The Wise Why

This episode starts as it means to go on, paced full of insightful information to help the entrepreneur and online course creator navigate and avoid some pitfalls along the way.

Kirsty van den Bulk: Hello, and welcome to the Wise Wire. This morning I am joined by David Newton who is just he’s a brilliant, energetic, amazing man. And I met him, thanks to and I struggle with this lady’s name, Chaela Hall from Ocho.Works where it’s actually designed my website. She was part of the M New Zealander community, and she told me to sign up, which I did. And then she tagged me in a post, and I met David and, well, the rest is history because I love this man’s energy. But as usual, the show is really not about me, it is about the guest. So, David, off you go. The floor is yours.

David Newton: Thank you, Kirsty. Yeah, and it was lovely to have you on the David Zenner as well. So, I’ll, uh, give you a little bit of a history of me. I’ve been working in the creative sector for decades, um, since 1989. So, a long time ago, um, when the internet, as it is now, was kind of just sort of starting with, um, YouTube and these kinds of things. So, I was working as a graphic designer, I was actually working for a prop company that actually produced props for various companies. Um mod for one. We were doing full size missiles that, um, the crew were using to disarm and these kinds of things. This is how in depth it was. And the company started a company called Space Models. And they actually started with creating, um, all the props for space.

Kirsty van den Bulk: Ah.

David Newton: 1999, captain. Uh, scarlet um thunderbirds. And that’s how they got into it. And then they got into the prop side of it for industry. So, B2B So, I was there for ten years, and for me it was a melting pot of learning. So, I went into this as a graphic designer where I was producing all the stencils and artwork for, um, some of the major airlines like Qantas, British Airways. I was climbing all over the top of Concord and seven four seven, um, laying all stencils in place and helping with the design. Uh, worked with Saatchi and Saatchi to come up with a new brand identity for all of the British Airway’s airlines. So, I was actually taking their flat designs that the artists from around the world were creating and I was actually warping them to fit onto the tail of various, uh, types of, uh, aircraft, including seven seven, seven, uh, four seven of Concord. So, uh, I was doing all of that and we do that for ten years. I was also doing the prop making and I was also spraying with the models and learning about pattern making that’s creating patterns, uh, or wooden patterns. So, carpentry work. And then that was fiberglass into physical models. So, I was there for ten years, I learned all I could learn, really. And then I decided to take a hiatus, uh, to Australia for a year. So, I traveled around and uh, then I came back, and I was like, well, what should I do? I mean, if I stick back to at the beginning, I didn’t go straight into the creative industry. I was always creative at school, and I wanted to do that. But when you’re young, you don’t really know what you want to do, where do you want to go down. I knew it was art related and at one point I was like, I don’t know what I’m going to do, I’m going to join the army. And then I went and had an interview here at Pennington Studios and the guy said there, you should really go to college and learn more about art and designer. So that’s exactly what I did. Um, so I did that, got a job straight out of that into space models. It was actually just a, ah, placement. And I said I was the only one in the class that said, hold on, I only want to do a placement if there’s a chance of a job at the end of it. Um, lots of what? All of the students at the time were going off to these placements, coming back and carrying on with their courses where I waited, they didn’t give me a placement. And then very at last moment they said, well, there’s a job chance at the end of this thing with space models. So, I said, all right, I’ll do it then. Uh, why did I do that? I did that because as far as I was concerned, I don’t want to just go off. I’m learning things all the time anyway. I don’t want to go off and work for someone for free and then not have a job chance at the end of it. I was doing lots of creative things anyway. So, I got the job, worked there for ten years, went off to Australia, come back and then I was like, well, what do I do now? So, I worked for various companies, contracted and early two thousand s. I then started setting up my own businesses. And I also at that time I had been learning from books, so it was all about learning from books. I’m sure you know about this as well, Kirsty. It was like that. The internet wasn’t like it was now where you can just Google something. So, I learned all these things from books, read hundreds of books, um, learning different things like website design, like branding, all these kinds of things. And I decided to start my own YouTube channel and give this information to people for free so that they didn’t have to read through all that stuff, and they could get it. And my channel really picked up and people loved the way I was teaching online. And I built my confidence, and I went off and did lots of private teaching sessions on different programs. Um, Microsoft Office programs. Adobe programs. Lots of stuff. And from that. Um, I then started my own online school, so that’s how that developed. I was still doing website designs and things like that and getting my own clients and going to networking meetings, which you’ve got to do. But it all kind of just fell into place. And I was working for a big marketing company at the time, um, doing lots and lots of different things. And that company went down because they did the one thing you should never do in business, which is put all your X in one basket. And they had two major clients and those two clients decided to drop them and the company went bust. Um, subsequently the son started a new business and I worked for him as well. Now, website designs of what I did for a long time, but then I got really jaded with the fact that I was coming out with designs, and they would be changed by the client. And I didn’t like that because they’re asking me for my expertise. But then they’re changing things and making it substandard. In my opinion, when you do employ someone and they are an expert, you should let them do what they do best and not interfere. So, I decided then I would take full control. So, I’m controlling everything. This is what you’re getting. This is not changing. This is how it is. This is my vision. Um, this is how you go forward and being firm with that. And that takes time. It takes time to build that kind of power and confidence in your ability to say, this will work, don’t change it, this will work. So that’s what I did. I carried on. Then I got a job skipping years. We’re going through decades now. So, then I got a job with Zenla where I’m now lead product educator platform. And I use them years. Um, so that’s how that kind of came about. So that’s it, that’s me.

Kirsty van den Bulk: So, you know, we must have met at some point. We have to have met because I’m sure at some point you went to Bray Film Studios. Yeah, I was moored on my boat at Bray Film Studios when the Thunderbird puppets were delivered and put in there. I think it was studio two, I’m not sure. And I went in there, um, and he strength with Mark Anstis who was the son of one of the creators of Thunderbird. It’s like, oh, uh, my goodness. As you were talking that through, I’m going, okay, not only did I audition for Saatchi and Saatchi, but my grandfather also did the electrics on Concord. So, I’ve just sat here going, oh my goodness. So, I’m going to be really surprised if our paths haven’t crossed at some point.

David Newton: Yeah, with the whole Thunderbirds thing, that was after I joined. So, they’d already turned the company into, um, sort of, um, servicing the aerospace industry at that stage. So that’s before my time. I’m m sure that you all know, the people that I worked with, um, because they used to have everybody from there used to come in there. The directors, they used to talk creative directors and stuff. They used to talk amongst it all the time. That was interesting. Uh, in fact, one of my friends has actually got the proper blueprints for the Space 1999 modules. He’s got the official blueprints from the studios. So, there’s all these things that come out of it, but I’m sure that it’s very small separation between people. There’s three degrees of separation and I think you’re fine. We probably did meet or bump into each other at some stage.

Kirsty van den Bulk: There’s no way we couldn’t. I was very different in those times. I was an actor, so obviously I was quiet, um, Vivacious and doing anything that actors should do rather than being me. And one of the things I really like about you on camera, particularly when you’re coaching with the Zena days, is you’re really real. You’re really authentic. The person you see is who people are warming to. They are learning from you. And those days are informative. So, thank you. If anyone doesn’t know what New Zenla is, I wonder if you can just explain a little bit about the platform.

David Newton: Yeah, absolutely, Kirsty. Um, thank you for saying that. It’s really nice. So, Zena is an all-in-one course creation program. So, it allows you to create your own courses or your own membership sites. It’s UK based company, unlike most of them, are American. So, um, it’s started up by the CEO. It’s Rakesh. And what I love, and this is the reason why I wanted to be with Zenla. Um, I’ve been using the platform for a long time. I’ve been conversing with the CEO for a long time before I joined the company. And what I loved about them is they’re very transparent about everything they’re doing. And I love that. So when I was approached to actually coming to Zenner itself, I was like, this could be really good. And I know where the holes are because I’m using the platform. And if I’m totally honest, I wasn’t using it when I was with the platform at the beginning. I wasn’t really using it. They didn’t really have the tools that I wanted. Um, I was with Udemy. I have got hundreds of courses on Udemy. Um, and it was really good. But then Udemy takes so much money. Like, guys, um, it’s so much easier than you think, marketing your own courses, right? If you go with Udemy and take 50% straight away, and then the affiliate takes it, they’re going to take another 25 or 50% from your profits and you’ll end up with maybe $5 at the end of it, which is crazy stuff. So, I flipped it on its head. I said, I gave you to me the chance. Like, you can’t treat people like this. They didn’t really even reply to me. And I left and I just started straight up with Zena at that stage. And it’s just gone from strength to strength. I just hit all my list on, um, my YouTube channel, started doing a little bit of marketing in all the groups I already belong to, and it just flourished from there. And then, of course, I was approached by Zenla, uh, and now Zenla is kind of like my main thing that I do. I’ve got all the courses and all my side projects running. But Zenla is a thing because there’s a lot to be done. When I joined, there was nothing there from the educational side. Me and Kevin built this up. Kevin is my partner in crime at Zenla, uh, and we decided that we would just strip it down and build it back up just to what it is now with hundreds and hundreds of videos. And that’s how we did that.

Kirsty van den Bulk: So, I know you’re really interested in, um, empowering entrepreneurs. It’s kind of a passion of yours that anybody can start a business. So, I wonder if you could share some of your sort of tips on that and just the advice that you have given people.

David Newton: Yeah, absolutely. I think the one of the main things, this is how I drive my life. Everyone’s different. Everyone’s themselves. And, um, how I look at it is that you’re on this planet. Why would you possibly be doing a job that you don’t like? It just does not make sense. One, you’re not enthusiastic to go into work. You’re waiting for the hours to get by. That’s your life. So do something that you’re passionate about and then you will get that fulfillment. And it’s not often I don’t look at it, this money. I just think that comes to you with time. If you’re passionate about something, it shows, and you get a big audience and ultimately, you’ll make money from it. So, it’s not about money for me. It’s about enjoyment of life. I left London seven years ago and I moved to stairs in Cornwall by the coast because I wanted a lifestyle change and I wanted to do it. I made a very, um, strong statement to myself that from that point on, I was only going to do things I love to do. And if it became a state with anything that I’m doing that I’m not loving it, I would drop it straight away. I would just get rid of it. Even if it was successful in making me lots of money, if I didn’t enjoy it, it’s gone. And that’s how I think that you guys should come into it. Now, if you start in your own businesses, and you’re thinking of starting your own businesses and you’re like, uh oh, where do I start? What do I do? It’s not that hard. It’s break it down. Now, I know. Cursed. You’ll chime in on this as well. If you break it down into manageable sections, it’s easy. So, I’ll give you an example. If you’ve got a car, and I use this one quite a lot, and you take the car to bits, and you’ve got it spread all over the garage floor. You look at it and you go; I can’t do that. And you go back, you go back and have a sleep. But if you look at it and you go, actually, what I’m going to do is I’m going to take the wheel section. I’m going to put that together. So, I’ll do one, then I can do the other three. Then I’ll put the engine there and I’ll start constructing it. And then you have maybe ten parts, big parts, but they’re done. And then you put those ten parts together and you have a car. And that’s exactly how it is with doing anything, actually anything in life, not just on courses and memberships. But how do you feel about that, Kirsty?

Kirsty van den Bulk: So, I have something very similar, but I use obviously, being a mum. I, um, talk about the washing exactly the same way, where I look at the pile of washing and I go, oh, I really don’t want to fold that. Oh, my goodness, I’ve got so much washing, especially after holiday, where do I start? And it is it’s setting it into the whites, the darks, the walls, and then what’s going to go in the machine and then hanging it all up and then folding it all up. And I also talk about that when we talk about a problem. So how you look at a problem when you see the problem, you see this great part of washing, and the top, what you want is at the bottom of that. So how do you get to it? And it’s about looks compart. I can’t say it this morning, set it into intersections, put it together, but I like yours because as you were saying it, I had a complete image of my husband and my daughter playing with the Lego. And so, I’m going to stick with yours from now on. I’m going to steal that. So, I know that you’ve talked about breaking down. I know planning, and I don’t know about goal setting, but I know planning is really important with the way that you work.

David Newton: Yeah, absolutely. Um, planning, I think everything now there’s planning and then there’s planning. So, some people think, oh, planning. I don’t even know where to start with planning. Again, it’s just exactly the same as the car. Just think out what you want to do. What’s your goal? I always look at how much money do I want to earn? Uh, if I’m doing a course, for instance, this is how I work it out, um, while I see if there’s a demand for the course. And sometimes, even if there’s not a demand, I’ll do it. And the reason I’ll do it is because I just want to do it. That is as simple as that. I just choose to sculpt a, uh, 3D dragon. I want to do that. I don’t care if there’s not a demand. So sometimes it’s not always the demand side for me personally, but a lot of people go with the demand. So, you can ask your group, or you can ask in a Facebook group, you can ask, what would you like to see? These kinds of things. And they will give you feedback on it. But planning from that side of it, once you’ve got what your goal is, what you want to achieve, it’s like, then you start working on it. But you can do it in chunks. So, you can build it up. You don’t need to rush, like lots of these things. Also, you can launch things before you finish them, which is what a lot of people don’t do. But what you should be doing, and all that involves is setting up, uh, a nice little sales page and having a capture form. I will inform you when the course is ready to launch. And that way you’ve got people coming in, you’ve got a ton of leads coming up. You can do some little videos, put them on your channels and promote it before you finish. So, then you break it down into just manageable chunks of how you’re going to handle it. So, I can afford to do 1 hour a day on this, and everybody can afford to do 1 hour a day. So, if you get up at 07:00, get up at 06:00, just manage that time. Just, okay, so you’ll be a little bit more tired, but you’ll achieve something at the end of it. So, if you break it down and fit it into your lifestyle, it’s easier than saying, it’s too much for me, I’m not going to do anything. And that goes also with content. Like, even if you’re thinking about launching something but you haven’t done it yet because you’re working, you might say, right, okay, well, I’m for instance, a surfer. Uh, so I want to start my own surfing site. So, I haven’t got any courses, I haven’t got the time to do it yet. But what I can do is I can do little tips. So, I can set a YouTube channel up, do 30 tips. So, one tip a day in 30 tips. You could probably record that in probably 3 hours, 4 hours, and then you can schedule those posts to go out once a day for 30 days. And you’ll get people following you and that will motivate you to say, oh, I’ve got people viewing my stuff, I can make money from this. And suddenly you’re like, right, I’m going to start something. And it motivates you, it drives you forwards. So, this planning things even long term, um, or short term, can really help you. And it can be as simple as just writing down four points. So, what do you think about this? Kirsty, how would you say for someone that’s time limited, how would you say they should handle that? Moving forward with an idea, I think.

Kirsty van den Bulk: You’ve got to think about your lifestyle. So, as you were talking about, that was like, can you get up an extra hour? Or what are you doing? What can you free up? And I think it’s really a good bit of tipping there because I was just sitting there thinking, so we know I’ve got a YouTube channel and I’m getting a lot of pressure, funny enough, to launch an online course. And I’m a bit reticent to do it now. It’s not because of anything more. It’s not that time. It’s about will somebody want it. And because of what I do, will it give for, uh, me, would it give the right benefit? So that’s my stumbling block as I’m working on. Would it give the right benefit? Or is somebody who’s going to take it and not actually to be confident on camera? So, it’s an interesting thing. And I have all the videos and they’re already on my YouTube channel. And I have been dilly dallying. You can laugh at this. I have been avoiding and looking at other things that, uh, could take up my time, which actually I don’t need to do. So instead of maybe watching that grade Anatomy or Station 19, I could actually come upstairs and do some work and actually focus on something that may be of benefit to somebody. But it’s my head. And that’s how I’m going to talk from a personal point of view here. My head is I have been avoiding. So, I’m going to say to people, look at what you’re doing, look at what you’re avoiding, and then seeing why you’re avoiding it. And then maybe going me focus on the task. And I didn’t expect that one to come out of me this morning.

David Newton: I think avoidance is just the classic one. The avoidance, um, the anxiety, even thinking about something. And it all relates down to breaking it down into parts. Um, the stress. So also, the fear. Fear is a massive one for new business owners that are just starting up. They’re fearing every single thing. Now, as we all know, fear will cause these things to happen. If you’re like, oh, well, this won’t work, that won’t work. Negative thoughts and it’s proven will happen that it will affect you. It will affect you in adverse ways. So, by being positive and like, well, even if this doesn’t work, who cares? Because what I say to you is, failure is success. I’ve failed at hundreds of things in my life. Um, not just like course or work related, but trying things, doing things. And I don’t look at them as failures. I look at them as, oh, I’ve learned something, I won’t do that again. And it’s only by failures, right? The only people that make no mistakes are people that do nothing. At all. I was told that years ago. And I’ve seen it in companies I work with where there has been people that don’t do anything and make no mistakes but pick people up that do make mistakes. And it happens because those people are doing nothing. So, by failing, by doing lots of things, by trying it, what’s the worst that can happen? You’re not going to die. You’re not going to die. You’re just going to learn from it and you’re going to go, I won’t do that again. I’m sure if I look back at some of my older videos, I must admit I wasn’t on camera until I kind of really joined Zenla. But that’s because my audience didn’t need me to be. I would talk to them live, one to one. But actually, in my videos, it was all screen sharing because it’s technical programs such as 3D modeling. So, they didn’t want me I don’t need my face to be in it because I’m obscuring what I’m trying to teach them. And I think that’s a big one. So, I think stopping yourself, avoidance, avoiding things, oh, I’ve got this to do, I’ve got that to do. All that television programs on. I mustn’t miss that episode. The World Cups on. Lucky I’m not into football. But that avoidance thing can really stop you. But I think if you manage your time, if you just say, right, okay, even if it’s only 1 hour a week, it’s better than nothing at all, and you can move it forward. And this is how I did it, guys. I was working full time, making my money, coming in and in the sidelines for fun, I was creating videos, building up an audience, starting my own businesses. Um, some of them didn’t work, some of them made me money. And then when I got to a point, and I called it the balance point, so this is key. So, when your money you’re earning in your nine to five jobs, when that drops below or equal to what you’re trying to set up and what you set up and selling, when it drops below, turn it off and go with what you’re doing, because that’s the balance point. You can keep it, but you can say to the boss, if you’re contracted, you can say, I’m not taking much work on, um, I’ll keep you there. So, you’ve still got this. This is building. And at that point, you will say, I don’t want that anymore. Because this is much easier for me. It works in my lifestyle. Um, means I can travel, travel the world. And this is one thing we haven’t talked about. The ability to be your own boss means you can do it wherever you like. Especially now because the internet is so good. We’ve got all these streaming services and everything. It’s great opportunity for young people or even middle aged or old people that want to start and get into this stuff for sure.

Kirsty van den Bulk: And I think that’s really important because people forget that I found myself in as we were talking about earlier, I found myself in a position where suddenly I could set up a business and I hadn’t. For me, it was at the start of the pandemic. So, I was supposed to launch on the 1 April. I didn’t. And then overwhelm fear, uh, all those feelings that you get of not being good enough. And I look at the stuff I’ve done over the last two and a bit years and I look back to my branding and I go, oh, I look at the fact that I launched as Opening Doors Consultancy, which it still is, but now I’ve branded as KVDB. And I look at it and I don’t think I failed once. And I was talking to one of my clients and saying, you’ve got to just do it. There is an F in there, but I won’t say that live on air. So, you’ve just got to do it. And, um, if you don’t do it, you’re never going to do it. And that is the biggest thing is just to start an action. And I’m the biggest one that says fear stopping you. So, it’s really interesting because the other thing that I always do believe is coaches like myself need to be coached. We need other business owners. You touched on it earlier about networking. I go networking not to look for clients, I go networking to talk to other business owners to say, I’m feeling a bit like this, like a big thing happened this week and I really needed some friends. So, I went to a networking event yesterday and they just propped me up because I’m not selling in my networking group. I’m, um, with some friends because it can get a little bit the same if you’re stuck in your own office. So, I think that’s also important that we mention is that within the planning and if you’re stuck, oh my goodness, if you’re stuck, you can turn around to one of your networking friends and say, I’ve got a real problem. They’ll go, yeah, try this, try that. So, I like that.

David Newton: Yeah, I think that’s very sort of that reminiscent of our, um, Facebook group on Zenla. Everybody’s supporting and helping each other and it’s such a beautiful place to be. It makes our job a lot easier working for Zenla because they answer a lot of the questions themselves or they have a lot of the problems and they answer each other and it’s really hard, like running it from an educational point of view. There’s so many different ways to do the same thing and it’s like, what a video that you set up that you think is general? Um, some people will say, oh, it needs that way, or we do it this way or we do it that way, but ah, because there’s so many billions of different ways. To do things. You can never do an educational site that’s going to COVID every single scenario. So you’ve got to hope, and this is a big thing that people think outside the box. This doesn’t happen enough. I almost think that schools should be teaching this stuff. One, they should be teaching common sense. Right? If you agree with me, Kirsty. And the other one is out of the box thinking, which is its own art form as well as improvisation. These kinds of things that actors that’s why actors are so good at doing courses and things because they can be really good on camera and they can do these things. But it’s really funny to hear Kirsty saying there that you actually have this fear and these things. You wouldn’t think so, would you, looking at Kirsty? But we all have them. It’s do we overcome them and do we, more importantly, face our fears? And this is something that I think is really important. If you have a fear, you should face it. Because the more you face it, the easier it will get. I promise you that you’ll be able to cope with it. You’ve only got to look at I’m a celebrity and people are scared of rats or snakes when they come out. They are like it’s not that bad. And that’s facing your fears.

Kirsty van den Bulk: Yeah, I’m not going to face mine. I have tried and I still to this day, you cannot keep me in a room with a wasp. Because not that big. Is that big? It’s so big. Off camera, even my daughter goes, Mummy leaves the room.

David Newton: Yeah, my wife.

Kirsty van den Bulk: I cannot believe we have been talking that long. I want to ask you a couple of things. I really want to cover off Mojo Mojo because I just love the name. And I also want to know about who has inspired you. I really do. Those are the two questions because yeah, just a, um, um, little bit of underneath you because you are incredible and you give, I think that’s what people don’t realize. You give so much. And I’m going to go and check your YouTube channel out after this. I’m also going to tag you on YouTube so that people can find it. But, um, I’m really intrigued by this. So mojo. Mojo.

David Newton: Yeah. Mojo. Mojo came from, um I’ve had lots of different names. I’ve had imagination zone concept ideas. UK online training center. I’ve had a ton of different, um, uh, names. But actually, we actually started this. It was me and me and a friend of mine. He’s a really top graphic designer. And, um, we were going to partner up together. And we still do things together. We still give each other work and things like that. But, um, we’re starting up Mojo mojo. But we want to find a name of energy and sort of energy, tribal energy, that kind of thing. So, Mojo mojo was developed from that and I took it over because we were first starting doing and this is where I say to you I do tons of different things. I’ve only touched the tip of the iceberg, some of the stuff that I’m working on. But we started with setting up a company that was going to do designer posters. So that’s how that begun. But then Andy couldn’t commit the time to it. So, I then took it over. Um, and I took it over. And then I decided that Mojo Major would be good for lots of different things. I now use it for subdomains. So, I’ve got courses at Courses, Moje mojo Design, uh, Mojo Mojo design prints mojo jewelry. There’s a ton of different things come off the back of it. So, it’s a really nice energetic um, brand. And that is important. You’ll notice in here; I always have my branding. Everything key. Point number one when you’re starting off, get a powerful brand, pay someone money to get it designed for you. If you cannot do it yourself, get a branding sheet done. Um, it doesn’t have to cost a ton of money. But uh, uh, that brand that you’ve got that sent you in different digital formats should be EPS, should have transparent PNG file, should have high res and a low-res JPEG. You’ll be able to use those in your design. So one is, I’ve got a T shirt um, printed out here. And you’ll see underneath here, I’ve actually got a Zenla one. Yeah, if you do this stuff, you should brand, you should brand in. So, like here for instance, if I was doing this for um, Zenla, I would have that teacher off and I would be on there for Zenla. But branding is key in everything. Another reason why you should put branding in stuff is because if your courses are uh, pirated and it happens I’ve had lots of pirated courses, you have your logo in there. Lots of people that watch pirated courses, and you might be surprised with this. They’ll actually go to the site and buy it. They’re just trying it out, seeing if they like it. And then they want to engage with you if they like you. And that’s why I do lots of free content. I like to be very honest and transparent about things I’m talking about. I never like to hard sell. And I know Kirsty feels exactly the same on this. Be yourself as Kirsty says. What’s your phrase, Kirsty?

Kirsty van den Bulk: I think it’s you do you uh, better than anybody else. That’s one of the ones I use. And be you because oh my goodness, you’re spending your whole life trying to be something that you’re not. And, nobody buys them for me. You’re not. So just be you. I am so tired and interesting, you probably can’t see it, but above your head is my branding. Subtly there really subtly. But you probably can’t see uh, other side there you go JIFFA, um, is my branding, which is deliberately like a watermark. And all of my courses that I do, I have a watermark of my logo pushed into the back because, um, again, it’s that people can steal your content. And, um, I got some advice because I had an opportunity and I was like, how can I do it? And the business, um, mentor just said, put your logo into the back.

David Newton: And.

Kirsty van den Bulk: You can do this on Cambridge. You can do it on any software. Just really make it almost invisible, but it’s there. So, everything that I do, anything I share, has got my brand on it. And I tell my clients this all the time. Um, I’m working with a couple at the moment, and it’s like I’ve actually developed a brand deck for them, which I now give them, that they have to brand themselves because they don’t realize it’s not just about your colors, it’s not just about your font. It’s your photos. It’s the whole thing. And people just they think your brand is your color. And it really bugs me.

David Newton: Well, it is, it is a really important aspect of the game. I could talk about branding for hours, literally hours, but the three things I would say to you, um, I think it’s three, it might be more one, uh, is make sure that you’re sticking to your brand colors. Make sure you’ve got your branding in all media that you create. Uh, make sure you stick to the same font type. And if you’re not experienced, use one font type. Just use styles within that font type. They are my three massive tips for you from a designer’s point of view. If you stick with your brand colors and you keep your fonts consistent on every place that you put them, then it will be easy for you to just roll with all your social media content, for all your course content. You’ll just be logos there. I’m using that font. It takes the worry out of deciding, which font shall I use? This script. I promise you; people look at it and they see three or four different fonts in your site, they’ll be confused. Something will just not chime with them. If you keep it consistent and stick to that one font type, or two max for a beginner, um, you’ll be absolutely fine.

Kirsty van den Bulk: Love it. Honestly, I’m going to be playing this later this afternoon in the meeting, so yay. Thank you. As you can see, I may have taken branding a bit further.

David Newton: Oh, you have? This is the importance of branding. This is another site I’ve got. So, there you go. Uh, people like you have a passion to surf. So I’ve got my branding and I’ve got a T shirt, and I’ve got a background for everything I do.

Kirsty van den Bulk: Kirsty the whole reason my wall behind me is painted in, it’s a lavender, kind of a red, uh, light on it at the moment, just to warm it up. But that’s because it’s branded. It is my branding. All these things have been deliberately thought of. Um, and I don’t think people realize that I didn’t just launch. There was a whole feeling around it and what I wanted to do. So now I really want to know about who has inspired you, because I think that would be lovely.

David Newton: Well, it’s really hard to say. I mean, I’m inspired artistically by lots of different artists. Um, so it’s hard to say. I’ve just been picking things up as I go through life. People even like you, Kirsty, inspire me on some of the things that you’re doing. I look at them and go, oh, I can use that. I think people, rather than just say, oh, there’s one type, um, because there’s so many, I think it’s people in general. I’m inspired every day by different people, and that’s how I’ve done it purposely when I was younger, I didn’t want to get locked in. What happens with artists is they get locked into learning methodology on how to do things, what artists are good, and, um, reasons why they’re good. Now you’re being dictated to. You’re almost not given a choice of your own. Your kind of educated in that way. It’s very formal. I kind of was trying to break that by not. When I come up with a design, I try not to get inspired too much by other things that go, I’m not saying that’s wrong, because a lot of people get inspired by other artists and those sorts of things. But I try to create my own completely original design. And afterwards, I’ll look around and see or I’ll ask opinion from people, but people that have inspired me. There’s just so many different people. I can’t say that. Um, I watch films. Some actors inspire me, for sure. Um, I think what it is, Kirsty, is like paying attention to what’s happening around you, living in the moment, being mindful of the moment. And if you’ve taken that opinion, I think I automatically did it as a child. All the way through my life, I’ve always been very observant with things, and I was very shy when I was younger. Really shy. Um, but I got rid of that by facing my fears and coming on camera and doing these things and being built up by people. So, I say my inspiration is humanity. Hello, big one. No.

Kirsty van den Bulk: So, I’m inspired by kindness. I don’t care about money. Um, I need enough money to live. I don’t need money. But, um, kindness and happiness and, um yeah, just kindness generally. So, this is where you get to turn the tables. I have thoroughly enjoyed this conversation, and you get throw a question at me, because I’ve been throwing quite a lot at you. Although we have actually done that tennis ball really nicely this morning, and, uh, we have had a comment, which is doubled up. I noticed the t-shirt layers earlier, so someone had spotted your t shirt layers earlier. And honestly, I am sitting here. One of the colors I use, because my font, I use a gray font, so I use gray. I have pink, but that’s my old brand. I still love it as a pop color for, uh, when I’m doing the something different. It’s just interesting what we do within our business. So yeah, I’m loving that. Um yeah, you get through a question at me.

David Newton: Okay. Curiously, I want to say to you, and I want to say to everybody as well, and I want to find out how important is it to, uh, actually have fun on camera? To you do you feel, I think.

Kirsty van den Bulk: It’s really, really important. If you’re not having fun on camera, the camera will see it. So, the camera sees everything. Every emotion that you are feeling, the camera will pick up on. And this is what people it’s not about how you’re smiling; it’s not about how you’re looking. The camera lights your eyes, and if you’re not having fun, the camera will see that. If you are inwardly having a really bad day, or you don’t want to go on camera, or whatever it is that’s stopping you, your mindset isn’t there. The camera will pick up on it. Now, when we talk about fun on camera, it doesn’t mean I’m telling you to go out and do a dancing reel. I’m not. I’m asking you to love the camera, because if you love the camera, the camera will love you back. So having fun when you’re talking to the camera is like, um, I have said this before, I’m not looking at you, you’re in my peripheral vision. I’m talking to the camera because the camera is my friend, and I would have a cup of coffee. I probably look a bit strange if I did take my camera down to a coffee shop and set it all up and had a cup of coffee, but that is what it’s about. You wouldn’t go, uh, and have a cup of coffee with somebody that you didn’t want to have a chat with. So, it’s the most essential ingredient when it comes to going on camera. Even actors who are having a bad playing a baddie are having fun. And I know because I’ve played a couple of baddies, and you, you are playing, you are interacting with the camera as you would a friend. So fun is the most essential element. I love it. So, as I said, I don’t look at you until the fruitful vision. Yeah, this is what it’s all about. If you’re not I did a real, um, about a week ago, and I’ve now had another proper video on it, and I was using a 360 device. Now, I’ve had a reason back problem, so I can’t go crazy and dance, but I could walk around and have some fun. I do think you have to stay within your brand. I think that’s really important. If you’re using a video for your business, then you do need to stick in um, within the brand. But when I got this done, I turned around to the hairdressers yesterday, I went, don’t miss an opportunity. Take a picture. I’m going live tomorrow. Go and show the world on Instagram that you did my hair. And they were like, but why? I went Because it’s fun on camera.

David Newton: Yeah. Uh, I think that’s it. I think humor is um, and it’s quite funny sometimes because everyone’s got different humorous for some people. Sometimes I’ll say humorous jokes and uh, the people just won’t get it. Won’t get it. Which in itself just makes me laugh so much. And that’s why I love people. Because you never know what you’re going to get.

Kirsty van den Bulk: M humility is an interesting one because a couple of weeks ago I was really stressed, and I couldn’t get back to collect my daughter from school. So, my lighthearted humor that I normally have went the other way and I was that crazy lady in, uh, somewhere. I’m not going to say we’re screaming because I needed to get something done and nobody could help me. I think sometimes we have to be also aware that someone might find something really funny one day, but they might be having a bad day and our humanity should leap in and help them. And that takes me back to my kindness.

David Newton: Oh yeah, absolutely. Um, caring and those things. One last thing I want to say is to younger people, for younger people, um, this is really important, I think. But it’s like if you’re a younger person and you’re going for a job interview or those sorts of things, please try to look at it that when you apply for a job or you’re going to an interview, make sure that the power is in your hands. So, when I say this, when you walk into a job interview, straight away the bosses, and they almost don’t even think that they’re doing this, but they will have the power because they’ll think, oh, I’m giving you a job. But what you should do is look at it like, do I want this job? And question those bosses. It is so liberating, guys. Just apply for a job that you don’t even want just to try this out because it’s really good fun.

Kirsty van den Bulk: Uh, I’m really pleased you said that. It’s so important because you are giving your skill set to the company. Yes, you will get learnings from them yet. Absolutely. All these wonderful things will come from you doing that role, whatever the role is. But actually, you are uh, the most essential person. You are the person they’re employing. And you as in you have all the skills that they want. Otherwise, you wouldn’t need to be in that room. So, thank you very much. The bottom of my heart show that because the amount of people I coach who are going for a job interview and they go, oh, but I’ve got to impress. And I’m m like, no, they’ve got to impress you. And um, the other thing I always say is if you’re asked a question that you don’t know the answer to, tell me. That’s an interesting question. I really like that. What’s your thoughts on the subject? Because if they’re doing that trick question, which they do to trip you up, throw it back at them. I’ll tell you what, they single or hadn’t thought about that. And that puts you again into the power. Because it’s your choice to take a job or not. So, I’m really pleased you shared that. Thank you.

David Newton: I think that was a really important one. Um, guys, just to let you know that how I prepare for these kinds of things is uh, just a little sheet that’s it. Just a little sheet of papers and bullet points written down, key things that I need to get out there. And this is what I try and do. I try and get information out there, especially to younger people that are going for interviews and these sorts of things. Because again, I went through this and I’d be like, really kind of like, oh, nervous, sweating. It’s horrible, horrible. And then I completely changed my mind set on it. Do I want this job? And I have, I have applied for jobs that I’ve got no intention of, that I wanted just to test out this. I was using it as testing ground. I won’t tell you the companies that I did that with, but um, it was quite liberating to take that power back and say, what can you offer me? How much money am I earning? I want more than that. Just come in and say it. Just demand what you want. Now, don’t get arrogant about it, but take that power back yourself. Even with that mindset, even if you don’t employ any of the stuff that we’re saying now, but just have that mindset will make you more confident and less nervous going into these things. I’ve gone to the degree where I’ve done website, I’ve done my whole CV online as a website in the company I’m going for is branding. I’ve turned it into their site. It really confuses people. I’ve also written out 30-page documents on M, um, how I think things could be changed within what they’re doing. And, ah, what I expect. And I’ve handed that one time I went in, there was five people sitting around the table. That could be very um, nerve wracking for a lot of people. And I had my sheets, I had ten copies, so I thought just in case, and I handed them before I sat down, before they interviewed, I put them in front of them and sat down and they were just looking like, looking through it made me laugh. Um, so, um, doing things like that can really take you above. And I think that’s it being seen above the crowd doing something a little bit different to what other people are doing, being packed full, looking at inspiration is good, but look at the inspiration that you’re getting and just try and make it ten or 20% better. If you do that, uh, you’ll be successful in everything you do.

Kirsty van den Bulk: On that note, we’re going to close its. Thank you so much for your time this morning. This is an absolutely brilliant episode. And honestly, even if you just catch the end of it, watch it back, because there’s some absolutely amazing nuggets in there. Thank you, David.

David Newton: Thank you, Kirstie. Take care, guys.