TrueLife - Courage Unleashed: Martin Stark's Journey to Resilience and Impact

Episode Date: October 7, 2023

One on One Video Call W/George https://tidycal.com/georgepmonty/60-minute-meetingSupport the show:https://www.paypal.me/Truelifepodcast?locale.x=en_US🚨🚨Curious about the future of psychedelics? Imagine if Alan Watts started a secret society with Ram Dass and Hunter S. Thompson… now open the door. Use Promocode TRUELIFE for Get 25% off monthly or 30% off the annual plan For the first yearhttps://www.district216.com/Two-time LinkedIn Top Voice and Entrepreneur Martin Stark is a leading inspirational speaker and trailblazer who encourages people, teams, and organisations to employ courage as a habit; and advises on how to make an impact and achieve business success on LinkedIn.  Featured in CNN, The Guardian, BBC Sport, and ABC News, Martin is the Founder and CEO of the not-for-profit company World Gay Boxing Championships, which he set up to disrupt hatred, increase LGBTQIA+ participation, and lead change in the sport.  Martin delivered the world's first boxing competition for the LGBTQIA+ community and allies in February 2023.   Martin is also a seasoned commercial negotiator and Social Impact Expert with 15 years’ of experience as an IT Strategic Sourcing Leader. He was diagnosed with Addison’s disease in 2006 shortly after having been placed in two induced comas and living through his worst fear - a tracheotomy. Having undergone more than 70 hospital admissions and four major operations, Martin is passionate about health and well-being. His near-death experiences have driven him to lead the positive changes he wants to see in the world.   Courage is taking ownership of fear, and venturing forward with confidence and resilience.  Fear is a natural, powerful human emotion triggered by a perceived physical or psychological threat providing a basic survival mechanism which is an essential part of keeping us safe. Courage starts by understanding fear, using the information as a guide to empowering yourself into making better decisions.https://www.martinstark.co/about One on One Video call W/George https://tidycal.com/georgepmonty/60-minute-meetingSupport the show:https://www.paypal.me/Truelifepodcast?locale.x=en_USCheck out our YouTube:https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPzfOaFtA1hF8UhnuvOQnTgKcIYPI9Ni9&si=Jgg9ATGwzhzdmjkg

Darkness struck, a gut-punched theft, Sun ripped away, her health bereft. I roar at the void. This ain't just fate, a cosmic scam I spit my hate. The games rigged tight, shadows deal, blood on their hands, I'll never kneel. Yet in the rage, a crack ignites, occulted sparks cut through the nights. The scars my key, hermetic and stark. To see, to rise, I hunt in the dark, fumbling, fear. Heiress through ruins maze, lights my war cry, born from the blaze.

The poem is Angels with Rifles. The track, I Am Sorrow, I Am Lust by Kodak Serafini. Check out the entire song at the end of the cast. Ladies and gentlemen, let's get ready to rumbo! I'm so stoked everybody. I hope you're having a beautiful day. I got a legendary show for you today. My esteemed guests, my friends, my colleagues, it is a great pleasure that we welcome a true inspiration

and a beacon of courage to our gathering today. Our distinguished guest is not merely a name. He's a force of empowerment and positive change. Martin, known as the courage champion, has charted a remarkable path as a two-time LinkedIn top voice, a prominent entrepreneur and a leading inspirational speaker. His journey is marked by a commitment to making an indelible impact and achieving unparalleled business success on LinkedIn,

a platform that has become a global stage for his transformative message. In the ever-evolving landscape of media, Martin's insights have been sought after and celebrated. His presence has graced the pages and illustrations, publications such as CNN, The Guardian, BBC, World, ABC, SBS, underscoring the universal resonance of his mission. But his contributions extend far beyond the digital realm. He is the visionary founder and CEO of the groundbreaking,

not-for-profit organization, the world gave boxing championships with a mission to disrupt hatred, elevate LGBTQIA plus participation, and catalyze change within the sport. Martin orchestrated the world's first boxing competition for the LGBTQIA plus community and allies in February 23, coinciding with Sydney World Pride, his work as a testament to his unwavering dedication to inclusity and diversity. Martin, thank you for being here, my friend. man what an intro it's like wow you know you say hey

I'm making you to my mate Marty and then you go here's Martin and I'm like what do I say how do I react to that what an intro my friend well the truth is I'm just trying to soften you up because word on the street is you might have something

coming up man so I'm trying to be as kind as I can to coax it out of you you know it's easy being the being the boss knowing something, but you can't tell other people what it is yet because of timelines and but there's been months of conversations and planning and, you know, I learned too in my career about keeping your own counsel about when to say things.

You know, there's a time for everything. But let's just say, might be holding another world gay boxing championships. It's not in Australia. It's going to be very different. It's going to be very different. You know, part of my background in psychology is to talk to people and then try to get them to say things as we go through the conversation. So I'm going to be utilizing some of my technological philosophical probes here, try to get you to slip up. Just throwing that out there for all my listeners and see if I can get it.

So basically you're telling me that I shouldn't say it's not going to be held in the UK in case people want to think. Is that what you're trying to say that it's not going to be held in Germany? It's not going to be held in New Zealand. Is that what you're trying to get it to say? I'm just getting warmed up. Just getting warmed up here, I'm not saying anything. I mean, you know, it's, look, I mean, Hawaii is a great place to go on holiday. But I don't think it's yet the city or the state for the next world get boxing championship.

So, you know, we've got so many other countries I can name. So, yeah, you know, you're not going to get out of it. Even states in the U.S. would be good ones. I know. There's my home state of New South. Wales. And it's not going to be in Queensland because that's in Australia. It's not going to be in Western Australia. And yeah. Okay. To be continued here. Let me just let me jump in with something right here. I'm going to shift gears. And as someone who's known as the courage champion,

maybe you can share with my audience who may know you, who may not know you though. Can you share a personal experience that taught you the importance of courage in your journey? Right, so the first thing I'm going to do is I'm going to acknowledge the traditional custodians as a where I currently am, the Gamma Raigal people and paying my respects to elders, past, present and emerging. And I'd like to extend that respect to all Aboriginal Torres Strait Thailander First Nations people. My pronouns are he, him. Now, many people know that last year I had very bad depression.

I mean, I've had depression several times in my life. probably happened about once every 10 years and I had tremendous support from my Aboriginal friends here in Sydney. I go along to a men's group called the Banner Group which is a group for Aboriginal men but open to everybody so I went along to Yainanen circles and I had people there to support me. There's a guy called Buddy Old Man. He's a proud an Aboriginal man who lives in another part of my state. In a few months' time, he wants to be breaking the world record for punching a boxing bag,

breaking the Guinness World Record. So really, I've seen courage throughout my journey in time here in Australia from Aboriginal and First Nations people. So that's really, I grew up in the UK, but I'm a proud Australian, and I'm proud of the welcome that I've received from First Nations Australians who've been so courageous and inspired me with their courage. So that's the first thing for me.

And that's what I've never really spoken about before. Yeah. So. So it seems to me that like there's been a lot of people probably that we both know and scores of people we don't know that suffer from depression. Was there something that some sort of wisdom or something different that you learn from going to this group than maybe a traditional group? Just the ability to actually share and talk in an environment where everybody is supported and welcomed.

So when I'd have depression previously in the corporate world, it hasn't always been that supportive. It's smoke and mirrors. It's a policy, but really how supportive is it? So I had, as an entrepreneur, I wasn't working because I was organising the boxing competition. the trolling I had, having to go to the police twice because of people who should know better, but having a group to go and speak with, but having friends who would check in with me, go for walks, that was the difference. It's the courage to be vulnerable, share stories.

I'm a big believer. There need to be spaces for people to go to. People may see that as a safe space, a place of strength, but just having somewhere to go to where you can talk open. be supported, share stories. And that was vital for me. It had such a support network this time when I've had depression. And that happened me through more than anything else

whether through counselling and antidepressants, it was actually the support network and the courage of others to be there for me when I needed help the most, whether I knew it or not. I love that. You know, I agree that the power of storytelling is something that has, it seems to have been lost in the world of Western medicine and Western corporations and things like this.

But it's so powerful because sometimes the reason we find ourselves in these predicaments is the story we're telling ourselves. I'm wondering, talking to these people and listening to stories, were you able to reframe your own story? Was that part of the healing? What it was, it was just been able to validate my story

and go through the challenges of organizing the boxing competition. It was so stressful. I can't. underestimate the actual stresses of trying to do something groundbreaking. But having that environment where I can just be me. And people help solve some of the problems and just be there, you know, be the guiding light and sharing their stories and having those moments where I can just be,

you know, I'm having a really bad day today and just just having that while still achieving greatness. So that was the difference. Now, you just mentioned Western medicine. I'm a consumer advocate for North Sydney Health Local District. And I've been on their board, Consuming Committee for the last five years. And I can tell you, storytelling is an integral part of the improving healthcare system.

And I was at a forum a few days ago, spoke on a panel where there's all these things about co-designing. There was one expert who talked about years ago, the healthcare system, say doctors did something to patients, Right. Then we did something with patients. Now we're doing something for patients. So for patients and it's like with patients, they've got that wrong. But but co-designing, actually listening to consumer advocates, listening to patients' experience. That is now key to improvements in healthcare. And it's such a beauty to see you in my state, a healthcare system that I'm involved in, and many other health systems are collaborating with patients and consumers and listening to the of their stories to improve the quality of care. When we think about COVID, getting access to virtual appointment, virtual counseling,

and how that can really help as we move forward with telemedicine. COVID made that happen at such a rapid pace, but we've now learning from that to improve healthcare through story telling. Yeah, it's brilliant. In some ways, I think it speaks back to the first nation's people that you were talking about. They have had, they figured this out a long time ago. And like, we're just kind of catching up for so long, it seems that medicine has been this band-aid we put to make people not feel.

But it seems maybe the remedy is like, hey, let's bring this out in front of everybody and solve it together. Well, I mean, Australia is such a beautiful country. It is. It is. Continuing culture, 65 years of beautiful history. Now, I'm a believer in amplifying other people's messages. So there's something called White Saver Syndrome,

where white person was all of those things and i just think that's such a disservice so i'd love to connect you with somebody you can really share their story who's an awesome person and i'll do that for you you after this but what i what i've learned is just as listening how people how generations have shared stories to be custodians of the land to take care of nature to work with nature and i think that is something we can do more of as a global society. The world has gone so angry right now, so polarising. And really, are you going to be so angry that you're going to deny people access to health care? Are you going to be so angry because of your view that you're going to destroy somebody's opportunities

because you don't understand something? You're going to make it harder for people. Who are you actually fighting? Is it your own community? because when you target one community, you might be targeting a family member. You might be targeting somebody's children, somebody's siblings through being angry.

Does that make you feel better? And that's where the world has gone. And we need to have more community building, listening, learning, storytelling. Because I tell you, the world is much better when we work together. When we think about Olympic Games, you know, just hosting.

the women's co-hosted the Women's Soccer World Cup with New Zealand. And it was fantastic. I tell you, although I'm a proud Australian and we lost to England, I can tell you, like half of Australians watched the Matildas lose to the lionesses. But it was great to see the lionesses progress to the World Cup final. The best England have achieved since 1966. and how courageous the Spanish women's team were in winning the World Cup. But what did we grapple with afterwards?

It wasn't how amazing all these women athletes were. It was one man who should have known better, right? But how amazing were the women in the World Cup? How amazing were the teams? And for me, that's what we need to nurture and develop for all communities and celebrate because sport has that power. to drive change and really bring communities together. Yeah, it's so true.

In some ways, I think it brings out the universal one. When we talk about people being discriminated against or withheld things from, in some ways it echoes the personal stories of people. It seems to what it might be emerging is this idea that we are just one giant superorganism. And getting mad at someone or doing something to someone else is like punching yourself in the face.

Like, it's a dumb thing to do. It's like, I see it happening. Like, is that, when you, when you think about that and you think about suffering and you think about the world moving forward, how did you integrate all of that in setting up this groundbreaking idea for the sport that you did? So, I looked what had been achieved in the past. Okay. Both in LGBTQ plus sports. So the gay game started in 1982. So they've been going for 40 years, holding success.

set of events. I'd seen what had happened, another LGBTQ sporting competitions. So I knew that could be achieved. And I looked at the 12 blazers in boxing, Mohammed Ali. Right. For me, Muhammad Ali, what he achieved outside of the ring. Yes. And how courageous he was. and Michael Parkinson, he who died a few weeks ago, was a famous chat show host in the UK. And I love looking back at the interviews he gave with Muhammad Ali, or Mohammed Ali gave with Michael Parkinson. You can see the social change.

But part of that, you see the social conditioning and what courage it took for him and others to blaze that trail. So I decided to be the trial blaze that trail. Couple that with corporate experience. Negotiated contracts worth almost $300 million. So knowing how to put together a not-for-profit, how to relationship management, how to have difficult conversations,

but build a team of board who have extensive expertise, knowing that I couldn't do this myself, but reach out to other people, communicate the vision, build a global community. That was where my courage came in, came in, my professional skills came in, but I also knew what had been achieved by others. So that was, it's really learning from history, learning from the present, I suppose my own present, and the future is what's created, and that's the impact.

First off, those are great people to look towards to create a great future. You know, we've got to look back to the people behind us in order to see where the road is. And as we do that, earlier in this conversation, you were just about to tell us where the new games were going to be held. I know, and it's not in Honolulu. Damn. All right.

Let me ask you this. So you've spoken about establishing meaningful connections. And what are your top tips for fostering genuine and lasting relationships in both personal and professional spheres? Start from a place of respect. start from a place of inclusion. And that sounds simple, but it is simple, and people make things complicated.

So from my professional background in procurement, there are generally four different types of supply relationships. And I'll use the analogy of you have a cop. You might go to your local supermarket to buy something off the shelf. but are you going to trust the supermarket to help you? No. So then next you think your cold hasn't gone after a few days. You then go to your local, I think it's in America, it's like your drugstore. We call it a chemist or the pharmacist.

You'll ask a pharmacist for advice and they may say you might need to take this. Then say the cold, it's not going and you've got a bit of a cough. So you go see your GP. You trust your GP more, but you won't see your GP all of the time. then your GP says, you know what, I'm going to refer you to a specialist. And you get a referral and you go to the specialist in a few weeks and they actually have this. So that's a simple analogy. So really in procurement, four types of relationships, you know, those strategic partners, who you need day in, day out.

You know, without them, things wouldn't work in an organisation. It could be at Google, an IBM and Microsoft, core applications. sell or then they're strategic partners then you have those no trusted relationships who you might need so for example you have your iPhone so that's your trusted partner but you might want to use different apps that you use for your business so your core app might be strike for payments but you then you link that with another application that you use a course for so you start seeing other types of relationships then there are things that you need from time to time So it could be you might need somebody to help you develop or design an app.

So you're going to go to that person and then you can provide you advice from time to time, maybe support and maintenance, but they're not courting your business. And then you just think of one time only. You might be holding an event in Hawaii for a podcast host who keeps asking you questions that you said he's not going to tell the answer to it. But in order to prepare for that podcast. you might need to get any pair of headsets. You get that one time.

So think about the type of relationship that you need or they need. What problems do people need solving? How are you going to address their pain point? How can you add value? Then you can start thinking about making it meaningful because it needs to be meaningful to the other person. Now, in a B2B perspective,

you think about your core offering, how does that align? with other relationships that exist. How many times do you get a connection request on LinkedIn? Hey, you can send it to my six-week coding program. It's going to cost you $10,000. You know, really? They've made no time and effort versus somebody who said,

you know what, I've been seeing your content for some time. I would like to connect with you because we might be able to help each other through referrals. Now that happens quite commonly. and sometimes those relationships that you form can be life-changing, really opening up doors and you can do that for them and the other person. So that's where the meaningful relationships come in

and you start from a place of respect, respecting another person. I'm sorry, you have no idea what I am, why am I going to spend $10,000 on a coaching program for? But start from a place of inclusion. I have done the boxing train for several months because I hurt my back, but by boxing coach, awesome boxing coach for inclusive,

I'm going to feel comfortable referring other people to my boxing coach because it's very respectful. So that's really the key of this for me. I think it speaks to the idea of relationships as currency. It's a fascinating concept. Maybe you can elaborate on that a little bit. So we think about trust, think about trust, how it's essential to have trust.

So when a corporation has done something wrong and they tell people about it, hey, our systems went down because of this, you need to check your banking details. It's annoying. We want to know what's happened so we can protect ourselves because of the cyber criminals. However, when the organisation communicates and lets us know, there's more respect there. How do you feel when something has happened and you weren't communicated with, then your details are on the unsecure web? But they've known about it for a week, but didn't tell anybody the difference. Right.

And then with trust, with how many times we get cyber scams, but you're getting constant updates, maybe from your bank saying, hey, these are the things you need to be aware of. of this is what we now recommend we have a team in place to stop these types of transactions that trust is irreplaceable because you're constantly getting updates and it's not complying with legislation which they need to do but it's about that education and when things go wrong they're telling you this is what you need to do so it's a corporation who does something right will be respected by their consumers when they do something wrong don't want to repair their reputation quickly, but that damage is already done.

That's really the crux of this. It's trust. Yeah, once that's lost, it's very difficult to get back. It does seem like a simple thing on some levels where as long as you're communicating to people, there is this bridge between you of like, I have enough respect for you.

I'm going to tell you what's happening because maybe you could be part of the solution. Yeah. And it comes back. to the storytelling, the co-design, things happening. And trust, you know, when you spend your dollars, you want to think, am I going to get value for that? And I like to support businesses that support the LGBTQ plus and other communities. I've spoken a lot about inequities and issues with racism and LGBTQ plus homophobia, transphobia, but imagine the difference when people feel included.

Just from a sport perspective, just from getting better access to mental health, physical health, through boxing or the other forces of sport, because those things improve your mental and physical health outcomes. Just something simple, getting access to sports, getting access to training. That shouldn't be that hard, but it is. But when we remove those barriers, think about economic opportunities, a community before didn't have access to the the internet. Now we all have access to our mobile phones and we're able to do business with people in all parts of the world. Think of a difference to that community when, say, the parents, one has got a full-time job, the other is running an online business and that additional income

means the family can have a better standard of accommodation or better education for their children. They're now spending more dollars in their local community, so they're not empowering more businesses. So I'm a big believer in actually supporting local businesses because they empower the community. And that's where I'm really disturbed by what people are saying is woke. I don't know what work means. Are you against homophobia? Are you against efforts to reduce racism and homophobia because you shouldn't be. But the impacts of racism, the impacts of homophobia in other forms of discrimination are so profound. If we remove those, what benefits to everybody would there be? Yeah. You know, it's when you think about the economic impact that's an event like that can have,

it's, it's mind-blowing. You know, I often think of the thriller in Manila, which is a great spot for a boxing organization. It is. It is. It is. Yeah. It was a great fight. I'm just saying. It was a really good fight. It was a really good fight. Well, okay, so if we building, here's another part that I think speaks to this.

And it's this idea of vulnerability, communication, and integrity and honesty. And that's something else you do is building online. Like if I look at the community that you've built online in front of everybody, this is kind of a newer thing too where people are beginning to build things in front of people. And because you've been successful at it and so many people are trying to figure out how to do it. And you've been very honest with, hey, I messed up here. I could have done this better here. I think that really leaves awesome science people to follow.

Can you speak to this idea that's emerging of building online? So attention is the new oil is a phrase that really resonated with me. So we think about influencers, followers versus people. we want to follow what following do you have rather than how many followers you have if you're being authentic it comes back to the storytelling relatability authenticity they build trust so 80% of b-to-be decision makers are using online contents helping their decision-making process for their buying process recommendations, referrals. You think if you have people you know like and trust

refer to you through a LinkedIn recommendation, how much currency that has because we trust what other people say. So start from that perspective. I recommend something called the MC-Rone Successful Formula, which is your message and your content equals your relationships, opportunities and networks. So Simon Sinek, it starts with why.

It resonates with so many people. And through his content, you know, that TED talk, where he's just drawing circles on flip charts, we all remember that. And then how many relationships, has that opened up for him? How many opportunities has that opened up for him?

How many networks is that open up for him? But through his TED talk and message, how many other people have had relationships, opportunities, and networks because of that? So if you have a very simple, clear, consistent message, you build a community around that through your content. Consent isn't just posting videos or carousels. It's how you communicate. It's how you show up. How you comment, how you message, how you go to networking events. That's how you start to drive and build success.

the right type of attention. And that's what people, they started doing that. It's going to be more digital disruption. AI is being used more and more. For me, AI isn't there yet. I've put something in chat GPT. I don't like how it sounds. On LinkedIn, I can see who's used chat GPT in their content

because it doesn't sound like them. But chat GPT is great for research. AI is great for actually helping diagnose things in various formats or how can you maybe edit something or analyze something, technology should always be there to help people. It should never be the other way around. And then technology will replace functions that people do, but it should freers up to do more and more.

But if you think about your message, your content, and how you maybe use AI or other platforms to do that, never lose your soul, never lose your core message who you are. Because AI can't replace you going to work. You can probably place some of the things that you do, but it can't replace a conversation you have with a friend. You can't replace people. It's like the ultimate decoration.

You know, it can really make you illuminate the path going forward, but it's never going to walk the path for you. No. A.A. can't replace the host city for the World Game Waxing Championship. It can't create an event in Paris where it's not going to be. But it could give you a list of potential places. What did they give you? It could. It gave me, you gave me Paris.

It gave me Melbourne. It gave me sisters where it's not going to be held. It gave me Honolulu. So I'm actually thinking if I take the first letter of all the places you've named, people will figure it out. Maybe, yeah. Just throwing that out there, people. You may want to go back and we listen to this podcast, you know?

So you're working. One of your workshops on LinkedIn emphasized building a personal brand. Can you provide examples of individuals who successfully leveraged LinkedIn to create a powerful personal brand and the results they achieved? Do you know it, Bob? He sure did. Just pure magic. How he, his shuma, his messaging, his unique ability to connect with people in a way which is so simple, so personal. I've just come off his weekly live business consulting room.

Does really well. He's just gone out there. He's been himself. Gloria Tarby here in Australia. She, in my view, she's Australia's best trainer in anti-racism. She's published several books. Her message on LinkedIn is so clear. And the way she engages with people is so humble.

It's so open. and she's just open to communication. We called up a few months ago. We went for a walk in the Blue Mountains. It's a few hours of the west of Sydney, which is where the boxing competition is not going to be held. But we were never actually met in person, but we had such a deep connection.

We just went for a walk, had lunch, and her message on LinkedIn is so clear and how successful she has been on LinkedIn. in Rina Streal, here in Perth, in Western Australia, where the next championships are not going to be held. Her online presence is amazing, and she's been using AI in some of her content. And she has such a simple way of connecting a message and resonating with the audience. So there's just three people, a multitude of people who've created successful businesses,

as, you know, Roy Kowarski, Jenny Baz, have been co-hosts of my Courage Corner. We've been very successful on LinkedIn. And, you know, it's how we connect and grow with each other because we've been able to support each other's businesses and messages. It's so fascinating to me to see that this creator economy and the way in which content is actually reaching through, you know, it's just connecting people throughout the world together.

And it's really disrupting the legacy media. Is this a trend that you see continuing to happen? Or if you were to speculate on the future, what might the future of the creative economy look like? It's basically just going to be as a new normal. So things will evolve. When there are a lot of platforms that are emerging, you know, I've never been on Twitter.

So there's no call. Probably won't go on that. I have used Instagram. Don't use it too much. I don't do anything on Facebook, I've done a bit on TikTok. What I really like about TikTok is how it's really just opened up communities.

And TikTok has really changed. There's more thought leadership on TikTok that really opened up purchasing and selling on TikTok. I've listened to a TED talk and the CEO of TikTok and the things that he was talking around safeguarding. We talk about all the trolling and work that has been what they've done to help remove online bullying. It's not going to go away.

So at least companies are starting to do more and they could do much more. But I think what the creator economy and attention economy is doing is actually bringing our ability to have those human conversations that we would have in a coffee shop or in a meeting to actually you just do that in an omnipresent way. So that's what I think it will be doing. I think that's probably the way it should be going. And if you do it well, you'll get a following rather than followers because it's vanity metrics. Well, you may get a dopamine hit, but really on LinkedIn, they don't pay the bills

and they do for some people, but it's actually the connections you make. It's the relationships that you make. Because after 15 years in tech procurement, I can tell you, if somebody says, I've had 100,000 followers on LinkedIn. Is that going to get you an appointment? No.

But if you had a good following and the CIO was seeing your message, seeing your content, and you wanted a meeting with that CEO, and you had a mutual connection, you had that relationship, you reached out to that mutual connection. Hey, I'd love to meet with a CEO.

I think I can help them. I bet you that person will be able to get you that introduction through the door and that CEO will look at your profile. I will make yes, I want to meet this person. That's what people and we don't fully understand. Yeah, I don't think I thoroughly understood that. Thank you for laying that out there. It's wonderful. And it's amazing to see it unfold that way.

And that's, isn't that LinkedIn has a different type of business model. They're not really ad-based. They're more like subscription-based, right? And people are paying for that? I mean, LinkedIn's business model is a subscription-based, their corporate training, so obviously corporations will sign up to LinkedIn and their ads as well.

What LinkedIn has done very well is, in their recent changes to the algorithm, is allow people to focus on building their network rather than just trying to go viral. LinkedIn don't we to go viral. The phrase which resonates with me is content grounded in knowledge and advice. So think about you operate a marketing business. And it's a niche marketing business that helps chief marketing officers establish their presence and brand and become a trusted authority.

And you only work with chief marketing officers and people aspiring to be a chief marketing officer. So that's your target market. So with LinkedIn, what they're saying is focus on that target market. Now, would you want to be connected with HR managers, chief financial officers, engineers, everybody else in the company that is not related to the chief marketing officer or aspiring chief marketing officers? Because you're missing. You're missing out completely.

Whereas if you focus on helping chief marketing officers and aspire, and chief marketing officers that you focus your content for that's how you start to build relationships that's where you're going to be more successful now your expansive network may have access to chief marketing officers and aspiring chief marketing officers and they'll see your message in your content they can be your referral network they can be your people who connect you to the people you don't yet have access to and that's the differences another analogy i use if you're self selling sneakers on Amazon, will you be targeting televisions and cameras? Now you'll be selling, selling sneakers.

So make sure you find in the right market to sell to. And then my course, which I designed, is to take people from having a quality profile. You know, the basics, a solid profile. If your profile is all over the place, people don't know what you stand for, having a clear message, the MC1 for newer, having quality content. And then how to become a trusted authority and how you sell through your content through the customer roadmap, awareness, consideration, deciding retention and advocacy and having to find an influence decision makers in generating those warm leads through your networks. That's what I've designed in my course to really to help entrepreneurs, business owners, sales professionals, anywhere we want to enhance their presence. That's what I've done.

and then speaking my course I'm going to give you a price every city where the World Gatebox in the hammock is not going to be held next time I was just going to ask if you used your funnel to figure out where to be so when you put together these courses and you help out a lot of different people do you ever find you right now I'm sorry oh that's okay how about now is my is my mic on now I'll continue I'll continue speaking.

Okay. As a speaker, when things go wrong, this is the thing to... How about now? Just continue talking. Yes. What a love about technology, when things go wrong, you just keep message. You're not going to mess. Yeah.

David. Anything now? Check, check, check. Nothing? No. No. I can hear you fine. Man.

Nothing now, no? No. Right, I'm going to name a couple of other cities where the championships are not going to be held. It's not going to be held in Buenos Aires or Rio de Janeiro or Sao Paulo, even though I love Argentina and Brazil. And it's not going to be held in Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Berlin. It's not going to be held in Europe.

So I'm going to leave it at that. So I've just got a message saying, shucks, I'm all plugged in. So one thing that I might be able to do is actually seize ownership and take over this podcast and say things about George that he might not be able to get back because I'm not sure if other people are hearing what he's saying. Hello, hello, hello. Oh, nothing now. George, he was very cheeky in an intro. Not getting my permission with this video that it produced about me and things about boxing and making a cartoon out of one of my posts

and taking things without my permission. So if we were to do the same for George, what would it be about? Now, I had yellow hair in my first boxing fight, and it was a yellow mohawk. So, and people have called me Tintin from that. So I'm thinking we could get George training for the boxing championships. And I reckon he would be called to have a Blue Mo Hawk because I just think he's got that specific blue character. So I reckon I can get George in a Blue Mohawk. And what weight division would he be?

Now, if we can put, if we can get him carb loading. lots of carbs doing lots of weights bulking up we can get in fighting Mike Tyson 130 pounds I think it's not what he's saying Kikos probably like a welterweight like welterweight but I reckon I can get George against Mike Tyson

and I reckon if we said you know Mike George has been really mean about you on his podcasts has been saying all of these things if I have you I'd be having a few words with him at the way in and also in the face off because I think some of the things that George I ought to fight Floyd Mayweather.

So this is what comes to the attention economy because that's what Floyd has done really well. He's created such a business outside of his brand and he fought Jack, I can't remember the name of the USC fighter. I shouldn't I? You know, McGregor, he thought McGregor, and he thought Jake Paul, Logan, but I might quote both of them. So what he's done very well is build his business through the attention economy.

Now, some people may not have approved of those fights, but, you know, they were a commercial success. And I can tell you as an amateur boxer, and people have criticised influences getting in the ring, but just seeing that the standard of having Floyd, of Logan Paul and Jake Paul, the standard that they're boxing is very impressive. So I'll give them their dues. Would I ever have one of those fights? It's interesting because one of the things

of the next championships is maybe seeing if we can get some creators in there. Can I hear you? How about now? Can you hear me now? I can hear you now. Yes. I can hear you now. I'm back. I'm back. Did you purposely mute me so you could do that?

I did. I did. Did I draw out where the fight was going to be and now you're upset? You did. You did. It's going to be you fighting Mike Tyson with a blue mohawk. I would wear a blue mohawk. I would get in there and fight a little bit. You know, I don't know how well I'd do, but I throw some punches in there if I had you. What was it like transforming? I read a little bit about the transformation it took. You know, you had never boxed before.

You fell in love with the sport. Maybe you can speak to that transformation with mindset, body, and overall reality building. So many people have heard my story. I'm going to give a very short background. So in 2006, I was in two comas because I had gold sands blocking my liver. during my time in the two comas, I had these dreams, which became living nightmares and there was a cause of PTSD. I had a tracheotomy, which is like my worst fear. I also have the rare autoimmune condition, Allison's disease. So my body doesn't produce cortisol. So cortisol is your

body stress-producing hormone. So imagine if you had a major infection, a major illness, your cortisol levels go like this. My body doesn't, my body doesn't reduce cortisol. So what I need is because I have to take replacement tablets, but when it gets sick and get very sick. And the analogy would be a marathon runner not being able to drink water as they're running through the marathon. They wouldn't survive very long, probably. So at the end of 2017, I almost died from Addison's disease and that experience brought back the memories of being in the comas and to help combat the PGSD underwent self-defense training and boxing training and I described it as boxing discovered me fell in love with the

sport and for me that was empowering it was courageous boxing taught me that I mattered more than I was giving myself credit for I was telling me you could throw anything at me I'd just deal with it so it gave me that sense more that self-respect it gave me a platform to share my voice and courage I describe it as a butcher becoming a vegan. Imagine somebody goes hunting, becoming a vegan or vice versa. So that's how I describe the transformation. I love it. It's a great way to see it and to get to experience both sides of it.

In some ways, I think it develops a coherent relationship with violence, because we are violent in some ways, right? How I see this is really about challenging, how you channel. energy right so it's so empowering to focus on the bag to focus on the pad and to actually really control your emotion and to exercise fear and you're scared of something and you can really focus for me that's what boxing is given me also it's the respect the respects that you have for the person you might be sparring with. We touch gloves when we spa

because it's a son of respect. We hold the ropes up to know the person to enter or exit the ring. We go to the other corner at the end of the fight. Well done. What a great fight. Does that commence respect? There's also the respect that you find where you train your boxing crew.

People are there for you. So yes, it's a vibe. violent sport. However, for me, there is a, it's the one thing that is absent is the violence and the that you may see on the street because it's really, it's about respect, it's about supporting others, it's about empowering yourself, it's about working through barriers. You've probably come across countless examples of where somebody was probably on the wrong road, may have been going on the criminal road but they started martial arts

they started boxing training or something else and it gave them that self-discipline it gave them that psychological strength that self-respect and you could do that through other medium it could be art it could be designed but finding your thing for you

that gives you that impetus really and for me that was boxing for me I'm a big fan of language whether it's words or whether it's symbols but isn't there a beautiful form of language that you can find not only in dancing but in boxing or maybe just in body movement. Have you recognized that as well? Absolutely. You know you think about ballet dancers

would make great boxes and boxes make great ballet dancers and you know Mike Tyson, I've got to say Mike Tyson, Mahler and float like a butterfly. like it's thinking like a B, you know, it's a light movement. And you're having the hips, there's moving hips and all of those pieces. Yeah, absolutely. But there's, I really enjoy watching amateur boxing. Because three by two minute rounds, three by three minute round,

you really see the skill. You see the position. You see the focus. You know, the third round in an amateur boxing match, especially something like the Olympic Games. You know, where that could be win or lose, get through to the, next round or win the title. It's like, wow, so much energy.

You see the passion. You see the skill. You see the determination because you have such a short period of time to win. You know, in the professional rounds, and you might have 12 by 3 more rounds or 8 by 2. You have a longer period. But in amateur boxing, it's three rounds. It's the third round. But often it's one or lot. And for me, that's excitement because you see their passion.

you see their skill, but you see the crowd getting behind everybody. Yeah. You know, what do you think would happen if we took Floyd back to the days of Sugar Ray and Hernes and Hagler? You think he'd hold his own with those guys? Yes, you would.

He just has that, he's got that innate confidence. We've seen the commercial success that business's success that he has had. Yeah. Yeah, he's, he's, he's, he might be one of the great, he's without a doubt one of the greatest. I mean, his record reflects that and his style and his, the fact that no one can really even hit him is pretty amazing. Yeah, so one of my absolute boxing heroes right now is Chris E. Ban, Jr.

You know, he won against Liam Smith a few weeks ago. Now, watching the homophobia that Chris Eubank Jr. was subjected to in the pre-Baptember. press conference through in the year you know Liam Smith who has apologised and not knowledge and I accept the apology you know insinuations like Chris might be gay Chris spoke out wore a rainbow flag at the way in was a proud ally at the end of his first fight it was around February with Liam Smith the spectator this is not a fan a spectator was was able to make it ringside and call Chris the F word, Puff and the C word. So this is the impact of hate.

So here you have an amazing straight male boxer being subjected to homophobic abuse. Here we have a straight male boxer standing firm being such a a huge ally, proud to be an ally. I can't tell you what that means to me is the CEO of the world gate boxing championships and I can't tell you the difference because I know people who who will be champions in the years ahead who just want to fight you know based on who they are. But I don't think any boxer, any straight boxer would not be impacted if they they were caught, I'll say the way, if they were called a faggot by the crowd, the 12 by 3 minute rounds, if they would shout out some faggot at them. Imagine if you went training and that's

the abuse you were getting and everything else and, you know, racism, people get such horrific racist abuse. Imagine how to put up with that. I don't think anybody would survive. I don't think they would thrive. I don't think because really the expectation is that you must put up with that to be successful. That's nonsense. not enough has been done to remove that abuse. Will it be homophobia, racism, transphobia? And that's a problem I want to solve. Imagine the difference,

and we've seen Floyd supported, with people being supported. Fantastic. We accept you for who you are. We want you to succeed. The difference. The crowd. We're fans of you.

Awesome. Well done. go for it but you're in your corner your difference and that's where hate is right now because too many people finding it acceptable for that abuse to be given and not enough people find it unacceptable to stop that abuse that's why things keep happening do you think events like this in some ways by putting it out in the spotlight make more people accepting of it or does it make it worse in some ways or is it both? No, more accepting.

Good. Good. People, so 90% of LGBT key plus people consider homophobia, transphobia, transphobia, a problem in sport. We can participate in sport at half the rate of the wider population anywhere from 5 to 20 times more likely to attempt suicide.

That's some stats and the abuse that I've had online. Abuse that I've had myself and deal with it, a courageous guy. And I tell you, I had to come off social media for four months because I was at the point, that abuse that we're getting, it was mild compared to other people, wasn't good for me while I had depression.

Yeah. And I imagine, you know, people have been physically attacked in the community. So if that problem isn't bad enough, you know, I've had things such as, oh, you're segregating the community. you're making the problem worse. You're the reason why there's a problem in the first place. Right? If people don't understand

why there is a problem in the first place, then I'm sorry that that's their issue. Because there are so many allies, there are so many supporters, there's so many people who have had this conversation and they go, I understand this.

Because I've said, I'm countless, countless interviews. I want the reason I set this up to stop so I don't longer need to have the world gay boxing championships. It may continue in future forms but I want the reason for it to no longer exist.

The reason why we need LGBTQ plus including sporting events is because there's homophobia, transphobia, racism, etc. It's why you have women and classes is why you have things because people know what to feel safe that they can train. So I think what you're trying to say

is the next event's going to be in Vegas. I might be saying that, I mean, Turkey. Did you say Turkey? Was that what it was? No. It's not going to be an anchor or Istanbul. I mean, because Brisbane, which is a beautiful city,

and Brisbane is going to be host in the 2032 Olympics. We call Brisbane Brisbane, Brisbane. Now, we might hold it again in 232 in Brisbane. You're not going to tell me, are you? I'm not, no. Well, it's not from lack of me trying, Martin. Yeah. I think there's a code in there somewhere.

There is. And it might be slightly different to what we held in Sydney. You might be doing things in a slightly different way. But just not going to share. How dare you come on my podcast and tease me with this? I love it. Mate, let's face it, that this is now my podcast. Because you decided to unplug.

and leave me with an audience watching so that I could speak. It's now unfair of you to then come back on it and try and take this back. It's actually a segment I call Unplugged, and it's where I allow my guest to have some moments to see what they'll do. Well, really, as this is now my podcast, I'm inviting you to Unplug so I can continue now speaking to my audience, because Floyd will be the next guest, because I decided Floyd is going to be your sparring partner

because he's best buddies with Mike. And with your card loading, we're going to get you up to 340 in the next three months. And then you might drop down to maybe 220. It's going to be a roller coaster for you. I love it. Martin, this has been, it exceeded my expectations. I really appreciate your time.

I love what you're doing. and I love the fact that you're multifaceted and you're working in two different camps in the physical world online. You're building relationships and you're bringing a lot of attention to a lot of really cool issues that I think makes the community better and all of us better. And I really appreciate you taking time to reach out and speak with me and doing what you're doing. And I love the workshops that you're doing on there. All the information you're giving out is really cool and it's really helpful. And before I let you go, though, where can people find you? What do you have coming up and what are you excited about?

So for my course, please go to courses.modendstock.co. So what I have coming up in my audio room, I have been running them at 5pm Sydney time, but I'm going to be changing that to more of a lunchtime in Sydney because of time zone changes. Many people from the UK would have to, I would have to move it to 7 o'clock my time to get 8am UK time. But for my summer, our summer,

I'm going to remove in the courage corner. to a lunchtime in Australia, which will mean people in America will be able to join at your evening time. So that's what I have coming up. I have a boxing competition coming up. Where was that at again? I have a boxing competition coming up.

No, no, not what? Before I let you go, just go ahead and tell the people where it's going to be. So in Las Vegas, there's a guy called George fighting Mike Tyson, and he's going to be cornered by Floyd Mayweller. You blew my hawk, and Mike is going to be cornered by Jake Paul. Fair enough.

Well, hang on briefly afterwards, Martin. I want to speak to you real briefly afterwards. But to ladies and gentlemen and our friends and our colleagues and everyone who got to hang out with us today, I really appreciate your time. I hope you have a beautiful day. And that's all we got. Go down and check out the links. Check out, Martin, and reach out to him. He's an amazing individual.

And that's all we got for today. Ladies and gentlemen, Aloha.