It starts with Action

Zulum is the former General Secretary (President) and Chairman of the London School of Economics Students’ Union (2018-2020), making him the first black man to hold the position in the LSE’s 125-year history. He is currently a board member of the Fair Education Alliance, a coalition of educators, business and social enterprises working towards a country where no child’s success in education is limited by their socio-economic background. He is also a board member of the Barbican Centre, Europe’s largest multi-arts venue, becoming their youngest-ever trustee at 24 years old.  In this podcast we talk about his time at LSE, getting the most out of university (and life), approaching leadership in a creative and artistic way, his passion for dance and choreography and more.

Feel free to connect with Zulum and Presence 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/zulum-elumogo

https://www.instagram.com/zulum_elumogo/

https://www.instagram.com/presence_itstartswithaction/

A conversation between  a year 12 and year 13 ~~ Time for a new chapter ! 

Have you ever wondered what it feels like to be someone who stutters? 

Everyone goes through different challenges and I'm always inspired after listening to someone's story about the challenge they faced or are facing yet choose to use it to empower them to move forwards. 

So when people choose to make fun of those who are going through something they perhaps have no control over which both James and I understand deeply, it hurts. But ... it lets us be ahead of others because we learned how to be resilient and just be ourselves without letting others affect how we see ourselves ( it's an up and down journey ) 

A more chilled and educational episode with James who has an amazing blog and his ' what is success' series is an interesting one that everyone should check out and support, we talked about his experience of stuttering, how it affected his confidence and how he plans to take action to gain it back. 

link to his blog : https://sweeneysblog.com/2020/08/31/what-do-we-mean-by-success-blog-18-your-personal-growth/

You need to find a why that's big enough so the how becomes small - Jordan Harry

Another great episode on the It Starts with Action podcast. Very insightful and we talked about many topics from starting a business to seeking support and money mindset.

When you start a business you may often call yourself a ' start-up' ... what does that make you think of? New, less experience, small team, etc... why not just call yourself a business off the bat instead? How we talk about ourselves is really important and something I try to work on every day. How's your self talk doing recently?

Money is also not talked about in schools, especially the mindset about money. There's nothing wrong with wanting money and this episode was a great lesson on how we should think and talk about it.

Students may want to check out Jordan's online platform which helps students learn and read faster. The weekly calls have been very insightful so recommend students to get in touch!

You fear heights but want to travel. It's likely you'll still get on that plane and get through the journey because you know the destination and travel experience would be worth it.  

Grateful to have met Imisi who was my buddy on the Aleto Foundation leadership program, his entrepreneurship journey started when he was in year 3 - charging kids to play basketball with him ( interesting one ) to now growing his baby IAMEDIA. 

His journey was insightful, it's not easy to have your work torn and be told that it sucks - he could have decided to give up but instead cherished the feedback and worked hard to improve.  His view of appreciating the fact that people use their energy to criticize you as a sign that they care is a great mindset to have and what really inspires me. 

Listen to his story and valuable advice - link in comments 

Suck it up buttercup - a phrase Lindsay Lapaquette would hear regularly and is what I'm guilty of doing most times.

It was great to talk to Lindsay about this topic. We bottle things up and we try to keep ourselves busy 24/7. Is it just me or wouldn't you agree this is a recipe for disaster?

Sometimes we need to learn to be still with yourself and just let yourself feel all the emotions within. Often times it takes us to the breaking point or an accident before we slow down. It was inspiring to hear Lindsay's story of opening a business and deciding to shut it down and start over.

We also talked about many other topics, one including taking on more opportunities when you have more responsibility such as family. I found it insightful because I always hear Gary Vee preach the idea of taking more risks during your 20s when you don't have responsibilities.

Connect with Lindsay :

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindsaylapaquette

[email protected]

How do you shift from saying you believe in yourself to actually believing in yourself?

Have you ever felt like you say you believe in something and you really wish you did believe it but at the same time in your heart you don't 100% believe in it? And other times when you 100% believe in something you just know and you feel a burning desire to take action to achieve what you believe in?

It was a really interesting topic Tesse Akpeki and I discussed on the most recent episode.

Another topic I loved was the power of being comfortable alone. It was during the conversation I remembered that I spent 6 months off school and I spent 99% of my time alone  ( had no friends so I didn't even text anyone other than family ) ... the experience made me learn how to enjoy my own company and develop more self-love as well as become my own best friend.  

Another question Tesse asked which I'd love to know your answer - How is your weakness/challenge that you went through a gift? Comment your answer would love to know it :) I believe every struggle is a gift and a blessing because without it you wouldn't be who you are today.

I'm also open to doing calls with anyone who have goals but are struggling to take action on them. If that's you send me a dm would love to chat :) 

Contact : 

Presence's Instagram

Presence's LinkedIn

It starts with action website 

Fear drives action and action leads to direction and focus so fear can actually help us focus.

It was great to hear Sam's story of how he started his entrepreneurship journey, from cutting grass when he was 14 to now having a thriving business at 20. We also talked about how entrepreneurship is a great personal development journey. His story showed to me that when you let yourself have no other option and never stop learning. You will find something that works. 

I've always heard the phrase ' not going to uni will be a risk ' so when I hear Sam flip that and say ' going to university was a risk' it really got me thinking.

It was a great episode, we also talked about how success in life has a lot to do with how many people do you know and how many people know you. Networking really is important :)

www.blnkslatemedia.com 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samxlister 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/samlister414/ 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/samxlister 

TikTok: @samxlister

This podcast episode is one I believe all year 12s should check out ( and year 13s and university students and everyone XD because why not )

I met Kam Taj last year where he shared his story and tips when applying to Oxbridge. I really admired his genuine passion for helping students succeed and were also interested in the concept of coaching so we connected and this year I'm grateful to have him as my mentor as I navigate the coaching field.

In the episode, Kam went really deep and shared how he went from struggling with academia to studying at Cambridge and feeling like he didn't belong. We talked about so many topics from studying to meditation, walks in nature, sleep, hustle culture, and happiness.

One exercise Kam suggested that helped him make the decision to transfer from consulting to coaching was  looking himself in the mirror and asking the question :

Is my younger self proud of who I am becoming?

My answer is a HELL YES. And I'll be keeping this question in mind for the future always. Comment your answer and be honest :)

Really is a great one for year 12s and 13s worried about applying to Uni/results day

Make friends with the imposter.

Imposter syndrome. It's real and many highly established entrepreneurs still deal with it. It was great to talk to Caleb Dykema about this topic, we both have the same goal of helping people turn ideas into reality through taking action and we are both experiencing Imposter syndrome at this current moment.

Is the imposter going to stop us? No.

Is it going to stop you?

No? Great ~~ Join the SWAG community, would love you to share your wisdom on how you deal with it.

Yes? Great ~~ you aren't alone, check out the episode and turn the Yes to a No. And join SWAG.

We also talked about other topics such as whether you need to have money to start a business :) nice one for entreprenuers~~