March 10, 2024

Living the dream with marketing expert Nigel Thomas

Show Notes
Transcript

Send us a text

Dive into the transformative journey of Nigel Thomas on the latest episode of 'Living the Dream with Curveball'. From a corporate cog at Acom to a beacon of self-belief and entrepreneurial spirit, Nigel shares his extraordinary story of building a seven-figure agency, his near-brush with death, and his mission to empower others through his David to Goliath movement. Tune in to discover how constraint sparks innovation and why personal branding is reshaping the business landscape.

WEBVTT

00:00:00.569 --> 00:00:09.710
> Speaker A>Welcome, um, to the living the Dream podcast with curveball. Um, if you believe you can achieve cheat, cheat.

00:00:19.010 --> 00:01:04.319
> Speaker B>Welcome to the living the Dream with curveball podcast, a show where I and of you guests that teach, motivate and inspire. Today I am joined by business expert Nigel Thomas. Nigel has previously built a seven figure agency and he consults other brands on how to build up their social media brand and their marketing. So we're going to be talking to him about his story because he tells great stories and like he says, he has a pretty face and he can help brands build their market and he has really increased his LinkedIn following just in this year. So, Nigel, thank you so much for joining me today.

00:01:05.090 --> 00:01:07.890
> Speaker C>Pleasure to be here, Curtis, thanks for having me.

00:01:07.959 --> 00:01:10.578
> Speaker C>Let's drop some bombs to the audience today.

00:01:10.743 --> 00:01:15.879
> Speaker B>Most definitely. Why don't you start off by dropping the first bomb by telling everybody a little bit about yourself.

00:01:16.890 --> 00:01:44.426
> Speaker C>Yeah, sure. So look, I didn't have any candy empires, lemonade stands. I'm not your natural entrepreneur. I was at 26 years old when I was actually working a big corporate job for a big construction consultancy called Acom, I realized something was wrong. I was just doing the day to day mundane things and I just followed my sense of curiosity.

00:01:44.617 --> 00:02:24.873
> Speaker C>And at the time, and this is quite embarrassing saying this, I didn't even know what an entrepreneur was. I literally had to google it. So through that exploration, I figured out and connect with people using the Internet that there were other ways to make money and there were other ways to build a life. You didn't have to wait until 65 to retire old and wrinkly and not have a choice of what you do of your time and what you work on. So I quit my job. On one walk home, I made a decision, I'm just going to quit it. I threw my chartership in the bin my whole career, the dismay of my family, and, um, just went for it.

00:02:24.912 --> 00:03:15.819
> Speaker C>I got some freelancing clients on a platform called Upwork and I worked my way up from there. And since then, the last six years, I failed my first agency. I built one agency in the real estate space from zero to a seven figure run rate. And then the last agency I helped build was from 5000 a month to 140,000 a month in the ecommerce space. But there is a twist to this, actually. The person that gave me all the self belief that enabled me to go from this really shy individual to building these agencies, speaking on stage in front of hundreds of people, building a LinkedIn audience, over 45,000 people, and leading these big teams. I lost that person.

00:03:16.270 --> 00:04:11.942
> Speaker C>And, um, it got to a point in Austin six months ago when I nearly took my own life. It was in that moment I said to myself, if I'm not going to continue for me, I'm going to do this for everyone else who deserves second chance. And it was at that moment when I made the decision that I need to document my comeback and, um, I need to leave my company as CEO and, um, start this movement which is called David to Goliath, which is all about self belief. Because as entrepreneurs, no one gives us a blueprint, no one gives us a defined route to success. But that's where we have to use our self belief to basically conquer the unknown. So my mission in 2024 is to build David to Goliath from naught to 100,000 subscribers. Because it's a newsletter, but it's also community and it's a brand and it's a movement.

00:04:12.006 --> 00:04:23.470
> Speaker C>It stands for something. It stands for if you're in one of those shitty situations, you want to escape the life of mediocrity, you want to dare to be great, I'm telling you, it's possible.

00:04:23.620 --> 00:04:32.146
> Speaker C>And I'm showing you through raw, relentless action, because I'm in the struggle right now. I'm in the pain curse. That's why this story is different.

00:04:32.327 --> 00:04:54.009
> Speaker C>I'm sharing my story for the world and I'm trying to do the impossible by going from zero to 100,000 subscribers to show people the power of self belief. The same self belief that David, uh, had handed to him with a slingshot and a few pebbles, managed to beat the mighty Goliath. So that's a little bit about me, Curtis.

00:04:54.750 --> 00:05:00.730
> Speaker B>Well, definitely. Congratulations. And sounds like you're well on your way with 41,000 subscribers.

00:05:01.069 --> 00:05:14.370
> Speaker C>Yeah, we're 8000 subscribers now on week seven, so we're a little bit behind the curve, but we're picking up momentum and I'm enjoying it. And tell you what, Curtis, I'm living life, baby.

00:05:14.709 --> 00:05:19.970
> Speaker B>Well, I know in your bio it shows you have 41,000 subscribers.

00:05:20.629 --> 00:05:25.973
> Speaker C>That's on LinkedIn. Yeah. So this is for the newsletter got you on davidtigalife.com.

00:05:26.012 --> 00:05:28.386
> Speaker C>And that's 8000 subscribers.

00:05:28.497 --> 00:05:34.550
> Speaker B>Absolutely. So talk about how constraint is the biggest driver of innovation.

00:05:35.449 --> 00:07:09.458
> Speaker C>Yeah. This is why I fundamentally believe in entrepreneurship, because really, when our backs are up against the wall, we figure out weird and wacky ways to do things because we don't have another choice. Right. So I'm just going to use a really extreme example and I hope this doesn't offend anyone who's listening to this podcast. But if someone was to put a gun to your family member's head and was to say, I need $10,000 by tomorrow, you'd probably be able to figure out how to do that. Now, that shows you that that's possible. And, um, to get that $10,000, you would have to think seriously outside the box, which, again, it's not a nice situation, but I use an extreme example to show you what the mind's capable of, because that's innovation, right? Now, if we apply this to entrepreneurship, when your backs up against a wall, what have you got to do to make money? Right? You've got to solve problems. And the people who solve the problems, the best and the biggest problems get paid the most money, right? So if you think about it, really distributed at scale, if more people are constrained, if more people take risks and, uh, they have those constraints around them, they will find solutions to the world's biggest problems, which will result in massive innovations. And, um, that, for me, is why I fundamentally believe in entrepreneurship.

00:07:09.634 --> 00:07:15.170
> Speaker C>And I think that's the best way we can leave the world in a better place than we found it all.

00:07:15.170 --> 00:07:28.540
> Speaker B>Ah, right. Well, let's talk about, give the listeners best practice tips on how to take their personalities online and also explain why so many big corporations haven't taken advantage of this.

00:07:29.310 --> 00:07:33.680
> Speaker C>Yeah. So you've been to a networking event before, Curtis, right?

00:07:34.370 --> 00:07:35.120
> Speaker B>Absolutely.

00:07:36.209 --> 00:07:47.490
> Speaker C>And, um, when you walk up to know, you shake their hand. You don't necessarily tell them straight away. You don't try and close them on a piece of business, do you? Straight out the gate.

00:07:48.230 --> 00:07:56.661
> Speaker B>Yeah, you got to get to know them first and network with them and make them want to buy from you, uh, or whatever you're trying to do.

00:07:56.795 --> 00:08:55.350
> Speaker C>You build rapport, you share stories, you ask questions, and guess what? You inject your personality, because people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. Right. So, with that being said, when we look online, humans haven't changed just because they're using online platforms. They've still got the same psychology. But when I look online, especially with the b to b businesses, Curtis, what I see is companies doing exactly that. They're just talking about data, they're just talking about case studies. They're just talking about how their products and services, the best thing since sliced bread, just like at a networking event, why you buy something from someone, why develop a relationship with them, is because you like that person who look at Robert Cialdini and his book, influence, one of the things he talks about in there, the six principles of persuasion, is likability.

00:08:56.090 --> 00:09:12.494
> Speaker C>People buy off people they trust, people they like. So in order to do that online, you've got to be able to take your personality, yourself online. And guess what? That means you're going to have to put your opinions out there.

00:09:12.611 --> 00:09:37.269
> Speaker C>And also that means that not everyone's going to agree with you, but it acts as a filter. So the people who are drawn towards you, who believe in your opinions, they will be diehard fans that will ride with you until the end. And the people who won't, you should never do business with those people anyway because they're the kind of people who are going to stab you in the back.

00:09:37.419 --> 00:10:02.429
> Speaker C>That's why if you bring a fake personality online, it never, ever ends well. And I see this huge migration happening of obviously personal brands. We look at an extreme example, like MrBeast, for example, or all these different people, these content creators, and that's where all of the big companies are now investing their money. And it's because people buy from people.

00:10:02.580 --> 00:11:00.080
> Speaker C>But the thing is, the companies don't understand is their executives, they could do this right now. And, um, if they were willing to understand how to bring their personalities online and share stories and share their opinions as well as their work, and not be fearful that the fact that some people are going to judge them, then they'd be able to do a lot more business a lot faster. And, um, we're only at the start of this trend right now, more and more people are coming online every single day. If we look at it from a global scale right now, out, uh, of the 8 billion people that are in the world, only half of them have access to the Internet. So within this next few decades, we're going to have billions more people with access to the Internet, which means a much bigger global marketplace. So the best time to start was 510 years ago, but the second best time is now.

00:11:00.850 --> 00:11:14.529
> Speaker B>Well, I know you talked about your story, and your story is a great example of the power of self belief, but give the listeners some more examples that you know of, uh, in your experience of the power of self belief.

00:11:15.350 --> 00:11:24.018
> Speaker C>Yeah. So I'll explain it through a story from a movie. Have you seen the Batman movies, the ones with Christian Balin?

00:11:24.193 --> 00:11:28.299
> Speaker B>I've, uh, checked out some of them, but I'm sure the listeners check them out.

00:11:28.830 --> 00:12:19.500
> Speaker C>Yeah. So the dark knight rises, which is the third one, the trilogy from Christopher Nolan, where Christian Bale's the actor. There's this scene in the movie where he's basically Bane, who know the villain in the movie, he puts Batman into a prison. Now, this prison is basically a well. And, um, the prison is at the bottom of the well. The only way to get out the prison is you basically have to climb up a wall and jump over a ledge at the top. So what happens is Batman keeps on climbing up the wall and he tries to jump, holding a rope. And this rope signifies comfort, okay?

00:12:20.110 --> 00:12:25.019
> Speaker C>And basically he keeps failing, he keeps falling down.

00:12:25.470 --> 00:14:02.090
> Speaker C>And at one moment, one of the prisoners said to him, jump without the rope and let the fear of death drive you forward to the other side and let self belief drive you to that other ledge so you can escape this prison and go to save your city, Gotham. Right? So he gets up onto, um, the ledge, everyone's chanting his name, he climbs up the wall and he jumps without the rope. Now, that jump, Curtis, that's the same jump that all entrepreneurs, everyone who's going through the struggle has to take when they're in a moment of comfort, a moment of pain, they have to go through that uncomfortable struggle to get out of that, because there is no guarantee that you're going to get to the other side. And the only thing that you can do to carry you over is self belief. And Batman had the self belief that he was going to make it to the ledge on the other side, and he did, and he went and saved this city. And, um, that's really what separates most people who are successful from those who are not is that they're willing to take that leap of faith and jump without the rope. And the only reason they're willing to do that is because they bet on themselves. Because the harsh reality is the harsh truth. The way the world works is that no one is going to believe in you for you. That's your responsibility. That took me way too long to figure out, Curtis.

00:14:02.509 --> 00:14:14.399
> Speaker C>And hopefully, through my lessons and through sharing my story, I can help someone learn that mistake faster so they can have that self belief and use that and drive them forward.

00:14:15.250 --> 00:14:20.720
> Speaker B>Well, tell us about any current, upcoming projects that you're working on that people need to know about.

00:14:21.490 --> 00:14:23.998
> Speaker C>Yeah, the davidsogalive.com newsletter.

00:14:24.094 --> 00:14:32.370
> Speaker C>So, like I said, we're looking to grow it from zero to 100,000 in one year, which is pretty damn unheard of.

00:14:32.440 --> 00:14:34.909
> Speaker C>It's almost an impossible feat.

00:14:35.070 --> 00:15:18.649
> Speaker C>And every single Tuesday and every Thursday, we send, uh, out emails. So on the davidtogalive.com website, you can check it out. Tuesday is the comeback email where I'm sharing my struggles. I'm, um, sharing what I've learned from entrepreneurship, and I'm sharing exactly from a mindset perspective how I'm overcoming this pain of losing this person and how I'm rebuilding myself in public. Then on Thursdays, we're interviewing some of the best leaders, some of the best underdogs of our generation who've gone from nothing and built incredible things that are impacting the world. So Sean Riley, for example, has built a toilet paper business, wet wipes. It's called dude wipes, from zero to 100 million m.

00:15:19.511 --> 00:15:41.317
> Speaker C>And, um, he's friends with Mark Cuban now, so that's one example. But we're interviewing these guys every single week, and, um, we're putting all this content out there. We have a comic book, epic storytelling. Each newsletter, uh, takes about 50 hours to put together, and it's all for free on the davidtogolliath.com website.

00:15:41.484 --> 00:15:48.139
> Speaker C>So join in, join the movement, and together we'll rewrite history.

00:15:48.909 --> 00:15:54.413
> Speaker B>All, uh, right. Is that the only website or contact information you want the listeners to have?

00:15:54.611 --> 00:16:08.673
> Speaker C>If not, I'm also on LinkedIn, so. Nigel Thomas, LinkedIn, you know, I've got a following there. Uh, I post every single day. So connect me there. Uh, share your story, and if you've got any questions, I'm more than willing to answer them.

00:16:08.711 --> 00:16:12.419
> Speaker C>And, yeah, like I said, there to be great.

00:16:13.029 --> 00:16:21.605
> Speaker B>Absolutely. Close us out with some final thoughts. Maybe if there was something I forgot to talk about that you would like to touch on, or just any final thoughts you have for the listeners, the.

00:16:21.628 --> 00:16:32.730
> Speaker C>Slogan of David to Goliath, keep dreaming like a giant, but fight and believe in your dreams like a goddamn underdog, baby.

00:16:33.629 --> 00:16:42.714
> Speaker B>Absolutely. Ladies and gentlemen, dare to be great. Follow, share, review send this episode to as many people as possible.

00:16:42.912 --> 00:16:51.274
> Speaker B>If you have any guests or suggestion topics, Cjackson 102 at Cox. Net is the place to send them. As always, thank you for listening.

00:16:51.322 --> 00:16:55.200
> Speaker B>And Nigel, thank you for joining us and sharing your amazing story.

00:16:55.649 --> 00:16:57.230
> Speaker C>It's a pleasure curse.

00:16:57.970 --> 00:17:05.958
> Speaker A>For more information on the living the Dream podcast, visit www.djcurveball.com.

00:17:06.124 --> 00:17:10.642
> Speaker A>Until next time, stay focused on living the dream.

00:17:10.705 --> 00:17:11.009
> Speaker B>Dream.