning point for me.

What did that feel like? Because I wonder, you know, growing up in a, let's say a poor area and I've lived in a council house when I was young and you know, the people, you're not exactly filled with aspirational people necessarily. And you know, stories, most people are kind of settling for what they've got. And so I wondered for you like at what point not necessarily did you feel like you made it, but at what point did you feel like you'd not just made the right decision but like life had turned a corner and you were basically a different version of Brad.

So it's really interesting. I'm going to try and call something up if I can. I don't know if we can share it. But really interesting in that you never quite get there. You're always there. And this is the problem I think is the curse of modern day living that we're all heading towards a horizon that can never be reached, right? And it's always, you get a 40s television. Oh, you get 14. Now you've got a six step. And now you want an 80. Now you want 100. Now you want 100 inch curved. Now you need to have a home cinema system. And I got a friend of mine over in, over in, in London that's got a home cinema system. I went to see him. He's got an amazing big property. Takes me down to the, the seller, the basement. Turns the lights on. Think he's got a 30 seat cinema, you know, red crush velvet popcorn machine. It's probably been put on once, you know. And I said to Him. I said, oh, you know, you know, Steve, this is amazing. He said, what's that? I said, 28 mates.

Yeah.

And we end up chasing that doesn't matter. That matter, right? Trying to impress people that don't give a toss. And this is the bit. And I, I look at me as an individual and I've done well from a materialistic perspective. I've done really well back in the day, like really well. It's, you know, but you never, in my view, when you're in that game, you never, you never. You're always heading towards this horizon that can never be reached. It's always the next thing. Now I've got to the point in my life where that's not the case. I'm content, I'm at a level and I think that's what true success is, being content with where you are, with what you've got, as opposed to always want. And it just doesn't mean be ambig, by all means, be ambitious, be driven, but you need to be happy. And when you're driving ambition is causing you to be unhappy, then maybe, just maybe, you found your level. Because we can't all be Elon Musk. And I think that what we've got to do is we've got to find who and what we stand for, not what Instagram tells us we should be. You need to go and get a Patak watch or what the they call it. But you know, this is the thing, what society tells you that success is. You need to determine what success is for you. And if success is for you is sitting on your dad's playing computer games, smoking bongs, that's okay. It's your life future. Oh yeah. What you need to do is you need to go to the gym and get 5am club, we can do ice baths. If you want to do that, do that. If you want to sit there getting stolen on bongs playing computer games, do that as well. It's your life. And I think where we, you know, where people go wrong is you trying to allow other people to dictate their life. So it answers that question. You know, there's numerous times throughout the years where I felt I've made it. There's lots of significant things. Probably the most significant thing was when I did zero con, which was a 3,000 people in the audience, main stage, open the show and you know, people were kind of willing me to fail some people and I smashed it to pieces. You know, it was a Conor McGregor type presentation and it's unavailable on, on YouTube. YouTube Brad Burton 0con x e r O C O N But you know, that was just significant. And I remember there's a bit at the end that I didn't realize as the cameraman was going around me, rotating around me on stage, when I was saying dinger and he's. As it comes round. I didn't realize you're going to do it as he comes round or whatever it is here. Yeah, the almighty breath. And if I'd have ruined the shot. But I realized it was there and you can just see it. I recognize I'm just about to go, what the. And and I realize this. So that was probably the greatest kind of. It's going to be one of them ones. I might wake that. That'll hopefully be played in silence so people can see. Do you know what I mean? To come from where I've come from, to be at the stage and one of the biggest stages in the UK.

For a speaker, I think that's always great. It's those reminders and I know with a lot of the guys through the whole man academy, it's trying to remind them to enjoy the journey. And I've seen so many guys through. Even though we used to work within the city or guys you've connected with that are. That are caught by the trappings of success. And it's like, you know, when you've got a BMW, you want the Mercedes. When you've got the Mercedes, you want the Porsche and you want the holidays in Miami and all the things which are all interesting and nice to have. But you know, most people in the end, actually, from what I understand, value like experiences and freedom, which I think is one that I didn't think about in my 20s and mid-30s until I started getting into personal development.

Well, you just focused on this, you know, drinking, getting drugged up. It's just, it's just this. I get it. You know, I think from my perspective, I call it sick cess. Because I'm telling you something, I work with people and I've spoke to them. They've got everything, but they've got nothing. They've got everything, yet they feel they've got nothing. And that is like, that's mind blowing. All the trappings of success. Kids are all in private schools, but they're empty. You know, a real turning point for me in this whole thought was I remember driving along many moons ago and you could Google it and you'll find out exactly when. But I was driving along and the There's a story on Today program Or whatever. And it said the CEO of American Express has just been medical whatever on it. He's on, it's on his private jet going to a meeting and they've had to do a medical detour because he's had a heart attack. Two minutes later, guess what, he's died. 55 year old now if he knew he was going to die that day, do you reckon he'd have been on a plane? No, he wouldn't have. No. None of us know when we're gonna die. This is the thing you know. None of us know when we're gonna die. I'm 17, 896 days in on this planet. I've got no idea where what that figure talks out. And we spend too much time worrying about the next five years or next 10 years, about the next five days, the next five hours and if we all focused on. And that's I think where a lot of the problems come from in life is this, this expectation about what your life is. You know, I had some IFA telling me, oh well, you need to get you. The way he's selling me was beautiful. I mean in that I knew he was a wheeze and I just sat there. Oh, okay. They went, you know. So how much do you win at the moment? X figure. Okay, so when you're 65, you'd want to sort of earn that kind of figure, wouldn't you? And it's like not really, no, because I'm 65, I'm gonna be putting on my garden, not gonna be asked about driving, doing donuts and Lamborghinis and, and that's it. And they tried to sell you that these you need a pension pot of 3 million quid. And what you need to do, mate, I've got my died to run at 53. I'm 51.

Yeah, right.

So I've got two years left. You think I give a about looking, worrying about something in 10 years time? And this is the bit with it all. I just think we spend too much time worrying about a future that doesn't exist. Dealing real.

I, I like the message because again it's for a lot of the guys you can be caught up in the instagrammable, you know that you can follow a very few, you know, a few influences, let's say be men or women who seem to have the perfect life and as you know, the more you know these people, the more you end up, some of them are the more up people than you've ever met. To be honest.

Anthony, I'm going To ask you a question. I want to be really honest, Right, Yeah. We're amongst friends now. If you have a perfect life, and I'll apply this if, if you have a perfect life, put your hand up now. Yeah. If you have a perfect business, put your hand up now. If you've gone on Instagram, tell. Put your hand up. If you've seen perfect lives and perfect businesses, right? They don't exist. So anyone that I know, no matter how sensible, wherever they are in the world, I've asked that question, right? I've asked that question and staged it up and down the land, up and down the world and never get one. Men. So they put Strand up on a cake. One idiot at the back, you always get one, right? But in the round, perfect lives and perfect businesses and perfect jobs and careers don't exist yet. It's painted on social media and everywhere you look. Stop it.

Selective sharing, isn't it? And I, I found that really interesting when I stood back and looked, the more I actually got annoyed by people who. You kind of maybe knew them and you knew they weren't doing so, but they were projecting that fake image. And I wondered, because there's two avenues there with social media, because I. I guess it's a tool that can help you reach more people, but it's also a tool that can, if you, if you allow it to kind of drain your time and you up a bit, what's your relationship like with social media and how's it changed?

You know, so I'm a former drug addict, right? And cocaine, by the way, just so you know, right? Back in the day, I loved it, it was great. But, you know, it catches up with you. It catches up with you and it starts becoming fun. And I think that's what's happened with social media. Oh, my God, this is amazing. This is amazing. And the next thing, the fun drops out of it and you're still conditioned. It is digital drugs. This is what this is, digital drugs. You know, my screen turns 14 hours a day. What the. That is bonkers. Now I'm a motivation speaker. Supposed to be. I'm making changes. Yeah. But then I kid myself, oh, it's for. It's for, you know, work. And actually it's not. And it's just a little, nice little dopamine hit. Don't mean it. So in answer to that question, I've deleted the app. So Instagram gets deleted during the week, so I don't really use it. Then I've just deleted this morning or Monday, yesterday. X Twitter app now saying that I've been on Twitter 10 times this morning but having to go back via the, the, you know, the website which is slower and clunkier and I'm just trying to make you slightly more uncomfortable. Look, I don't have all the answers on this one. I'd love to say, yeah, guess what? You know, I bought one of those things that allows you to put the phone in, in a box for an hour. It's just. Listen, the reality is, I think that we're going to look back at social media in many, many moons time in the same way we look at cigarettes and we look at asbestos. This is caustic. And I'll tell you something, we are what we, what we hear, what we see. Sorry, what we and what we see. And we are seeing on social media that you're the only person in this world that has ever seen a world like you person. So when somebody sees the world as I do it and you're arguing with somebody on social media, I don't do it. But you'd argue with somebody. They're looking at it from their perspective, from what happened to them as a kid or what they think or what they see or what they read. So everyone's trying to get everyone else to convert them to their way of thought. And actually no wonder we're all up in the world, you know, with the amount of division that is going on, red versus Blue, black versus White, you know, labor versus conservatives, Trump, it's it, it's up everyone's com. And if everyone just got on with their own life and got on with their own and why are people saying oh well you need to do that, you need to do that, you need to do that, what do you need to do? And that's what I think we need to sus out. We need to spend more time on ourselves than we're doing other people's problems.

I think you're spot on because I look at it this way, like no matter and we all see things that are triggering, you know, I, I was a big one to talk out against lockdowns because you could see what it's going to do to all sectors society. But you, you realize that there's no comment you're going to make that the other person's going to go, do you know what, you're right. Thank you so much. I've changed my total opinion on this. So thank you for your comment.

Well, I say to people, you know, I say to people, put your hand up. If you had a Argument on social media. I said keep your hand up if you want an argument on social media. You know, this is. So we're wasting time, we're wasting time on that doesn't matter. And this is the bit we spend so much time about. The past. Oh, what happened in Salford. Bastard shouldn't have done it did right, but it did unlucky. I get over it, right, that's the past causes us to be depressed. The future, oh, what happens if there's a World War Three? Anxious past, depressed future, anxious. What the Now. That's it. Now this, this is good. Outside of this starts popping off.

That's where I. There's a chap I interviewed on, on the podcast which is probably the. For comments and likes the most popular one I'd ever done a couple years ago and he said that the big contributing factor to that is the media because they're, they basically their job is to create dread because it' said this might happen, this could happen, what have you. And, and I advise all guys generally to try and at least take a step back from social media.

So I'm two and a half years in of no news. I'll say that at the two hours prior to Trump getting shot, and this is quite interesting, prior to Trump getting shot at, I'd done two hours or two and a half hours in two and a half years, right? I'd go no news channels, no website, nothing, Trump gets whacked. I, I've gone right into thingy mode, straight back to two hours here, three hours watching rolling news, this, that and then I've installed the app, I'll have to uninstall it again. So I've done, I've done more news in the last two and a half weeks than I had the two and a half years prior. And this just shows you how this captivating. I know there's some bits of bobs going on in the last 24 hours. I've not got involved in it. I, I know very little about it, you know, but once again, social media, wherever you look, people are putting their view and framework on it, trying to convince people. But what it's doing is creating this whole discombobulation of society. And I think if you look at this whole world, back in the old days, if I thought you was a prick and we met at a conference, it wouldn't get much traction in terms of me being able to say you're the prick, you know, but social media, I can go on there and I can get all my friends that like it's almost like we're encouraging digital witch hunts right now.

That's where taking time off. Funny. Emma, my partner took three boys all the way to home ed camp in Oxfordshire last week. And so from Monday to Friday, she didn't touch her phone once, apart from to message once to say, we're all fine. And. And when she came back on the Friday, she's like, you have no idea how lovely it was to not look at emails, WhatsApp, Telegram, Instagram, and not even, you know, not even think, oh, just have a quick look whilst the kids aren't, you know, aren't doing stuff. And I think that's. That' something that most of us miss. I was gonna say one of the big things I know for. For men is about being able to adapt. Obviously you did, but take me to 2019. How was your business to then 2020 when lockdowns happened? Because, you know, we spoke previously, but it was the same for us on a different scale. But, you know, I'd hosted, don't know, 9, 10 events in London in 2019, building up good momentum. And then it all went to. And it's very hard to. You can't just recreate momentum overnight in. In my view. Anyway, I find out how. So I wondered the snapshot of 2019 to then adapting to 2020 and onwards.

Yeah, yeah. So we was running 5,000 business networking meetings in the UK every single year in 2019. Right. Like in the. Every single year. So, you know, effectively 200, 250 anywhere, every fortnight in. In the UK. And then four months later did that big presentation, which is fabulous. At zero. Come on. Four months later, that was it. Lockdown. My business dropped. I've spent 14 years at that point building it. Momentum gone 90 off overnight and we moved fast. It was the first ever network to do online networking. So we kind of use Zoom as a platform. We had our format already, our scripts and we went. But here's the thing. So, you know, it was quite good at first. I say good wasn't great, but we managed to use quite an excitement originally. But the problem is, is that that network that I built up. So if you think of a gym for people who don't know, think about gyms, right, You've got all these gyms there and they're all connected. So I can go to virgin active here, virgin active there, Virgin active there. So, you know, it's solid. So if this one goes as a branch, it's fine because there's another one on the road. That's what Mine was like. So we had this unique format which allowed members to go everywhere. So we created a national network over 14 years. Then what would happen is we created this, the online bit, and everyone just copied our format. So every competitive advantage, it made no difference.

Yeah.

What, who was on the other side of the. It wasn't, you know, Salford, it wasn't Manchester, it wasn't Reading, it was just online calling it Reading. So everyone was doing it. So everyone undercut the market and just it. So my entire business model was decimated overnight. And look, you know, everything happens for the reason, even the shitty stuff. And I think about myself, which is why I'm here now. You know, I go back to the worst day of my life over in salford back in January 2, 1995 and if that hadn't happened, I wouldn't be here now. And actually with the network going, my business for networking going, I now focus on team building and what have you. And it's like, yeah, everything's good, man. And I'll tell you, I got myself off the hamster wheel as well. I got myself off that hamster wheel of actually, you know, a couple of million pound business. I'm actually making more money now as a one man band, which doesn't make any sense. A 15 star from. So I'm making more money now as a one man band.

Yeah.

And yet I'm not.

It's funny, I actually spoke to some the other day who has founded a, a company that's part of Formula One, let's say, and the engineering side. And when they first started it, it was a very lean, mean, a couple of guys and you know, you could make decisions because they've needed to grow because they've got bigger orders. They've now grown to 17 people. But as you know now you need people to manage the people and you need to make enough money to pay the people a year's salary to manage the people and you end up not doing what you enjoyed. You deal with the people and you.

And you've come from being a market trader now to a managing director and actually, you know, some people are probably better placed as manager, as marketing directors. So market, yeah, market traders, ego. So, you know, look, it's been, it's been an up and down. But look, what I've always done is I've always reinvented myself and that's what you've got to do as human beings. The version of you at this exact second is a different version to the one that started 25 minutes ago. And that's what you need to understand. And you go, oh, shut up. I'm telling you, there'll be something that I've said today that would have shaped you in some way and moved your position. Actually, next time you come to make a decision, you would have done it that way. If you've not heard something and now you can do that way. This is what I, I look at, look around your office and look around my office. Everything, in fact, as audience members look around your office and everything that you see was once an idea in somebody's brain, right? It was once an idea in somebody's brain. And the reason that what you need to recognize. Right. Is that. Best one ever, by the way, Judge Burton. Right. Or my Knight Rider car.

Yeah, the important stuff.

Yeah. Oh, yeah, exactly. All my James Bond car. But the point I'm making is this, is that everything that you see in the physical world, physical world was in somebody's brain at one point. It was an idea. So in order for you to make the life. And this is manifestation, right. If you want to make the life, you want to go and live in a house and you want to do, it's got to start here and you've got to believe it. So when I started my network off, my wife, like I said, oh, you know, you can't, you can't do that. We've got no money in the bank left. And said, you've got to invest in it. And I did it because I had this 100 unwavering, misguided self belief and that's what you've got to have. So in order for you to get the life that you want and the success and live the life. Oh, what are we, three stories heavier? Well, stop eating cakes and go for a walk a day or stop talking about it.

Yeah, do something about it.

Yeah, right. You know, and, and this is the thing you're going to, got to look at gyms in January, flooded with people who signed up direct debits. And they think that, that. And, and people say no pain, no gain. It's no pain. Pain, no gain. Right. It's the, the signing, the thing, the direct debit. You think that's the pain? It's not. The pain's going four times a week. You know, I've been training now for 20 years. Am I the andos Wal? Right. But the point I'm making is that, you know, oh, I don't want to become like almost Walsh. We'll take it from me. I mean, 20 years, good luck with that. Right. And I think that. And this is. Oh, you know, I don't want to put like, yeah, trust me, you're not gonna. But the point I'm making, 20 years I was forced on heavier, actually. 52 pound heavier. Worked out the day. 52 pound heavier. And you go onto YouTube and go, you'll find me on there, Bradfords and working lunch. Go and have a look. 50. This is me 2010, 14 years ago. So I was. I was 14 years younger. I'm 51 now. I was 34. And I look older, I look older. I was fatter. So it's taken me years to. To get my weight off and to sustain the weight off as well.

Yeah. And I think as we get older, it does seem to get harder, you know, because when I was in my 20s, I was motivated. I went to the gym five days a week.

And.

And the old saying, you did the curls.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And. And then when you've got three kids and you get woken up and, you know, very various stuff goes on. I mean, I got to a stage where I stopped playing football because I just got. After years and years of playing, I just, you know, like fell out of love with it. But I realized I needed something to replace it with, you know, because the weekends were just nothing and I needed something to train. So I started doing obstacle course races, which is probably might have been around the time that I'd come to those events. I started going to them and ended up getting to the world championships in America. And. And for me, it was that people would say, oh, I don't know how you can be bothered with the training. And I said, because I want. I need something to motivate me to stay in shape because it's. Otherwise, it's easy to just drift, if that makes sense.

You know, Anthony, you look at this, that you and I are now talking as a result of a chance meeting 14 years ago, whenever it was. So if you think about. I'll talk about. And you did mention it, a long tail. But this is the thing, is that there was something in this conversation today that will hopefully change someone's outlook or they'll to go, you know What? Well, I'm £40 to ever also who's 52. And the reality is the life that you want starts here. You get this right? Because people try to change their life. Don't change this, change this. You change your life. People have been pushing the or pulling the couch the wrong side from the wrong end. I'm telling you, the way I changed my life was by changing how I think about myself and how my, my own personal kind of avatar about who and what I am changed up.

Where do you think? Well, actually, we'll come back to that question because I was going to ask, you know, I'm a big believer in having a network of people around you, be it men, be it anybody that can kind of help you. Have you had anybody or various people that have kind of you've been able to talk to or throw ideas at mentorship or anything throughout the years?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, you know, I've got a guy, Gary Turner, I've got a mentor of mine right now and I'm speaking to him today at one o' clock or thereabouts. You know, so this is what happens is. And it's. There's certain mentors are great for certain things. And that's the bit, that old bit piece about, you know, I don't sit on calls for hours. I'll go on there and ask a question, five minutes. And now I'm further forward because I know I trust this individual's view. He will say to me, and I mentor people, I talk them through. Best way through a minefield is by going following some through a minefield. But yeah, mentors need mentors. 100.

What do you think the common, let's say with the men over the years you've dealt with, are there a few common things that men struggle with? Like, for example, confidence could be a gateway one.

Yeah. Two of them. Well, there's two things. If you said to me, what are the ones? Self confidence and sales. Right. And actually one in the same. They're one in the same. And you know, I had someone the other day who's like a professional, you know, sales director or whatever, and he's looking for a job. And I said to him, I said, do you not see the irony on this? So you're a sales director and you're looking for a job. You know, intrinsically, it's core, it's kind of rattling me and I kind of understand. So, so, so confidence is the one. Confidence is, is, is, is fundamentally at its core. So if you think about me right now, my confidence is, if I had to put it on a led and say what the confidence is at right Now, I'd say 91. Right of, of where I'm at. If we was to lower that by, by 40, would I be this guy? No. So the only way that could be a motivational speaker. Bear in mind, I can't have a bad day. I cannot have a Bad day. I can't go on stage and go, oh, sorry, I'm today everyone, I'm having a bad day. So what I've got to do is I've got to regulate my moods. I need to say, okay, on Thursday I know where I'm at. So I need to genuinely keep it 5 out of 10 and then peak. So the old Brad before I used to speak, I used to go like this. It's a drum and bass, get myself full of energy. I'm loving anymore because it's a cucumber. 30 seconds out, game time. Boom, it's on. And he's like, this is all learned stuff. So you know my confidence, I mean it's a strange profession where you've got to walk into a room full of strangers and win them over and impress them, impress them. But you know what I do as I lean into this in that I go out there and whenever I speak on stage, I do. I call it something the 3. 33. 33 which is this whole when it comes to as a speaker is what I train people. But when, when you come out, I've got three seconds for people to go, oh. To earn the right for the next 30. So when I come out the way that I do Union Jack tattoos, music and walking out and contend men, they're either thinking, oh, this looks good or what a knob ed. Either way I'm good, either way I'm good. And then what I do, I've got the next 30 seconds to turn the right for next three minutes. Hi guys, just let you know I'm from Salford, Manchester. Do you have shaped their tattoos? But don't worry, I'm not a drug dealer anymore. Haha. So. So now we've got either oh, what the wolf, the drug dealer thing would look and then the joke. So now what I do is look over the course of the next four days, what I'm going to talk about is you're not talking before they're talking for 45 minutes. So it's woke them up again. So you know, listen, over the next four days, ah, three people are awake. You know what we're gonna do for the next 45 minutes? My intent is to change your life, change your business, change your direction positively forever. And you might think to yourself, yeah, yeah, yeah, go. And then ball there, motivate me. Well, that's exactly what I'm going to do in the next 45 minutes. I'm going to change your life. Change your life. Your entire life is going to get changed today in the next 44 minutes. So book. So now that's earned the right to go. Okay, so whether you think I'm a knob it or not. And, and generally speaking, I kind of lean into that. He's a knobbed for the first few minutes and because people underestimate me and it could have got their attention and that's what it's about as a speaker. So you've got a man. They go on there they go, yeah, you know, you there we unfolded, sir, you know, you think it's yourself, oh, go. And then ball emotivate me. And it's that and it's the so. So. And that's what I bring in. And you know, I've spoke over 2, 000 times in public and you know, at no point did I turn around in my careers office and say I'd like to be a motivational speaker. So we kind of fell into it. And I think if you look at our lives, right, and our wives, we fell into that. They probably better turn the phrase there. But nonetheless, you know, it's funny, isn't it? You know, my wife and I were a one night stand. It was 25 years ago.

Yeah, it. I always think it's interesting actually how couples met, which is, which is a different rabbit hole to go down. I wondered because I've done speaking, but.

Obviously on smaller audiences that question because I think it's quite important.

Yeah.

You know how we met outside the shop of that shop that was working at.

Right.

So me and Martino, we, we separated and then I met my wife outside the shop of that thing that I would not. So I would never. If she'd not done that, I would never got the job I never did. The career path I'd never met with, all because someone filled in an application form and sent it on my behalf, we wouldn't be speaking now. I would never go to London. Real.

Yeah. And this is funny, isn't it? It's, it's that sliding doors moment, mate.

But this is the bonkers bit about your life. You as an individual right now, you're watching this. Stop it. You've got no idea, you have no idea what the future holds for you. But you need, you need to recognize that the future just holds something for you. Sorry.

Nice. It's a good point. And again, it's funny, isn't it? Because if you'd have said 14 years ago, for example, that because I used to love watching Brian's London Real podcasts and that's probably what got me into personal development because I then heard the words of Tony Robbins and, and various others. But probably back then if you'd said, oh, in 10 years time or 40 or something, you'll live in the Cotswolds, you have three kids, you'll, you know, you'll be 140 podcasts in, you'd be like, no, that, that, that can't happen at all. So it reminds you, you never know what's coming around the corner. I wanted to go back to, you said obviously that you basically grew up without a dad, but is it that you grew up without a father figure or without your dad?

So my father figure was my stepdad, ironically, for the first seven years of my life. And they got divorced, mum and I, but still to this day called stepdad Frank. Great guy. And I'll tell you a story and I'll give you an example. So my dad, dad was quite violent and I never cut for any of it, so my mum got me out of there. But anyway, when I was 1980, 81, so 6 or 7, had a fight with a guy called Simon Wilkinson. He's been to my house since, which is lovely. So I had a fight with Simon Wilkinson outside on the school field, gone software and beat him up. It was a Saturday, a school fate or whatever and I went back home to my stepdad and went, dad, dad, Dad, I just, I've just beat up Simon Wilkinson out of fight. Why do you think that's good?

Yeah.

Now if I'd have gone back to my real dad, my dad would have said, oh, well done, son. Did you give him plenty? He's in hitting with a stick.

Yeah.

Now fundamentally, I'm telling you right now that I, I, I can track three things in my life and I'm prepared to share them. Three things in my life that have shaped who and what I am as a person, my personality. Because I think I would have grown up to be a violent guy if it would have been with, with my dad, I'd have grown up to be a violent guy. As it happens, I'm not. I just look like I can fight. I can't take the skin of a rice pudding. Right. But the reality is, is that, you know, that was, that was one of those formative moments and we have these, I call them insignificant or seemingly insignificant events that actually shape who we were. Another one is that I am the short version, 1977. The reason I know it was 1977 is because I'm a four year old kid and he's bunting. Never seen bunting. It was The Queen's. Yeah, Jubilee or whatever it was right at 1977. And I also remember having a cape with a blueberry on it. I've never had a blueberry. I'm looking at it going, right, it's a four year old and these are, these are all street parties and there's a word jumble sale and I've got a fuzzy felt getting farm set that I want to buy for 2 pence. It's got 2 pence. I've got my money in my hand and as I'm queuing up an old woman comes along, grabs it off, pays 2 pence and pisses off the other next guy for head scarf on. And I think that moment shaped me to move fast because you don't somebody. And that's also, if you look at this in terms of that. So I've moved fast. And I remember going to the traveling fair over in where I lived when I was like 8 or 9 years old. Used to go in the bushes to Manchester at nine year old, no mobile phone, bonkers. But went through this traveling fair and spent all my money and I've got four pence left, which is what it costs to get on the, the bus. So three mile away, me and Jimmy Green, part of mine. And I think, oh yeah, but what? Hot dog. And I want to go on the bumper cars. I've only got four pence which is my bus fare. I know I'll go on the fruit machine. So now I'm putting two pence in nothing, right? I'm now walking home three hours, three miles or whatever it is, right? Me and Jimmy Green. So I've got two pence but nothing lose. Put it in there. Seven, seven, seven. Won the jackpot on my last two pens. So I think that shaped me to think one, move fast, get a risk taker and three, life has a way of working itself out. So if you think about these kind of seemingly significant events that have shaped me as a character, almost lured me up because if I'd have lost, would it be a risk taker? Probably not. If I would have, you know, if I would have got the 2 pence thingy, would I move fast? Probably not. And this is what people need to understand, that every single day of your life you're being molded to a new version of yourself. You know, your wife ends up cheating on you, then all of a sudden you now look at women differently or trust them. So you know, we just need to allow the world to shape us in a better way. That's what we need to do.

I think it's an interesting point because a lot of people can be, like we say, transfixed on, like we touched earlier, trying to lead the perfect life. And you realize, you know, we don't know what's in store for us. And it's funny because the whole man Academy started in 2018, was our first event, and people mistakenly thought it was all about mental health. And I would say that mental health is a segment of a man, you know, because you could have great mental health but be broke or fat or you've got no relationship and stuff. But I just wanted for you. I mean, let's go on to. Let's talk about the mental health briefly. Like four men. I think the suicide stats are like, you know, they're three. Three times more men than women. Like taking their own life life, but not necessarily to write the guys that are killing himself, but the levels of depression stuff. What do you think could be some of the things that are causing guys to be living in that under a cloud, if that makes sense. And what could they do about it?

Two things here. Back in 2020, I had four seconds in my mind's eye flashed up, killed yourself, bonkers came up. Where were you dealing with this? The pandemic had come along. My business. So I'd be life. I had the perfect life now for the Mile. So. Oh, come on, Boris. Come on, Rishi. You need to start on about. They've got their own stuff going on. So this is the thing. So you can have the most perfect life now at the perfect network. Perfect network. It was. It was it breakable. It was, it was. It was unbreakable because if. If Manchester group went down. Stop what was here. Yeah, right. So that would then show effects and it pop up like seeds in flowers. But all of a sudden, boom. So. So it was that my identity set. I've got a stalker. I don't know if you didn't mention the stalker. No. Do you know anything about this?

I. I know briefly because I read your stuff, but guys listening because I think, funny, this is another part of a. You. You never know what's going to come along, do you?

Okay, so two conversations here. I'll. I'll do the stalker thing. The stalker thing. 2019, January 2019, I run an event over in Aston for the football club. 200 people there, amazing event. Me, primary speaker and 200 people there. And at the end of it, somebody comes up with somebody that I know my creative designer and says, oh, can you introduce me to this guy? So this Individual female were introducing to me meta. For 30 seconds in a crowded room. She said, can you have a selfie? That was it. Great. Boom. Nothing. No problems. Three months later on social media, this individual. Oh, I'm getting threatened. Oh, what is it, Chick? Next thread. And it just kept. So this wasn't one thread. It just kept escalating and being threatened. Oh, I don't know. I don't. Shouldn't say anything or inbox me, Chick. Oh, it's a high profile speaker. Oh, he's a high profile motivational speaker. And it just kept going. And then people were saying it always it. Brad Burton. This is just whisper campaign. Yeah. I've been getting death threats on a daily basis. He's poisoned me cat. I put a tracking device. Sorry, he's put a tracking device on a laptop. He's putting my windows through every day. He's. Oh, and it gets even worse. It gets worse. This just kept going and going and going. I've been called out at this point. My name is there in dinga and everyone. So I'm ignoring it. Blocking, ignoring. Which is what people tell you to do. The Susie Lampoo Trust.

Yeah.

And I'm waking up to 20 messages. I'd be seeing what she's wrote about you today. I'd be seeing what she's wrote. Thousands of posts about me. Thousands. And you can go into LinkedIn and use the hashtag BradBurton hashtag. And you will see this individual has done a great. I mean I've got to admire the approach if you want to do a hatchet job on someone beautiful. Anyway, this individual has now been arrested four times. They've now been charged. They've got three charges. Malicious communications, harassment and stalking. Up to eight years. So this is somebody that I met for 30 seconds. 30 seconds, no dealings with it. Yeah. Then on social media to say, oh, I've got a stockage that she has a stock protection order against me. Forged the police document and social media people, just a boom. Oh, see, he looks around in him. Boom. So anyway, that, that was that. So that was going on. I'm waking up and like every day, all consuming 22, 000 words about me in one post that my book now what available bookstores is 40, 000 words. It took me 18 months to write. Okay, 18 months. There's a 22, 000 word blog about me that you will find on LinkedIn if you go and search hashtag Brad Burton. Now, the reason I'm not putting any names out there is still ongoing in court cases on 22 November over in Manchester magistrates. So the point is, is that that was a byproduct of, of that I didn't ever say, I'll tell you what, we start a business off and I build it up. I'll have this. So I've got that going on, which was baby reindeer stuff. So if you've seen baby reindeer, it is that, that's what it was going on. Right. And then I've got my business is because of the pandemic. So I've got financial situations, furlough, bounce back loans, Inside World. I've got thousands of members looking at me. I've got a 200 member mentoring group that are coming towards me and before it was great because of the management team. Anyone got a problem, I'll sort it. Now I've got 200 lots of problems. I've got thousands of members coming to problems. Got my own problems, got my problems, got kids problems, just guys. Oh, mate of a level. Of a level. And I've got to be strong because I'm the leader. I have to be strong. People are expected. I was doing 14 hour days in this office videos and then you're eating. So you're now having coffee, Nescafe, 3 in ones fast, instant, lots of sugar called mini cheddars. Eating them to keep yourself, you know. So your weight's going wrong, your blood pressure is going up, the pressure's on the final. So boom. And at four seconds I remember walking and it said. So it said. I had this whole thing that said kill yourself four seconds. And I went woof.

Yeah. What the was that?

Right, you know, and, and obviously I didn't because I'm still here. But I think that that's what it is. I do. I actually think that we're, we are. I think we've namby pambered a bit about, about the reality of it it. And we're all, oh, trigger warnings. I think, I think, I think we've done ourselves a disservice here. I said, because what we're doing is we're creating the very conditions that allow that to breathe by actually recognizing that as men you need to get punched in the mouth and learn how not to get punched in the mouth. That's how I've learned. Now that doesn't mean that I want to put people through a, you know, a hot cauldron, but you need to have a. To build resilience up. I go to the gym. The purpose is it rips a muscle and it grows back.

Yeah.

If we go to the gym, but we're in all prepared. Not prepared to rip muscles because it's painful. We're ever getting stronger. So I think somewhere along the way, I think that as men, and I don't know how it works with your teachings, but as men, I think we're doing ourselves a disservice. You need to feel the pain that. The pain of your decisions, the pain of where you are. And actually they're there, there. And group hugs doesn't fix all. It's very nice for the duration where you've got a group pocket saying they're there, there's. It doesn't fix all. That's my experience. So I'm as real as it gets in terms of what I've encountered through my life and actually how I've overcome it.

It's so interesting because that's where after, you know, 140 hours at least, of talking to guys, a lot of them end up having the same feelings of, you know, firstly, the. That's happened to you. You can grow from it. You don't have to let it define you. And also, sometimes, if life is easy all the time, then actually you become weak and soft, if that makes sense. I know it's. Was it Peter Sage, who I remember listening to as well, who said, you know, the strongest trees grow in the strongest winds?

Yeah. In all fairness, Peter has ripped it off somebody else. But yeah, okay.

Yeah, he's. And I know, even with him, I thought I forgot his book, inside Track here, where he went to. Went to prison. And it's funny, actually on him, I remember that moment where when I heard he'd gone to prison, I let my. All the admiration I'd built up for listening to guys like you and him drop for a second. Oh, he's in prison. He must be bad. And then I was like, hold on a minute. Like, let's. And it would be like you with the stalking. People might have heard that. And you know what it's like. People are. There's no smoke without fire.

Listen, this is where it gets very dark. Very dark. I go to the police. It says the same, you know. Have you had sexual relations with this woman? I met her for 30 seconds. Are you sure? Let me just check. Oh, that's right. No, I remember now. I fell over and we fell in her, you know, no, you know, decent relationships with her. So I met over 30 seconds. Like, this is. I mean, it's been weird. Like, I say, so. So the default position is this. If you have an office and there's, you know, there's 10 people in there. One person will hate you. You have an office with 100 people. 10 people hate it for no rhyme or reason. Don't like his hair. Don't like his go to. Don't like his teeth. Don't like his watch. Don't like his background. Don't like his door handle. Right. You have a thousand people. 100 people won't like you. I ran a network with 3, 000 members. Guess what? Some people are not going to agree with you. And social media. I've got a list of 200 people that, that went on her threads to support her. Oh, I've heard that about him. Yeah. He looks around 200 people. And I've got, I'm not glue. But when this is all good, when she gets a guilty, and she will, because she's admitted various things, I'm gonna, potentially, I was gonna air them out and say all these people, here's your own comments for you to, you know, just to actually see how you're thinking. I'm not. I'm gonna put their initials in there and say, if you believe that's you, it's probably you. And actually you need to understand that I was going to kill myself. Kill myself. And then it'd be all lessons to be learned. We didn't mean that. What was bastards. Social media, like the government with our.

Lessons have been learned. So it's okay. Whatever we did. Lessons have been learned. So that's fine.

Lessons have been the. Yeah, so, you know, listen, I'm, I'm, you know, men. She's on bail at the moment, so she can't say all about me. But I think the root, the worst bit about all this was I was unable to comment. I can't comment about it, which is what I want to do. So this is the thing. No smoke without fire. And she's on social media saying, well, why is he not responding? Why is he not working? If this is the case, why is he not responding? So now people are saying, why aren't you responding? And now I've got to say, so I'm having 20 conversations in the morning, you know. Oh, yeah, well, no, because I can't respond. Because I can't respond.

Hell, putting out fires.

Well, you can't. There's no fires about.

It's just, well, one of the whole man academy events, there was a guy who'd. Someone had stolen his, you know, identity and had scammed women out of thousands. And then he was getting death threats from like their sons saying, you've taken money from my mum, I want it back. I've found out where you live. And he's like, it's. It's not me. So I, I know it's a. It's an interesting slippery slope to go down.

It is. But once again, you know, when I started out on this business, nobody could have told me. Guess what? You'll have a nervous breakdown. A nervous breakdown, right? Two and a half years to get back to Norman. Two and a half years. The difference, Somebody said, what's the difference in a burnout and a nervous breakdown? A burnout. I've had four in my life. Two weeks, nervous breakdown, two years. That's the difference.

Duration.

Oh, yeah. I mean, you know, and I wouldn't wish it. Well, I would wish on my worst enemy. But the point, the point I'm making is that, you know, you don't realize that, you know, big strong men lifting weights. Well, guess what? Your brain's a muscle. It's got a finite amount of pep in it as well. Before it goes, I can't do this. And we need to look after this. This is our biggest tool. I don't give a. I'll bring your businesses. If that's shot to pieces, you're. Your life's. Your ability to make decisions is, is impeded. And people under stress don't make great decisions. So I will not make decisions under stress unless I need to make a decision. Because it's a. I've got nowhere to think about it right now, but I move fast with all my decision making process. It's something that I've been, I've really majored on. And people say, how can you move so fast? The decision. I'll make a decision in 24 seconds. If I can't make a decision in 24, I revisit in 24 minutes. If after 24 minutes I can't make a decision, I revisit in 24 hours. If after 24 hours I can't make a decision. I just made a decision. It's not important. Move the on.

I love it. That's one of those things, isn't that. I would say there could be just that little on a little framework that for some people that are struggling with decision making or procrastination or something like that, you can be like, okay, apply the 24 to it and see how you get on.

24, 24, 24. Let me give you another one for you guys. Sorry, just assume everyone's gender. So, yeah, one, one, one. When it comes to making decisions. So when it comes to where you want to get to in your life in all areas, what is the thing that you should do in the next minute, the next hour, the next day to move that forward and just keep replaying that. It might be the next week, the next month, the next year. Just keep replaying that. That's why I do things so saf, you know, oh, what I lose weight. Okay. In the next day, what should you do in the next week? In the next month, I want to build a business. Okay. In the next day, what you should do. That's it. One more month.

It can be overwhelming.

No, but. But what you do is you're just dealing with what's on your plate. It's great. So my business plan was to be better in the next two weeks. In the previous two weeks. That was it. And I created a multi million pound business from all. So if I can do it as a thick from soul food with no qualifications, been addicted to drug spice. But I'm saying I'm serious. You know, I've written four books. I've written four books without. Oh, Jeffrey Goldstrain. I know this is before chat GPT. You know, the reality is that you can. But it all starts here. There's two versions of me. There's a not so good version and there's a good version. And the biggest fight of my life and your life is to which version you become.

I love it, mate. And I know we've reached. We've reached the time where we've covered a shitload of stuff. And I always think it's one day. I have this envisaging us doing a podcast in the studio because I always know a studio is. Is. Is even than doing it on zoom. To be honest. What's the best way for guys, would it be your website to head to. To kind of either buy books or, you know, book you for speaking or whatever it is?

Yeah. So go to bradburton Biz. In fact, go to work with Brad Biz. Work with Brad Biz. And you know, I could say connect with me on social medias and what have you. But look, you know, I'll say this to you, wherever you are right now in your life, whatever's going on in your life, if you're in a place it can get better if you're in a good place, is ask yourself this question. If he's playing pontoon right now, would you stick up? Would you twist? And I'm in a point in my life where I'm quite happy sticking on 18. You know, when I was a young man, it's all about 21 right now. I'm happy sticking at 18. So ask yourself a question. If you're in a good place right now, do you want to stick? I've got a twist and risk it all.

There's a. There's a good question to leave you with.

All right.

Thank you, Brad. I appreciate your time, brother.

Take it easy, friend. All the best, guys.