Life Long Learner

This week Gines is joined by international guest, Erik Allen.

Erik Allen was raised in a broken home, battled addictions, jailed at 18, bankrupt at 21 only to turn everything around.  Erik is 16+ years sober, is a husband and father, podcaster, speaker, & now helping up and coming MMA fighters & entrepreneurs get known and noticed online.

Gines and Erik talk about Erik’s journey growing up, his challenges with drugs and alcohol and how he used them as a coping mechanism.

They explore the notion that the majority of society, when they are down and out, it is hard to ‘see’ opportunity. They are not open to it and often say, “It is different for me…” People get stuck in their cycles. This is strongly determined by who you surround yourself by. They are either going to pull you down and stay comfortable or make you level up.

The level of comfortability is attractive to the majority of people. To break the cycle is to get uncomfortable. Success happens by stretching yourself and getting out of your comfort zone. Today’s society is showing a very entitled comfortable mentality.

Erik talks about the power of consistency and putting in the work, day in and day out. As this consistency is the building blocks that not only builds success, it builds character.

Where to find and connect with Erik

Facebook - 

Instagram

Twitter

LinkedIn

YouTube

Website

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Out of class is a new segment of the Life Long Learner podcast. Out of class is the informal conversation between Gines, Matt, and Ben.

The fellas this week chat about what is going on in their worlds at the moment. Matt chats about making the most of the recent great weather and putting physical activity and freedom as a number one priority.

They explore the notion of systems in business and life to free up the time to give more freedom.

Ben talks about the challenges in ‘getting it right’ and why we make things way more complicated than it needs to be. Especially nutrition, eating has become super complicated. They asked what did, ‘they used to do in the old day…?’ Is there are a part of the ego coming out to solve a complicated problem.

Often the answer is simple. Simplicity can distill many things for us to be able to digest. However, in today’s society simple is not sexy.

Specialists know more and more about less and less until the ultimate specialist everything about nothing.

Currently, Australia is currently getting pulled apart. We are forced to take sides at the moment. Unfortunately, mateship is being tested in the process. Now more than ever human connection is needed in the world.

Mateship needs to be alive. Reach out to someone today and see how they are doing.

Things we mentioned on the show:

Lewis Howes - School of Greatness - Rob Drydek

Book -Exercised: The Science of Physical Activity, Rest and Health

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Gines is joined by John Engelander, the founder and CEO of Planet Earth Cleaning, out of the box thinker, a piano player, a mountain bike rider, and an avid storyteller.

Planet Earth is a cleaning company with a difference. Planet Earth CLeaning is the Australia's first Eco-Friendly commercial cleaning company.

John shares the inception story of Planet Earth, when he stepped in to do some cleaning and realised the toxicity of the chemicals that were used.

An important lesson he learned ‘owning the brand,’ coupled with know where the market is. Passion is one thing, but couple that with where there is a market for it. If there is no market for it, then it may not be sustainable.

Gines and John explore why the sustainability movement is louder than ever, and why some companies are adopting this for multiple reasons.

The current culture of consumerism and ‘keeping up with Jones’

“Swap out,” swap things that don’t make it matter.

“Things that matter most should not be at the mercy of things that matter least.”

This thought-provoking episode will make you think about what matters and maybe swapping behaviours that may better serve you.

You can get contact with John via

Planetearthcleaning.com.au

[email protected]

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https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCz_HJXIvmwW7HfzhaOM0itQ

Gines and Matt chat about being in lockdown 6.0. This year feels slightly different from last year as it has been lockdown on lockdown off. They chat about how they are doing with it individually.

Gines chats about the lockdown building resilience and agility due to the necessity. As a leader, it the constant on and off lockdowns forces you to be quick to be able to take advantage of the market.

Gines mentions that his races have been cancelled due to the lockdowns, and how he is struggling to keep motivated to train even there is no certainty the next race will happen. Also, they chat about being a leader in this time, that they need transparency and unfaltering hope.

It is important to acknowledge where you are at and do it well. But that pity party does not have to last. Like episode 7 - Pandemic Mindset, it is important how you choose to use your time at the moment.

It is like standing in the rain and pretending it is not raining. You have to acknowledge it is raining. The longer you try and change the rain, the heavier the storm gets. You need to find ways to enjoy the glimmers and parts of being in the rain, as the rain is not changing

Currently, there is so much value in finding ‘your thing’ and experimenting what brings you joy. Remember to play, as play brings joy and play for the sake of play. There is so much we can learn from children to purely just enjoy what we currently have.

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Relationships, value-based pricing and the value of flexibility

Joel Cranshaw, lawyer by trade, father, partner, entrepreneur, serial joint venturer, founder of Clearpoint Enterprises - which is made up of, Mode Law, Clearpoint Ventures and Clearpoint Legal.

Joel and Gines and chat about the value of turning the traditional in-house counsel model on its head to make it more accessible to smaller businesses.

They chat about the underfunded startup industry here in Australia and the interesting work they do. How an interview from Startup Smart led Clearpoint to be the leading startup law firm on google.

Joel and Gines dive into the role that relationships play. Joel shares that in England it was easy and when he moved to Australia it was harder at the start. As an in-house lawyer work comes to you, compared to starting a business, you have to put yourself out there and establish multiple relationships.

Joel chats about the culture of his organisation. Culture is a key factor that he looks at when he hires, “are they a fit?”.

Traditionally the lawyers wear a badge of honour that describes working endless hours. This has led to the legal profession having many mental health problems. They go into that when the firm or career may be going well other areas of their lives suffer, health, well being, family.

They ponder, when is enough, enough? They dive into the notion that today’s society classifies ‘busy’ as ‘sexy’. Also the difference between value based pricing and time based pricing for professional services. If the output is the same? What is the difference between how long it took them to get there?

If you are committed to make people lives better, you have to do the hard yards and you may not make a lot of money at the start

At times too much support, is too much and does not let people learn for themselves. Which is a balance that you play as you develop people.

To get in touch with Joel Cranshaw head to...

Joel's LinkedIn

Clearpoint Enterprises

Clearpoint Legal

Clearpoint Ventures

Mode Law

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This is part 2 of the 6 Human Needs Episode. If you missed part 1, check out episode 43. 

Matt and Gines recapped how they filled their needs over the last week, Certainty, Uncertainty, Love/Connection, and Significance.

Growth is the need for learning, growing, and evolving. The need to know more, to be humble. The growth need at times goes hand in hand with taking ego out of it. Matt chat about the beginner mindset that he holds with surfing, and that even with a depth of experience, he sees that he is still learning every time he gets in the water.

Growth goes hand in hand with curiosity, curious to know more, to stretch, to challenge the status quo.

They explore that there is a mystical dance associated with both of these needs. That when they are both fulfilled truly, they give back 10 fold.

“How do I want to contribute to the world? What do you have to offer?”

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In this episode we catch up with Chris Christofi from Reventon. Chris is a father of 4, founder and CEO of Reventon - full-service financial services firm, Vinnie's CEO sleepout Ambassador - face of the campaign this year,  author, speaker, found of Reventon Snooker academy and a whole lot more. 

He raised $112,000 for Vinnie's CEO sleepout this year. 

Chris and Gines dive into a range of topics from when Chris faced struggle early in his career and having to shift his mindset and build the foundation back again brick by brick. 

They talked about society's relationship to money and different risk appetites with partners and business partners. They explore the choice and the cost of not doing something. This is stemmed from fear and they do not want to be uncomfortable. 

They also talked about giving comes back 10 fold, and as leaders, it is our duty to give. They also talk about the mindset of abundance, of the mindset of having enough. Where you can give, the importance to give, and being grateful for what you have. 

Finally, they touch on why it is important to be selective on who you hang around with. Your inner circle and your belief are super important and it will determine where you may end up. 

"Hang around good people and your thoughts are super powerful."

Ways to connect with Chris

Reventon - https://reventon.com.au/

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During this  2 part episode, Matt and Gines talk about the 6 human needs. Love and connection, Significance, Uncertainty, Certainty, Growth(part 2), and Contribution (part2).  These human needs play out in our worlds in some shape or form. 

The first four are presently getting fulfilled either by a conscious deliberate decision or by an unintentional decision. Also, there are 2 ways to fulfill these needs. Firstly, is a resourceful way, most times resource way is sustainable. However, the other side is an unresourceful way to fulfill these needs, which can prove to unsustainable. 

They chat about how these come up in their worlds and how most people who are unaware of these, how it will turn up. Taking stock of how you fill these needs is an interesting exercise. 

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This week Gines chats to Richard Lee. Richard is a banker and lawyer by trade, he had led over 180 IPO's (which is highest in Australia), founder of Fenix - a music platform set to de-centralise the system, so artists can monetise their art form directly and currently CEO of a nicotine-based vape company.

Richard is a fan of disruption. Disruption is very, Richard shares his insight on what can lead to a successful disruption. The beautiful thing about disruption and innovation is that it will eventually happen by someone or another. 

Richard leaves us with the thought, of taking stock and do it often. 

You can connect with Richard via - https://www.panoramaadvisory.com/

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The fellas this week are in lockdown 4.0 in Melbourne, Victoria. Breathing...

Breathing is the first and last thing we do on this planet. It also something that we all tend to take for granted. It’s something that just happens unconsciously.

Matt and Gines chat about the value of doing it intentionally. Scheduling in deliberate and conscious breathwork and how it can change the way we think, feel, and behave. Also how intentional breathwork can influence unconscious breathing retraining us to breath correctly through our noses and out our mouths.

The science is clear breathwork can reduce stress, reduce illness boost the immune system, and have dramatic positive effects on our circulatory, cardiovascular and nervous system, overall performance, and wellbeing and it is addictive, resulting in a natural high!

So join the boys and discover one of the greatest tools we all have at our disposal.

Breathing is the essence of life. Breath deeply, live fully.