The Confidence Coach Who Failed on Live TV

I don't believe anyone has a fear of speaking, but people have more. A fear of judgement. When you think people may judge you, that's when you struggle. When I do public speaking, I don't overthink because I know what I'm speaking about. I speak from an intuitive part of my brain. I'm okay. When I'm networking, I overthink.

The biggest mistake I ever made was trusting someone who I thought was a friend. My biggest personal branding tip, especially for entrepreneurs, is rather than telling people what to do, you should speak about what you did. What happens, which annoys me a lot, is that people achieve a certain level of success, and then they sell courses on how other people can achieve the same level of success in life.

When you stop focusing on what you want, what you don't want automatically takes over.

Naples Talks is a podcast for entrepreneurs by entrepreneurs. There's too much bullshit out there, especially when it comes to business. This podcast aims to highlight what's true and what's not. In the world of entrepreneurship, bringing you honest and raw conversations about the roller coaster that is entrepreneurship.

Each week, my guest will be a high performing entrepreneur, sharing the ups and downs of their journey and helping you prepare for the road ahead while providing you with actionable insights and absolute gems of knowledge. Stay tuned as I introduce this week's guest.

Frederick of Riffa is a founder of Believing Greatness, a public speaking and communication coaching business. He moved to the UK at the age of 12, not speaking a single word of English, and went on to become a two time national sprint champion. He was a contestant on series 19 of The Apprentice, and has just been named a judge for the Speaker Award 2026.

I present to you this week's guest, Frederick Africa.

Welcome, Fred, to no bullshit talk.

Thank you for having me. I'm excited.

I'm excited to have you on. I feel like, you know, we've had loads of interesting conversations, but we haven't fully sat down and actually talked things through, so they'd be really nice to actually do it on air. But for those people who don't know you, do you want to do a bit of an intro for yourself?

Yes. So my name is Frederick, a free offer. Otherwise known as Fred. What I do now is I teach people how to speak in high pressured situations. It's been a real journey to get here, which I'm sure we'll get through. But yeah, most people know me from The Apprentice. I was on TV last year. That was super scary, but it was great.

And yeah, pretty much live in a dream right now.

Ah, that's such a nice intro. Living the dream. That's such a. I feel like, you know, a lot of people tell me that my brand. No bullshit like, is negative. Loads of people say this because I'm calling out the bullshit, right? I'm saying things how they really are. And the reality is, things aren't always great.

So sometimes it might come across negative because I'm being a realist, but that's not what it's about. Like, the noble shit is being realist, but also then preparing yourself for that real stuff so that you can be as successful as possible, knowing all the real truth. And it's like, I don't want everyone to just be like, oh, life is so easy.

Like, you know, you said you're living the dream right now, which is amazing and it's so good to hear. And I also love my life right now, and it's great to be in that positive place. But it's not always that positive, is it? And it's not always just been like that journey which loads of people say. So it's like it's really nice to hear positive intro, but it's also great to have you on.

That's going to be really real about it. I'm definitely going to ask you about the dentist, obviously, but like, you know, but I also want to start because you said you help people to communicate under high pressure situations. Yes. What's high pressure? What. Because some people might just think most situations are high pressure.

They're like, you know, you could also be at gunpoint, which I'm hoping they don't have to do, but that'd be a really good skill to get out of being at gunpoint. You know, I'm.

Not that skilled for helping or, you know.

I was thinking in a hostage negotiation, that's pretty high pressure. So, you.

Know, it's a very good question. Many working with corporate professionals that have to speak to external stakeholders. So definitely what happens is you are very clever, you're very knowledgeable. And when you speak to people you're familiar with, it's quite easy. Maybe the team that you speak to on a regular basis family, friends, children.

But then when it comes to articulating those same ideas in different rooms, in front of someone who's senior, someone who's external or big crowd, then people find it scary. Yeah. And then they don't do themselves justice because they know the information, they practice it in the head is perfect. And then in front of this big crowd, when they say it, it's not as they practised it.

And sometimes those are the most important conversations as well. And then you don't do yourself justice and then things go downhill from there.

Yeah. Because everyone does that and they get out of it. Okay. Why didn't I just say that? Like and that's always the case. But I know what to say. This is so obvious. And they can't do it at that moment. What is that reason. Because I think that, you know, when I was looking at some stats of and public speaking, it's the fear of public speaking is more common than the fear of death

when you think about that. It's so crazy. Like what? It's like, wait, do you want scared to get on the stage with other people. But you're less scared of dying. Like, I mean, make it make sense, but people are terrified of it. So what is the reason why people buckle under pressure?

Very good. So two points. The first one is that I always like to clarify that, although that is the statistic, I don't believe anyone has a fear of speaking, but people have more a fear of judgement.

Yeah, 100% looking stupid. Looking stupid.

Because if you're speaking to your partner, your children and your parents, it's still public speaking, but there's a low perceived level of judgement. So you're like, that can be seen. There can be myself. It's okay. Yeah. But when you think people may judge you, that's when you struggle. So it's more a fear of judgement than the fear of speaking.

And it's like if the logic still doesn't make sense and like it's because I do a lot of stuff on this as well. And, and I feel like if you think about it now, like we're technically public speaking, right? We are going to be broadcasting to a lot of people, hopefully, you know, like the more people, the better.

Yeah, exactly. But we're in a room with no one else listening, and we've just got cameras and, you know, we're talking to each other, having a conversation. And so it's fine because we could pretend these cameras don't exist and we're just having a one on one conversation. And as you said, most people are fine with that.

And I've had a lot of people in the seat, and lots of those people also don't necessarily like speaking on stage, but they are so eloquent when they get in that chair and I'm just having a conversation with them, they go, oh, but you make it sound like a chat, but it often is just a chat. What difference is it that there's people sitting in front of you?

You are going to be having thousands and thousands of people seeing this content and judging you from this content and what you're saying, but you don't think about it because they're not in the room at the time. So how do you like help people with that kind of thing? Where I guess it's that immediate feedback that they could be like, but, you know.

And it's the lead up. So leading up to a conversation like this, people might be a little bit nervous. But ultimately I'm speaking to Sabrina and there's no one in Aruba. Yeah, what people hate again isn't necessarily the speaking. It's the fact that they get really nervous and anxious. Your heart starts beating, your hands are sweaty.

That discomfort. People hate and run away from. So they avoid speaking or where they do it. They don't do it very well.

Right?

So then the challenge becomes, why are you trying to avoid being nervous and anxious? Because people say to me, I'm really clever. I know this information really well. I've studied, but if you can help me get rid of my nerves, I'll be okay. Because when I get nervous, I go blank. And I say to them that that is impossible because it's like saying to me, how can I run a marathon without getting tired?

You're gonna get tired. You just have to learn how to deal with the fatigue. Same thing with speaking on stage to a group of 300 people. You will get nervous. You just have to learn how to deal with the nerves. So for me, changing your relationship with nerves is a great starting point. That being nervous is like being hungry or being tired.

It's just a normal human experience that we go through, and what we need to do is just learn how to manage it rather than try and avoid it.

And I think, like Nurbs is a good sign because it means you care. If you weren't nervous, you wouldn't really. That means you just don't care. Do you like. So I feel like I get nervous and I'm I'm quite confident speaker and I'm perfectly happy to get on at any stage. But like, I'm, I still get nervous because I want to do well, like, and it's not.

I think the difference is, is that I think what I've seen when I speak to people who are speaking is that they're scared of being asked a question that they don't know the answer to, and it's that sort of fear of being stupid or or judgement. But I think I just learned to get to the point where I'm happy to say, I don't know.

And like because you're not expected to know everything at all. And I think that, like, so you teach confidence as well, which I think is really interesting. I think that, you know, it's funny because I don't think I'm naturally a confident person in life per se, but there are some things I'm very confident about, like, I know my stuff.

So if someone asks me to get on stage and talk about the stuff I know I don't really fear being asked the question I don't know the answer to because I know my stuff. I've been doing it for God knows how many years. And so what are they going to ask me that if I don't know the answer to the question about bloody hell, that's a good question.

Yeah, but this is great. Like you're teaching me something if I don't know something. This is actually amazing. But also, like, you're not expected to like I'm not delivering, I don't know, astrophysics lecture where everything's so factual, like often where you're being asked your opinion on something and it's like your opinion can't be wrong.

It's always honestly, I say this to people all the time. First thing on the confidence piece, I don't think confident people as a whole necessarily exist because like you said, you're confident person, but in certain things more than others. Yeah. So people just assume you're a confident person. But no, you're confident in certain activities.

Yeah, yeah.

And it's important to understand a confident speaker isn't necessarily a confident driver. Confident driver isn't a confident chef or cook. Totally different skill sets. So people should be specific. Okay. You want to be more confident in what? Because then once you identify what you want to be more confident in, then you just give yourself as much evidence as possible.

Because if you think about. So I'm going to ask you what's something that you're super confident in at the moment?

Do you know what public speaking like? And it's only because I think everyone else is so scared of it that it makes me feel more confident, because I don't think I can say anything wrong. Like, I honestly think that. So if you can't do anything wrong, how can you ever be worried about it? So that's how I see it.

I like it, so that's why.

So next question. What's something that you're not so confident in at the moment?

Everything else.

What's one thing.

Oh this is actually a really good question. And actually it should be self-reflexive. I should think of something. There's a lot of things I feel like I just do. You know what? Okay, let's let's talk about this because I feel like this is it makes no sense again. So like I said, people think I come across as a confident person.

Extroverted, talkative person. I love speaking on stage. I love public speaking and I'm confident with it. Do you know what I'm actually not confident in? And this is going to sound absolutely ridiculous doing what I do, but network.

Okay.

And it's like I literally run a networking club, right? And it's well, essentially. And it's like. But that's probably why I do it, because I believe in networking, as in having real conversations with people like one on one normal conversations. I hate going into a room full of strangers and then like you see little groups and then you have to go and be like, hi, I'm Sabrina, and it's so awkward because they're obviously already having a conversation.

Half of them know each other and you have to come in and you're interrupting. So it's already that awkwardness. Then it's like, what do you say? And then people go, what do you do? And then I'm like, I don't like that question either, because I do a million things like, where do you start? And then you don't want to say the wrong thing.

And some things might come across arrogant and it's like you don't know who they are, so you can't read the room. And it's like, I think we're public speaking. I'm being put on stage because I'm the expert. So I already understand the positioning of where everyone is at. But you have no idea who these people are that you're talking to in networking.

So how do you ask the questions? How do you even speak to them? You don't want to come across condescending. You don't come across patronising. So it's like, what do you do? And I'm just like, I find it so awkward that so many events I go to, I just hide in the toilets at breakout like I genuinely do.

This is really good. So from my perspective, as someone who coaches people, yeah, what I hear is when I do public speaking, I don't overthink, okay? Because I know what I'm speaking about. I speak from an intuitive part of my brain. I'm okay. Yeah. When I'm networking, I overthink because I don't know what to ask them.

I don't know how to ask them. And that's all it really is. So you overthink things that you haven't done as much.

Hmm. I've done a lot of networking. Yeah. Why am I so nervous of it?

But then being nervous is good. So then you're weaponizing the nerves with the networking, but then you're not doing it for the public speaking because you're like, I get nervous and I'm okay. But the networking is like, oh my gosh, why do I get nervous? Yeah, but I.

Just find it so awkward and it's just like, it's just. And that's probably why I created what I did, because I wanted to create a room where that awkwardness is just stripped out, so everyone immediately feels comfortable. So it feels like you're included. Straight awareness of one on one, and it has that intimate feeling.

And so like you walk in the room, you immediately like, okay, this is a nice vibe. Like, you came to a lunch. Did you not think it was a nice vibe? Immediately you feel welcome. That's what I want to do and I want to come. I want I want that to happen. I've been to so many places where I've come in, I'm like, oh, they have very little cliques.

They've got back to you. And it's like, you know, and it doesn't feel nice. And so I think maybe it's also people are tapping into previously bad experiences. Another thing that people do, and they base themselves on that fear 100%.

And often especially with public speaking, it's a fear from school days really stood up when you got asked to stand up and read, and that didn't go too low and everyone laughed. And from that day you said, I will never do this again, or I hate public speaking. Then, as adults in a corporate environment, you still have that trauma that is affecting you.

Oh my God.

Yeah.

That I guess that is like it was actually quite scary. You think about how many things you've done as kids that have traumatised you for life.

Yeah. Yeah. No. It's bad.

And like those bullies or whatever at school, they don't realise how they have a permanent, lasting effect on you.

It's so true.

Oh, my God.

That's so true.

Wow. So it's quite fascinating. I feel like all the stuff you do, and it's like. But you haven't always done this, and it's like, you know, you said you live in the dream now, which is great, but your journey and you put this like really publicly in your bio, like you were like I was a delivery driver. And like I always find that fascinating because you're like, you were a delivery driver and now you're working with like, giant brands like shell and all these big executive companies.

How is that journey being? Because, I mean, like, that is obviously like a kind of cool journey. Like you like I said, you were from this country originally. You moved here. You didn't speak English, did you? And I you literally coaching communication and language. You didn't even speak either. The whole thing was fascinating.

So do you tell me about your kind of, like, origin story, so to speak, I guess?

Absolutely. So I think it's very important because, as you said, living the dream now. But I feel like I've had to earn the right to be here. It has been such a roller coaster journey. So I grew up in Milan, in Italy, and Italy was great. Have you been to Italy before? Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was amazing. Food is great, weather's great.

The biggest challenge is that I was the only African kid in my whole area. Yeah.

But actually a lot of. And probably back then, it might have been quite racist as well.

Like 100%.

Oh my God, that would have been really difficult.

Overtly racist. It's weird because I grew up in it, so I thought it was normal.

I had this and now it's a completely separate conversation. But like, I've had the same thing and you're in those environments and you just think like, this is what this is what people say to people and you just accept it as normal.

But it's it's not and it's not until you get older. And I moved to the UK that I realised, oh, it wasn't because also my parents are migrating from Africa. They're just like, just deal with it. It's fine. Like it's fine. Just deal with it. We're here to survive.

Yeah. We want a better life for ourselves. Like, you know, just build up resilience and all that sort of stuff.

Yeah, exactly, exactly. But it would hurt. So I remember clearly there was a day I went to play football in the park, a group of kids, and they said, we don't play with black people, just go home. And I went home crying. I was heartbroken, maybe eight years old.

I just think, like I always I remember like when you said to myself, thinking about Balotelli, like. And I was like, but that's the first thing I think about it. It's like, you know what? How the crap that he had to deal with and those even in the papers, I remember, like them having the King Kong thing, him crawling up the King Kong.

And I'm like, how is this allowed? Like, this guy is like one of the best players in your entire country, and this is how you're treating him?

Absolutely. So for us, but lately, for African kids born in Italy. But Italy is a hero because he was like the first one who publicly had to go through it. Yeah. And he was also very open about it. And he was voicing what we felt every single day. So yeah.

And he used his like position to actually feel good. And that's why that's funny. Because you said that. I immediately thought of it. So it shows.

You throws you straight away. Yeah, absolutely.

Wow.

So yeah. So that was the challenge. So it's very difficult to be confident as a kid when you're so different and you get teased for being so different. Then I moved over to the UK when I was 11 years old. Yeah. Didn't speak a word of English. Coming from Ghana, I could understand English, but I couldn't speak it and I was in Brixton, south London.

So then people were speaking slang.

Yeah, yeah, like here for Brixton. So like I say.

And I'm like, what does that mean. Yeah, yeah.

Look at that. Aren't you one of us?

You know me. I'm like.

Guys, I don't know what you mean. And I would sometimes go in the dictionary trying to understand these words.

And they weren't.

In a dictionary. And everyone's laughing at me because I'm looking at the dictionary.

Oh, right.

Oh my God.

So I'm in Brixton, and one thing I was always good at was sports. So like I said, I was very super sporty. He loved sports, I loved football, loved basketball, volleyball, running. So I would always do well on sports day. Yeah, and I always show this video during my keynotes of one of my sports day videos. And after my sports days, all the teachers would say, you need to be running, you need to be running, you need to run.

You need to run into running. Then there was this one day where the neighbouring school in our school had a bit of trouble. What about 14 years old and there was a fight outside of school. My first thought when I saw the fight record was to run as fast as I could. So I ran to the bus stop and everyone was making fun of me about how fast I was running.

At that point, I told my dad, dad, let's go to the local running club and see if I'm actually this fast. And I.

Was.

Oh my God.

Quickly became one of the fastest kids in the country.

Oh, wow.

And then by when I was under 17. So when I was 15, 16, I got a call up to represent Italy for the first time.

I knew it's because you were living in England at high school at the time, but you chose to represent Italy. How was it? Obviously the World Cups just happened, right? And I feel like a lot of those questions have been coming up again. I don't know if you saw the racism posts and all that sort of stuff. And they're talking about what countries and I the ones that made me really upset was all the Dutch tea and all the way that those players got, and they were like, well, maybe you should have picked a country that actually cares about you.

And like, they were born there, for God's sakes. And it's really like it breaks my heart again, another conversation for another day, but it really breaks my heart hearing that stuff. But like, again, that's a that's an old sidebar, but I just find that quite interesting. Like, how did you decide? Like, obviously you got ties to Italy, but how did you decide that you wanted to represent Italy even though you were in England.

Until five years ago? I would say I had an identity crisis for sure, because being gone.

In. Yeah.

Being born in Italy.

Yeah.

Running for Italy, living in the UK since I was a teenager. And you've asked me where you're from, I'd start a lecture. Right

now I identify myself as a gone in. Okay. Who was born in Italy. That's how I identify now. But at the time I did consider myself Italian. Like, fully.

Yeah.

Yeah, I grew up there, went to school there, Speak the language like I'm Italian. But yeah, it's one of those tricky things because in Italy, the people that disagree with my standpoint would say, if I was born in China, I wouldn't call myself Chinese. That's what Italians say to Africans that are born in Italy.

I really I really hate that stuff.

Honestly.

I like because I'm born in England and I've only ever known to call myself British. Like, obviously I have mixed heritage as well, so I'm all over the place. Like again, identity crisis. My dad's from Jamaica, my husband's my mum's Chinese. So it's like I have Jamaican, Chinese and British and they're all such different cultures and I've got a bit of everything in me.

But I was born in Britain. I've only ever lived here, really, and I just, I feel like so connected to English culture because that's who I am. And so for anyone to say, tell me that I'm not English or British or whatever you want to say again, that's another debate. Like I just what else am I going to be like? I don't I don't understand what that is.

And I see things like that, especially when it comes to like crime. And, you know, you hear these things where like someone's done a crime and suddenly they are not like English or Welsh or whatever. They are suddenly from their African roots because and they've disowned them. They're like, well, they're not there.

And I just find that. So if you don't know any other country, that's all you've ever known. You are that race. And it's like it and and I just feel like, say, if you're if you're just Caucasian and you know, you're born in England or whatever, but in whatever country that is largely Caucasian, no one would have any problems saying that.

Like, say, if your parents were English and you moved over and you went to like, I don't know, a Scandinavian country like, and you were born there, no one would say, oh, you're not Norwegian or Swedish or whatever, because you could fit in as, as it's so bizarre and it's so wrong, but it's crazy that we still have to deal with it.

And I don't think people realise how it affects you and like the amount of stuff you've been saying. And I feel like I've had this conversation with people before and, you know, even things like, you know, it's my confidence and people talking about, you know, the way you come across people, they interpret it differently.

And someone says to me, like the other day like, oh, you act in a certain way when this happens or something. And I'm thinking, do you know what I think? When I thought back to when they were saying this to me, I was thinking, do you know what it comes from? Like all your years growing up, we're talking about, again how you're affected as a child, but it's like if you were treated a certain way as a child growing up, that's going to affect how you act and react as an adult.

And it's like you weren't treated that way as a child, so therefore you're going to be active. And it's like, so when I hear stuff like that, I'm like, but you don't know anything. You were born in Italy, you spoke Italian. You are Italian.

And until you're in those shoes, you will just never understand what you will never understand.

And that's what's really difficult for even people who want to understand. They're never really going to truly understand. And that's why I keep saying to people, it's like, it's like I, you know, I used to pay for chess for England, right? And so like when I played chess for England, I was only that's the only country I'd ever wanted to represent, because that's the only one I knew.

But the amount of people. It's like, why does she pay for England? She's not English. Oh, yeah. And it's like I was, I hated it. I got really, really upset by it. And like when I did, well, they were like, oh, English girl Sabrina. I'm like. And then like when I did it, they were like, oh, this Jamaican or whatever.

Girl, like, she's, you know, she's. And I was like, why is she paying for England? And it's just like it's again, coming back to football because I just feel like there's only examples of it. It's like, I don't know if you remember a quote by Mr. Ozil.

Yeah.

Yeah. And he was like he said well you're not Arsenal fan aren't you are you not. Who do you support.

AC Milan.

Oh I was going.

To ask you like.

Anybody else are you AC your Inter. That was the first one I was going to ask you but fine okay. But like um Herzl, I always remember him saying because he chose to play for Germany.

Right over Turkey.

Yeah. And so he always says when I do, great. And when I win, I'm German. And when I'm not, when I don't, I'm not. And when he said that, I was like, oh yeah. And it's just like he said, that's so boldly. And it's crazy that, like, I just I just find it so crazy. And I just think that the logic is not there and it genuinely upsets me hearing.

And people just don't get it unless that's happened to you.

That's happened to you. So if you're a kid from immigrant parents, you would know exactly what it's like. But if you're not, yeah, it would be hard for you to understand. So that was when I started athletics. I picked Italy also because it was easier in the ranking. I was gonna say, yeah, to be honest,

England was just tougher. I was ranked second in Italy and ranked like eighth in the UK. So I was like, okay.

We got fast.

People. That's exactly. So yeah, that was that was it. I was an athlete. That was my whole identity. That's what I loved. And athletics taught me so much. I think it's an important part of the journey for people to understand, because my journey as an athlete taught me about delayed gratification, taught me about hard work, taught me about discipline.

There are so many days you do not want to go to training. Yeah. It's raining. It's cold. I had a long day. It's 5 p.m.. Oh, man. Do I have to go? But you end up going to training. So you start to realise, irrespective of my brain telling me I want to do it or not do it, if it's something that needs to be done, you do it.

You train with no idea on whether you're going to run fast in the summer. You just believe. You just put yourself in a state where you have that self-confidence. You just hope you have that delayed gratification. I didn't run a personal best for about four years, a period of time, but I just kept going. So those parallels then translated into my entrepreneurial journey.

Yes, I learned that I started athletics at 14 and I did it till I was 26.

Really that long?

Yeah, yeah.

How was that journey like? Because I feel like it's it's a strange like I've, um, I've been lucky to go to. I obviously love my sport. As we said, I've been lucky enough to go to talks by like I love hearing greats talk about it. Because again, like you said, all those skills to get to the top in the world at anything, you have to be so dedicated and so passionate.

Talented. All of these things rolled into one. And like, you know, I've heard people like Dame Kelly Haynes and like Jessica Ennis and all these, like, you know, athletes talk recently about what they've done, but like, how did you navigate like that as a career? Like, it's not like a big lucrative. Like a footballer with the big money that they get, right.

And it's also injuries. How do you navigate that? Like how did you navigate that big chunk of your life man.

Especially because I'm on this podcast. I will say I

one day I hope to have children. And if they told me they wanted to pursue athletics, I would gently nudge them against it.

It's interesting everyone always ask me the same thing about kids playing chess. It's a very interesting thing, man.

Really.

Honestly though, I'm so grateful now that I've removed from it and I see people that are still doing it. It's so difficult to really build a life from athletics. It's super performance incentivised, which means you only earn loads of money if you perform well. What happens is that you tie your identity to performing well.

So when I had the race that wouldn't go well. I would feel like I'm a useless human being because I didn't earn money. I travelled all the way to Switzerland. I paid all this money to get here and it was just a failure. And I've just embarrassed yourself. Of what? Your self-worth is totally tied to performance, which is terrible.

So you can't.

Even see it as like a progression in the right direction or anything like that, because it's just purely performative.

Purely performance based. So in the same race, first place can get 10,000, seventh place can get 500. Yeah, yeah. And then you get the people that are cheating or taking drugs. Oh yeah. And some you know, and they like and their defences. I had to put food on a table and then you're racing them. But then it's not a level playing field.

It's honestly athletics is so it's a jungle. It's so difficult and you do build a lot of resilience. And my advice for anyone wanting to get into athletics is to do it. It's really weird because if you want to be the best, you have to go all in. Yeah, you have to go all in.

Yeah.

However, I think in athletics, by the time you are 2021, for the most part there are few anomalies. You will know whether it's going to be a super career or whether you're going to be struggling.

Yeah.

And my advice if you want to be struggling, you can still do it for fun. Maybe, but just start thinking about what else you're going to do. One of the biggest challenges that athletes do nothing until they're in the mid 30s to late 30s, because they were chasing this dream. Then you're 36, you've got no work experience, you've got no degree, you've got no qualifications, you've got no career pathway.

And then you start from scratch. It happens so often.

And I think that's the same with so many different things though. It's like what people say, like, you know, don't put all your eggs in one basket. And I always say this like, and it's even with business, like you said, there's some translation like people niche down and they go all in one thing. And the question is, is like, when do you quit?

Because it's like, I we had this conversation previously off air, as well as saying about people quit too early. Like, I don't believe in quitting too early. I, like you said the biggest thing you said, and I really loved hearing it, is the fact that all the things it taught you so you could translate that to entrepreneurship.

It's like you don't want to get up every day and train, but you have to because you know that's what you want to do. I feel like this day and age now, one of the biggest reasons why entrepreneurs fail and I say fail, but like, don't succeed or don't hit their goals, let's put it that way, is because they choose the easy route because they're like, oh, actually, I'll just cancel on that thing.

Oh, I'll just do that or do that, because that's so simple to do. And I think Covid really exacerbated this. Like Covid happened pre Covid, everyone was hustling and hustle. Culture was bad. But you know it was sort of like normalised

since Covid. There's obviously been some improvements, but I think they've taken work life balance and the wellness thing. Yeah, and they've gone to extreme and now it's just gone to almost like laziness. And people are using excuses to do things and they're always picking the easy way out. I think that people aren't willing to show up and do what it takes to be the best.

They want to be the best, but they want to find the shortcut to be the best. Well, I've had a prompt to put into AI to do the best. I mean, that's what it is like. It's getting.

Ridiculous. It's so true.

And it's like they don't want to actually put in what actually really, they don't want to know what it really takes. Hence they think no bullshit is is depressing. But that's just.

Facts.

And they just don't want to know.

On the flip side, it's never been easier to win or to be successful because so many people will quit. Yes, and so many resources are there for you. So like in five years ago, I was a delivery driver.

Mhm.

Now I'm living a dream. But the no bullshit truth is that 2022 out of 52 weekends, I worked 40 out of all the evening. I pretty much worked every evening, and it was a period of time that I felt like I was growing. I felt like I was building momentum, I had just stopped running, and I am doing extra things to try and gain all the skills that I need to then be successful.

I remember doing that period of time, people thinking like, why are you doing this? But I always thought, I don't do this forever, but I would want to do this for a period of time because I know that further down the line I would thank myself. Now, if I want, I could work one day a week, but I had to go through 2022 to get there, and I feel like people just want to get to I want to work one day a week without realising.

Without my 2022, I couldn't do this.

And I think you've made a really good point because that is what it is now. Like people are like, where's my four day work week? Where's this, where's my work life balance? And it's and it's that they and I've seen it so many times, like I've had so many people come and go through our company and like even my colleagues are just like they only want to do the glamorous jobs.

That's all they want to do. They don't want to actually do the real work. They want to do the things that look sexy and like, you know, but it's not. Life isn't always like that. And yes, you get to do that once you've gone and done all the dirty stuff, but you have to do that at some point. And it's like even, I don't know, some, even some top people have been doing it a long time.

They're still getting stuck in and actually doing things. We're just talking about this podcast like I'm sitting here and and don't get me wrong, I'm sitting in the four seasons.

Like.

I've got all my podcast stuff and it looks pretty nice and I've got a lot of expensive gear, but I set everything else up myself. Like I carry this equipment.

And I'm like, I'm.

Lugging the I'm lugging the equipment here every single time, and I'm setting it all up by myself because I don't have an assistant. I don't have a team to do it. Do it with me. Yes, I've got teams to edit it and work on the other stuff, but physically be here. I'm having to do all this. And you know, some people have a fancy studio.

That's the goals. I want to be able to do that. So there's balances obviously, of what I've got to do to get there. But most people like you do that because when I when I talk about it, people come, here they go. This is a nice setup. And I'm like, thanks. And they go, yeah. Like, so can I like have this setup? And I'm like, well yeah, but you just got to buy your own stuff.

You know, and stuff. Yeah.

Carry it.

Down.

Set it all.

Up.

Like everything yourself and like do everything and every single time do that and then like, oh now that's effort. Like. And people just book into, um, podcast studios. And that's obviously why podcast studios exist. So you don't have to do that. But that is your choice. And they are expensive. So you have to budget up what's best for you and when.

And like most people aren't willing to do it. And then they go into the podcast studio because that's the easier option. But then they realise how expensive that is over time, and then the few episodes that they do don't just immediately go viral like they think it does. And then they, they go, oh, actually, and I've given up podcasts.

It wasn't very much, it was like much effort. So and that's the problem. Like I said, those people lost are the ones that reap the benefits 100%.

There is I think they call it sweat equity. There's a period of sweat equity that you have to it's a prerequisite to achieving your goals and dreams. And that's why conversations like these are important, because you see people online that will make it seem as though it was easy. It was light work, but it never, ever, ever is in any aspect of life.

So I want to talk about The Apprentice

because you teach confidence, you teach, you know, leadership, communication, all that sort of stuff. But you also got fired live.

On the air.

What is that? Do you feel confident?

Like, I feel like that's what I.

Want to think about. It's like. And also what happened in that room like, and you know, we know the PR version, the stuff that you said. But what really happened in that room, like, how did you feel? Because you're teaching it now. But when you went through that, that must have been devastating.

No one's asked me.

That's a fantastic question. Okay. Well, that's a great question.

What does that do to my confidence? It hurt. And I can't even lie. It hurt because especially the way it happened. So I go into the show. I didn't expect to win necessarily, but I'm highly competitive and I expected to get further than I did. Yeah, getting by the way, the format of the show is typically you get the project managers, you do the task.

If you fail as a project manager, you're at risk. But you get to bring two people back and fight it out and plead your case. So I lost as a project manager and I said, okay, cool. I look forward to pleading my case and I didn't get the opportunity. I said, this is what you want to bring back. They said, are you sure this story is speaking about some other guys?

Which they wanted me to bring back. I stayed true to myself and I said, no, I still want to bring those two back. At that point, you're fired.

I don't I feel like, what's this?

I'm trying to work this in a way that the BBC. BBC, isn't it? Don't come and kick my ass on this. Um, how much of that do you think was manufactured.

Like.

So to speak? And like, you know, I don't think that's a bad enough question to ask. I feel like most reality TV shows are manufactured to an extent. How much of it was is that like, you didn't pick the right people that they wanted to be in that bit, they wanted to orchestrate that. Therefore they were like, see later.

So I don't know the facts, but when you just look at it, then it was a double firing and the other person that got fired was the person that wanted me to pick that I didn't pick. And it's like one plus one does equal to.

Oh my God.

And then people did say to me, oh, you should have just got the hint and picked him. But I didn't think he was at fault for the failure of the task, so I was never going to pick him. Now, I think, to answer your question there and then, it hurt. But because I stayed true to myself, I felt like my confidence wasn't compromised because though I failed.

I failed being me.

And do you think you did the right thing?

I still feel I did the right thing to this day. So I was proud of myself. Yeah. Though I was sad that I lost this task.

And how important do you think that is? Because I think that we must come across so many decisions like that in our lives where you have these kind of ethical moral conundrums, right, where you can do things for self gain, throw people under the bus and stuff like that. But obviously it's a kind of scummy thing to do.

And I think that I always say that in business, what are the things I'm weakest at is that I'm too nice. And I do think there's an element of that, that you need to be much more cutthroat because like that situation, what if you were dirty and obviously you're on TV, it makes a better TV.

Like you stab people.

Behind their backs, they're like, bring this guy.

Back. And he's like, you know?

And it's like all the people slagging you off on social media, but loving you on social media. And it's like, you know, it's all that sort of stuff. It it's about ratings. So if you can play the game, it's the whole thing I talk about with bullshit. Don't get me wrong, just for the record, I consider this bullshit like, you know, that's what I do.

And I hate people who play the games and manipulate things, but that's what people do. They manipulate the algorithm. They're buying followers, they don't engage in pods. They're like, oh, we're just playing the game. So some of that is playing the game. It's playing to what the TV producers want. It's playing to social media.

And if you are thinking ahead and thinking actually, this is what will help me win, the show will get further in the show. You could have potentially done something like that, but how how do you make a decision as like, you know, is it something that you think you need more time to calculate, or do you think it comes innately depending on what your values and what you stand for?

I think the latter, I'll be honest. I think it comes innately because I would rather, in this game of life or of business, get to level seven, but be myself didn't win and compromise who I am.

Good. I mean, that's that's how I feel. But you don't get rewarded for that half the time.

Yeah. No, that's very true. Very true. But but actually I would argue that because today I had a call someone at 9:00 and I was on the show two years ago, and he was telling me, oh, yeah, when I speak to people about you or mentioning you, they're like, oh, that's the guy with integrity from The Apprentice. Oh, wow.

So for me, and I didn't even realise that he told me from the show. What he notes is that I built a brand of authenticity and and I was like, that's that's brilliant. So it's kind of worked for me because that is who I am.

Oh, I like that.

Yeah, that is who I am. So though, you know, nice guys finished last.

We just got a dream there still maybe. Yeah. I didn't get as much money as I could have made. I didn't win the show. Get a 250 K, but I'm still incredibly happy with where I am. And you know, there's something to say about it's not necessarily about getting there, because even if I got halfway and I lost when I look back on diamond moved to this country, didn't speak a word of English.

Lived in one bedroom with a free bedroom for that family of four. I've come a bloody long way. So it's all about just the context, I think.

I mean, I don't know, I feel like this is the same thing in business, right? And you probably have a million different decisions as an entrepreneur. You are faced with so many different decisions every day. And it's like even, you know, take a normal day, like normal things in business hiring, like who?

How do you know how to hire the right people? And it's like people sometimes hire cheap because they want to go budget, but then you're compromising on certain things. There's always a compromise somewhere. And I just think that the moment you lose who you are, that's when it all gets murky. And I think when people say to me sometimes, like during the toughest times, I've also had some tough times, like what gets me through it is that I never, ever change who I am.

And I think if you truly, because some people don't even know who they are, that's also another thing that you go through. Like people think they know who they are. They're. But again, they're like absorbing too much social media. I was having a conversation with someone earlier who, you know, they are so obsessed with social media at the moment.

They're absorbing so much content. And and I think that they don't even know what they stand for and what they want. And I think that if you're chasing someone else's goals, you are consistently doing things that you think that you should be doing, but actually then you're never going to really achieve it.

Like you're saying all those things like getting up in the morning, like think about all the people who do sports or pursue them because their parents have asked them to do it or something. They never going to get to the top because they don't really care about what they're doing. Like to get to where you want to do, you have to truly care, and you have to believe in yourself and and say who's true to who you are.

And this is the whole thing about no bullshit is that if you stay true to who you are, you'll be able to achieve anything eventually, like if you will be able to achieve anything. But I think people keep claiming that authenticity. But they're saying the word but not actually doing the thing. They're almost performing this authentic person.

I think that's where it gets messed up.

I totally agree, and it's deep. Because then the question would be and people have asked me this before. How do I find myself? How do I figure out what I truly want in life? What would you say to that?

So I mean, that is a good question. I guess it's like, what do you want in life? I guess I say, I would say people say me, what's the definition of success? For example, my definition of success, which people always think is crazy. What I tell them is to never have to wake up with an alarm.

Wow.

That's what it is. And it's like there's not a monetary value on that. It's not anything. It's just like, if I don't have to ever have alarm, that's real freedom. It means I can do whatever I want, whenever I want. So whatever that looks like, I want to never have to use an alarm and have. And that's what it is.

So I guess, what do I want from life? I want to

Stop chasing you. Goals, I think, is what it is. I think that, you know, people always moving the goalposts. And I think like, you know, I'm doing that now, obviously. And and I think it's that being content with having enough whatever enough looks like, I think that's what I want. And I want to make sure that my family are well provided for, and everyone else feels like they've got enough, everyone else feels comfortable, and everyone else feels safe, and everyone is happy and genuinely loves life.

I think that I just want to eliminate stress. Obviously the level you can eliminate stress too. Obviously things are unpredictable and it doesn't come with a monetary value. And I was like, you must have a number. I don't I want that feeling and I don't know what that's going to be like. But like when you speak to certain people, when you speak to like even wealthy, successful people, they're like, oh, I still need to like double my income.

I still need to get this. And then they're like, okay, so they've got one Lambo, then only two, and then I only need like a monet and a because they've got all the in their circles that the people are competing against other people. But do you really want those things, or are you wanting them to show other people?

And I always say this to people, I'm like, would you still do that same thing if no one else knew about it?

Wow.

And it's like I say, there's so many people, like, I wanted to do this. I was like, but if no one else knew about that, would you still do that? Like. And if you ask yourself these questions, you start to realise, actually, I'm spending time in the way that for other people, not for myself. And so I think for me, it's just that it's like feeling content and like I really feel like my team-mates like, but but that's what it is.

Yeah. Especially as entrepreneurs. That is the dance of being content but also not getting complacent. And it is a dance because I don't know it to be a thing the way it's fixed. Like I am gonna wake up content every single day. There'll be days when you wake up like, oh my gosh. I need to go to Birmingham. And then you remember Birmingham.

Oh.

I have the animal contacts. Have you had contact?

I need to go to drive. Three hours to go to Birmingham to speak to 200 students. So animal contact.

It's a great city, integrated.

But the flip side is, oh, wow, I get to go to Birmingham.

Yeah, I have this opportunity.

And I get to speak to people. But I feel like as humans, we naturally default to negative. Yeah. Which is why you have to intentionally have the positive and surround yourself with people that because you just even if you level up your lifestyle, you'll just you'll forget about all the struggles you default to a one man Lamborghini.

Yeah. George has three. Yeah, yeah, I'm a waste, man. You know what I mean? So this has to be intentional.

Yeah, and I had to remind myself about it all the time. I, I keep saying to people, it's like I am not immune to bullshit. I do this, and I call it out all the time. But I'm not amused. I fall myself. I feel myself falling for it. And I do it all the time. So like five years ago, I bought my what I thought was my dream apartment, right?

I love it like I love my flat. It's a three bedroom, two bathroom flat in London, right? So obviously, as a single person buying that by myself, that was a huge achievement for me to do in London. And you know, I had I have three balconies in my flat which I love. I was like balconies. I just I always want a balcony with a younger.

And I think about it was like when I was younger, all I wanted was the cool apartment in London, like, you know, modern apartment that was mine. I made one of the rooms, a walk in wardrobes. That's all I ever wanted. I was like living the dream. And I was like, I have balconies. I put an egg chair on ward. I was living there.

I was sitting there, I was loving life. I was like, I'm in my dream apartment. Gradually, my then boyfriend and her husband asked to move in and I was like, oh,

most girls dream. And I was like, where's all your stuff gonna go? Was what I sent it. Yeah. And so he moved in. It became smaller. And I love him. And I'm really happy. We love live together, but I'm just like, it felt smaller. Then my dog came along and took up half the space, and it's like, then there'll be a baby coming along and they'll take over.

And I'm like, suddenly now going white. My place is just so tiny. Like, it's just I need a bigger place. How will I ever raise a family in this? Am I going to be a terrible mum if I have to raise a family in this tiny little apartment? And I feel myself doing that, and I'm like, that is the same size as it was five years ago.

It's not any different. It's still plenty big enough, but also like the like, you know, raising a family. And I keep telling myself, I'm like, kids have been raised in much smaller, much worse conditions. Why am I being so hard on myself? It's because I'm sitting on Instagram and I'm targeting with all these people in their fancy houses and I'm like, you know, and I was just thinking, oh, this is what I need to do, and therefore I'm a failure because I'm not providing this stuff.

And I said, like, when I was a kid, I would have dreamed to be in this place. And if I had, someone told me, this is what you get, the way you're going to live when you're an adult and you get it all to yourself and like, well, to my family. And I'm like, that's a dream. But you keep making your dream bigger, which is a good thing.

I love ambition and stuff like that, but I think it's then realising how far you've come. Like you said, I'm being grateful for that and actively be like, dude, you have a great place. Like, this is a fantastic life. You have a wonderful life. And just reminding yourself that you do and you've achieved so much.

And actually, other people would be hella jealous to be where you are. And you've got to realise that and you've got to keep reminding yourself of that, because social media and the rest of the world will keep reminding you of other things.

Ages ago I forgot who told me this, but they told me that in life, when you stop focusing on what you want, what you don't want automatically takes over. And I thought, that's deep. So if you stop focusing on health, you automatically start losing health. If you stop focusing on this friendship, you automatically lose.

You don't have to intentionally lose touch, it just happens automatically. Which is why the stuff that you're talking about has to be actually tangible, and it has to be something that you want to do and have to do.

But then like that same thing, what you're saying about actively trying to remind yourself of the positive stuff, because otherwise your life becomes so negative. And that's why I think there's been such an increase in mental health crises because of that. Like, we're naturally letting those negative thoughts come in and like, you know, unless we are actively reminding ourselves of all the positive things, we're only going to be filled with negative emotions.

It's quite sad, actually. It's quite worrying. Well, that's something a bit more positive. Confidence and confidence I feel like is like, you know, a big thing because obviously that will help your happiness as well. Like if you're a confident person, if you're lacking and confident obviously naturally then like lack of confidence at least anxiety, like it's all that sort of stuff, the negative thoughts and that can spiral.

Confident people are naturally going to be more are happier because they're going to believe in themselves and they're going to. And I think that if you're confident, like, again, take all the top people in the world at anything. They're confident because they have to be and they have to be a little bit delusional to be honest.

Like to get to where they are. Right? And it's like how you teach confidence. How how do you do that? Like how do you teach confidence? Especially like obviously like I said, like you were fired. Like on TV, live TV. And I said that confidence level. Like, how do you go from that and think I went from that and you took something really positive on that, which is really nice to hear that, that you actually saw.

Actually, yes. I was fired on live TV. It could have been embarrassing. People could have been. But you just turned it into the most positive thing. And actually other people saw it as a positive thing, which again, shows you there's so much positivity out there in different situations. I think I love a reframe.

It's all about how you frame things. How do you how do you coach confidence?

I think there are two different ways people can get confident. It can either be internal or external. External confidence is when you grow up in an environment where people gave you that confidence. So it could be friends, family or external. Confidence can come from being inspired from other people.

So oh my goodness, Sabrina's going to buy a house in London. That means that I can do it as well, and that can give you confidence. And then there's the internal confidence that can only really happen through exposure. So if I wanted to be I'm terrible at swimming, okay. If I wanted to be a more confident swimmer, I would have to swim more, right?

Nothing you could tell me that could help me get. I'd have to get in that water and swim. So that's why, at the start of the conversation, I said, people need to be as specific as possible. What are the things you want to grow in? Confidence. Okay. You want to be a more confident person. Is it to speak to people?

In that case, speak to people and it can be as simple as you go to Sainsbury's. Other supermarkets are available. Rather than going to the self-checkout, you go to the till and you make that extra effort and you ask the person. So how was your weekend? And you didn't really want to do it, but in that moment, you've been able to defeat the voice in your head.

Mini point. You walk into a building. The security opens the door. Hey, how are you today? Small conversation. Your neighbour is wearing a red dress. Lovely dress. Yeah. You've never spoken to her before, but nice earrings. These little things seem irrelevant. But they compound because what you do is that you get used to speaking to people, and you become more confident at speaking.

Do you also think that in some ways, confidence can be a bit overrated? I think a lot of people talk about, like I said earlier, you don't have to be a confident person. You can come up with certain things, for example, like take. Compare it to preparation. And I think like often you're confident because you are really prepared.

So it's like is there some element of being just really prepared for something versus being confident. Because again, you could be confident. And like I said, there are different levels of confidence. You could show up and have a bravado, but at the same time, that could be then acting. You're not deeply, truly confident versus someone who's just really, really prepared but maybe not come across as confident.

Like, what are your thoughts on like confidence as a preparation?

I think preparation breeds confidence, for sure. Yeah. One of the things we spoke about, I don't remember if I was on or off camera, is that you said people struggle to speak because they don't want to be asked the question, they don't want to answer. And I teach a question answering framework which allows you to answer a question any time, really.

So it's called a per framework pair. Very simple point. Explain repeat okay. So someone asks you a question, ask me maybe a bit of a difficult question.

Ask you a difficult question.

Oh I know I've asking you to ask me a question.

That's put me on.

The.

Air. What is the biggest mistake you've ever made?

Fantastic. So P is for point. So it's point lead thinking. Meaning, even if there were ten mistakes that come to mind, only lead with one.

Okay.

Very good question. The biggest mistake I ever made was

moving out of London. Hypothetically. Okay.

No it's.

Not. That's what I love is the answer to this question. Can you do it like a real thing?

Okay, cool. Yeah. Okay. So what's the biggest mistake I ever made? The biggest mistake I ever made was trusting someone who I thought was a friend.

That is the thing. I feel like lots of people have that. That's sad.

So that's the p e. Let me explain.

Okay. Yeah.

Please let me explain. I was in school. Mhm. And I was very naive. And I thought everyone had my best interest at heart. There was a friend who was selling phones.

Selling phones.

Okay.

And there was an auntie in church who wanted to buy a phone.

Okay.

So that's the kind of person that I am. I said, oh, Auntie, I have a friend who's selling this phone. You know where this is going? So auntie's giving me £200. I turn up to my friend's place. I buzz, buzz, buzz. He comes down, he says, yeah, I just need to. There's some stuff going on. Just give me the money and I'll come down with the phone.

In five minutes. This is doing year 11 summer holidays. I still haven't seen this guy.

Oh my God, for £200?

£200 point. Explain. And this is why? That's the other reason. Trusting a friend. Trusted someone who I thought was a friend was one of the biggest mistakes I ever made.

Oh. That's sad. Okay, but I would have.

Said sorry.

But. So this is what I said. This is what I said. This is the whole point of I say no bullshit. What I say about negativity. I don't want to land on that negative note. So I always then take every mistake you've made and be like, what is the lesson you've learned that has helped you today? And actually, what's the good that's come out of you experiencing that?

And that was one of the best things that could have happened to me.

See, that's what I mean 100%.

Yeah, because I learned about the sermon. I learned about

behavioural management, not to trust everyone. I learned to grow up because the truth is that not everyone should be trusted immediately. People should earn your trust. And in that situation, I was very naive and something like that has never happened again. So it was definitely a big learning curve.

I think that's why I said that, you know, with every mistake you made generally or every bad thing that happens to you, it often turns out to be. There's a great reason why that happens to you. It's just, again, that same thing. You have to wait to actually have that. Like I said, delayed gratification. That is that's what it is.

The rewards for that will come. Like I always say, there's you know, I talk about a time when a guy screwed me out of a job. He manipulated me for months to steal my job, and I was gutted. But I wouldn't be here if he wasn't done. Hadn't done that. And there's lots of different situations like that. And I just think you've got to.

You've got to ride those bad things to find the benefit.

Absolutely. Absolutely. We just call them speed bumps of life. But so to answer the question, I'll give you a point. I explained it and I repeated the point. So that's the PR framework, right? So once I teach this framework to professionals, they are prepared to answer any question they're asked. That gives them confidence okay.

Because they have more preparation. So they no longer feel like oh my goodness. What if someone asks me a question? Because through that framework they'll be able to answer any question.

So when it comes to communication and like confidence and public speaking and all that sort of stuff, again, there's a big debate about I have this thing about entrepreneurs and, you know, everyone's talking at the moment. Everybody's a personal brand. I don't necessarily agree with that, which is, you know, strange because I think I have a decent personal brand and it's like, you know, I but I don't believe that everyone needs to do it.

Like I just said, I'm confident in front of cameras and public speaking. Not everyone is. And I don't think you should force that in front of someone necessarily. But it's like if you are an entrepreneur and you want to do a bit of personal branding. And again, you shouldn't do it just because everyone else says you should do it.

Just, you know, everyone. If you genuinely want to learn and better yourself, what are the things you would advise entrepreneurs on how to get better? Um, how to answer questions, how to get comfortable for the cameras or just get on stage and do things? What would you advise them?

My biggest personal branding tip, especially for entrepreneurs, is rather than telling people what to do, you should speak about what you did. Okay, so my frame with personal branding as an entrepreneur has been do really cool things and then talk about them. Um, so rather than how to XYZ, I'll tell you how I yeah, hoping that it will inspire 1 or 2 people through my journey.

So it's more like a documentation thing than a telltale. That's the first part. The second part is that people struggle to make content anything. Ah, who's going to listen to this? And that's when you have to really just define what success is to you. Because I have, from the bottom of my heart. If I help one person today, I'm good.

I can go to bed very proud of myself. So if I post a video and it doesn't go viral, it doesn't crazy perform. I just know that someone out there can benefit from this. One thing that I said, I am perfectly fine with it ultimately, but I agree with you. As someone who has built a personal brand, I don't think everyone has to build a personal brand.

I think it's it can be an advantage because ultimately you can be front of mind if you have that kind of business. But I know people that are millionaires and nobody knows them. Yeah.

So I always say this like there's so many people who I know are super duper successful. They don't have a personal brand like, you know, so but I like what you said about, you know, talking about what you've done because I think that, you know, you talk about what you've done. You don't necessarily say that everyone has to do it the same way, but it's just like, this is what I've done, and actually you and you can't get it wrong if you're saying how to, you could get it wrong because actually, then it's like you're feeling, oh, you have to have a regimen to thing.

A recipe has to be a certain way. But if you're just speaking from experience, your experience can't be wrong. Again, it's not the same as opinion. So actually it's much easier. So I actually really like that.

Yeah.

So I feel like we've said we've said so many great things today, but I always like to ask everyone the same question, which is on brand. What would you say is the biggest piece of bullshit in your industry right now?

This is the best question.

It's funny because every time I asked, everyone's got so much and I'm like, oh God.

Where do I start?

The biggest piece of bullshit.

In my industry.

What happens, which annoys me a lot, is that people achieve a certain level of success, and then

they sell courses

on how other people can achieve the same level of success. The reason it annoys me a lot is because usually there is no quality control. So example I've spoken internationally. If I was to do a course on how to speak internationally, I would have to vet the people doing the course because not everyone can speak internationally.

Jonny, who is currently a maths teacher in a primary school, will not get an international gig if he did my programme. Yeah, but the problem in my industry is that that's what people do.

Yeah, they'll promise that.

They will promise that anyone.

Can do it.

But then when you track their track record, they haven't done an international engagement for.

The last five, ten, 11 years.

I've never done.

That.

And the way they make their money isn't through running their business. It's through showing people how they can run the business like them. Yeah, and that is the biggest bullshit in my industry.

I'm with you on that. I think that spans almost every industry. The course creation thing drives me mad. It's like I see it now all the time. People are running courses on how to do things that they've never even done themselves, and that's actually how they make the money. they don't actually make. They didn't have actually made any money from doing the expert thing and the selling of course, on.

But actually they're just making the money from the course, selling the dream to people that it doesn't exist.

It's so annoying.

It is annoying. And I think like I actually so I have a separate podcast which is called Certificate the Bullshit. It's just me ranting into a microphone, basically. Um, so it's like there's no video. So I'm often just in my pyjamas ranting and talking about a particular piece of bullshit that I can't stand.

Of course, creator bullshit is one of them. It's one of the episodes where I just talk about this, and I and I, and I can't stand it. And it is. It's a big industry. And now with AI, it's even worse because the entire course material is AI generated and it's not even them creating it.

Please do your due diligence. Like that is my plead for people to try to not get finessed and do your due diligence if you want to do someone's program. Okay, nothing wrong with it. You want to better yourself. That's a good thing. But please look at the track record. Look at their reviews. If there is no public domain where anyone's ever reviewed them.

That's a bit of a red flag. That's an alarm. If you can't speak to any alumni that has successfully achieved the results. There is a red flag, so just do your due diligence, is what I would plead to people, because there are so many people out there that are preying on vulnerable people that want to better themselves, have a bit of spare cash, and then invest in these programs that do absolutely nothing for them.

Yeah, I'm so glad you said that, because that is literally why I talk about the bullshit all the time, why I call it out, and because I want people to not get scammed by this sort of stuff and realise what's and exactly that. Do your due diligence, which I can't even bloody say. Do your due diligence. It's quite hard.

It's quite a little tongue.

River dee dee dee, do you.

Do your due diligence? And I think that's perfect advice to end the episode. So thank you so much, Fred. You've been a wonderful guest today. And and thank you so much.

Thanks for having me. It's been.

Fun.

Amazing.