Adopting a Growth Mindset with Lisa Mead

Lisa, a massive welcome to the Life On Purpose podcast.

Cool, thank you.

So great to finally connect with you. So I wanted to ask, just to kickstart what we're about to chat about. I firmly believe that every person has a story and usually when people are hugely successful like you, and are living life on purpose like you, usually there's a struggle or there's a moment where things change. So I'd love to chat a bit about your story. So what is your story and what were those struggles that have led you to the amazing place you're at today?

Yeah, I guess my biggest struggle was becoming a parent. So I became also a single mum when my son was 10 weeks old and so had to start from scratch, really. At that point I worked full time for kpmg, which is a big four accounting firm. Worked for them for seven years and studied part time as well to get my degree and then studied a little bit further after that to get ca, which is chartered accounting. But yeah, my biggest struggle was when my son was about 7. So end of 2017, I had a conversation with him the day after Christmas. So on Christmas Day he got to see his father and his father's been absent for most of his life. I could probably count on my hands the number of times he's seen him in the past kind of four or five years. But he got to see him this Christmas day and hang out with him in the morning for a bit. But the next day he said to me, oh, Mum, I don't think that my dad really cares about me. And I just, you know, you get like that heartbreak moment of, oh, I don't know how to fix this because I can't fix it. It's something that his dad needs to fix and it's just that time and connection stuff is just not there. So, yeah, I got him in front of something called a growth mindset program online week course. And he went through it for half an hour and got to the end of it and he said, oh, I don't think I need. I don't have to be like my dad when I'm older. And up until then I didn't realize that he had taken it on himself to think, you know, this is my life, I have to be like my dad. I'm gonna make the same mistakes as him. And yeah, it was just like this light bulb moment for me where I thought, you know, what if I could help other kids to see that they are not defined by their situation and their circumstances and the stigmas and stereotypes and all of that sort of thing. What would my life look like if I could help other kids see that and have that light bulb moment? So, yeah, I read a book called the Growth Mindset by Professor Carol Dweck, and basically it changed my life within about six months. So August 2018, I quit my job at an accounting firm. And I'd been in accounting firms for 10 odd years and it was corporate life and everything stacks up to be. And you work really hard to get into these positions. And I'd been told that I would be the next partner at this accounting firm and.

Hadn'T been asked if I'd wanted to be in a partner position, which I think, you know, they probably should have asked me that before they had that conversation. So, yeah, I just realized at that point I need to do something different. I don't want to do the 9 to 5. I don't want to still, you know, it was just like, what is my life going to look like for the next 10 years if I stay here? I'm going to get up, I'm going to go to work. I'm not going to see my son until 6, 6:30, because he's in, you know, before school or after school, daycare and things. He's always in these holiday programs. Hardly ever see him. I needed to spend more time with him. He needed more of me at that point. And, you know, that was my breaking point. I thought, I need to do something different. And, you know, nothing changes if nothing changes. So I decided that's it for me. I'm willing to quit my job without a secure income, without, you know, a bunch of clients to, you know, go, go into business with. I decided that if I cared about this thing enough, then maybe other people will do, you know, too. So.

Started my business and on the 1st of September, 2018 and nearly three years in, and it's going.

That's amazing. I just, all I hear right now is courage. Like to have the courage as a single parent to be like, hey, I've got a great income in the corporate world and I'm going to step away from that because the most important thing for me is my child and the time they spend with me. Like, I admire you. Hat off to you.

Yep. Yeah. I just got to the point where I was like, do you know what? I'm going to be okay if I have to eat noodles. I'm going to do this. And I've never eaten noodles.

Well, you're so fired up. And you read Carol Dweck's amazing book Growth mindset, which is phenomenal. And obviously you're thinking to the future. You're not thinking of today or tomorrow. You're thinking, okay, what's it look like in 5 years, 10 years, 20 years? What is my legacy? So when you read the book, what was your greatest takeaway that inspired you to take action?

I guess just.

The real difference between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset and identifying traits within myself of that fixed kind of level and wanting to move them towards that growth mindset of thinking it is this way now, but it can be different in 6 months, 12 months time. And my skills look like this right now, but they can look different in 612 months time too, if I just actually try. It's just literally practice, practice, practice. Anybody can do anything if they just try and practice enough. So, you know, I'm highly skilled at what I do. Yes. But you know, I'd never, never fully run a business before.

Obviously helped a lot of people with their own businesses, but for me it was like, am I prepared to try something completely new and what is it gonna take to do that? And just basically started with an open mind and working out how to do things differently and do things that I'd never done before, like start a website, create a website from Scratch, go on YouTube and find out what I needed to know and learn it. You know, there's, there's so many resources out there now that it's, you can basically do anything. There's no limits. There is, there is no ceiling. You know, I don't operate with a ceiling above me. You know, it's, it's like, why not?

That's amazing. That mindset of like, hey, here's my really bold vision. Yeah, I'm going to run after it. But then underneath it, you've got this burning desire to succeed.

Yep. Yep.

Your son is so fortunate to have you as his mentor. It's so amazing.

Yeah, it's, he's, I mean, to have him as the driving force, that's, I guess that's the special part of it. And I think if I didn't have him, maybe I would have just been comfortable sitting in that corporate job. You know, I didn't have that purpose driving me to see. You know, once you see something, you can't unsee it. And that's what I saw. I saw one kid with one issue and assumed there's gotta be thousands of kids out there that also need support, need a mentor or a positive role model. And that's why I started my business that Is the core purpose of my business to support at risk kids. So to change intergenerational statistics around crime, poverty and low educational attainment. Kiwi kids. And by providing them mentors and positive role models, we can do that and we can break those stigmas and statistics and change the world, even if it's one kid. That's what I'm there for. And other people did believe in it too, because I've got over 400 clients now and it's only been a short couple of years. Most accounting firms spend a long time building up their client base and mine has not had to do that because it's word of mouth and people that actually care. That's what it comes down to. It's knowing that in using me as their accountant, 10 cents goes to supporting at risk kids for every dollar. So, you know, 10% of revenue. And it's that I decided to go from revenue rather than profit. Because an accountant, I can fudge the profit figure really easily. So, yeah, that was another scary part of it going. I'm gonna give away 10% of that top line straight off the bat and see how it goes.

That's just massive. Again, courage again, right?

Yeah. I don't pay for advertising and marketing. It speaks for itself. People tell my story for me. And that's the really cool part. Getting to see them get excited about it, being a part of it, and also changing their business model as well. So I've seen so many of my clients come to me and say, I love what you're doing. I want to do something like that in my business. Whether it's like, you know, pro bono hours for, you know, for whoever, or donating a percentage of their sales or a percentage of a product or, you know, there's. There's so many ways of doing it, but just seeing people think outside of the box and not just about profit. Purpose and profit can work together, and my business is an example of that. So it's exciting to see that ripple effect really go out.

And for Kiwis that are listening to this, and I know it's a global audience, but for Kiwis that want to get in touch with you, what's the best way for them to connect with social currency?

Yeah, probably just my website, SocialCurrency. Co NZ is the best. Just to see a little bit of the story and to connect with me on there, that's the easiest way.

I love it. And tell me just about social currency a bit more. So who are some of the people that you work with and what are some of the outcomes that you're able to provide because of that 10% that you give?

Yeah. So, I mean, the type of clients that I work for, a start, we've got not for profits charities, social impact businesses or social enterprises, a lot of small to medium businesses as well. So that's kind of the client base that I work with. And then the four partner charities that we work with are Graham Dingle Foundation, Youth Alive Trust, Big Brothers, Big Sisters and Cholmondeley Children's Centre. So these are all organisations that are really established. They've got research backing behind what they do. And, yeah, they work with the most at risk youth in our country. So there's some pretty big names there.

That's phenomenal.

Yeah. And that was my goal, to get those four charities as partners and to split that 10% across them every quarter. And it's really cool to be involved in them, to go along to their school sessions in Graham Dingle foundation, so they have a program called Kiwican and they work with the little kids around resilience and grit and all of that cool stuff. So, yeah, it's not just about donating to them, it's around seeing where that money goes and how it really impacts those kids.

That's phenomenal. So you can really see the impact for yourself. It's interesting because I interviewed a guy called Evan Carmichael maybe two or three months ago, and his whole thing is around self belief. And I was asking him, like, where does a person find their purpose? And he said, the way you find your purpose is to look at your pain. And whatever pain you've been through, whatever you look at, that can really bring you to tears, that really moves you? Well, that is your purpose. So would you say that your own situation as Dakota's mom, that led you to find your purpose through pain?

Oh, 100%. Yep. I wouldn't have had it without it. And I definitely think, you know, you can kind of go along for many, many years and never really feel like you have something that you want to get up in the morning and work really hard for. And I used to think, you know, these people that talked about having a purpose and finding their purpose and, you know, all of these things, I thought it didn't exist. I thought that they were just, you know, hippies flying around doing cool stuff and just, you know, maybe they had too much time on their hands or something. But it literally happened when I had my light bulb moment. That was it for me. And I felt it really start to grow. And I think when you. When you have that fire within you and you can just, you know, feed it with some coals and get it really burning hot, that's when you really have some purpose going on and you can choose to use it or not.

I chose to use it and I chose to, you know, take some really big risks. But, you know, risk, reward has. Has worked in my favor. So I get to spend more time with my son. I get to pick him up from school, which I never could before. All of the little things and a lot of the big things too. So I get to stand in front of, you know, hundreds of people sometimes and talk about why mentors are important and share that part of the story, which is amazing.

Let's chat about that. So let's chat about mentors and how pivotal they are in a young person's life.

Yeah. So, I mean, I can speak from, I guess, experience where my son has a mentor. He's had him for, I think, just about two years now. And the role of a mentor is really just to be somebody that someone can connect to. And that happens through time. Just literally spending time with someone, an hour a week, can literally change a child's life. And I know this because I watched my son change from the day that he had his first mentoring session. I recognized the difference in about two weeks, and I just thought, this kid has changed. There's something different here. And that's what it was. It was that self belief and it was that confidence. And what it does is it means that that person cares enough about that young person to spend time with them. That's all it is. It's not about spending money and doing cool stuff. Like most of the time my son does, you know, might play some tennis or something with his mentor, or might sit down most of the time and just play video games and just sit there and, you know, be present. And I think that grounding piece is really important. So just having that ability to connect with someone else and to feel, you know, feel wanted or important or feel loved, that is really, that's as good as it gets. I think when it comes to that mentoring relationship, feeling like somebody actually wants to be in your presence and spend time with you, when a young person feels that, that's when their confidence starts to grow. And I think that's when that. That resilience stuff can come out. All of the good traits can come out from that point because that's the foundation. It's knowing that you are worthy of being loved, worthy of, you know, somebody taking an interest in you and what you've got to say, even if they don't talk a lot as well, it's literally just a connection.

I love that. I really do. And it's so interesting when you look at. So for those who are not Kiwis and listening to this, New Zealand has incredibly high teenage suicide rates, one of the highest in the oecd. We've got one of the highest domestic violence rates and child mortality rates. And when we look at all of the, say, depression and anxiety, a lot of what brings that on can be that you feel like as a person, you don't matter. You don't matter. But when you know that you matter and someone values you for you, that can be transformational. So to be a mentor, you're providing that avenue to let the person know you matter. And I want to be with you. So how does someone become a mentor? Do they come in all shapes and sizes?

Yeah, all ages. It's not age specific. Usually what they will do would pair an older male with a younger male or an older female with a younger female. That's kind of what they do. Just a quick questionnaire to find out what type of person you are, what your values are, and to try and match a mentor relationship based on those key attributes. So if you're good at cooking and the young person likes to cook, then that's an ideal mix, you know, so it's really simple stuff. A lot of mentoring organizations have an online questionnaire that you can fill in. It's usually not too painful. It can take, you know, half an hour to an hour to fill out. And the same goes with. If you've got a young person and you want to find a mentor for them, usually that's the same process. So when I fill mine out for my son, I filled out what type of things he enjoys doing and what sort of person he is. You know, lot of energy, likes to kick the ball around, you know, that sort of stuff. So same sort of thing on both sides. And it can be a little bit of a process to find a good match because they do want to create, you know, a really good match and not just a match. And to find the right person for a young person is. Yeah, that's key.

Well, that's right, because it's not something you're turning up for five minutes and then two weeks later decide it's not. For me, this is a commitment for life.

Yeah, that's right. So usually a good mentoring relationship they aim to have in place for 12 months, and that's just to really build that solid foundation and it can change after 12 months. You know, people move or, you know, kids get a little bit older and sometimes somebody in a different stage of life might be better for that young person in that point in time. So things like that change. But yeah, it's a 12 month commitment for a mentor to be looking after that child and to really, I guess, just, yeah, be there for that person. Just an hour a week, that's all it takes. And it's not complicated at all.

And let's chat about there's so many benefits for the child. Let's just chat about the mentor. What's in it for them?

Yeah, well, there's actually research that shows that the benefits to the mentor far exceed the benefits to the mentee. And that comes down to a lot of.

Really confidence in themselves and that they're really positively impacting a young person. So it's a real meaningful connection for them. They get to do something that's giving back to the community.

They get to feel like they're changing someone's life because they are. So it's not just turning up to a volunteer organization and, you know, planting some plants or painting a fence or something like that. They're literally being able to shape someone's future by, you know, changing the trajectory that they might have been on.

That's amazing. I've got a client in Christchurch who's been doing that. He's been a mentor for a few years and gets so much out of it. And I've also got another client here in New Zealand who as a leader does very well financially. Retired many years ago, but still a pretty young man. And he brought it up in one of his sessions and said, I really want to be like a Big Brother. So for the people like that that want to do that, what is an organization that you would recommend they contact?

Yeah. So if it's all over the country, Big Brothers, Big Sisters is a good organisation to contact. In Christchurch there's also Youth Alive Trust, so they're one of our partner charities as well.

There's a bunch of other charities that do mentoring and have mentoring opportunities. I think the biggest advice I can give is if one organization says that they don't have any spots at the moment, try another one. Because I know of organizations that have waiting lists for, you know, over 100 kids waiting to have a mentor. So there's definitely a huge need out there. And I think, yeah, if we can have more mentors signing up, that would be amazing.

Good. Well, I think I need to get on it myself. I think that'll be an amazing experience. So I'll definitely drop them a line.

Yeah, that would be cool.

I love that. And tell me about you. So you're very passionate, you're very successful, you're very driven. Who was your mentor? Who did you look up to as a young girl that really fired you up?

Well, I read.

A few books, actually, and was quite inspired by Helen Keller. So she was blind and. Yeah, did some amazing stuff. And I thought, if someone can have something like that, hold them back and still do, you know, so many amazing things, what's. What could I do, you know, so Mother Teresa as well, even if it sounds cliche, you know, she was just an amazing person and did, you know, selfless things to help others. So I always looked up to people like that who were doing things that, you know, didn't. Didn't have a return factor.

So. Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, even now, I guess Martin Luther King Jr. Is a massive inspiration for me. Just being a change maker, going out there and doing things. I spent the last year reading his book that somebody else had written of his life and, you know, old English, it was really hard to get through. And I usually read books quite quickly, so that was a real. Yeah, that was a real slog. But just, just reading, you know, about people who have done things who, you know, that were difficult, but they did them anyway and, you know, through just some really significant.

Disadvantages, really. And I think that's. That's a big thing. You know, in this day, we've got some privilege and we should be using it and doing some good stuff with that. And that's what it got to me to that point of going, I'm in the position to do something and I'm gonna do that.

That's amazing. And if everyone that was in a position to do that had that approach, imagine the global impact that we could make.

Yeah, I mean, there's some people out there that probably have huge, huge privilege, financial or otherwise. Even if it's just time, time is massive. When you think about value and what you can offer, skills, experience.

All of that sort of stuff is amazing, 100%.

And you talk about time, so make your days count. Right? That's all about time. Right? Make every day count. So you are courageous in so many areas. So a lot of people talk about, I've got a book in me and I'm going to write a book, and one day I'll write it. They never really get around to it. Well, you've published your book, so make your days count. Right, so tell us more about that.

Yeah, so I basically kept a lot of notes in my first year in business because it was such a roller coaster and, you know, keeping a couple of notes every night in a wee diary was kind of my, I guess my way of keeping on track and, you know, keeping track of all the positive things, all of the challenges, all of the things that I was kind of going through at the time. And yeah, writing that book was my way of, I guess, giving back to other people who might want to go out and start a business on their own and, you know, maybe they haven't done anything like that before, maybe they're taking a risk. I think that's the big thing. My business journey has been a risk from the get go. But yeah, just to inspire people that, you know, might think that I didn't go through challenges to get to this point, but that first year was, yeah, the real roller coaster and I wanted people to see that, you know, there are ups and downs and it's worth it.

What was the, during that big roller coaster in the first year, what was your greatest, like, challenge that popped up that you can remember vividly?

Yeah, I think more than anything it was that uncertainty around, yeah, I guess money in the bank was. That was the big thing. It was that absolute fear of waking up and going, oh, my gosh, I've got to, you know, I need clients, I need to build this business and I'm just going to trust that it's going to happen and, you know, overcoming that fear. So the fear factor was massive for me in that first year and I think using the fear to really drive me and to, you know, get up in the morning and work hard towards achieving those goals. And I think the amount of energy you put in overcomes that fear. If you, you know, if you want to overcome it, you will, you'll find a way.

I love that. And the fear itself. So like I always say, the acronym, you know, false evidence that appears to be real because we talk about it in our heads, it's a real thing, but actually it's not. So how did you overcome that fear? Almost like financial scarcity, mindset, financial abundance. How did you execute that?

Yeah, I guess I stuck to a really clear plan and was consistent. It was, you know, turn up, turn up to the meetings, go to the places that I'm going to find, you know, connections. Worked in a co working space, which really helped. Yeah, really spread my connections across Christchurch and that small to medium startup kind of area.

I think for me it's been a little bit easier because being a chartered accountant, you already know what the numbers should look like, what you need to do to kind of meet some targets. And so I was really specific in writing down this is what I need to make this day, this is what I need to make this week. So I kind of, yeah, got it into this is my monthly target, this is my weekly target, this is my daily target. And for a month or two I tracked against that really carefully and thought I'm doing good this week because I've just actually made three weeks worth and I don't have to stress about it. So that was where my fear levels could reduce quite quickly just from just from keeping track of things and knowing gut feel. I'm picking up three to five clients a week. It was almost one a day was kind of the tracking for a long time. And yeah, just seeing results, seeing them be consistent and keeping track of the number of clients that I was picking up, the number of referrals, the number of connections, the events, all sorts of stuff like that really kept me going because what it did is it built momentum and I think momentum is a really good driver away from that scarcity mindset and towards that abundance mindset. It just propels you. I love that you can't fight against it. Basically when you get that positivity vibe going, why go back?

It's contagious. Right. And you're right. It becomes, as you say, the momentum you can't actually put the brakes on. It's like building.

Yeah, exactly.

And you also. A couple of things you mentioned, Lisa, I want to highlight there. One was specificity. So when you look at any great performer or actor or activist or business owner, they're very specific around what they're working towards. You talked about being hyper specific. The next thing that they do is they create great systems. And I love looking at say a five year old plan, then go down to your one year and then reverse engineer it to months, to weeks, to days. And it sounds like you've got that done, you've got a high performance system done.

Yeah, and I mean I was very.

Headstrong on wanting to use as much technology as possible. So I'm all online, so I just need my laptop and my cell phone. And people that work for me were remote as well. So yeah, the work from home thing Covid didn't affect my business because we were already operating like that. So I had a guy in Switzerland who was working for me, my old boss Actually, which is quite funny. So he was a chartered accountant as well. So, you know, like, location wasn't a problem. All of my systems work really nicely together and yeah, just making it as simple as possible, as easy as possible for that long, long game. Really?

That's unreal. And a lot of single parents I know will put up these not excuses, but stories, said I can't do it, I don't have the time, I don't want to take the risk. But you were out there really going for it. You were building almost one new client a day. So as you were building your client base and then still needing to execute on the services you needed to provide it for all those new clients, was there a point that you hit where you're like, oh my God, I've got to start getting a team together here?

Yeah, oh yeah, pretty much straight away. Because it was quite, quite overwhelming when you're trying to do everything yourself. I guess that was the tricky part. When you first start, you're the marketing person, you're the finance person, you're on the ground, you're meeting people, all of that sort of stuff. So I got an intern actually within a couple of months and that was amazing because, because she really took some of that pressure off me and really started creating that team feel. And that's what I liked as well. So I went and hired my first person in May of the following year. So within the first year I had a part time permanent person working for me doing a lot of like that admin side of things as well. Which is, yeah, a big part of growing a business. And I recognize that if you get that right, you can grow something quite quickly and big scale if you do things right. And if you do things.

With the people power, at the end of the day, you can't do everything yourself. And if you recognize that, then you're willing to grow your team. And we've got about five now, just kind of part time contractor ish roles. And it's good, it works nicely. But yeah, it's one of those things to build a business, sometimes you have to build a team around it. And having the right people is important too. So I'm very careful about who I hire, who I let in my team, I guess because my clients need to interact with these people as well. And I'm conscious of the type of client I take on too because I want them to be the right type of people to interact with my team as well. So it goes both ways.

That's brilliant. I really think certainly in the coaching realm as well. I always take time to interview a potential client to make sure that they are going to be the right fit for me and vice versa. So I think that's a great thing to approach in any industry. So I really salute you. Yeah, that's brilliant. And when you think about where you're trying to take things now, what's your current greatest challenge that you're trying to overcome?

Oh, current greatest challenge. I think actually I'm facing a little bit of self doubt at the moment, which I usually don't. So that's an interesting one for me and that's because I've written another book.

So. Yeah, so I started writing it over lockdown and it's a little bit of my journey before I had my son, during my relationship with his father and after. So it's a real kind of, I guess, another roller coaster. But it focuses on talking about domestic abuse and reducing that stigma around it because I think a lot of people don't talk about it. I think it should be talked about more. I think we should have a bit of a more focus on positive relationships and role models for kids because that's, you know, this is the next generation that's going to come out and parent the next lot of kids. So, yeah, that's my biggest challenge at the moment. I'm launching a Kickstarter next week for that. And that's definitely got a lot of self doubt around it because I think it goes through your head like, I believe in this, but why would somebody else believe in this?

It's just such a journey of your head kind of trying to overtake and it's just the fear factor again and just your body going, oh, we need to avoid this situation because it seems risky and it seems scary and maybe you just want to protect yourself from that. So it's me just ignoring that sort of that noise in that headspace and going, gut feel this is the right thing to do. I really believe in this because it's not my son's story anymore. This is like my story and I'm in a really privileged position again. And so I think it's my position to be able to use that. And my son's father actually is aware of the book and is happy for me to share it in order to potentially help other people. So that's pretty unheard of as well.

So I'd like to do something with that. And so, yeah, to be able to do a Kickstarter, to publish the book for one, to share some key messaging around It, I mean, I have what I call a billboard vision this year, so I'd like to see it on billboards.

I love it.

Yeah, so we've had some artwork done, so I did some body art just to share my story on my body, basically. So we've got that kind of ready to go.

That's so powerful.

Yeah, I want an audible version as well because I don't want any barriers for people to be, you know, reading it or listening to it. So literacy is a huge issue for some of the population, obviously. So, yeah, I just don't want barriers to it. And I want to basically help people to reach out and talk to someone if they're in that situation or if they've even had that situation. And they're just struggling to get over, you know, the trauma of it and all of that sort of stuff. Because I've worked really hard over the past, you know, three or four years to really get. Get kind of deeper into myself and work past the trauma that has occurred in my life. But yeah, and I just feel like I'm in a really positive space and to be able to be talking about it, you know, it's only been about 11 years when most people don't talk about it for 20 years at least, or they just don't talk about it at all. So.

That'S the sort of stuff that I want to change. I want to see change, you know, and I think we can collectively do that. And I'm trying to bring as many people on the journey as possible and by doing a Kickstarter that really engages other people and gets them on board and it's a bigger vision. It's not just me, you know, I'm just one story. There's so many more out there.

So such a visionary. Like, I'm going to make sure and share that Kickstarter link below all of our videos and on the podcast. So please people, if you're listening, get in and share it. I can't wait to read that book. And you know, I think it's so important that you do share your story and it's in a raw way because so many people will connect with that. And when you talk about self doubt, it's so interesting. I do a little bit of work around that and I talk about two clubs. So we can be in the self beating club or we can be in the self building club and it's all inner dialogue. So it comes back to, say, Carol Dweck's book. It's all about how we're Speaking, it starts with thoughts that then turn into words that then turn into behaviors. So I would say whatever you're doing, take a moment this week and go, I published a book, I started a kick ass business. I'm an amazing. Remind yourself, because you are amazing.

I'm all about that mirror talk. You get up and those self affirmations. I do some quite regularly. I'm strong, I'm able, I'm capable. Like, I am a badass. Like, you know, like, and I'll remind myself through the day if I need to. You know, like, if you, if you keep that positive self talk going, there is nothing that can really stop you from doing what you should be ultimately doing. And you know, somebody once told me, you know, stop, stop doing what you're doing. You stop trying to change the world. And you know, I thought, well, I'm not actually trying to change the world. I'm just trying to change the world for one person. And if it's one person at a time, then that's enough for me.

That's amazing. I love it. And what are you most grateful for right now in your life?

I think it's the flexibility to do things on my terms, on my time. To choose the type of clients that I work with is amazing. To choose the projects that I work on, to choose how I spend my time, to choose where I want to go, you know, in any week and stay in different places and to be, I guess, remote, to have a significant amount of financial freedom is massive. There's so many things I'm grateful for. But yeah, to be in the position to do what I do, that's what I'm grateful for. And that would not have happened if I didn't take a risk.

You took action and that's, I guess too many of us sit in those muddy waters of indecision. But instead of doing that, you're like, no, I'm going to take action. I'm going to put myself out there. And probably most people that were in your position would start to think what other people would think about them. If it fails or if I start small or if I, you know, if I make a mistake. You didn't care. You moved forward and your leverage of your son, he was your inspiration forward. You had a deep why?

Yeah, I didn't really dwell on that stuff and I usually don't. That's not the focus that my brain kind of chooses to go in. I'm really focused on what would happen if I did this. What is the positive impact? What is the Benefit, what are the opportunities that it could create? That's the fun stuff. That's the stuff that gets that. The joy building up and the bubbles and all of that positive stuff. I tend to ignore all of that negative self talk or the what if scenarios because what ifs is they're not definite. And, you know, the good stuff isn't definite either. But I'd rather look at that.

That's amazing. And that's a choice that comes down to inner choice to think like that. And it's a small percentage of the population that do. But by you mentoring others, helping others, if you can help one other person think like that and then they help their sibling or their child or their grandchild, well, it's just going to keep growing, isn't it?

Yep. And that's a lot of that growth mindset stuff, you know. So if you want a foundation of that kind of thinking that that book is where it's at.

Yep. Everybody go and buy that book. Actually go and buy both books and go to the Kickstarter guys. Invest in yourselves.

Yeah, I mean, I don't usually read books twice, but I read that one twice, so that's. That's probably saying something.

Yeah. Another one that I find quite similar was Think and Grow Rich. And I've read it like four or five times. Initially, I was so hesitant to read it. Grow Rich. Now that sounds ugly, you know, but then when I got my head around that and read it, it was all around growth mindset.

Yeah. Nice.

That's amazing. One last question that I always like to ask a guest is what does living life on purpose mean to you?

I think living life on purpose means doing what you love and never working a day in your life. Because what you do really just grows every area of your life in a better way or a better form, and it really floods into other people's lives as well. So what you do just. It can't stop. And yeah, it can only do good. It can only benefit. And yeah. Why? Why would you want to do anything that does not have purpose?

Agreed. 100% agreed. I just want to say you are an incredible inspiration as a parent, as a business owner, as a leader. It's incredible what you do. So I want to wish you nothing but the best for the future.

Thank you very much.

Now, thank you so much for coming on. Hey, guys, if you enjoyed the content today, please smash that subscribe button below. And if you want to become part of my community, I've got an amazing free Facebook group. Please come and join us the link is in the description below. And also, if you've got any questions about today's session, I'd love to know. Just comment below and I'll be sure to get back to you guys. Have the most amazing day.