Biggest fuck up?
Not removing myself from the last business quicker and looking at ways to grow it quicker, rather than being a control freak and taking on all the sales myself.
I’d have probably, made more money and sold it for a larger amount if I just let go a bit more and wasn’t the guy on the phones chasing the sales.
I didn’t fix it. I just had to watch the company that bought my old business DO what I wish I had done and sell it for almost £20m less than 12 months later as part of a bigger $2 billion group acquisition. Annoying in some ways. But, in another – I don’t think I could have carried on for another 12 months with it.
Also, going to University. Does that count? Waste of time, but then, I only know that now and would probably think I’d missed out if I hadn’t. Saying that I nearly got stabbed while at University in London, and so that was a lesson. University. Nothing but student debt and near-stabbing to look back on.
Rant
The Insta-gurus and get-rich-quick experts that didn’t achieve success from the product they’re telling others works. They pop up in your Facebook ads or on YouTube all the time. Some 19-year-old lad in a green Lambo telling you to buy his course and make $1m from dropshipping? Yeah, that makes sense – create competitors in your own sector.
There are a ton of these on LinkedIn and YouTube. So, I started signing up for their courses, revealing behind-the-scenes and the real results. That’s on my YouTube channel – The Contrepreneur. It’s only on there as many of my original videos keep getting removed off LinkedIn as it’s shone a light on some of the bullshit, like the Amazon best-selling author types, on stage talking about mindset and bollocks.
Useful advice
Read books. Not from people trying to upsell you a course or a boot camp or mentorship or screaming at you about their success on Instagram. But books on wealth, finance and business from time served successful people.
Want to know about investing? Don’t go on a 3-day investing boot camp by some random guy called Kallum in a function room in Manchester – go read a couple of Warren Buffet books.