In this Business Blast Podcast episode, host Tyler Wagner interviews entrepreneur and coach Paul Higgins, founder of Build Live Give (BLG). Paul shares his personal story of living with stage‑5 polycystic kidney disease, describing how a medical warning prompted him to take control of his health and career. He outlines five rapid‑growth drivers for "corporate escapees" seeking lifestyle and financial freedom: personal productivity (saving two hours daily), defining an ideal, globally‑niche client, adopting a recurring‑revenue business model, maintaining a focused sales routine (e.g., five calls before 10 AM), and building a high‑performing virtual team supported by a vetted network of 160 suppliers. Paul emphasizes the importance of asking for help and joining supportive communities. He reflects on the lesson he would give his younger self—backing himself earlier to pursue work he loves. Happiness, he says, comes from daily reflection on one’s vision, values, and legacy, avoiding a "double life" in corporate settings. The book that impacted him most is Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, teaching that personal development precedes helping others. His favorite quote, attributed to Albert Einstein, highlights the power of compound interest and the necessity of consistent, great habits over quick fixes. He closes by directing listeners to his website (buildlivegive.com), LinkedIn profile, and a resource page (blgdownload.com) for the five growth drivers.
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Welcome to the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. This episode is brought to you by Authors Unite. Authors Unite provides you with all the resources you need to become a successful author. You can learn more about Authors Unite and join the free community at authorsunite.com. Now let's jump into the episode.
All right everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner. Today I have Paul Higgins with us. He is an entrepreneur, community owner, podcaster, and head coach at Build Live Give, BLG. Paul helps corporate escapees to achieve lifestyle and financial freedom. So welcome to the show, Paul.
Great to be here, Tyler Wagner.
Awesome to have you here, man. Well, we'll dive into the first one. The first question I have for you, Paul, is what is the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
You know, I've got an inherited condition called polycystic kidney disease. It's a 50/50 at birth in our family, and it just means you effectively had kidney failure at some point. So I'm in stage 5 kidney failure at the moment. And back in 2011, I was a director of Coca-Cola. I was in quite a senior job and my specialist said, "You can have kidney failure in the next 12 months if you continue doing what you're doing, or you can change your job, your lifestyle, and you can prolong it." So I've been able to prolong it 7 years. So I should have a transplant early next year. But the key thing for me out of that was just taking control. And also, you know, really fighting through adversity. So there's days where, you know, things are pretty tough. Having 10% kidney function isn't great, but you know, you just gotta continue to persist through it. So I think that's been the underlying message for me.
Thanks for sharing that with us, man. The next one that I have for you is, what is the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
Yeah, so as you said in the start, I help corporate escapees to find lifestyle and financial freedom. And I think there's 5 key drivers that can help you get to that quicker than you can if you don't do them. So the first one's personal productivity, really saving you 2 hours a day so you can actually work on your business, not in it. The second is your ideal client. I hear so many people that are so generic, they're targeting too broad of an audience. So you've got to get very specific, and in today's world, it's much better to be niched globally than to be spread too thin locally. The third is around the business model, so having the right business model and try to get a recurring business model rather than lumpy revenue that a lot of coaches and consultants have. The fourth is around sales focus, and I'm a really I'm a big believer in you should have at least 5 sales calls before 10 AM in the morning, but sales is what's going to get you to your first million dollars and it's a critical thing. And then the last one is the high-performing team. So once you actually build your business and you're focusing on the IP and the delivery, that you need a team to support you. So a virtual assistant I think is essential, but also then working with other contractors. So they don't have to be direct employees, but working with them and we've got over about 160 vetted suppliers from all around the world that sort of help corporate escapees so you can, you know, have a business and not a job.
And what's your best piece of overall business advice, so not necessarily industry-specific?
Yeah, so my best is just ask for help. So, you know, so often you try to, you know, create things for the first time, whereas there are people that have gone before you and have done something like you're attempting to do. So it's really important to get some help, you know, join a community where there's like-minded people and there's people that have gone down your path. They've got over most of the obstacles already that you're going to face. And it's really important, I think, to do it together rather than do it alone. And that's probably my best overall advice, no matter what business or industry you're in.
And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
Look, I think it's have the confidence to back yourself. So, you know, I spent 18 years at Coca-Cola and, you know, it was a great job, a brilliant company to work for, and I certainly learned a lot. But it ended up getting to the point where I really didn't love what I was doing. And I certainly, you know, had a lot of stress, which, you know, with my health It certainly was impacting my life and I really became the person that I didn't want to be. So I think, you know, looking back, I would have actually backed myself earlier and gone out and actually started my own business a lot earlier and made sure that I was doing, you know, what I loved and also what I'm really good at. And I was actually adding value to other people rather than just, you know, learning more about the politics and sometimes the difficulties that comes with large corporate.
And in your opinion, what is the key to happiness?
I think the key to happiness is having a daily reflection. So, you know, I have a vision and a mission statement as to who I want to be as a person and then living that. And I found that in corporate, I sort of had a dual life. I had what I read every morning, which is the person I wanted to be. And then I sort of clocked into work and I became someone different. I wasn't the person that I really wanted to be. So I think the key to happiness is really deciding who you want to be, your values, what you want to actually achieve, what legacy you want to live in life, leave in life, and then actually live to that. Don't live a double life. And if you're in corporate at the moment and you're living that double life, there is the opportunity to just have happiness by living and being the person that you really want to be.
And what is the best book that you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from that?
Yeah, so the best book for me was Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey. And what I really learned through that is that you need to work on yourself first before you can help others. So that was a really powerful learning. And actually, when I left Coke, I became a Franklin Covey facilitator for a program called Five Choices. And I think it's, yeah, really important to you know, to work out that who you are, what you want to achieve, uh, and then you can go out and help others.
And what is your favorite quote and why?
Yeah, so my favorite quote is, uh, compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it earns it, and he who doesn't pays it. And that was by Albert Einstein. And I think the real key thing here is that you need to do daily great habits rather than looking for quick fixes. So, you know, making the right decisions every day will eventually get you to success. And I know in today's modern world, especially with social media, there's so many quick fixes out there where people are saying, just do this and, you know, it's a silver bullet and you'll get results. I really do think it's compounding great actions over a period of time that's going to get you sustainable success.
Dude, thank you so much for coming on. The last question I have for you before we let you go is where is the best place for people to find and/or connect with you online?
Yeah, so there's the website, which is buildlivegive.com. Also my LinkedIn profile, which is Paul Higgins 555. And when I mentioned those 5 rapid growth drivers before, if people just go to blgdownload.com, so that's blgdownload.com, they can get access to those 5 drivers.
Perfect. Thanks again, man. We really appreciate you coming on.
Brilliant. Great to be on, Tyler. Thank you.
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