Transform Your Life - Just Count Me In
Just Count Me In is a podcast designed to help us navigate and flow with our lives through conscious awareness. When we live with less resistance and more receptivity it is easier to express who we came here to be and enjoy life. We are all walking each other home.
Transform Your Life - Just Count Me In
#78: He Lost Millions, Lost Family...Then Found Himself
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Success isn’t always what it seems.
In this deeply moving conversation, I sit down with Stewart Crown, an entrepreneur who built significant wealth, lost it, rebuilt it, and then faced the unimaginable loss of his wife and daughter. Through heartbreak, resilience, and profound personal growth, Stewart discovered that the greatest measure of success isn’t found in a bank account—it’s found in the heart.
We explore how failure can become our greatest teacher, why identity often gets tied to achievement, what grief reveals about what truly matters, and how redefining success can lead to a richer, more meaningful life.
Whether you’re rebuilding after a setback, questioning your definition of success, or searching for purpose beyond achievement, this conversation offers wisdom, hope, and perspective.
In this episode, we discuss:
- Building wealth—and losing it
- How failure reshapes identity
- Living through unimaginable grief
- The difference between external success and inner fulfillment
- Redefining abundance
- Why vulnerability is a strength
- Creating a legacy that lasts beyond money
If this episode speaks to you, please follow the podcast, leave a review, and share it with someone who may need this message today.
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Welcome And Meet Stuart Crown
SPEAKER_00Welcome and welcome back to Just Count Me In. Or if you're joining us for the first time, thank you so much for coming in and spending your time this way. I'm Sari Stone, and I'm your host. Today we have with us somebody who I've been waiting to interview. Um, as soon as I heard about him, I wanted to interview him. And I know you're going to enjoy him and gain a lot from this. His name is Stuart Crown. And he I fell in love with his quotes and his life story. Uh, because he's plenty of people have a story where they've had hard times, they've had good times. And I'm not discounting that, but I'm saying he's made a huge success of his life in general, and a huge financial success despite several cycles of up and down, and retained his humanity. And as soon as I met him, I knew that we wanted him on this podcast. I especially liked his quotes because he said, I build confidence, I build beliefs. And we are all about that. And just count me in. And what I like about Stuart is that he helps people create freedom and create financial freedom that they did not think was possible and tap into their possibilities. And we are all about hope and possibilities here. So with that, no further ado. Welcome, Stuart.
SPEAKER_01No worries. Thanks. Sorry, thanks for having me today.
SPEAKER_00Well, thank you so much for coming. So, for those who don't know you, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and a little bit about your backdrop there? But your story?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, sure. So
Rags To Riches And Back
SPEAKER_01look, it's a very much rags to riches sort of story on that high school dropout, you know, who bummed around for a little bit and then sort of found his feet as he got as it, you know, I grew into my early 20s. I, you know, fell in with wrong crowds. I realized my error of my ways and just slowly progressed, chiseling away, you know. You I'm a strong believer and we can only grow through pain as we are the marble and the sculptor. Um, and you know, our our life experiences do shift who we are. So a bit about myself in in short is that I'm someone who's just a normal guy who worked hard at himself and slowly, slowly started to see results over time. And then once I felt comfortable enough, I started to help help people out there build their own confidence, build their own beliefs, and understand that you know, don't sell yourself short. You've got what it takes. Everyone has what it takes. It's just who who's willing to take charge of that moment for themselves.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. So I think you're being very humble. And I would like for you to explain a little bit more, just in a little bit more detail. So you yeah, you've had some ups and downs. So how up were your ups and how down were your downs?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, look, so if I was experiencing ups and downs, I'd say, you know, I'm I'm the youngest of five, the closest siblings, nine and a half years older to me. Uh, single income household. Parents are together, but obviously single income household. My mother suffered agoraphobia at a very young age, so I had to sort of take on a bit of that responsibility uh when she was going through that at about 11, 12. Um, so you know, I picked up, you know, what it was to have responsibility and be an adult at a younger age because all my older siblings had moved away. Um, during the financial struggles of all that, my father won Lotto uh on the 8th of January 2003. My father won Lotto in Australia. He had a large sum of money, and we went from very poor to very comfortable very quickly. Uh, and I watched over that time, like that was a great feeling. And and then within 18 months, you know, the lotto curse kicked in. You give a lot of money to someone who doesn't know how to manage it, they lose it or they spend it. Uh, my father, look, my father had a good time doing it. I think he deserved it. He'd worked hard in his life to have that moment. Um but 18 months later, there was no more money. And I was sort of sitting there going, what happened? And that's when, you know, we're virtually we're virtually back where we were two years ago, struggling, wondering where the meals, you know, where's the next meal coming from? Uh and that sort of kicked me into like, I've got to learn about money. I've got to learn how to retain it, earn it, understand it. Um, so you know, I as I said, I already had that responsibility as an adult. I grabbed a bag at 16 when I left school and said, no worries, I'll see you when I see you. And three months later I came home and I traveled the east coast of Australia already at 16, just working from town to town, doing doing those odd jobs. You need your gutters cleaned, or you want your yard mode, all those sort of things. And so I built up next funds to or build up enough funds to move to the next town. Now, some of that adversity, you know, we've all had the the bad relationships and all that sort of stuff. That's part of it as well. But in my early years, I believe that's what it distilled a foundation within me to really grasp uh what it means to be successful and what it means to sort of pursue and be persistent in what we do. Uh, because, you know, the one sure way to fail is to quit. And I'm I I refuse to give up. You know what I mean? Like there was there was no plan B. There was no one coming to help. I had to do it, and you know, I made sure that I did it. Uh, so that's look, that's more in-depth story about me and who I am and some of the adversity I had to overcome and understanding of, you know, watching where your parents go wrong, and you know, I obviously had that resentment a little bit to them. And as an older, as an adult, as I got older, I realized that I am my own man. They don't make who I am. So I learned then once I was able to release that upon myself, that was a a new level for me in my own personal growth was understanding that. And I know a lot of people might out there might suffer from you know some of the things your parents did. Your parents are who they are. Just you, you are who you are as well. So be you and be unapologetically you as well.
SPEAKER_00I love that message. And that is exactly what we're about here. Um, and you do a beautiful job of connecting your success on a physical level. So, how do you, I'm just gonna ask you, how do you define success?
Defining Success As Persistence
SPEAKER_01Look, I think there's two answers to that question in the sense that like a lot of people say success in career, you know, like what is rich? Bob Marley said, you know, I do you have a lot of, when they asked Bob Marley, do you have a lot of money? He said, I'm not that type of rich. Now that that might be success in his own right, where I'm I'm rich in the sense that my family's healthy, I'm healthy, everyone's comfortable. Then you look at it from the other aspect of what success is in like business or entrepreneurship, which is where I focus. And that comes down to I think persistence. Anyone who's persistent is successful. It's like you know, there's that old saying as well that um obsession will beat talent every single day, every single day of the week. And you know, as long as you're persistent, that's where I think success success comes from. Never giving up. If you, you know, if you fail, that's not, you know, uh, you know, a point against your success. That's more of a, you know, you've gonna learn more from your failures than you are mistakes. Go out there and fail. Go out there and you know, learn how to fail, because I guarantee you learn how to do it gracefully, and then you will stop failing.
SPEAKER_00No, you're absolutely right. And neuroscience backs you. Your brain is more ready to learn when you do fail and make a mistake. If you spend your life in a bubble where you're safe all the time in that comfort zone and you never make a mistake, you actually do not learn and make new neural connections the way somebody who's out there taking a chance, failing, making mistakes goes. So you've got neuroscience to back you on that. So when you talk about being successful, um, so give us a little bit of background about how you make your money.
SPEAKER_01Yeah,
Crypto, Business Pivots, And Property
SPEAKER_01so look, I've I've obviously, you know, I've grown myself one key factor when I was learning about money was like, what do all the millionaires have in common? What's one defining factor millionaires have in common? They've average of seven streams of income. So that's where I turned around and went, I've got to learn everything. But obviously that takes time. My specialty is cryptocurrency. I managed to get into Bitcoin when it was about $150, had a lot of success from that, and then, you know, lost a lot of money as well from my failure. I learned to grow and I started to develop. Like, you know, I really locked in, I learned about the technology. That was my first part of how to manage my own wealth and generate my own money from just day trading and being in the crypto space. You know, I'm one of those ones who have got that, you know, rags to riches. I put so much money in and I I made so much money out. But then I lost a lot of money too and had to learn a lot about it because I realized at that point I knew nothing. So when making my money, I've gained a lot, I've had a little bit of luck, don't get me wrong, but there's been persistence. I spent many years in the space with people telling me I was wrong, I was crazy, it's crypto's never going to be anything. Um yeah, yeah, look who's laughing now. You know what I mean? The US is is making a strategic reserve for it. So um I sit back and then obviously having a bit more wealth and cash flow from crypto and developing some sort of passiveness out of it, I went into business for myself. Uh during COVID, I owned a cafe. Uh, and that was quite difficult because no one could go outside. Um, so had to really pivot on the business there. Uh, and what we did is we had a food bubble. We moved the food bubble to where you're allowed to exercise. So we had someone working in the shop making all the sandwiches and all that sort of stuff, running them up to the bubble where we'd sell the sandwiches and coffees. So that's what kept us afloat. So we had to pivot on, you know, pivot on a dime to succeed there. Uh, then I moved into property and I had some really good close friends who were in property who were able to guide me. So that was really good having those sort of mentors that you know, they'd already made the mistakes. So they're able to guide me around them. So that and that's when I was like, okay, maybe I should guide people because I learned a lot about crypto. So in 2021, I actually got that beautiful thing to I think a lot of people want to do, maybe not everyone, but a lot of people want to do, and I got to tell my boss to get stuffed. I'm quitting, I've had enough, I'm gonna go do my own thing. And uh actually they'll they're quite nice about it. So it was really good. Everyone's like, they they saw that I was very persistent and very aggressive with trying to make my own success, and they were like, go do it, you're the one that can do it. So I left that and started my first coaching business or mentorship in crypto. Obviously, a lot of people want to get into it, so that's where I started in my own private mentoring with other people with other cash flow sources and passive income. So crypto was doing well, trading was doing well, then I made the I had the cafe, and then I made my coaching business and I had property going on. So there were four streams of income right there. So I was like, how can I do more? Uh and I started learning about network, networking income. And I was like, okay, I need to build a network. I've been the solo lone wolf operator, if you will, that's now going, I need to build a network around people. So that's what I've been doing for the last, say, three years. And I've built a very vast network of people and able to meet people like yourself, sorry, um, you know, other people out of Dubai that are absolutely amazing people. And it's really true. It hones, it goes back to that home, that homely saying where it's like, your network is your net worth. So build your network, build your knowledge. Knowledge truly is power. If you focus on the knowledge first, the money comes later. But that's that's generally how I made I go and learn about something, and then I'll implement it. Capital plus uh knowledge plus speed and execution, three foundational points. If you nail those, you cannot fail.
SPEAKER_00No, it's definitely working for you. Definitely working for you. And I think just that perseverance and that feeling like there's always a way. And I am right with you in that 100%. There is always a way. So I think along the way, you had to build capacity. Like your when your dad won the lottery, he didn't he didn't make the and then this is typical of most people who win the lottery within six months, they're flushed the way they were, or people that have a near-death experience, sometimes within six months they're right back to what they were doing. Not so for everyone, but um he didn't had have the capacity to be wealthy because he hadn't embraced that, he didn't shift his identity, he just all of a sudden had money. And I think what did you do? And what do you recommend people do? Because we find that things start going really, really well for us and everything is opening up, and then we close down and we get anxious, we get a little bit nervous, like what's gonna happen? Is this gonna be gone? Waiting for the other shoe to drop. Maybe I don't really deserve this, maybe I have imposter syndrome, maybe they don't really know who I am. And we have like this feeling uh of closing down, and I believe that life is for expansion. And how did you find your way with that?
Identity, Imposter Syndrome, And Expansion
SPEAKER_01Uh yeah, so uh, you know, I once I made my first million, I realized that, you know, it wasn't about making the money, it was about who I needed to become. Because if you become anxious, you know, you start becoming fearful. Um, all the things you mentioned before, like when I started mentoring, I had imposter syndrome. Like, can I do this? Am I the right person? Like all the things you mentioned that I had to face and overcome. I noticed over time that as you kept hitting these walls of adversity within your own development, I started to learn and I started to actually get excited when it happened because I was like, what am I gonna learn out of this? Like, this is exciting. Like, okay, I've been I've taken I've hit a ceiling or I've taken a step back and I've gone, wow, what what am I gonna learn here that's gonna make me succeed? And that's when I really started to feel comfortable in my own skin and was like, nothing is bad. There's like the whole there's no such thing as bad publicity, that's within yourself as well. Uh it's always an opportunity to grow and learn. So with you, when you get this uh this fear of success, if I will, a lot of people think, oh, it's gonna be taken or all that sort of stuff. If you feel it's gonna be taken, put people in place, whether it be lawyers, legal strawmen, all that sort of stuff, put things in place that put you at ease. Don't sit there and go, oh, I'm gonna worry about it being taken and do not do take no action. If that's if that's the problem, there is a solution. Don't focus in on the problem, look for the solution.
SPEAKER_00Very much focused on the solution. So
The Real Cost Of Success
SPEAKER_00what happens when like did your success cost you anything ever?
SPEAKER_01Everything, everything. Um, my success cost me lonely nights, cost me relationships, um, all that sort of stuff. Uh I have a daughter, my love, the love of my life. Um, she's amazing. And my partner, when I first started my so I started my first coaching business in a bear market, so obviously on a downturn. No one wanted to buy crypto. I was building a business. Uh it was very stressful. My partner uh left me at that point. Things got too tough. So it cost me a lot. Cost me my family, it cost me a lot. So it's very much what are you willing to sacrifice? And if you want to sacrifice everything, show me. You know, because that's that's where it comes from. It's like when you want to, when you want to be successful as much as you want to breathe, that's when you'll be successful. If you've got that spark, which I think every person does, doesn't matter your circumstance or where you are, you could be the CEO of a company already or a drug addict. You've got a spark. We've actually got a saying, like you like my quotations, never let a never let a crackhead out hustle you. In other words, you don't see an addict wake up in the morning and say, I can't get drugs. They go out and find a way. You should be the same. If I go, I'm I'm worried about this or I can't do this, go don't let it, don't let a crackhead out hustle you. Go out there and find a way.
SPEAKER_00I do believe that there is always a way. I've lived my life like that for a long time. Um, how do you keep your spark and and I'm gonna back up? So when you're following your spark, or I call it like living in alignment, it's the same thing, yes. Um do you believe that it's possible to live in alignment and still have a good relationship? Your experience didn't back that up because you were following that and it didn't work. She was not able to have the capacity to sit that out with you.
SPEAKER_01Um Yeah, I I've look, I strongly believe that um it happened. There's nothing I can do to change it. But in saying that, I do believe that you can be in alignment and still there are gonna be peaks and valleys, you know what I mean? You're gonna be at the top of the peak, living life you live in your dream. But remember, there's always a valley. As sure as good times end, so do bad times. And that's what you've got to tell yourself as well. You might be a bad time right now, but just like good moments end, bad, bad ones have to end as well. As sure as the sun sets in the morning, as I say.
SPEAKER_00Yes, because everything is cyclic. There are cycles for the moon, cycles for the sun, seasons. I mean, everything is cyclic. And so you're right. You're right. No, I understand what you're saying. Um what do you think? How
Why Young Men Feel Invisible
SPEAKER_00do you think men are measuring themselves and what's changing with men? I know sometimes, and I'm gonna ask you the question too, because I've been really called to do episodes with men lately, and most of my students, more than half of my students, are male now, and I work with children and young adults and then some business owners, and all of a sudden it's males, males, males coming to me. And I feel that I need to help them find their voice and get it out there on platforms like mine, who they traditionally would not have a voice on. And I think that men, despite a lot of external success measures, are really struggling right now. Um, so how do you think? What do you think men need permission to talk about? Why do you think men in particular, I think all people have a struggle. I'm not discounting that women are struggling, but young men seem to be having a harder time right now, getting the balance of everything.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, look, I so this I have some, I believe, controversial views on this. I think men, men, yeah. Men are not heard. Men aren't heard. Like you, if you're anywhere between 18 to 35, you are invisible as a man. You know, we are in the sense of we're, you know, we're always told to stiffen up your upper lip, be strong. And I think that's a conditional thing from men to women when they're younger. When women fall over and scrape their knee, they're like, okay, you can cry. Your feelings are valid. And that's why women, I think, develop emotional intelligence a lot quicker than men, because they're a bit stagnated because a man scrap or a boy scratches his knee. Get up, stiffen up your lip. What are you, some type of girl? At least that's the era I was raised in. You know, you had to be a very masculine. I won't use, you know, sort of dark words as I call them like toxic masculinity, because I'm a strong believer that a man should know, a man should be a beast, but know how to control himself. You know, and a lot of people say to me, you know, how did you overcome your demons? I said, Look, I didn't. I just learned to cage them and they smile every time someone rattles the lock. But as for men being not herners, go out and find your success. Don't chase the girls. The girl, you know, the girls your age, as much as they are a bit more developed in emotions and maturity, you need to focus on yourself. Men need to look back and go focus on what you're not doing. Because you see so many men, whether it be you know, suicide and the rate in suicide in men, all that sort of stuff, men need to be able to talk more. So find yourself a group, group of people. It doesn't have to be an online group. Get yourself a group of close friends that you can talk to. Because then you'll be able to express it. You don't have to hold it in. I've got really close friends that are returned servicemen from you know Iraq and Afghanistan. Now they've seen some stuff. I feel comfortable in talking to them because they've got a brother-in-arms sort of loyalty. So I think men not being heard, they need to stand up and say, I will be who I am, and I'm gonna, you know, work on yourself, guys. Don't let anyone else dictate who you are. You know, men need to lead, men need to go out and you know, be strong. And this is why you see men becoming so aggressive and angry, is because that's how we feel strong. You know, if a man starts to feel upset or tears come, he gets aggressive. Why? Because that's what makes him feel strong. So you need to learn to control that, control it and understand what went wrong, how what's the like I mentioned earlier, problem to solution. Take the time, step back, learn what the solution is, and act upon it. Because a goal without a deadline is just it's just a dream. So, all my my message to all the young men out there is that be strong, be a leader. That like there's is toxic masculinity, but there's also masculinity. So be masculine, be strong, be confident in yourself, stand tall. You know, you if you want to believe that you're a conqueror, you're a conqueror. You don't have to go out and hurt people to be that, but you can go out and feel strong in yourself, you know. So it's the my is my biggest thing, I think, and the ultimate and simplification of it all is I think, therefore I am. If you truly believe it, that's what you will become.
SPEAKER_00And I think often the greatest thing that we have to conquer are the greatest things are the obstacles in ourselves.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, uh, it was a famous quote from Julius uh from Julius Caesar, and that's an enemy will hide in the last place you ever expect to look. Now, when I've asked that qu I've asked that question to hundreds of people, everyone said, family, friends. And I'm like, no, it's you. You. Yeah. There's a there's a famous meme going around at the moment. And it's very much, all right, you've progressed to the next level. Your next opponent is you. So you might be able to conquer the adversity, but you need to conquer yourself first.
SPEAKER_00Yes. And I think our lives can only be as good as we allow ourselves the capacity to be who we actually know is our truth. And when we deny a truth, we deny our truth, we're paying the price with the quality of our lives because it sits there when you know better. It sits there when you know you could be doing better, when you know there's that thing that you maybe need to quit, or something that you need to start, or something that you're doing, or something capable inside of you. So, what do you think now is trying to come through you and express itself through you?
Your Hardest Opponent Is You
SPEAKER_00If I took away the money and the business and the accomplishments that way, like who is Stuart?
SPEAKER_01He is honestly a loving, caring father. If you took everything away, you know, I am just I am just a dad who wants to give his little girl everything she wants. That's all I am. That's the simplification of who Stuart Crown is and what he wants to achieve. If he took everything away tomorrow, that would be my main goal is still giving every that that little girl everything I didn't have.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, well, she's lucky to um, she's really lucky to have you for a dad.
SPEAKER_01Well, don't worry, don't worry, I'll spoil her. She knows it too. She's a diva. She's a bit of a diva. She knows it. She knows dad will do anything for her. She rang daddy yesterday and said, Dad, I need money for roadblocks. Because she knows dad won't say no. So I will give her everything. But that is my drive. That is my that is my intent, not just to help people, but to provide, you know, we all want to give our kids the best life possible or the life that we never got or we envisioned we wanted. And that's what I drive for. That's what I drive for.
SPEAKER_00Yes. So you seem to know your purpose at a really young age, and it was revealed to you from ups and downs, and you right away didn't sit and wallow in it, didn't sit in the blame. You went through what you needed to go through, and then you extracted purpose. You were like the lower I crouch, the higher I jump. Right. You just you just push me down because I'm just gonna knock the ceiling right off of this building. And that's my impression of you.
SPEAKER_01Yep. Thank you. Yeah, well, I said I am a spring. The more you push me down, the more tense I get, the bigger I come back. This is why, you know, why do millionaires that go broke within two years' time become millionaires again? Because they know how to do it. You can push them down, it just makes and they make it makes them want it even more. Like you, you give me adversity, and I will show you the strength to get over it.
SPEAKER_00Mm-hmm. Yep. No, I love this. I love this. Uh to me, there's always a way, absolutely always a way. When I get it in my head and I know it's right, I don't take no for an answer because I do know that if I'm thinking of it, it's there for me. I just have not figured out the way to connect with it yet. But it's got to be there for me, or it would not be an idea. What do you think is? I see so many gifts in you, but I'm just curious because I can I'm gonna share what I see. What do you think is your greatest gift, Stuart?
SPEAKER_01Look, my ability to converse with people, uh I I've always been told people do feel safe and comfortable around you, whether that's I've faced adversity and they can see stability in that, or they know if something, you know, when something goes wrong, this guy will come to the party, calm, collect, and sort it. You know what I mean? And that's confidence and confidence. And I I say that out there, it's the young men of your group as well. That if you be confident, be competent. You will get so much success. If you walk into a job, not sure, they will see it. It's just walk tall, be strong, walk tall.
SPEAKER_00I like that.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, it just, you know, and my famous quote for everything is like my and my drive, and I say it to myself every day, is well, especially when I don't want to do something, is I would rather lose everything than feel like I was worth nothing. Um, that's that's my coin phrase, and what that means there is that I will do I would rather go and try it and fail and lose everything than work in a cubicle and be a number and feel like I was nothing to everybody.
SPEAKER_00Right. Or feel like my life was worthless or feel like I wasn't happy with my life.
SPEAKER_01I'd rather regret I'd rather regret the things I did than the things I didn't.
SPEAKER_00Which is what they say is pretty common that people say on their deathbed, but you're learning it now. So you have an appreciation of life, and I know we when we talked, you shared you had a physical challenge.
SPEAKER_01Yep. Yep.
Illness, Pain, And Using Your Brain
SPEAKER_01So I at a young age as well, around that time my father won Lotto. I uh I was an athlete. I was very much, you know, making my way to the world circuit for surf life saving, you know. Um, I was a beach sprinter, so I ran on dry sand. And now I say to people, run, you know, watch them on the track. That's one thing. Now do it on dry sand. Big difference. A lot more effort, a lot more power needs to go on your run. And I was, I was comp at 14, I was competing against people that were 16. You know, that two years of that puberty, there's a lot of development that goes on. So I had to be harder, stronger, faster. Problem was I got really sick with a rare genetic disorder called writer syndrome. Um, it's I've got an extra gene in my genetic code. One in 3,000 people have it, one in a million set it off. Now, yeah, so I was training, I was an athlete, I was an Iron Man trainer. So that David Goggins style at 14, there, you know, there is no tomorrow. Let's carry the boats, all those famous quotes from him. That's what I was about. That was my life. And then I collapsed. I asked the doctor at 14, Am I going to die? And he turned around to me and said, I don't know. Now that when when you when you're asking a doctor, someone who needs to do that, uh, you don't know. And at the time I didn't know the doctor had taken my mother out of the room and said, You need to prepare yourself just in case we can't find out what's going on. If it's the lesser of evils, he's got Ryder syndrome. If it's not, he's got an autoimmune disease that's going to kill him. So I didn't know that at the time, but obviously they told my mother to be prepared. I was airlifted in the middle of the night from a country town to a very predominant children's hospital in Sydney, Australia. And I spent two weeks there and had to watch the event I've been training for for 12 months, the global uh surf-life saving event. I had to watch that on TV. Now that was very grueling. And after that, my body was never the same. I was always in a lot of pain. That's when, you know, 16, this is where I talk about adversity. That's where 16, you know, smart smoking marijuana, which was a gateway drug, you know, in the early 20s. This is why I say I went with the wrong crowd for a while. Um, it helped with the pain, all that sort of stuff. And I lost my speed. So I never got, I never got back to where I was in my performance level. And at 19, I had a relapse of that illness, and it was in my back, and I couldn't walk, and I had to spend weeks in bed and all that sort of stuff, and lots of painkillers. Um, and my mother said something very defining to me. She said, You can't use your body anymore, you've got to use your brain. So that started my process of okay, I need to open myself up. You're a 19-year-old boy who has no definition of himself, has no emotional intelligence, feels like the world owes him something because it's been taken away from you. You know, so you need to grow and develop through yourself. Obviously, I didn't realize that at the time. I was more like, what am I gonna do? And I slowly just started learning and learning more. And that's when I got into quotations, philosophy, uh, started reading a lot more, understanding, you know, just human psychology and the behavioral conditions of people. And that's when I started to notice a lot of things and define my own self-identity. Because as a you know, a teenager, you've got, I can tell you now, most boys have their head up the backside. Um, you know, so they think they're indestructible. Things like what happened to me made me realize at a young age you are not indestructible and you need to take every moment as if it's your last. Live like there is no tomorrow, because there's a good chance there may not be.
SPEAKER_00It's an incredible story. And it's so, I guess if you had kept going that way, mean you would have been magnificent at it, no doubt, because everything you touch, you're really good at. But when you think about it, if you had kept going that way, it's almost like you wouldn't be here having this conversation and doing all these other things that you're doing, because uh everything would have been focused on that and on that performance. And I don't know if you would have rounded yourself out and integrated the head, the heart, the gut. I think you just would have gone with like Iron Man, like physicality.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. I'm strong. I would have your purpose is here, Stuart. Um, so my purpose here at the moment, and my uh light's just gone off. Great. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So I'll get you to repeat your question again, and we'll so I think your life kind of shifted you in a really dramatic way to say, hey, hey, like this isn't what this isn't what we want you here for. This is great, but we want you here for other things, different things. And that if that hadn't happened, you would not have come to be who you are. So as awful and painful, I can't even imagine being told that you might die when you're 14. I could not even imagine that, or 19, or being the athlete that you were on top of it all, but it was like you were banking your wealth on that, and then poof, you know, it just got taken from you.
SPEAKER_01It was all taken away, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, obviously, whenever something's all taken away, instead of sitting with that for a very long, again, here you are, and you're like, okay, so what do I do now instead of just sitting in it? You said, There's gotta be something, there's gotta be something that I can do about it, and you did, and you took the time to develop your mind, and you took the time to develop your connection with humanity inside on a soul level, on a philosophical level, not just on the physical level, which is also part of life, but that wasn't gonna be your path. And um I think so. What I had asked you was, what is your what's your purpose? Like, why why do you think you're here?
Purpose, Wealth Skills, And Relief
SPEAKER_01I feel like I you know, I ran with the wrong crowd when I was younger, and I feel as if I can now if I can help a lot of people with the knowledge I've gained within wealth management or creation of wealth, that's what a lot of people strive for. You know, everyone wants to feel a bit of respite or a bit of easy breathing to paying the bills, you know. I mean, there's nothing worse than having to we've in Australia we've got registration on your car, you've got to pay insurance, there's a it's a big expense, and a lot of people have to prepare for three months if if they can actually pay it. Um, so it's more just teaching people how to manage their wealth so they can be a bit more comfortable in the sense of, oh, that bill's coming up, that's okay, I've got it covered. There's none of that worry, there's none of that concern. You know, if they want to take it all the way and and become that seven figure, go for it. A lot of what I teach is scalable in that sense. I'm a strong believer in scaling up, like they was talking about levels and so forth. So, my purpose now is obviously my daughter raising her, but also helping a lot of people. I believe I'm you know having children made me realize that uh I need to leave this world better than when I found it. And if I can do that for her, it'll be better for her and easier for her. So that's my biggest one. Um, and I sort of want to back step on there. There was a quote that really I found out very young when I was young by Marcus Aurelius, and that's uh he said, believe you've died, now live every now go and live. And that's not word for word what it is, but the sense of it is I've already believed you have already died, now life really begins. In other words, kill that person you were for the person you need to be.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely, yes. And I I have his books too, yes, big fan, big fan of Marcus Aurelius, and um lived a totally different way. One of my yoga students actually gave his book to me, one of his books, and I quoted it all the time because he's just he was a revolutionary at the time. So what's next for you?
Building An AI Tool That Helps
SPEAKER_01Currently working on an AI project. So I'm working around AI. Um, obviously, that's the big buzzword right now on that topic. And a lot of people think because my life work is in crypto uh or cryptocurrency that are you gonna make an automated trader or you're doing something automated? No, no, I'm trying to build a tool that solves a problem for people because you know, ease of use and all that sort of stuff. So there's more to come in that, but uh definitely working on something new and around AI that's gonna help.
SPEAKER_00I just yeah, I'm just so impressed with the work that you're doing and what you continue to do, and that you seem to have very much. We talk on the podcast about integrating the head, the heart, and the gut. And I know it's so important to trust the gut, and so important to trust the heart. And so many people, it's like we're walking around like we're just brains on a stick, basically.
SPEAKER_01I think a lot of people are conditioned that way through schooling, you know, you're told to sit down, start time at this time, you get a half an hour or an hour break, and then you get to go home at this time. That's conditioning for a nine to five, you know what I mean? That's uh I feel people aren't in alignment because they're told what to do, but deep down they know that doesn't really work. And that's okay. Well, yeah.
SPEAKER_00So no, and I so appreciate your doing this. And it is late year time. I really, really do appreciate this. So what's next for you sounds like it's just what's the next good thing. And I want to say what you give people, and I'll probably want to talk with you privately after this at some point. What you give people is uh it's a sense of security and stability so that they can go on to do what it is that they want to do. Because I've been in this situation where I didn't have any money and I didn't have a place to live for a short while. And it was not good sleeping on somebody's couch. It was in between, but I knew you know it wasn't permanent, but it was not what I had planned for my life. And I've been poor and um I don't like it, you know, I did not like it. So if you can help somebody get on their feet and you can help somebody that is just getting by, or somebody gets nervous and has to put bills in an envelope for when they get paid their next paycheck, that's a huge freedom because I was not thinking about my enlightenment when I was putting tips in an envelope to make sure that I could have enough food for that short period of my time. And um, I think what you're doing for people is giving them a safe feeling so that they can then launch and be who they want to be and go after those dreams because they're not worried about just paying the bills. When I ask people what success was, I went to the people that listen to me. And um, most of the people that I work with don't actually live where I am. I'm new in South Carolina. So most of my people in other places in the US, and then a couple in the UK. And I asked them about success, and one of the moms told me, and I mean, the dad has a business now, they're very, very wealthy. She said success at one point was just not having to sleep in my car. I spent almost a year going, and I thought, oh my gosh, you know, so success can be that for somebody, but you're getting into the point where they're feeling comfortable enough with their finances, and money is so uh, it's so ridden with beliefs and old conditioning and and limiting beliefs. And just it's it's an obstacle and it's a problem for so many people until they realize that money is just energy and that we all have this inherent worth just because we're born and we're here, or we wouldn't be here if we weren't worthy just by being here of having that abundance in our lives. So, what you're doing for people is fantastic.
Where To Find Stuart Online
SPEAKER_00Where can people find you?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, look, so you uh so I mostly work around uh with contracting with other people. If they're looking for me, come to find me online. Um, you know, I'll get you, I'll I'll hand you over my uh Facebook profile. People come and find me there. I'm very public, very transparent of what I'm doing, where I am in the world. So, you know, and I'm always open to the conversation. So if there's anybody out there in the community uh who want to have a chat with me, reach out through Facebook. You'll find me there. I'm very open about what I do. And, you know, come and have a chat. If you're facing some adversity, you need some help, some pointers, I'm more than happy to go, look, I can resonate with you. I know what I I've dealt with something similar. This is how I took my approach and how I overcome it.
SPEAKER_00Thank you so much. Thank you so much because a lot of the people, almost everybody that I work with, is young, um, in school, out of school, just barely out of school. And then some people that own their own businesses, but I know they could benefit from talking to somebody like you. I will see, but especially through the people that are starting out.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and I will say that those people who are in that transition, whether you're coming out of high school and going to university, don't worry. You've got time. You are young, you have a lot to learn, but that's where it gets exciting because you get to learn. There's so much for you to learn, and there's so much for you to grasp. That should be exciting for you.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and keeping that excitement, keeping that spark alive, keeping that curiosity alive.
Affirmations, Service, And Final Advice
SPEAKER_00Do you have a practice that you do to energize yourself or keep yourself centered or grounded at all? Or do you just roll this way?
SPEAKER_01No, so I I it's become a bit of a muscle memory. So I do roll somewhere that way. But when I was starting to really get myself in there, like I've I've had those depression, depressive moments. I've been depressed, I've seen the valleys, I've seen the peaks. Always get up. There's always try five affirmations towards yourself every day. I, you know, I am good, I am great, I can do this. I will I will do one nice task for somebody in the planet today, whether that's just give someone a tip, or whether it's, you know, hey, I found your wallet, or you know, you see an old lady crossing the road, give her a hand. You know, those sort of things. Do it, do at least five affirmations towards yourself every day. They can be what you want, but try and get them to distill the harmony that you want to perceive yourself as. Because words are energy. And if you speak these words, that positivity, I'm a strong believer in manifestation, hence the I think, therefore I am. So, you know, it's hard to when I find adversity, it's hard for adversity now to beat me because I think, therefore, I am a I'm a rock. So you can't break me. Um, so and this is what you know, I'm a strong believer in that. So affirmations to yourself, words are energy, manifestation, I believe, is real, and you really need to tune yourself into it. And for all these young men out there, on a final note, go and define who you are. Don't let events define you, define who you are. That's gold.
SPEAKER_00That's absolute gold. Thank you for that. Thank you.
SPEAKER_01No worries. And uh yeah, thanks for having me, sorry. It's been an absolute pleasure. I love this conversation.
SPEAKER_00Well, thank you so much. I absolutely love this, and I think you're going to reach a lot of people that you wouldn't normally reach in your network, and you're gonna your conversation is gonna reach the right ears, and you're gonna change some lives. So thank you for being a part of it.
SPEAKER_01No worries, thank you so much. Thank you.