Tribefit Interview - Chris Lynton Interviews Geoff Jowett On Mindset
- Hey guys, Chris Lynton here from TribeFit, and today, got a very, very special guest. Geoff Jowett, how are you today buddy?
- Hello Chris, great to be here my friend.
- Thanks for your time mate, and guys, I asked Geoff if he'd be keen to jump on a bit of an interview specifically to talk about mindsets, business-building mindset and the different stages of building a business, whether its a start-up, whether it's an SME, a small to medium enterprise and beyond and all of that sort of stuff. Really the six inches between your ears or, the battle that can happen in here as opposed to just in your businesses. So Geoff, first and foremost, thanks for your time mate and I guess the first question, first cab off the rank would be, in terms of mindset, I know that you've done a lot in the past and it's something that you research a lot, something that you're very focused on. So, from a mindset perspective in the business world, what do you see as some of the biggest challenges that small business owners have and can kind of trip over, from a mindset point of view?
- Well, firstly, for everyone, those three letters, ego. And in some ways you need a bit of ego to back yourself to have a go in the early days, but you gotta be careful it doesn't consume you. And I guess hopefully the stuff we talk about today is some of the things that we should do and some of the things that we shouldn't do. And very important, a caveat, please know I've done both. And that's why my life's been like a rollercoaster Chris, in business and life, the dizzying heights and rock-bottom lows. And, when you're embarking on a business you've gotta understand that the size of your organisation expands and contracts to the size of your personal growth and development. And we all play the blame game, I've done it many times, we blame the competitors, we blame the economy, we blame the marketplace, the media buyer, the accountant, everyone except ourselves. The only person who can control your success and failure, is you. You are exactly where you are in your life because of you, and people go Oh yeah but, that bloke who
- No, you. You. The day you step in and own where you are in your life, is the day you can start to grow. That's the platform, awareness and ownership. So, what does that mean for business? Everything, 'cause otherwise it's a false economy. Otherwise, you're sitting there playing a blame game and y'know, as I talk about when I speak at various things now, I say, Here's what I know about success and failure, pretty sure I was there for all of it. Not just the wins. But Geoff Jowett 10 years ago, he was good at taking the wins, real good, when something went bad I blamed everyone else. Nah nah nah nah. You were there as much, if not more for the failures Geoff and everyone as you were there for the wins. And what we also do Chris, when we win, we have a tendency to overplay our hand in it. When we win, there's always a bit of luck and a bit of timing, but we think it's all us. No it's not, gratitude, the team, and when we fall over, we're very quick to think it's not really us at all, and it's everybody else. So, these are the key things, look Sometimes you can be right place right time, technology, right place, right time, a whole bunch of stuff, but if you're a dickhead, you're not gonna attract good people. If you're a wanker, you're not gonna attract and keep good people. And I've been both at times, don't worry about that. And we worked together for five or six years, you saw me at my best, and definitely at my worst and you don't build great organisations and keep great organisations if you're not great. If you're not rock solid, if you're not a nine out of 10 forget about it, now what does that mean? First to arrive, last to leave. Hardest worker in the room. The CEO's not the bloke who takes the foot off the gas, the CEO is the one who drives the culture. It's always top down, but what we do, we make a bit of money, actually what I did, you make a bit of money, get a little bit of status and profile, and take the foot off the gas, well guess what happens three years later, you're gone, you're bust. No-one's working for that bloke, no-one's believing in that bloke. So, authentic leadership, you drive the culture, you lead the charge, you're the first to arrive and the last to leave, and if you do that each and every day, you'll build a business that matters.
- Yeah, beautiful mate. And probably, just seconding on what you're saying, one of the analogies or sayings that I've always loved is, A fish rots from the head. And what does that actually mean, in terms of business, is that a business rots from the head down. So, if you are
- and you've just put your mic on mute, just in case you
- I was coughing, I was coughing
- In case you were about to say some good stuff. But, if you don't lead from example, if a business rots, it's generally rotting from the head, rotting from the owner, the director, the CEO. Whether you've got a team of two or a team of 200, you have to lead by example and everything kind of flows down, as Geoff was saying there. But mate, in terms of, I guess, mindset, so we've kinda touched on mindset of having a business, potentially having some team within that or whatever, but what about those that I guess are, looking to build their business, and have the fear of failure, and they're kind of paralysed at the first step of even taking that first step, of even taking that leap forward. And obviously, they want to, but one of the things that kind of trip people up, and what should they be
-
- For sure, I know where you're at. First thing first, I'm 42, I have gone broke twice. I went bankrupt, I didn't just poke around at going broke, I did it all in, and lemme give you the
- As frightening and scary as it was, it was the single best thing that's ever happened to me. So don't be afraid to fail. Sometimes the very thing we are scared of is the thing we need the most. I really believe that. I'm not just talking about success, I'm talking about life, I'm talking about being the best person you can be. Because when you commit to being the best person you can be, you will by default build the best business you can ever build. It's gotta be an inside job, it's gotta be real, it's gotta be pure, you can't fake it. They say fake it 'til you make it, for a period of time, maybe. Dogs smell fear, people smell bullshit, quality people ain't gonna be around you if you aren't the real deal. So, I say fail, get up, learn, grow, change. So, you wanna build a company, you wanna build your best life, you wanna go from good to great, What's step one? Fail. Step two, get up. Step three, learn, grow, change. You gotta fail to learn, you gotta fail to grow. Look, people have read it in the books but they're scared to do it. I went bust at 28 when I sold out of Vision PT, I sold out of Vision PT out of ego, and out of impatience, and frustration, and I quickly went bust. Bought up a whole bunch of property that I couldn't settle on, just impulsive, emotional choices out of ego, bang, bust. Start again, started Bodytrim, that went into the stratosphere, didn't learn the lessons, needed to learn them again, ego took over, bang, gone, again. You'd think I'd learn it the first time round, I'm obviously not that sharp, I needed a couple of big hits. So, don't be afraid, but, don't be afraid to fail, but thing is, if you're doing things out of ego and you're doing things to compete with everyone else you're doing it wrong. Run your own race at your own pace. I always say, one of the anchors for me, I say gratitude and love. So it's gotta come back to that, because I did everything out of fear and ego, fear of failure. If you're purely driven by the fear of failure, you'll probably be successful, but you won't be happy. So what's the currency, right? I've been successful, inverted commas, but I was, y'know, it was out of fear and ego, I was never happy, I was already riddled with anxiety. Now, I build a little business, I build my life, my way, my time. Not everyone blossoms in their 20s or 30s or 40s, some people it takes longer, sometimes for some people it's shorter
- your race, your pace. But really, to build a company that matters, what lights you up? Don't just build businesses 'cause there's a gap in the market, like, you know, Ah there's a gap, let's all jump on Bitcoin Well, great, pretty sure that's shit itself anyway I actually dunno, I heard it did Thing is, is that purpose-driven? It's not. Without getting too evangelical, you look at all these gambling businesses out there, you know, that's not making people better, all these gambling apps, and this and that and whatever. Like there's no purpose behind that, you're playing on people's addictions and vulnerabilities. That doesn't make me whole, the only businesses I touch now make people better. Now that doesn't make me angelic, I fucked up and I made mistakes and I played on people's emotional vulnerabilities at times, I did, guilty as charged, and I paid the price. You pay the price, emotionally, financially, spiritually, I paid the price. But, you go into that room of mirrors, you look at yourself, and you own your mistakes. You make amends and you own your mistakes. Don't jump into businesses for a cash grab, they say money never leads, it follows. And for me now, I've got a speaking career where I go into companies Chris and I speak on leadership and goals and addiction and I'm off to the mines, I'm working with Glencorp at the moment, I'm speaking on leadership and goals to all the miners out there at the back of Singleton at the minute. And I'm driving out there tomorrow morning and, y'know, it's service, it's service and I think three really important words for me and if they don't align with those three words I don't do it, Serve, inspire, believe. Serve, inspire, believe. Now, it might sound all fluffy and whatnot, but folks watching this, I had nothing, I was bankrupt in every way, not just financially, every way, every way, every way. The only thing that kept me going were me two little dogs, William and Harry, you saw one of them, and that was the backend of 2016, I was broken in every way. The great thing about that, you are naked at that point. The phone's not ringing, the cash register's not pinging, you're just left raw, by yourself. And you've got two options, pull the plug or start to grow. And I'm so extremely grateful that I didn't pull the plug, I started to grow, and you start to then get aligned with your highest self, your values, and you wanna build a business that's around for 10 years and make a difference, it's gotta come out of that. You don't just do a business 'cause everyone's doing it and there's an earn,
- Yeah, yeah.
- I know a shit tonne of blokes making big coin and they're miserable. I mentor quite a few men and women in their early 30s, not heaps but a few, people making a lot of money but maybe they've lost a bit of purpose, 'cause they're chasing the dollar.
- I read a, you can probably see the bookshelf behind me, I bought about 10 books in the last two weeks but one that I'm reading at the moment and a quote that stuck with me really really well is Money is a phenomenal slave but a terrible master.
- Yes.
- And I'll repeat that again, Money is a phenomenal slave but a terrible master. And what that means is if you are a slave to money, if money is your higher purpose, then you're gonna get it wrong, you're not gonna be happy. Money should be your slave, it should be serving your life, it should be helping make your life better, it should not be something that you wake up in the morning and like
- I need to make more money, I don't care what else happens
-
- Mate, truths.
- It's all about the money, dollar, or whatever.
- And Chrissy, can I just say, 'cause you know, you saw, you were there through Bodytrim, you're an instrumental part of the growth and the success of Bodytrim, of course driving the marketing with Randy Andy, and we did so much great stuff. But I lost my way, and mate, y'know, really, with the utmost of respect to my partner in that business, Alex, very very smart guy, but we were just going in separate directions and probably a few years earlier, we should've called it. Ego didn't allow me to do that. What would I do, who would I be, I wouldn't be on TV anymore, I wouldn't be all this
- Rubbish, talk about lost my path, if ever a bloke lost his path, me. So, but you know what, two, three, four years later, like how long does it take, years not weeks, years not months, it's growth, and it's daily and you gotta commit. But I was never that happy mate, back in the day Chris. I wasn't happy at Vision, I wasn't happy at Bodytrim. That's not friggin' Vision's fault that's not Bodytrim's fault, that's me. You can't, it's so obvious, when you wake up. You know, you're the bloke there for all of it. You're there everywhere, you go on a holiday and the bed's not comfortable, you go on a holiday and the service is shit. I'm pretty sure it's not the bed and I'm pretty sure it's not the service, I'm pretty sure it's you.
- Yeah.
- You're not practising gratitude, you're not doing that, it's all entitlement, the entitlement piece, the ego piece, the addiction piece, the disease of more. I had a real healthy dose of all of them. And I'm absolutely blessed that I was able to start a journey of growth and discovery, and be on a path now that I'm proud of, a path. But it's a summit-less mountain, it's not like when I get somewhere. No no, I'm here, we're here, watching this today, whether you got one staff, no staff, 100 staff, you're there, you've arrived, there's nowhere other than where you are right now. We think, When I've got a 1000 members I'll be good No no, you're good now. Love the 20 members that you've got. In the Jowett Method I got members and I love it, I'm grateful that I get to coach 200 members every day. The old Geoff'd be like, Oh this is shit, I want 2000. Oh my god, talk about poison. I got 200 people who invest in me everyday, I am incredibly blessed. Mate, it doesn't get any better than that. And the old Geoff'd be like, 'cause I ride horses three days a week, he'd be like, I need my own farm with my own horses, this is shit (laughter) It's madness. I get to ride other people's horses three days a week, I get to learn and make friendships with Laszlo at Budapest Riding School and all these people that I otherwise wouldn't
- It's perfect now, now not when, now not when. And you look at people blowing up with massive success, and they live these principles. Someone sent me a link to a bloke I've only recently heard of him, I'm sure you know
- Ed Mylett? American bloke? And he was on a thing with Tom Bilyeu. But, he's saying all this, saying all this, I'm watching it yesterday and a bloke I coach, he goes You gotta listen to this bloke, he says the same stuff This bloke's killing it. He's happy, he's healthy, he's contributing, he talks about service. Don't chase status, chase service. Serve people, be of service, but you gotta put the ego in the back pocket. You can't serve from ego, Chris, you think everybody should serve you. I used to think my staff were resources, to make me more. Fuckin' hell, I cringe. I look at me back in the
- I don't know how you stuck around so long, fuck. Mate, it was horrendous the way I behaved. But y'know, you can't whip yourself forever. You apologise, you make amends, and you move forward. But I look at the businesses I've had and the things I've done, they all had to crash down. They couldn't, you'd be defying gravity and the universe and everything the way I acted to expect to have long-term success from that. No chance, you wanna build a business that matters, longevity, sustainability and heaven forbid be happy. Well you better be authentic, you better be humble, you better be real, because you can't shortcut, you can't hack the status
- People these days, the challenges, you look at people that are doing amazing things fast, good on them, but most good things take time.
- Yeah, exactly right mate. You don't see the work that
- You think they've just popped up and had overnight success but you don't see the 10 years of the, the slog they did, or whatever it is. But, as you said mate, it's ownership, and owning your future, owning your fate, and it's only in your head, so you can't blame someone else, you can't expect someone else to deliver that on a platter for yourself. And everything that has gone on, in terms of probably the only other thing that I see, some people at the starting blocks fear failure so they never get out of the blocks. Secondly to that, which is what we've talked about, secondly to that is, some people can't keep the motivation or the energy or the drive. They get out of the gates, they dabble a little bit, and then other things come up, or they never find the time, so In terms of, finding that juice, finding that motivation, finding that cue that keeps bringing you back to make you want to keep forwarding the journey, what've you seen that is most important to keep that fire in your belly and actually move forward?
- So, couple of things I teach in the Jowett Method for weight loss, I talk about long-range consequences. So a lot of people who are overweight for example and I'll draw this back to business, they go Ah whatever, I'll just eat that cake, I'll eat that cake, I'll eat that cake, I go Alright, take yourself five years into the future you're now obese, or maybe morbidly obese, long-range pain. You see we're programmed to avoid pain so what people do, they, Oh it's too hard, it's too hard I'll drink, I'll drug, I'll eat I'll use external feel-goods to medicate internal pain in the moment. Five years from now you're dead. Five years from now you're a horrendous role model for your children, you're obese, if you're obese you're telling your children it's okay to be obese. Actions not words. You've gotta attach massive pain over the hill. So, otherwise, you're always gonna find a reason to justify your actions in the moment, you, me, everybody. So, in business, I draw that back to standards, you've gotta raise your personal standards. Y'know, motivation, it's lotto, some days you are, some days you aren't, forget motivation, rubbish, horse shit. Rookie, rookies think about motivation. I'm lucky I've become relatively good friends with Mark Bouris, everyone's heard of Mark Bouris, the mentor, Celebrity Apprentice, Mark's a friend and we speak often on this topic, and when I was really battling, Mark was one of those people who were instrumental to me, to just raise my standards. He's not motivated everyday to be in the gym at 5am, but he's in the gym everyday at 5am. His standards dictate that. And if it's good enough for Bouris, it's good enough for Aussie Geoff. You turn up, for your standards. And also, y'know, I've got great
- I'd say mentors, I'd say someone like Mark Bouris and John McGrath I speak to a lot now Chris, most days. John was my hero in business as a young bloke with his real estate companies and John, y'know, I know get around people who are doing it better than me, who are better than me, and you become the standard. If you're hanging out with drunks, you're gonna be a drunk. If you're hanging out with 9-to-5ers, if your circle of friends are on the piss everyday and they work 9 to 5, you're gone, you are gone. 'Cause if you work 9 'til once, they'll be like What's wrong with you, what's wrong with you You've gone mad, why d'you do overtime! Those people you gotta press the eject button. Now, why are they like that with you? Because they don't want you to grow and change, because that's gonna put the spotlight on them. You gotta get around people doing, you gotta be, small fish big pond. Be the small fish. I'm pretty sure I'm a pretty fuckin' small fish compared to Mark Bouris, I'm a tadpole. So hang out with the big fish, small fish, big pond. Small fish, don't be the big fish, there's nowhere to grow. Small fish, big pond. And you will grow to that standard. I wanna be around people with better values and better standards and better morals and ethics. I wanna be, and you will become them. If you hang around people, y'know, cheating on their partners and doing drugs and all this, sooner or later, you'll become them, it's impossible not to. Get around people doing it better than you and you will become them. You gotta raise the personal standards. You do it with role models, you do it with your circle of influence, your people that you hang around the most, and don't compromise your integrity or values, it is a slippery slope. The day you start compromising you, I tell you what, you're on your way to the bottom, trust me I've been there. So, there's a bunch of stuff, don't wait to be motivated, no-one's motivated all the time. The people winning big, they're not motivated, they raise their standards. You and Andy, you've done incredibly well Chris, you've got an incredible work ethic, you're an incredible man, you've got a beautiful wife, you've built a beautiful life, but you've got integrity. You can't compromise that. You don't piss in people's pockets. If you don't believe something, you don't say you do. You gotta stay aligned. You're a great role model for everybody in your community, you speak your truth. Don't piss in people's pockets, don't do it to gather more friends, they are short wins at best. You've lived the life of truth. If you don't agree with something, you'll either say I don't agree with that, or you don't say anything You don't go along for the ride, you never have. You never have, and you've built an amazing business, organisation, community out of your truth and integrity. There's no other way to do it. I don't care if you come up with the best app under the sun, you might make a billion dollars, but you'll be empty inside if you don't do the human stuff. You're gonna die inside slowly if you don't do the human stuff. It's one thing
- everyone thinks they wanna make a shit tonne of dough, if you aren't doing it out of integrity and purpose, you'll have a shit tonne of dough on your Pat Malone, depressed and lonely.
- Yeah mate, spot on. My cleaner is, you might hear the vacuum in the background my cleaner's just started in another room. I've gotta rush off to another call, but this has been phenomenal. So we've talked about goals, we've talked about One, if you're at the starting blocks, fear of failure, how to get out of the blocks. We've talked about ownership, taking pure ownership over your future, your family's future, your friends, your life, and not expecting someone else to do it for you, because unfortunately that's not gonna happen. We've also talked about motivation and how, y'know, all these motivation quotes Loving the grind, and getting on the grind It's all a bit of b-s, and just turning up, and as Geoff said, having high standards for yourself and not letting that slip. And we've talked obviously about, you know the mindset structure of not letting money be your master, and not being a slave to your ego or whatever, but just to sum up, this has been awesome. Just to sum up, do you have any final words of wisdom, obviously we've talked a lot about everything, do you have any final words of wisdom before we wrap up?
- Three words mate, three words. Just do you. Just do you. Your community, your tribe, your business, your life. Don't worry about old mate or, the chick who's cleaning up on Instagram, good on 'em, just do you, just do you. Everyone's heard, comparison's the thief of joy and of course it is, so just do you. If I compare myself to Bouris, or any of my mates who have killed it financially, even my first business partner at Vision, Andrew. He's built an empire, he's got a glamour house, four kids, all the bells and whistles. If I compared myself to him, I'd be off the balcony. I live in a one-bedder with two dogs. My race, my pace, don't compare. It's all as it's meant to be, right now, where you are, it's where you're meant to be. The day you embrace that is the day you find happiness and you begin to grow. Thanks for having me Chris.
- Beautiful mate, always great to have you onboard, appreciate your time buddy, have a phenomenal rest of your day. Guys hopefully everyone that listened to this picked up some real gold nuggets, loads in there guys, no matter where you are in the different stages, we've talked about different aspects of that so you should be able to resonate with at least one of those. Phenomenal mate, have a phenomenal day, no doubt will be speaking to you
-
- See ya Chrissy,
- Bye for now.
- Love ya mate, bye bye.
