S2 E6. The Gift of Ambition: The Entrepreneur's Journey with Stuart Barnes

What happens when highly visible, raw talent isn’t backed up by a solid work ethic? For Stuart Barnes, it meant a professional cricket career that ended after just two years. In this episode of Origin to Ambition, Stuart shares the honest story of his transition from a "failed professional cricketer" to an elite bowling, leadership, and management coach.

Stuart discusses the critical turning point in his life: looking in the mirror after becoming a father for the first time, taking absolute personal accountability, and committing to continuous growth. He shares how legendary coach John Bracewell gave him the "gift of ambition," prompting him to aim for the role of England fast bowling coach and shifting his perspective from simple technical training to the deeper principles of leadership and team dynamics.

Now running Stuart Barnes Consulting, Stuart unpacks the practical systems he uses to help others succeed. He breaks down the value of simplicity, how to use a perceived lack of confidence to drive meticulous preparation, the difference between pure coaching and mentoring, and his "one thing" rule for daily productivity and mental clarity.

Connect with our guest, Stuart Barnes:

Website: Stuart Barnes Consulting

In This Episode, We Discuss:

• [01:09] – The "failed professional cricketer" realization: Raw talent vs. habits and work ethic.
• [02:15] – The turning point: Stepping away from blame and taking personal responsibility.
• [11:37] – The COVID-19 pivot: Launching virtual video reviews and establishing structured coaching programs.
• [16:32] – Leadership vs. Management: Why some experts do it "their way" and how to lead by example.
• [22:46] – Designing a circle of advisors: Seeking out people who ask uncomfortable, growth-inducing questions.
• [28:42] – "Simplicity is Genius": Stripping away complexity and looking at the person behind the fast bowler.
• [31:45] – Overcoming a lack of confidence by out-preparing everyone else
• [44:54] – The "One Thing" Rule: Staying productive, closing mental loops, and managing daily energy.
• [50:19] – Reclaiming time: Transitioning from trading time for money to building structured systems for family life.
• [57:37] – Is entrepreneurship for everyone? A unique "Yes" perspective.

Key Takeaways from the Conversation:

• Own Your Progress: Stuart’s transition started when he stopped blaming external factors and took complete ownership of his habits and behavior.
• Value Simplicity: In both sports and business, complexity can lead to stagnation. Committing to a simple, clear message or system allows for better execution and growth.
• Focus on the "One Thing": To avoid leaving "open loops" that cause stress, identify the single most critical task of the day, execute it, and complete it before moving on.
• Seek Uncomfortable Sounding Boards: Avoid relying solely on friends for business or life advice. True development comes from coaches and mentors who are willing to ask challenging questions.
• The Power of Pure Coaching: Real growth happens when a leader or coach stops providing immediate solutions (mentoring) and instead asks questions that prompt self-reflection and personal accountability.

Connect with Sean Dunne & Origin to Ambition:

Website: https://dominiumcapital.com.au/dominium/

LinkedIn: https://au.linkedin.com/in/sean-dunne-76067429

Thank you for tuning in to Origin to Ambition!

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. It helps us reach more aspiring entrepreneurs just like you. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hi, I'm Sean Dunn, and welcome to this episode of Origin to Ambition: The Entrepreneur's Journey. In this episode, I speak with Stuart Barnes. Stuart Barnes is an English cricketer. He played first-class cricket and has been an elite cricket coach for many, many years. He's the owner and founder of Stuart Barnes Consulting. And I think what you'll find very interesting in this episode is a lot of crossovers between elite coaching in sports and business and how that translates across to business operations, business ownership, and business mindset. So I think you'll really enjoy this one. So sit back and relax and enjoy this episode of Origin to Ambition. Welcome to Origin to Ambition, the show where we explore the small business entrepreneurs' journey in business. I'm your host, Sean Dunn. Let's get into it. Stuart Barnes, welcome to Origin to Ambition, and I uh appreciate you being on this episode and having a chat with me.

SPEAKER_01 0:56

Yeah, thanks. I've been looking forward to this one.

SPEAKER_00 0:59

Good. This one's gonna be a bit different for me as well. I think it might be a bit different for you, and we'll uh I'm sure we're gonna pull plenty of nuggets out of this, so I really do appreciate it. So I'm just gonna dive straight into it. And can you just tell us a little bit about yourself and your background? I I know a bit about your background, and I'm what they describe as a cricket tragic, so I'm sort of a toss that for those of our listeners who are not cricket tragics. Can you take us through a bit of your background and before you stepped into running consulting and coaching business?

SPEAKER_01 1:27

Sure, yeah. So I'm now 55. When I was 18, 19, it was pretty clear that I had a lot of talent as a cricketer. I now, on reflection, view myself in a very positive sense a failed professional cricketer. By that I mean highly talented, and we all know them, highly talented, low work ethic, poor habits. So my talent got me opportunities, open doors. But of course, you can only open so many doors before actually you've got to start having the other attributes to keep pushing and keep progressing. And I got found out after two years. I didn't know that when I was in it at the time. And so after two years, it should have been a 12, 15-year professional playing career, should have played for England. That's why we kept being told anyway. But I thought that it was all quite easy because I was just relying on my talent. When it all finished after two years, I spent two or three years blaming everybody else for the ending of my professional career. But then it coincided with me becoming a father for the first time, and I looked at myself in the mirror and suddenly thought, this is all you, Stuart. It's nobody else's thought that you are no longer a professional cricketer. I was still playing at the time. But from that moment on, I vowed never to make the same mistakes again. So yes, talenting is one thing, but actually started getting my head around, okay, what is it I do want to do? What is the person I need to become in order to achieve that? And then all of a sudden start answering the questions of who do I need to be around? What are the habits, routines I need in place? So I gave myself an aiming point and then worked out what needed to happen in order for me to become that person to achieve that, which I'd never did when I was playing. So I do see me as a failed professional cricketer in a very positive sense because since that time when I looked in the mirror, I can look back, and it hasn't all been great. There's been lots of failures in there, which I think is a really important part of the journey. But actually, I look back with a lot of pride with who I have become, and now I coach to help people not make the same mistakes as I made when I had that opportunity in front of me as well. So that's at the core of my coaching philosophy. But in a nutshell, that's pretty much my origin story, really.

SPEAKER_00 3:54

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So can you take me through the name of your consulting business? We call it that.

SPEAKER_01 4:01

Yeah, it's Stuart Barnes Consulting. It is a limited company. It's one of those where I don't consider myself to be anything other than Stuart Barnes. I've got some knowledge. Some people would see it as expertise. I guess I do as well to a certain degree, but I've got something that I believe is of interest and in demand. And I kind of, yeah, okay, Stuart Barnes' consulting. Never been a consultant before. Well, let's give it a go, sort of thing. So that's who I'm kind of operating at. There's a Stuart Brown's coaching element to it, which is a heavy part of it. Yeah. But then I'm interested in some other areas in expanding into a couple of other areas as well. But that's pretty much the business.

SPEAKER_00 4:46

So what inspired you to start? Like, may see my best to someone who played sport, but what inspired you to start a coaching, consulting business?

SPEAKER_01 4:56

Um well, what inspired me to coach was an old primary school teacher who I'm still in contact with now. And I think that through life we stumble across, stumble into, spend time with people that are inspirational, give us energy, we hang on their every words. And it's not everybody, but there's something about these people that come along every now and then. And Mr. Haywood at Fosway Primary School in Bath, I didn't know at the time, was my first coach. He wasn't technical, he wasn't tactical. He was just a teacher in the classroom, but he was also a bloody good sports coach. And it was sport really that I felt the most confident being on the grass, football, bit of rugby, cricket. And it was Mr. Haywood. So he was my first inspiration. And then when through playing cricket as a youngster, I started working with a number of other like coaches, some of which I didn't connect with, and that's fine, that happens. But those that I did, I absorbed everything as a player, and I didn't know it at the time, but it just kind of sticks with you. What the things, what are the people and the things that they say and they do and they lead by example that sticks with you. And so I am who I am now today because of all the people that I've encountered on that journey. And I don't get it right all the time, and I think that's really important that you put yourself in situations where you do fail because you understand then there's still more to add. But Mr. Hayward was the first one, and I was only like 10 years old. But looking back, he was the first one that inspired me to become a coach at some point in the future, and that's exactly what happened.

SPEAKER_00 6:40

When can you put your finger on a point where coaching became more than just coaching cricket and actually becoming a business, really? Um evolved, if you know what I'm sort of getting at. Like coaching's one thing, but evolving it into a consulting business was sort of a pivotal time that occurred.

SPEAKER_01 6:58

There's no doubt in my mind that the person that kind of opened my eyes to that and gave me the curiosity to lean into that was John Bracewell. Like I was already a coach by then, so my playing career had finished. John Bracewell was first team coach at Gloucestershire. This is before he became New Zealand head coach. And John was an inspiration to Gloucestershire. He all of a sudden, out of nowhere, we started winning one-day trophies and all that kind of stuff. But what John instilled in me was he had done some leadership consulting for a company called Leading Teams. That I I'm not even sure if they've made it into the Northern Hemisphere, but they certainly be in Australia, and New Zealand. And so John would do things like, I want you to read this book, not just the coach or me, but the whole squad. So I want you to read this book called Leading Teams.

SPEAKER_00 7:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:58

Don McLean, I think. And then he would say, Right, now I want you to buy this book, Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Lencioni. And so he would do that, so you'd read it, and then when you're in the same room as John, we would talk about it and pull out the lessons. It wasn't about bowling a ball, hitting the ball, it was about teamship and how teams, high-performing teams, operate and what are the key attributes in every team, whether it's in the boardroom or whether it's on the cricket field.

SPEAKER_00 8:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:31

And so John was definitely undoubtedly the person that really opened my eyes to there is more to life than a cricket field, a bag of cricket balls. That there was that. And the other thing that John gave me, and this was his gift to me, and I've since learned he's given this gift to many other people and players that he's worked with, and that was the gift of ambition. And so John was unrelenting in saying, no, Barnesy, who is it? What is it that you want to achieve? What is it? And nobody ever did that when I was a player.

SPEAKER_00 9:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:06

And John just kept pushing, and we had coffees together. I consider him a good friend. And I ended up with an aiming point of becoming the England fast bowling coach. And as soon as I got that point, then it became what are the systems that you need in place? What do you need to do to become that person? Because you're not that person at the moment. You're an assistant coach at Gloucestershire. Yeah. So if you're already that person, you'd already be the England fast bowling coach. Is the kind of journey that we went on. So undoubtedly, Sean, the the point was John Bracewell, the gift of ambition and just leaning into my curiosity itch of consulting whatever it's called, but things outside of the cricket field to help me grow. That was it.

SPEAKER_00 9:57

So would you credit him then with the idea specifically, but being pushed to commercialise what you do?

SPEAKER_01 10:05

Looking back, yes, at the time I didn't really know what was going on. Yeah. I think he was just there's more to getting up in the morning than just looking after the bowling group. There's more to it. You need to become a leader in a certain way to resonate and inspire that person in your bowling group. Yeah. And actually to a slightly different hat on to work with that person and truly connect with that person in your bowling group. The other point that I would say is COVID, the pandemic, because we all had a lot of time on our hands, and I was thinking, and I was bowling coach at Somerset at the time. Of course, we all spent a lot of time at home. I thought we did. And with time, you're thinking, what am I going to do with this additional time? So that is when I then created a website, started marketing, inviting people to send me their bowling videos. Yep. And I would get an online call with them and I'd go through it. And then I thought, oh, so there's something in this. So it began with COVID and it began with the simple things of inviting people to send me their bowling videos. And then since then, was that six years ago, it's become a little bit more than that. I've set up programs, tiered programs, and now becoming a leadership management coach almost at the end of that qualification. So that was the point really where I kind of pulled the trigger on all these things that I didn't learn previous to that, really.

SPEAKER_00 11:37

I'm always interested in this type of story. You know, my financial advisory business deals with small business owners, and a lot of them do fall into the sport coaching category. And I find it interesting that oftentimes it's the business owner that's kind of falling into the business ownership, if that makes sense. Like almost they're really good at a particular skill set and they've got a passion for that skill set, and it almost accidentally occurs that it becomes a commercial, you know, enterprise and endeavour. And so it kind of, and tell me if I'm wrong, I'm not trying to put words in your mouth, but it kind of feels a bit like that's how it evolved for you. You're coaching, coaching, coaching, and then you know, then it just kind of grew from that rather than you sitting out to coach to run a business, if that makes sense, I suppose.

SPEAKER_01 12:24

Throughout my life, and I think in most people's lives, if they truly kind of sit back and reflect, we kind of bounce around it with opportunities that are in front of us. Yep. And it's one of the things I've got two young boys, and I will encourage them to try everything, do everything, try everything, say yes, give it a crack. Because it's only then, you know, what we're here for. I truly believe that, you know, we can design it as much as we want, but we might actually be here for a completely different reason. And so by giving everything a crack, you'll hit upon something that you think, actually, this feels good. I'm really curious about that. Actually, I'm pretty good at this. So you're right. I didn't design it. I didn't design coaching. I only started coaching right the way back all those years ago because I knew I was good at cricket and I knew that I loved the game and I couldn't play the game professionally anymore. Let's give it a crack, sort of thing. So that's the only reason why I'm in coaching, and I guess because it was the only thing I knew, and then it kind of works from there, really. I didn't know that coaching was my thing, but yeah, I think you're right. I think in most cases, you know, you don't necessarily design it exactly. You might have a bit of an idea, yeah, but then it it kind of appears somewhere and you lean into it, really.

SPEAKER_00 13:43

Yeah, and so then do you find after you've gone into this endeavor you use your experience in sport and coaching, and then therefore, as a good coach, you're leading, or if you're a good coach, I presume you're the leader, that's how I see it. Do you then start to realise that you start applying those principles and that mindset to your business? Like even if you didn't design it as a business, you then start to say, Oh, well, hold on, what I need to do is, and you sort of then systemize things and like you probably would when you're trying to coach an elite athlete.

SPEAKER_01 14:17

Just going back to your your comment there about my experience, not all coaches are great leaders. Oh, okay. My experience is we don't know we lead, we just do stuff. But when you're up in front of a group of players or even one individual, if you have an influence, if you become however you get there in a position of influence, all of a sudden you become a leader. Now, you take a player that has had a successful playing career and they do it their way, that is the only way that they know. Yeah. And I think geniuses, majority of them are geniuses because they are blinkered and they're bloody good at something and they do it their way. Not necessarily all of them, some are, not all of them are open-minded with their eyes wide about okay, that's how they do it. Maybe I need to do that sort of thing. And lots of people only do it their way. So a player that's had a success, long successful playing career, not all of them necessarily have the language skills, the saying less is more, the value of silence, the value of questioning, the value of being seen in the gym because leading by example and physically, I'm asking you to do something really physical and it hurts some of it. But you know what? Without me saying anything, I'm gonna do it as well. So you can see me willing to put myself through everything I'm asking you to do. So not every coach I think is a great leader. I started in primary schools. So I started with a bunch of eight-year-olds, 38-year-olds, as part of the grounding of my coaching career. But that on reflection, it was bloody hard work. But on reflection, planning, simple language, organization, the right kit, being there on time, having presence, inspiring, having fun, engaging with everybody. You only kind of learn those skills by being on the coal face. And this is where I think that I am grateful now, WASIP's hardwork at the time. I'm grateful now that I worked at that level for a couple of years and then progressed up through, and then at the same time, I was improving my knowledge of bowling because I was really a good bowler, but I didn't know how I did what I did. So surround myself with good people who what are the people or the groups that I can surround myself with that make it uncomfortable for me? Challenge me. Where are the environments that it's high challenge, high support? And you're right, leadership is not micromanaging, and I've come across a lot of coaches that do that. Leadership is empowering.

SPEAKER_00 17:05

Do you mind if I jump in, Stuart? So all the things you just said about leadership, so they're the things I would say a part of being a good coach, not just a coach. So I I think an exceptional coach would be a leader, is what I would say. But I'd also be interested because I think everything you just said applies in business and like even corporate life. You know, I think executives and managers probably should exhibit the characteristics and the listening skills and the I can do this work too. I'm asking you to do something that I and will do that they're very transferable to business.

SPEAKER_01 17:42

I would argue. I used to work for Barclays Bank years and years ago. I I've not really had a lot of exposure to the corporate world, business world, but I'm married to Emily, who worked in London City for a while, and so we talk about stuff, and it's very clear to me that maybe there is in some businesses a lack of leadership. Maybe there's a lack of clarity of what leadership is because it's not managing, it's not, you know, you get somebody in front of you, what are their strengths? How can we use their strengths in the business sense? Yeah. And this is the task I want you to do. I trust you to do it, go and do it your own way, report back into me periodically. That's all I ask you to do. But absolutely, I look back and I didn't know it at the time, but all of this stuff over the last 27 years at professional level, starting the primary schools and also kind of international world-up finals and all that kind of stuff. I didn't know it at the time, but I'm absorbing all of these observations and habits and language and good leadership and poor leadership, good behaviour, poor behaviour. And they absolutely go on everywhere in the world, whether you're in an office or whether on a sports grant for sure.

SPEAKER_00 19:01

Yeah, absolutely. I was also interested in something you just said around having a team around you, so pushing you and prodding you and forcing you to grow. And I guess I'm trying to translate this across to business, you know. A lot of the people listening to this will be business owners or aspiring business owners, you know. We always talk about having the right team in place before you start. Now, that's easier said than done if you haven't got a lot of money to spend on having a team and you might have to lean into your contacts and your networks necessarily. But did you see that you were doing that when you were sort of starting into this consulting coaching world? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:37

Yeah. So there's a couple of things there. One one is I believe as soon as you become clearer on what it is you want to do, then working out who is already good at what you want to do, connect with them. Yeah. Because my experience of most people, if you reach out to them and ask them questions, they actually they're quite grateful for you to reach out, and you get a lot of good free information and knowledge just by reaching out to people. So if you're clear or you're interested in looking at a certain angle, who are the people already doing what you're doing? Get close to them. And the other thing that I would highly recommend, and this is something that I have paid for along the way, but most of it is just free advice, is having your own personal coach.

SPEAKER_00 20:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:24

You know, we all know people, all right, some of which are good friends. I would avoid good friends and I would kind of gravitate towards having a conversation with somebody that makes me slightly uncomfortable.

SPEAKER_00 20:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:40

Because those are the people that ask you the tough questions that get you to dig deep. And by shying away from those people, you could be missing out on scraping away some layers that that that you may be protecting yourself from. You know, what are the what are you not doing that you should be doing or looking at? What do you avoid doing? What are the questions you are avoiding asking yourself in order to become better and grow? So I I having um a coach or coach is is definitely another option that I would highly recommend for people.

SPEAKER_00 21:17

That's excellent. We talk about entrepreneurs to be successful, you have to be looking to always grow, you know, grow your mind, grow your experience, you know, just growth mindset, which I know is a big cliche, but it's a cliche for a reason. And that's what you're saying, you know, get that person who's gonna prod you and you grow through discomfort. So that's the person, yeah. You don't want your best mate that you're gonna go down the pub and have a pint with and they're gonna say, Yeah, yeah, yeah, mate, everything's good, don't worry. You want that person who's, you know, pushing you and prodding you.

SPEAKER_01 21:49

Yeah. And my experience of good mates is that not all the time, I mean, they wouldn't do it intentionally necessarily, but if you're good mates with somebody and they can see you crazy. Growing and changing, it could make them uncomfortable because you're not the same person as them anymore. And so family family members are absolute classics. Yeah. Where now what do you want to do that for? What do you want to risky doing that sort of thing? So lots of people unintentionally, maybe even subconsciously, want you to stay at the same level as them because it will show them up their weaknesses up. So that's something just to be aware of. I'm not saying that family members and really good mates are doing stuff like that intentionally, but have your antenna up, have a conversation with people. And if you feel uncomfortable or if they're asking you questions about you and your antenna is kind of alarm bells a little bit, lean into it because they might be the person you need.

SPEAKER_00 22:52

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. No, that's great. I think that's great advice. We often talk about business owners finding success through finding a niche in whatever it is that they do. And your niche seems to be fast bowling when you talk about coaching. Um, is that fair?

SPEAKER_01 23:09

That's definitely been the vehicle, and probably always will be, but then I start asking the questions, well, what makes a fast bowler? It's what we see on the park in front of 50,000 people, is the consequence of everything that has happened when nobody else is watching.

SPEAKER_00 23:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:28

The person, the habits, what happens the day before, the week before, what's the six months prior to that as well. So, yes, the vehicle is fast bowling, but then the person that is the fast bowler is definitely something that I as much interested, if not more interested, because without that person, you would you haven't got the fast bowler. But you could apply that to anybody, the COO. You know, who is the best in the world? Well, why are they best? And what's the avatar piecing that together? So it's the same sort of process. And I reckon it's only over the last like 10 years, maybe, I've looked at it from a slightly different angle. So, yes, fast bowling for sure, but it's the ingredients that go into that that you can apply everywhere, really.

SPEAKER_00 24:14

So would you agree that your niche or your niche of how you started gave you that traction and momentum early, you know, to grow the business then and then give you that time and space to expand, you know, into the areas you're talking about?

SPEAKER_01 24:31

Yeah, so my mission is when I worked at the Oval, and I've been so fortunate to work at a number of environments and organizations, we used to walk up into the team room, and outside the team room was a plaque, simplicity is genius, and that has stuck with me because there are so many people out there in the world, I guess it's coincided with the boom in social media. Complexity is the enemy of growth because if you get too detailed, you don't move anywhere because you got bogged down in the weeds, and so simplicity is genius. So my mission is it definitely gave me traction because I I have a lot of insecurities like everybody else. And I my vulnerability is a lack of confidence, but people are really interested in what I've done over 27 years. World Cup final against India, you know, working with Peterson, Ponting, AMLA, and all the other really, really good people and cricketers. So people are really interested in what I've done. And so my mission is simplicity is genius, I don't complicate anything. I've had exposure to elite level, but my mission is to bang away the perception that the knowledge that I've got is only available at the elite level. My mission is to work with as many people as possible, whatever age, ability, level they are playing at, and give them those insights in a way that they know this is how it applies to them at their level. So that's my kind of niche and getting to know the person. So my additional qualifications, NLP, master practitioner, the way the brain works, behaviors, that I find that fascinating. I read books and this leadership management course. I'm really, really interested in working with business leaders or anyone within business. Yes, of course, talking about the insights from the sporting team, but you're absolutely right. That then applies to the corporate and business world as well. But fast bowling is the vehicle for sure, and then it's everything else around side.

SPEAKER_00 26:44

Yeah, absolutely. You just said something that interested me there that you said you've your vulnerability was lack of confidence. And that can happen to anyone, and we're all lacking confidence at some point, um, in some circumstance. What did you what do you do or did you do to overcome that and use it, you know, to propel yourself forwards?

SPEAKER_01 27:07

Honesty with myself, I don't think I'm good enough is the catalyst for I'm gonna do more preparation than anybody else. I'm going to learn more than anybody else. I'm going to learn how to speak, how to. So I, for a long time until recently, because we've recently moved, Toastmasters, standing up in front of a group of people used to frighten the life out of me. And yeah, I've done it for 20 odd years in front of teams. But how can I do it better? What's the language I am saying without the verbal language, my body language? How can I use that to my advantage? So insecurity, am I good enough? Is the catalyst for I'm gonna look at things at different angles to everybody else. I'm not going to rely on me being me, I'm gonna become a better person, whatever better looks like. I'm gonna keep growing. And I think that started when I looked at myself in the mirror, saying, I cannot keep blaming everybody else. It's me. This is my fault. And now never making the same mistake again. I actually quite like the fact that deep inside my belief is am I good enough to do this? Because that is the driver to keep pushing forward.

SPEAKER_00 28:22

Sean Dunn here, and thank you for watching this episode of Origin to Ambition, The Entrepreneur's Journey. I'm a financial advisor who specializes in working with small business entrepreneurs and high-income earning executives. We analyse cash flow, build assets, and protect those assets to help our clients do what they want when they want with the people that they want to do it with. So if that's of interest to you, head over to our website and book an initial discovery call, and I'd look forward to speaking with you. I'm fascinated with this because, and I'm sorry to keep referencing business, but I see great parallels. It's actually, again, I've why I wanted to talk to you on this podcast because in fact, I I don't want to go, so this is my problem, Stuart. Once I go down a rabbit hole, I'll just keep going. I'll keep going. So do it. There's a couple of things. So I do see great parallels. And the one thing I wanted to say or explore just off what you just said, is sometimes I encounter business owner clients who have got in what I see in their business, they don't see it. You know, they've got the core of a really good business. They're good at what they do, but they need to shift their behavior to become more successful. And success is different for everyone. You know, I'm not talking about them becoming multi-millionaires and, you know, global tycoons or anything like that. But talking about making sure that they're comfortable with, you know, sending their two kids to the school that they wanted to go to and paying off the mortgage at home, you know, just success for them. But sometimes there's that resistance to change. And I think that lack of confidence often plays into that. But do you have any insights from your practices about how you get past that stage? Because you said yourself there, I just sort of looked at myself and said, Well, I can't blame anyone else for this. This is on me now. I mean, I just did an examination a nearly two months ago in New Zealand and I spent eight weeks with a fear of failure. Like, that's probably my weakness is I I can't stand the idea of trying something and failing, sort of thing. So I'm almost like scared to fail, so I'll work hard type thing. But how do you get someone? I'm just keen on your insights because I think this applies in businesses, equally in sporting business life.

SPEAKER_01 30:40

So the business equivalent, and all you've just said there, I'm I cast my mind back to reading a book called Hunger in Paradise. Now, Hunger in Paradise gave a number of examples of businesses that that just say, nah, this is the way we've always done it, we're successful, this is just the way we're gonna keep continue doing. So the example they gave was Nokia back in the 80s, 90s, or whatever. And they were warned about this company from the US called Apple and the iPhone. Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, this is just the way we're all gonna. So that was very much closed thinking, nah, nobody's gonna touch us, we've got X billions in the bank, all this kind of stuff. And the book Hunger in Paradise is an interesting one because it just gives example after example of stubbornness. Yep. Where, nah, this is who we are, this is what we're gonna continue doing. And yet, even back then and throughout the history of mankind, there are threats everywhere, and we need to be open to that. So just because what works now doesn't necessarily mean it's gonna work in next year or five years' time, because the world is changing quicker now than you than ever before. And so, you know, knock it now is no more because this is the way we do things around here, we're just gonna continue to do it. Apple, yeah, we've seen it before, they're a fad, they come and go, sort of thing. The cricket equivalent would be something like you've seen the advent of T20. I want to play in the IPL. This is a play, you know. I want to play in the IPL. Well, you're not currently playing in the IPL, so what needs to change? What do you need to add? What do you need to take away in order for you to become that player to do well here in the T-20 blast here in the UK, go to the Big Bash, play franchise tournaments in order to perform well on those sort of wickets against those sort of players and get drafted in your IPL? Yeah, but you know, uh, I know I need to bowl quicker. What do I need to do to do that? Well, you probably need to train differently, train like a sprinter, tweak your action, break your action down, and then build it back up, sort of thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah, but I've got this other, you know, I've got enough time for that sort of thing. So, in my experience, there is often a lot of chat about evolving and change, but it can be quite frightening for people because they need to do something different and they might be comfortable doing what they're doing, especially if they're successful. I'll give you one more example. Chris Wokes, I had the pleasure of working with him, not very often actually, because he was on England duty, but two weeks before he was travelling with England so the World Cup in India, 50 year old World Cup in India, two weeks before that, he came to me and said, Right, I really feel that my in-swinging just needs a little bit of work. I'm not quite happy with it. And we just played about the stuff. We call it a go mad session. It's like strip everything down. And we had a number of sessions close to him getting on the plane to that World Cup, where he was still looking to add to his game. So adding to his game is basically changing. He was open to change, which is the reason why you get these people that stay at the very top end of the game, the very top end of the CEOs of businesses and all that kind of stuff, because they are open to tweaking who they are and what they do in order to stay ahead of the evolving kind of businesses they might be working in. So change can be frightening for some people, and that's okay, but don't say we need to do this, and again, and then leading by example.

SPEAKER_00 34:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:29

Being open to changing in order to show your teen who you are influencing that it's okay to change and do things differently. As long as you don't lose the core of you know the values of the organization and all this kind of stuff, of course, that stays the same. But how you do it, they can be tweaked.

SPEAKER_00 34:50

I think you talked about fear of change there, and I was sort of referencing it along the lines of like confidence, and maybe they're similar, you know, I'm not confident to change, I'm scared of change, I guess. Is there a point where you know you can lead a horse to water but you can't make a drink? Like if the person's not ready, they're just not ready. I mean, you can tell someone all day long you need to change, or let's change this, or let's try that, and let's try and improve your overhead because you could improve. So as an advisor, I can see the future of the I'm not off to Darman, by the way, but I don't mean. But I can see that in their future, you know, there's real improvement that could be had just by making a couple of changes here and there. But some people are really resistant, and I just find that you can't butt heads with those. You can't butt heads. You have to sort of that person has to come to that in their own time. You know, I'm and I'm relating that back to an athlete, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 35:43

Yeah. When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.

SPEAKER_00 35:48

Fair enough. Fair enough.

SPEAKER_01 35:51

Yeah. Yeah, so you're right, and I'm really enjoying this qualification I'm taking because it's all about I thought I would I've been coaching for 27 years, but actually, for the majority, I've been mentoring. I've been trying to come up with solutions for people's problems. Yeah. Pure coaching is listening and asking the right question. And so, you know, asking questions, is somebody prepared to kind of be uncovered by their own beliefs, their own attitudes, looking at themselves? Because if they're not, they're not ready for change. But they do have to be ready to answer your question.

SPEAKER_00 36:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:28

You can have as many sessions with somebody as they want, but unless they are truly open, then you can't really get anywhere. Fear is an interesting one, isn't it? Because you know, that's deep-rooted beliefs. How do you change deep-rooted beliefs? Well, you go all the way back. We're not born with fear, it starts somewhere. Yeah. So you have to go all the way back, take someone on a journey all the way back to find out when that belief around change, fear of change, started. Take them back to that point and try and work out well, what were the choices? How do they make you feel? Why did you feel that? Well, given the same situation again, what could you do differently? How would you feel about that? And then so it is possible to change beliefs around fear and change in order for that person to become different about how they weave feel about themselves. But it's difficult really to break somebody down in order for them to understand what they could become through change, unless they're ready for it for sure.

SPEAKER_00 37:35

Very interesting. Actually, what I was gonna say before, actually, Young was you you wrote something that and I sent you a message about it at the time where you talked about fixing just one thing. So focus on one thing and just fix one thing. And and I think I said at the time, I messaged you to say, I hope you don't mind, I'm gonna steal that and use it as in my financial advice business. Because I found with clients, look, I used to say pick the top three things. So I tried not to make it complex, you know, in terms of because if you look at the things that could be fixed financially for people, yeah, you can oftentimes come up with 20, 25 different things could be fixed, you know. And I said, look, let's just pick the top three that are the most important. But I distilled it down to one based off you. So you've coached me as well, Stuart. That's you can that's nice to from a distance. Yeah, from a distance. Um do you still think that's relevant? I mean, do you still coach that? Like pick the one thing that needs fixing, or have you do I do?

SPEAKER_01 38:35

And I wish, and this is an insight into me now. I wish that I heeded my own advice. This is the thing about I don't consider myself to be an entrepreneur, by the way.

SPEAKER_00 38:44

I was gonna ask you about that, Stuart. I was gonna say if I was a betting man, I was gonna say I'll bet you don't see yourself as an entrepreneur, but no, I don't, I don't.

SPEAKER_01 38:54

I I'm self-employed now. I like being self-employed now because it gives me choices. However, it almost pushes more pressure on because there's bills to pay. And the mistake that I often make every single day, and this is where I've got alerts that come up on my phone. What's the one thing today? How are you going with it? You've got another two hours before the school run, stick with the one thing, all that's good stuff. I I don't always stick by that. And what happens is I try and do too many things, yeah, which then means I don't do anything. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 39:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:30

That they're all bloody half finished, they're all half finished, and so I coach and I've got a coaching call this evening, and I'm sending a message earlier on, have a think before the call, what's the one thing you want from that call? But here I am with my kind of to-do list with like 12 different things, and that's fine, but I don't always heed my own advice and I try and do a lot of things and it and I don't finish anything, which is a massive, massive mistake, because then I go to bed with a lot of open loops, and it keeps me awake at night. And I'm at that age where I need a 3 pm P now. And so when I get up and I try to go back to sleep, I can't go back to sleep because these open loops are still and so okay, what's the system I need to close those loops? Okay, well, I'll do that. So the one thing is probably a superpower that I wish I was better at. And those days that I write down in the morning, this is the one thing that I'm absolutely going to nail today. Yeah. And I execute on that without looking at anything else, those are my most productive days.

SPEAKER_00 40:34

Look, I'm the same. I run my own business. I've got a to-do list, you know, that runs across two pages, right? So that's just the way it works. What I try to do is to pick the one thing on the list that has to happen first. And then I try to work on that one thing until it's finished and off the list so that I can move to the next thing. Because I find I'm a little bit the same. I try to do multiple things at the same time, nothing finishes. So I try to systematically work through that list. Is that the thing you wish you had of when you first started on this endeavour? And I do think you're an entrepreneur because if you're self-employed by definition, I call you an entrepreneur. So I'm gonna say you're an entrepreneur. But one of the things you wish you had have known earlier that your own advice is probably for sure.

SPEAKER_01 41:14

I think because I'm a cricket coach and have been a cricket coach, I want to measure what matters. I wear this aura ring and it gives me a redo every morning. It's often reassuring because those times when I think I'm awake, I'm actually in like sleep, and it gives me my sleep score, and it's worked out that I'm a morning person. So now I always thought I was, but now I know that. I know outside of this call, what I would normally do is drop the boys off at school, go straight to the gym, come here. This is my new office, whilst we're commuting to Birmingham and then back up to Leicester, and then get straight in what's the difficult challenge I need to address straight away. Straight away. What's the thing I've been avoiding? Do the one thing. Because this aura ring has given me I thought I was, and now it's told me in no uncertain terms, you are a morning person. That's when your energy is the most, your focus is the best. So therefore, do the most difficult task first thing in the morning. Do that, and then if you've got enough time, you can go on to the second thing. So, yes, I wish I did know that. But it's those days where you get to the end of the day and I'm reflecting and like, and I think, have I just been busy or have I been productive? And I've had a lot of busy days. The productive days are becoming more and more, but uh and they are undoubtedly linked to what's the one thing I need to do and then move on before and execute on that. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 42:47

That's a great I think that's a fantastic piece of advice for anyone in business, to be perfectly honest, to operate that way. Stuart, where do you see this consulting business of yours in the next five to ten years?

SPEAKER_01 43:01

I don't know what it's going to look like, but the reason for me to do it is to buy back some time. So family is really important to me. I'm on my second marriage and I wouldn't change anything. I've got four children because two marriages. Eldest one is 31, the youngest is three. So they're keeping me busy. The reason I'm doing what I'm doing is to free up my time to have those choices. Yeah. When I'm in the business, I want to be working and directing the business as opposed to properly in the business all the time. So I'm in the process now of setting up systems, procedures, diarising stuff, so I know can I be disciplined enough? This is this block. This is when I message these clients every day because they're on that tier program. This is when I follow up on that. Now it's family time, being disciplined. Only looking at my phone during phone times. Yes. I want to be in the room. If I'm in the room, I will now no longer pick up calls, answer WhatsApp or messages or emails unless it's in the allocated time. So I don't know what the consultancy is going to look like, but I do know that I've had enough time of trading my time for money. Yeah. Which is what being employed does. I do know that there, I feel that what I've picked up about people, not just fast bowling, but people, there is a massive opportunity for me to add value to many more people outside of the cricket field than ever before. And that is my mission.

SPEAKER_00 44:44

I love it. I was actually going to ask you whether you would see yourself directly coaching, and maybe you still will where you want to, but whether you were looking to build a framework and you know, a broader set of programming and what you're taught out there is being a business owner, not so much the operator going forwards. Yeah, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 45:04

I'm really interested in the business coaching element. Yeah. You know, where is somebody now? What's their starting point? So anybody that that wants to reach out to me, I hope they do. Where are they now? Where do they want to be? And then piecing together that journey to help them become the person they need to be in order to achieve that goal, whether it's a scene position or whether it's becoming a better husband, father, director, whatever it might be, that is something I'm really interested in. I guess adding, I've done a little bit already as part of this course, giving away free coaching. I've really, really enjoyed a slightly different angle, and that is definitely something I'd look to kind of add to this consultancy.

SPEAKER_00 45:50

No, no, I love it. If you could pick one or two things, how much of an elite sports mindset do you think can translate directly into business?

SPEAKER_01 46:01

I think all of it. Take out sports, elite mindset. Well, what the hell is that? It's actually a mindset that anybody can have if they understand it and if they are willing to look at where they are right now. But what is elite? Well, I think elite is being willing to change and working with somebody that can help them do that, and they might work with somebody for a period of time, and then they might move on to somebody else who can give them something different. But elite, I think, yeah, you take out the sports, I think absolutely is possible. But the first step to that is recognising that they need to maybe look at things slightly differently. The second part is talking about it, the third part is finding the right person that can help them do that and to hold them accountable. So I think what I've learned on the sports field and what I've also learnt, because don't forget that I've been to business functions, I've sat on tables with you know perceived high power positions in the corporate world. We're all the same. Yeah. We're all the same. Yeah. So you can absolutely incorporate all of that.

SPEAKER_00 47:13

Often talk about some people that I see as high performance, so not just sports and they're growth, they are the growth mindset people. They're people that are always looking to grow and happy to, you know, explore discomfort in order to achieve growth, you know. But one of the things I talk about is that for people who wish to be self-employed, that they understand the rules of the game. So before they start. So in other words, they understand that you know I'm gonna have to change, you know, if they want success. So if they want to achieve what they want to achieve, and again, I say success is different for all different people, different people have got different goals. So, you know, their success is not necessarily my success, but they understand the rules of the game, or they at least try to learn the rules of the game before they play, if you know what I mean. And that's part of I think what you're saying there is willing to grow, willing to get the right people, and so on and so forth. Is that fair? Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 48:05

I guess there are some rules, or there's some principles. No, success, you're right, it could be anything. If success could be losing ten stone, yeah. That's success. Success isn't always, you know, money, you know, material type stuff. Success could be just wanting to become a better husband, a better father, whatever it might be. But I think that by recognizing that and then having the willingness to kind of step into how could I do that? Is is open to anybody. Yeah. It really is.

SPEAKER_00 48:38

Yeah. Does that lead into I ask all of my guests this one question, Stuart? Do you think entrepreneurship is for everybody?

SPEAKER_01 48:46

Yeah, I do. If I can do it, anybody can. And you're talking to a little boy that was born in a village just outside of Bath, play for a local village cricket team, have gone through a bit of a whole journey. And my parents are amazing people, they're heroes of mine. But they were in an era where, no, you go to school, you do this, you do that, you speak like that. And actually, I think we're in an era of living by your values, your personal values, treating people in a way that you expect to be treated, but actually working out what success looks like to you. And it doesn't always have to be in an employed environment. Like I have been, I've been an entrepreneur alongside, you know. Lots of people think I've had the fingers in a lot of pies for bloody years, and they're probably right. But I've just been I've just been curious about, well, if I get home and I listen to this podcast and I start looking at that, I read that book, is that entrepreneurism? Probably, because I'm just open to seeing things slightly differently. And now I'm looking to, of course, monetize it. Yeah. Of course. But if you've got a skill, and that skill just could be being open to change, becoming different, becoming better, whatever that looks like. But I do honestly believe I am living proof, and I don't consider myself to be an entrepreneur, like I said earlier on. If an entrepreneur is wanted to help people, understanding that everybody is different, so I then need to have the skills of adapting my style, my energy to that person in order to help them, then absolutely I'm an entrepreneur. And I just think that, you know, helping people, giving away free information, you know, based on your experience, if that's entrepreneurism, we are all entrepreneurs. We just need to kind of understand what that looks like to us right now. And is it something you do more of or less of? But I I do think it's open to everybody for sure.

SPEAKER_00 50:57

I can't think of a better place to conclude our conversation, Stuart. I think that's a great line, and I'm going to finish there because I think you are the first guest I've had who said yes to that question straight off the bat. So really, yeah, so it's like you are unique, you're holding it on that one.

SPEAKER_01 51:16

Well, that's an interesting one. It is an interesting one because as soon as you asked that, I was thinking, well, if I can be, everyone can.

SPEAKER_00 51:26

Well, that's uh I love it, I love it. Yeah, I I think that uh like broadly people would say no is is that the broad response will be. And then a few people will stop and think and say something to the effect of you can be if you want to be, you know, you can learn it. So that's another response. But you you are the first, you are the absolute first to say straight away, almost without even hesitation, to say yes to that question. I hope I followed it up with decent explanation. You did, you did, and I think that. I think if anyone's listening to this and they they want to do this and they want to start a business, whatever that might be, or they want to start a service or a product or whatever it might be, I hope that that gives them the inspiration to pursue their dream, Stuart. So I really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01 52:08

Good. I've enjoyed it. It's been a bit different, and I enjoy jumping on things like this that gets me thinking as well. And in the past, I've made the mistake of doing too much prep, and I don't think it's come across as being truly authentic, which is why I've started jumping into these, having a kind of a broad background, but then just chatting. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 52:29

So I've wanted to be on this episode of Origin to Ambition with me. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for the invite and thank you for reaching. Thanks very much, Stuart. Okay. Thank you very much. And that's all for this episode of Origin to Ambition. Thanks for tuning in. To make sure you don't miss our next conversation, be sure to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen in. For more information, you can visit us at DominiumCapital.com.au, and we'll see you next time.