Before we jump into this episode, I've got to ask you a really bizarre question. Please. We're in Wetherspoons, you've ordered scampi, chips, what else is on your plate? Ooh, a bit of regret. Nope, it's peace. Nice. The 15th of January. Tranquility can't be grasped except by those who have reached an unwavering and firm power of judgement. The rest constantly fall and rise in their decisions.

wavering in a state of alternately rejecting and accepting things. What is the cause of this back and forth? It's because nothing is clear and they rely on the most uncertain guide, common opinion. Whoa. You're gonna hit me with that are you? I'm gonna hit you with that. It's the 15th of January. I wanna talk about when we started our business. So in the early days, okay, we had this formula and we have this approach, calling people up.

And I'm saying, it's a sales call. You might want to hang up or let me have 30 seconds. I didn't believe that that would work for me. You were like, actually it will work. It's not just a thing that worked for me. I was like, I'll trust the process. Okay. And do you remember when I joined the business, the thing I said, you said I'll give it a year and then I might go off and do something else. Cause you didn't actually come in as a director. No, you came in as the head of sales and there was two of us.

So I said, I said, I'll give it a year, but that wasn't like a, let me try it. And I'll, I'll dip my toe in, I'll go. I was like, no, I'm going to be committed. I'm going to apply myself so hard for a year. And I think two months in accordion when the game change we're in, let's go for super stardom. But it was that thing of, will give it a year. This is my path. This is my course. I'm going to stick to it. I'm going to commit to it. And I think one of the big things that I took was.

Cold calling people is a hard job and we all know it and the way that we do it is we're very upfront, honest and we say that the cold call opener that we use. I was in a communal office. I was surrounded by people. Every single day I was making 50, 60 calls on my mobile. I was going, I'll be honest, it's a sales call. You can hang up or let me have 30 seconds. And the looks I was getting, the people staring at me. I even heard people saying that wouldn't work.

Dealfront (02:27.022) That wouldn't work on me. That wouldn't work. And we get messages all the time of people that want to adopt this style. And they go, but other people in my office have mocked me and it wouldn't work. I even remember like, I used to lock myself in a phone booth at one point because too many people like staring at me. I was like, let me just get away from this so I can not get my head. I'm walking up on like one month in a cold January and some lads were like, you're going in your office today.

I'll show you schmucks. But it's hard, it was a case of like, like we said, it was like, I'm going to get two meetings today and then I'll, and then I'll focus on other tasks or whatever. But the goal is this is my path. I'm sticking to it. And it's about having a process or a system that you follow step by step and not kind of going off from that. But you will probably be honest at times I have,

What does Confucius say? The man who chases two rabbits catches nine. I'm guilty. Yeah. I have been guilty of that. What does that look like? I think when we first started out, well, I'll add some, some color to what you just talked about then around the start, right? I think you've always been very good at the committing to the thing. And I think like that is the consistency. We all talk about it, about actually being consistent. That thing that you said around, I'll stick it out for a year. The first morning in the job.

You were saying to me, this doesn't work. I can't get it to work. It's really hard. And you rang me in the afternoon, but you said you probably remember better. I mean, can bleep this out if the language is too strong. But you rang me up when you went, mate, it really fucking works. It really works. And then you might have booked another meeting from there. But there was that like hunger to it worked. And I think we had a day where it's something there might have been a bit of virality on LinkedIn or something.

And both our diaries were suddenly full, like totally chock a block. And I visited you in Manchester and we were sitting them. Some of them were closed and there was some next steps, but actually not much had happened. just looked like something was going to happen. And when we were walking home, you just kept saying to me, so what would we do next then? What happens next? I think we should do this next. I think we should do that. Let's get a newsletter started. I had to just rain it in a bit and then just say, let's just focus on just doing the bit first.

Dealfront (04:48.268) Let's just do the bit. And I would say, I think that's one of the things that we're coming up on. You know, we've been in business now just over three years and being able to know that probably the reason why it's worked is just we focused on the bit that we're good at and not wavered, not not gone and just, let's just try that thing as well. Let's try and just get involved in this. Like just stuck to here's the simple, rigid path. And I'm just going to see it right through to the other end.

We've seen so many people come and go throughout the three years in business that started up being on LinkedIn and then all of a sudden falling down. It's just like, there's just no consistency or commitment. It's just doing the thing. One of the things that we said from, I remember you at one point in 2014, I think you were in the top 10 most viewed people on LinkedIn. That was like one of your LinkedIn claim to fame. And you were like, I get like,

Leads and I didn't really understand LinkedIn and all of that stuff at the time. I said, okay I'm gonna just commit to it I'll post every single day without fail and I think we made that pact and we haven't kind of we haven't fallen from that in three years But it's those habits and when you make those promises to yourself you do it and you don't expect things straight away You stick to a process and you know that there'll be some teething problems There's a great story about Tiger Woods and he was he was a really good golfer. He said I want to

go back, I want to work on my swing again. I'm really not a golf fan. But he took it back to basics and he really learnt and he brought this new process in and he went, I will be bad to start with, but I'll be consistent. I'll do it over and over and over again and I will get better and better from it. So it's about finding something and committing to it. I'm a big fan and I'm a big kind of pusher of knowing when to quit as well, because that is a whole other lesson. But actually,

commit to one thing and get really, really good at it. Yeah. Yeah. And also be aware. going to, it might be confusing this because of what you just said, but when you commit to something, if you said, look, I'm going to stick this out for six months, but you give up on three, you're wiring your brain that that's, that's who we are. We're the person who gives up halfway through. So don't be surprised that then shows up at other points in your life. What you want to do is teach.

Dealfront (07:07.15) Your brain's almost this unruly vessel as part of you. You've got to keep it in line. You know, I've got to say if I'm doing it for you, I'm doing it for you. Even if it feels awful at 10 months, I'm still going to sit through to the 12 months because I want to be the person that I say I am. Yeah. I say I'm going to do it and I do it. Great advice. I've been Jack Frimston. I've been Zach Thompson. Remember you will die. And I've been Cannelloni.