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For all my non-conformists

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For all my non-conformists

You see, up until that time, I had life pretty much mapped out (haha, or at least I thought I did). I was running a business that I assumed was going to be a lifelong career, I was in a relationship that I assumed was going to last forever and I had a neat little plan of how everything would unfold for me.

And when it all fell apart (in a pretty spectacular fashion) I was left dealing with 2 things. The pain caused by all the chaos, and the bonus pain caused by the complete void left in my life where all my well-laid plans used to be.

Suddenly it felt like I was peering into a big black hole of nothingness.

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For when anxiety shows up

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For when anxiety shows up

So here I am, almost a month on, after a whirlwind trip. Back home and in need of finding that stillness again. Wanting to connect to the grounded feeling that the universe has my back and that I’m exactly where I need to be. So I figured I would explore that moment again: The window of time when I shifted from total anxiety to total presence. From panic to happy stillness. And try and understand how it happened so I can remember it like a favourite recipe whenever I need it.

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Five words that rocked my world

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Five words that rocked my world

As you may, or may not know, earlier on in my entrepreneurial journey, I dealt with a pretty massive failure. The business I was running fell apart, and the impact was um, catastrophic, to say the least. That might sound like I’m being overdramatic, but trust me, it was every bit as awful as it sounds — bankruptcy, losing investors’ ( some of whom were dear friends and family) money, bad press, having to sell my house & ultimately, the loss of pretty much everything I held dear.

So yeah, it was bad.

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Here’s how I learned the importance of brand clarity (Note: It ain’t pretty)

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Here’s how I learned the importance of brand clarity (Note: It ain’t pretty)

I remember sitting in a meeting one day, with the event crew, looking around the room thinking ‘I don’t even know half these people. They don’t know me. I’m working on an event I don’t even recognise and building something that doesn’t resonate with our brand whatsoever’. We’d gone from running award-winning boutique eco surf music festivals to producing 15,000 capacity shows with commercial lineups & massive scale infrastructure that was about as far away from ‘intimate’ as you could get.

It felt like a runaway train. Like we were too far down the track to do anything but push on.

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Reflecting in Indonesia: 5 business lessons from the last 5 months

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Reflecting in Indonesia: 5 business lessons from the last 5 months

So I’m sitting here at a surf camp in the middle of the jungle in Java. My arms are aching from this morning’s surf, my belly is full of the banana pancakes I had at breakfast and I’m hanging out with a super nice bunch of surfers from all over the planet.

In short, life is pretty damned good right now. Days like these make me wanna press pause. Because seriously? This is as good as it gets.

The tide is too low to surf right now so we’re all kicking back and soaking this awesomeness in.

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Reflections on non-conformity

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Reflections on non-conformity

I found myself inspired to write this post after spending a couple of days with an old friend. He’s one of those buddies that you don’t see for months/years on end, but somehow hang out for 5 minutes and just pick up where you left off.

We worked together years ago teaching kids to surf, and we’ve both been on pretty interesting journeys since. But we’ve always kept in touch, and whenever we’ve been in the same country at the same time, we’ve managed to hang out and catch up with each other’s adventures.

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Business Smarts : How to be location independent at home

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Business Smarts : How to be location independent at home

For most of us, the idea of being on the road 24/7 isn’t that awesome. Sure, travelling is awesome, but actually, so is hanging out with friends & family and connecting with your roots. So does that mean you have to take off your location independent badge the moment you land at your local airport?

I beg to differ.

In fact, I’d go as far as saying that being location independent at home is almost as fun as it is in a foreign country.

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When being an ‘expert’ is bad for business

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When being an ‘expert’ is bad for business

We build trust and resonance with brands that speak our language.

We breathe a sigh of relief when someone can explain something to us in a way that doesn’t make us feel like we’re an absolute idiot. Think back to your school days… We’ve all had that one teacher who made learning feel fun. Whose lessons seemed more engaging & interesting than the rest. Was it because the stuff they were teaching, was easy? No, it was the way they chose to communicate.