Why Success Is Built On Relationships with Thomas Power

00:00 We know lots of people who are miserably successful with endless amounts of capital and suffering depression. Miserable successful is a real concept, you need success-depression, you can google it It's the quality of the relationships in your life that matter Welcome to The Jonnie Jensen Show, where modern dads discover how to create the true riches relationships and results they deserve. Get your High Value Man blueprint and join our community at highvaluemanproject.com Let's go!

00:41 Welcome back to The Jonnie Jensen Show. It's great to have you here, my name is Jonnie Jensen I am the founder and head coach of The High Value Man Project where modern dads get to take control of their lives and create the man and dad that they know they want to be through our proven system of living Today's Come Back King episode is featuring a longtime friend. I've known Thomas since 1998, he is a tech entrepreneur and been involved with Everything to do with the internet since its inception, working for Sir Alan Sugar at Amstrad and from London to Silicon Valley and beyond. Who he doesn't know really isn't worth knowing. More recently, he's been a mentor to names such as Jay Shetty, Daniel Priestley, and I count him thankfully as a friend and mentor myself along with his wonderful wife Penny Power

01:37 And they're three kids who are now creating successes of their own. If you see them on LinkedIn, you'll know that for sure. Thomas's Come Back King story will give you confidence in following your values, putting family and friends first and really trusting in your vision knowing that if you stick at it through the highs and lows a version of it will come to fruition whether that's Thomas's e-cademy story Pretty much a precursor to LinkedIn. I was a member, you know 650,000 members around the world. Incredible and through to today with his Bit 100 super connect community which you can look up more about yourself via the links in the show notes. To anybody who wants to get more involved with the work that we do at The High Value Man Project simply go to highvaluemanproject.com forward slash group otherwise

02:31 Open up your ears and just feel like you are going to make a friend today as you hear Thomas talk about his journey in the Come Back Kings series. Let's go! Today's guest, welcome Thomas Power. I'll tell the story of how we met in a moment but bloody good to see you. Thank you for the invitation, Jonnie. Yeah very well fit and well happy and moving forward! Good so Thomas is a repeat guest as I was just letting him know the last time he was on about five years ago it was early days and it was not not the greatest recording so absolutely brilliant to be able to go over some of that story but for the listeners, the viewers, Thomas and I go back as far as...I was tasked with finding someone who knew about this thing called

03:22 And I worked at an advertising agency. I was a graduate, so just like a 20-21 year old. I was put in this project with a lovely lady called Carol. Don't remember her surname but anyway we found this guy called Thomas Power and Thomas Power came into this advertising agency called Interfocus and spoke to the directors about this thing called The Internet And I was absolutely blown away and they thought it was a load of bollocks. And I was incredibly embarrassed, and so both of us have probably forgotten those guys' names but here we are 30 odd years later still connected. I consider you a friend, a mentor, uh...an absolutely brilliant guy to have in my life Do you remember that time Thomas? You know the funny thing is i actually do remember it Because he was so cringe! I do remember it and I do remember meeting you at

04:11 I don't know whether it was that day or another day, but we were out in some business park and out the west of London Chelsea or Fulham. That's where The Office was yeah Kensington High Street. I can remember it there meeting you there and you said they're going to be a bit skeptical and a bit doubtful and I said well And they did think what I said was bollocks. But you were working for Amstrad then, Sir Alan Sugar? Yeah that was about 10 years before... I was only 22 when i worked for Alan Sugar. 22, 23, 24... Right! How old are you now? 61. 61?! That can't be right Thomas because I'm 51 so you've got 10 years on me. So it would have been after your Amstrad days and you'd have been taken on the world. Yes yes we..I mean I was really introduced to the internet by AOL and Compuserve that

05:15 Well, I mean actually at Amstrad in 1987 it was BT Telecom Gold email on the PC 1640s. That was the first time I ever saw what an email was and then 8990 AOL & CompuServe and then really IP numbers a Jazz Armada AKQA introduced me to those 94 then we did The Internet Auction in 95 with Mercedes-Benz, then I met Jerry Kaplan on sale.com and Jerry Yang at Yahoo in 96' and all the guys that Lycos Alta Vista Xsite Dogpile Amazon eBay but i met them all! And then it was 98 when Penny came up with the idea of eCademy good so

06:03 So we'll dig into that, but just for people who are listening. You called yourself in the past so the whole point of The Come Back King stories is this journey through people's stories you just mentioned Penny there you've got three kids as well you've had multiple businesses Known as a bit of a super influencer and in particular around the digital space. And that really is the conversation today, and I hope it inspires people both in business and as a father and husband as well. Were you always interested in tech and digital? Is that how you found yourself in this world? Yeah, I mean, I do like this Come Back King thing that you're working on or Come Back Queen thing because I really believe it's harder to come back than it is to come. Right!

06:50 And I've had to come back many times. Getting into tech really happened back at school in the late 70s, early 80s when Hewlett-Packard came in with this sort of pocket calculator computer machine thing and they said that we're going to run a competition, a business game to see how good you are at business and they did it so the Business Studies A Level group and this little pocket computer thing Typing in numbers and getting results in a little printout at the side completely fascinated me, I reckon. I don't know 79-80? So that's how I got into Spectrum and BBC Micro and BBC Electron so really it's well...it's 45 years! Yeah. Ever since Hewlett Packard walked into school with that computer game board game business game thing I can't even remember

07:48 But I was just transfixed, totally transfixed and have been ever since. There's a whole topic there about how you excite boys at school about their futures that's for sure! I'm like a digital fossil they'll be making oil out of me next! You know i've been online a long time...I've been online for 35 years Yeah we actually know that question, it got pointed out to me once and I remember the first time it got asked Asking someone, asking a younger person do you remember what life was like before the internet and them going no? What are you talking about. Like there's that line between people who knew life before the internet and people who have no idea what there was a life before the internet. Yeah I think i'm very intrigued by all of your questions because I've got three children who are now in it and as you said earlier smashing it yeah

08:45 You know, they've either had it indoctrinated into them by their parents for the last 30 years or they've learnt the skill of doing it from their natural ability. Because if you look at Teigen... So just give us a heads up, you're married to Penny. How long have you been together? Since 1988. Okay so Penny Power Thomas and Penny Power. Penny Ross she was apparently. Penny Ross right but literally the best internet names around and then you've got three kids Yeah, we've got Hannah who was born in 92. So what does that make her? She's 33. Ross born in 94 so he's 31 and TJ born in 97 so he's 28. Okay awesome! And they're all internet

09:35 They're all internet powerhouses, all three of them. Yeah they're blowing up on LinkedIn and getting married to kids... Let's mind me about it over and over again because I don't have this knowledge that they have is that they've all been on YouTube for 20 years but i didn't get hooked on YouTube in 2005 like they did when it came out. I didn't get hooked on YouTube until last 10 years But they've all been on YouTube for 20 years and they consider that they've been to the University of YouTube or YouTube university because all of their knowledge is from YouTube. Whereas I only treat YouTube as my football, my Formula One, my sports, rugby...I just see it's a subscription I pay like I pay for BBC

10:27 I don't see it as a learning platform or electric bikes, things I'm interested in. Or finding out about a car I want to acquire. I don't see it as a learning platform whereas the three of them say YouTube as their university and they've been on it since 2005 so they feel like they've been to university for 20 years and obviously Because of mentoring Jay Shetty since 2013, and now Jay mentors the three of them. Me mentoring him for 12 years and then him blowing up you know he went for six years 2019 then just blew up into superstar now he helps them they've had all the YouTube coaching we've had to J coaching they've had mum and dad and have their own ability plus all their peers and friends so

11:15 They've had a lot of support outside of whatever we brainwashed them with NLP since they were born. Yeah, that's what I tell my kids! You can watch the Minecraft video or that random bloke from India that does the FIFA things and has got millions of subscribers but could you please also just watch a couple of these other things? Dan Martell, Matt Gray... Daniel Priestley has exploded across the internet recently. Daniel's really blown up. But you know, if you think about Daniel... Daniel must be what? 46 I met him off the plane in 2006 so he'd have been 20... He must be 47 Met him off the plane in 2006 when Roger Hamilton introduced me to him and said can you take care of this young man who is coming into help build our business in London and I said of course! He has exploded this year

12:09 But he's, I would say it's only this year that he's got his... what is it? He's at peace with his brand. He's a piece with his identity. One of the things I love about what Daniel's doing is I did Key Person of Influence. Penny was part of his expert roster as well there and did her sessions there and here he is so that would have been, I was still married then, KPI 10 sort of thing. So that had been like 2000 12, something like that. Here he is now 13 years later saying the same stuff with even more conviction and power and it's more relevant than ever. It's testimony to sticking with something and honing your message basically. Oh it is but you know Jonnie I've been saying community first comma second

12:58 It's only now I had a call last week from somebody I said it to, David Johnson who is the CEO of CIO of big tech company in America Scripps. Big publishing company and he saw my post on LinkedIn last week about community building with Bit100 And he said, oh you mentioned this to me in a meeting in the summer of 99. Looks like it's looks like looks how you turned out to be right and he sent me a WhatsApp I said David I haven't spoken to you about this for 26 years He said yeah but I think you are right. I love being right! And then I thought... The disappointing thing for me is all these systems built by Silicon Valley LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Twitter

13:53 They're not communities, they're just systems. And I think what people want... People wanna be part of a community, a club, a gang, a place where they belong and can say whatever they want and not be judged And I'm kind of disappointed with the products we've been left with from Silicon Valley. I know they've made billions for people and they're great for shareholders and great for advertising, but for me, I'm disappointed by them because I know they're not what people really want or need. People want to belong to something where they can be themselves. You can't do that with a billion people on a platform – you just can't!

14:32 Well, that's a good question. That's a big topic. Let's get round to that nearer the end going back to the top of the story you mentioned briefly a moment ago eCademy was Penny's idea. As the husband and lover, how did you and Penny meet? Where did that all happen? That happened at BiTech Peripherals. That was on Western Road opposite where Dell started when Michael started the Dell office first just around the corner from Taxan monitors used to get a Taxan monitor with a Dell computer but that was September 1st 1998 I just fell in love with her at the meeting

15:16 She just caught my eye and it's like, whoa! This girl is hot. And I came out of that meeting with Kevin Roberts who was working at the... we had a telemarketing agency, call center and I said gonna marry that girl Kevin? And he went what are you talking about?! What are you talking about!? 18 months later I did. Awesome. And it took me nine months from that meeting to get a date So I'm used to no's. I like people to say no to me. This is actually like Grant Cardone, Grant Cardone stole your story Thomas! That's his kind of... I like nos. No is very when people say no they really are interested so you asked her out and she said no

16:06 I asked her out loads of times and she said no. That sounds like my story! Dating was not a strong suit of mine back in the day. And eventually, I went up to...I knew there was a conference in Scotland that she was going to. I knew that hotel was in Hilton in Edinburgh and I knew at some point she had to check into that hotel so I got to that hotel at 10am and I waited all day I even had to ask people to sit and watch the reception if i needed to run, run for the loop. And she checked in at 4pm and that was when I moved...I was right behind her. I sat there for six hours and said ah Penny Ross! And she went Thomas Power you don't give up do you?

16:54 From that lovely movie, Mad Max. You know you can run but you can't hide. I love that scene. The conversation begun and it's been going for what is that 37 years? Oh brilliant! Yeah i love Penny she's She has as much impact as you do and obviously, you make such a powerful force in that respect. And we'll come on to how my paths cross with her more in a moment. So you said earlier eCademy was Penny's idea? Yeah! I was part of eCademy and all the connections and events that went on there for people who don't know about eCademy tell us about it because it was such a path what they call it like ahead of its time at community before any other real communities existed

17:42 Yeah, I mean it was a social business network. It was really the first social network for small businesses in the world and we really pushed it hard since 98. Lots of events, lots of chardonnay, lots of parties, lots of networking and Reid Hoffman from LinkedIn was on it for two years before he launched LinkedIn. A lot of people who launched social networks were members of Academy And how did you put it together? Did you have to find some geeks to help you or, you know... We worked with a guy called Glenn Watkins initially and then he found another guy called Julian Bond. And Julian Bond said, You could turn all these events into an online community using something like Drupal. And we said what's Drupal? He said well it is piece of software that allows

18:39 Build a community and you can have blogs and groups, meetups and invites. I didn't understand a word he was saying! We asked him how much is it for you to do it all? He gave us the price and we said let's do it. And he was with us from 2001-2012. We built up to 650 thousand members. Members paid £2 per month, £10 per month or £100 per month like bronze silver gold It was in 60 countries. There are 100 events a week, I've been to more than 2000 events in 60 countries. I remember going to Mumbai and saying...I'm in Mumbai if anybody wants to come by the hotel, I'm in the Hilton if anybody wants to come by for selfie and handshake cup of tea 800 people waiting outside the door in line!

19:37 Oh, Mr. Power there's all these people waiting to see you! What do you mean all these people are waiting to see me? Well there is about 700 or 800 people waiting to see you, Mr. Power. What are you talking about?! I did the same thing in Singapore another 800 people and realized that there was... There was a real need to belong to something and Academy was there before LinkedIn or Facebook, so there was nothing to belong to and therefore it became Hobson's Choice. So clearly a lot of deals were made by people, a lot of introductions are made, a lot of successes... Sorry that was my phone ringing! That is fine but what was the story? I know there is a story here but you know what was your endgame and how did you get there how close were you two getting in there well I think we got

20:31 Those are really good questions. Our end game was to build a community, a subscription-based paid for community... Which you did that was there! ...which we achieved and we thought that would be a sustainable model forever But when Facebook was free and LinkedIn was free and Twitter was free, Instagram was free. Everything was free that's what killed us because we didn't have an audience who were going to consume ads and click on ads SMEs are not consumers they don't click on ads. It wasn't that vibe though it wasn't that kind of environment

21:09 We, yeah we tried to be sort of no sponsors, no speakers, no pitchers. We always wanted it to be a business community, a support group for SMEs so they could feel safe and talk through all the issues about being an SME. It's hard to be an SME and have a safe place to talk but we couldn't withstand the free attack from Silicon Valley and by 2012 we were beaten into the ground so we had Did anyone try and buy you? Was that an option at any point? Yeah, we had lots of people who tried to buy us on the way. We foolishly turned down various different offers we thought we knew best but eventually... Eventually we found a buyer, an insurance company but they didn't want us to stick around they just wanted to farm the 650 thousand names for some other products

22:02 And they killed off 14 years work in a couple of years. I was totally devastated, lost my identity, lost my cause, lost my drive, lost my energy... How old were you at the time? Totally depressed but really bad depression for quite a long time. What was it 2012? I would have been 40 what would have been 48 when I've been It's 15 2014. Yeah, I'd have been 48! So perfect time for a midlife kick in the bollocks yeah? Totally broken had bad depression for quite a long time How did that depression manifest what how did you show up what was it do to you? Depression is... you know depression is a darkness is a dark cloud it gets inside your head and its hard too beat

23:02 I think because i put my whole life into Academy, my whole identity into Academy. I felt like a nobody. I'd been as somebody and I go from somebody to nobody and so it really was helped by the fact that Bob Barker found this contract at Accenture and then I met Jay Shetty and then I got invited on to join these boards as a non-exec So I had the Accenture thing, the Jay Shetty thing, the board seats thing and all of these things started to... And then Microsoft said oh could you teach all the board members how to look good on Twitter? And I thought is that real work? Do we actually do that. And so I had these boards seats

23:58 I had Accenture, I had Jay, I had Microsoft. This job in New Zealand and Australia... Various different gigs came in sort of non-exec, mentoring coaching training a mixture of different things yeah and those things helped me recover my confidence but I would say I was pretty low until And then I got the... and then 2016 was Hannah's rape. So that took us all down again, and then 2018 was bowel cancer and that took me down again, and then the chemo, that took me even further down so really from 2012 to 2020 I was not in a good way.

24:50 Ups and downs, depending on what was going on. I fought it hard but i would say that the turning point was the bowel cancer because then you're presented with oh and you might die from this! And then you have to remove, then you have the chemo... Chemo is brutal! There's nothing that sharpens your saw like chemo. Chemotherapy is brutal Brutal, brutal, brutal. Very hard to communicate what it's like to poison your body for six months I mean poison it yeah but the upside of it is when you are given the all-clear and you don't have it anymore You think right time to go again fresh start because

25:37 But I've been in a bad way really from, really from 48 to about 56. So it's not in good... A good way. And looking at that retrospectively does that and across your whole life? In any way does that feel like well yeah you're supposed to have a bad 10 years somewhere along the ride? You know in the moment it can feel intense and how the hell am I going to get through this but over 60 years is there any part of well Well yeah, 10 bad years out of 60 that's okay. You're able to be reflective like that? Is it part of the process? The thing is I think you can always have bad years and bad times. I don't think it's a specific block of ten bad years

26:14 Because there's plenty of good times during those periods as well. And when I look back and see the images, and the photos, and the holidays, and various different things that we did it wasn't 10 years of bad times It was...it was a battle of coming back from a failed company That was what was doing my head in Would would i ever get Was that my time? Am I done is that me done am I finished Will I ever get a chance to do this And then non-executing on all these boards gave me a lot of confidence back. Getting another book out on tokenomics, more confidence coming back. Speaking at conferences, more confidence coming back and so it's not like 10 years of dark

27:01 Because I think you have bad times in your teenagers, your twenties, your thirties. You always have bad years or bad times but whoever designs the game of life whether it's God or some universe or some energy force that we all feel but can't describe... ...you're sort of presented with pain to see how much you can handle I think we're all given pain in various forms. It could be in your love life, it could be marriage, it could be with children, it could be with health, it could be with business, it could be with money... ...it could be accidents or tragedies but we're all given our share and so there you go! There's your pack of cards and see if you can handle it And I think we are all give different...and we have to get through it

27:52 I think, I've had to work very very hard to get through it but i'm very pleased that I got through and I would say ironically as this sounds ridiculous but losing the business and then having bowel cancer and chemo was probably the best thing that ever happened to me. Shaped you! Because... And I'll say again is still harder to come back than it is to come But I think now life is about comebacks in many different ways It can be It can be with your health, you've experienced that yourself. It can be with your love life, with your marriage. It can be with your children. It can be with your business. It can be with your friends but when I kind of listen and think about what are the most important things in life that really create you? it's the shared experiences you have with other people like we're having now

28:55 A shared experience through a conversation. It'd be hard to do this alone, the holidays, the trips, the conferences, the events all the different things you go through with another person or group of humans it's the meaningful conversations and it's the deep relationships these are things you remember on your deathbed and so I think that's why using your word that you said earlier more conviction In the case of Daniel Priestley and KPI, I've got more conviction now about community first comma second than I had in 1998 because of the pain. It's like the pain of the journey has made me believe more strongly in the power of community and support groups that at any time back then 27 years ago where I thought then it was just a model for a business

29:51 Yeah, as opposed to a model for life. And now I see a disconnected world an isolated world, a lonely world, a loss of leadership in pretty much everything in politics and institutions, in business there's a real loss of leadership, a lot of isolation All the influencers and the influencing, and all this social media world making people feel more lonely. More isolated, more disconnected paradoxically from what it was supposed to achieve which was connecting people supporting people

30:35 Being a place of comfort and support. For whatever reason, the capitalist model finds it hard to deliver on its goals. It delivers for shareholders, it delivers for advertisers but it doesn't seem to deliver for the actual consumer of the service and I'd like to get to the root of why you can't do that as well Yeah, it's got to be a deeply sociological society... you know psychological society issue. But I think for me in the part of my work there are two coaching frameworks the second one is the Fire Code and these are the habits and routines of our day-to-day life that help us thrive they help us be the man and dad we want to be One of those is relationships It's the R of the fire code maintaining those connections being present for our friends family mentors and network

31:25 Creating quality time, having someone popping into your head and giving them a call or consciously ringing a member of your family or friends each week so you're actually fueling that. Let's say some of the key relationships in your life just in terms of some of the stories you've shared those dark times you and Penny came out on the other side which a lot of couples don't how did you support each other during that time? How did you stay as tight as what you appear to be from from from the outside Oh, I think Penny was incredible the whole time. Penny has tremendous power energy, I was going to say. Penny Power Energy but she has tremendous energy and tremendous empathy and she knows how to dig in and make something work and we all know relationships are complex

32:18 Between siblings, between adults, between loved ones and she was always there rock solid. Never a doubt always you know I've never ever had to doubt her ever in my whole life all 37 years she's just She's just rock solid. Yeah, and do you have a structure for supporting that? Like is open communication like you're there... You make sure you clear the decks, you have chats, you've got plans for what your headed towards. A lot of couples don't really communicate and then they wonder why they got trouble. Is there a secret there for you guys? I don't know whether it's a secret but- Personal play like little power plan let's call it!

33:06 I think it is hard for humans to get everything out on the table, all their thoughts. You can never really know what people are thinking not your partner not your children you never really know what's in people's heads so you really have to dig into what is there and I think...I think you've got to find times when you can do that either walking together going to church together singing singing together having car journeys together Places where there are no screens, no computers. No distractions and actually talk things through that are worrying you whether it's... You know we've both had health issues We've had financial issues. We've had challenges particularly with our daughter with what happened to her complex issues with businesses a lot of time I spent overseas in Australia and New Zealand on different projects And the United States so separation time

34:05 A lot of things to work through, but I think you just have to keep on talking until you get it all out. And it doesn't necessarily happen quickly or fast... It takes time and she's very good at going away and thinking things through and then coming back with a with an approach or solution of how we can work through an issue, work through a problem. She always amazes me even now How she can come up with yet another solution to get through an issue or a crisis or challenge, or ding dong. And you know like all couples we have our ding dongs and you have to work through those. I would say she's better at that than i am but um...I'm good at making the first move to bring things back too

34:59 I tell you what also really does help is we bought a motorhome in Covid, you know campervan. Yes i saw you do it when you bought it and yeah go on i'm keen to hear about this. Thinking like all this uh you know campervan and electric bikes we were the stereotype Covid, this is the two things people buy. Electric bikes and campervans. Fortunately I'm addicted now to electric bikes so that's been successful and whilst we only get to use a campervan for one month year in August, we do get to use it for a month and we do put our screens down for a month and have that month in the van touring around Europe various different countries you know we've been all over That is the reset month for us

35:47 That really does make a difference to have that away from work, away from the computers. Away from everything and just living a very simple life in a van I mean you still have the luxury of being in a van not in a tent but it's protein and salad It's not the Bellagio is it? It's not the blight, it still you're in a tin box in a field on the grass. You know? You've got your feet on the grass, you get the earthing, you get the reset, you get the views, you get the experience, you get all the villagers, you get the food...you get the reset and

36:30 Personally, I really need that once a year and I would say that's made a big difference the last six years that we've done that in The Fan. So you know over those six years of having it, we probably only used it for six months but those six months have been very powerful for our marriage, for our relationship And also it gives us a big reset for our business in that you get to read books, you get away from the machines. You get away from all the noise and there is a lot of noise in this world. Everyone is overwhelmed with the noise and the messages on this swamping information that we have coming at us so...

37:09 That's been very, very good for us. We like that escape and that has been good for our relationship as well to have that proper time. And on the level of friends and friendships and clearly around each So, I'm going to start with the first one. And that's a really good question because it's something that we've been talking about for quite some time now and it's just so important to have people around you who are willing to listen and be there for you when things get tough or difficult in life. And I think this is what we're all looking forward to as well.

37:50 And then you want your people that inspire you and need you. Then of course, you want your quality time with your kids and for me as well staying connected to your extended family really important a guy that has those in place will be able to weather tough times better than someone else. And he'll also enjoy good times probably to a higher level one degree as well. So here we are talking and I'm acknowledging you as someone who's influenced and been able to have the pleasure of staying connected to this amount of time. Then there is friendships as well What part of friendships and your social circle played in your journey, in both your successes and struggles? And this period now where things seem to be looking pretty rosy. Yeah well I would say... put a lot of effort into Penny & the Kids so definitely agree with you on those first two. The family and friends it is hard to see all the family members

38:47 And all the friends with the schedule that we run at because We have a very busy schedule with 100 members in this group so that takes a lot of time to look after that hundred. But, we do allocate dedicated time to our friends both individually and together And I do think you're right if you have all these things in place. It's hard to see all the family members because there are so many of them. Yeah, well especially now your guys are three additional families almost. Plus you've got all of the events and Easter and Christmas and barbecues...

39:27 You have to see family members in big groups to catch up and get an update. In terms of mentors, I'm a mentor myself through a lot of young entrepreneurs and I like supporting them and I like being there for them because I always said when I hit 50, I would be there for the next generation. Jay Shetty was probably the first example of that for me. How did... not like you want to sort I was 49, I think. Jay's well known for his podcasts and his books and all that... You said earlier on you've helped him along that journey or been part of his journey there How did how did that introduction get made? He was very bold he walked up to me with this handout in 2013 at an Accenture conference Bob and I had been hired to do some talks and some training there

40:23 And he just walked up to me and shook my hand, and asked me if I could help him and support him. It was like myself in 1983 40 years earlier walking out to Rodney Cox at Croydon College holding out my hand saying, Rodney can I come work for you and build hard disks in your factory? I felt myself shaking hands with myself 40 years earlier when he did this. And, I could feel his energy and drive and hunger and thought well if he wants some help you know i can have a few chats with him we've been hired by Accenture they want us to teach everybody everything we know We were there three years and I was able see him every week

41:18 I just guided him and taught him some very simple things like income follows audience. You know, I say these three words to people but they don't hear them! I say them over and over again...I said you know if you follow this process then you'll discover that every follower that you have is worth a dollar a year to you and... Is that really true? Yeah it's true but you'll discover it you know and if you really want Put all this content out there and make wisdom go viral, as he said back then. You're gonna have to make a thousand videos and put them on all the social networks until you get some traction somewhere and it takes off." And he says, alright then I will! And he did now. Now I've said that to a thousand young entrepreneurs. He's the only one who took action. Wow powerful. And he took action and he was hammering away at it for years and years and years and in 2019 It just went hockey stick like that

42:16 It just took off. That's what they say, don't they? The classic overnight success. Yeah, overnight success but I played in a thousand pubs and bars before that! Yes, he really did work hard and he just sent me a message on WhatsApp saying can we have Christmas lunch when he flies in from Los Angeles. Twelve years later he is still right there in the game And now he's had the huge success, you know it has 100 million followers or whatever it is listening to his podcast. He's up there in the top 10 in the world on podcasts. You know, he's very unusual but I could see that hunger back in 2013 and I just gave that hunger the path, the map, the guide. People don't really want any advice they just wanna be shown the path

43:10 And I've walked the path, and know the path. And I've seen the...I've walked into the hazards on the path and have fallen into the hazards down the holes. So I've worked my way along through a path so I think it's helpful for kids and any young entrepreneurs that I mentor to say well look These are the choices that you have. You have to find the path that most suits you and then walk that path and refine as you go, And I'm very intrigued by the whole concept of mentoring and advice and counseling and coaching and supporting people because it's not advice that people want It's not even information or knowledge that they want it's a map They want a map

44:03 I've got a lot of maps because I've walked a lot of paths and I know where a lot of dead ends are. And so, I hand young people maps once they get to know them, I can hang young people maps and also in our group of 100 when we see them every week for lunch in London, I can say, You really want to talk to Jonnie about this or you really want to talk to Penny about that? Because I've seen it before, heard the words and sentences. The phrases they're repeats! And very fortunately you know Bit 100 is like Academy 2.0. The joy of getting to do it again is so special. Yeah well tell us about that because that's part of the whole Come Back story. Oh bloody Penny always coming up with good ideas there we go. You know she wrote Business Is Personal

44:59 So just one sec, let's just circle back a tiny bit on Penny there. It's not just Penny is it? It's Penny Power OBE. Yes she got her OBE for Academy in 2014 March the 7th from The Queen that was a very special day that was and our paths really crossed back around the digital coach and the social media entrepreneur time yeah that was 2009 right yeah So getting on board with that I end up spending a fair bit of time with Penny over 18 months there. Every 6-8 weeks usually, there was something that happened there and then she wrote the book as well... what's the book called? A Know Me Like Me Follow Me. Yeah great book! 2001, that was a great book. That still is a great book

45:49 Well, you hear everybody's talking about Know Me Like Me Trust me. Daniel Priestley says it all the time. Dan Martell says it all the time and I'm like yeah well... Not saying Penny came up with that maybe she did come out with that but she was saying before these guys were flipping out of school or something! Well I think when she wrote Business as a Person in 2018, I obviously have my cancer and my chemo, she wrote that book And that was really her explaining the journey, the pain of Academy. It was very tough and she went for the full reveal and the big thing we discovered from Academy is vulnerability attracts and strength repels. People are obsessed with strength and brands and power and muscle and it repels people. It doesn't work

46:42 It has a very short-term life strength. What attracts people is vulnerability, and so she wrote a book about vulnerability. A lot of people read it and said you know you're gonna have a mastermind group for this like a BIP Masterminds and so she set those up and then COVID came along and COVID killed the masterminds and then people said could you could have a group on Zoom? And it started on zoom and then it spread When COVID was unlocked, she said why don't we put some advertising on LinkedIn and invite people for lunch? Eight and a half thousand people registered for lunch. I was like what?! You're like WE'RE BACK! All these people want to come for lunch babe so... We've had two-and-a-half thousand people for lunch and we picked 100 of those two-and-a-half thousand who came for lunch And so we managed to get to do Academy again but not 650,000 people but 100 people

47:42 But the need is the same. People want a place of psychological safety, they want to get support, they want have conversation, they wanna not be judged because business is hard and all these bullshit books about businesses you know nine ways to become a billionaire and ten ways to scratch your balls this...this is not real life these businesses, these business books Business is really hard and challenging and difficult, it's hard to make money. And we wanted to have a place where you could talk that through. We have people who are financially independent and totally depressed, miserably successful... ...and we have people who are happy with nothing! So money is not a fix but people like to measure their performance by money. But performance shouldn't really be measured by money, performance should really be measured

48:38 The quality of relationships in your life, I think. Absolutely! The idea that you get to the finish line loaded with money and trappings and you turn around to go, shit i'm on my own... That isn't the win. We know lots of people Jonnie who are miserably successful with endless amounts of capital and suffering depression Miserably successful is a real concept. You can Google that, success depression you can google it It's the quality of the relationships in your life that matter

49:16 And you've got to have a place to be able to talk things through where you're not judged. Sometimes, you can do that with your friends and family but often you can't and you need independent minds so we really wanted it to be that place and we built that place And it's taken us since 2018 to do it. It was just as hard to build 100,000 as it was to build half a million with the Academy over the same period! So there you go... What a crazy world that 100,000 was as hard as half a million 20 years ago. And that's where you're up to now? I mean your kids one of them is about to have a baby or perhaps you are about to be a grandparent, is that correct? Yep TJ Georgia is due January 5th

50:03 TJ's the youngest, so he's very excited about that. She's very excited about that. We're very excited by this! Every grandparent... it is very rare to see a grandparent without a smile on their face He sold 100 000 books this year, The Dose Effect So his career is taking off, doing lots of speeches, lots of training. All the things that go with on the back of book sales. Ross is building his AI business in Bali and Hannah's building her personal branding business got a fantastic gig in New York at the moment so she's back and forth to New York. They've sort of got a mental health and well-being son, an AI technical

50:48 Product son and a personal branding, marketing daughter. Yeah rockstar! They've all got their bits yeah And to me it's not like you can't be a successful happy adult if you haven't had you know a good upbringing right? There are thousands of people who would disprove that statement but I do feel and what part of my mission is Give men the strength and charisma and the internal confidence to be able to lead their families from a place of happiness, and success. That expression on the shoulders of giants is something that I say a lot, it's not like a pressure on man to be that giant but to have that inner peace so they are the foundation upon which their family are able to thrive is something that I feel is really important

51:39 I think you're right, but it's still really hard to do and there is a lot of shit that men have to talk through. And I mean a lot...I know you do a lot in your coaching. But I talk too…I do 1000 calls every year on Zoom like these video systems and I listen to more men than women although some women. The challenges men are facing leading their families are huge The responsibility is huge. The financial responsibility is getting more expensive all the time, and keeping up with technology and where the next thing is that makes money is incredibly difficult now. Incredibly, incredibly difficult! So I've having had many dark times myself...I like to be there for them to express themselves and share their story and you just for a lot of people just talking it out

52:35 I don't think it's helpful to say, oh Jonnie what you need to do is... and put out the, ahh I think I know what YOU need to do. Because at Academy I thought that I was chairman of the What You Need To Do Is Club because they used to get so much advice. TP? What YOU Need To Do Is? And I don't think people want advice they want the ability to tell the story and if you've got a map They'd like a map and to find that path. I think a lot of men are very much challenged by this, and i think if i go back to my father who was born in 1912 he just stayed silent and obviously was processing it in his head and known as the silent generation you weren't allowed to moan about anything you weren't about to complain about anything life was life deal with it stiff up a little tough it out

53:34 But I think now, I get a chance to look back on him and observe him in my life in the past. You know he was obviously dealing with a lot as well and obviously my kids see me dealing with the stuff that I've dealt with. I think it's important to be part of groups where you can talk stuff through dinner groups lunch group sports groups. I'm in a cycling group, a sports group, a paddle group, church group, dinner group, lunch group... So you can just talk stuff through Because I think just the talking is the healing. Getting the chance to be real, actually all of you here's all of me good stuff bad stuff things I'm excited about and things I'm struggling with now you've got all of me I can really feel connected

54:20 Exactly right. Beautiful, beautiful. Thomas it's been an absolute glorious session together It's called BIP100 your thing isn't it? It is BusinessesPersonal100.club and people are very welcome to come for lunch and come and meet the gang Good, I'll put that in the show notes. And of course you're on LinkedIn people can search up and follow you on LinkedIn? Yeah people can WhatsApp me...I publish my WhatsApp, I advertise my calendar, my diary is public anybody can book into the calendar! And The Hilton Deli is desperate for you to come back because they want 800 people for tea! Good stuff Thomas! Oh I remember that! I was there for four days until I'd seen everyone

55:06 There's a cultural side to that as well, isn't it? They've stood outside for that long. You can stand inside and greet them all for that long as well. Brilliant! At least it didn't rain. Yeah exactly I'm gonna hit the outro and ask you to hold tight we'll make sure this show wraps up neatly but Thomas thank you so much been absolute pleasures for you to share the story with The High Value Man Project and everyone listening to The Jonnie Jensen Show Thank-you Jonny thanks for inviting me on Thanks for tuning in to The Jonnie Jensen Show. Be sure to subscribe, leave a review and share it with fellow dads! Creating the life you deserve starts with YOU. Get your High Value Man blueprint and join our community of motivated modern dads at highvaluemanproject.com Let's go