The Seamus Fox Podcast.
This podcast has been created to share real life experiences from inspiring people in all walks of life, those who have engineered change in their own lives through a shift in thinking and beliefs. I want to share my own journey and have others share theirs so that it can help inspire others to crete the internal changes thats needed to create long lasting life changes.
The Seamus Fox Podcast.
Turning Childhood Struggles into Business Innovations
Discover the transformative power of confronting your deepest fears as Troy recounts a pivotal therapy session that helped him face loneliness and a fear of public speaking. This breakthrough not only gave him the confidence to succeed but also revealed the lasting impact of childhood experiences on one's life, as illustrated in a poignant poem by Robbie Williams. We discuss the importance of addressing personal traumas, finding purpose, and how Troy's journey underscores the need for resilience and self-reliance in connecting with others and achieving success.
In this episode, we unpack invaluable lessons in entrepreneurship and persistence. Troy shares his blueprint for turning ambitious ideas into reality, from setting clear goals and celebrating milestones to overcoming skepticism and leveraging strategic networking. With anecdotes about pitching to high-profile individuals and navigating the global business landscape, this conversation is a goldmine of insights for aspiring entrepreneurs. Tune in for a motivational narrative that emphasizes the relentless drive and adaptability required to excel in the world of business.
Hey guys, welcome back to the podcast. Today's guest is Troy Armour. Troy, welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 2:Hey Seamus, how's, things?
Speaker 1:All good man, all good For people that are listening and trying and don't know who you are and what you do. Could you give us a wee explanation of who you are and what you're involved in?
Speaker 2:Good word, wee right, but I come from Bunkrana, originally lived there for 25 years. Just one minute Well sorry.
Speaker 2:I'm sorry Lived there for 25 years, then moved to Derry in 2000. Basically, the move to Derry was because houses were cheaper Celtic Tiger was kicking off at the time and lived there for 17 to 20 years. On and off it moved around and then moved to Spain, Abu Dhabi and now living in Monaco. The last 12 months, Just two days ago, was a year's anniversary of moving here. So what I do? Then I set up an IT business when I was 21, that's the kind of first thing Kind of grew that across not just Ireland but into the Nordics, do a lot in the fishing industry, high-end enterprise level networks, top-end security kind of thing. And then over the last 20-odd years created a company in the music industry, a digital agency in Derry, which later sold to the management. And then I have a sport that I call Junkature. That's for kids that are creative.
Speaker 1:Fantastic For people that are listening in. Bunker Anna is a place in Donegal, in beautiful Donegal, and Derry is a city next to it for people that aren't familiar with Ireland. Okay so, troy, let's take it back to Von Crana. What was it like as a young Troy growing up? What were the early inspirations? What was it like as a young Troy? Silence?
Speaker 2:That question's a hard Troy Silence. That question's a hard one to answer, seamus, because I have a low-hate relationship with my hometown. I never, ever, felt I still don't, probably that I fit there in any way. Don't know. You know there's many reasons for why that was, but maybe a lot of them are in my own head, because I do know people from Ireland. I get on really well with them, but it just felt like there was always a round peg in a square hole.
Speaker 2:Bonecrown is a sleepy town northwest of Ireland, yet don't get much farther away from the centre of Europe even, and to do any kind of international travel you have a four-hour drive before you hit, you know, dublin International Airport. But Bunkrana, for me it's always in your roots. Do I go back to it? I've been back one time in a year to see my parents. I don't socialise there, but that's, I don't know. That's a lot of small town folk, the way I would describe it. To people I get up to speak sometimes and I say growing up in Moncrana, if you couldn't kick a ball you were gay and I was the local gay kid.
Speaker 2:Even though I wasn't gay, I was the homo from May 7. I remember didn't know what that meant. Um, just news that became a teenager. Gears didn't want to speak to you because the guys would go what are you talking the homo for? And that just actually really, uh, that saddened me for a long, long long time.
Speaker 2:A long long time and I was no good at sport, you know. So that was the thing. Like you stood up every day at lunchtime to get picked for a team. You were last picked you come home from school. I played football five hours in the evening and my father couldn't understand it, but it was for me. That was my way to get cool.
Speaker 2:It's like I have to make a team, have to make a team, have to make a team, have to make a team, um, and it's silly that something so small can have such a power over people. But it was, you know, when I say to people now, like sport brings so many things. You get their skills, get seen, you get coached like I mean, you're a coach, you know the value of just somebody pushing you that little bit, somebody taking an interest in you, right, just that, taking an interest in you, seeing something trying to bring it out of you. Um, you get celebrated in the school, you won medals, you have a chance.
Speaker 2:You know people know you, um, as a geeky teenager, I was the complete opposite, so I would have hidden most corners, corners and then did other things to try and get attention, silly things, but like, at the end of the day that was. Everybody reacts, like someone might say to people the cage a tiger. Eventually the tiger is let loose. Those things maybe that people don't expect so but that's kind of my history. With that, I think I finally found a home after many years of trying to figure that out, you know.
Speaker 1:But that's what life was like for me growing up and for people that are listening, yeah, I can not resonate because I was in this sport, but I mean knowing Bumkrran in terms of what it's like and it's like boxing or Gaelic football or soccer and, as you said, it's kind of like a small town, village and maybe anything outside of that norm then it was really hard to try and fit in and I suppose you obviously found that difficult and tough then to try and I suppose, find out who you were and that's best try.
Speaker 2:Yeah, do you know what right there was just no forgiveness. Do you know, and I get it too, like I get it because I've, you know, thought about a lot of these things over the years. Like you know, one of the things about, I mean, what I would describe as Irishness as I grew up at that time was, you know, this whole idea of natural affection. You know, like rural Ireland you know we were 500 years of the Troubles buried emotions.
Speaker 2:I wasn't that kind of person, so I showed emotions. I liked colours, so I can see why people thought straight away that guy's gay because he shows up in that kind of a space. Um, I remember, you know, when I started traveling europe, go god, these people hug and kiss, and you know that it just showed more affection and didn't matter what colors they wore. And you know, I just went god, this kind of fits with me. Um, I could never understand why, you know, called just the macho-ness or whatever of it all. But I'll tell you this now.
Speaker 2:It's a mistake. I mean, I don't know if this is what you want to hear or not, but there would be many days now I wouldn't have come home without a kick in, you know, and that's a thing that most people don't have like, they get it once or twice or whatever. Ultimately it was. It was basically every day you went to school in fear. Um, from May 7 to 17, when I finished school at 17, I was accepted to go to Queen's and I didn't go because I was afraid it was going to be more of the same, you know, and like I don't know, looking back, nobody in my family gone to college before, so nobody could say to me it was gonna be different, but I didn't tell my parents either.
Speaker 2:I hid all that um. But when it came to two weeks to go, I said my dad, I don't want to go and he goes. Well, you need another plan, because you're not going to lie around the house, that's not the way, everybody's job. And I said you know, I'm good with numbers, I'm, I'm going to do, uh, I'm going to get an accountancy apprenticeship. And that's what I did. I ended up in an accountancy apprenticeship in Moncrana and I head away from the world and disappeared for a couple of years and I had who. I was too. I mean, this is farther on, but if I go back to three years ago, four years ago I was asked to go back to my primary school and present the prizes for the 12 year olds primary school and present the prizes for the 12 year olds, and I remember going down anyway, and it was all good until I got there, and then the principal, said you'll say a few words.
Speaker 2:I didn't speak in public, I didn't do an interview at this time, and so I got up in front of that class and I went. I couldn't speak right and I was so embarrassed. I was like god, they're 12 year olds and the teacher was looking at me and I just turned around the class and I was like please, can I just do it the crisis, you know, and I felt smaller than the 12 year olds and that kind of charged me because I was really annoyed with myself as to figure out why I couldn't stand in front of people and speak, because it was the same. My companies I never stood in front of the teams Did a lot of stuff by email and I remember it was funny, it was a bunk ran, a lady that I went to talk to right, and just something popped up online.
Speaker 2:Just sometimes you think the universe does these things. And I said, god, I wonder, could I talk to her online? Just sometimes you think the universe does these things. Um, and I said, god, I wonder could I talk to her? And it took a month at least a month, I can't remember how long it's a month anyway and I drove an hour away from the house into the middle of the far at forest, right up in the north, um, nobody around took out the phone, right, sweat was pouring off me, and I go, uh, I'm gonna ring this woman and say I can't talk to people. What's wrong with me? Right, and it was just, it was like so much, facing the biggest fear of your life, right, and I rang her up anyway and, um, she was all calm, right, right, and she was like you know what you're gonna do. You're gonna come down and see me next week, um, and we'll have a chat and we'll see where it goes. So that's okay.
Speaker 2:The next week didn't do well, the whole week going. I'm really mad doing this. I'm mad doing this. So I went down to see her, um, and she talked to me for an hour, right, talked to me for an hour, um, and if this didn't happen to me, I would say this was baloney, right. Well, after an hour she said to me look, I've got a couch over there. Can you lie down there a minute? Now I'm gonna do this exercise with you. So we lie down anyway. And she says um, I want you to say this sentence out loud, and when you say it. I want you to tell me where you feel it in your body, and I'm going say something.
Speaker 2:I never feel it in my body. What the hell is she talking about? What if I don't feel anything? You're sitting there totally sceptic.
Speaker 2:And the thing came out of her mouth I didn't expect was she said I want you to say it's okay to be alone, right? So I was going. Where did she get that from, right? So then I started I want you to say it's okay to be alone, right? So I was going. Where did she get that from? So then I started to say it's okay to be good, throats on fire, throats on fire, right. And then she says all I've heard from you is you felt alone all your life, and so when you get up to speak, you're afraid. Your body is afraid that all those people will see you're that little weird kid that they didn't want to know. And so you're trying to project something else and your body just shuts down and um, and she says I want you to lie there now and keep repeating that until you can say it clear and loud. And that took 40 minutes right at the end of 40 minutes.
Speaker 2:She said when you go home tonight, you will feel like you've been through a car wreck right and through to this day. She was right. Um went to sleep and the next day I woke up.
Speaker 3:I rang with a pr agent she'd been chasing me for 11 years through an interview and I rang her and said I wanted an interview.
Speaker 2:She said what happened to you and I said I'm not telling you, just get me an interview. And I did three interviews within a month. I did a newspaper, a magazine and a radio station and I remember doing that radio interview and it was over to 70 men sent me messages or got my phone number and rang me up. One guy from court was in tears on the phone going. I was that kid. I would never have the courage to go on video. Can't tell my wife even right.
Speaker 2:He says I'd love to meet you sometime I go. Man, that's mad, right, and that's just growing up and I understand it's an Irish thing, but it's crazy too how things can affect us for the rest of our lives. You know, that was the thing that evidenced to me, and I talk about this poem. When I chat to people now I talk, I use this poem as a reference, and it's a poem that robbie williams wrote. I don't know if you're aware of it or not, right, but he put he wrote a poem.
Speaker 2:It's 15 years ago now and he put it on YouTube and the poem was called Dear Sir, and the poem goes something Hi, sir, remember me, I'm the man you said would never be Because that teacher, it was to a teacher who told him when he was a kid you'll never go anywhere dancing and singing.
Speaker 2:you're an idiot and he constantly told him that over and over and over again, and it's hard to believe that everything that Robbie achieved worldwide acclaim, money, big concerts he could entertain everybody. He could entertain like nobody else. He's a pure energy on stage. This teacher still sitting on his shoulder telling him you're no good, so much so that he made a poem about it, and that that has been kind of one of the driving factors of why you know I have multiple businesses, I have to solve the it company and junketure.
Speaker 2:Why that purpose? Of it's two purposes, I think the circularity is no kid will be left behind and no material. We get kids to make things out of trash. We'll be left behind. It's kind of this parallel. But the whole thing for me came down to I remember at MIT one night, this guy doing that that why you process the same as I'm taking with me. You know, just push it and push it, and push it eight or nine times.
Speaker 3:Why do you do it? Why do you do it? Why do you do it?
Speaker 2:I love this. Why do you do that? We love that. Why do you do this but kept on going? Do you cry? Right? You basically go. I told you I'm going to look for more than you want, and I just said, every one of those kids is me. You know, and that was a big realization, too, of understanding why have I been entrepreneur? Why do you seek it out? Number one you're alone. You know you rely on yourself. You go, follow your goal. You have a fire that drives you but that created a hustle, as I called it. I was a hustler for 20 years, month to month to month, month, you know. Grew a business that way, grew another one that way. 2019 was kind of the realisation. Okay, can't go on like that. We need to put some kind of a long-term strategy. Hire the right people, not just hire for the sake of it.
Speaker 1:Put goals on a page and understand, too, how to get people to come around that and then leave space for them to grow within it too, because that purpose could be all consuming, not for just for me, but for the company too 100 and I think, um, I think just even like what you mentioned there about robbie williams and even all the stuff that you've been through yourself to try and sometimes it's good and we just talk to people just before we come on, they look at those things and think, well, if that teacher wasn't in Robbie Williams's shoulder telling him this, that and the other would have created. What he created would have been the successful man that he became yeah, I know you're, I think you're completely right.
Speaker 2:Like you know, I through what happened to me and this is not about me being a victim, right, this is about the things I learned from that and you know, I see, you know my father would say it to me there times. He started to see it later in life, but he would call it fighter. You know you're a fighter, but it's resiliency. You know it's one thing as an entrepreneur, granted, if we go back to the IT company that I set up, like I mean, I set that company up and I lived with my parents, I mean, come out of an accountant's job earning three grand a year, I could afford to make mistakes and it wasn't a big thing, right. And I mean, and I learned gradually as I went and built a client base and it was recurring revenue.
Speaker 2:And I learned gradually as I went and built a client base and it was recurring revenue. And so it was methodical and you know, just, it was a hustle, but it's the way it went, had some good breaks and bad breaks. But the other thing then and I did that again with the company Workhouse and Dairy, because it was a very similar type business that was easy. Once I'd gone up, once it was easy and once one took 16 years, say, to get to that stage. The other took four. Right, and it was a sellable business at that point.
Speaker 2:But with the junk and share business, then the way that came about was, in a way, that I had this kind of global ambition, which I never had achieved before. So there was a lot of different things I had to learn along that way and that kind of then helped me to go. How can I do that? But you know, it's never been done before. From day one, one of the first people I talked to about it said that's the most silly thing I've ever heard. Right, it's a stupid thing. Nobody's going to see trash on a catwalk. You're just daft. Cuckoo was the word she said, actually, and she was a producer who I had a lot of respect for right.
Speaker 2:So I was kind of going, okay, well, what do I do now? And then I was like you know what, fake it, I'm going to try it anyway. And that's kind of the wherefore of the entrepreneurs. Like you get used to no's right, because this is the thing too anything that you go different to do or you know, you just here's back from Nashville, there, for example you said somebody a year ago well, I'm going to sell a gym and I'm going to do most people go yeah, go dream on right.
Speaker 2:And because then what you have to start to understand is they're seeing that through their lens, so they're seeing that through what they're capable of. It's the same like I met a fairly high profile Irish entrepreneur. Well, he's not, he's in Ireland, but he's from a different country and I had a great chat with him for about an hour of different things. And then he said to me so what's?
Speaker 2:the ultimate goal with Junkie Turner Build this type of community. And then his answer was nah, I tried that myself. That doesn't work, right. So what I have to realize in that moment is and I said this to him, I was like that's great, didn't work for you. Right Now tell me what you did so that I don't make the same mistakes. And he didn't get it. My answer, he didn't know what to say, right? And I said I see a different road. But I said, rather than me bumping into your bunkers, you tell me what they are, what you did, and then at least I'll know that didn't work for you. Can I try a different, pivot on it or try something else? But that's the thing that you have to get to realize is you can't take that personal and go oh well, he says it can't be done, so it can't be done.
Speaker 2:Ultimately, so many people tried to do whatever. It is the light bulb or electricity or whatever. One didn't do it. And I think the big thing was that everybody goes back to the four-minute mile. So many people tried and it was deemed impossible that a human being could run a mile in four minutes. The minute one does it, 20 do it, you know, and that's the thing, if you listen to all those people out there, they would just get you to stop. You know, it's not through badness or anything, but it's just through their own experience, their own lens. Anything that's different, the first reaction is that doesn't work.
Speaker 1:So here's the thing, then, troy they have that type of mindset. Not everybody does. So do you feel that growing up in Pongkana, the things that you experienced, the resilience that gave you, the discipline, the determination, the, let's say, the battle scars that it give you, enabled you to be able to go into that situation with that irish entrepreneur and just go well, that's okay, like that's your perception, but give me the things that you did that didn't work so that I don't do them because I'm going to make this work. Do you think that those lessons growing up, Definitely, definitely, definitely, seamus, like Definitely.
Speaker 2:And if I go back 18 months ago, there was a big thing happened in my life. In the business world, I mean, there's different things happen. People don't agree with you. Employees aren't the right fit. You know, in 2018, at Junkature publicly, it was in a great place, just won awards, one of the best events ever in Ireland, and all this kind of stuff. It was growing rapidly. It had a brilliant revenue stream, all the rest of it.
Speaker 2:But under the hood, the team was not good. There was a lot of infighting, no direction for me at all. I didn't know how to lead people. I thought that all the problems with them, it wasn't all them right. But at the same time, I did hire bad to a hired by.
Speaker 2:I heard my skill set and my behavior and I didn't. I didn't understand cultures. I didn't know what that was right. I copied it from somebody from a book and said this is our culture, baloney, um. But I fired everybody in one week. The whole lot fired, fired a customer, so I walked away. One big customer walked away from one big customer. I went to revenue zero. I was at 700 grand and went to zero. Wrong culture fit Totally. When I look back I was like but that was the thing. I'd come from nothing, so it didn't scare me. So I went back, fired the team, so it was just me left, fired the production company, fired everybody, the whole thing back to zero. And then I had to do a master's at MIT because I was like, okay, the one thing that needs to change in all this is me.
Speaker 2:If I can't solve what's going on here, then I can't tell people what I want. And I remember that first time, the first semester at MIT, we did that Y thing but we did culture and then I started to understand what culture was about. And basically the culture was just a reflection of who I am, so it hasn't included all the things that, because I grew up and went through those things, right, that they've. Now they've influenced my belief system, right, they've influenced my resiliency, um, other things like um. So I have a, I have a very small comfort zone. I live outside all the time because as a teenager I was always outside it, right. So I got very comfortable to that and in fact I would say I excel in chaos. The more chaos it is, almost, the calmer I would be. It's when it's calm. I'm like going, something's gotta go wrong, right. So I'm like going, something's got to go wrong, right. So you start to learn those skills.
Speaker 2:But I remember coming back then and the first hire I had was a girl called Megan Kelly and I was hired the right way, the right perspective, and I can see she's still with me now how that has influenced a massive change in the company. But ultimately too, she knows what I'm looking for, she knows how I operate. We align around those things. It doesn't mean we get on in everything, but I have five things in a list that stand for who I am, what I do. So it's who I am, that's the business culture. And then it's the reason, too, that we just do the stuff for the kids we do. So one of those things is leaving comfort zone at the door, and I'm constantly saying to them there'll be no nose in this conference. If you have to do something, you have to say yes, right, and I see there, even in Megan's shoes, their times good. Often you are and it's never popular camera doing interviews on camera.
Speaker 2:Good and it's just allowing yourself to be pushed and then that has allowed other people to come in and share now in that culture and understand why we do what we do and that has helped us, help us grow. But, like that, there are still days when things happen and you wake up and go.
Speaker 2:Okay, you know this is a battle I have to go through, but I don't sleep over them anymore. You know, and that was the realization of well, you know I got through bigger things. You know I got through bigger things, like you'll have things you can't control. You can't control if somebody doesn't agree with you, can't control that. So if you make a decision and the other party don't agree, well then they can go and do it. You know they can go. People take a meeting to court, right, and then they have to sit and go. Well, I believe I'm being equitable in this situation, right, and it's about to decide. Am I comfortable with my decision?
Speaker 2:Why did I make it, tell my team, this is why we made this decision we to stand by that right and and then as well, that, um, I suppose. But I look at it that way, when these things happen, it's, it's a case I've been able to say the people who know me and how I know myself are the things that are right. I can't control what other people will say the same as the reaction to my decisions.
Speaker 2:But the key thing is this it's the focus to go. Okay, that's where we're going. What we do is we try to bring everybody along with us on that. Not everybody's going to want to go on that journey. Some will for a while and then they'll exit or whatever. But we must maintain the journey, the focus to where we're going.
Speaker 2:The way I describe it to people I'm big into sports metaphors right, Can't play sport, but I love watching it and I get the energy from it and all you know what I mean. I'm a massive soccer fan, but golf is the thing. I always used to compare it to golf and I'd I'd say to people right, if you know to play golf tomorrow, um, you start at the first tee and you start aiming for that first flag, um, and then I say to people then what would happen if somebody took all the flags out? Right, it would take a lot longer for you to get around that course without the flags. But that's what people do in their life and that's what people do in their businesses so they have no goal of where I'm going to go.
Speaker 2:Right, and, yeah, you might hit a bunker and that's you, and it may take you 10 shots instead of four to get there, whatever it is, and some of us can play some hole better than others, but ultimately it's like the same in life if you don't paint the flags, or in a business, you don't paint the flags where you want to go, and keep saying to people, no, we cannot do the fifth flag until we do the first one right, because people will get distracted and go ah, hold on, so the fifth one's just coming back here. You can jump over here. If we don't do this in the right sequence, it'll fall down, um, and then ultimately, as I would say to the team now, as we've done this is you start and you know you paint the course from the 18th backwards. So what's our 18th flag? What is that one?
Speaker 2:When we get that ball in, we go we've done it, um, and you know we've painted those steps back. So we now are all aligned around, right, we're on the first tee or run the second tee. That's the flag we're aiming for. Yeah, we hope to do that in three months. If it takes six. It meant that we had a bunker somewhere and we had to get out of that bunker and continue, but we continued that's the way I would see, I would describe it.
Speaker 2:It's not. Resiliency is there, but you still have to have the flag to go to. There's no point in just bouncing up from things if you're just going to keep into another one you know you have to have somewhere to go. You know I reached that target. Let's celebrate that and now move on, because something I read too in your social media.
Speaker 2:This week was not celebrating ones, and you know sometimes you forget that, um, god, we've come a long way, you know, even though we said we would be farther on, or we got up and got that on with the line or whatever, and it's very easy to get dug into that. You know that kind of talk all the time, but sometimes you just have to go God, that's three years ago. We hadn't set foot in our country, nevermind that we're in 35 countries now and, yeah, we're in 35 countries in a small way but we're still in 35 countries you know and that's the bit you have to look at the small ways.
Speaker 2:We're still there and you know it'll grow from there. But if you don't stop for a while and go, you know it'll grow from there. But if you don't stop for a while and go, you know we still achieve that with. That's still a level of success.
Speaker 1:Some people don't set out very at the top I think that's really important, um, especially if you've got a big vision and a big purpose. And I took that from the book um, the gap and the gain with, uh, dr benjamin hardy and and I can't remember his other name now, but anybody that's listening, go and check it out. It's a fantastic book because so many people are focused on the gap. No, we haven't got there yet. I'm not there yet. We still have so far to go when the game gets you to basically shift your perception and say, right, well, look where we were, but look where we are right now. Yes, we've got a big vision and a purpose we want to fulfill, but look at the growth that we've had, look at the changes that we've already created. And I suppose it's just for to do that, as they get you to recognize the growth within yourself, because if you're always focused on the gap, then you're never going to arrive and you're always getting that feeling of angst and something's always missing and you're never getting to enjoy that journey and the path.
Speaker 1:Try for people, for people like maybe somebody like yourself or somebody who is about to start a new business or a new venture, and they have, like, a vision and something that they want to fulfill, but they're just at that starting point. What advice maybe for people locally? What advice would you give them to be able to create and start or move towards the vision that they have for themselves? Because I'm sure for you, troy, as you mentioned already, growing up in Bunkrana Donagall coastal town, small kind of village but with a big vision. Now you're in 30 different countries. It's hard to try and explain that to somebody in that scenario. So what advice would you give to people who have got something to fulfill, similar to yourself?
Speaker 2:Look, I need to be honest too. At the start of the Junkature business I didn't even put my name on the docket to start at somebody else's a co-founder, because I was just too embarrassed to put my name out there as being in a business, right, so, um, and that was kind of the way I went. But I had a clear goal at the start, which wasn't what it is now, because, I have to say, at the start the idea was in Ireland to create a replica of the young science Exhibition, but for creative people, that was their original target, right. And so at that time was looking at Young Science Exhibition and saying, okay, right, that does about 1.6 million in revenue a year, and then between tickets and sponsorship, but a media coverage, whatever media deals. And then it was like great, sponsorship, bit of media, paul Rich, whatever media deeds. And then it was like great, okay, from zero, could I get 10 million quid revenue? Right, that was the original goal for me.
Speaker 2:There was two things in it. That was one. The other one's a mad one, right, because the other one was could I do it with a grand? That was the challenge to myself, right, and I'll tell you why. That was why this stupid thing right was I was annoyed about. I was annoyed about people saying to me got a bit 50 grand the more I have a great idea of star business and then so it was like I remember saying you know what do you really need the money? What? What could you do with just your hands, your imagination, your ability to tell a story or get people to call my feet right, right. So it started out as a grant in a bank account. It's like how can I get this 10 million revenue? That was kind of the goal Now top nine years to get 10 million revenue right After that. But that grant at the start. I remember some of the things so one.
Speaker 2:I had to find a guy from India to build a website 400 bucks. Wrote letters to schools, whatever that cost it all fit into the grant anyway.
Speaker 2:But I had to make sure that the letter to the schools was enough that enough of them would take part. Right, there was enough of a hook in it to go to get people to enter. I remember then there was a crowd in dairy called abc that don't remember the guy's name. But I went to see him and I said, look, I've got no money, I need it on five events. And he's laughing, you know. And he says, oh, look, five minutes, you're gonna need 30 grand. At least you know what. They're not listening to me. I've got no money, I just. But what if I come up with seven grand? And I was thinking I'm not going to deal with them, whatever tickets I sold on the door I would hand him the money and I was kind of estimating, right at a tenner each could have sold 140 tickets. That was the start, could have sold 100 tickets, you know five. So so ultimately we shook hands on nine grand, 1600 in event.
Speaker 2:Jesus it was. It was mad, mad. 1800 event. It was mad, mad, 1800 event was mad. Uh, experience altogether. He just started laughing, you know, it seems mad. I have to come along and be part of this and look what happened was 400 people turned up, some of them events. So you're also making cash. You know, um, now, no clue at all what we're doing, absolutely no clue, right, um, and so that first year that was kind of by the, by the skin of your teeth, you know, pants on fire, great thrill. She was all together like absolutely great thrill, like, uh, you know, making things happen, you know I made lifelong friends, medic, met that guy in india probably, who designed that web app for me.
Speaker 2:That web app went live at 9 o'clock, I remember it was flooded with people by 9.30. We had a double the size of the server. It was all done for $400. People go it's impossible nowadays. It's not. It's the same thing. The thing is, when you have no money, you have to solve problems by being outside your comfort zone. That's the thing that people hate the most, like bezos chats about. Where does stress come from? Doesn't come from doing the things you're comfortable from. It comes from doing the things that you don't want to do. So I realize in self, under decision I don't want to make. That's what I'm. In a stress mode I'm like don't want to, don't want to approach this, don't want to give out to this person, don't want to tackle that. That's the stress. So what happens at the start? I say in a business, this is, if you don't have the money, then you have to be outside your comfort zone. So like it's like that, going to say to somebody.
Speaker 2:I have no money, but I want to do these events. That's another thing I would advise people to do too is up front, call it out, don't hide behind it. I've got no money, but I want to do this, I want to go on this journey. Where can we come to a place? It's unbelievable, too, what people would do for just to be part of something right, and the passion of what you're trying to do has to come across.
Speaker 2:But what happened then was so completed one season and no, no sponsorship. Right, it was all derived from the tickets or whatever bits of money come in through that. And I remember then I guessed the email address and that's another thing I would say to people too is you need, you need to get comfortable with reaching out to people. So I guessed the email address is moyahardy in riverdance, right, so it's riverdancecom. So I basically put in Moya underscore Doherty, doherty, dot. Moya, moya, Doherty, doherty, moya M, doherty, doherty, m. I put in everything that you could think of, right, could possibly be that woman's email address. And then you get undelivered, undelivered, undelivered, undelivered and won't deliver. I was like so I know her email address is now right, that's that one.
Speaker 2:And then, three days later her PA phoned me and just said she's fascinated about what you're trying to achieve. She would love to meet you. And I remember going down to meet her and all I had one goal in mind and that was to stay in the room. Because the thing is, if you go with an ask, that's probably maybe it's too big sometimes for people at the start and you get a no, the relationship's broken, right, that's gone. So I went, how do I stay in this room? So the goal for me was mentorship. You know, could I get access to her team, access to her once every two months? That I could learn? That was basically learn. And also I came from a place where I bootstrapped every company, so they're all growing by revenue. So I said to her my number one focus is revenue right Now. If you know anybody, let me know.
Speaker 2:And so, in fairness, she turned around to me and says I know the guy that did the deal for who wants to be a millionaire in Ireland. It was a million revenue or a million sponsor from Ayr at the time and she sent me in to meet him and he got me a sponsor for 25 grand and that became 1.7 million. It was over four years. It was three years later and that was, you know, the kind of proof of why we did grow over that time we reused the money everywhere.
Speaker 2:But it's like that. If I look back, if I hadn't guessed that woman's email address, I might never have signed that deal, I might never have got to the next one. Also, that person gave me a lot of validation because people knew who it was, you know. And then the advice she gave to was good. So she said to me like you're in hotel rooms, if you don't get out of hotel rooms, you're never going to get the sponsor. If you want them, big sponsors are not going to come to Hudson Bay on a loan with their executives and their clients.
Speaker 1:It's a big second item, Troy, isn't it? That's a big thing there. It's a good point because it's also proximity. It's getting around the right type of people and getting those connections in that network. That's going to help you.
Speaker 2:But Seamus, this is the thing I say to people. I talk about this other times. Now I have done that so many times in my life and I've had nine out of 10 not answer right. But I've had the White House answer me. You know, I went to meet Joe Biden all because of an email I sent to say you know, I went on looking who's the PAs and PAs and whatever get their names and then go right, it's whitehousegov or whatever. I'm going to bang every combination of that person's name to that email address and see what happens. And one Sunday we're lying on the couch and the phone rings on no number and the wife goes who's?
Speaker 2:ringing you on a Sunday. I just drive her back and I answer. This person says, hey, can you hold? And the next thing I let it go is hi, this is Jen from the White House. Joe Biden's over visiting you guys in Ireland next week and now he's managing a band.
Speaker 2:He's like we would love you guys to come along and play some music and get to meet Joe. And you're there going. What the hell just happened? Right, it was the same band. At the time I remember Ireland beat Bosnia or whatever, to qualify for the Euros, and everybody's out celebrating. I'm there going, right. What's John Delaney's email address? I'm going to guess it. And my email to John Delaney was right you've qualified. Now you need a song for the Euros. I have the boys to do it.
Speaker 2:Two weeks later we're sitting with John Delaney. He's like right, then, lads, let's do it. Then we're in Paris, three months later or four months later we're living it up at the Irish Embassy and I mean, it's sometimes those are the golden nuggets that we forget. You know, like everybody's just a human being, that's the other thing, right? Somebody said to me one thing there was just remember, everybody takes a put. That's a leveler, right. So sometimes we put people on pedestals and go, oh, can't talk to them, right. But the thing about it is this it's like we're all just human beings going through similar journeys, right, you know that's the way it is, it's, there's no snobbery and the reason you might can get an answer from somebody is that they may not have the bandwidth that you don't know about.
Speaker 2:They, they, they just mightn't be at a place in their own personal lives where they're taking inbound anything at the minute. It just mightn't resonate. So there's a whole lot of reasons.
Speaker 2:But, you have to keep going and it's funny, sometimes the ones that come back are the ones you least expect. And you go. My god, what kind of a door has this opened up? But from starting out from scratch in Volcrana, the things I would say to people is you don't need any money. That's the first thing. You don't need any money. You need and you don't need the massive big vision That'll come. You basically need to go. What can I, what is it I'm trying to do here, even in a small way, to just get off the ground with as little risk as possible to me and to my piece, piece of you're running money.
Speaker 2:You know, in your own personal life you'll nothing to live on, but, um, but then what I'd say then about big visions is and this is all I'd say, but that is, uh, that's down to how much pain you can take. That's the way I would describe it, because you will go on a journey of, you know, self-doubt, uh, negativity around. That's impossible. The minute you say to somebody you put global in your business, you're going to sacrifice family because you're going to travel a lot, you're going to sacrifice personal lifestyle. You might be living out of a hotel room. You're going to be spending money on that, on the business? It'll not be. You know, putting your feet up playing golf in the night, a lot, lot of things. You will go out the window and you just don't realize. And, um, you know, and I say to people it's, how much pain are you willing to take on to get there? Because the same, no business grows in a straight line like it. You know, you yourself do have to self-develop.
Speaker 2:I'd say to people, because I do believe you cannot go into a room like I'd be raising money there at different times, raise different investments, and for a year I couldn't raise any. That was because I wasn't ready, I wasn't tuned the right way, I wasn't saying the right things, I hadn't gone up that level to be able to walk into a room and say to somebody I'm raising too many quid. And then it's the next level can I raise five or 10, go into a room and when you say it out loud, people go. He believes it. So I believe it. You know, and that's that's working on yourself all the time. You know. You know people read they're going, oh, and raised 50 million, but you don't see what behind that went on.
Speaker 1:You know that's the way that is and a big successful trait that I noticed in yourself just even talking about the emails and talking about all those different things is not a fear. There's no fear of being rejected, because you have to have no fear of being rejected to be able to send all those different emails and walk into those rooms and do all those things. So there's a maybe not no fear, but probably a lot lower than a lot of other people.
Speaker 2:I never thought of it that way because a teenager went through so much rejection. You know that football team, every day was a rejection by your peers. So I'm not saying to become immune to it, but maybe you're right. I never thought of it that way. But you know, I'd say there are some people on the team that would get frustrated with another.
Speaker 1:No, well, most people.
Speaker 2:I would get over it quick. I'd get over it quick and move on. You know, I don't know why that is. Maybe that is just used to that. I've dealt with it before, so my body's comfortable with. This is what'll happen. I think one of the things with a team then is convincing them that just because that guy said no, again it's through their lens. You know all this kind of thing.
Speaker 2:Um, there's a quote that I that I heard that walt disney's wife used. Well, she said it right, so they were. It was the opening of walt disney world. As I understand, it's all myth so I don't know how real it is. Opening walt disney world, uh, he's passed away before it opened, so he wasn't there. And they're walking around and one of the executives said you know, it's a pity that Walt isn't here to see this, you know. And the wife turned around and says this is here because Walt saw it, and that's the thing. And the story goes that he went to 300 odd banks and 300 odd said no until one said yes.
Speaker 2:And that's the thing of the keep going, to keep going, to keep going, to keep going, to keep going or the same like it's not just about that business. Um, I watched that movie, the founder, and I mean you don't know if these are how close to real life they are, but the way it's told in that, you know, when he discovers mcdonald's, I mean he's obviously got a string of failed ideas behind him. He's selling multi-multi-machine to this point. When he discovers mcdonald's, and he comes home and he goes to the wife I've seen it, I've seen the future and then she's like again right, right. And then that's the first. The first, first negativity starts at home, because that's the place we are right, and especially if you've got 10 of them racked up and it didn't work, or you have 10 no's, you know, and even my wife would say to me is like when's somebody going to say yes? Because you know they're not. They're not immune to that, the way I'm immune to that right. And so it's the same with the team. You know, eventually people go like well, they start to take on board that feedback, and sometimes that feedback can be for the wrong reason. That guy mightn't have any money, and so than him admit that. That's the thing about when you go to chat to investors. People tell you you need to chat to that guy, he's loaded, and then you go and then that person just finishes everything for half an hour and you're going. Bloody hell, what a mind-numbing experience, because everything I'm doing is wrong according to that person, and you think, oh, they're not going to give you the money If your team member's there. Then the team comes away and goes geez, that's terrible. You know the same.
Speaker 2:I remember when I had the band. I remember sitting in 2FM one day and I had a new team member with me at that point, with somebody working on that business. She was there and I never told the band this, still don't know to this day and I doubt they'll listen to this podcast. But we had a whole thing structured out. We knew Ed Sheeran's album was coming out the same day as ours, right, I'm all. I'm tone deaf. I manage a band, but I'm tone deaf, but I'm about the money, you see, right. So I was like we have to drive our own PR, so the best week you can is second to him right now. We didn't realize that bollocks was taking out two albums, two singles that day castle in the hill in shape of you. So we were basically third, right.
Speaker 2:So, um, the end of the day, what happened was this year I remember going into rt and the guy's sitting there and this new gear is with me and we're listening away. And then so the head of rt, he comes in and he sits down and he goes we're not running that song. And I go why not? And he goes because it's shit, right, that's what he said. And I just go what the fuck now? And so I'm there and I'm going right, then I have to rescue this, because we've built a whole thing on how we're going to make this happen. And so we start chatting for half an hour and then this is the whole vision of it, this is the way we're going to do it, and so on. So he starts coming around to the idea, to the point where then he starts making recommendations, going. You know what he says. I know, mark mccade who did maniac 2000.
Speaker 2:Let him remix it, let's get him involved, we'll do this and we'll do that and we'll do the one. So I walked out with a better song than I walked in with right. But at the end of the day if I went back to the band and said, song of shit, they're just going to die, you know. So it did, I remember, and I said to him as part of that, I says I want the chart opens on a Friday morning the chart about night.
Speaker 2:Now it's all on Spotify on Friday morning. I want the guys on the radio for 11 o'clock interviewed, so I had to be number three that morning, right, because I wanted them to go on the radio and go. It's not bad to be second behind Ed Sheer, that's the most we could do, right. And so I remember at 10 to 11 their album went to number three because it's got up the chart to hold down right and they went on that and the the Rival.
Speaker 2:they say, but like it's looking away. You know there's a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes too, but another person would have died when they heard the rejection. I didn't.
Speaker 2:I spaced off to it and said you know what? We've built a whole thing here to launch ourselves off the back of this. I can't leave this room unless this guy gets this on radio right and it was 2FM, the biggest radio station in the country. I needed his backing right, I needed the interview, I needed all them bits and pieces. And at the same time I remember those boys. If I had come back to them I would have killed them and said you see, the song is shit. It was his lens. Again, he didn't see whatever it is, and sometimes people react to things and go it's different, it's not going to work, but ultimately it did.
Speaker 2:The remix was maybe it suited his audience better, but that prolonged that shot off where we're trying to go and in that I only managed that band for a year, but in a year this is a band from nowhere, right, nowhere. They played Croke Park, aviva Orga Theatre and Three Arena the only band ever to do that. They made four TV shows Tour de America, australia, right, played for Joe Biden, played a song for the Euros, 1916,ennial. It was unreal, the stuff that we're involved in. And I remember the boys we say to me you know, I remember we went to see this band for the Christmas party and the boys were saying to me that's, that's the target, that's the target there, that's the target we want to, that's the band we want, if we can get to their level.
Speaker 2:And I remember we're out for a smoke. I don't smoke, but some of boys we were trying to out for the smoke and the other band were out and we're all chatting and all the rest of it and you know, and then the boys were saying you know them boys were saying, oh, we're flying right because I'm all about the money. So I said what does that look like in numbers? This is the thing I hated about music and I see nobody would tell you right, because you never. You didn't know where the target was, and so they're looking around each other and they go. I think we did about 160 this year, right, and my voice just got silent. And so then the man's around well, what did you do, right? And they went well, we're at least 250. Right. And so the other four, the other man said well, what are you doing? What are you doing doing, what are yous doing right?
Speaker 3:because it was like you know how the hell could you get to that kind of moment like what are you doing?
Speaker 2:and yet all my boys were seeing them as the success on the other side and you know that's, there's challenges in that too. But just want to say something about the band thing. That taught me a lot about that resiliency stuff. Um, go me or got. You know, I met those lads and you know, about music she was like I don't, I'm told I'm, I'm tone deaf, right, I can't, I couldn't tell you a difference in a note if somebody played two of them there now for me, um, but I I saw a niche and I was like how can I market this? And that was like joe biden was one of the things I did, and your man, um, john delaney, but it's like that. You know, look, favors the break you know, it is sitting down and I remember the
Speaker 2:very first meeting took three months for them to convince me to do it. And I remember remember saying to them, right, because they were school teachers. I was like we need money. And they were like, well, how are we going to get it? I said, well, I'm not putting it up, right, so we're going to earn that in a month. This is what we're going to do. We're going to go on Kickstarter, right, and I knew very little gone there all the time. The most it gets three grand. And I said, well, we need 50 to get started because you need to get out of them. That's good job. You need this full time. We're going to do it, right. And I remember we sat down and I started formulating a plan. So this is what we did, right, took out there's six of them all together and I says, right, I don't know if people know this or not, but at the time I don't know if you can still hear that at the time you used to be able to go down to RTE and get into the canteen.
Speaker 2:You could spend the whole day in the canteen, right. That was open to the general public. You just had to go through security and say I'm going into the canteen, right, so you'd get into the canteen. So I had them in shifts, two in the morning, two in the afternoon, two at night, and their job was find Hubbardy, john Murray, brian whatever, find Brian, whatever find any one of those DJs, miriam whatever. Rock up to them and say hi, I'm from the Banshawland. We're doing this. Can we get on your radio show? Or your.
Speaker 2:TV show or whatever. It was right. That's the first thing. We're going to do that for a month. Number two it was we took out the rich list of Ireland. Right, we started at the top at the. The talk at that time was Dennis O'Brien. We were like does anybody? Know him.
Speaker 2:No, does anybody know his granny, his mother, who cleans his dog? Right? We guessed the email address. We wrote them down right. Such and such says they know such and such a one, dennis Desmond, we wrote them all down right. And then we wrote a heart-plucking email. So we started to send them out. So that was all right. It took a week to get the John Murray show on RT1. At this point we got about eight grand of the 50. And the way it kicks off works if you don't get the 50 grand, you don't get anything. So we got the eight. We're at eight grand, which is family and friends. And I remember the boys ringing me.
Speaker 2:They were in RT and they said look, he's going to put us on a show tomorrow morning. Happy days, right. So I'm in Leather Kenny and I get up early. I'm driving through Leather Kenny, I'm on the radio and Stefan was the guy and he came on the show anyway and he's all agitated. He's all excited and John says what's going on? He says oh, just got a great phone call there. You know, guy played 5000 to our Kickstarter, right.
Speaker 2:And I'm looking at Kickstarter like why's he lying? Because there's no fact, right? But anyway, I'm chatting on the John Murray show and all the rest of it. And then he came off and he, I rang him and he says the first thing he might know is how did it get on? I said you get on great and all nice, you didn't need to tell it. Like. And he goes oh, no man, you have no idea. He said I was in the green room and Dennis O'Brien phoned me and he says I, I love what you're doing. I'm pledging five grand. Is there anything else I can do? And I said I hope you said something. He said I did I said because he owned.
Speaker 2:Today FM. Can we get on Today FM now? So we got on Today FM that evening, right, and it just started to snowball from there. And those ads were at 60 grand in no time, right, and that then was like funds it's still a record and earning for a band to raise money, but that was still then. I was falling straight in the door. So that's the thing. With no money, we got 60 grand in a month. No money and kickstarter. You're not giving away equity, you're giving away like something of yourself.
Speaker 2:So you know friends and family paid for basically a call out on whatever, or access to your first product, your first first t-shirt at a you know you paid 50 for instead of 15, signed by somebody or whatever you know there are ways to get money If you really want to get started.
Speaker 2:You know, and you know, and even if you did in smaller amounts, but like I had six people and I put them to work, you know we executed like a machine. And it's funny that, like I guess down some rounds, I emailed that man maybe once a year over the last 10 years or since that. He always answers and it's advice about something or connecting with somebody, or, and that's that's all I ask him for and don't ask him for anything else. It's basically you know I'm trying to do this. Do you know that guy or can you help me with this, or whatever.
Speaker 2:And even last year I was down here in Monaco and his yacht was down at the show and I had to send him an email going are you down or is just the boat here? And just the boat was there, like that. I've never met him in. It is just reaching out to somebody guessing an email address to see how you get on. But things like Kickstarter is a great way for people to if they don't have money. If you really want to do it, really want it, there's ways of getting it.
Speaker 1:There's ways 100% and just listen to everything that you said in the podcast, troy. That's what I would hope that people that are listening, and especially people in the entrepreneurial space and in business, take away is that drive. That drive and the resilience and the determination and the attitude that is I don't give a fuck what you say, I know where I'm going, I know what I'm doing, I know there's a different route.
Speaker 2:I know you're probably trying to finish up right because we're probably we're technically on, but there's something I do want to say. I want to get this across right. But because this is where my journey came to then, and that was a realization that you are a product of your surroundings. And that then, is the reason why I had to leave, because, like I mean, I remember saying to my wife I don't want to go back to Ireland. You know, we were in Abu Dhabi living. That's where they were going to leave there and I said and the reason I didn't want to go back was two things Was one, the belief system that I need around me is that people who believe in global projects at that level can reach a billion people.
Speaker 2:Me is the people who believe in global projects at that level can reach a billion people and to access the capital, and they can, you know, don't go to an incredible place I mean some people living so, so scary on the border, but but you do need to then say, right, okay, you know, I, I brought it to this level, which is a level appropriate for where I'm at now, in the surroundings I'm in.
Speaker 2:I need to go find the next surroundings with the people and the culture and the outlook that fits with where I want to go next. So that's the thing I say to people you can start at this and get to a point and this is the thing of sacrifice too. They can, dare you, add a great house and all the rest of it, and I now live in 100 square metres. But I'm here for another reason, and this is the sacrifice now that I've had to say to my family this is what we're going to do for the next period of time, because this will help propel us to where we want to go next 100 square metres in beautiful, sunny Monaco still 100 square metres so the thing is you have a daughter, right, so you know what that's like, but it's like I'm a grumpy teenager.
Speaker 2:Um, like I have to say, I really enjoy hanging out with her, but, um, but that's the thing you have to do in 100 square meters. There's no escape right so, um, normally what happens then? I'm home alone this week, but normally what happens is then they're involved in your team's calls, because they hear everything's going on right and so on.
Speaker 2:um, but that's it's just, it's a look, it's a different thing. But one of the things I would say about the community that we have here now around us is you know, there are people who exit a global business, there's people who are currently in them and growing, you know, into the zillion here or whatever, and it's not all about just the money too, but it's soaking in ideas and mindset and thinking that they did and how they overcome things and how they grew to the next step to get in, to be able to get into a room and go well, I need 25 million and people go.
Speaker 2:Okay, well, I can do that, you know. And because you're, they're totally confident in the way you portray yourself and it is. You know, somebody said to me last year he says you're not the wee boy from Donegal anymore. That's the way you have to look at it, because if you go in and start telling that story, then that's different. You're now an entrepreneur, a global impact entrepreneur who's?
Speaker 2:going to impact the lives of a billion kids by doing what you're doing and you know it is the story you tell yourself in your head too, you know has a whole lot of a bearing on that, but surrounding yourself with like-minded people that have a, an ambition and look, this is the thing about these journeys is there are so many different pathways not all them.
Speaker 2:you can do a lot of the right things and still not make it. You know, um, but that that's that's a challenge. There's that fear all the time too, the fear of I will fail, pushing you on. Sorry, you were wrapping up, but I just had to get that in there. If you do want to go beyond so many golf people are there in London or New York or wherever you will learn from the people there too. I'll give you another example. It was just we do business with a global company now and we were asked to put in a day rate and I think the team put some power to 400 a day and I had to just say, look, I mean, that was fair, but I'd go whoa. That company's headquarters are in Rockefeller Center in New York.
Speaker 2:They do 80 billion in revenue. If you send them a quote for 400 a day, they'll go what are we hiring here? Because they charge 10 grand a day? Right, but if you were living in New York, you would send that out at 4 grand, not 400. It's just you're limited by what you see around you. Well, most people here charge 400 for the day or 500, whatever it is, so that's what we should charge and then hold on a second. We're sending that to a global company that are used to 10 grand a day. We don't need to be 10, but we could be four or five. And that's the thing about you know, you have to get out of that environment.
Speaker 1:Yeah because the perception of what they're thinking of you then is like it mustn't be that good you get into the bucket right away.
Speaker 2:You have no value. That's safe to think. It's no value, then straight away. So then you're not valued and you wonder why then you're not getting that same thing?
Speaker 1:so, but look, that's another another hour for another day maybe there's a great quote on that by James Clear and he says environment is the invisible hand that shapes human behavior, and it's so true. And if you're in the wrong environment, then you're going to conform to that behavior, you're going to conform to that way of thinking, you're going to conform to the belief system and you're going to get that result. And it's crucial to take yourself out of the environment that you may be in right now. That's not helping you get to where you need to be in order to get into the right environment. Before we finish Troy, the podcast is called Conversations that Matter and I always ask every guest a question. If you could have yourself, if you could have a conversation with yourself at any time and tell yourself something, maybe right back when you were in bunk round as a kid, maybe going through one of your toughest challenges, challenges what conversation would you have had with yourself sooner?
Speaker 2:I've thought about this before. Right, I can't say I've been asking for, but I've thought about it before. But, um, the one that comes to mind for me is and I was in this bucket, right. So the result of a lot of that stuff we talked about in the first 15 minutes was low self-worth, and so the way I compensated for that was trophies. So I provided myself with stuff that I thought showed a level of success or whatever. That was done for other people not for me, you know, or maybe it was filling a void in me or whatever. But the conversation I had with myself starting out when I was 21 again is to say you don't need to show any of those things, you don't need a throat beat to show you've got value and you've created value. That, I'd say, is the biggest lesson. Like, I don't have a car anymore.
Speaker 2:Cars were a big thing for me. I used to love my car. I had 23 cars in 23 years or something right. But one of the things I live in here now I mean, I'm surrounded by so many people with so many supercars and all the rest of it, and as I decided to live life without a car, my wife has no car either, and that kind of drives her a wee bit mad because she hasn't caught up with that change. To me, but it was just. I just became tired of what the car represented for me and then when I looked at it I went, okay, that car is maybe used 10% of the week, that's it. And then it's tax and insurance and the tires and the oil change and the whatever the cost of the car, lease payments and all the rest of it.
Speaker 2:And then I remember so whenever we chose to live in Monaco we made a list. I read a book at the time. It was a guy I met at MIT. It was a guy called Warren Rostand. A guy in his 80s now wrote a book Design your Life. And I remember sitting down with that concept and saying, right, what do we want and what do we want? We're leaving Abu Dhabi. We kind of have a blank slate. We don't know where to go. What do we want?
Speaker 2:And so the thing that I wanted, where I wanted. I didn't want a car anymore, so I wanted to live in a world where I could get around on foot or by bus. And in Monaco it's 200 euros for the bus for a year and it runs 6 am to past midnight. Now, right, the summertime, there's one every 10 minutes. You beep on, you can go wherever you want or you can walk, but it can be 10 minutes to the casino from here.
Speaker 2:So, um, number two was I wanted an hour plus hour in the morning of the time in Ireland. So, so that meant that at 7 o'clock in the morning when we get up, the office in Ireland doesn't open until 10. So I have three hours of no phones, no anybody, that I can have peace and quiet. So that was another thing I wanted. And then I wanted to be surrounded by a community that would understand what I'm trying to do, and it wasn't a case of them giving me money or anything, it was a case of them just understanding, right, because the more I could suck in from them the same way as when I met my wife the more I could suck in from her experience, from the things that she got wrong or whatever. So the more I could experience from these people. Or then the story they would say is well, this is how I sold my business for 150 million. Right, let me see, could I plug into the same kind of things and learn that pathway? How could I see that vision?
Speaker 2:Um, and one of the things about the business sector that I'm in, this is an article that you should be conscious of, like, ultimately, to get the value you need to sell your business. So one of the things, um, you know, our business sector is entertainment, media and sports. So it's in the same sector as UFC or Formula One or whatever. Basically, it's people competing around what you sell tickets and media rights and so those businesses are valued at eight or nine times their revenue, not their profit. So that means that every million of revenue that I add, that creates an extra eight million of value in the business, right? So that means that all the time, too, the more I grow, that creates an extra 8 million of value in the business. So that means that all the time, too, the more I grow, I see a rapid increase in our site.
Speaker 2:So, ultimately, the stuff you learn here is, I mean, look you can learn it anywhere, but it's just with a concentration of global entrepreneurial people here. You know it's funny. You bump into people and I'm a chatterer, right as you can tell. But I bump into Michael Flateny and I say, michael, how's it going? I'm just landed from Donegal and I have a whole 10 or 15 minutes going on like sure. Where would you meet them in the street? You know. So I landed here last year saying this right, the first email I sent was the council general in Monaco is Michael Smurfett like one of the most famous entrepreneurs in Ireland. So I sent him an email.
Speaker 2:I'm basically here off the boat you know like it's like Ellis Island. But 200 years later, a couple of weeks later it took three weeks he come back to me and says have coffee with me in the boat next week. You know I was like that you know.
Speaker 2:So we made that decision then, and then we had to get my daughter into school. All those things came together. We came here and I mean in a very meager way and says, right, how can we fit in here at the lowest enchilada, so we're not taking on big risks or anything. And and then it's reaching out to people and it's like that you build that ability to chat to people over time. I say that's the 20. I'm 28 years in business. I've learned to talk to people over time. I said that's the 20 and 28 years of business. I learned to talk to people. You know, learn to get out of that comfort zone and just even saying hello on the streets to people, the same any Jordan. You see these people. I think.
Speaker 2:George Russell, that's two buildings down right and I haven't stopped the gumption to talk to him yet, but at the end of the day, it's. That's the world you live in now. So if you want to, if you do want to see them, they're there. It's going up and saying hello, this is me, this is what I'm doing. Love to chat to you about it. Sometime I'll buy you a coffee, you know whatever, um, but you have to put yourself there yeah you have to be good to go get it.
Speaker 2:You can't. I said to somebody I can't sit and go. Well, nobody here gave me the money or nobody here helped and nobody here pointed direction. That's why I failed. Failed because I didn't get up and go. I'm going to go, I'm going to find it, you know, wherever it is 100% man, troy.
Speaker 1:It's been a fantastic chat. There's a lot of value in that podcast and I know we probably could have went on for another hour and a few different topics to share and maybe we get round two rocking maybe in Monaco, you never know. But for people that are looking to support your vision and get in touch with you and maybe follow the journey, where's the best place to find you, troy?
Speaker 2:LinkedIn is the best place to find me, so I'm very much a LinkedIn poster or whatever, but find me on LinkedIn. Roy Armour, the website of Junk Couture is wwwjunkcouture witha kcom fantastic cheers Troy brilliant Jim. It's great to chat to you. See that RF.