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199: How Setting CRAZY goals can be a GAME CHANGER, w/ John Richardson
As solopreneurs we’re accustomed to setting ourselves apart from the crowd; we dream, do and create things with our lives others only contemplate doing. But have you ever set such a lofty goal that nearly everyone – including professionals in the field you’ve set your goal within – have told you you’re crazy?
Our guest for episode 199 did. John Richardson is a serial entrepreneur, business coach and author who decided he would golf below par in one year. Professional golfers told him he was mad, but he did it anyway. Join us as we talk about that experience, as well as his early failures and subsequent successes and more on this edition of The Solopreneur Hour.
More About This Show
John hails from Northern Ireland and today splits his time between London and there. Growing up in Northern Ireland he experienced firsthand The Troubles of the 1970s and 80s that region of the world went through. His father was a business man with a company on the eastern side of the city. He moved John and the rest of John’s family out after his lorries (large trucks) were blown up one too many times.
After that John spent most of his days in a nearby seaside town that felt like an entirely different world. He went to school, then on to university in England where he earned a business degree. After university he returned to Belfast and set up a sandwich shoppe.
It was perfect timing: he was providing a great product, Northern Ireland was hungry (pun intended) for new food offerings and so his shoppe took off. It grew from one location to many, employing 60 people in its heyday. John enjoyed the fruits of his labors, he was only in his 20s but business and life were good.
Until the bottom dropped out. John’s business had grown so quickly they brought on a business partner to help them keep up with the demands. The partner turned out to be a shady character who stole from them and racked up debts. John had to sell his shoppes to pay the debts, and avoid bankruptcy (which they did by “the skin of their teeth”, according to John).
More About This Show:
Do we need an ass-kicking to truly be successful?
What is the GOYA principle?
The importance of belief in yourself, and what you’re doing.
The site AskTheBuilder.com and what it has to do with solopreneurship.
Why having your story is the best ammunition you can have.
And SO much more!
By age 29 he was back where he had started: all his shoppes had been sold and it was time to build another business from the ground up. But this time John had his first hard knocks learning lesson to guide him, and he did some things differently. Being a self-proclaimed serial entrepreneur, he and his partners ran a restaurant, a bar, a property management company and even a domain name registration company.
Truly he was and is a hustler, one of the keys to making it as a solopreneur. And the same is true for his daughter, who we discuss in this episode too. His daughter is Aimee Richardson, a young actress who played Princess Marcella on the first three seasons of Game of Thrones. Aimee inherited or simply emulated her dad’s “hustleness” and has taken on acting as her passion.
When she was not recast in her princess role on HBO’s hit, she made a clip for Vine that went viral. She knows the importance of hustle, social media and perseverance already, and is committed to making the most of every opportunity that comes her way.
As does her father. John’s ambitious goal to break par in 12 months or less that when he pulled it off, it made for such an engaging and successful story a movie deal was struck. Just a few weeks into the original filming of it one of the major backers pulled out and they had to stop shooting.
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As solopreneurs we’re accustomed to setting ourselves apart from the crowd; we dream, do and create things with our lives others only contemplate doing. But have you ever set such a lofty goal that nearly everyone – including professionals in the field you’ve set your goal within – have told you you’re crazy?
Our guest for episode 199 did. John Richardson is a serial entrepreneur, business coach and author who decided he would golf below par in one year. Professional golfers told him he was mad, but he did it anyway. Join us as we talk about that experience, as well as his early failures and subsequent successes and more on this edition of The Solopreneur Hour.
More About This Show
John hails from Northern Ireland and today splits his time between London and there. Growing up in Northern Ireland he experienced firsthand The Troubles of the 1970s and 80s that region of the world went through. His father was a business man with a company on the eastern side of the city. He moved John and the rest of John’s family out after his lorries (large trucks) were blown up one too many times.
After that John spent most of his days in a nearby seaside town that felt like an entirely different world. He went to school, then on to university in England where he earned a business degree. After university he returned to Belfast and set up a sandwich shoppe.
It was perfect timing: he was providing a great product, Northern Ireland was hungry (pun intended) for new food offerings and so his shoppe took off. It grew from one location to many, employing 60 people in its heyday. John enjoyed the fruits of his labors, he was only in his 20s but business and life were good.
Until the bottom dropped out. John’s business had grown so quickly they brought on a business partner to help them keep up with the demands. The partner turned out to be a shady character who stole from them and racked up debts. John had to sell his shoppes to pay the debts, and avoid bankruptcy (which they did by “the skin of their teeth”, according to John).
More About This Show:
Do we need an ass-kicking to truly be successful?
What is the GOYA principle?
The importance of belief in yourself, and what you’re doing.
The site AskTheBuilder.com and what it has to do with solopreneurship.
Why having your story is the best ammunition you can have.
And SO much more!
By age 29 he was back where he had started: all his shoppes had been sold and it was time to build another business from the ground up. But this time John had his first hard knocks learning lesson to guide him, and he did some things differently. Being a self-proclaimed serial entrepreneur, he and his partners ran a restaurant, a bar, a property management company and even a domain name registration company.
Truly he was and is a hustler, one of the keys to making it as a solopreneur. And the same is true for his daughter, who we discuss in this episode too. His daughter is Aimee Richardson, a young actress who played Princess Marcella on the first three seasons of Game of Thrones. Aimee inherited or simply emulated her dad’s “hustleness” and has taken on acting as her passion.
When she was not recast in her princess role on HBO’s hit, she made a clip for Vine that went viral. She knows the importance of hustle, social media and perseverance already, and is committed to making the most of every opportunity that comes her way.
As does her father. John’s ambitious goal to break par in 12 months or less that when he pulled it off, it made for such an engaging and successful story a movie deal was struck. Just a few weeks into the original filming of it one of the major backers pulled out and they had to stop shooting.