The Real Goal Is Freedom & Fun - You Can Be Rich in More Ways Than One - Doc the Journey Ep 29

Yo. Episode 29 of Document the Journey. My hair has gone blonde again, but I finally got it cut on the sides so it looks a little bit better. Hence the hat is off for the first time. I'm just out of the gym, which is why I look sweaty as fuck. So I'm training for a marathon again, potentially. But I'm not announcing it because I don't want to jinx it. I don't want to put too much pressure on myself. But yeah, what am I going to speak about this week? It's Wednesday. No, it's Thursday, the 22nd of December. I can't believe it's nearly Christmas. And I can't believe I've actually nearly done 30 episodes of these alongside the podcast. And I guess in like fucking five years time, they're gonna be crazy, crazy interesting and nostalgic in many ways to look back on it. And just on that note, I was looking at this last night. I don't know if anyone's ever clicked the link in the bio of my old YouTube channel with like 150 or maybe 120 plus vlogs from like 20, 17, 18 time, the drop shipping glory days. There's actually a channel even older than that where I used to do One Direction music covers and I put that freestyle wrap up the other day, which people took way too seriously and got very offended. But yeah, I used to have a proper YouTube music channel, so you can go find that. I looked back at that the other day and it was like 11 year old videos. It's very funny to watch. But yeah, there's a lot going on in the business and I don't feel like dwelling on that too much because it's kind of just standard shit. We're scaling and waiting till on stream dust next month we're doing the whole fundraising thing, which is like progressing. But it's a fucking process, particularly dealing with VCs and so on. It's kind of made me reflect on, I guess, why I actually got into fucking entrepreneurship in the first place. And this time of year, I guess we reflect on things, look back and, well, it's just a natural time to look back in it. Obviously, like coming up to Christmas, New Year, I'll be in Bali for New Year. That kind of dawned on me that I've maybe subjected myself more than I've needed to, particularly in recent months where I've been fairly like locked in. Like, I've not traveled since the end of August, which for me is a very long time. I know it's Only four months. September. Yeah, four months, pretty much. I could have gone away to Dubai like a lot of my mates did recently. In the past month or two, I didn't. So I wanted to lock down, focus on the business. And I think that was the right decision in many ways, but hasn't necessarily helped my fucking mind and my mental health. And actually in ways it probably hasn't helped my business. If I don't feel good and inspired and happy, then that reflects in your work. I think ultimately I've maybe been looking at it a bit wrong. I've kind of maybe got into the mindset that if I'm enjoying myself, it's wrong, but that's really toxic and not true. And it got me thinking about why I actually fucking got into entrepreneurship in the very, very, very first place. And goes back to, you know, being 16 and wanting to be able to do what I want and go where I want. And ultimately I've created freedom to build what I want. And ultimately, like, the word is freedom. It was never money. And I think loads of entrepreneurs are misunderstood. And, you know, the word like, oh, you're just chasing money gets thrown around and it's like, granted, yeah, you need money to have freedom, but actually the guy that's like the guy or girl or whoever that's building a fucking. Creating a product and a brand from scratch, like true alchemy, really. Aren't they, like the most admirable people in society? In a way, that's probably a bit of a grand statement, but, like, I think people, they're not chasing money is what I'm saying. I think people that go into the city purely to get a gradual. That pays X, they're the ones chasing money. And ironically, they're the ones that probably long term won't make as much money anyway if compared to an entrepreneur, that stays the course and so on. And it also got me thinking about speaking to a mate the other day and some of my guys I'm going to Bali with, mates and shareholders, many of which are both. And I've been guilty of comparing myself to my own mates and, you know, those that are making more money than me, doing bigger numbers right now, etc. And one of them made a point, which is very true, and it's something that I used to say myself, I think I've lost sight of. And it was that being rich or wealthy isn't just money. You know, money's one part of that. I think creative freedom and enjoyment of what you do is another part of that. I Think location freedom is another part of that. Time freedom is another part of that. Can't fucking speak today. And yeah, it's so true because you know, if I was hypothetically paid 10 million pound a year to sit in an office doing something I hate, would I do it? Compared to making 100 grand a year building a brand on my laptop. Not that I want to make a hundred grand a year, want to do better than that, but you know, like a comparable option. And I think I've just been, I've maybe lost sight of the freedom I actually have and kind of forced myself to not use it in a way because I could go to Dubai tomorrow and do exactly what I'm doing here. Do you know, I mean, got the means to do it, I've got the business to do it, I've got the connections to make it socially enjoyable, etc. And yeah, it's just something I've been reflecting on. This is probably a bit of a rambling episode, but yeah, I think there's seasons for everything. I think it's good to have seasons where you don't travel and you knuckle down a bit and maybe life's a bit less exciting. Which it has been probably the last four months in particular for me and I did the marathon, that was kind of my focus time wise a lot obviously, long as I run the business during the summer. But I was still traveling but then like September, fully locked in on that, then October, November, December has been really just go time. Haven't really, I haven't pied now and then. I haven't pied much, you know, I've been training a lot, eating well, just fucking grind mode really. Which has been good because I feel like I've progressed a lot, particularly with this fundraise and so on. And a lot can happen in three, four months as anyone knows, if you really put your head down. But I think maybe I've been pushing it a bit too hard in the sense that I've probably been almost like intentionally making myself feel shit, like just grinding myself to the fucking core and like putting off seeing friends in certain circumstances and almost killing myself that if I'm enjoying the process then I'm not progressing, which is just such bollocks. And sometimes you need to step back and realize that actually you can develop and change your opinions on things and you know, that's probably a phase I've gone through that whole oh, I want to prove myself with this new business and doesn't mean it has to be miserable basically is what I'm saying. So, yeah, and it also got me thinking, like, do I. I spoke to another friend, my wisest friend probably, that's incredibly successful, younger than me, and he said to me, why are you in London? You don't need to be in London all the time. And so true. And also, it just so happens that my landlord is kicking us out of the fucking flat in like two months. Cause he wants to sell it. And that's another story. But I just thought maybe it's like an opportunity to mix things up a little bit. I think having a base is important. I've had a base in London for the past three and a half years, nearly four years. And I don't want to not have that. But I kind of got that excited feeling I used to get when I first started traveling, when I was like 21, 22, and at the prospect of maybe being a nomad, flight a few months again, like in between or something. I don't know exactly what that looks like. But if I think back to when I was like, actually like most excited about my day to day, which granted, maybe is more the case when you first get into entrepreneurship and you have that freedom. And maybe I'm just kidding myself that I could feel like that again. I don't know. But it was probably when I first went to live in Bali for a while, which is like April 2018, which is mad. That's nearly five years ago, four and a half years ago. And I just think, not that I want to be a nomad again the whole time. And I'm sure I've grown out of a lot of that. But, yeah, be interesting going back next week and going for New Year for like two weeks to Bali. And a bit of my soul feels like it misses that higher risk, kind of more sporadic lifestyle. And maybe I'm forcing myself to try and, like, settle down because I'm 27 now and I feel like the way to get really rich or whatever in one way, by the way, just money is. Is to be in one place all the time and not enjoy the process as much. And I think I just lost sight of what I actually. What I'm actually doing it all for, basically, because, yeah, I'm just. I don't want to be. I've never felt like someone that wants to be in one place all the time and live, you know, a fairly standard routine. Not that there's anything wrong with that at all. And I'm still trying to find that balance, I guess. And I've tried many ways Of I've been very fortunate over the past few years to travel lots of places and I've been to everywhere I've ever wanted to be, really and done everything I've ever wanted to do to an extent and tasted a lot of things. And I still feel like I'm figuring out what that perfect balance is. And I'm not quite sure because sometimes I think I want to build the next fucking gym shark and have an office with a thousand people. Then other times I think, wait a minute, why do I even need to scale past like 5 to 10 million like I've done before, revenue wise? Why can't we sit at that level, be profitable, build a great brand that's maybe a bit more of a lifestyle business? But then the other bit of me, again, depending on what day of the week it is, thinks I want to go raise hundreds of millions of quid and change the fucking world and devote my life to that and forget the process and enjoyment of it a bit more. And I don't know, it's an interesting one because depending on who you speak to and whose perspective you buy into, completely changes the way you look at why you're running a business and where you want to go with it. And I'm trying to figure that out. And part of this fucking Documenting the Journey series, which I think is arguably probably the most honest one I've ever seen, because I don't hold anything back. Part of this video series is just documenting the way that my mind is maybe developing and changing over times and how I view the business. And not just the business, but also life. Because when you're entrepreneur, it feels like your life, but it's, you know, it's part of the bigger picture. So, yeah, don't know where the fuck I'm going with this, but I guess I've just been thinking a lot about am I maybe not, not to say for one second, by the way, they don't want to build a massive brand. I still do. But am I trying to do it in a way that isn't actually the best way to do it? Because it's not necessarily making me happy. I force myself to fucking grind my ass off 15 hours a day, restrict other parts of my life, maybe like socially, romantically, et cetera, which I've kind of intentionally done recently just because I felt like I needed to lock in. And maybe a more balanced view that prioritizes my mental health as much as maybe I prioritize my physical health alongside the business would be overall better. And maybe I Don't need to stare at a screen 12 hours a day. I mean, I definitely don't, but I've just got into the bad habit of thinking that is how I get it done. Whereas I actually know deep down that if I worked five hours a day, but I felt in a better headspace because I was in a more balanced environment potentially, then I probably get better work done. So yeah, I'm just reflecting on that and I think it's important for me to document what I'm thinking along the way as well as just document what is happening. But yeah, I'm absolutely a million billion trillion percent locked in on space goods. Obviously the pod has come back and I really think those two combined is a good combination for me because I missed doing the pod and I realized that that was a mistake thinking that I couldn't do that. And I actually think that is one of the many things that I need to do to actually make the business better. So I like doing it and if I like doing that alongside the business, then it makes the business better because I feel better about the process and all that. There's probably a few other parts of my life missing that could also have a similar effect, I. E. Maybe a more varied social life which like I've just intentionally not had in the past few months. Obviously see my mates and stuff, but I don't know, maybe I feel that's what I want to do, like pool party, social club in it. Like there's, there is a reason for that and I guess maybe it's like a craving to fucking meet more people and be more part of a community or something, I don't know. Because that is the negative of having a remote team as probably a lot of people watching this know gives you great location and time freedom, but you don't have that, that camaraderie of being in an office. But. But at the same time I don't necessarily be in office the whole time. So yeah, I'm just thinking out loud, I'm trying to figure it out. But I guess the summary point is nothing changes on the goals, it's just how I get there. And the way I look at it from the perspective of, well, why am I doing it in the first place? And ultimately it's because I'm a creative. I like building shit. I want to build something that I think is aesthetically beautiful works. It impacts a lot of people, you know, through the pod and the brand, obviously. And now the brand, obviously. Since I started recording this, the brand is a legitimate business like we'll do multi millions in revenue in the next year, right. Run rate and got like, you know, 30,000 plus customers now, whatever. And it's quite mad that that was just an idea, you know, even when I started filming this seven, eight months ago. And that's what I like. I suppose I just don't necessarily like sitting at a fucking screen like I have done the past four months. So yeah, I'm rambling. I'll probably leave it there. The goals remain the same. It's just figuring out how to get there and curating my environment along the way to do it in the most net beneficial way that balances my life experience, my mental health importantly, and also the success of the business. And I think actually sometimes looking at how happy something is making, you can actually have a big impact on how successful the business is. Because if you don't like the way you're working, then you're not gonna do your best work. So I'm trying to figure out, as always, well, I guess this is the last episode before Christmas. So if you're watching, well, you are watching. Have a good Christmas, whatever you're doing, good New Year. I think there'll be another episode before New Year and another pod episode. Of course, the pods are not stopping. Probably get a few done in Bali as well. And yeah, cheers for watching the channel. Like I said, I'll make these videos every week even if no one watches them because it's ultimately a project for me. But I do appreciate the love and the eyeballs I get on these. Never ceases to amaze me that people are interested in this process and I do appreciate it. Yeah. Catch you next episode. Cheers for watching. Peace. Oh yeah. Space goods to the moon. I always say that that's, that's the outro for this series. Space. Space goods to the moon. Let's fucking go.