FlashCast By PDB, With Phil Di Bella

 Hi, this is Phil Di Bella and you're listening to Flash Cast by pdb. And today I brought in a special guest to tackle a saying that I hear all the time, especially people in their teens and early twenties. And they tell me that they can have it all, you know, and they believe that success is, is happens overnight and, and in short, that's what I want to tackle.

And um, the title is very simple. You can't have it all. Success does take time, and there's a classic men that goes around about the iceberg. We see what's above the water, which is the iceberg and the success and the glory and the possessions and the cars and the holidays, but. In order for that to achieve, for that iceberg to exist above the water.

There's so many foundations that are much deeper and in business and in terms of myself at 47, yes, I've been successful, but I can tell you that what's under the water has run very deep. And the success I have today has taken from, you know, from teenage years to now to be where I am. And I thought I'd bring in somebody that I, um, admire, um, a gentleman by the name of Max Hobson.

So welcome Max. Thank you. Having me on. Max is, uh, 20 years old. He's, um, about to start his, his own business. He's do, he does charity bike rides. He's got his own, um, business, which we'll uncover at the moment, but he's about to start a new one. Uh, and this is one person that understands whilst his ambition, he's strong, his motivation, he's strong.

He, he understands that success takes time and no, you can't have it all. So I thought perfect guest to bring in to co. With my thoughts that success does take time. Max, tell the, um, listeners a little bit very quickly about what you are doing. Uh,

right now. Right now I am running a cycling business and we sell, uh, bike packing gear and we run multi-day rides and moving forward into the real estate space with a social platform.

Yeah. All at the age of 20, right? Yep. So tell me your take on that topic. Uh, you can't have it all. Success takes.

Uh, I really, um, resonate with that. I think that a lot of people, um, are under the, um, impression that these overnight successes have just, you know, gone on Shopify and just put in their business and then boom, the bucks come in.

But it takes a lot of time, like even from the learning, um, it's probably taken them. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 years of learning to be able to get to that point. Um, and then not only with business, they've probably been running that business for quite a while. So, um, it's, yeah, everything. It takes time. You need to practice, you need to learn, you need to find, um, successful people that you can mimic and that you can follow.

Um, yeah, it doesn't happen overnight.

Yeah, and look to cement it using my story. I started washing dishes at 15 years old and I worked for my brother and he paid me $15 a night, not an hour. He'd be in jail now if he was paying me $15 for the whole night's work. And, uh, but I learned how to wash dishes and from washing dishes, I learned how to cook.

And from cooking, I learned. Coffee, uh, and then I got a job in hospitality. Went on to university and the story goes from there. And then the big part of my story, which some listeners wouldn't know, is that I spent nine years working in a venue that did everything wrong. It was nine years of, you know, of very tumultuous times working for somebody who treated people badly, didn't invest in products, innovations, didn't appreciate customers.

However, it was my best nine years to set me up for the success today, cuz what I learned was what not to do. In business. So Max, you find today, um, I'm gonna make a statement and you tell me your thoughts. People won't last nine hours in a job today before they quit, yet I lasted nine years. Would you agree with that comment?

Yeah.

I mean, um, today's society sort of thinks that, um, you can get things quickly and things come really quickly and as soon as you start something good, it's gonna, um, roll on and the money, the cash is gonna come in straight away. But it takes, um, a long time. You know, you've gotta grind your way there.

You gotta work smart. It's the same with my cycling. It didn't take me, um, you know, three weeks to be able to race national champs and win a school's national champ. It took, um, four or five years of actually training and racing and getting the experience before you can get to that

point. Yeah. So it starts with a vision, right?

Yeah. So let's break it down. Yeah. It starts with a vision. You had a vision to become a champion. Mm-hmm. , right? And then it go, goes down to you've gotta take that first step and, and make magic happen, right? Yep. And what was the most

challenging part for you? Um, I found the most challenging part to be not getting lost.

You know, actually how long it does take. So, um, starting off as thir 13 years old and wanting to be a elite cyclist, it's sort of like, wow, I have 7, 8, 9 years and you see this, you know, you might get knocked back a few times. You might, um, have a bad race and you just gotta look forward and think, wow, okay, I've still got a long time to go, but, um, I'm making, you know, these are stepping stones.

I'm making the groundwork now. Yeah.

And, and, and I find in business, and I get asked this a lot, especially from young people, is, um, what keeps. Motivated and focused so that you don't, um, lose patience. You know, and it's a great question and I was asked that, um, recently, and my answer was, have a very succinct one page strategic document.

So for me, it's a one page strategic document. I use the Gazelle's model from Verne, Hamish, uh, Verne Harnish overseas. It's Gazelle's. It talks about in the middle you put your three to five year plan or your vision, your purpose, what you wanna achieve. But then it also brings in things like. Values, what are your values?

What are your brand promises? Um, and then it breaks it down to weekly, monthly, quarterly in how you're gonna break down your steps. And, and I've followed that model over the years to keep me on track. And anytime I get distracted, I come back to that sheet. Uh, but you see that overnights success doesn't exist.

And I often say that if you are an overnight success, then the house of cards happens pretty quickly. If it's easy today, it becomes difficult tomorrow. If it's harder today, it normally becomes easier tomorrow. What's your take on that?

Yeah, well, it's like plan to be an overnight success in 10 years and do the work going up to it.

Yeah. So it's like, yeah. I find, um, I, I agree with that. I haven't actually heard of that method, but, um, I find that having that long, a few long term goals in, you know, different areas. So in your personal life, in your business life, obviously, like you talk about, um, having those longer term goals and then.

like going backwards, backwards from there. So you've got your five years, you've got your three years, your two years, your one years, and then your monthly goals, weekly goals, and even down to daily goals. Yeah.

Fantastic. You know, and, um, a big one for me and a big one that I talk to young people about is learning to pause and reflect.

So is that something that you practice often is reflecting, being grateful and then hitting Go

again? Yeah. Yeah. So I'm always reflecting and looking at what successful people are doing and seeing where I can improve. So if I am. If I'm at a roadblock and I don't, I don't know why, I'll stop sort of look at it and think, okay, what am I doing that, um, you.

Someone that's more successful might be doing differently. And I'll look at that and I'll try and make those improvements. Fantastic. Do you

research others that own businesses? Like your, your dad owns business, right? Um, do you tell us, you know, do you like studying and researching and, and asking questions of people that do own businesses?

Yeah. Yeah. All the time. So, um, whether that's reading books like your, um, awesome book with Alan Bonzo, or just going out to YouTube and searching out people in the, I find in the us uh, great to watch cuz their visions are usually a bit bigger than here in Australia. But yeah, so there's, it's just it, I guess for me it comes down to just searching up, um, different business owners, like businesses that are in your industry even.

So, um, looking at them and, you know, business people, influencers, entrepreneurs. Um, in Australia there's one, um, what's the name? Mark Boris. Yeah, mark. He's got a lot of, um, really good advice. He's got two or three podcast series. , I think he's got books and everything, but yeah, just dissecting what they do, how they started, uh, what their daily rituals are, um, and sort of mimicking

that.

Yeah. And do the work, right? Yeah. You gotta do the work. And Mark Boris is great. He does a lot of stuff around targeting youth and getting him to think and mm-hmm. , he's, he's one of Australia's best success stories. Uh, and it is, you've gotta do the work and you'll hear that from everybody. Uh, that is, that has made something of themselves and doesn't matter.

Success. Different things to different people. You've gotta do the work. So it starts with the vision, you've gotta do the work, you've gotta execute, and then obviously you've gotta be able to build relationships. So tell me, um, when it comes to communication, building relationships, what's some tips for young

people?

Be brave and think big. Gotta. Go for people who are in your industry, people who you admire, people who align well with your values, but also it's a two-way street. You can't just, you know, go cold messaging someone and say, Hey, can you do this for me? Blah, blah, blah. You gotta offer them value. You gotta show why you are asking for their knowledge.

They've gotta. Believe in you, otherwise they're not gonna

help you. No, I love it. Especially in a world of so much social media and accessibility and my pet hate is the LinkedIn request to be automatic message to be, and then yeah, you've got an automatic message and it's proven that 99.9%, no one, no one takes any notice, but yet how many people still do it?

Yeah. Um, you've gotta emotionally engage with people. And I think that's the key is you've gotta learn, you know, how to emotionally engage when you're communicating with people and it's a soft skill. Mm-hmm. , and we're taught a lot of. Skills at school and a lot of people listening to this, you know, pass it on to your teenagers, they get taught the hard skills, but they've gotta do the equal work around soft skills.

Yep. Learning how to, you know, communicate, speak, um, you know, even body language, the way they dress, the way they carry themselves, the way they walk. Yeah. Um, tell me about some classic fails. Um, and we'll finish on that note, some classic fails of young people. What do they do today? Really?

Oh, I think they use social media in the wrong way.

So it's about, uh, creating, not consuming, in my opinion. Perfect. Um, that would be number one, I reckon. Number two, not being brave enough to just get out there like it. Once you're out of school, no one cares what you post on social media. If you're posting yourself every day, um, people have got other things on in their life, they're not gonna worry and judge you.

Point, hands and stuff like, and even so, it shouldn't matter to you. Mm-hmm. , you're outta school. Um, another one is relying on other people and being dependent on other people. I think trying to move away from that dependency on the government, on other people, even on your job, like just being able to see that you can create stuff yourself as well.

Yeah. Love that. That's like, that's one of the reasons I like bike packing so much. It takes away all your dependencies. So really it's just you, the road and the shops that are out there. Yeah. Love it.

Love it. And my advice to everyone is very simple. You know, I've got lots of advice, but one man, simple.

Everything you do today will affect who you become tomorrow. Yep. Right? And that, you know, social media, everything leaves a digital footprint. So please think before you do something. The hard work you put in today will pay off tomorrow. Just remember that everything you do today, the, the work you do today, good and bad is going to pay off.

Rightly or wrong. Tomorrow. So now's the time to delay the foundations for future success. Max, you're an absolute inspiration. Thanks for being on the show. Thank you, Philip. You've been listening to Phil Di Bella and Max Hobson, and this is Flash Cast by pdb. Until next time you go, be the best you can be.