On today's episode of Gathering the Kings. At the time, 2004 email marketing wasn't huge. And so I actually sent out a broadcast fact So it's Sunday night. It would go out to every I think I picked 15 100 businesses, and I sent them out. So on Sunday night, a fact came through to everyone's machine. So they'd come in the next day, and there'd be faxes Chaz flights or whatever. And one of the faxes was for my new recruitment agency.
Yeah. I I got one response to facts, but that piece of business, I was able to milk that piece of business for about for in excess of €1,000,000 over the course of the next 3 years. You are listening to Gathering the Kings with Chaz Wolfe, featuring fellow 7, 8, and even 9 figure business owners who have real battle scars from business and life. But have prevailed as the king that they are designed to be.
We welcome high performing entrepreneurs to the stage in order to reveal the reel of the reel on what it takes to the successful business today. We dissect the good and bad decisions they've made along the way Chaz give a true and accurate picture of the journey of success and how you too can get there. Through this dialogue, you will learn the value of growing your network and surrounding yourself with power players and kings like today's guest.
Grab your pen and notebook because we're about to dive in. What's up, everybody? I'm Chaz Wolfe, gathering the king's podcast today. I've got John sharp on the king stage, my brother, from an from another part of the Wolfe, how are you? I'm very well. Thank you. And thank you for having me on today. Very much appreciate it. Absolutely. I didn't think about it. I welcomed you. You said good morning to you, but it's probably not morning your time. Water passed 3 in the afternoon.
So, The the kids are home from school already. There you go. I'd I'd Wolfe have just sent mine off, but today is the day before Thanksgiving. Here in the US. And so my kids are downstairs, screaming, having a great time. Hopefully, we don't hear them. But here we are needless to say, John, us what kind of business that you got, my brother? The we I run a sales agency. So we supply businesses with sales teams.
So we have a a portfolio of amazing clients, and we have teams selling, Renewable Energy. We sell rural broadband. We have teams out. So there's operating on behalf of UNICEF. We have some teams out selling a new kind of a subscription based dog food Chaz is that since the the lockdown The dog population of Ireland has increased significantly, and a lot of those dog owners want another option other than thin food or kibble. So, but the renewable energy piece is probably our biggest teams.
We have 5 offices around the country and probably about 20 vehicles dedicated to that team. Wow. The rural broadband is bringing There's a lot of parts of Ireland that don't have international. So we'll be partnered with a company, and we're in we're in rural Ireland, call on farmers, and let them know that we can we have a way of delivering internet into their homes. So renewable energy broadband into the rural.
The UNICEF is feeding the children and Chaz the dogs is for the animal So, yeah, I think we're gotta gotta make sure we cover the whole gamut here. Yeah. We know that. Obviously, what I heard you say is that you had to build teams, sales process, clearly from different angles of industry and and end user, which is really cool because a lot of people get confused by that about the sales process and how those things work and even building a sales team. So I'm sure we'll get into a lot of that.
Before we do, though, I wanna know what what's what's ticking on the inside of John? Like, why are you still doing this? For all intents and purposes, like I told you before we got started here, you're part of the 10% of businesses that have done a 1,000,000 or more in revenue. That's why we've got you here on the show. Why are you still pushing even with the success that you've had? I'm I'm just I'm not finished. Nothing nothing is finished.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then the more you know, the more you know that you don't know. And the more you dive into an industry, like, we recruit, train, manage payroll, or or where we've got a fleet of vehicles where the the whole business is governed with technology. We've got handheld devices that track individuals, track their activity. As with any technology or any iteration of any product, you're always thinking about the next iteration and the next Right. Scalable step to take.
So if you're if you're working in sales job, like, I might have been 20 years ago. You're thinking I could do this better on my own. So you're you're looking to evolve out of that sales job and maybe get into your own gig. And then when you do have your own gig and you start getting some success, you've gotta learn what do you do with that success?
So you might learn a little bit about retail, invest or you might start trying to look at maybe seeding other businesses or investing other complimentary businesses or and then Yeah. You you might wanna look further up the chain and ultimately do it that on a on a more structured basis than your capital. So even and even at Chaz, there is always room to evolve that even further. So you're never the game is never over.
No matter how far you get along the along the Chaz, but there's always something that's gonna inspire you. Something that you didn't know about. Something that you can learn and, so that's it. But fundamentally, everything we're doing is a work in progress. Everything we're doing has potential to get better. And Yeah. We have a we have a backbone of the organization, a team, and I would see my role as taking the business and synest Chaz far as they can possibly go in their lives.
And that is we're nowhere near we're nowhere near checking out of that plan at the moment. Yeah. Well, I love what you said. You gave a distinction of not only the organized reaching its potential. And, obviously, new iteration after new iteration after new iteration gives you new ideas and new ideas and growth and And there's really this never done process. I say all the time that I'm grateful, but not done.
Yeah. Gratefulful where I'm at, grateful for the scenery of this current position love where I'm at, content in that moment, not done. Not done. And so you gave a great, clear distinction on that. And then on top of that, then it goes into now your people. As far as being able to then help them reach their potential. Was it always like that for you, or did you did you grow into that piece of it? Well, I was very I'm very we were very lucky.
We have a we we have a backbone in our organization that's been there probably 7 years, and a lot of these guys are Eastern European guys came over from Bosnia. And a lot of them, you you you you might have be at the I think the average monthly wage in Bosnia back in 2015 was about €500, which is $500 a month.
So Yeah. Yeah. A lot of these guys that's the we have a sort of a Bosnian vein running through our business, a Croatian, and a lot of these guys They would have come across, moved to Dublin, stayed in hostels, found sales jobs. They would have evolved. Some of them joined us there's a veteran Petrovich. I was sort of a the managing director of Bill Sav. He is a born leader, and he did there's crew there that they're and and they're they've all evolved into great managers and leaders of Yeah.
Of men. And I I serve these guys and the to see some of these guys have come over, but they come over, stayed in hostels, built a life, got an apartment, flew over their wives, and kids, and have evolved even further. Now these guys are driving audis and BMWs, and they are absolutely absolutely crushing. Yeah. So you and you can see they're hungry for more. They want everything life has to offer. Vedran, veteran Bozic, merino, Bozic, Dragos, Ami Skilesay, in our business.
Like, they want they want it all. And if I can't give them the platform to to to get that within our business, then they're gonna go somewhere else and get it somewhere else. And these guys are worth their weight in gold. So I can't I can't let that happen. Yeah. Exactly. Well, spoken like a true salesperson, even yourself, the value of of a good salesperson. And it doesn't mean that you cater to to a top performer and you give them every single thing that they want.
There's obviously a culture that you're building. I'm sure, and we'll talk about this, but there there's a there's a layer, though, or an attentiveness when you when you can hone in on someone that has that skill, it's like, there's a there's just it's just a night and day difference when someone can come in and produce like that. And so it sounds like you've got a whole crew of of guys like that, which is pretty incredible, especially for your clients.
I'm sure that they feel pretty lucky to have have a guy like you in their corner with a team that you have. Yeah. No. It's it's great. It is it's great. And that's and that's it. And you want to you you wanna you wanna protect us by giving them autonomy. By trusting them to make decisions, and it is and that's what we do. We get out of their way. We we we might tee up new clients or new campaigns, but you know, once we have it teed up, we get out of the way.
You know, let the let the let the horses run. Let them do the thing, and we haven't been disappointed. So we haven't haven't been disappointed yet. Yeah. That's incredible. Well, let's get a little practical here. I'd love to hear about your story. How did how did you get involved in just business in general. Tell us about your upbringing a little bit. Maybe tell us how you started this business. Give us a little bit of the backdrop. Well, I can sort of recall when I was very young.
The kids on the street talk about their dad's boss. And I would say to my dad, who's your boss dad? And my dad worked from south. He was his own boss. So he was he was actually a He was a bookie at the race track. So There you go. Yeah. From the age of ten, I'm kinda traveling around race tracks, and I'm I'm working at the races. And Yeah. Like, hustle. Fourteen 14 or 15. I'm I'm having 100 on horses and sometimes when in thousands, you know.
So there's the I suppose entrepreneurship is is is risk. So I was able to develop quite a quite a tolerance for risk at a young age. Now Chaz didn't mean I I wanted to be a bookie or any of that kind of stuff. I still wanted to break into corporate Ireland as such. So I got into sales when I got into recruitment And but just my first business was a recruitment agency. And I went working for a recruitment agency. I was sitting in a desk.
I was billing 30 k in the month, and then the end of the month, they'd hand me check for 2 k or something along those lines, and I think of myself. Oh, I think I wanna be on the other end of that equation. I'm like, so There was a the that's only working in a business. I'm the jobs that I had, I have sales roles or recruitment roles. I was always sitting there thinking, I could do this without you guys. So that that was that was always there.
So December 2004, I I remember I was working for a guy and he said to me, John, you're you're kinda wasted in this business. And I was kinda ready to go, and that was the push that I needed So I set up a recruitment agency, and I believe it or not, I had no clients starting out, but I I I sent out at the time 2004, it wasn't much email marketing wasn't huge. And so I actually sent out a broadcast fax. I sent out a pro you could send these broadcast faxes out. Right? So it's Sunday night.
It would go out to every I think I picked 15 hundred businesses in my Wow. Kyle, and I set them out. So on Sunday night, I fax came through to everyone's machine. So they'd come in the next day and there'd be faxes or cheap flights or whatever. And one of the faxes was for my new recruitment agency. Yeah. I I got one response to facts.
I got one response to the facts, but that piece of business, I was able to milk that piece of business for about for in excess of €1,000,000 over the course of the next 3 years. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. And then and then that that that recruitment area of specialization. Chaz dried up, but it dried up completely. Yeah. I'm in business with a guy by the name of Brian Rooney. One day, he walked into my office in 2009 around sort of March time.
He had a mortgage business that had just gone south, the the the financial collapse caved in on on on us. And we were both at a loose end. He had an idea to get on some sales contractors and go out and start. It was recession business saving people money on their bills. We were going into businesses first and saying, listen, we'll do a diagnostic on your bills. Oh, your revenue is down because we're in a recession.
We'll do a diagnostic on your bills and tell you what you can save on your electricity, your gas, your broadband, your waste, all this kind of stuff. So we, We started we started tipping away at that. And then I had another I had another stroke of unbelievable look. The the the facts was was an unbelievable look there. And then I had another unbelievable bit of luck. I sent a I sent a email to a guy, Paula Schacknessy. He was working in electricity at the time.
And I said, listen, we can acquire customers for your business. That was a renewable energy company. We got a little he he responded to my email and Just two words, ring Lisa and her number, and we rang Lisa. And last, I think it was in July, this this was this was 2009. We thought we got a piece of business on that would we get about $30 of profit out of it, and it would do us for the summer of 9. Right.
We're still with that client, and our last deal was an EU tender worth 15,000,000 over the next 3 to 5 years. So Wow. The, yeah, and that was a that was a an email we can get customers for your business. So there was a couple of little I've I've had. I was I'm reading Banos are listening to Bono's autobiography at the moment. Bono from YouTube. Yeah. He he self narrates his own audio book of his memoirs. That's awesome.
And he he has the origin story of VU 2 is Kelari Mullens took a a notice up on the notice board in their school. Drummer seeks, musicians to form band Right. And that and that was the that was the little card that Ronald responded to and and Adam and the Edge and and and YouTube was born. So I Exactly. I'm I'm listening.
I've been listening to to Bono for the last few few days as I'm walking to Doug, and I I think about that little that you 2 starting from Chaz, but we're not you 2, but we've had monumental results in business coming from Yeah. A broadcast fax number 1. And then an email, in in the in March of 2009. We rolled out a team selling renewable energy in July 9, and we've been we've been at it ever since. At it ever since.
Yeah. Yeah. The the the reality of your humility is really what I wanna point out real quick here Chaz you would call it a stroke of luck. Right, that that you got one response out of 1500.
How many people listening would have sent the 1500 mailers, facts, like fill in the blank with whatever it is, gotten the one response and been upset Chaz they didn't get a a 1% ratio response, right, And I just love the perspective that you have of gratefulness of, like, wow, the fact that I had that one client come from that, like, wow. What a good move.
The fact that you sent a random email, I'm sure that there was quite a few other random emails that you sent as well that go into the backdrop. That's your one email that the overnight success into now a $15,000,000 contract, like, but there was so much before that, and we all know that as entrepreneurs, but the fact that we got to hear you say it is like, Yep.
I know this guy Chaz been on the trail because that's usually what happens is that you're on the trail for a while, and you've been doing the thing. And the thing that you've been doing is hasn't been hit then all of a sudden, it hits. And so it's it's luck, but you were doing the work. So there's a there's a preparation meets opportunity there for sure.
We were drilling for oil, and we got a we got we got the dig a fair few holes, but we we only really focused on the one that the oil actually came out Yeah. Exactly. And and and and look.
When I think about a lot of the businesses that I've started or when I think about a lot of my clients, that's typically how it works is that you just kinda gotta find that initial place, and then you just go, look, right here until nothing else matters until we we get all the oil out of this this Wolfe here, which is fine because then it allows you to focus in on that client, provide amazing service, and that's just typically how things work.
And eventually you gotta you gotta expand out past that one client, but that's okay. There there's a period of time there that makes a lot of sense. I wanna know from, like, a history perspective, Did you just, like, did you did you have a level head through all of that? Because you kinda, like, you it sounds like you went through quite a bit of time there in that story. And then even, like, the collapse of 2009, you kinda just, like, toss that in there. Like, hey.
We were a little bit on the edge of our seats. Like, there was obviously a little bit of a roller coaster happening. Outside of the success, like, behind the scenes, were you a little nervous? What was the feeling as you were drilling per se? I wouldn't say I wouldn't say nervous It was it was exciting, and it was Yeah. We've had our backs to the wall a few times, and I've been on on our ass a couple of times, felt the pressure. We welcome we welcome adversity.
I'm I'm kind of tuned into the the cycle, the economic cycles. So a boom bust Ireland is a is a boom bust kind of a place. And I am I'm Wolfe, I I I grew up in a kind of a boom bust house. My dad would come home and either be empty and money onto the table or they, you know, would be the completed the other other other end of the the spectrum. So the your welcome adversity for everybody else is in the same boat.
So when the property market collapsed here or the financials, there was there was people out of work, you know, everywhere. But, you know, but whatever, at the time, you're just you you might go from thinking long term to thinking month to month or day to day or whatever it might be, but I I I don't drink. I kept a a fairly level head.
I've I've I I have the tools of good philosophy to good stoic philosophy to to to to to talk me through and give me perspective on disaster when it comes because it's it's just disaster in the game. It's not disaster in life. So you can lots of things. Lots of pressures can be coming at you, but you can still have a calm mind, fit buddy, and a house full of love to go home to it.
And when you when you close that door, your kids are not privy to the ins and outs of what's going on in the in the in the world if things are going. And and at the moment, the thing things are tough at the moment. We are at that sharp end cycle at the moment. There's an energy crisis. We're selling renewable energy. We're trying to incentivize people to switch over to a greener, a greener form of energy. Right.
But at the moment, it's price the price, we don't care if the energy is not renewable. If they've got a cheaper price, we want to see. So, oh, you've got there's been a meltdown of stocks stocks or whatever 40% off their highs of 2021. Yeah. The the the, like, the war in Ukraine is on our doorstep. Like, Ireland has just taken in 200,000 refugees, I think. And and there is and there there already is a housing crisis here. There's no incentive for developers to build houses over here.
No incentive for the the incentive is to build houses for funds that can buy the whole street off yet or buy the whole block but there's no incentive to sell them to individuals because, you know, it would just take the developer too long individuals snaglists and this and that. They just wanna shift them onto a fun. So you've got this sort of all these this perfect storm of stuff going on in the macros at the moment.
But we're still we're still make everyone in the business aware that these are the these are the tough times. These are the these are the these are the times that will galvanize us. These this is the This is the the adversarial situation that, you know, we were preparing for. Right. Yeah. It's game time. Yeah. So it's game time now. Serious. The the free money is is is loose, low interest rates, free money looseness of governments with handouts. Now they want it all back. They want it all back.
And so we've gotta more than, you know, thinking about how we got through OH. That's how we're gonna get through 22, 23, 24. These are the these this So you gotta This is the reality. Look forward and realize we've got a fleet of maybe 40 cars on the road. Diesel prices are through the roof over in So, you know, Elliot, we've got 5 offices, energy prices are true to rural planets.
We're going into a cold winter, risky bills, and and and heating bills of double we've got a lot of we've got a lot of little problems there that need to be, we need to survive, into 2023, but we've had I was in IT recruitment when the dot com bubble bursts. I was in recruitment when the the the the financial crisis happened So you you get battle hardened, but you understand where you are in the cycle. And you can say to yourself, well, listen.
I need to be taken into consideration that in a lot of maybe industries or investment opportunities, although people are running for the hills, but now is the time to buy. Now is the time to buy the Nasdaq. Now is the time to to to look at those strategic moves for the next for the next cycle to start a 100%. Yeah. The only let's talk about practical your business.
I wanna know well, especially in those 1st couple of years, maybe before you hit that 1st 1,000,000, I wanna know of a good decision that you made that that mean, obviously, your sales guy, so maybe you're gonna go down that direction. But what what does what does a guy here listening today or a gal listen today? Learn from you about a good decision that you made. Listen, the best decision I ever made was quitting alcohol at 25. Interesting. Okay. That was the best decision. And I was listen.
And every other decision flows from that decision. Yeah. So it was a I was between the AI and Ireland to drink part of the culture. So I think I was handed a I think I was handed a, a first drink for my friends when I was about 10. I think my dad bought me my first pint when I was like, 12. Sure. And then so then the teenage years Yeah. The I was playing rugby. Chaz a huge drink culture associated with that And by by the age of twenty five, I was just done and dusted.
I was I was a active, you know, alcoholic, and that was it. And I was losing friendships, and I couldn't hold down a job. And Wow. I couldn't really be relied upon, been relationships, or, you know, friendships, and I had to, go into recovery and rebuild. And Yeah. But that's that's really my my first few jobs. Like, I was were I found I found comfort in some white knuckle boiler room type call centers. Right.
And when I just go in and I I'd hit the phones and I'd learned to sell and I was selling IT training courses and then a little bit of evolution happened. And I would think I was only 7 months So when I met my now wife, that was, like, 20 in the year. I 1999 had a I Chaz my last drink. I think I missed my now wife 7 months after that. So I was I was I was I had a new set of tools, a new attitude. I was chastened by life. Yeah. You were prepared for that moment to meet her.
Was prepared, and she never saw me drunk. I never wet the bed with her in it. I never Big deal. Lie you had to lie or do anything. I was able to be myself and be my Wolfe with her from day 1. So that was and I don't think I would have had the tools. If I had it kept drinking for another year, I don't think I would have the tools to to Close the deal. Close the deal. Yeah. Close the deal. Make it work. That's right.
And and then with her support in terms of her emotional support and her belief in me, Like, we had just bought bought our first place in 2 in 2002. And I was I was I was chomping at the best in in Ireland. You don't get a mortgage if you've you're a young entrepreneur, they don't they don't give you the bank won't give you a loan. So you gotta stay in the job, get to a certain earning level, get the house bought, and then and then you can you can pursue your entrepreneurial dreams.
Right. 2004 when I was ready to go. I took the leap with a with I think I Chaz, I think I had about 5 k in cash and about 20 k on credit cards that I need if I needed to dip into. Right. And I sort of had I probably could've I probably I probably could've lasted 6 months without without Yeah. Sending in an invoice, but luckily, I sent out that broadcast fax and some invoices went to the manager. You were able to land your first deal. I I love what you've said so far because it's really mindset.
It clarity of mine. It's it's the tools that you needed in order to make good decisions. So the good decision led to a whole lethra of good decisions, which included your wife, which was just fuel for the journey. Like, just so many good things, like, the domino effect of that one decision, as you said. I wanna pick your brain on one quick thing.
The the guy listening right now, the gal listening right now, who isn't where you are, where where whether it be alcohol or any other a negative obsession, right, whatever that other obsession is. Because entrepreneurs, let's just be honest. That's what we do. We obsess over things. We get a little crazy. We go hard. We go all in. We're either all in or all out. This is just typically how we operate.
So what did you do, or what can you share with the listener today of, like, maybe how you got sober, how would you suggest that they leave that negative obsession and apply it towards the business or their family or a better obsession? Yeah. It's it's it is it ultimately back in 1999, one of my friends had to collect me on the other side of the city and bring me back and his dad's McCann, I've I've I've saved my life.
The he had a he had a friend Henry who had been So over 17 years, and he got me talking to him. But, you know, ultimately, once you have a stop doing what you're doing, and you can take it minute to minutes, air to air, day to day, you would be amazed at how quick the body starts to regenerate or the color comes back into your cheeks, your teeth, your is your body regenerates really quickly. I was I was, yeah, I would say I I would I find it difficult to read book actual books.
I I'm I'm an audiobook man. I can read on a plane when I'm strapped to the priest. I'm kind of a little bit. I'm kind of a dog's kids. Even on the beach, there's I can't really concentrate. So I I gotta be I gotta be moving to learn. So I listened to a lot of audiobooks back in 90 back, I think around 22,000 and 2, I I got a job working sales, and I was out on the road traveling around and making presentations to HR or directors, psychometric tools at the time.
But I remember, the guy I worked for John Line, he recognized that I was a little bit rough around the edges. And you start your you can I started my journey of self development with tapes in the car on those long journey? It might be Stephen Covey as 7 habits of highly effective people. Yeah. I would I would I didn't have too many tapes. I would listen to it over and over again. There was Brian Tracy. Oh, there there's a sales.
He do he has a he has all tapes, the tapes, and it's it's just sales to setting goals. Those those kinda like self help. I I would be an advocate of self help and the learning about habits that other people have used to be effective in life. Yeah. Propel themselves forward and out of the bad obsession, right, out of the bad And out of the bad obsession. Yeah. But ultimately, sports, I I sports and particularly rugby has been a a hugely positive guiding force in my life.
And especially, I sort of drifted away from it. I was very serious when I was young and drifted away. And then when I and then when Kind of gave up gave up alcohol, immersed myself, and the plane will be again at a low level. You might captain a team so that you're busy, and you have a bit of admin associated with it. Right. Right. You're Chaz was that was yeah. You're so it's it's a it's a positive thing.
Supportive friends, my friends would still party, but they there wouldn't be a you wanna drink. Are you sure? Have one. It's just getting them a water. And and that's it. There was there was no you know, there was some friends to what you realized that they were Yep. Gotta move on. We're just we're we're we're drinking buddies. We're not real friends. We're debate negativity in our lives here together.
So you gotta jettison some But by and large, I would say to anyone, especially guys that are guys who or their mind Chaz going at a hundred miles an hour. They can't sit down and read a book. I would I would I would advise Get an audible account. Yep. Get your earphones into your ear and just start somewhere there. Start somewhere there. Find something that you're interested in and and and start there. And then you can you can evolve that.
There's the the the there's so many amazing books on audible there. You could just you could lose yourself in any any genre you want. Yep. And philosophy is is is is really good. And and there's an author there at Ryan Holiday makes stowing philosophy, very accessible. He's got a couple of really good audio books, you know, rates himself. The obstacle is the way, and the ego is the enemy, and these these kinds of things. So they they will Yeah. They will they will give you a a different mindset.
They'll give you a different mindset. And then you'll finally realize you might be might understand that, you know, what your addiction is. You know, what what your your dopamine system has been tricked. You learn about dopamine. You learn about you can feel it when you know about it. So you can feel stock market goes up or the sales are up or the lads have had a great day in the field or whatever success you feel, you can be you can oh, there's dopamine now. You can actually yeah.
So I I can feel it seeping in. You can feel it seeping through your veins. Yeah. So it's but self awareness and it's awareness of what what is what is driving your bad habits and what what what can you do to address those? And Chaz that was that was that was I'd I'd I'd find audio books. I'm on the run. I can run-in the morning every day. I've got I've had vinyl in my ear for week or so and looks like Chaz. Like, he's a philosopher too.
And Yep. The new way they they produce audio books at at the the start of the chapter, you would you would hear out of the song. And then he's telling you about where he was during the song, and it might drift back into the song then Chaz after he's found you have a whole new perspective on that music stuff, you know, has always been there. Yep. Yeah. And the same thing for all the self help audios, Chaz you've said, I I'm a huge audible fan as well.
In fact, I was just talking with my wife just the other day. She noticed that that there was 3 credits left. And she was like, should I, like, it says it's coming to an end. Like, do I need to do I need to shut this down? I'm like, woah. Woah. Woah. No. No. Like, it doesn't matter if they roll over. If I lose them, whatever, Chaz sucker's gonna renew, and those credits are gonna be available whether whether I know it or not because now that they're available, then I then I will go buy them.
Yeah. It's on automatic. It it forces me. Yep. Yep. And it's and and now my my kids are in the audible in my account. They're buying books. I've had to you have to sometimes you gotta renew early because if you sell your credits That's right. That's right. It's but it's great. It's it's great. I I I would audible as one of the in terms of, you know, learning about.
Yeah. It could be anything you could start off with a little book of investing if that was your thing and learn about index funds and you can move on venture capitalism and you can go down that rabbit hole and That's right. Is that it is there's there's there's so much to learn. That's right. Well, I wanna flip the script to a bad decision. I mean, you've given us quite a bit on on how to that that bad choice that you were making, which is incredible.
What was what was a a bad choice that you made maybe in the business that that we can learn from. Yeah. Listen. I every I've learned every lesson a man can learn the hard way Yeah. But I, you know, and I I've been trying to think about this decision. Like, there's there's obviously, I'm I'm human, and if if if guys that are in my business are looking at this. They could probably they're probably shutting at the screen down. Not bad decision. Not bad decision.
But the When you're when you're when you're When you're when you're happy today, it's very hard to equate a bad decision to it it's very hard to think of a decision as being a bad thing because everything every decision I've made has brought me here to where I am today, and I'm pretty I'm I'm not satisfied, but I'm I'm I've got a calm mind. I've got a fit buddy, and I'm I'm in a house full of love. So there is a perspective.
So the the the the things they they say the the the life, there's there's there's people that will pull you up and people that will push it down, but in the end, you'll you'll thank them both. And it's the same with good decisions and bad decisions. Like, you you make a bad decision. You you you gotta go take your take your medicine. But at the other side of that, you have but you're you're you're you're a better person.
You're you're you've renewed and you you've you've had somewhat you've had some struggle. So ultimately, you know, the bad decisions that send us into the forest or that send us into the jungle, you know, ultimately they can end up being the making of us. They they can end up being the the the visit into the woods can be the the can can be the experience that that sets you up for few future success.
I mean, even in the detail that you gave to us around your drinking habits before getting sober, I mean, obviously, that led to that moment Chaz led to those decisions Chaz led to who you are today, uh-uh, clean, sober, fit body, fit mind person. And so, yeah, I think that you're that you're right. We all agree with those things. It's it we we know that along the way Chaz we're looking to not make bad decisions, obviously, the the the history that I I wanna win more than I lose.
But you're right. The perspective on the losing really gives us gives us another level to be able to think about. So Yeah. Just make a decision. Make a decision. Stand over. I'm sure I am certain that there have been times in my life where I zigged and I should Chaz zagged. And if I had a zag, that'd be 5 x and more successful than I am now. But, you know, it is Where are those decisions? Where are the where are those decisions? Who made the decision is what your point is. Right?
We made our decision. Like, you can sit there and not make a decision. You know, people can can can can remain in a loop focusing in on some kind of thing and not progress in their lives. Just make a decision and stand by that decision. And, ultimately, you can evolve that decision. If it is the wrong, like, the worst decisions I ever made were Probably relationship oriented.
In terms of friends, I wish I hadn't lost or in terms of work, we we we turn up as professionals and we we try to deliver and we we we do the best we can. Ultimately, the everything that happens in our business that you think has already happened, but we still get surprised. Yeah. 100%. Like snakes and ladders. Sometimes you stand on a snake. You gotta go back. Sometimes you're on the ladder. Hope you go. But, ultimately, it's just gotta keep going.
John, I'm gonna end the show here by asking you two last questions. I wanna you said you're not a big reader and audibles, the the thing for you. For for that self development for the for the growing of the business, specifically, what have you listened to or what have you read on one of those plane rides that you can recommend to, what, to the listeners? The, yeah, there's been, there's been quite a few. I think that Marshall Goldsmith has written a book recently, the earned life.
And Chaz is he's a he's a, a coach to CEOs. Yeah. So there's a there's a lot of good stuff in Chaz. And he he he himself narrates the the audio book. So you're getting it straight from the horse's mouth. I love that. Yeah. The I would recommend Bono's memoir just for a just to I suppose it's a from nothing to everything. Right. Right. Exactly. And that's encouraging. Chaz is encouraging, but that that is very encouraging. So there is there's there's so many.
The because the that the power law, that's a a book about venture capitalism, Sure. And it just talks about the the the story of, you know, Silicon Valley and Yeah. The the the evolution of the deals that happened there. You know? Right. Yeah. I just hear that you're expounding your brain in in a lot of different directions. Obviously, you're you're a lifelong learner I hear that being more of the recommendation than anything.
The the ones that you've mentioned though, we'll put in the show notes. That way, the listeners, if they wanna download those or even purchase the actual books, they can definitely do Last question here for you, John. If you could whisper in the younger John's ear, what would you say? Just say keep going. I I I wouldn't want to miss out on any of the stakes that I made. I wouldn't wanna because I wouldn't wanna miss out on any of the the the adversity.
I wouldn't wanna have there's been there's been a lot of water under the bridge. But ultimately, I think everything that's where you go through in your life, you you have to go through it. Ultimately, every challenge, every test, I think if I had to made it a little bit easier for myself by giving myself a tip, I might say by apple. Yep. Or Google or Bitcoin or Yeah. Any of those things, like, I might give myself a the name of a horse that won't erase or something along those lines.
But Yeah. Apart from that, keep going. And Chaz that that might have been enough for me if my future self had to say that to me. Chaz that it would have given me reassurance that I was on the right track and Chaz That is It's tough to see that in the moment, and I think that's exactly where the listener is. So I hope that they take your little tip to yourself for themselves. Because that's exactly where they're at. They're they're in that place where they just need to hear. Just keep going.
Don't worry about it. Yep. It's gonna all gonna work out. And in fact, this guy right here you're listening to is saying that he wouldn't have traded out the the bad things, the bad decisions, the ups and the downs, he would have done it all over again. So, John, how can the listener find you? They wanna reach out. Maybe maybe there in Ireland, then they need to hire a sales team, or maybe they just wanna reach out to you as an entrepreneur, pick your brain. How can they find you?
Yeah. They can email me john@billsave.ie billsave.ae. I'm on LinkedIn, John Sharp, and Perfect. Bill save, and you can reach out to the bill save website. So If you want a sales team, remote tele sales, field sales, event sales, anywhere, we have teams and said that we've got Teams remote telesales teams. We've had teams operate from Bosnia, Romania, India, South Africa. We've had field sales teams here.
And we have the agency in a box so we can literally roll into any town and quickly deploy the systems, recruit, train, manage, pay, and they get a team up and running for any organization, especially mass market service providers like energy companies or internet companies. Love that. Love that. Well, we'll put all that in the show notes as well. John, thank you for being here. I love the stories.
You're you're you're someone that could be we could sit here and listen to you for hour, which is great. We love the accent as well. Of course, I'm sure you've heard that a bunch from us Americans, but reality is is that, man, you've got a story. And I just so appreciate you sharing to you, your family, and your business, your teams, all that good stuff. Thank you for being here, John. Thank you so much. Very much appreciate it. Thank you for listening to gathering the Kings today.
I hope that you were able to pull out a few nuggets to go apply into your business right away. More importantly, though, I hope that you're realizing that it takes more to be successful than just being by yourself doing it all on your own, carrying the weight all by yourself. What I have realized, not only in my own journey from multiple businesses and multiple different and now interviewing literally over 2 or 300.
Other very successful 7, 8, and 9 figure business owners is Chaz It's tough to do it alone. And so gathering the Kings literally exists to bring together successful entrepreneurs. In fact, we are putting together 1 1000 kings, specifically who are grateful, but not done.
We're intentionally assembling kings who fight tooth and nail for their business, family, and communities, and here's what we believe Chaz in the pursuit of excellence in those areas, that it ignites within us the responsibility to govern power and forge a lasting legacy. So if that relates and and resonates with you. And you know that you need people around you, sharp, qualified other successful business owners. I want you to go to gatheringthekings.com.
I want you to take a look at what we're doing and see if it makes sense for you to be part of our pursuit to 1000 kings. Talk soon.