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What sets this podcast apart? We believe in the power of meaningful marketingโa 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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Social media, Google, email, marketing systems, website traffic, and the endless content creation that comes with marketing. It's overwhelming, right? Say goodbye to endless stress and hello to Clarity with the Meaningful Marketing Podcast. In this podcast, I will share with you fast and free practical methods to help you manage, monetize, and market your business, all infused with a healthy dose of motivation.
Let's do this. Hey, and welcome to another episode of the Meaningful Marketing Podcast. Today I have got Andrew โCsabi โwith me, um, and he's gonna be sharing with us his phenomenal story about how he turned tragedy into inspiration. Um, as he was involved in the Bali bombings, a survivor of the Bali bombings in 2002.
Um, and he didn't let it hold him down. In fact, um, he has come out swimming scuba diving out the other side. Thank you so much for being with us today. Um, I'm looking forward to our conversation.
My pleasure. Thank you. Having.
Awesome. So tell us a bit about your story. So, um, you're one of the survivors of the Bali terrorist bombings in 2002.
Um, that's obviously impacted your life in a significant way, um, but you haven't let it hold you down. So tell us a bit about that.
Well, I suppose Bali bombing in 2002 and Asari Club in Bali was an experience you don't want to go through. It was, uh, a tragic, tragic event. It killed 202 people. 88 Australians and you know, it's etched in your memory forever.
Yeah, I would imagine so. I imagine so. Um, and up until that time, um, what was your job? What did you actually do?
Yeah, I've got a trade background as a cabinet maker. I started doing security in early age of 20, came up to the Gold Coast, and at 22 years of age started my security company and that's now 37 years ago.
Yeah. So after this, after this tragedy, you still continue to do security?
Yeah. That's correct. Yeah. It's something that I'm very passionate about. It's been a long life career of mine. My family is also full of protectors. Um, my mother's a nurse. Father nacho's, brother armor reserves, and my pop actually fought in deliberately.
So we've got a, a family full of protectors, so it's in my DNA.
So most people, if they go through some sort of tragedy like that, um, they would let it define them and possibly ruin them. Um, but you continued to. Work play. Um, I know we've been on a boat together of your boat a few times together and jet ski.
Um, so tell us a little bit about, you know, the impact of the Bali bombings and what you've actually been through and experienced.
Well, I suppose you can start with the, the mental scarring. Well, what you witness and what you see with, you know, we're not trained to see, you know, hundreds of dead bodies and injured civilians and, uh.
Nothing prepares you for that in life. Not even, you know, my security career where I've been injured myself. But when you look back at that, you, you then have to just be, you have to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and then try and show the courage and, and get on with your life, because otherwise the terrorists win.
Yeah, that's a good decision to make. And I, and at the end of the day, it's a choice you make. Right? I always say to people like, you can choose, you get to choose what you wanna do and how you're gonna live the next part of your life.
Yeah.
Yeah. So did you get any support after that? Like what, what did your support structure look like after you experienced that?
I did, actually, that's a great question because the support network I had was, um, mostly family parents, my brother and sister. Then it was my network of people, my rotary club. Um. Chambers of commerce business, and of course my clients. I, I've got, you know, thousands of clients nationally, and there were fundraisers, there was support, there was pledges of, um, we'll assist you in business.
I had a business mentor, I had dinner with him last night, Don Stalker, and he has a, a, a whole range of McDonald's stores throughout the Gold Coast, and he gave me an opportunity to quote cameras, alarms through six doors. And, uh, it was good. He challenged me, and that's what I need. I like, like to be challenged and it's a common, it's a common thread in my life that if you challenge me, that, you know, I'll try and have that will to win and I'll try and be better than the, than the, uh, the challenge itself.
Yeah. Oh look, I absolutely love that. 'cause you haven't allowed this to de define you at all. Um, but you've turned it into motivation and inspiration for others. So you've also written a book. So your book is called, uh, bomb Barley Life After Death. So can you tell us a little bit about, um, the book and why you wrote it and what you intend or how you intend to use it?
Well, the book was something that I wanted to tell my story. The, the stories that I do come out the other end. But it, it's a, a tragic story that. You know, mates go to Bali, myself as a young business guy who goes to Bali, gets caught up in a terrorist bombing. It then travels through what the eyewitnesses had, uh, of impacted them, their contact with me.
And then I transcribed my mother's letter in that book. And the reason why I wanted, and I was compelled to tell my story, is that two years after Bali that my mother's suicided. And she wrote us a letter and she wrote me a letter and I transcribed that in my book and she talks about how a mother feels when their son is maimed or nearly killed.
And, and she writes about a message to other mothers of terrorists training to make bombs. And it's, it's a very compelling story. It's, it's an emotional book, but it's one of courage and, and success because I do come out the other end and. I've been given a second chance at life and, and I'm using it to the nth degree.
Yeah, I absolutely love that. So for the audience that are watching out there, um, Andrew has a boat and he's got a jet ski and I've been on his boat and his jet ski and he scuba dives. Um, and he's out there playing. In fact, both of us were act bally at the same time. Didn't get a chance to catch up, but both of us were Bali at the same time.
So he is out there living life. More than most do. I can tell you that. More than most do. Yeah. Yeah. And not letting any of it define you or, or hold you down, which is really awesome. Um, so tell us about the rising with Bubbles.
Well, yeah. Being a scuba dive, I, I use that. I, I had a couple of things that I used as a strength.
Um. Not only training martial arts in the early, early teens, um, where my sensei said, if you have the the will to win, you'll win. And I've carried out through my business career, both personal, um, and rising with the bubbles is when you are, uh, down there scuba diving, the only way up is to rise with the bubbles you eventually have to get to the surface.
And I use that as my motivator.
Yeah. I love that. That's super cool. Um, and how do you use that book? Um, you know, as, as, as a business tool or as a getting speaking gigs tool?
Well, being my story, I'm very passionate about it. I love sharing my story with people, whether it's a, a paid speaking gig, um, or it's free for motivate and help people to, to actually help them get through.
So one of the talks I did for Ray White was. To help their sales team. And, and it was, if you think you are having a bad day, why don't you experience what this guy went through? So if you think you can't make the sales or get that listing, or you can't hit your, your KPIs, then you know, have a look at this guy, what he's had to achieve.
So it's a motivator for me assisting them to reach their goals and motivate them to be the best they can be. And I look at the audience when I'm talking and, and I, I'm, I'm just, I'm, I'm, yeah. It's just what I'm supposed to be here for. And when my mother said, you know, you, you're here for some reason, your life's been spared for a reason.
That I feel that's one of the things that I enjoy doing and that I'm here to do. It's help other people, not only my security company to protect them, but to motivate people, to make them get the best outta their life. Like I've got a second chance at mine.
Yeah. Awesome. And unfortunately, a lot of people, because they haven't had that tragedy happen to them, they just take things for granted.
Right. They take life for granted. Um, awesome. So you do a lot of speaking gigs and I know, I mean, oh, we're trying to chat on Messenger the one time and you're like, here, and then I'm there and then you're here and we are there and you know, I think it was in Fiji. Was it Fiji, Vietnam. Vietnam that you went to recently and presented at?
Yeah, I have. And uh, the most recent one was ATU and, um. I was sharing a stage with a guy called Chris Roach, and he's, uh, ex Wallaby, and I was his first speaker and I thought, well, I hope I can woo the audience and, and make an impact. And I did. I got a standing ovation. I sold all of my books. I've got two more speaking engagements offered to me.
But yeah, I've, I've met some amazing people through, through this, um, Stephen Bradbury. Katrina Roundtree, I've met all the Prime ministers and given them my book, um, mark Boros, et cetera. So in, in my minuscule life, I've been blessed to meet all of these people that motivate me, and to my surprise, they love hearing my story.
It's amazing. Yeah. I love that. Unlike, um, unlike Steve Bradbury, I don't swear in my talks.
So my question is, I mean, prior to all of this, would you have considered or even thought about yourself as a speaker?
Absolutely not. No, no. I'm a sales person, but, uh, I've never been a public speaker or a storyteller, but, um.
I trained myself to do it and I had some people assist me and I'm so grateful for the opportunity.
Excellent. And I love that. I love the fact that, you know, you've been given the second opportunity to, to inspire other people and to live your purpose on this earth. Mm-hmm. You don't take it lightly. You went out and you actually got qualified or experienced in that space and got other qualified people to actually assist you so that you could be better in that space so that you could do it better.
Yeah, I love that. I do appreciate that a lot. Yeah. Um, so you spoke about using your business like a bus, uh, using your book as a business card. Tell us about that.
Yeah, well, it's, um, it's a privilege to write a book. It's a lot of hard work. So it took four months to write. We had to jump through a lot of hoops to do it.
Um, legal documents. Um, so if you're gonna write to John Howard, the then Prime Minister Alexander Downer, the, um, in, uh, foreign minister, and you need their statements, their photos, you've gotta jump for all these legal hoops. So we were going through the Australian Consulate in Bali, Canberra, um, you know, John Williamson who wrote True Blue and sung that at the anniversary.
All these people were amazing. And then we needed to find some bystanders that had assisted me and been first respond. And we found them through the Australian consulate. We asked them and got in contact with those. It was a really emotional journey. Took four months to write the book. I hired a writer and, uh, it, it's turned out to be something that now I can leave as my legacy or that I can tell my story.
And, um, I would like to write another book about business, but, um, gee, I dunno if I got the courage.
I think you do. I think you do. That's something you're not lacking in. Um, so with regards to writing that book, I mean having to pull all of that out and look at all of that again, has that been therapeutic for you?
Or was it challenging, but therapeutic? Like, tell us a little bit about that.
Yeah, it's an excellent question. It was emotional,
yeah.
Reading. So you would, you would get an email from, um, someone like Tony McKay, who was I, I referred to him as my angel in the book. One of the angels that had pulled me across from the Sury Club across the road, out of the crater, and to read what happened.
I wasn't aware of it. You're in and outta consciousness when you're, you're suffering. Such a massive injury. And, um, the other eyewitness accounts had then explained what occurred. I put that together with what I remember, and, uh, it, it, it was putting a jigsaw together and it was, um. Very emotional journey to find out the truth of what happened to you, what happened to others, what happened to two of my friends that died that night?
And uh, yeah, so it does, um, as you look or you talk about it in a, in a, in a presentation, I do naturally tear up, naturally get emotional, but then, you know, hey, um, even big boys cry. So, you know, I'm not, you know, I'm not. Yeah, definitely. It's, it's just an emotion that comes out. It's a natural emotion, it's an honest emotion and yeah, I, I entitled myself to do it because it helps me as well to mentally deal with what I saw, what I witnessed, and what's etched in my mind forever.
So what are some of the, the sort of processes that you go through? When you are sort of having a tough time, are there any specific processes that you go through that help you get through it? Like for me personally? I mean obviously you use breath work, I use exercise. Um, are there any things that you use?
There are, yeah. I had some counseling in Darwin when we were deployed from dea, put in the Hercules, uh, double AF jets. And you arrive at Darwin and you're in and outta consciousness. But those things, um, and, and what I went through, you know, 10 days in ICU and then having to be coming out of that, um, and being told what happened to you, you're missing limbs, so you're missing a leg of other, the left knee and you're missing half right foot, and you gotta come to terms with that.
So I had some counseling in Darwin and on occasions I refer back to that counseling that. You need to be your own person and be strong. You're not always gonna have people around you and that you have to be, um, content and strong yourself. So rather than look at the negatives and, and have that hatred towards, or, or be racist towards.
Um, bombers and, and things. I, I use that strength to then prop myself up and, uh, and I allow myself those mo emotional outlets. Um, you know, I, I tell this funny story about maybe watching TV and you see a movie and Lassie's pulled his kid out of the well and saved his kid's life. And then you just break down in tears.
You know, you, you just, um, I like to let that emotion flow when it happens and, uh, that's my mechanism for coping and, uh. I'm a very strong person and I'm a man, and men don't like to admit any weakness, but, um, it's just a natural thing. Let it out, let it flow, and allow yourself that emotion so you can heal and Yeah, rather than being angry, I've, I've allowed myself to use that strength to heal.
I've, I've had to, I've, I've had to overcome nine operations and then a whole lot of skin grafts. And then the fact that I've lost a couple of friends and, and a girl I was seeing in Bailey died so. It's, um, it's a lot to carry through, and then my mom's suicide, so yeah, it's a lot of weight to carry, but, you know, hey, I can do it and I've gotta tell myself, convince myself I can do it.
Yeah. That's amazing. Yeah. And, and I think, um, I mean, I'd like to reframe the word weakness because I, for me, I don't think it's weakness. I think it's vulnerability. And I think there's nothing wrong with a vulnerable man. Absolutely. A man who can express his emotions because it's better than bottling it up because when you bottle it up, that's when at some point it's going to explode.
And that's why you have menopause.
Yes.
As for the, all the bottled up ones. Yeah. Whoever been vulnerable. Um, so thank you so much for sharing all of this today. Um, if there is any inspiration that you could give to somebody who's. Been through a tragedy or a trauma and you'd like to inspire them to turn that tragedy into inspiration through either speaking or a book.
What are some of the practical tips that you would give them?
Well, it's, um, once again, it's a great question and it draws me to a paragraph I use, um, by Ann Landers when, when I finish my talk, and, and that is that, you know, the one useful bit of advice for humanity would be that expect. Trouble as an inevitable part of life.
And when it comes, you know, hold your head up high. Look at squarely iron. Say, I'm bigger than you. I can defeat you. And then give yourself the most comforting words of all that. This too shall pass. That paragraph inspires me to know that life's not always going to be easy in there. It's gonna be setbacks, but I don't know.
Take 'em head on, deal with them if you can. Get help from others and networks friends or professional help like I had, and then work through it. And, um, I'm helping friends at the moment as well. They're getting through, um, health issues, relationship breakups and things. And, um, yeah, I'm quite proud that sometimes they come to me and, and I'm able to help them through my strength.
But yeah, it's, it's something I draw on. I is. Find something that motivates you, like scuba diving or doing something or, or a passion that you've got, and try and do that and then set that goal. But for me, it's, I know that there's gonna be more, more inevitably might be health issues later in my own life, um, as I get older.
And, uh, I'm gonna have to deal with those. So I'm prepared, I'm ready, and I'm, I'm gonna challenge myself to get through those.
Amazing, amazing story. Thank you so much. So for those of you who would like to connect with Andrew, um, and have a copy of his book as well, it is a self-published book. So you can, uh, contact him on social media, which is Andrew Csabi.
Um, we will put post all the links in the comments below as well. Uh, you can also check out his security company, which is AGC Pro-Tec Security on the Gold Coast. Um, thank you so much for sharing your story with us today.
Thank you.
Um, and thank you to all those watching the Meaningful Marketing Podcast.
If you haven't already, please push, subscribe, and turn on your notifications. And if you haven't already, we would love it if you could rate us and leave us a comment. Thanks so much again.
Thank you very much, Chantel.
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