In this episode of the Business Blast Podcast, host Tyler Wagner interviews speaker and TEDx presenter Winston Ben Clements. Winston shares his personal story of being born with brittle bone disease, describing how over 100 fractures shaped his early life and taught him to focus on his strengths rather than his limitations. He explains his core teaching on resilience – viewing every failure or setback as feedback that can fuel personal growth. Winston emphasizes the importance of building genuine connections through networking as a key driver of business success. He offers advice to his younger self, urging the removal of fear of failure and others' judgments, and encourages listeners to believe in their own potential. Discussing happiness, he links it to having a clear mission and purpose, especially through helping others via his speaking career. Winston recommends the book Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink, highlighting the lesson of taking full responsibility instead of playing the victim. His favorite mantra, “Don’t settle,” reflects his belief in challenging societal expectations and pursuing bigger goals. The episode concludes with his website winstonclements.com as the primary place to find his work and social media.
Chapters
All right, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. Today, Winston Ben Clements. He is a business speaker and TEDx speaker. His mission is to inspire a generation, shift mindsets, and help you overcome your limitations. So welcome to the show.
Thank you, Tyler. Thank you so much for having me.
Of course. Grateful to have you on. So the first one we got for you today is what is the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
Oh gosh, so many. I guess the obvious one for me, for anybody who's listening and maybe haven't had the benefit of seeing me. So I was born with a condition known as brittle bones disease. And this is a condition that meant, you know, I'm quite small in stature. So if you see me, Tyler, I'm probably the size of a 5 or 6-year-old. And, you know, I had to go through a lot of broken bones when I was younger because of my fragile bones. And I don't know if you've ever broken a bone, Tyler. No.
Oh, sorry, sorry. I don't know. I thought you said if I could see that you've broken a bone. I was like, no, I can't. So I broke— what was the bone? Something in my hand in like 8th grade playing football. So I have broken a bone, yes.
Yeah, yeah. And I'm sure you'll recall it probably wasn't the most pleasant experience of your life. So now imagine in my situation, I had to overcome over 100 different bone fractures growing up. So this was pretty much a, you know, a monthly thing. I'd have to go through these painful situations. And I guess one of the biggest things that I remember was going into school, you know, first day of school. And, you know, before that, I spent a lot of time with family, friends, people that knew me. And this was the first situation where I was sort of exposed to a brand new environment of people that hadn't really seen somebody who looked like me or who had my type of condition. And You know, I guess just to kind of summarize that story, the thing that I took away was initially I felt really self-conscious and I felt really nervous about interacting with the other kids because I didn't believe that I could fit in. But eventually what I learned was to actually concentrate on the things that I am good at, not to focus on things like my disability, which of course is there and it's probably always going to be there. And perhaps for anybody listening, you know, you might have your own things that you're self-conscious about or your own limitations. So sometimes, you know, you just kind of need to look the other way and focus on the things that you are good at and, you know, be brilliant at those things instead.
Thank you for sharing that with us. The next one, I'm excited for your answer on this one, is what is the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
Yeah, sure. So nowadays, Tyler, like you said in my introduction, I do a lot of speaking and I've been fortunate to speak to a number of different audiences. I've actually been fortunate to do some work, you know, in North America, in Canada, which was pretty cool. And I guess my biggest thing that I teach now, Tyler, is around resilience, which I believe is the ability to actually overcome and get through obstacles, but not just get through actually come out the other side a better version of yourself. So if there was one thing that I was to sort of say would be my biggest learning, my biggest teaching for anybody who interacts with me is, you know, this idea of, you know, you can actually grow from adversity, you can actually grow from obstacles, and, you know, just treat every failure or every setback in your life as feedback as opposed to seeing it as, you know, the end of the road, which Unfortunately, many people do on occasion. Mm-hmm.
And it could tie in, but what's your best piece of overall business advice? So not necessarily industry-specific.
Yeah, sure. I guess business-specific advice would be just the power of building connections. So I'm guessing there's going to be a lot of people listening who are entrepreneurs or people who are thinking about starting their own business, their own venture. And, you know, of course you need to, you know, think about the numbers and you need to have a sound business plan and you need to do the marketing, which are all, you know, really good technical things to have in place. But for me, what I realized is, you know, one of the biggest things that has propelled my business has just been that, you know, power of being able to connect with people. And this could be done by attending networking events or just going to places where like-minded people, people who are doing the things that you want to be doing, Just hang out where they hang out. And honestly, the insights and the relationships that you build will actually prove to be super valuable for your business.
And then if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
Oh gosh, there would be loads. I think the one that jumps to mind right now is, it's kind of not to be afraid of A, failure, and B, what other people might think. And I think this is something which is, it's a bit of a blanket statement because I think a lot of people can relate to this. And, you know, when I was younger, because of my condition, there were times when I guess you could call them my down days, my dark days, where I thought, you know, is there any way somebody with my background, my disability, could actually go on to achieve things like you know, having a career, getting married, you know, being successful, because it's not really what society teaches of people who have, you know, certain backgrounds. So for me, if I was to go back and speak to that little boy, I'd say, just, you know, believe that you've got all the answers to all the goals, all the dreams that you're trying to achieve. And the same for anybody who's listening, you know, you might have this thing in your life which you think is a limitation, whether it's to do with your physical health or your relationships or business, whatever. Um, my advice would be just literally, you know, throw away those shackles and actually just believe that, you know, whatever you're trying to achieve, it is meant for you and it is available to you.
And then in your opinion, uh, what is the key to happiness?
Uh, happiness for me comes from in my case, comes from having a sense of mission and a sense of purpose. So nowadays, kind of like I said, you know, with my speaking journey, because initially I worked in corporate for many years, so I had a, you know, pretty standard day job working in office, you know, high-pressure corporate environment. And it was only when I went to— I stepped away from that a little bit and started doing more speaking that I realized actually One of the things that I'm finding really fulfilling at the moment is, you know, using my message, using my story, using my lessons as a way of helping other people. So for me, the biggest thing has been around just having a mission and a purpose that is greater than just Winston, greater than just, you know, climbing up the corporate ladder. And, you know, in many people's cases, that will be tied to some sort of giving back, some sort of way of you know, having gratitude and appreciating the things that you have already.
And then what is the best book that you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from that?
Oh gosh. Yeah. So many books. I guess one recent one that I read was, it's one called Extreme Ownership by somebody called Jocko Willink. And he actually served, as a US Navy SEAL out in Iraq, I think. So yeah, it was an amazing book. And I guess the biggest takeaway for me was around, you know, a lot of the time when situations happen, especially bad situations, we want to play the victim and we want to point the finger and, you know, stay in our comfort zone as opposed to actually taking ownership. So using myself as an example, I could have sat back and said, you know, people in my situation with a disability from a certain ethnic background, they're not expected to achieve, you know, certain things in life. But actually, rather than playing the victim, I actually decided to just take ownership and go for the things that I want to achieve in life. And same for anybody who's listening, you know, when you take ownership, it actually gives you a far better chance and more control over your results. Than playing the victim and staying back in your comfort zone.
And then what is your favorite quote and why?
Oh, that's a good one. I think favorite quote would be, oh gosh, let me think about this. I have so many. I think for me, it's just simple one, it's actually that comes to mind. Don't settle. It's those two words. I don't even know if it's a quote, but it's something that I say to myself a lot of the time because, you know, we live in a society where we're almost in a system where you're taught, you know, you need to go to school, you need to get a job, you need to work for 40 years and then retire and get a pension. But the reason why I like that quote, that phrase, "Don't settle," is You know, don't be afraid to color outside the lines, you know, to go, to step out of the system or the structure if you believe that there are bigger and better things that you want to achieve in life. So yeah, so just be super brave and don't settle for what society hands over to you.
I agree. Do not settle. I'm with you on that. Well, thank you so much for coming on the show. The last one I got for you before we let you go, where can our listeners best find you online?
Yeah, I appreciate that, Tyler Wagner. The best place to reach me is probably on my website, which is winstonclements.com. That's clements.com. And on my website, you've got all my social media links on there. So, you know, whichever social media your listeners have, or whichever is their preference, I'm sure I am on it. So you can grab the link from my website, which is winstonclements.com.
Perfect. Thanks again for coming on.
Hey, I appreciate it so much and you have a good day.
The podcast you just heard was made using Anchor. Ever thought about making your own podcast? Anchor makes it really easy for anyone to get started. It's a one-stop shop for recording, hosting, and distributing podcasts. Best of all, it's 100% free. Sign up now at anchor.fm/new. That's anchor.fm/new to get started.
