Rebuilding Life After Rock Bottom | Wes Towers | 190

What if hitting rock bottom wasn’t the end of the story…
 but the beginning of rebuilding everything?

In this episode of Manders Mindset, host Amanda Russo sits down with entrepreneur and Uplift 360 founder Wes Towers to explore what happens when life completely falls apart and how those moments can become the catalyst for profound transformation.

After experiencing divorce, emotional breakdown, and sleeping under his office desk while trying to keep his business alive, Wes shares the mindset shifts, healing practices, and deep self-reflection that helped him rebuild his life from the inside out. From breathwork and nervous system regulation to questioning old belief systems and embracing authenticity, this conversation dives into what it really takes to move from survival mode to intentional living.

Together, Amanda and Wes explore the connection between mindset, healing, entrepreneurship, and authenticity in a world increasingly driven by noise, speed, and artificial connection.

Because sometimes rebuilding life doesn’t start with pushing harder…

It starts with slowing down enough to breathe again.

💡 In this episode, listeners will learn:

🔥 How hitting rock bottom can become the catalyst for personal transformation
 🧠 Why rebuilding beliefs and questioning childhood programming can change everything
 🌬️ How breathwork helped Wes regulate stress, reset emotionally, and rebuild his mindset
 💼 The surprising connection between personal healing and business growth
 🧊 How practices like cold plunges and breathwork support mental clarity and resilience
 ⚡ Why slowing down can actually accelerate rebuilding your life
 🤝 The importance of real human connection in a world of digital noise and AI content
 🌱 How small mindset shifts can create ripple effects across every area of life

⏰ Timeline Summary

[2:10] Wes shares his upbringing and growing up in a highly restrictive religious environment
 [7:20] Early creativity, designing his school logo, and discovering his path in graphic design
 [12:40] Starting a business with no experience and learning entrepreneurship step by step
 [20:30] Divorce, emotional collapse, and the moment life hit rock bottom
 [27:45] Breathwork, therapy, and the healing practices that helped him rebuild mentally
 [36:50] Why slowing down became the fastest way forward
 [44:10] Authenticity in business and why AI-generated content is creating a trust gap

To Connect with Amanda:

Schedule a 1:1 Virtual Breathwork Session HERE

📸 Instagram: @thebreathinggoddess

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👥 Join the Manders Mindset Facebook Community HERE!

To Connect with Wes: 

Website: https://uplift360.com.au/

Transcript

Welcome And Wes’s Origin

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the Manders Mindset Podcast. Here you'll find both monologue and interviews of entrepreneurs, coaches, healers, and a variety of other people. Where your host, Amanda Roosevelt, will discuss her own mindset and perspective, and her guests' mindset and perspective on the world around us. Manders and her guests will help explain to you how shifting your mindset will shift your life.

SPEAKER_01 0:26

Welcome to Amanda's mindset, where we build the power of shifting your mindset to shift your life. I'm your host, Amanda Bruce, and I am so excited to be joined today by Wes Tower. And Wes is the founder of Uplift360, and he's someone who built his life from the ground up after hitting rock bottom.

SPEAKER_03 0:48

Thank you so much for joining me.

SPEAKER_04 0:50

Thanks, Amanda. It's a privilege to be here and talk about a few of these things today.

SPEAKER_03 0:55

Absolutely. So can you tell us who Wes is at the core?

SPEAKER_04 1:01

Yeah, well, it's it's evolved to my self-identity, I suppose, over the years. But I mean, what I do for work is part of what I who I am. So I'm I run a digital agency. So we do uh websites and SEO and all those kind of fun things for trades and construction business typically. And yeah, it's been rebuilt to a large degree. A lot of things have been built, rebuilt in in life over the last three or four years. Challenging times, but sometimes the most challenging times become the most fruitful times because it gives you an opportunity to rethink through what you want out of life and who you really are.

SPEAKER_03 1:41

I completely agree. Can you take us down memory lane a little bit? Tell us about your upbringing childhood dynamic, however deep you want to take that.

Growing Up Religious And Breaking Away

SPEAKER_04 1:50

Sure. I grew up as a fairly regular household, I suppose. Mum and dad were at home. I had a couple of brothers. I guess the a slightly unique aspect of family life growing up was I grew up in a a really religious home and and to the point in which most people were followed a cult. Wasn't super harmful or anything, particularly as a young person, but it was really quite controlling once you became a teenager and wanted to make life decisions and so on. It was quite prescriptive in the way they thought people should live. I broke out of that as soon as I went to uni at 18. Once I finished high school, I went to uni in a different town. That was a good opportunity to break out of that system. But I suppose some of the teachings and the thoughts shape you to a degree. It was about rebuilding some of those mindsets over the course of the years from there.

SPEAKER_03 2:44

What did you get your degree in at university?

SPEAKER_04 2:48

I studied graphic design multimedia. So I was kind of a creative kid and I'd had some success at designing things. Even as a child, it was a new school being developed and built, and I was one of the first students there. And they made a competition to design the logo. And I've submitted my design and that logo was selected. It's still the logo of that school. So I think the affirmation and the approval of being accepted and the award winner really shaped who I was. So I ended up pursuing graphic design and multimedia at uni and eventually it ended up in website design. Websites weren't really a thing when I started out in the path I took. When they did become available to me, it was a perfect fit of that sort of technical, but also the creative elements. It's sort of a mixture of both, which is perfect for someone like me.

SPEAKER_03 3:40

That's so cool that it's still the logo.

SPEAKER_04 3:43

I get a buzz every time I drive past the school. Uh it's in mum's and towns. She's still there. So I drive past and see the logo and still feel proud.

SPEAKER_03 3:53

Wow, that's amazing. So post-university, where did life take you from there?

Finding Design And Early Career

SPEAKER_04 3:59

My first job was in Sydney. So I'm I was in Victoria. So when I finished uni, I wanted to get a job in Sydney. I went up there and got a job in an award-winning marketing company. Uh the things have changed so much over the years. There was the year 2000. They were an award-winning marketing company, but they'd never designed a website. They had one computer connected to the internet, dial up modem. We'd all share their email address and so on. So to think that's what marketing was when I started these days, nearly all marketing is online, of course. So I feel really old saying that. It feels like I was there. My kids say I was there since the start of the internet, which it sort of is true. But for them, that feels like a long time. For me, it just feels like yesterday. So, yeah, working in the marketing industry and eventually starting my own business. And I met my now divorced my wife. I met her up there and uh got married reasonably young and had children and so on. And yeah, life took some adventures from there.

SPEAKER_03 5:01

Now, how long after getting this job and like graduating university did you start your own business?

SPEAKER_04 5:10

Yeah, I started really quite early on. I think I'd worked for other people for maybe four years or something like that before starting my own business, which was pretty naive. I didn't know how to run a business, I didn't know anything other than my skill set in which I did at work. I didn't know how to do client meetings, I didn't know how to talk to people. I mean, the first few meetings I went to, I just remember sweating profusely just because I was so nervous and had to sort of build some confidence around that. And even just basic things like I didn't know how to do bookkeeping and all the other things you need to do as a business person that you're not fully aware of until you get started and find out there's lots of gaps in your skills.

SPEAKER_03 5:53

What made you decide when you did now is when you were going to start your own business?

SPEAKER_04 5:59

Well, an opportunity came up actually. It was something that I always wanted to start my own business. It was always something for the future, but an opportunity came up where there was a guy that I knew, he tried to start his own business and it it was just too hard. He wasn't getting enough work. And he he told me I'm finished with this, I'm going to get a real job. And I said, Well, what are you going to do with your few clients that you have that you've been looking after? And he said, Well, you can have them. So I thought, oh well, I do want to start my own business. And there's a couple of customers to start with, at least. So I took that on. It was very small at that point in time. I wouldn't have started when I did, only for the fact that opportunity presented itself. And I took it and I just started part-time. So in the evenings, I was doing this new little business and then working a day job and quit the day job eventually, cut back a few days and then went full-time in my own business and then eventually hired a team and all that kind of stuff. So I sort of learnt over the years. So I didn't completely withdraw from a full income right away, which luckily because it was really hard to get work in the early days.

SPEAKER_03 7:09

That's so fascinating, though, that like this opportunity presented itself to you. And you kind of like you woke the nine to five and then woke your own five to nine, you know.

Starting A Business From Scratch

SPEAKER_04 7:20

I think opportunity finds you when you when you've got a deep desire, or it feels like a calling. It feels like there's a path set before us, and we just need to say yes to it when the opportunities arise. I don't know that we can control the time of things, but I think we can accept the path when it opens up. That it feels like that to me anyway. It feels like doors open at the right time, right seasons of life. Sometimes it feels like it's too soon, but you just you've just got to trust the opportunities and to take the accept the accept the challenge sometimes.

SPEAKER_03 7:52

That's true. Is there anything that's helped you with the mindset of accepting the challenge?

SPEAKER_04 7:58

I've always felt like if I can break things down to the most simple steps, so to think about what's the next small step that I can take that moves me forward to the thing that I'm trying to pursue. Because it can be overwhelming thinking about the whole bigger picture. And then you might have a massive dream and it might be, it feels so overwhelming. But if you can just think about what's the next practical and logical step that you might be able to take sooner rather than later to propel you forward, I think that's the way I've always tackled it, just to take simple steps and and and not be worried about the complete picture, because complete picture sort of takes shape for itself. As long as you you kind of got an end goal and a picture of what it might be. But the pieces in the middle, it sometimes is not as clear as what we would like. We would like a clear path forward, but it sort of reveals itself as you start to move forward.

SPEAKER_03 8:56

I like how you mentioned like the next small step. Not like everything you gotta do, but the next small step. Even like with your instance, like you're gonna take on the client, but you're gonna keep working your day job, and that's the next step.

SPEAKER_04 9:11

Yeah, I think so. I think it's a safer way to if you've got a big goal. And for me, starting a business is a big goal, the easiest path was just to take it one small step at a time.

SPEAKER_03 9:23

That makes so much sense. Now I'm curious, how long did you work at part time before it became your full-time gig?

SPEAKER_04 9:33

I feel like it might have been two years or three years before becoming fully full-time as you know, just self-employed. There was just in the evenings initially, then it was two days a week working on my own business, and then from there it went to full-time. So I would say, yeah, probably two years, something like that.

SPEAKER_03 9:52

That's amazing. Is there anything that helped you like stick with it as you were still like maybe working, doing something, working for somebody else as you would have rather work for yourself? Because sometimes it gets difficult.

SPEAKER_04 10:06

Yeah, anything worthwhile in life, there's challenges and obstacles to overcome. Certainly having good people around me that could help support and to be not too proud to ask for help and support and ask people how to do things. So early on, I didn't really know how to win new work in terms of going to a client meeting, as I said before. So I joined a networking group, which is really great because I was all of a sudden mixing with business people who had done it before and knew what they were up to. And so being in a room where people knew how to do things, I could learn from them by observation, but also just to ask, hey, how do you go about doing this thing? And just learning that way was really helpful. Just to be always learning, I think was the key.

SPEAKER_03 10:56

They say no matter what it is you're looking to do, is putting yourself in a room, speaking to somebody who's already done it, will help you get there.

SPEAKER_04 11:04

Yeah. I think the people we hang around, this sayings I can't remember how they go, but the people that you hang around with, you end up becoming like that perspective. I've always tried to have a diverse range of people around me as well to open me up to new ways of thinking. Because the I mean, the danger is that you be you hang around with people only like yourself, and then but you lack a diversity of perspective. So I've always tried to appreciate and value and bring into my world people that think differently to me.

SPEAKER_03 11:39

That makes a lot of sense to get their perspectives, even if they have a different perspective than you.

SPEAKER_04 11:45

I really enjoy it's a really beautiful life when you can see so much differences in opinion, but still able to get along and and have successful relationships and all that kind of stuff.

Mindset Of Small Steps

SPEAKER_03 11:58

Yeah. I'd love to transition uh Chad and go into how you shifted from a survival mindset.

SPEAKER_04 12:09

So the as I said before, the the biggest challenges in life I think are the biggest catalysts for change of because you get to a point in which there's no other alternative. And so four years ago now, I I was married, as I mentioned, quite young. We had children. I found something in the marriage that I felt was not redeemable. And so it happened all of a sudden that one day I was in the family home, and the and the following day I was sleeping at the office under the desk, and it felt like the whole world was falling apart. And at that stage, me, I mean, my health had deteriorated over the years. I hadn't looked after my health. Um, I'd focused on the business so much and just busyness of you know with the kids and running them around and everything that, you know, life's busy. So I was in a really, really bad place. I mean, at the worst, I was crying under the desk like a baby and convulsing and all sorts of stuff. The weird thing was I was able to compartmentalize to a large degree those, that pain and torment and so much hurt in my life and still function really well at business. And I realized whilst that was helpful in some instances, it was also probably going to kill me if I didn't solve some of the issues in in my life. I mean, that time crying under the desk, I quickly realized I've got a really important meeting to be on on Zoom in five minutes. So my eyes were all red and I'd been shaking on the floor. I got up and did that meeting and was able to just switch the work mode on and did a really good job of meeting, got the business, biggest client we've ever won. I thought, man, that compartmentalization that's helpful for that. But I've got to fix some of these. A friend of mine mentioned you got to sort of deal with some of these issues because it's not something you want to stay like that forever. So I ended up booking in to see a psychologist, which is wonderful. I have a really strong network of friends and people. So I knew someone who manages a mental health clinic. And so I reached out to him so he could connect me with the right type of person. And he got me a psychologist. She was wonderful. She was really quite progressive. I mean, it was a real catalyst for a lot of changes. So she encouraged me to do a whole bunch of breath work, which I know is a big part of what you do. And it was transformative. It was so, so powerful to have breath work and a few other techniques and strategies to help me regulate my own mind. Because when you're anxious as well, particularly, you're not breathing properly, just basic breathing. But then to take it to the whole new level of breath work was really, really cool. The first session I did was like a an in-depth one. It took, I think it might have been three hours or something like that. It was wonderful. I was seeing visions and all sorts of stuff, and shaking on the ground and a whole bunch of it would have looked weird, but it was in a room and the context was just fine for that because that's what it was all about. And here in Australia, they had beautiful music. They had people playing didgeridoo over us, which it just sort of added to the experience because the didgeridoo has that sort of resonant feel to it. So it felt like it was going through your whole body as you're doing the breathwork and being instructed. But it was something, it was great at that time, but it was also something I could look to implement in my life. If I was ever feeling dysregulated, I could call upon some little basic breathwork techniques just to get centered again and get myself regulated, just stop and recharge and get ready for the next thing. Because I mean, going through divorce, it's years of challenges. It's so many things that you need to dig through, and things get said about you that are not necessarily true, and a whole bunch of other things, you know, missing the children, so many challenges, and they it just felt like one thing after the next, building up, but to have these little mechanisms to help me. I'm so thankful for the psychologist to connect me with that.

Rock Bottom And Radical Honesty

SPEAKER_03 16:17

Now, how long ago was this about?

SPEAKER_04 16:21

Yeah, so the divorce, the separation would have been about four years now. And so it was probably that breathwork thing, that might have been three and a half or three years, something like that. And so it was a real time to think about rebuilding my whole personal life. Business was going fine and it was sustainable and everything was okay with that. But I switched the focus on my own health and my own mindset. And strangely enough, business grew uh as a result of getting my own mindset and health in order. So I think if you've got something out of balance in one aspect of your life, it's going to impact other aspects of your life, your work, whatever it is. Everything's intertwined. It's not like you can compartmentalize and think that one thing can flourish and the other thing can be dead. You've got to kind of get everything working in order to get that right.

SPEAKER_03 17:16

That makes sense. Is there anything that helped you be able to cover up your eyes and sit in that Zoom meeting as you were in the midst of it?

SPEAKER_04 17:28

Yeah, to do that, I don't I don't know exactly how I got through that. It's just because it just felt like muscle memory. So I I do the Zoom calls for meetings all the time. I just went into that space really easily. My eyes would have been really red. Actually, the one thing I did do, I didn't put the light, I had a light to shine on my face, so I didn't look too dark, but I just left the light off that time and I knew my face would be in the dark. That was better in that instance to be able to speak to them, and they wouldn't have known that there was any issue. Quite remarkable, really, when I look back to think of the polar up, like the polar opposite like experience, you know, being on the floor crying like a baby, and then next minute presenting to a business people.

SPEAKER_03 18:16

And now you said somebody some people you knew, knew people at the mental health clinic.

SPEAKER_04 18:22

Yeah, yeah. I'm really fortunate. I'm sort of a a people person, so I I kind of know people in all sorts of fields. And so I knew the guy who was the practice manager. So he's not a psychologist, but he he manages the business side of the practice. So that was really great because I could talk to him. Normally, I think it's true in probably most of the world, it can be really hard to get good support. And for me, I wanted someone really progressive and to think about other ways of mental health because that's kind of how I am. I certainly didn't want to go down the path of medication, which I'm not saying that's bad for other people, but for me, it's not a path I wanted. I wanted natural solutions and practical ways in which I could help myself health-wise. So he was great and found me the perfect person within the organization. She was wonderful in opening up my eyes and it was almost like she had a real intuitive nature about her. She probably deals with this sort of thing all the time so she can quickly pick up things. But I I think there was a deeper element. I'm not quite sure what that was, but she was really great at what she did.

SPEAKER_03 19:34

That's awesome. Now you mentioned the psychologist suggested bathroom and other things. Do you mind me asking, like, what else she might have referred to you to do?

Therapy, Breathwork, And Healing

SPEAKER_04 19:46

Yeah, so she didn't encourage I did I I tried plant medicine. She didn't tell me precisely to do that because that's against the law. Uh here it is. So um but I knew enough about the clinic and their views on some of these things. That so whilst they didn't directly express any point of view around that, I kind of knew that was a space that as a clinic they were looking at. So I knew it wasn't they weren't opposed to it, let's say, but they couldn't encourage it either. So but yeah, so plant medicine was really good too. And it's an interesting thing. It certainly is medicine in my view. It's not something that I've ever felt I wanted to or needed to do again. Well the way I did it, I just did it by myself, but I set up the environment just like they did the breath work. So I had the same playlist that had music and they gave us the playlist without the digirido, that the songs that they played. So I could set up an environment that was kind of consistent with that. So I had the right setting. I think the setting is really important. It's what makes the difference, in my view, makes the difference between just taking what should be a medicine and taking it for leisure, etc. And that was really great too. And uh it's uh in some ways disappointing that it's not as available as it should be. Here in Australia, they're making good progress in the legalization of some of these things, but it feels as though it's still a a way off having practical ways in in helping people with these things.

SPEAKER_03 21:17

I've had one experience with plant medicine myself, and I think it definitely it can definitely help some of the deeper traumas. Like as a in even as opposed to even like you mentioned pharmaceutical medications, like some of them have a lot of side effects. So like I'm not fully anti them, but I've seen and experienced different side effects that it's I don't really want to take them if I don't have to. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_04 21:47

That's the way I am as well. And it's I mean, they they always took and like I'm not a doctor or anything like that, so I can't give I can't tell you precisely, but they always speak. about the negative potential problems that you might have if you have plant medicine, but that's probably true of any medicine, really. There's always potential downsides. You know, if someone's got an underlying sort of issue, like a significant issue that's outside normal, then they might have certain challenges. I felt reasonably confident that I would be fine and I was. People have the bad trips, so to speak, but I think it's about setting up that the environment that's right and safe. So yeah. For me that's what I chose to do.

SPEAKER_03 22:35

I get it. I agree. Now was there anything besides breath work that the psychologist suggested to you to do with that?

Plant Medicine And Rebuilding Beliefs

SPEAKER_04 22:43

Yeah yeah there was a whole the whole range of things in just the way in which you think about like mindset and so as I mentioned at this I think earlier on I grew up in a what was perceived to be a cult. So it was a time really that she helped me through some of the the thinking around beliefs as well because I think we just absorb our beliefs to a degree from our our upbringing and they may not be necessarily serving us all that well. And for me I suppose she helped me to see that there's the dual aspect of most things in life. So in a occult experience that the one that I grew up in there was either good or or bad you know but in reality in the world in life things are often mixed in and there's good aspects and bad aspects in lots of different things and it's really quite complicated. So kind of like a yin and yang kind of feel so I took that time to think about what do I actually believe and where did these beliefs beliefs come from and are they actually mine or that are they um just borrowed because that's what I chose and that's what I heard and just sort of fell into by accident. So yeah it's kind of an interesting one. So I I don't have the same beliefs that I grew up with for sure. And yeah it's it's can be a frightening thing when you when you have an upheaval it felt like a dissolving of meat in its entirety so a dissolving right down to the core and then a rebuilding into something in a new out of what was remaining. So yeah it was quite a process.

SPEAKER_03 24:26

I bet and so that's why you think hitting rock bottom could be the catalyst.

SPEAKER_04 24:33

Definitely for me it was and obviously you don't want to manufacture hitting rock bottom but if people are in that place I think it's helpful for them to realize other people have been there and they've come through the other side better off. And I've certainly better off in every aspect of life other than missing my kids that's still a bit of you know that's the one thing that sort of I I still think about but other than that life is so much better in in nearly every aspect of of what I'm doing. So business is flourishing my relationships my friendships everything like that and the children my eldest son he's working with me one day a week now as well so that's wonderful because the fear was you know in these sort of breakdowns and where things might get nasty some things can be said about you and I'm aware of some of those things. So the fear was that you know the children would be taken and never never want to spend time with me at all but that's not true. The investment I made with them whilst I was there with them they didn't forget. And so that's a real blessing that my son's working with me now and I get to spend time with him. He's nearly 20 and so yeah the other kids too it's all working out really well.

SPEAKER_03 25:53

That's really amazing and he's almost following in your footsteps. Already working one day a week with you.

SPEAKER_04 25:59

Yeah that's right he's a real creative kid so he's an artist and so he helps people with their social media he he works with a few influences uh outside of what he does for me um so it's a real blessing to be able to even sort of mentor him in the business aspect of what he does. So eventually he'll work for himself. I believe strongly he'll be able to do that eventually but right now it's really great to be able to mentor him in that business side of things a little bit so he can pursue his creative endeavors to the fullest that's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 26:33

Even you guys getting to spend the time together that's amazing.

Fatherhood, Renewal, And Purpose

SPEAKER_04 26:37

Yeah it is really good and it's probably the it's one of it's the best part of my week really oftentimes I love that that's awesome. I want to transition back a tad you had mentioned about integrating breath work into your daily life can you elaborate a little bit on how you've been able to do that there are a few little techniques that I just use if I feel like I'm a bit stressed out then there are things you can do at your desk as you know sometimes I'll do a more in-depth a more a longer session that normally it's just a little something I I can do on the on the fly I wear an Apple Watch so I can tell that my heart rate slows dramatically just after a couple of minutes of some of these practices. Oh some of the other things that I did that which I should have mentioned so I got involved with the cold plungers which is really good. I've got the cold bath there ready to go all the time that's really helpful and the other thing that I do as well is a sauna blanket the infrared sauna blanket so there are other mechanisms they help me in various ways for my health and they're almost meditative because you're setting aside time and it gives you time to to think about things in a different way a sauna blanket. Yeah infrared I've never no I have not yeah well I don't have the space for a a full sauna it sounds kind of weird I know that it's kind of like a sleeping bag is the shape of that but it's got all the infrared material in there and so you just sweat in you have your clothing on there so it absorbs the sweat. I know it sounds a bit gross about it.

SPEAKER_03 28:24

You know what that I think it's cool.

SPEAKER_04 28:26

I think that's a cool idea yeah it's really good it's really good at flushing out toxins and all that kind of stuff I believe so and yeah it's good for your health people do it for weight loss and all sorts of things I don't know how much of an influence impact it has on that sort of side of things but it certainly makes me feel a whole lot better after doing it.

SPEAKER_03 28:48

Makes a lot of sense that's so cool though they sell ones that you can have like in your home but they're humongous they're like very big and I don't know that I want to put a huge sauna in my house even if I had the space I don't know that I want one.

SPEAKER_04 29:03

Yeah look it up uh forget the brand of mine there's a lot of manufacturers out there no no I'm curious if you have any other little tips and tricks you do for this daily like self-care they're really the main ones I think it's really important for everybody but men probably are not great at it is to have people in your world friends. I think we're so disconnected these days with the way we interact with social media and so on. It's kind of a substitute for genuine friends who can be there in times of trouble but also in the great times as well you share your journey in your life with them and even for that perspective as well it's so difficult for us when we're so close to our own things that we can't really see clearly but a friend who's a couple of steps away could really help with that kind of thing. It's good for you in in in every aspect of life to have people around you I think there's a real problem with that the technology kind of creates fake relationships in a in a large way.

SPEAKER_03 30:12

I agree I think it can help on one end be connected with a lot of people but like it helps disconnect you from the people that you're physically with.

Daily Practices: Breathing, Cold, Sauna

Friendship, Slowing Down, Attention

SPEAKER_04 30:24

100% so yeah I've been really intentional about keeping friends close and I think for for most of us we might have a few really close friends and then acquaintances and and so on as well and that that's good. But it's important to stay in in contact with these people You had mentioned that slowing down can be the fastest way to rebuild your life why do you think that is yeah well I think everything feels so fast these days our attention spans are not what they once were it just feels like there's urgency to try and do everything all at once and it feels as though it's kind of like the wheel spinning if you try and take off in your car too fast it's just wheel spinning and you're not actually getting anywhere sometimes it's better just to think about things taking some time to think about and reflecting upon what's been and where you're going and moving forward in a more thoughtful way. So creating space in our minds I think that's why there's so many practices of mindfulness and so on are growing in popularity because we're just so busy and so wired all the time. We're not making time to think about slowing down and moving forward effectively and efficiently we're not everybody is just in this go go go mindset even like the attention spans like we people can't wait for anything. We do a lot of social media because we're a digital agency and and so we use those tools to advantage it's pretty clear to me that even the length of a video people can't even watch in more than a few sec 30 seconds you know it's the attention spans of all of us seem to be eroding really fast. So yeah that's a challenge we're all trying as businesses we're trying to capture attention so we just need better ways of of creating meaning in the world so people want to listen that is true creating meaning so people want to listen have you figured out a way to do that yeah well I think being unique so for a business it's never been more important to be really unique in your positioning. So and particularly with AI and how it's mass producing content at scale and people are publishing information and sometimes they're not even reading what they're publishing. They're just jumping on a chat GPT and writing content because they know that's a way to market yourself. But it's all generic and bland and all the same as everybody else because all it's doing is pulling in information from everywhere else, putting it into a new piece and people are publishing that but when you're adding a new perspective or a new set of values you're writing something that's with heart and substance behind it. Well it's adding some new value and it has the potential to show up to the right people at the right time. Otherwise there's no purpose for that information to be surface to anybody. And we're all trying to get attention. So thinking about the way I talk to clients is to think about what is it in their industry that they really don't like, that things could be better. And every industry has that people will typically have their pet peeves of what they don't like. I have that conversation not that we would ever talk about their industries in a negative context but these sorts of things seem to come to the surface far more easily than the positive. So we give them a chance to purge almost the all the negative things about their industry. And then we go, okay, well what's the opposite to these things? It's almost like the shadow and once we understand what the shadow the darkness is it's so much more easy to understand what the light is because it's the exact opposite of those things. Then all of a sudden we've got a position in which we can market their business and a message that they want to share that's worthwhile sharing because it's distinct and uniquely theirs.

SPEAKER_03 34:24

That makes so much sense and I like how you start with the pet peeves because as a society most people on the whole can come up with their complaints about anything much quicker than they can think of oh I'm glad XYZ you know what I mean the complaints are wow and then you just switch it. What are the opposites of your pet peeves?

SPEAKER_04 34:48

Yeah exactly right that's the way I kind of look at it and it's something that I've learned through my own rebuilding and journey. So I started thinking about like shadow work. Have you come across the shadow work that a lot of thinking and as I said before growing up in the context of things were either good or bad and you know everyone's striving to be what they perceive to be good at or this the sin aspect the opposite but they to realize we're kind of all of those things all at once and there's aspects of us that are the shadow that the dark side I kind of realize hey if I can sort of delve into people's businesses and start thinking about the industries from the shadow side it reveals the light because what is light if there is no shadow like it's you know it's the contrast is what is interesting. And so that's where the messages really come from the marketing messages really come from that thinking of what is the shadow and what what is the light I like that mindset of it that makes a lot of sense but I've never thought of the shadow in terms of business where it's always been in terms of myself. Well I think because there's particularly in this day and age with it seems like people are trying to create perfect images of themselves or their businesses and everyone's only saying positive things about themselves but there's this artificial AI AI so it's artificial we know deep down it's not authentic I think there's a real craving and a yearning for the authentic and the real and the tangible so those that can present their businesses in a manner which presents authentically and that might be exposing some of the thinking about things more holistically my kids pick up AI videos for example or AI written content my daughter who's 13 she'll pick up right away if something's just AI generated and it's almost like it's fake. They're almost repelled by it. So I think there's a craving humans to connect as humans again and the beauty of humanity is that things are not necessarily perfect.

SPEAKER_03 37:02

I agree and it's I myself am even starting to be able to tell more and more and it's pictures profile pictures all these different things it's giving it away you know like even some of the posts sometimes you can tell and I'm reading it and I'm like this doesn't sound like this person yeah and yeah as you say like the profile photos and people coming out like they're looking like models or something like that.

Authentic Marketing And Shadow Work

SPEAKER_04 37:26

But it creates a lack of trust once you do meet the person in person it's not the same person. So there's that lack of trust in the in who they are are they covering something up in inside you just feel like something's not right here. You know I think presenting photographs we I like to have our clients feature their bios and their photographs on their website. They're often concerned that they're not as um as beautiful as that what they would hope that they are I suppose or as polished they you know concerned about how they might look but just owning it I think just being you and presenting obviously take a nice photo of you smiling and and so on but if there's a a disconnect of like a model looking photo where then they meet you in person you're not that that it's just going to cause more harm than good it makes sense about having the picture people will connect with that connect with a person on the website you know yeah the other thing too with that side of things is I really encourage people to humanize their businesses and their brands and that means to use photographs of team members and so on. Sometimes the businesses we work with are founder led so and it might be a couple that run the business but one of the partners in the couple are reluctant to have their photo on the website because they feel as though they're more behind the scenes and that might be true. But it's really good to have that diversity in your website because we work with trades and construction. So for example if you it was a construction company and I'm generalizing but oftentimes it's the lady in a household that might be making a decision to build a family home and so on or at least having a a big say in it. So if they can see someone on the website that's kind of like them there's that more relatability. So yeah I think those sometimes people are a little bit reluctant want to stay in behind the scenes but it's really valuable if we can put those people forward within the website. The family run business is a really powerful thing for a small business to show that they're they have a family and they're you have some level of values and it's assumed if they're able to sustain a family.

SPEAKER_03 39:36

That makes a lot of sense and that it's more diverse even if it's the husband and wife or whatever it may be you know like there's not just one person doing it. And it might be this other person might connect with somebody else that's looking on the site you know differently.

SPEAKER_04 39:53

Absolutely I think it's really helpful. Yeah I'm just curious what you would say breath work has helped you with the most that big session was a real breakthrough moment to dissolve and rebuild. So when I think about the breath work that was the biggest turning point but the way in which I can just use it more on a daily basis even if I'm feeling a little bit tired as well like it might be a whole bunch of things I'll just do a little exercise at wherever I'm at am and it just helps recharge, refuel, be energize for the next step in the day. Days can be busy but to take the few moments to do that reset and go again.

SPEAKER_03 40:40

And now what does that look like for you?

SPEAKER_04 40:44

It depends where I am so it's usually like usually I'm at my desk and sometimes I go to face-to-face meetings. So sometimes in the car actually it happens if I'm stuck in traffic I mean that it's time that I I'm not doing anything if I'm if it's grid locked and I'm literally stopped I might do some breastwork exercises in in that time too. I think some of them as you know some of them can be quite in quite strong so you you wouldn't do it while you're driving and so on and you might not be driving too well.

SPEAKER_03 41:17

But it depends on the nature of where I'm at I gotcha and that's awesome that it helped you dissolve and rebuild you know and it helps you in the day to day I love that. Now I'm curious I tend to ask most guests this and I'm sure you've had multiples but I'm curious what you would say is the biggest aha moment you've had in your life yeah well that's a really big question the biggest aha moment I suppose the the realization the the interconnectedness of of everything I suppose it sounds so simple but it's so true.

SPEAKER_04 42:01

You know every every aspect of an individual's life influences the other aspects of their life but not only that it's it interacts with everything within your community and probably be beyond that just the realization that everything is connected and everything influences the next thing so if you can make a micro improvement it might feel so minute and insignificant but the ripple effect of one small change that can influence so many other aspects of the world I think we don't realize sometimes the impact of those small changes we can make I love that comment I completely agree it jokes with one one small step even like you mentioned earlier like what is that next small thing that I can do to move this forward whatever it is.

SPEAKER_03 42:53

Yeah yeah well thank you so much Wes I really appreciate it.

AI Fatigue And Human Brands

SPEAKER_04 42:57

That's been great no thank you for the opportunity to speak to your audience hopefully they've got some value out of it.

SPEAKER_03 43:04

I'm sure they did. Now have you heard of a man named Jay Shetty Yeah absolutely I've seen him on YouTube typically a number of times I listen to some of his ebook audio book on Spotify as well I'm a big fan he's got a podcast called On Purpose and he ends it with two segments and I've stolen them two segments and I end my show with those two segments as well first segment is the many sides to us and there's five questions and they need to be answered in one word each one word okay all right they're easy it's just questions about you what is one word someone who was meeting you for the first time would use to describe you as strangely What is one word that someone who knows you extremely well would

SPEAKER_04 44:00

would use to describe you as honest what is one word you'd use to describe yourself practical what is one word that if someone didn't like you or agree with your mindset would use to describe you as that a word what is one word you're trying to embody right now second segment is the final five and these can be answered in a sentence what is the best advice you've heard or received I'd say to know your worth why is that the best advice I feel like particularly as a younger person I always felt like imposter syndrome type thing so I never felt quite good enough to do anything. I think there's self-worth issues growing up I don't know why just to place value on who you are I agree.

SPEAKER_03 45:15

What is the worst advice you've heard or received?

SPEAKER_04 45:19

The one that springs to mind the in a business context is you've always got to follow up you know so if if you do a proposal and there's people who would say that you need to keep hounding the people to make a decision I don't do any of that anymore. All I do is send the proposal make sure they've got it and that's it. They'll decide if they want to work with me or not and that's that's perfectly fine.

SPEAKER_03 45:44

So why was that the worst advice?

SPEAKER_04 45:46

Yeah well I feel it sounded really logical because there's theories around how many times a person might have contact with a company before they make a buying decision to buy something. And so that made practical sense that you need just need to keep pursuing them to get the sale done. But for me it just felt like it was harassing people. So the way I looked at it was I'll present the very best proposal that serves their needs really really well. And of course I need to make sure they got it because sometimes emails go missing and so on. Just to put it on the table and then it's in their court I think you know some sometimes people just might not be a good feel as though they're not a good fit with the service we provide. And that's fine because I have an abundance mindset now. There's plenty of work and there's plenty of people out there that want to work with us without having to kind of harass them to do so if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_03 46:44

It does it makes complete sense what is something that you used to value that you no longer value probably just some of the religious mindsets that I grew up with.

Breathwork In The Real World

SPEAKER_04 46:56

I don't hold to those beliefs anymore. Whilst there's some positive aspects in there a lot of it I I think it's there to control people and it's not there to serve people.

SPEAKER_03 47:08

If you could describe what you would want your legacy to be as if someone was reading it, what would you want it to say?

SPEAKER_04 47:17

I'd be just be pleased for people to to know that I I just did my best that's that's all I can hope for I hope that my children see I hope that I can be an example for them about just living to the fullest living to your your best capabilities not to be worried too much about what other other people's best is because that's that's not yours just to take your own path if you could create one law in the world that everyone had to follow what would it be? And I want to know why one one law yeah that's really difficult. I don't know you can't really legalize it but I would like it if it was so if people listened first I think there's just so much misunderstanding in the world because people didn't take the time to listen deeply and understand exactly what someone why someone might think or say a certain thing. There might be something that we don't know that we're missing that's true.

SPEAKER_03 48:26

Okay I like that law well thank you so much Wes I really appreciate it. Yeah this has been good I've done lots of podcasts this has certainly been a different one I've really appreciated it thank you I appreciate it as well and where's the best place that listeners can connect with you?

SPEAKER_04 48:43

The business website uplift360.com.au people can book meetings with me we can have a conversation there's no obligation with that happy to have a chat awesome I will link that in the show notes and I do just like to give it back to the guest any anything else you want to share with the listeners before we close out no I think we've covered a lot the one so there's social media on the website as well and I I know not everybody does but I'll connect with anyone on LinkedIn if they want to put in a connection request that'd be great.

SPEAKER_03 49:17

Awesome I will link that as well well thank you guys for tuning in to another episode of Mandu's mindset in case no one told you today I'm proud of you I'm booting for you and you got this as always if you enjoyed the show I would really appreciate it if you would leave me a five star rating, leave a review and share with anyone you think would benefit from that.

SPEAKER_01 49:48

And don't forget you are only one nine step shift away from shifting your leg. Thanks guys until next time