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What sets this podcast apart? We believe in the power of meaningful marketing—a holistic approach that prioritises authenticity, connection, and purpose, whilst still turning a profit.
Chantal Gerardy is an International Award Winning Marketing Strategist who empowers purpose-led businesses to revolutionise their online marketing approach and create a brand that resonates deeply with their online audience. If you're tired of cookie-cutter marketing advice, and seek strategies that truly make a difference, this podcast is for you.
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Let's do this
Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Meaningful Marketing Podcast. I'm your host, Chantal Gerardy, and today I'm here with Brent Williams from Empower You and Break Free Experience. And I'm super excited because I've literally just come off the back of having done the Break Free Experience myself.
So I'm massively, massively excited today to have Brent fly in and literally arrive hot on the seat today. Thanks so much for joining us.
You are so welcome. Great to be here.
So Brent, tell us a little bit about how you ended up running a teens personal development program called Empower You.
Yeah. Uh, so, uh, going up through high school, by most measures of success, I was a pretty successful teenager.
Did really well academically. Uh, sporting, uh, played Soccer Australia as a 16-year-old, was school captain year 12, had great friends, wonderful parents, um, a big vision for my future. And I was shortly after my HSC in 1999, showing my age, uh, I was robbed at gunpoint. Thought I was gonna die, my life flashed before my eyes.
And the big takeaway from that experience, which I'm now immensely grateful for, was that I wanted to be a movie director. That was my big dream in life. People closest to me would say things like, "Brent, get a real job. Filmmaking's a hard profession." I knew these people loved me and cared for me, but I realized the most important voice was my own, and I need to amplify that.
And so I thought as an 18-year-old with no real skill set or strategy, why don't I learn about money and finance? And if I could build wealth, then I could fund my dream. That was my naive and optimistic thinking as an 18-year-old. So I went along to a, uh, wealth creation seminar that had a lot of personal development in it.
I didn't know what that was. I'd never heard of people like Tony Robbins or Zig Ziglar at the time, but it was truly life-changing. I mean, I was a positive person. I was very optimistic by nature, but my God, did I feel like Superman. I really did. I could walk through walls. I was 10 foot tall. And the upshot of that experience was that everybody in the course was 20 or 30 years older than me, and so they would come up to me with tears in their eyes saying, "My God, I wish I had this your age.
What different decisions would I have made in my life had I been exposed to this stuff as a teenager?" And that was a message that came back time and time again because I immersed myself in the environment for about a year And I thought, "Why is there no one doing this for teenagers?" And that was really where the idea was born.
It was initially an entrepreneurial opportunity. It was a business opportunity. I thought, "Well, there's a gap in the market, and I could fill that gap." But of course, the moment I started running the events, so we can get into that, I fell in love with it. It was just like my calling. It was my calling. It was the thing that I was put on this earth to do, not to negate this dream of filmmaking, because that is still a big aspiration, a part of my life.
But absolutely, it was by chance that I, I don't wanna say fell into it, because I chose this path, but it was, it was a tragic experience that ignited a flame in me, and, uh, it's been a mission now for 25 years.
Epic, epic, epic. So as a teenager, you said positive, you know, good background- Mm. Yeah ... nothing really to write home about, you know- Yeah
it was all going great. What are you seeing that's different right now with teenagers? Because you have, you've done this now for 25 years, right?
Yeah.
So here you are, 25 years old, you said all the other people were 20, 30 years older than you. Yes. Okay, so already you were the little youngling there, right?
Yeah. What are you seeing now with teens at this age coming to you? Are they aspirational? Are they positive? Are they motivated? Are they wanting to learn personal development? Or would you say it's more a case of parents already struggling with their children and having no direction? And I'm sure you see all of it.
Yeah. I do see all of it, and that's a big answer to that question. As you know, I've been r- I've, I've written a new book, um, called Allow Happiness to Find You Easily. I get the first copy tomorrow. Um, and that book was originally intended to be just the teachings of Empower You and, um, a, a marketing collateral.
But in getting into it, it gave me time to pause and reflect on 25 years. Like, it's a big achievement, quarter of a century doing this work, and I would say there have been massive changes from my first year of audience to 2026 and beyond, is that they are not stronger- They are teenagers as a whole. They are...
lack of vision for their future. I mean, let's recognise the six years that they've had have been difficult and overwhelming, not just from COVID, but when we look at AI and the changing landscape, there's so much uncertainty in our generation, let alone a teenager thinking, "Do I go to university? Is there even a purpose for that?
Um, do I need a degree? And by the time I finish that degree, will that job even exist?" So that lack of uncertainty really kills hope in so many young people, so there's a lack of hope. There's also this sense, and I often say a line at Empower You, "Don't be afraid to be seen trying." And so many young people are afraid to be seen trying because when we were at school, um, if we had challenges at school, it was confined to the school hours, 9:00 to 3:00.
Yet now with young people and technology, they are exposed from the moment they wake up to moment they go to bed, and the challenge for that is by not being seen to be trying, I'm safe. And by putting myself out there, I am potentially being exposed, and that exposure for young people is far more amplified than ever before.
So I guess at its core, to answer your question, mental health issues have never been greater in young people, a lack of identity, a, a, a lack of quality friendships, more connections but less friendships. And let me say this Young people have never craved good relationships more in my community than ever before.
What was natural and normal for a teenager 25 years ago is now foreign and hard to understand. Like looking someone in the eye, giving a firm handshake, asking an open-ended question are all foreign to young people that lack the social skills that we took for granted because we were forced to do it.
That's how you communicated, where now this is the escape that lowers people's ability to effectively communicate and manage their emotions. There.
Perfect answer. So good. I mean, I've got, you know, three daughters. Mm-hmm. They've gone through this whole s- whole space, and for me, I was a naughty teenager.
Like, I was out, I was hitchhiking, I was, you know, pushing the boundaries. I had massive friends groups, not always good ones. But I went through all those learnings, and I think I turned out all right. So to see my daughters sort of shy away from that kind of thing or not wanting to go... I remember the one day it's after school, they didn't wanna go to the acai shop, like after school, because they said somebody had checked in or done a photo that they were there, and then they didn't wanna go there in case they were seen there w- because those people were there, and I was just like, "What the heck?"
Like, I wouldn't have even thought of that. You would've just gone to the acai shop if you wanted to go, right? Mm-hmm. So yeah, so, so, so true. So you say movie director. Now, I have seen the movies that you've directed. I know your passion for it, and I personally believe that every time that you put on an event, whether or not it's Br- it's Empower You or Break Free, it is directed-
Yes
like an event.
Yeah.
Um, which is truly special, so I thought I'd say that and give you that feedback- Thank you so much ... from my perspective, and I can see your heart for that. But there is something that you do very well throughout everything, um, and that is storytell. I believe that that is very much a part of how you run your events, how you build your community, um, and, and how you foster this growth and the relationships that you have.
So can you talk to me a little bit about, you know, your event marketing and some of the strategies with stories? For you, it probably comes natural. It's probably not even a strategy. Mm. But how you use storytelling to basically keep that community alive.
I'm just trying to think how to answer that question. Obviously f- and thank you for the compliments, and for years, uh, ever since I started, that's what I've been known for, is my storytelling ability. And years ago, I had a friend of mine saying, "Why don't you start running some speaker training courses?
People would sign up for it. They wanna learn how you do it. You do it so well. You're masterful." And I thought, I know how to do it, but I- could I ever teach it? You know, it's one thing to do it, another thing to teach it. And as you know, I've recently been training up trainers to start running my events, and I've been able to unpack what I just took for granted that I now realise is my genius.
You know, little things of like, "Why'd you do that?" Or I'd realise I didn't teach you that you shouldn't stand on the stage then, and h- see how you inflected your voice? That's the incorrect inflection to get that outcome. Much like a comedian who would go on a, a tour. And I, I recently saw Dave Chappelle, and, and don't worry, I'm gonna come back to your answer.
I'm good like this, right? This is the storytelling ability. So we call it open looping, right? Open and closing the loop, uh, is the technical term. But I remember seeing Dave Chappelle, uh, live. He is, he is one of my two favorite comedian, him and Bill Burr. Best comedians of all time, great storytellers, great storytellers as comedians.
And I remember watching Dave Chappelle and being disappointed. I was like, "Oh." And I realized I was the, the guinea pig audience as he was perfecting the stories before the Netflix special. He was priming himself and the audience with how people respond and deliver. So, um, another thing that I wanna say, um, that'll, that'll come to this answer, the, to your question, is that recently I've been thinking about business And how many businesses are really good at selling the service but don't always deliver on the sell, if that makes sense.
The sizzle's there, but do I get the steak? And I feel one of my frustrations, and I've shared this with you privately, is that I feel like our business is the opposite. We deliver a beautiful steak every time it is put on the table, yet we don't have enough effective sizzle to get people to smell the steak and come in the store.
That's a weird way of saying it. But I think you get what I'm saying. Yeah. So to come back to your question about storytelling, you know, for me, um, I've always loved to tell a good story. I did it, I re- as I reflect back on my childhood, I was doing it as a kid doing g- you know, like ghost stories. So like I'd have my mates over sleepover, and I'd just make up a story and go on this journey.
Um, to your question about how we use storytelling, I mean, certainly in my events, you know, when I am, there's presenting and facilitation, and for the audience listening, understand the difference. Presenting is delivering a series of ideas and concepts that are somewhat rote learnt. So you know these are the things I wanna teach, and you teach them.
Facilitation is c- creating the space with an audience and guiding them on a journey. And so the huge benefit of storytelling is it, it, people connect on it in so many different levels, and most importantly, they will then reflect and relate in their own way. As you know, I talk a lot about references.
References are the things that support beliefs to be true. Everything you are is a sum total of your past experiences and the way in which you've interpreted those experiences, and they shape references. Think of legs supporting a table. The legs keep up the table. The references hold up the belief. And we can gain so many beautiful references from storytelling.
Um, we can get a reference from our own personal actions in life, or we can take them from others. And as you know, the week that we just shared, how many beautiful stories were shared from the audience once the space was created for them to be open and honest. People can understand a concept, but when you can connect a concept to a story, it can be lived, breathed, and owned.
Um, I don't know if I answered your question, but I went on a journey there.
What a great journey. I think the important message here is that, like if you have a particular skill, like storytelling for example, and you use that in your marketing, I mean, it just lights you up. You can see how Brent is completely lit up by what he does, and he's, he's created a business out of it, and he's gotten really good at it.
Um, and he, when he uses it in his marketing and he uses it in how he delivers things, um, it's just so much m- in, more enjoyable, and then your marketing is becomes more meaningful, right?
Yeah. Yeah. And, and, and in fact, let me add to this. Um, y- we, we again spoke about these, these 100 emails. I've now created three years of emails, and my previous fear with my database, as we're talking to a lot of business owners on this podcast, is that I worry that, I don't wanna just keep selling them.
I don't wanna keep emailing them and promoting the next event because they'll start to unsubscribe. That was my big fear. I'm gonna get all these unsubscribes, and then you've spent all this time and energy and money to get them on your list, you gotta nurture them. And so the problem for my business was I went to the extreme of never talking to them.
Never talking to them. And I was very inspired by a dear friend of mine, Taki Moore, who is another great storyteller, uh, and he communicates to his clients through story, and that, and I really took on that. And we've just launched our first email, I think yesterday afternoon, on this sequence, and I'm realizing more so than ever that the magic I do at my seminars needs to be communicated in my marketing.
And so I need my storytelling abilities to be front and center because the truth of the matter is everybody buys into the stories, and the stories then connects the pathway to the people understanding the opportunity they have with me. Ah, yeah. The story bridges the gap.
I love that, and it, it's exactly what you're saying, right?
So if you are gonna be delivering, you said you're delivering steak, well, then you have to be marketing steak. Um, it's so important, right? Because you can't be marketing one thing and then not. So it's almost like the bait that you put out is the fish that you're going to catch.
Yeah.
So i- if you want people to enjoy what it is, and you want the right people at your, at your events, the people who are gonna enjoy the stories, then you gotta kinda give them a taste of that at the beginning 'cause they want more.
Mm.
Right? They want more, which is ex- excellent. So the other thing I hear all the time is with, with email marketing is people go, "Oh, no one reads emails, and nobody does this, and nobody checks this, and nobody does that." I'm like, if it is relevant to you, if it is relevant to you, if it connects to you, of course they're gonna read it.
In fact, they'll be sitting there with popcorn waiting for the next one.
Y- yeah. Uh, look, just to, you know, validate you with that, um, again, that's what I really took from, from Taki's genius, is that I know his offering, I know what he does, I've spoken at his events, I've seen all the stuff, yet I'm r- reading every one of his emails because the stories he tells are worth the time.
He's... Yeah, and this, and this is the thing. We, we live in a time economy. That is the big how do we, how do we, how do we capture people's time? People are so mindful of their time and will flick move on, and so it's about, yeah, getting dialed in with all that noise. And that's what I'm so excited about with this email sequence, is that you don't need to...
A- a- and look, to your point with the email subject, I, I've taken that onboard. And so you'll be very proud of me with making sure that the audience who needs to read it will read it. But I'm excited that your comment about popcorn is my intention with these emails, is that I want people to go on a journey with me and read the emails, whether they've got a kid or not, whether they've done my work or not, but the emails are compelling enough that they're gonna enjoy it anyway.
And if they are, I now feel confident in sending out two a week. Two a week, let's go. And, and, and because if I can create a community that reads them, we'll then have buy-in. And Daniel Priestley talks about this a lot, um, about personal brand and storytelling. So yeah, to- totally agree. Um, and, and I'm ready to ramp up my, my front end to be just as good as my back end with regards to storytelling.
Yeah.
Epic. Love it. So one of the biggest sort of issues that you've had with your running your teenage events- Mm ... and I know, 'cause I've, I've been on one, the side of that. Yeah. In fact, Brent and I had a conversation a couple years back, 'cause I was on the phone to Brent going, "I really want my daughter to come."
I think she was 15 at the time. "There's no way I can make her go." Mm. So now I know that one of the ways, I mean, you've got a really good line, and you can share that line with me, about parents need to-
Yeah ...
parent and something and be parents- Yeah ... and not their friends. And, and I get it. It was a bit difficult for me because their dad was a naysayer.
However, moving along Yeah With regards to this, that this is why now you've started Break Free, and that's what I want to get into now. Correct. Right? Because- Mm.
Yep
You have a whole lot of parents. There's a, I think, think, I think COVID's been great. COVID honestly separated and made people prioritize like health, personal development.
I think it's been really good to shake things up. So for me, it's like there's all these people now that are into health, wellness, fitness, spirituality, personal development. Um, and if we can look after those people, they can look after everyone else. So talk to us a little bit about that transition then in to then get to the Parents with BreakFree Experience.
So, so just for context- Yeah ... um, really quickly, uh, Empower You is a two-day event designed for 13 to 21-year-olds to fill in the gaps in their education, focusing on areas like emotional intelligence, goal setting, communication skills, belief systems, money and finance. So we do it in a very fun, interactive way.
We've had 40,000 graduates in 25 years attend. Most of them don't wanna go, and this is the challenge, isn't it? And I always say, you know, you need to be a parent first and a friend second, and that, um, sometimes you just need to get uncomfortable, uh, with your child because you know that the end, the end outcome is worth the struggle Around 10 years ago, uh, I had an incident at one of my events, um, that I'm pretty sure I mentioned at the retreat last week, where we had this student come along who was 16 years old, had a lot of issues with her mother, didn't wanna, didn't wanna be there.
But as the program went on, as it always does, the magic happened, and she had big shifts. And we had some big outcomes with her relationship with her mum, and was, she was really excited to see her mum. And then as soon as the mum arrived, and this daughter was so excited to see her mother and had this healing moment, the mum grabbed her because she was signing an autograph for a friend who just met and changing emails and stuff, said, "We've gotta go.
Dad's got the car running. Let's go." And I just thought that completely undid everything that I'd worked on. So I thought, "You know what? The parents need this work just as much as their kids." I had Impos- Imposter Syndrome for a long time. I started this when I was a teenager. So, you know, I was like, well, that was hard enough, and then to then be a, you know, a young adult and running seminars for 40-year-olds seemed very foreign.
And of course, when I finally made the decision to run a seminar for adults, it was easy because all of the adults laughed at my jokes even if they're mildly funny. They were present and engaged. Even if they weren't really, they didn't just show how they really felt like teenagers do. So it was actually the teenagers primed me to be awesome with the adults.
But coming back to your question, I realized that parents are just big kids with better masks. And my wife made a comment to my son the other day saying-- He was asking her about something or complaining about something, and my wife turned around and said to Kayden, "Kayden, I'm doing life for the first time, too.
I'm working this out." And I was like- ... "That's so amazing. I'm gonna take that and put it in my seminars. Thanks, honey." Um, and here we are on the podcast sharing this magical wisdom. But, you know, we certainly saw at retreat, and at every break free, parents come along with the intention of learning some skills to have a better relationship with their child, which is the main initial, initial reason for creating the break free experience.
However, as the years have gone on, if you asked me what has become an even bigger and bigger challenge for you to run Empower You, as clear as day as the impact is, and it is undeniable, and you can just watch any video and watch any Google, listen to any Google review and it's so clear, 25 years is the reason why I've been around for so long.
But as the years have gone on, parents have got less stomach in getting their kids to go. And I get it. You, you don't want to have a fight with your child. You don't want them to go, "Stuff you, Mum, I don't want to do this." You, I, I don't want that with my kids. You don't want that, of course, and sometimes you just gotta do it.
But even wanting to do it, you still can't physically force them. And I have found that as the years have gone on, parents, for better or worse, have had less and less influence as their child has gotten older because there are more external influences. So the break free experience of where this is a beautiful re-engineering of our business is we are now having adults come along and experience the work with me to then validate, oh my God, this is ama- I thought it was just gonna be some go- dream boards and, you know, 100 lists, and it is so much more, and you could be talking to my kid like this for two days?
Okay, I'm gonna make him go. I didn't wanna make him go beforehand, but now I have a full picture and reality of this If I've got to gag them, they're going You know, whatever it takes. And I think that that's gonna be really nice as we venture into the second half of 2026 and beyond, um, that, uh, Break Free can become the new funnel and entry point for our clients to get ex- parents get the work and then have their children go through versus the other way around.
Oh, so good. Um, I was lucky enough at the event to be able to support you with getting the interviews. Mm-hmm. And it was amazing what I saw because I saw stepfamilies coming together, being brought together through Empower You and through the Break Free experience. I was able to see a divorced couple coming together to the Break Free experience- Yeah
to be able to support their child while they were going through a divorce. Uh, it, it was just absolutely epic. I saw parents where the husband comes to this event and the wife will come to the next event because they've got no support to look after the kids. And I just, uh, for me, I was just like, goosebumps.
It was just- Yeah ... yeah, so good to see. Um, so I do have some questions from some of the community, uh, 'cause I reached out this morning- Oh, okay ... and went and said, "What questions do you have for Brent?" So, um, I, I should have brought my glasses, but let's try this. Um, so this is from Helen, and because we spoke about your lovely wife and we know that, I think Disa did ask you this question, "How do you give your business 110% and manage to maintain a healthy relationship with your partner and family?"
Because Brent travels and runs these event k- uh, nationally and internationally. Mm-hmm. Two days plus the four-day retreats. Five days Um, and, and you, and he's got a family, right? Mm-hmm. So how do you manage to give 110%? Because that's one of your mottos, 110%.
Mm.
How do you do it, man? How do you
do it? Yeah, look, it, look, with great difficulty, and I, I don't have a, I don't have a secret sauce or a, a, a perfect vehicle.
And there are times where it's flowing and working really well, and other times where it's like, "Oh, where's the balance?" I remember Dan Martell, uh, recently saying that if you want to be excellent at anything, there are gonna be sacrifices you have to make. Like, the idea of having balance in all areas and then performing at your highest level, you know, may be unrealistic, and I think there's a lot of truth in that, um, when you want to have excellence and you have set standards.
Um, and you know, you made a comment earlier about COVID, um, and the positives that came out of that, and I actually agree. I think it made us all reevaluate what was important for our lives, how we were spending our time, um, because so many things were disrupted. Uh, and it gave us a real great opportunity to look in the mirror.
Um, and so to answer your question, you know, I, like, I remember probably November last year, I sat down with my wife and kids with my calendar, and I said, "Okay, here's what was the last year, and here's how many days I was away. Here is the next year, and here's the plan." So what I've, what I've, what I attempt to do as much as possible is be as transparent with my vision- And why I'm doing certain things, particularly with my, my son, getting him to understand the intention and reason behind why I'm working.
Context is everything, right? Yeah. And so I think the more context I can give my family, the more understanding they have of why I might be away. And then when I am home, and I'm no perfect dad by any means, but certainly, uh, as much as possible, being present, being present. And with technology, for all of us, it's so hard to be present.
Our focus is constantly stolen. So, you know, I know there's a few rituals which I'd love to do more, but certainly with my kids, you know, we always go on once a year, my, my son and I will go on a little trip together. Once a year my daughter and I go on a little trip together. And the lead-up to that is exciting.
The build-up to that is exciting. Yes. And, uh, and you would know there's a different relationship with your child when you're one-on-one versus together, and I think that that's really important to foster. They always say, what is it? Like, that 90, 95% of your time with your children is done by the time they're 18, which is really sad and confronting as I get nearer and nearer-
to that mark, and then it's how we spend our time. So I'm still balancing, and there are times where I'm definitely imbalanced, but I also am very clear with where I want it to go, and I think that that v- vision is a great driver for me to navigate what is now a sticky time, um, and finding that balance.
And also, knowing your family's love languages.
Yes, good one. That's a great one.
Yes. Yes. My wife's definitely is time- Quality time ... which is challenging. Quality time, yeah. My son's is words of affirmation, so I've got that one licked, you know. And my daughter's probably physical touch, so we get a lot of hugs.
Yeah. You know. Yeah. Aah. Yeah.
I mean, they always say if you want something done, ask a busy person, so ho- how is it that somebody gets so much done? And that, that is, comes down to time management. Mm. Like, we all get the same amount of time, but it's how you manage that time and how you prioritize it. So I think that's so important.
And as somebody who had twins, um, for me it was always important to make sure that I had that individual time with them as well, so that they were never identified as one- Mm ... but identified as two separate people. Um, so I completely understand that, and as somebody now who has kids that are all out of home Mm.
Yeah, you have to prioritize that time when they're younger. So, and I think when they understand the mission, the mission and the why, you know, and the outcome of that, I think then they connected to it as well-
Yeah ...
which is so good. Cool, so what qualities do you look for in a young person to trust they are a trajectory of success?
Gosh
I know. Tough one, hey?
Yeah. Look, that is an interesting question. Um, I think that, look I suppose there's actually a really simple answer, and it's a quote, "If a teenager does the thing they said they would do well after the mood that they said it has gone, that's when I know they're serious about success in their life," whatever th- whatever their metric for success is.
That quote stays with me forever because at these events that I run, in the right state, when the conditions are the best, everyone shows the best version of themselves, don't they? They are confident, they are affluent, they are abundant. They're gonna say, "I'm gonna do this, this, and this, and this." Let's see when the energy dissipates.
That's the real test for me. So early on, if I was asked that question, I would've said, "Oh, it's so hard to tell because everyone looks excited and committed," but I've just learned that that's few and far between that see it through. And so I would say to, to give a more detailed answer to that question, when a teenager has a very clear why and a very invested, uh, are very invested in the outcome, that's probably one of the bigger metrics, because when you have that clear, definite goal, that definite intention, distraction tends to dissipate and you're far more focused.
Um, and that's, that's the real benefit of, of clear goal setting or targets or sprints or whatever you wanna label that. Having a vision or a direction in life dissipates distraction. And coming back to my point earlier, we live in a world full of distraction, more than ever before, but it's those people that do the thing they said they'd do well after the mood they said it in gone, is the difference between the ones that just talk it and the ones that do it.
So I was a very naughty teenager, right? Mm. Parents going through divorce, working, hardly ever saw them. Naughty teenager. But when I was actually put in a leadership role, I thrived. So for me, it was around when I f- worked out what my strengths were and what I was actually good at, I could leverage my strengths and work on my strengths, rather than, than being classed as the naughty girl.
Mm. So that was that for me. So I think, like, when you're in your purpose, I think that that's really good.
Totally.
Yeah.
Look, I got in trouble for talking all the time at school, and now it's my profession.
100%. Yep. 100%. So good. So at your, um, experiences, we do some processes, and I know that they're all secret, so I can't- Mm
declare here publicly what they are. Mm. But I can say that they are very... They're a lot of fun, they're challenging, they're confronting, but incredibly beneficial. Um, the ones I am allowed to talk about, I will, which is the fire walking, and then also the board breaking.
Yes.
And out of those, out of those two things, it's commit or quit, all right?
Mm-hmm. When you ask us to rate ourselves, you say, "It should be a 10 out of 10 or nothing," right? 10 out of 10 or nothing. Commit or quit, right? I love that, right? Mm. I've actually come back this week and I'm like, "Yeah, I'm on fire." I'm making decisions. Commit or quit. And I thought I was very committal, but- Mm
not nearly as much. I was probably an eight out of 10, which you hate. Yes. That's
the safe number. It's the safe number. It's the sa- It sounds good enough for a pass- ... but not enough that you totally own- it, yep
100%. Yeah. So now I'm like 10 out of 10 commit or quit, right?
Yeah.
Um, and what I learned from the thing, so let's use the board break as an example.
Yes. If you don't fully commit, right, you hurt your hand.
Yeah.
You hit your hand on the board, and it hurts. Mm. Mm. Right? So getting it over and done with and committing actually get it over quicker- Yeah ... and you get to the other side quicker, right? So how do you measure the pivot point and navigate the process?
So the question is, commit or quit is a useful maxim for business. How do you measure the pivot point and navigate the process? You can thank Helen for these.
How do you... God, I don't understand the wording of
that question. It's like- No, how do you measure the pivot point and navigate the process? I'm just gonna say just do it.
Like-
Yeah.
Look- You've just got to make a decision to do it, right?
Yeah. Here's, here's what I will say. Um, can I swear or not?
Oh, of course you can. Go
for it. Okay. So look, so many people just fuck around with the decision. Yeah.
Love
it. Right? They dance around the decision. They're like, you know, with the board break specifically, and I often say this in the pre-frame of the board break, is that, like, look, you know, I say, well, y- for context, for context, uh, I give everyone a piece of wood.
They write down on one side all the things they're holding the back. It's usually internal, uh, m- references that are negative for them, past traumas or experiences, so internal and external. It's very emotional, very raw, and it depends on how honest you are with yourself, of course. There are levels that you can play with this.
On the other side, we write down what is the best version of you. So one part, one side is negative in your past, the other side's positive in your future. We wanna get you in a peak mental state, and you break through- ... break through the board with your hand. It's a very, uh, excuse the pun, empowering process.
And, uh, I always say, well, you know, if you do it- And you don't break it, what are you gonna do? Oh. Go again? Yeah, you're gonna go again, 'cause that's life. But often I've had people that do it first time, I've had people take 20 times. And the ones who take it 20 times, at, at some point there becomes enough friction where they just go, "Fuck it, it's gonna be done."
And I always say, "Are you gonna walk out of here not doing it?" When they're all feeling sorry for themselves. "No, I'm not." "Well then, let's just do it. Stop thinking of all the reasons why it won't work. Don't worry about your sore hand. You know, that's temporary. The glory's gonna live forever." You know? The bruise is just evidence of the commitment.
Just get it done. And how often we just allow stuff to get in the way of the decisions we need to make. And by the way, I'm, I'm, I'm preaching what I practice. Yeah. And there are so many times where I've just fluffed around with the decision, and we've talked about these things. Yeah. You know, privately about certain things, and once you just make the decision how great it feels.
So, you know, I had, um, Josh. Josh is Dale Beaumont's, um, general manager. Yeah. Josh Taylor, and I had him speak recently on stage, and he said a great line. He said, "Whatever decision you make is the right decision to make." And I was like, I like that. 'Cause we so worry about are we making the right or wrong decision.
Yeah. Just decide, and get on with that decision. Yeah. And it's either gonna give you the outcome you want or the lesson you need to learn. So the worst case scenario of making a decision and moving- ... is you're gonna learn a whole lot of stuff. It's in the indecisiveness that we feel anxious, overwhelmed, depressed, what are we gonna do?
Just get in with the doing, and it'll work itself out.
So, so good. So we end
with this- Sorry, Helen, if that didn't accurately answer your question. But it, it evoked a great answer nonetheless.
So then the last one is from Brooke, right? So, um, something along the lines of, okay, what suggestions do you have for someone starting out with a product or service without an existing social media following?
Oh, God. See, you're asking a person who nev- there was never social media when I began.
Yeah.
So I think that, you know... Great question. Great question, Brooke. Um, you know, I think about if I had my knowledge now- Uh, from when I, uh, w- the opportunities... Sorry. If I had the opportunities now When I started, what a different business I'd have.
Yet I feel if I started now with the opportunities in front of me, I'd take them for granted because I didn't have that l- I, I... There's so much leverage, it's, it's abundance of riches, if that makes sense. Mm. I don't think I worded that well, but hopefully understand the intention of my point. If I was to start an...
It g- look, 'cause a lot of people think, "Oh, I'm gonna be..." And I see this all the time with my community. They go, "Right, I'm gonna be a coach, so let me just get a microphone, talk on social media, and I'm gonna fill rooms," and they don't. 'Cause everybody's doing it.
Yeah.
Everybody's doing it. The first thing I do is joint ventures.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I just partner with... I- if it w- this was my business, Empower You, starting now, I'd knock on the door of every coach I knew, every kinesiologist, every Reiki healer, and I'd go, "Right, what can I do?"
And people don't wanna do that anymore, because that's one of my six pillars. Mm. And people all wanna do social media because it's easier, easier than door-knocking.
Yeah. And they don't wanna do it.
Yeah.
And you gotta do the thing that you need to do, like-
Totally.
Yeah. And so- Yeah ... so, yeah, so people don't wanna do it. Um, so for me, because obviously do the social media part , with the social media part, I think you need to find out what your differentiator is. So what is your point of difference?
What is your purpose? What is your key message? And if you are gonna go to social media, marketing is about what you do that's different to everyone else. So with your example, for exa- uh, with your example, if someone is gonna be a coach, there's a gazillion coaches out there. So you've gotta come up with what are you, what, who are you working with that's different to everybody else specifically, like from a niche perspective, and what can you do that's different?
Yeah. So why you, why this? And then from there, go out and, and stay on that topic, stay on that thing, 'cause else you're not gonna cut through. Mm. You're just gonna be general, you're just gonna be fluffy.
Yeah.
Right?
Yeah. Need to create standout factor.
Yeah. Mm. And go out and do it. So go out and get evidence, get runs on the board.
So for me, I didn't know social media, um, when I came to Australia, set up my business. I taught myself. That's my whole claim to fame. I built a six-figure business in five years, no ads, no outsourcing, no experience. And what did I do? I realised, well, I don't have Botox, don't have big boobs. I'm in the m- personal training industry on the Gold Coast, completely saturated.
What can I do that's different? Well, I'll teach people how to eat to lose weight. Eat to lose weight, that was my thing. So it was the Eat Naked Challenge, eat to lose weight. All the mums, it was all about getting together and moving, 'cause my daughter was one years old, so I needed her with me. Mm. And I created a business about that.
Guess what? I was full . Mm. Which is excellent. So thank you so much for coming. No, absolute pleasure. Is there any other last word of wisdom that you wanna give to the world right now?
I do. I do. Yes. And I do because it's a quote that's mine, and I'm a big quotes person, and it's born from Kevin. You know Kevin?
Yeah. Yeah. So here's my last bit of wisdom for everybody. Um, and it was born out of my, my last, we call it the advanced camp. It's like the highest level event that I do. It's very process heavy, very confronting. You have to be with me for a few years before you even get an invitation to even Have the opportunity to attend, and had some participants that just blew me away with some specific things that, that gave birth to a quote, and here's the quote.
"When the fear to do the thing," whatever the thing is, "When the fear to do the thing is met with the commitment to face that fear, magic happens." And so, um, I've seen that time and time again. Everyone's got fear, right? You know, the hero and the coward have the same fear, the hero does it anyway. Um, and so it's your relationship to fear that's the biggest question we wanna answer, and the thing you wanna work on.
Do you step back or push through? But the more fear you have that's married with the commitment to face that fear, you are gonna have the most extraordinary life. Be invested in the fear, don't run away from it. Accept it's a part of the game, and it's there to allow you to grow into the best version of yourself.
Ah, so good. Just run with that. Mm. So thank you so much for listening to th- another episode of the Meaningful Marketing podcast. If you haven't already, please make sure you subscribe or rate us, and leave a comment below. Um, we will share Brent's contact details in the show notes below, so you'll be able to, um, connect with him, either for Empower You or for the BreakFree Experience.
Thank you so much for joining us today.
You're most welcome. Pleasure having
me.
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