Latest / The BEYOND Podcast / Samuel Brooksworth: Building Remoteli and Breaking Business Barriers
Transcript
- 0:00Unknown: in this episode I'm interviewing Samuel Brooks worth Samuel and I
- 0:03get into everything about Apprentice right the Good Bad and the Ugly he talks about
- 0:07what The Apprentice has taught him about black men in business it's really one you
- 0:12don't want to miss Samuel has literally featured in GQ in Forbes in the times he
- 0:18is a proper successful business entrepreneur you've got to tune in and listen to this one
- 0:30[Music] Samuel I'm really happy to have you here today thank you on The Apprentice When
- 0:37I Met You in 2016 you were one of the more sane and credible candidates if I didare say I mean
- 0:46there are obviously there are good candidates on there I think everyone that goes on there is
- 0:49good but I think you were one of the stronger ones I think that everyone goes in there with
- 0:53different agendas everyone goes on there with different intents how they want to perceive them
- 0:57how they want to be perceived how they want to be portrayed so I that plays on their minds as to how
- 1:02they act and you find that after a lot of them are nothing like how they portrayed themselves
- 1:07to be or because they had an idea of how they wanted to be perceived out in the public or an
- 1:14opportunity to be in a spotlight they come across certain way which doesn't always do them credit
- 1:19but um I found that once we kind of broke down the walls over the weeks they were all kind of
- 1:23say just how they how they portrayed themselves in that moment sometimes it was it was intense
- 1:30but I think you were pretty much and you still cuz I've seen you at like networking and events and
- 1:34stuff like that I think what we saw on TV with you like just calm controlled focused you are
- 1:41that person and you weren't acting I I've never really cared about Fame I've was growing up as
- 1:46a purpose-- driven person so my understanding or what I was taught to believe growing up is that if
- 1:52you believe in something and you do something for a reason everything else will follow what
- 1:57what I liked about you is that you were like once you saw the you like yeah no I'm not doing this
- 2:01it's for me and you walked to get onto the show understandably knowing TV you he need
- 2:06to come across a certain way for them to even consider you and select you so I think the way
- 2:10I potentially came across in the interview stages and the way I was on the show yeah producers kept
- 2:16pulling me to a side are you not going to talk are you not going to come acoss this way are
- 2:19you not going to say this say and they wanted me to be that arrogant Brash they did sales person
- 2:25that was just rubbing people the wrong way but that's actually not me so there are moments of
- 2:31that as a sales person where you will show that kind of like that that that that that Zeal they
- 2:36show that kind of character but that's not me in general I'm quite a chill and quiet person so I
- 2:40think that really really frustrated them it got to a point where I pulled aside for a few occasions
- 2:45with they're like I a not going to do the same I'm no it is TV so to be fair I understand that
- 2:50they're making entertainment but if you're like also a credible business person you're in the
- 2:55corporate world and it's formal and you know and how you come across the the professionalism and
- 3:00that it's important then that's going to become an issue because you don't want to be portrayed
- 3:06in a certain way and being really silly and you're not able to do when you know you can and then you
- 3:11see things that would make you look like that cuz you want to protect your brand and then
- 3:16you know that your brand is at risk actually of being you know toyed with publicly and then that
- 3:23will affect your professional life because some people's careers have tanked yep because of the
- 3:29cuz they've come across so badly people don't realize how demanding like the the the no TVs
- 3:36the no music the no reading factual books that woking up at random times in the morning not
- 3:41eating properly not being able to talk not eating I couldn't it was difficult not being to talk when
- 3:45the Camas weren't rolling being in silence um just being dragged around from location to location
- 3:51without no real idea as to where you were and why you being taken certain places it's it's a
- 3:55lot mentally which people don't realize and it all plays into great TV but not actually realistic and
- 4:01there's a lot of dos and don'ts that you can and can't do on the show as you're aware um so a lot
- 4:06of people come across a stupid and then people think it's their ideas that they presented when
- 4:10they're actually given option so let's go back a little bit let's go back to your childhood
- 4:15childhood was really really chilled really calm growing up so we we I moved from London straight
- 4:21to Barry and Barry is like a small town at the outskirts of Manchester grow going to a high
- 4:27school at that age where there weren't many black kids in the scho school um a lot of the kids were
- 4:33very ignorant with their perspectives of what they expected from black people I remember the
- 4:38first day of school I went to the playground and the whole well basically the whole school gathered
- 4:42around my true brother and I and they wanted us to rap because they thought we were DIY R school's
- 4:46cousins and we're like whoa there's only so much the school can do a lot of it falls the parents
- 4:52and the education that the parents gifted them in their homes and their understanding of Britain and
- 4:57their understanding of the history ofit and again and if the parents have been in one place in one
- 5:03thing and they only know that they're not open to the world they're not they're sort of living
- 5:07in their narrow and it's very narrow-minded bubble that's that's just not really stretched in the way
- 5:14EXA should be exactly but um I just feel as though Britain is changing but not in a positive way
- 5:20mainly due to the mindset and the non-acceptance of other cultures and um different races and
- 5:27different um belief systems um I'm I'm not a politician so that's that's not an answer for me
- 5:32to but you're allowed a view you know allowed your you're allowed your view and and you know you see
- 5:38things in the way that you've seen them actually you know what so I've been working throughout my
- 5:42school in life so I did like um 16 I worked on MAR expensers which was a really good experience
- 5:47I did Street fundraising um drawing in uni as well just so I could really um I loved sales
- 5:52but I wanted to really understand what it would be like to sell in different regions different areas
- 5:56of the country how objections people would have how we could overcome on them and I really honed
- 6:01my skill Sal skills from talking to different people in different walks of life on the Streets
- 6:05of London you putting yourself out there had to I was spatter I was I was chased I people threat
- 6:11to you were spattered yeah yeah yeah how did you deal with this I never allow that moment to ruin
- 6:17my day and it was difficult but I knew that in that moment in that moment Something's Happened
- 6:23there's another 8 hours left of the Working Day why would I allow that 10 seconds to run
- 6:28my 8 hours and it's something I just constantly had to and I'm happy I went through that street
- 6:32fundraising experience was it really trained me for that so when I'd go into like Co Center
- 6:37roles or sales roles or shop floor selling cars selling for Cliff trucks whatever I would sell
- 6:42because of that experience it just helped me I never allowed a moment okay but that okay someone
- 6:48spits at you how how do you control yourself my dad always always tell me whenever you whenever
- 6:55you're in situations like that put yourself in other person's shoes so growing up I was I think
- 6:59during my early teens I was a very very I got to a point where I became very I know not angry but I
- 7:04had a lot of energy and I knew I could physically dominate a lot of people so I was um not scared
- 7:11of things I was very yeah and I'd always get into situations where my dad would be like listen in
- 7:16that situation where you've got annoyed somebody yeah put yourself in their shoes so let's say
- 7:21we're having disc discussion and you've got really angry and you've tried to attack me or whatever's
- 7:25happened my dad would say to make call let's take that isolated situation think about logically
- 7:30maybe she had a really frustrating day maybe she was annoyed was at home you don't know what she's
- 7:34encountered with her parents maybe her boyfriend maybe her husband you don't know what's happened
- 7:38to her life maybe she's being abused so she just wants to take a frustration of somebody else put
- 7:43yourself in the person's shoes and think of all the situations they can encounter as to
- 7:47why they'd react the way they'd react the moment you do that and you have empathy in situations
- 7:51like that you always react differently yeah it's wiser well then try it trying to pass someone
- 7:59one yeah okay so you are now the CEO of remotely yes how did this happen yeah so um during the
- 8:11pandemic um I was an account director at the guardian and I notic it's a lot of businesses
- 8:17were massively struggling to grow their businesses we encountering a lot of difficulties especially
- 8:23during that period um fortunately unfortunately I was then fured for a period of time so it had
- 8:28me it gave me a lot of time to think after the initial discussions with organizations and the
- 8:32things they're encountered and what they work kind of going through and I thought to myself how can I
- 8:37support or help a lot of these businesses that are struggling so massively during this really
- 8:42really difficult period um coincidentally well um along that my wife and I used to travel to Ghana
- 8:48which is our um um our home country yeah every year and if we had go to Ghana I would see that
- 8:55there were young people who overly skilled and overly competent that were they they were never
- 8:59granted opportunities now as horrific as Co was on the world at times I like to call it a great
- 9:05equalizer um but it leveled the playing field for a lot of individuals in different parts of
- 9:09the world who couldn't gain opportunities but were able to gain them because the opportunities were
- 9:13open up to everyone across the world so I thought myself that eure moment when I was walking up find
- 9:16down my living room why not why not match these two opportunities why not get these organizations
- 9:22who are struggling to find the right people competent skilled individuals in the UK why
- 9:26not match them individuals in Ghana who can do the roles really well and as everyone's working online
- 9:31why can't they do it that's a proper entrepreneur right there like you know something opportunities
- 9:36and disaster going on but come on let's you know and and in a tough moment as well for you you
- 9:41below you sort of everyone's down what I had as a concept and an idea yes it was challenging or
- 9:46difficult going to a country I was not born in um I I never lived in didn't fully un understood the
- 9:52language understand the language can speak it but living in a country where go back yeah like don't
- 10:00the minds people how they grew up what they experienced oh my goodness but you probably
- 10:05needed that injection back to really you know submerge and understand the needs yeah it was
- 10:11a lot but um luckily we had a good team of individuals we hired really good people we
- 10:16we we were very blessed and very some will say lucky um with opportunities that came our way
- 10:20and from there just grew and grew and grew and now it's become a recognizable well recognizable
- 10:25Global brand in the industry that we're in and hopefully this recognizable you've appeared on
- 10:31Forbes GQ you guys have won awards it's more than recognizable so you're doing really well
- 10:36so you're flying so what is the goal with remot the goal is to ensure that we hire a million plus
- 10:46people in the continent of Africa um that is the long-term goal continent of Africa yes yes that's
- 10:51the goal um Beyond we want to stop brain drain from Africa so the best talent from leaving our
- 10:57continent Africa can't grow as a continent if the best people in the continent are constantly trying
- 11:02to leave to go to Europe or go to America or go elsewhere because then who's going to develop the
- 11:07you want the countries to be building themselves up exactly and the only way that can happen is
- 11:11if the best talent is kept in Africa you need to give them the best opportunities then they
- 11:15won't want to leave who wants to leave their Hometown or Home Country to go abroad if the
- 11:20opportunities are there where they are so we aims to bring them the opportunity so they can earn
- 11:25more increase the GDP of every country we're in in doing so increasing average wages increasing
- 11:31living standards eradicating poverty gaining more opportunities for individuals paying more putting
- 11:37more money to economies that weren't there before helping governments helping everybody so everyone
- 11:40just continue to flourish and grow the content I can see how having an objective like that is just
- 11:46so much more interesting and emotionally drawing if you chase something for a passion you chase
- 11:52something that make impact everything else will follow do you think Lord sugar is kicking himself
- 11:58because he should be looking looking at something like this and going well embarrassing isn't it I
- 12:05doubt he even knows it exists I don't know that's also a problem that's also a problem yeah you know
- 12:11what he's um well he missed out didn't he let's be let's be honest um you know what when I went on or
- 12:18did he or or are you better off yeah when I went on to the show my my aim was to never win it that
- 12:24that that was always my thing which I always discussed that for me it was just a platform
- 12:29interesting my mom used say to me you could be the greatest preacher in the world you
- 12:32could be the greatest salesperson in the world you could be the greatest whatever is in the
- 12:35world if you don't have a platform nobody who a message and nobody will see who you are yeah
- 12:41so for me the reason I'm eternally grateful to the show and to goodform the platform it
- 12:46afforded me I couldn't have got anywhere else at that time in my life so um it was great for
- 12:51me and obviously he's gone on to do extraordinary things in his business career and he's gone into
- 12:56work with different entrepreneurs it probably would have been a mismatch at the time anyway
- 12:59based where I was I don't see it happening I've seen some of your LinkedIn posts and there's one
- 13:05for example where you bring the kids into work and there's all it's like a nice Vibe and everything
- 13:09that you wouldn't that probably wouldn't work let's be clear okay so so so you decided to
- 13:18apply um because you wanted this platform and your um your sales pitch was that you know you
- 13:28have a god-given gift to sell the funny thing is I didn't actually apply for the show my wife did
- 13:33to disgrace myself in front of the country I am good but I I did know it's not an arrogant
- 13:39thing I knew I'd get picked for that show Once I went through the process which I ended up getting
- 13:42picked and um from there it just kind of went went upwards so yeah yeah when you know you you know it
- 13:49you feel that that confidence and you absolutely need it to to to get ahead of all those people
- 13:54it's it's the toughest interview you could ever have in your life honestly was one of the best
- 13:59experiences of my life only because I it showed me um I think that if put up in very very difficult
- 14:10situations situations and around individuals that I didn't I wouldn't ever on a day-to-day basis be
- 14:16with in the real world no yeah that would be fine and I think you only know the measure of your
- 14:22character until you're put in the most difficult situations I've seen in business in work in life
- 14:29when managers or directors are screaming at teams because Something's Happened and how people throw
- 14:33people under the bus how people react no matter how pressured the situation they remained the same
- 14:40and that's what it showed me about myself that no matter what people do to me on this process
- 14:46I would never Bend or bow to producers to nor sugar can record and show different side to me
- 14:52I'm going to be me if you like it I'm going to be my true authentic self you wrote an article
- 14:57for the guardian and you titled it it my time on The Apprentice taught me a lot about black men in
- 15:03business yeah there has always hysterically been a narrative painted of black men and perceptional
- 15:08black men and you see that play out when you go into certain areas when you walk through certain
- 15:12streets at certain times how people react to you how people perceive you what people will think of
- 15:17you before you've even opened your mouth and um I think that that narrative especially play through
- 15:22media is very powerful if I say to now name three prominent Asian business person you probably name
- 15:29name three prent caucas name them name three black businessman you probably struggle and
- 15:34it's it's simply because opportunities aren't being granted to a lot of black males and females
- 15:39who I do think it is hard for black females to actually break through break through the glass
- 15:42cing as black male I do feel as though there is there there is a very thick glass ceiling
- 15:50that stops a lot from breaking through and you'll see a lot of black males who for 10 20 years you
- 15:55look through their LinkedIn or look through their experiences they only ever sales EX they're never
- 15:59allowed to progress and when you speak to them and speak to it's never that they're not competent or
- 16:03they're not good enough they're just not granted opportunities now there reasons for that if you
- 16:07look at management structures and teams yeah which why I would emphasize on if you're a leader in a
- 16:12business it a lot of it doesn't always necessarily coming out to racism where this is hindering a lot
- 16:18of black males is that they're not being able to grow in organizations so if you're a black male
- 16:22you're not grow in organization and you want to set up a business when you do aent you set up your
- 16:25business you're setting up your business from from very limited knowledge because then you've never
- 16:30had any real leadership experience management experience growing understanding of all of growing
- 16:36a business at top level so how can your business Thrive at that level if you've never managed at
- 16:41that level so then it's stopping so many black businessmen from progressing and growing because
- 16:46they've never had experience to even growing corporate organizations and that's what the
- 16:50article is really speaking on the opportunities the lack of opportunities and even when you look
- 16:54at um diversity pay Gap reports across different organizations there's disparity regards to what
- 16:59black people are paid in regards to Caucasians doing the same jobs and the way they're treated
- 17:05the complaints the it's been happening for decades from when my dad first came to the UK and
- 17:11he complaints about working what places up until now and um things are changing things are getting
- 17:17better as the years do go on but um it has stopped a lot of black males from progressing and growing
- 17:23when you have a truly diverse organization whether it's from a disability perspective um whether it's
- 17:27from a um race perspective whatever it may be it allows you to open up the mindset of the people
- 17:35in the business to better serve different and bigger groups and um that's where I do feel as
- 17:40the um organizations even on shows like Apprentice that could potentially happen just so we can see
- 17:47that growth yeah I think expanding opportunities granted to individuals as to to black males which
- 17:53I'm I'm yet to see yet as winners yeah in the investment stages of the show yeah I like it you
- 18:00know let's let's be fair and square with everyone you know everyone especially if it's a competition
- 18:05let's give everyone the fair chances and life and whatever it should be a fair playing field and
- 18:10come on let's go who's working the hardest who's putting in the hours who's got the passion who's
- 18:14got the drive you know who and then you know it's right it's like Sprint you get on the line you
- 18:18know running race and it's all it's all fair and square yeah 100% And even a fairness even begins
- 18:22from the especially on shows like The Apprentice the fos would even begin from the the recruiting
- 18:27process like you said pick people to fit into certain stereotypes you find certain people are
- 18:32picked to fit into those stereotypes where you find there are so many credible young black men
- 18:36who could have been picked and brought to the show yeah but they aren't because they don't fit into
- 18:41it's not the narrative Nar exactly so what's your work life balance like do you have a good work
- 18:47life balance or not really I like to think I do um I'd have this amount time to do this and I spend
- 18:53this much time with the kids and I will ensure that I'm structured so that I don't just work 20
- 18:5847 there I was slipping into that but then I found that I can't keep using excuse I'm busy
- 19:09I'm busy I'm busy because if I keep using that excuse It's a mindset thing I will always be busy
- 19:14whereas when I started to think you know what I can do all these things I can spend enough time
- 19:18with the girls I can go on family holidays I can work and grow raise a family I I kind of grew up
- 19:24in a business environment where we saw the most successful businessmen as guys who are never ref
- 19:28found guys though the woman would be at home with the kids and the family and you would have to be
- 19:33out doing and I was like that's not fair because I've seen my wife run a business be a lecturer
- 19:38look like you look up the kids she's got her going she can do it all and two of us we can both do it
- 19:44so what do you think you have in your personality that's accelerating success like genuinely what
- 19:51is it what is it I'm I'm able to work with individuals and help them to grow and that
- 19:58allows them to take on a lot more than they would have before so um that personality trait
- 20:05that I have has helped me to grow because I'm then empowering people to do a lot more which gives me
- 20:11a lot more time yeah whereas if I was almost like a micromanager or I was a bit like um I don't know
- 20:17all over people it wouldn't allow me to grow would allow them to grow now end up being more busy
- 20:21so um that s an empathy and allowing people to understanding people and being good at sales let's
- 20:27be honest yeah yeah you can't really not be good but you know what I think I'm a good self person
- 20:33because I am so good at people people gauge honest people and if I'm sending something I'm talking to
- 20:39and you you can see my eyes I'm a genu person yeah and because of that and just my values and morals
- 20:45exactly the values of morals right when you're an individual where you have a vision and you
- 20:50just want to and you have and you're authentic and your heart's pureing what you want to do I
- 20:55find that when you're trying to set things up at times and a lot of people know they this one of
- 20:59the biggest reasons for organizations not failing are co-found disputes and it's a huge huge issue
- 21:05it's a big deal yeah and I think um one of the early lessons I had in remotely especially were
- 21:12the individuals that I brought on to support me in building things because you find that if you're
- 21:16building something quite big the human heart is very difficult to read read and individuals become
- 21:22jealous about you from realizing oh they they yeah they can become jealous they can become bitter
- 21:28they become angry and when you're working with individuals and you don't really see the jealous
- 21:33of what there another person's perceived success so let's say for example we're set something up
- 21:38and you're a CTO and I'm a CEO and you're seen that I'm P perceived to be seen as the leading
- 21:45light something it can play into someone's psyche and I've realized that jealousy I believe stems
- 21:52from not understanding your true calling if you understand what you've been called to do
- 21:55and you understand what you're meant to do as an individual you can never become some you know what
- 21:59you're doing when you don't know what you're doing you find yourself floating all the time I've seen
- 22:05people that I've helped set up i' I've brought on board to help me set up this business go away and
- 22:12want to set up their own business doing the same thing but your dream was always be an actor it
- 22:17shows that you don't understand what your true calling is you're just doing whatever it is so
- 22:21that you can gain perceived success but then you're not as an individual fully understanding
- 22:26what is that you want to do and I realized that with the with the human heart it's difficult to
- 22:30read and as a Founder as I'm growing as a Founder as I'm learning more I'm starting to really
- 22:37understand I really want to understand people's wise when I'm doing things and that's helped in
- 22:42these challenges if I understand your why yeah like get what is you're looking for I can help
- 22:46lead you and get you to what you're looking for if we have a discussion from the beginning stage and
- 22:50you cannot tell me why it could become difficult because if something happens and you don't really
- 22:54have a strong why to why of doing something your heart could go in any any which Direction and as
- 22:59a Founder it's it's so important that you understand want BR people strong ways yeah
- 23:04someone that's competing with you in some ways and that's I would call it a type of insecurity
- 23:10yet it's not finding their calling but it's also a type of just feeling insecure about who they
- 23:14are not really knowing who they are but just not feeling comfortable completely with who they are
- 23:19because first of all why would they join with you if they weren't comfortable in the first place um
- 23:25so you working through anything difficult now now um challenge not there's always challenges in life
- 23:32what's the main challenge now with remotely I think one of the main challenges is as we're
- 23:37scaling the business um it does become more and more challenging um managing more and more diverse
- 23:44people it and I see more diverse people different from different walks of life ages um and as anyone
- 23:51know the the most difficult or challenging thing is managing people yeah um it's a unique
- 23:56challenge but it's beautiful all the same when you're managing people um working with different
- 24:01people and seeing their grow through certain areas of their life seeing them develop seeing
- 24:04them grow see them change their mind so rewarding but it's not easy the same way as when you have a
- 24:09child in the first two years of a child's life they seemingly trying to kill themselves every
- 24:14single day a new and creative ways just to be the finger in a plug just to be nuts and you see that
- 24:19growth it's worth the journey but it's difficult all the same and I think that's what it's like
- 24:24when you're growing a startup which is our baby and when you're working with people people in that
- 24:28startup it's going through that process of them coming almost like kids to toddlers to infancy
- 24:34it's very tough and going through that process is challenging but very rewarding and um I do have
- 24:40gray hairs now I do have sleepless nights but it's all so rewarding for anyone listening um who wants
- 24:46to become an entrepreneur and follow you know in footsteps what what tips do you have for them
- 24:52what would you what would you say make sure you keep going with your idea for at least 18 months
- 24:58wow 18 months at least 18 and it was very specific with the 18 months not a year or two at least 18
- 25:04months once you go past the 18mth period you can assess and see whether that D actually works or
- 25:09not and don't stop before them because you will see dips and don't get too encouraged with any
- 25:14spikes you see just keep going and don't keep up before then after that period see where you
- 25:19are that's why I say to a lot of entrepreneurs because you find that a lot of times entrepreneurs
- 25:23can either get overly excited what what they see in the first three four five six months or get
- 25:28discouraged by what they see after the first year and after the first year if we took that approach
- 25:33we probably wouldn't have got to way we got to yes we grew and we we did extraordinarily well
- 25:37but it wasn't I I'm very ambitious person I wanted to do more so and again in the first year where we
- 25:45were looking for funding we did get funding then obviously after that we had load of offers come
- 25:49towards us I could have become discouraged but I would have known was I received all
- 25:53the people that came to me not wanting to invest or not believing in the idea different industry
- 25:58who messaged me direct messaged me telling me that one of them said the idea was chronically um fled
- 26:05and I'm like dude ding there was no need to even say that you could just chronically some some
- 26:10people just how wrong was he yeah chronically and I I always I always remember that one specifically
- 26:16because he was an inqu industry expert it's tough when it comes from someone like that I
- 26:20when they bring you down I I I didn't care it was more so I it got me thinking what must he say to
- 26:26other people who may maybe don't the resilience I have and how does he approach or speak to these
- 26:31individuals if you're in this in quote perceived position why would you say that thank God you
- 26:36didn't take that personally no no no no and I was like why would you say that and it's a case where
- 26:41there was so much that was said and done to us in that first year where individuals now have come
- 26:47back to me for apologized or messag me or say oh I heard this about you that's not true or I perceive
- 26:52this about you that's not true and for me it's a case where if I had stopped after the first 12
- 26:57months none of this would have been seen But was we kept going after the first 18 months you've had
- 27:01all that practice though your whole life you've been rejected you had to move to these locations
- 27:06or you were treated a certain way and you know you've you've been you've been facing with it's
- 27:10almost like it's pre prepared you it's laid a very good foundation for you to be like strong now and
- 27:16exactly you know you're like okay and your support network too which is so important your wife you
- 27:21know your dad your mom those your families is it's truly a blessing to have that you said on LinkedIn
- 27:27if it's for you it won't pass you yes do you really believe that I genuinely do if it's for you
- 27:33it will not pass you and I know a lot of people be like yeah I've had opportunities that I should
- 27:37have had that have passed because I don't believe in that but for me it's a case where if you look
- 27:41at it from a a a a really Faith l perspective or a different perspective things certain opportunities
- 27:46will come to you that in that moment you really want and then when they do pass you're like oh
- 27:52why didn't it come why did I get and you keep pushing on diligently and with perseverance
- 27:58hard work and then you understand why you didn't gain opportunity there were certain jobs I applied
- 28:03for before I um got the guardian role that I really wanted I didn't get them and I was like
- 28:08why wouldn't I have got that role why this why that if if I hadn't have got the guardian role it
- 28:13wouldn't have led me into setting up remotely if I hadn't done C some of the roles I did initially it
- 28:19wouldn't have given me an experience in regards of sales and sometimes you want something and
- 28:23don't realize it's actually not the best for at that stage of time and the life EXP you're
- 28:28going through whether it's um through struggle or whether it's through um a lack of or whether
- 28:34it's roles that you don't particularly like or around people you don't particularly like or man
- 28:39you don't particular like it shows something about yourself that you need to work on characteristics
- 28:43you have you need to work on and hone because I believe the environments that you're put in show
- 28:48you who you are and then once you know who you are it's up to you to change aspects of yourself to go
- 28:53to another level if you've worked in a real where you've seen yourself you're not a very patient
- 28:57person and that work environment showed you that you then know in order to get to next level in
- 29:02your life you need to become more patient you can take as a life lesson to grow or to stay where
- 29:06you are and I see that the people who are the most successful see that like you know what I love that
- 29:11working experience was so horrific but it showed me who exactly who I was I'm taking that lesson to
- 29:16become a better person so I'm with you on that do you think people should be allowed to take their
- 29:21kids to work do you think we're human beings and we live in the real world and I think that a lot
- 29:26of times we we we create this I don't know this idea of business and that's not realistic yeah
- 29:33we the pandemic showed us that though certain people could not hide away from their kids in
- 29:38the pandemic and their kids would jump onto video calls burst into rooms it was it showed us that's
- 29:43the real and the dog and the cat everything everything would be shown everything would be
- 29:47exposed everything would be revealed and I think why have we just suddenly taken that away now that
- 29:52the pandemic is somewhat over and now we're back in offices and suddenly oh it's back to that level
- 29:57of what is perceived professionalism is it though because if you got a mother who is struggling to
- 30:03find Child Care on that day but then your business is going to struggle because she's going to have
- 30:08to stay away from the office so that she has to look after this child wouldn't it be better
- 30:13if you let the child come to the workplace so she could do the work but at the same time look after
- 30:17the kid there's certain things that just should be allowed to happen for me my son come to the office
- 30:22he was amazing he spoke he he spoke to babbled with everybody playing and laughing joking the
- 30:29girls coming in got to show them um what my office actually looks like because they've never been to
- 30:33G before so like oh this is what you've been doing all these years I'm like yes kids this is real and
- 30:38the HR um our head of people brings her kids in the other people who have brought their kids in
- 30:44and it's it's beautiful them doing that because it shows that we the whole idea of being a family
- 30:50um it's it's a bit touchy in business because some people say that you can't consider your
- 30:54work people as family some people say you can in a startup environment um I would say that at
- 31:02times certain individuals do become your family you're building something that's lifelong there
- 31:04changing lives you're doing something that is revolutionary and you do end up creating family
- 31:09members well thank you so much for taking the time to come here today and tell us your story
- 31:14and I know that it's going to inspire people I know you've you've been on very interesting
- 31:20Journey you still are on that journey and we look forward to seeing how it goes you know we catch
- 31:25up again in a few years and see where we are thank you very much thank you so much thank you
- 31:35[Music]