How Cam Calkoen Builds An Opportunity Mindset

Life can feel heavy when you’re stuck replaying the same story about what you can’t do. We wanted a conversation that cuts through that fog, so we brought in Cam Calkoen, an Auckland-based celebrity public speaker who was born with cerebral palsy and still built a life packed with sport, travel, family, and stages around the world. What stands out is not “perfect positivity”, but a practical, repeatable way of choosing a better focus when things get tough. 

We talk about Cam’s “backpack of belief” and how many of us carry assumptions that never belonged to us in the first place. You’ll hear how connection in the school playground becomes a template for confidence later on, why reflection can be as useful as consuming more self-help, and how attention drives energy. We also get real about social media comparison, the curated highlight reel, and the simple discipline of asking: what can I control right now? 

Cam shares a defining rejection story from the United States that could’ve ended his career, and exactly how he turned it into fuel by getting coaching, improving his content, and staying in the game until the opportunity arrived. We also unpack how he builds memorable speeches like an album, plus a side-track into AI tools, productivity, calendars, and managing “too many dreams” without burning out. If you’re looking for mindset, resilience, motivation, public speaking insights, and grounded personal development from a New Zealand lens, this one will land. 

If this resonates, subscribe, share it with a mate who needs a lift, and leave us a review so more people can find the show.

Transcript

Copy

Meeting In Person And Connection

SPEAKER_01 0:10

If you ever thought life is hard and woo is me, this is the episode for you. I've got an incredible guest here today in my home studio, flown all the way from Auckland. His name is Cam Kilkoon and he's a celebrity public speaker. Hello, Cam.

SPEAKER_00 0:24

Hello, it's awesome to be here.

SPEAKER_01 0:26

Awesome to have you. I cannot believe that you flew in all the way to see me. I did.

SPEAKER_00 0:31

Well, you know what? You reached out. It's the beauty of connection, right? And you sent me an email about a month ago, and we could have done this online, but I knew I was speaking in Wellington yesterday. And I said, hey, how about we just come and make it in person?

SPEAKER_01 0:48

I love it.

SPEAKER_00 0:49

Feel the energy together.

SPEAKER_01 0:51

I love it. And you just mentioned as we were off offset that it feels like you've known me for a really long time. And I feel the same with you. I feel like we've met before.

SPEAKER_00 1:00

Yeah, but we don't even have each other's numbers, right? Is what we were saying. So, and and that is the beauty of just being willing to communicate with people and being open, which I'm excited about talking about.

SPEAKER_01 1:13

I'm excited about where this talk is gonna take us because you come from an incredible background, and I want to hear from you firsthand for our listeners about who you are and where you're from for those that don't know about you. Take it away, Cam.

SPEAKER_00 1:27

So my name's Cam, and for those who are wondering, oh,

Cerebral Palsy And An Opportunity Focus

SPEAKER_00 1:30

this sounds a little bit funny, or this voice is different. I was born with cerebral palsy, so a physical disability was affixed the way messages travel around my body. I was told my biggest challenges would be the way I walk and the way I talk. But I grew up with an awesome mum and dad, an awesome family, an awesome circle of support and influence, but really opportunity-centric. Let's focus on what Cam can do. And you know, if if it is a magical cure to make my cerebral palsy disappear, I would have to think twice about taking it because I cannot see my life going in any better direction. And that's what I'm looking forward to sharing with you this morning.

SPEAKER_01 2:16

That's beautiful, Cam. How did you end up doing what you're doing right now? Take me back to a little Cam growing up. What did you want to be?

SPEAKER_00 2:24

Yeah, so as a kid, I I didn't really know what I wanted to be. You know, people say, What do you want to be? And you feel you've got to answer for a doctor or a lawyer or a real estate agent or an accountant. I didn't know what I wanted to be, but I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to live a life where I could travel, where I could entertain, and where I could connect. And I didn't really know what that looked like at the time, but I thought that would be a pretty cool life. And so as opportunities came up, I didn't look at, oh, I've got cereal pools and I can't do that. I thought about does that give me an opportunity to travel to entertain and connect? So I mean, just simply as a kid in the playground who is a bit different, connection is all I wanted. And so I saw that it's my responsibility to step outside my comfort zone and into the comfort zones of others. And through doing that, kids got to know me. And so when it got to the school athletics day, my mates would say, Cam, why don't you just put your name down for that hundred meters? And that's what I did. And at the start of a race, I was nervous as anything. My my knees were trembling, my butterflies were flying. I had that little voice in my head saying, Cam, what are you doing? All that stuff that people feel. But I did it. And as I ran down that track, I heard people chanting my name. Go Cam, go Cam, you can do it. It's like my movie. And as I crossed that finish line, I realized that this could be a way in which I could travel and I could entertain. Because sport is entertaining and I could connect with some pretty awesome people. So for my whole teenage years, I committed to sport. I I I I looked at the best of the best. I just copied what they did and got some pretty awesome results, winning championships in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and Sweden. And remember thinking about being born and being told that my walking would would be my biggest challenge. And now here I was not just walking. You were running, but running through just changing my perception of myself. And naturally people wanted to hear about that story. And I was terrified of public speaking one, because more people were scared of speaking than they are dying, is one of the biggest fears in the world. But when you're also told that it's gonna be your biggest challenge, then you've got that as well. But people wanted to hear, and my coach said to me, Cam, if you put the same effort into your speaking that you do your running, you'll have a lot less to worry about. So I was really grateful of the people I'd be speaking to. If it was a school of 100 people and I had 10 minutes, I realized it wasn't just 10 minutes, it was 10 minutes times 100 people. That's a lot of time, so that's how much time I need to put into evolving the speech. And it just grew and grew to the point where I've been traveling the world for the last two decades, almost 18 years as a full-time professional speaker.

SPEAKER_01 5:51

That's incredible. I'm like, hold on a second, that doesn't math in my head. You look like you're 25. Hey!

SPEAKER_00 5:57

Awesome. Well, when you love what you do, right? You get an energy from it. Exactly. So I'm uh yeah, I'm I'm 42, I've got an 18-month-old son, my wife. We live up in Auckland, we bought our house five years ago through doing what I do as a speaker. So it's pretty awesome when you I talk about this thing of of having our backpack of belief, and it's only something I've started to identify, and it sort of relates to what you and I were speaking about before we turn on the microphones, of we get to choose our energy and we get to choose how we look at things in our life, and that one of the greatest privileges I have as a speaker is I have to look at my life from the point of view of what does that mean to other people. And so I put all those things into my backpack of belief. I choose to carry those around with me, and that's how I now do what I do because I choose to focus on the good, I choose to focus on the awesome because I believe if I focus on that even when times are tough and challenging, and that thing that comes out of lift smacks you in the face, I go and go and focus on what's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 7:20

I love that. I absolutely love that for you, and I think more people really need to do an external exam, an internal exam of their backpacks. A lot of them and a lot of us often carry things that don't belong to us, that don't belong to you know who we are, and we just somehow picked it up from someone else, put it into our backpack, and this is what we believe. If you chose to believe those doctors when you were little, that you would never be able to walk, that you'd never be able to run, if you choose to hold on to that, then that would have been your narrative. But you decided this is not your belief that does not belong to you, it can go back to the doctors, they can have that.

SPEAKER_00 7:59

Yeah. And I'm gonna put something else in my backpack of belief, correct? And I'm gonna focus on that. But I I believe we live in a world where there's so much focus on today and tomorrow, and that's awesome. That's what's brought the world to what where we are, is what will take it into the future, but it's through reflecting on our story, and I would really encourage everyone to if it's an hour or week total, at least do that. Because when we reflect on our story, we then ask ourselves, what do we want to make that mean? How could we change perspective on that? So rather than always going out thinking that we've got to absorb more information and resources and books and material in order to be better or to be closer to where we want to be, what have we already got? What was that experience in the school playground where I could have been bullied because I talked different, I walked different. It's a natural thing. It's one of those big questions of can were you bullied at school? And the answer is no, because of that thing of going, I'm gonna step into other people's comfort zones. But it's only when I reflected back on that as a teenager and an adult that I've been realized that was something I could continue or take with me.

SPEAKER_01 9:29

I love that. I think a lot of people get stuck in there, you know, they get stuck because it's easier. It's easier to just see something, believe it, and not really question it.

SPEAKER_00 9:40

But is it really easier? I mean, maybe it's easier to just accept it, but if you're fine going, man, this life sucks and I'm struggling and wills me and like that's taking a big toll. It does, but they don't see it.

SPEAKER_01 9:58

They don't see it. I think it's like going to the gym, you know, like you have to force, I mean, I have to force myself to go to the gym. I'm not a very much exercise person. And for me, like it would be easier to stay home and work because I'm a workaholic there rather than going to the gym. I have to force myself physically to go to the gym and do the exercises. And I have a personal trainer that pushes me outside of my comfort zone. So I feel like often with our mental state as well, it's easier to just stay on a couch and cry and willow and go online and talk about how bad life is, how life has happened to us, you know, and not for us. And instead of sitting down and going, okay, how about I journal? How about I see someone? How about I get a coach? How about I really look into why my life is where it is right now? How did I get to this point?

SPEAKER_00 10:48

Yeah. And it's not underestimating that process. And I think that's something that could pop up of writing that down, writing that goal down is too simple. Surely not just having it on a bit of paper is gonna mean anything, but it's the time of the focus that you've given that goal. And so if it works with goal setting, it also works with reflection and going, what do I want to pull out of it? And I you know, on my Instagram feed yesterday, I just saw you know, someone's video saying keep going, keep going, because often you're closer than you think you are, and it's these messages that we need to be hearing and reminding ourselves. And that you know, you mentioned that thing of not wanting to go to the gym. I've known athletes my entire life who don't actually enjoy going to the gym, you know, who think that they've got this magical DNA where it just lights them up and excites them. And yes, for some it does, but for others, they've seen a goal and they recognize that that's just part of a process to get there. It doesn't make it enjoyable, but it's not you're not focused on the hard process, you're focused on how flipping cool is it gonna feel when I get there.

SPEAKER_01 12:24

You know, you just reminded me of a really good phrase is your energy goes where your attention goes. Right. So if you decide to focus on something, that's where your energy will flow. So if you decide to focus on, you know, being positive, finding those little things to

From Sport To Speaking Worldwide

SPEAKER_01 12:40

be grateful for, to uh set up the new set of beliefs that this is where your energy will go. But if you decide to just be negative about something or keep replaying those things that might have happened to you, then this is where you're gonna get stuck at. Yeah, so your energy goes where the attention flows.

SPEAKER_00 12:56

100%. 100%. That's what we're here.

SPEAKER_01 13:00

So tell me about um what do you normally speak about? So if people contact you and go, hey Cam, can you come and speak to our crowd? What are your normal talks?

SPEAKER_00 13:09

So when I got into my so with my speaking, one of the very first books I read had a quote in it, and it said, Don't give a speech, put on a show. And I loved that because we've all been there where we've seen a speaker and we're behind the lecture and we're reading facts and figures, and partly because that's what they have to do, but I wanted to put on a show because I I knew that I had my voice that I had to work with, so I had to do all that I could to create an awesome energy, and so that they I went out and I got a coach from Canada because I realized that people in New Zealand were paying big money to get speakers from the Northern Hemisphere to come and speak here, and I thought I need to find out what they are doing. And so I got my speech from the Northern Hemisphere in Canada, a guy called Steve, and he really helped me dot my I's and cross my T's. I mean, I'd written every speech out word for word as I was going into it, but he just helped me tidy it up a little bit, and then I because I wanted to speak in the Northern Hemisphere as well, I wanted to be known as the speaker who chose to be a speaker. It wasn't as a result of winning medals, it wasn't as a result of being on television or whatever. This is what I've chosen to do, and so there weren't many people who were calling me up at the point that I wanted to do speaking. And when I would say I wanted to do speaking, I didn't want to be doing one or two uh a month or a few a year. I wanted to be speaking all day, every day, with anyone that I could. And I remember my grandfather was a big Fang Sinatra fan, and I'd go into his house and there'd be the record playing, and it would be New York, New York. If you can make it be, you can make it anywhere. And so I went up to New York and I didn't know anyone in New York, and I just emailed, emailed, phoned, went out meeting people, saying, My name's Cam, I'm a speaker from New Zealand. I speak about creating the most awesome life that you can. You know, that little voice that jumps in your head and it says, I wonder what that would be like. Imagine if you went out and you chased that and you saw that opportunity, you were opportunity-centric. And I ended up speaking with an awesome group of companies in New York, and I came back to New Zealand because New Zealand's so good at recognizing people once they've done something, where people go, Well, that's pretty cool. And I went from doing one speech a year to one speech a month, to multiple speeches a week, not just in New Zealand but throughout the world. And I guess, in a way, that's what I show, that's what I speak about. But if you've got an idea, don't let the voice jump in your way of why you can't do it, focus on what you why you can do it and put on a show because that's when we enjoy life.

SPEAKER_01 16:39

I love it. I love that you found your why as well, quite early in life. I know you didn't really have at that point, 20 years ago, however long, like you didn't know exactly what it would look like, but you had a vision of what you wanted to do and why you wanted to do it. Yeah. And I think why is super important. A lot of people often, the ones I come across, if they are stuck in that negative mindset, it's because they haven't discovered their why.

SPEAKER_03 17:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:05

And the moment they discover the why, it's like the curtain lifts. It's like they suddenly understand what's the purpose of everything that's been doing.

SPEAKER_00 17:13

100%. Well, you know, I have a point where I was getting trim through my speaking, a couple of things were really prevalent. It was Simon Sinek with uh the Golden Circle and Find Your Why, and it was TED Talks and ideas worth sharing, right? And so in 2015 I did a TEDx talk, and so this thing gave me a platform that was universally recognized, so that when I was going up to America, they may not have heard of uh my pair of mortgages, but they've certainly heard of TEDx because it's got that international brand. So I was able to leverage that. And then I thought about some in cynic, what is your why, and why I do what I do is to see a world where everyone is inspired to embrace their opportunity. So when I was reaching out to people, it wasn't about, can you give me a speech? It was I've got a dream, this is my dream, and would you like to be a part of it? And I remember a great mentor of mine who it was not a formal mentor, he was a man called Hugh Steadman, who's uh he he made his money in insurance, and you know, he said a story just the other day where it was usual to get sort of a hundred people in your book in a year would be kind of normal. And one day AP Peter was challenged of how many can you get in a month, and in that month he got 80. So this is a guy who just always focuses on opportunities. And you had taught me so much about just asking people for their help. Can you help me? Can you combine? Can you share? Because I haven't met anyone yet who actually doesn't want to help someone. And so if you think of that as to any goal that you've got, how could you structure that when you need some support? Of can I help you? Or can you help me? And in return, how can I help you? Imagine that. Imagine a helping kind of economy that enabled all the other stuff that we need to work out. Yeah it would be a bit like this conversation when we sat down 20 minutes ago, having not met each other before, but we were open to having a communication. We felt this energy and this awesomeness. And and I think that's so cool.

SPEAKER_01 19:59

I think that's incredible for two strangers to come together and just talk like we've known each other all our lives. But I think because we're driven by the same goal, we want to help people. You in the business of helping people by putting up that show, but also by using the words that are coming out of your mouth to transform people's lives.

SPEAKER_00 20:20

Yeah, but as you it's also and and it's and it's you and it's listeners and it's people out there who are more focused on the ability of life, right? There's a lot of us that can be focused on the stuff that makes us different. And I believe there's way more that makes us in common, right? We've all got lungs, blood, heart, sense of humor. Well, most of us do anyway. We've got dreams, goals, aspirations, and when we have the bravity to share those dreams, goals, and aspirations, and we have the willingness to listen, and you can practice that every single day. Practice it when you go into the shop, and rather than just paying the $4.95 for your milk or whatever, you know, ask how's your day been? What's been awesome about your day? And I know that there's a lot of people that find that quite scary, or you know, just saying hello when you're walking past someone on this on the beach, you know, what do you mean? But the more open we can be about communication, but more open we ultimately are with who who we are.

SPEAKER_01 21:33

Who we are. I know it's really incredible. I think the social media has really destroyed that for a lot of people now because everyone's stuck in their phones, you know, there's we've lost touch with who we are around us and people around us. Like we stopped checking in on our neighbors, we stopped checking in with people on the streets, we stopped really having those meaningful and thoughtful conversations. And I think because of that, part of us is dying as well.

SPEAKER_00 21:59

Yeah, but we all spend hours on social media looking at everyone else. Looking at everyone else, looking at everyone else's glimpse of your life, right? I was in LA speaking a couple of years ago and I met this guy whose job is to hire out Lamborghinis, private planes, amazing houses, to influencers who use it for uh sometimes 10 minutes, but just to get that shot right. And now everyone's going, well, that person's got to be private setting, we're making house and all of that stuff. Um, and so if you've already got that wells, walls me like setting, it's just gonna even more so. Yeah, and even I I I struggle with it, you know. I'll I'll see someone who's 21 and go like man, what what have I done wrong? Or how could I be better? Or this didn't go right, or the money's not where I wanted to be, or the house, but I I catch myself with those thoughts. And I go, what happens if I keep stewing on this? And where do I need to be? Right? And then I go, I need to change my energy right now. So even though you and I spoke about having that positive energy and focusing on that, it doesn't mean that those other things come in, but when it does and you start to feel heavy and yucked, yes, you can get support and counseling and talk to someone, but you can also ask yourself in that moment of what am I gonna do right now to just mix that up.

SPEAKER_01 23:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:48

Because if I keep telling myself this stuff, man, I I don't really like one how I feel, and therefore if I don't feel good, I don't really like the idea of where that's gonna go.

SPEAKER_01 24:00

You know, one thing I realize after having kids is, and this is something I teach my kids a lot, is you can't control other people's behavior. You can only control yours. Yeah, you can't control what the other person will do or say to you. You can only control yours. So as my kids are growing up and they always complain, you know, they come after school and they go, Oh, Johnny did this or Mary did that. And I go, Well, cool, but how could you react to that differently? Yeah, what could you do to not you know aggravate the situation or to look within yourself and go, Well, if Johnny has a really cool scooter, I'm happy for Johnny. And maybe Johnny's parents worked really hard to get that for him. What can I do? Or maybe Johnny bought it with his own pocket money. Yeah, you know, what can you do about it? Can you save your pocket money? Can you do more jobs around the house to earn money? You know, like what can you control? Stop looking at what other people are doing, focus on yourself.

SPEAKER_00 24:54

I call that like turning rejection into affection because in those moments we can feel rejected. And uh like in America, when I'd be ringing up people to be a speaker, and I remember ringing up one bureau, and it was the big, the biggest bureau in America. You name people, they've worked with them, and I'm on the phone, and the lady says to me, after telling me about all these people she represents, and people that were stuck up on my wall as a kid, and whose books I've read, and she said, kid, and I I kind of was a kid then, but I was in my late 20s, but she still called me a kid. I think they call everyone a kid there. Yeah, and she said, I I don't think it's gonna work for you here in the United States of America. In fact, judging by your voice, I don't think it's gonna work for you anywhere as a speaker. And in that moment, I thought back to what would Hugh do, what would my mentors do, what would my giants do, what do I want to do? And I I stayed polite. I thanked him for her time. I walked out of my apartment that I had in house kitchen up 7th Avenue into

Attention Energy And Social Media Traps

SPEAKER_00 26:10

Central Park, and on that journey I just see hundreds of thousands of people living their dreams. And I asked myself in that moment, do I stop or do I keep going? And I could have come back to New Zealand and thought to myself, I've just been told by someone who's seen the best of the best, but I can't be a speaker, or I could say this person gets hundreds, thousands of people coming to her every single year wanting to be a speaker. Her bar is super high. All she knows about me is the brief conversation I've had. And so what do I need to do to turn that rejection that I'm feeling into affection? I don't stop, I get better, I get more coaching, I work more on my content, I develop a better website, I build videos, I build reels, I speak as much as I can. I keep her posted on every step of that journey, whether she responds or not, but she's starting to see my growth. And at the point that I did the TEDx talk, that was the final piece of the puzzle because I sent that to her and she said, kid, we've got an opportunity for you here in the United States of America.

SPEAKER_01 27:37

I love that.

SPEAKER_00 27:38

And that was that turning rejection into affection, and that worked in me for my life professionally, and it also worked for me in the school playground of, and you mentioned the kid's scooter before, of like I couldn't skateboard because my balance wasn't that good, but I'd walk up to kids and I'd say, Hey, I can't skateboard because my balance isn't as good as yours, but I have a scooter, and this is way before scooters recall. In fact, it was a skateboard, and dad had had strapped a handlebar to it. But I said, For this scooter, I can go wherever you go. And so again, it was turning that rejection into affection, making people feel good, and then we could just focus on what we both wanted, and that was to have the best friendship that we could have, and to grow the best businesses that we could go.

SPEAKER_01 28:33

I love that. I absolutely love your energy and the perseverance that you had. Like, I think that's the key as well. A lot of people lack the perseverance, they give up too easily at places where they shouldn't really. If they just keep going, just as you were saying before, just keep going a little bit more. Now tell me about the inspirational people that you read the books. Is Tony Robbins one of them?

SPEAKER_00 28:53

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. You know, uh Tony Robbins, uh Lisa Tomydy here in New Zealand, Billy Graham and Wellington, not Evangelist, he's Billy Graham from Wellington, I know boxing. He was the first New Zealander to speak at a million-dollar round table, which is the biggest insurance conference in the world. I yeah, I've been shortlisted for it a few times, it's still a goal to get there. And but when it comes to crafting a speech, I'm inspired by musicians. And I remember a New York taxi driver, and he asked me that question that you've just asked me. And I said, Look, I'm inspired by and listed all those names, but I said, when it comes to creating my content, I'm inspired by musicians. And he said, Oh, why is that? And I said, Well, a musician has a song, and you can hear that song once, maybe twice, and by the third time you hear it, you're singing along and you haven't forgotten. Or you hear it ten years later and it reminds you of when you were a kid at university. And I said, as a speaker, that's the impact that I want. And then for the musician, is they put together their songs, and that's an album, or that's a concert, and they say, Hey Wellington, or hey Capital, or hey Auckland, and now everyone feels like, well, they're talking directly to me. And so that's how I looked to create my speeches. So it was a series of little stories that I could tie together, which I could weave in company values and strategy, but in a way that people remembered it, not just directly after, but a week later, a month later, a year later. And it was going back to what I said earlier of your speech isn't half an hour, 45 minutes, or an hour. It's that times however many people are in that room. So yesterday we had a hundred people in the room, but it's an hour times a hundred people, it's a lot of time. And so you've got to create something that is memorable to people.

SPEAKER_02 31:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:08

And has that value. And it also means that you can, if all of a sudden a speech gets cut by 15 minutes, and I had that once, I flew up to Amsterdam to speak for Heineken, flew me up, awesome. I get there, get off the plane, and there's a text saying, Hey Cam, do you mind just chopping 15 minutes off your speech? And I'm like, Holy moly, you know, you guys have invested a lot of money in this whole process, and now it's just about time. But in that time, they still need the same result.

SPEAKER_02 31:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:47

And so if I've got a whole series of songs that have made up about 60 minutes, all I need to do is pull out three or four songs, and I can still have that same impact. I think I'd spend a bit of time strategizing. Well, if that song story is not there, how do we then bridge the gap if there is a gap? But that's that's the joy of it. And that's why every single time I speak, it's a little bit different for the audience because it's those things that you're picking up on. But when you go to Elden John 20 years later, you still want to hear him sing Rocket Man because of the effort that went into creating that song. Yeah. And so that's what I enjoy.

SPEAKER_01 32:36

I love that. You just make me think about the speeches in a completely whole new way. I was like, wow, this is so clever. It's like a CD, or like, because I'm a different generation of people.

SPEAKER_02 32:45

I think of CDs when I think of songs and albums, and I'm like, cool, there's a CD, there's like 10 titles. 100%. Or 12 titles, and then yeah, you're right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:55

But when you're going, so if you're going into a speech, and what if you're the famous and you've had a briefing call with a client and they've spent half an hour telling you about the company and individuals within the company, and and so as you're hearing all that information, you're just looking, it could be your whiteboard that you've got here in your office with all your songs, and you're just crossing off and circling the ones that you want to say. And then you're spending a bit of time going, Okay, so what how am I gonna bridge that all together? And that's when the client walks away going, man, can this figure whoever created something that totally felt unique and special for our company? And it was, but to make it unique and special doesn't mean you have to recreate the whole thing. And also, because they're

Turning Rejection Into Affection

SPEAKER_00 33:50

not paying for you to recreate, they're paying for perfection. Paying for perfection in in terms of a return on investment for them.

SPEAKER_01 34:02

That's probably the best piece of advice I've ever got in my life.

SPEAKER_00 34:05

Really? Thank you, Ken. Oh, you're speaking. I I was on your website when you resell, and I I was blown away. I was I just it was so smooth, it was so clear as to who you are and what you deliver for your clients. So like I was like, man, let's have a yarn and did you go on zebuniso.com?

SPEAKER_01 34:26

Yeah. You know I build that website? I I bet you did.

SPEAKER_00 34:29

I bet you did.

SPEAKER_01 34:30

In half a day?

SPEAKER_00 34:31

I bet you did. Uh I was uh because you you uh you I know you know what tools are available to you and how awesome is that when you can research tools and go how it is. I still have a bit of an older mentality because I when I built my website, yeah, you did. You paid someone a check out of money to get it done, and that's kind of my my comfort zone, right? So I look at all these new websites and go, holy crap, I don't want to know how little they paid because they flipping fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 35:09

Well, it blew me out of the waters. It started off as a challenge to myself, which is going to deviate here for a second, because I'm still so proud of that moment in my life where someone came around and they were like, Oh, have you heard of Claude? I didn't hear about Claude at all at that point. I only knew about ChadGPT. And I was like, Oh, Claude, okay, what is this thing? And then I went on this YouTube and I put Claude versus ChadGPT. This guy was talking about how you can build all these things with Claude and how Claude really, at that point of life, Claude really jumped over ChadGPT. Chat GPT was quite behind. Yeah, and uh, and he was showing how you can build a website and you can do this and that. And I was like, all right, I'll give it a go. And it started as a joke to myself can I build a website for myself for my new persona that I'm building here as a public speaker. And I went in and I started playing with Claude, and seriously, within three hours, I had a website to go by. I couldn't believe it. And I was like, oh, okay, cool. And then I left it. I had to go to my Taekwondo session, and then I came back and then I carried on playing with the colours and this and this and that. Over the weekend, I pretty much got the domain up and running, I got the hosting up and running and everything, just using the AI prompts.

SPEAKER_00 36:19

So, so and that's awesome, and and that's kind of what I was thinking. But my question was always what's the process of getting it from Claude to being a live platform? So, does it kind of coach you through that as well? Or do you have to go out and find GoDaddy or whoever it is to host your yeah?

SPEAKER_01 36:44

Yeah, so it's being hosted by GoDaddy, but it's really interesting because I had to use a lot of my own personal brain, and this is where I think AI is only as good as a human that's using it. Where I had to do a bit of more research into how to actually make it live because it takes you to a certain point, but then there are lots of missing steps that you have to go, okay, this is not making sense. This is not the puzzle is not coming together. Yeah, what's missing? And really question it and really research those steps. So this is where this is where my most proudest moments were because creating the website wasn't hard, the HTML file wasn't hard at all. And because I guess Google knows so much about me that it pulled through everything about me really, really fast. And then I could go, just like the album, yes, I want this, no, I don't want this. You know, so I just put it together the way I want it. But then I had to really fill those gaps and go, okay, I'm gonna go here and then I'm gonna go here and I'm gonna go here. And then I got it live.

SPEAKER_00 37:40

To to get it live. So you so you look like how it looked on on Claude, and when you went digging, I'm good to go. But when once you found GoDaddy or who who you hosted it with, this sounds like an infamous way, it's not. I know, but this is not sponsored. If I want to sponsor it, it'd be pretty cool. But but we I'm excited by all this stuff because whatever someone's dream is, you can get it to market so much quicker now with AI. Yes, right? And so if you have this idea to have a website and then you get your GoDaddy, do you just literally kind of share a file and then it uploads? So it's not so you've spent three or six hours or weekend creating it in Cloud. Yep, and then it's not taking you much more time to get it from there to at my fingertips. No, literally minutes. Literally minutes.

SPEAKER_01 38:44

And in the process of building another website at the moment for my friend, because again, it started as a joke that hey, I built a website for myself. Yeah, if you want, it's a non-profit club, and I said, Okay, I'll do it for you. Because, you know, what else do I have to do with my time? Uh, because I've got so much of it. But uh, it just fascinates me. This process really fascinates me because I love learning new things. Yeah, and I think sometimes I suffer from shiny object syndrome where I go, Oh, this is cool, this is exciting. And and I think through that process, I'm learning new skills, I'm learning the way I can use AI and the way I can use my own brain to prompt it because it's not gonna do all of it for me. I still have to do a lot of thinking.

SPEAKER_00 39:25

Yeah. When you say you're excited by shiny and you think, do you feel like new dreams and ideas can come up? Yes. And then you are like, holy moly, where where do I go? What do I focus on? Or do you get it all done, but you're just getting more and more stuff done?

SPEAKER_01 39:47

Yeah, I've I'm a doer as well.

SPEAKER_00 39:49

So I'm not just What an awesome combination.

SPEAKER_01 39:51

I know, it's a terrible combination because no, because you actually do it. But then I like I end up with all those different things in my life, and I'm like, oh man, how can I be so good at so many Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:07

I just had I I bring that up because I've I I I was having a session with someone the other day, and she said, I have too many dreams, and it was about making the realization of that's not a bad thing, that's a reflection of your ambition and your drive, and we've just got to now work on what's the strategy to make you feel that you're accomplishing those things. And I feel that in this world of where we do have so much at our fingertips, it can get a little bit overwhelming. And the conversations that we then need to have is how do we then just celebrate the fact that we've got that cool idea, and then how do we keep inspired and motivated to get to the end of it? And it can be as simple as really using your calendar to structure in that that time to be okay, this hour is my website, this hour is my outreach to my clients, this hour is you know, and I've yeah, that's where I'm loving calendars these days, not so much for just creating appointments, that's what I used to always use it for, but actually as a way to keep on top so that I can develop that new idea, but I can also be ready for my speech I've got in two days' time.

SPEAKER_01 41:28

Yeah, and you know, the way I see it now is I divide my time and my energy into various things. There's one that needs to make me money because bills need to be paid, kids need to be fed, right? So, what do I do to make money to make sure that I can still have roof over my head and food in the pantry? Then I look at things at what brings me joy and what what am I doing for me? And then I look at things at what am I giving to the community?

Building Speeches Like An Album

SPEAKER_01 42:00

You know, what can I give back to my friends or the charities I'm involved with or organizations that I'm involved with. So I try to break it into three different things, sometimes four, so often also the kids, like you know, do they have any school trips coming up? Because I like to be involved as a parent into all those things, you know, taking kids to gymnastics, swimming, trips to the parks, etc. I really like to be involved with that. And so for me, when I look at my attention and where it goes and my energy, I go, cool. I love doing what I do in my normal life, right? I love helping people get on the ladder, I love helping mom and dad investors buying a property where eventually their kids are gonna go into and things like that. I love helping people build their houses because I've built a few houses myself, like it really excites me. So for me, it's like cool, this is something I really love doing and actually brings me money. Awesome, pays the bills. Yeah, I love growing my team as well. So I always look at my team and I go, cool, what can I do with them? How can I help them to succeed? Because it's not just about me succeeding, it's about people around me as well. And then when I look at like hobbies, you know, cool, I love playing with AI a little bit here and there. I love going and, you know, taekwondo, for instance, that's our thing to do. And then for community, I look cool, where can I volunteer my time to to help them out? And then I find that if I can fill all my buckets and if I can fill them successfully in a sense that I feel complete, then it makes me really, really happy.

SPEAKER_03 43:26

Yeah. Yeah. Perfect.

SPEAKER_01 43:28

And I think a lot of people don't fully nail that in a way where if they haven't broken it down that way, that's where they feel like, oh, I'm overworking all the time, or I'm doing something that I'm really hating, or I really want to be involved here, but I'm not really doing it. Like, and this is where you start feeling heavy and you feel burdened. And look, all of us go through that stage in life, right? There was a stage in life where I couldn't do certain things, and it's now that the kids are a little bit older. I mean, you're in a fun stage right now with 18 months, probably running around, and you have to really watch them. Really, really watch them. Now my kids are a little bit older now, so I'm finding cool I can actually do other things around them and involve them as well.

SPEAKER_00 44:08

Yeah, no, awesome. That's where, you know, that that bag of belief for me comes up as well, of getting that balance. So I break it down into we've got dream big achievement, which is our dreams. And some people right now are going, Cam, now it's not a time of dreaming. You know, if you're not read the news, if you're not focused on the paper, gotta focus on reality, man. Got to focus on one foot in front of another. And I look my response to that is a dream is about creating a light in the darkness of a night. A dream creates unity, and a dream focuses on what we can do. So when you've got that in your backpack of belief, you've got that balance, and then it's turning rejection into affection, which is what we mentioned before. I'm feeling rejected. Okay, what's my what's my interpretation of that? What's that other person's perspective? But also, what am I gonna do today to help someone who's probably feeling rejected in some way? How can I turn that around for them? How can I give them that hope? Because when you give them that hope and that's something to smile for and something to strive towards, you've got a champion, you've got a client, you've got an advocate, you've got that person for life. And then it's what how do we tell the story? So this is bending perceptions and eliminating assumptions because that's what happens when we tell our story. When we start telling our story, it's easy for people to make assumptions, but through listening and communication, we turn that assumption around, we bend it. And so everyone's got a story. How do we want to focus? How do we want to be in this story? And what do we want people to say about us? And then going back to what you were saying about charity, it's live for awesome. And living for awesome is not about what we achieve individually, but how we learn from our experiences to move, to connect, and inspire the lives of others. And I very much see those as the four pockets in your backpack, too. So in your backpack, you're looking and seeing what you've got, but you're also going, is this my balanced life? Am I working towards these things? So for me, then for awesome, is a few years ago. We bought our house, well, five six years ago now, Holly Molly. It was our first house, and

AI Tools Many Dreams And Time Buckets

SPEAKER_00 46:40

it was one of those things of like it was so scary that we got the right support, and it was a dream I'd always had. And so we're in Auckland and we're on a place called Teatadu Peninsula, and there's always a lane pathways, and there's a pathway beside our house. And I'm walking and I see all this rubbers. It's like a it's like a it's like a vortex of rubbers like blowing down, and I'm I'm looking at this house, and I'm thinking how much we're paying every single week to be here. This is disgusting. Surely it's someone's responsibility to pick up this rubbers. And then I thought, you know what? What's stopping me from going home, getting them back, getting and picking up things for picking up things, and going out there and picking up the rubbers. And I did that, and and it felt awesome because when I got back into my office, and when it came to doing stuff that I need to do for my business and my speaking, I was like, if I can go and just pick up some rubbers, I can definitely make this phone call. I can definitely send that email. And and I also thought, imagine if we all did that. Imagine if we all looked after the perimeter of our property, of our mind, of our body, and if we just looked after our perimeter and in our body, that includes the people around us, what an awesome world that would be. It takes 10 minutes to go around my property on the outside and pick up all that rubbish. And and I did it because I was like, this, this, I, you know, I'm gonna sell this house one day. And I want to know that I've made the best contribution to my environment to make sure that when someone's walking past it, they're not gonna see that rubbish and go, oh, this is disgusting, I don't want to live there.

SPEAKER_01 48:48

I love that. I'm just I'm just blown away by by things people do that I've seen as high achievers. But they're high achievers for a reason. They're high achievers because they pay attention, they pay attention to things around them, to people around them, and that's what makes them go further. And I think if we bring it back to the beginning of the point, as when I was saying, you know, if you think the world is hard right now and you know you're really struggling, this is the episode for you. I truly think this has been the episode for them because you've come from a you know a challenging background where physically you could have not been walking, not be running, not be speaking on stage. And here you are traveling the world, living your best life, married, got a kid, got a house, and you still go outside your house picking up someone else's rubbish. I just blows my mind. So if you are sitting at home right now and you're going, oh, life is so hard, you know, you've got if you've got two hands, two arms, two legs, breathing hot, breathing nose, whatever life.

SPEAKER_00 49:52

You're just breathing, right? You're just breathing. You know, go out there.

SPEAKER_01 49:57

Go out there and find what difference can you do. And internally, what you will feel is that those small changes within you that you will start noticing that hey, life is actually not that hard. If I can do this, I can do other things.

SPEAKER_00 50:10

Thanks so much for understanding that. Because there's exactly, you know, it's like yeah, uh, you've just articulated it so well through hearing those stories. And to be able to hear those stories from that perspective is like truly awesome. And I I pinch myself that I'm here, I pinch myself that I'm having a conversation through a microphone because every single day I could choose to see my speaking as my biggest challenge, but through flipping the script and changing perspective and seeing it as an accent, it's created my biggest opportunities in life. And that's why I do what I do to help people see the awesome opportunities that they have.

SPEAKER_01 51:00

You know, when people often say, Oh, I've got a disability. Nah, that's your superpower. How can you turn your disability to an ability with a superpower? That's how I see it.

SPEAKER_00 51:11

Yeah, and how can because I've seen people all over the world and the biggest disabilities they have are inside their heads, right? They look like they've got it all and they've got it together, but by letting themselves be told that they can't do it. And then I've seen people out there with no limbs, playing pianos, banging drums, and creating these incredible lives, and it's just through making a decision and thinking what lights me up, what makes me happy, what story do I want to tell?

SPEAKER_01 51:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 51:58

And I'm gonna focus on making them my reality.

SPEAKER_01 52:01

Love it. Cam, I feel like, look, we've been talking for 52 minutes. I feel like you and I can just sit here forever and just talk. But what I would love to do is I would love to wrap this up and I would because I know that you're away, you're actually going now. Can we can we announce where you're going right now?

SPEAKER_00 52:15

Yeah, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_01 52:16

I think that's super special. That's super special.

SPEAKER_00 52:19

Can you please tell me where you're going? My 103-year-old grandmother lives here in Waikanaye. That's and she, I mean, you wouldn't think she's 103,

Living For Awesome And Perspective Checks

SPEAKER_00 52:31

and she she's New Zealand's oldest Holocaust survivor. She, my grandfather, passed away when he was in his 70s, early 70s, so and she would have been younger than him. So she spent a massive chunk of her life alone, and she's been through stuff just you know horrible stuff with being a young Jewish girl in Holland during World War II, and she chooses happiness and she's chosen happiness and she's chosen to change her environment when she needs to and to look after herself and she's a hundred and three. Right? And and so I often give her as a perspective check as well. When I think it's hard, I haven't got someone who's pointing a gun out at me because of what I believe in. I haven't got my friends all of a sudden turning on me and spitting at me because of what I believe in. And there's stuff all around us that just gives us opportunities. He's just stopped driving and yeah, can't wait to see what conversation we'll have in 10 minutes.

SPEAKER_01 53:55

I love that for you, Camp. Thank you so so much. I would love to have you back.

SPEAKER_00 53:59

Oh, we'll do more than welcome to come back.

SPEAKER_01 54:02

Anytime you're visiting Grandmine Mike and I, yeah, the door is open. You know where I live now. Yeah. Um I cannot wait to see your journey in the future. Um, I've got so many questions in my head right now, but I'm like, we're running out of time.

SPEAKER_00 54:16

Okay, keep it point up for the day.

SPEAKER_01 54:18

So part two is coming soon. Watch this face. Thank you. Thank you, Cam.