The Wise Why

Peter Mols
Hey, Kirsty, thank you so much for having me here. It’s hopefully the first of many of these sorts of things. I’m going to be doing. I’ve I’ve kind of built my personal brand to this point largely on LinkedIn, but to be honest, I really hate video. I don’t really like the sound of my own voice. So this is the first time, so it’s very. I’m honoured to have been asked and I’m really grateful for the opportunity, so my name is Peter. Moss. I feel like I can call myself an entrepreneur again for the first time in a long time. I’ve been running a Business Network called Networking in for the last six years. I’ve been business coaching with people for the last five years. I’ve just celebrated five years in business, which is a bloody great milestone and then three years ago I launched mastermind groups. So I run a business called Mastermind 9 and. We bring business owners together to help each other solve the challenges. Of of business ownership. So that’s me. I should also. I should also. Say that I’m a a a loving husband, a proud dad, and a supportive friend, and I’m a Raven fan of many people.

Kirsty van den Bulk
And I love it and I’m really honoured that you’ve joined me on your first level podcast. So I just want to touch on that slightly that going on video is not normal and we just had a conversation and I’m just gonna bring it in case we had this complete conversation before we came on. I went. Yeah, we’re really looking on camera. And you were like, well, that feels odd. So for everyone who’s watching, this is me now looking at Peter. On my screen and this is me. Looking at you, the audience going on video is not natural and it’s 100% normal to feel uncomfortable and it’s 100% normal to feel nervous. I’m lucky I spent years doing this, but for everyday business owners, it’s challenging. So I wanna talk. Enough about that. A little bit of a master class there. I wanna talk quickly about you being that raving fan and a little bit about what a mastermind is because there’s a lot of people that hear this buzz word. We don’t actually know what it is, so we’ll start with the raving fan. That would be really good.

Peter Mols
So a raving fan. I read a book very early on in my business coaching career called raving fans, and essentially it’s a book about customer service and how you turn customers into people who will rave about, you know, shout from the rooftops about how. Good you are. And I fell in love with Kendra Hanchard’s style of writing. I love the kind of parable nature of the books that he, he writes, but essentially a Raven fan is just someone who is a highly motivated customer. The highest type of customer. I would say and I I I’ve just adopted it ever since, I think that. As Brits were pretty quick to. To jump to complaining about stuff, whether it’s the weather or prices or what, it’ll taxes or whatever it is. And I just think it’s really important to show up and be a a force for good in the world. So. That’s what I try and do and I would highly encourage people to go out and buy Raven fans. I don’t know whether I’ve got it, whether I’ve got it for hand. I don’t think I have, but it’s an amazing, amazing book on customer service, which is a, a, a part of business which is deep.

Peter Mols
In built in me in my value system, customer service is one of the the the most important bedrocks in my opinion, of a successful business. So that’s your to your question on on waving fans and that’s why I do it. And then mastermind groups, yeah, they’re booming. They’re booming. Which is annoying and great at the same time because I’ve been. I’ve been three years on this journey now. And you know, it’s fascinating to see peer groups and and and mastermind groups propping up all over the place. But the reality is, mate, I didn’t form the concept of a mastermind. It was coined in the first instance by a guy called Napoleon Hill who wrote. Probably one of the most influential books. Personal development books, self help books of all time. A book called Think and Grow. Rich and he in that book, he he spent a long time studying some of the most successful people on the planet. People like Henry Ford and Thomas Edison. Andrew Carnegie, the steel magnate, and he. You really looked at what all of these people had in common, and one of the things that they all had in common was the fact that they came together with other people to talk about business challenges and he coined. He was the first person to coin the. Mastermind. Now the reality is Jesus had a mastermind group. The reality is that King Arthur had a mastermind group. Napoleon Hill was the first person to coin it, a mastermind group. And look, I’m not doing anything groundbreaking. There are some unique attributes to what we’re doing and I would say that. Mastermind 9 follows a very pure form of masterminding. And but you know, ultimately there are people like Tony Robbins who’s been running mastermind groups for a long, long time. There are organisations like vestige who do an amazing job of running mastermind groups. People on the alternative board have been doing a similar thing for a long time, so I’ve just kind of copied what they’re doing really and truly, and I’ve brought it to modern time, so we do it online rather than face to face. And the reason for that is I. My tribe is so low and micro business owners, you know, the guys that are working really hard on their own or in a small team of people. That’s my passion and the only way that I can serve the masses is by keeping the cost as low as I can and I can’t do that when we do it face to face. So we do it online. And we’ve come up with an amazing concept which lots of people are buying into and really, really getting a lot of value from.

Kirsty van den Bulk
And I love that that’s that’s where we really align and you know I am that soldier in our small business owner and money is a question you know every spend has to be justified. And if you’re not justifying that spend, then you’re just burning money. And that’s exactly why I launched my own courses was because I wanted it to be a no brainer. Buy so that it would help somebody, because in those early stages and you know four years in, but in those early stages when you were reaching around. Thank you, but you’re rooting around and you’re scratching and it is a bit like a hen in a in a coop looking for that little bit of grain because, you know, the first couple of years, you don’t make any money. But nobody tells you this, so they do tell you it, but you’re not. You’re not ready to listen to it. So you’re literally in money in money, out money, in money out. And if you’re not doing money in money out because you’re not investing in. The business your business. Can’t grow unless you disagree with me. Because you’re the. Mastermind.

Peter Mols
Well, I definitely am not a mastermind of, Sir. I’m Sir. I’m with people who are way. Smarter than me, Kirsty. But your point is absolutely fair and valid. Look, look, the reality is when in a business is one of the hardest things that a human being can can do. Uh, it’s far more lonely and far more tough than anyone is led to believe when they’re encouraged to start a business. You know, lots of people. Go into self-employment. Having worked for someone where it was a bit ****. I’m not sure if I’m allowed to swear, but I’m. I’m sorry. OK, great.

Kirsty van den Bulk
Yeah, that’s fine. Complete it.

Peter Mols
OK, I’ll try it and keep my potty mouth. In check but. The reality is that people are unhappy, but most people are unhappy in a business they get, you know, they they resign or they’re made redundant and they go. I’m fed up of working for that idiot. I’m gonna do it myself. And and they they do the, you know, there’s an amazing book called the E myth revisited by Michael Gerber, which every small business owner, when they start out, should read or in fact, you should probably read it before you start the business in my opinion. And Michael Gerber talks about the technician business owner and he talks about the myth of entrepreneurship. And he he says that most of these small business owners, they, they’re actually technicians, they are the hairdresser, they’re the butcher. They’re the social media. Markets here the the the IT consultant and what they do is they go to work in their business day after day after day, doing the technical work. There’s a brilliant guy called Rick Mower who runs a business called RAW. And if you’ve not had him on your show, I would encourage you. To look.

Kirsty van den Bulk
I haven’t.

Peter Mols
Rick Rick is an absolute legend, and what I learned from from Rick Noah, he he he spoke at one of my networking events and and he’s built this really amazing social purpose business. So it’s it’s got social purpose built into the fabric of the organisation and then. Then, like 2020, staff or something now, but when he was starting out, I asked him a question. How long were you making the furniture? Before you went to work on the business and growing the business, it’s like, dude, I’ve never built any furniture. I’m crap at building furniture. I work on the business, the people who are much better than me work on furniture. And and it’s like. So I use that analogy all the time with my clients. It’s like, dude, stop building the furniture. You’re never going to frigging grow. If you’re building the furniture. So so there are there’s there are stages of of small business ownership and you’ve got to go through that kind of technician piece as quickly as you can and find someone else that’s competent to do the technical work. So you can become the manager. And then finally the entrepreneur, which is when the magic starts to happen. And you know, going back to my point at the beginning, I’m starting to believe that my entrepreneur is back because I feel like with a team of five now, I’ve got really smart people working really hard, all focused in the same direction on what we’re trying to achieve. And I’m starting to free myself to build, to work on building the relationships which are going to take us to the the next level and do stuff like this, which is fun and exciting.

Kirsty van den Bulk
And I think that’s great. I am eighteen of two. I have somebody who does some admin for me it’s not. It’s not only my social media because I realised one of the big things I realised was that actually I am my own brand. When you started we talked about the personal. Brand and people buy people and I’ve spent the last four years building this personal brand, but I one of the things I’ve had to really learn to accept is that not everyone’s gonna like me. And so I stopped being people pleaser, which means that I can be quite hard hitting and and I’ve stopped apologising for that as well. Because I’ve got a purpose, my purpose is. To help people. But I need. States to take some of the tasks off the laborious things that I just don’t have the time for. Tax accounts, making sure they’re in orderly, you know, making sure that the receipts are aligned to the. Actual outlay all. Of those things and I work the only. Thing that I’ve like you. I’ll collaborate. And I wondered if you’d touch on that a little bit because I know that you’re a keen person for collaboration.

Peter Mols
Yeah, yeah. But I but something you just said there really made me made me want to stop and reflect. And you talked about the fact that maybe some people find you a little bit Marmite and I’m absolutely. I’m absolutely fine with Marmite. For me, authenticity is the most important trait in building a personal brand. You’ve got to show up. As. You if you don’t show up as you, if you you put it on, people see through it in no time at all, and I would much rather that people who show up with authenticity, they’re magnetic, right. Some people are repelled and others are attracted. But if you show up. In your true. Individual cell.

Peter Mols
Time after time after time and you speak your values and you you act your values and you. Yeah, you will end up. Surrounding yourself with with a tribe of people who love you for for being you.

Kirsty van den Bulk
But we’re being loud, proud and unapologetic.

Peter Mols
Absolutely. Some of my favourite, some of my favourite people on the planet fit that mould.

Kirsty van den Bulk
Well, I’ll tell you what. If you go back to my work colleagues at Tama, Colin, if you are listening, he will tell you that bless you. I love Colin. Colin Burgess. Love you to pieces, but I know damn well he used to go. You’re just mum. I and I go. Yeah, I know. Simon Fitch. Actually, from dealing when my old days. I don’t know where you. Are Simon but. He sat in a meeting with Kirsty. You are just Mama and I go. Yeah, and it’s OK. But.

Peter Mols
Then.

Kirsty van den Bulk
I do want to talk about collaboration because I do think it’s it’s such an important thing that people forget about and I wonder if you could explore or explain a little bit the importance of it.

Peter Mols
So I’m I’m I’m a a big fan of. Surrounding myself with people who are better than me, but I I I look at the most successful entrepreneurs on the planet and no one ever got there on their own. And ultimately, the Richards, the Jeffs, the Elonians, they just happened to build to be magnetic to to create, have a have a vision of what they wanted to. Do to be. Magnetic and to be able to sell that vision to people who bought in to the values. And to the vision and to the mission. And they have got where they are by building by being able to fill their bag with really incredible people who believe what they believe. So. From a from a. Collaboration perspective. When you’re a a small business owner starting out on your journey. I think it’s absolutely vital.

Kirsty van den Bulk
So you’ve had a long, Catherine, while I describes it as a wonky career. I have stolen that phrase cause I just love it. But yeah, the wonky career, the wonky path. I wondered if you’ve had along your wonky path some of those aha moments where you went. This was a really good decision or those are hard moments where you went. Yeah, I wish I had done.

Peter Mols
That’s a really interesting question, so I I definitely have had a wonky career, but it’s all been. It’s all been in the same kind of direction. One of the most formative positions I had was actually as a working as a waiter at tgi Friday’s when I was at at UNI that that company changed my life because I at the time. In the early 2000s, they were a top 50 employer at at Telegraph or times Top 50 employer paying minimum wage. Remarkable how a company can do that. You know the the, the, the systemisation that you look to in McDonald’s. But they were they were able to charge twice or three times what McDonald’s charged for a burger by. Wrapping service, customer service, epic customer service into the mix and at the heart of our business, it was was totally about vision and values and and there was there were values for all sorts of things. And I and I learned a lot there. My career has been squiggly cause I am. I would tell anyone that would listen when I was 10 years old, that I was going. To be a. Millionaire when? I grew up and and I always wanted to be a self-made millionaire, studied entrepreneurship at Uni and wrote my dissertation on the characteristics of entrepreneurs like I I went deep into a subject that I was always fascinated by. And I started after Tgis I went travelling and I started a business in New Zealand called Travel BLAG and I had eight people working for me. I raised money and I ******** it up ultimately. UM and. That’s a long story for another time, but essentially I lost it all and and when you lose. Something. That you’ve invested so much blood, sweat, tears, money, effort, energy, enthusiasm, commitment, dedication into it. The IT killed me. I had a a long a a long fight with depression that lasted for 13 years and to be honest with you, I think during that time I did, I did a a number of sales jobs overseas. I was I worked in Kenya and Indonesia and. London for a spell. And I did another stunt of self-employment and event management and all sorts of stuff. I spent a decent amount of time working in serviced offices and business parks and. I loved being around business owners like that. That was that was amazing. But I always felt like I was destined for a bit more. And I was rescued by a guy called Rob Pickering at action Coach. I would say I’ve been working in a particularly toxic environment, a a local business park to us, and I have been brought in to basically redevelop at the business park, keep the customers happy. And you know. Just, you know, run a business on a building site essentially and. I was culturally completely misaligned with with the owner of that business, and it was a hard process, one that I looked. Back on with. Sadness and pride, I would say, and ultimately I left that job when my little boy Max was six weeks old. I I’d I’d quit when he was six weeks old. You know, you’ve gotta be in a pretty bad place to do that. And and I was saved by this guy.

Peter Mols
Pickering, who had been a former client of mine, and he was an action coach, an action coach you probably don’t possibly don’t know, but they’re the world’s largest business coaching firm and he brought me under his wing and he taught me how to build businesses. The right way and you know how you build a business that work without you. And I was exposed to incredible. Business coaches from all over the world who invested their time, effort, energy into me and there was just this amazing culture of growth and personal development and, you know, read a book a week for the rest of your life. And all of that sort of stuff that I learned. And as I went through that journey. With action coach I, I start to read and develop myself much more than I ever had, to be honest. And in in those moments, I read a book called The Miracle Morning, which literally changed my life because I started to put success practises in place and exercise the discipline muscle, which to be honest with you, is a muscle that I struggle with. I’ve got ADHD and I struggle with. Consistency and discipline, but for. The first time I kind of went on a concerted effort to just build myself up by, you know, doing daily exercise, daily reading, daily meditation, journaling, affirmations and visualisation. Visualisation were were massive for me and I was able to free myself from. From the antidepressants within probably 30 days and you know that’s that’s coming up on. And. On on four years now, I think five years I’ve been free of antidepressants. And. You know what? It’s more than that. It’s it’s coming up on six years and and in those those moments when I freed myself and I was feeling buoyant and upbeat and proud of myself and enthusiastic for the future. My entrepreneur came back, which had been which had been buried, you know, like from 10 years old. I was telling everyone that I’d be a millionaire, a studied entrepreneurship at UNI. It’s all I ever wanted to do. But with the antidepressants I kind of and, you know, successive horrible. Bloody fights with a black dog. My entrepreneur was kind of buried the the lows were were taken out, but the highs were definitely taken out and and there was a long period of my life.

Peter Mols
You know, I I lacked creativity and and and vision and enthusiasm and and that will change when an entrepreneur came back and and and at that point I realised that I needed to be on my own and do it for myself again and. The rest, as they say, is history. We’re five, five years into a business coaching career. Three years into masterminds and it’s. All all going. In the right direction.

Kirsty van den Bulk
Thank you so much for sharing it. I’ve I think most people at some point have have met the black dog. I certainly have. And I know then when I was diagnosed and this is a long time ago. That’s 20 odd years ago I was diagnosed by my doctor was having clinical depression and I was offered the antidepressants. And I remember thinking. I don’t. And it was a choice and we were going to about choice, but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with taking antidepressants. I really wanna clear that the kind of person I am. And I think this sums up me as a person. Who was well, if I’m. Depressed. What’s making me depressed? Yeah, in my face. And I thought, well, I’m gonna talk about this one. I’m not. But I know we talk about depression today in my case, and I’m really sorry, Alex. But in my case it was my husband. Really sorry, mate, but our life was toxic and it was very, very difficult and it was horrific. And once I realised my identified, I mean I I used to walk down the street like this. You know, This is why I’m I’m an unapologetic because I hold my head up high because. I’ve been down there. Where I didn’t want anyone to see me. I remember hating, even hating, the way I looked, hating my face and saying to a councillor. If I could change my face, I mean, how bad does it have to? Be. When you say I could change my face. Nice. Then life would be better. I mean, wow. So I really appreciate you sharing kindly your story and your journey. And I applaud you for the way that you have turned your life. Around I’m gonna go. To the questions, we’ve got a comment from Jordan, which is really lovely, he said. We’ll add this to my reading list. Peter Myers waving fans. Jordan, you should reach out to Peter. I don’t know if you two know each other, but absolutely amazing. Peter, you’ve been talking for 25 minutes and expect me to say that.

Peter Mols
Like you know, it didn’t it? Feels like that.

Kirsty van den Bulk
No. This is where you get to turn the the tables on me and I have to answer a question that I’ve got no idea what it is. So fill your boots and I’ll do my best and I love the fact I. Don’t know what it is.

Peter Mols
So I I know you gave me some prior warning, but it kind of escaped me. So I’m thinking on my feet and I suppose being the the business coach. I’m going to ask you what the vision of your business is. Where’s your your business going? What does it look like in five years time, Kirsty?

Kirsty van den Bulk
So that’s a really good question, cause everything in my life went a bit crazy two months ago and I genuinely mean I had a vision. My vision was to launch a social enterprise and I was really set on this. I want to help people. Who, like me, found themselves homeless and found themselves needing help and support. And realising that I didn’t have the qualification. I had nothing. I mean, let’s be honest when I. Actually walked away. From my first marriage, I was underqualified. I could do a pirouette and I could sing a song and I could. Act my way out.

Kirsty van den Bulk
Ohh I was really good. I mean, yeah, I was a performer. That’s why I’m doing this. You know, I was, I was an actor, but actually I haven’t got the business skills. And then I went into business. That. Was an interesting, you know, combination. Who? Actually, genuinely I’ve gotta go and have a rethink on that. I still have a complete and utter passion for the social enterprise. It’s right to my heart and I really want to launch it and really do, especially this year, because the 20th anniversary of me finding myself in a deep, dark hole. There’s nowhere to go and no home, so I would really, really, really love to get it going this year. So if there are any investors out there that want to do this, I have a vision. I have a mission. I would love to do it, but I’ve actually got to rethink because I’ve got to. Put my daughter first. Yeah. And so at the moment, the mission and the vision is a little bit sidelined till September. And then I so I’m not changing the business, I’m still doing, I’m still helping. So my big mission, anyone who knows me is I have the word, my core value is help sounds really simple. Just one little word.

Peter Mols
Yeah.

Kirsty van den Bulk
I like to help people now, whether I charge people or not is my problem, but I like to help people. I hate seeing people.

Kirsty van den Bulk
So help and I know that that will be part of my vision and my mission, but I’m not quite sure where it’s gonna be at the moment because I need to get my door settled for September and then I’m gonna come back, and I’m gonna need a business coach, and I’m gonna need a good kick up the backside because I really need to get my house in order. But for now, I have to put it. To the side, if that makes sense.

Peter Mols
Makes perfect sense. Have you heard the zig Ziglar saying? You can have anything in life that you want. If you’ll only help enough enough people get what they want.

Kirsty van den Bulk
What I haven’t, but I totally and utterly believe it. I have a big thing about paying it forward. Anyone who’s met me, I know there are people who can’t afford to work with me, so I will pay it forward because there are people that can. And so for every person that can, I will have at least probably one or two people. In return, because flowers are making enough money to pay into the house and the family, and to have to live a good quality of life, then I’ve got the freedom and the space to help, and it’s really important to me that I do because the minute I stop that it’s the minute my energy. Goes out and I don’t like myself very much. We’ve got a few more comments. Yemi has joined us and said just. Ordered the miracle warning by how our worried. If you haven’t read Guinness Book, Peter, it’s inspirational Lisa’s gender. Said I came late while I watched you.

Kirsty van den Bulk
If you haven’t read yanni’s book, so Remy wrote and I can’t find it, you have me. Put your name, put your book in the chat, because it’s gone from my brain. Yummy has been on the on the podcast and he found himself. I think it was 7 or 8 on a plane being taken from the. Kingdom so fabulous. Amazing story. Ohh I can see the book cover. It’s red. I can see it but colour the name. But I’ll put that in the chat. What I would love you to do. Peter is to. Put a list of books. Or direct somewhere where there’s a link of the books that you really recommend because there were so many in there that I’m going to get them. Time will tell. Thank you, yemi.

Peter Mols
I I think I’ve read close to close to 200 books, Kirsty and. 202. 100 business and personal development books and the answer to that question is what are you, what are you? Trying to solve. Because you know, I can. I can give you. I can give you books on how to write. Create sales letters or how to create vision mission values or how to stand out in a crowd or become a key person member for?

Kirsty van den Bulk
Ohh, I’m feeling a cold coming on. I think you should share this and poll.

Kirsty van den Bulk
Yeah. So and and the and the author and becoming what you believe. Thank you so much for your time, Peter. It’s been an absolute joy. It’s been an amazing journey. You are an absolute inspiration and I love how you have seen the Black Dog and bounce back up. So I am really, I’m championing you because I am. Mean you’re raising fans?

Peter Mols
Well, that’s very well. That makes me very, very happy. I think I’m, I’m I’m forever grateful for the 13 years I’ve spent. The whole because I think that it makes me a much kinder, more empathetic soul. I I definitely am a different person on the other side of depression than I was before and. I’m a better. I’m a better version of myself now than than I was.

Kirsty van den Bulk
And love it. Thank you.

Peter Mols
Thank you. Thank you for having me this. Has been fun. I’m going to get more good.