Welcome to the Join Up Dots Podcast with Chris Day
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Introducing Chris Day
Chris Day is todays guest on the Join Up Dots business coaching podcast.
He is the go to expert if you have a desire to place your words onto paper and become a published author
He is an author, journalist and publisher, and his book ‘Turning your knowledge into income’ shares his philosophy that we all spend a lifetime making payments into our ‘bank of knowledge’ but end up with a dormant account because we don’t make a withdrawal.
He believes that, right now, there is somebody, somewhere that would pay good money to know what you know.
All you need to do is to package up your knowledge in a form that they can buy it.
For people who want to raise their profile in their marketplace or who want to position themselves as an expert in their field, there is nothing like a properly published book to do that.
Fifteen years founded Filament Publishing Ltd fifteen years ago with the mission to help authors, not just to write and publish their book, but also to build a successful business around it.
But there is so much more to this man than what you heard so far, so without further ado its with great delight that we bring onto the show to start joining up dots, with the one and only Christopher Day.
Show Highlights
During the show we discussed such weighty topics such as:
How he believes that waking up everyday in a positive mindset is a choice, and we can make the same choices all through the day.
How even with the internet changing the world, people are actually buying more books than ever before.
How he recalls his English teacher fondly and was inspired by his love of the words of TS Elliott.
Why it is so important to look back at your life, and think “What would I have liked to know when I was in that job”
And lastly…..
Why one of the greatest things you can focus on life is being truly present in the moment and let the future take care of itself.
How To Connect With Chris Day
Return To The Top Of Chris Day
If you enjoyed this interview with Chris Day, why not check out our podcast interviews with Brad Yates, Carmen Harris and the amazing Yuri Elkaim.
Or check out every podcast from our extensive articles here
Full Transcription Of Chris Day Interview
Intro [0:00]
When we’re young, we have an amazing positive outlook about how great life is going to be. But somewhere along the line we forget to dream and end up settling. Join Up Dots features amazing people who refuse to give up and chose to go after their dreams. This is your blueprint for greatness. So here’s your host live from the back of his garden in the UK, David Ralph.
David Ralph [0:26]
Yes, hello, bear world Welcome to Join Up Dots. I’m glad you’re tuning in. Even though you don’t tune in, you just press a button or whatever you do. This is Episode 315 of Join Up Dots. And it’s gonna be one of those episodes that kind of moves from one area of the subject to another because the gentleman has got content but I know is going to be so useful for all of you. So as we normally talk about the sort of leaps of faith, the twists and turns of trials and tribulations, we’re only going to do a little bit of that because I think the real nuggets of gold is gonna be to do Winning the business that he’s actually built. And he’s actually spreading his knowledge worldwide. So he is the go to expert if you have a desire to place your words onto paper and become a published author, he’s an author, journalist and publisher. And he’s book turning your knowledge into income shares his philosophy, that we all spend a lifetime making payments into our bank of knowledge, but end up with a dormant account because we don’t make a withdrawal. Fascinating. He believes that right now there’s somebody somewhere that would pay good money to know what you know, all you need to do is package up your knowledge in a form but they can buy it. Now for people who want to raise their profile in their marketplace, or simply want to position themselves as an expert in their field. There is nothing like a properly published book to do that. Now. 15 years ago, he founded filament Publishing Limited and with a mission to help authors not just to write and publish their book, but also to build a successful business around it. But there is so much more to this man and what we’ve heard so far. So without further ado, it’s with great delight that we bring on The show to start Join Up Dots with the one and only Mr. Chris day. How are you, Chris?
Chris Day [2:05]
Amazing and getting better?
David Ralph [2:07]
Oh, that’s a good start, isn’t it? I know and I could wake up next to you every morning and we we’d be good because I’m like that.
Chris Day [2:15]
It’s a choice. It’s a choice. There’s so much negativity around us that unless we make a conscious choice to, to raise above it and focus on good things, we can get sucked into oblivion.
David Ralph [2:30]
Yeah, I agree. And I do apologise. I don’t know if the image of waking up next to me is a good one to start the show on. But anyhow, it’s out there now. But I do think that if you do start with a positive outlook, the bad things can bounce off easier. I always say to my kids, it’s like a positivity bubble you build around yourself.
Chris Day [2:48]
It’s, it is a positive choice. And I’ve noticed that if you make that choice, it affects the way that other people react to you and it does have a big impact. What happens next?
David Ralph [3:01]
So so well, were you always Mr. Positive or is it something that you’ve developed over the years? Well, what was there a miserable Chris in the in the midst of time?
Chris Day [3:10]
There was a very egotistical Chris that in the past, focused on on himself and less on those around him, and I can remember the day and the hour that that changed. Which is, it was incredible then, and I still look back on it. I had the great privilege of being part of the head office team at Encyclopaedia Britannica in London. And my job at that time was to manage field communications. We had a TV studio, we created training and motivational videos. And we were filming a gentleman called Gary Glen Now Gary is a legend. In for many people, he presented himself at that time as an ideas reporter. He would listen to the tapes, go to the seminars, read the books, and then come and give you a like a smorgasbord of concepts for you to choose from. Very powerful speaker and a lovely guy now based in Australia, and he, I was filming and I was I was half paying attention as, as cameraman tend to do. And they were and he was saying that the attitude that you bring to bear in any given situation is a choice. Now, all of a sudden, that got my attention, because I was in the habit of reacting instinctively if something went bad or something happened. You just react in a in a negative way. And you know, that was At that time, that’s that was the way I did. And to think that that was a choice never ever occurred to me. Mm hmm. So, and that sort of played in my mind. And I thought, I started to experiment and add a little microsecond of decision making time between something happening and my reaction to it. And so I discovered that if I chose my reaction, and and didn’t react instinctively, better things started to happen. And that was the start of my journey to discover personal development and to realise that there was more in the world than just myself.
David Ralph [5:45]
It is fascinating when you have those moments in your life because I had a similar moment when I suddenly realised but all the things that were winding me up but other people were doing, we’re always going to wind me up because those other people are always going to do Because that’s the way they operate. And I remember I don’t know if I’m ready oh, I saw it, oh, I just bought it. But I realised but I had to decide to not be wound up by them because they’re never going to change. That’s that that’s spam. And it’s just because they’re operating on a different level to what I operate. They do it in that way. I do it in this way. And in the middle, we don’t we don’t join up somehow.
Chris Day [6:23]
No, it’s
it’s a wonderful moment when when you discover that and your life can never be the same. You can never put the genie back in the bottle once you empower yourself to just rise above those things around you and to form your own opinions, rather than the others influence them.
David Ralph [6:46]
So So being a wordsmith and being somebody that actually makes their money into putting words on a page. Do you look back as sort of Encyclopaedia Britannica because when I was a kid, we used to have children’s Britannica and it was a big line of read books. And when I used to come home and do my homework, it was the Google of its time. But now obviously you don’t have those kind of things because you just Google it and you just jump on to the internet. It is a sad state of affairs, or is that just progress? Do you think that’s a good thing?
Chris Day [7:14]
Well, funnily enough Britannica, at the time when I was it was a great privilege to be a part of that organisation and the I have to say that the organisation is as big and as productive today as it ever was, then really not very much. So the they are sharing their incredible database and the the knowledge that they have, and the articles that top experts around the world contribute. They’re doing that now online. And they have databases, which are
Unknown Speaker [7:53]
which are
Chris Day [7:55]
age related. First for schools and For universities, they have teachers lesson plans. And, you know, it’s as powerful and valuable today as it ever was. And the thing about it is that all of the articles have got, you can trace back to who there who’s written them, as distinct from, for example, Wikipedia, which has gotten some very creative interpretations there. You can’t trust 100% everything you read in Wikipedia,
David Ralph [8:35]
because I actually bought Wikipedia until it was funny. in Essex, where I live, there’s, there’s an island called foulness Island and it’s right in the estuary. And you can’t go on there that the military own it and the military do testing and missile testing and stuff. But one of the friends that I used to work with and if you’re listening in this is about user. He grew up on the island and only a few files. They’re allowed to be on there. And all the rest is the military. And it’s really weird. When you go there, you actually have to show your passport and get signed in and signed out. And he was sitting by the side of me at work one day, and he went on the Wikipedia page about fountas Island. And he was so annoyed by the inaccuracies that he jumped on and started editing it. And that was the first time ever that I realised, but that wasn’t like, like an encyclopaedia. It was just people putting stuff on.
Chris Day [9:26]
Yeah, yeah. And, you know, please forgive me calling it Wikipedia, because I know it is Wikipedia, but to me, a lot of it is very wacky, but it’s, it fulfils a purpose. But but the wonderful thing right now is that whatever you need to know, Mr. Google is your best friend. And you know, you are surrounded with thousands of search results. There’s plenty of information out there. What people lack though. is knowledge based on experience. So applied knowledge is is what people need to be able to understand what the war data and the information provides. And that’s really, certainly in the world of publishing, which is a very smoke and mirrors, area. People can see information very easily. But having applying that to their particular situation is not easy.
David Ralph [10:36]
So So let’s talk about what you do for a living because it’s one of those things that when you first think about it, you think, Okay, why are people buying books when you can just go on and you can find the information you want, but obviously, you get it in a book. It’s all packaged is easy information. How does somebody go about taking that knowledge that’s in their head, but because it’s in their head, and they Just accrued over a period of time, but I don’t think that there’s value to it. I don’t think that anybody else wants it.
Chris Day [11:05]
Yeah, that’s very true. And when you just pick it up on your on your first point, and sorry, my, by my throat is telling me that it’s yet to have its first coffee, so please forgive me for that. But the whole world of books and publishing is been turned upside down. And but the exciting thing is that there are more people buying books now than there has ever been. And we can thank organisations like, like Amazon, for example, for making books incredibly accessible and and with their search algorithms, helping people to find what they’re looking for, very quickly. But the point is that people are buying more books now but in different formats, and from different places. It’s It’s a source of huge sadness to see many wonderful bookshops closing. And you would think when you see that, that people don’t don’t no longer buying books and that, you know, they’ve turned completely to the internet. But that’s not the case. People are buying books, they’re buying books in different ways, in different devices and on audio. So, you know, the quest for knowledge is greater than ever before, but it’s the difference between knowledge that has been crafted, and and checked and presented and properly published. And opinion, which is, is not necessarily as robust. So, people do need both, they need to be able to get a quick answer to something, but if they really need the information to be a value and for them to use it in If properly for study or for work, then they need to that there needs to be a form of filtering, which is what publishing does.
David Ralph [13:10]
That is probably your biggest obstacle is people’s mindsets where they’re going. I’m not all for now i know i know it, but I can’t put it down. How do you overcome that when when somebody has obviously got a talent, they’ve got a knowledge base that you know, would be profitable, but I’ve got that self limiting belief that now somebody else is an offer. I’m just who I am.
Chris Day [13:33]
Everybody has got knowledge, which has somebody somewhere would willingly pay good money to know right now. And I remember I was working with a colleague and we were building a website, and we wanted to put one of those annoying virtual presenters walking on in front of the site and talking to us. Now we got the we got the video clip. With the alpha channels, we’ve got the software. Could we make it work? No, we couldn’t. So my colleague who had vastly more patients than I had his name is Andrew, if you’re listening, Andrew, hi. And he said go away. And he went on to Google it and he searched, how can I do X, Y and Zed in in Adobe Flash. And up, come up came a website, I will teach you how to animate and do this that the other $25 so it was a no brainer. His $25 help us out and back came the information. And within half an hour, we’d solve the problem the site was up and running. Now this was somebody in small town America, who had had this bit of knowledge, but had packaged it and made it easy for us to find and the point is, wherever you are in the world It no longer matters, this knowledge is non-geographic. You can be found in three clicks from anywhere in the world. And that’s massively exciting. And you don’t need big online bookshops to be found. And if you package your knowledge in a way that people when they’re searching for the answers that you provide, if they can find you quickly, a transaction can take place and whether you’re selling a course whether you’re selling a download, whether you’re selling a book, whether you’re selling a webinar, it’s these days, it’s down to the authors to make themselves easily found and, and then share their knowledge in a way that adds value to both people.
David Ralph [15:46]
Yeah, which I get totally but there’s still that part in all my listeners and in myself and up in the world. I’m not an author, nobody’s gonna pay for this. Why would I do it? And that’s, that’s, that’s the block to start. Isn’t it?
Chris Day [16:01]
Yeah. And many people have had a variety of different careers. And over over a lifetime, you immerse yourself in one career in one set of knowledge. And then you you move on to something else, and you put all of that to one side. But very often, people will approach you and say, by the way, how do I do that, and you’ll draw back on that knowledge. And in this, in the current economic climate that we find ourselves in, everybody’s looking for an extra income. And I believe that people’s most valuable assets that they can turn into income are not their silver. It’s not their car is not their house. It’s what they’ve got between their ears, and I believe that If we were to realise the value of the applied knowledge and experience that we have, we could be generating an extra income from that. And, you know, tell me anybody that doesn’t want to have an extra income. Maybe they’re time poor, and they don’t have enough time to do another job to earn extra income, but what they can do is to repurpose their knowledge, package it and have money in the mail as as they sleep. You know,
David Ralph [17:32]
I agree totally with that, but they’re still with the not of the world. What I’m trying to get to is how do we convince the people out there? How do we convince the listeners that everything that you’re saying is applicable to them to the individual to the person that’s listening, that knowledge that they’ve got in their head is valuable, not the person sitting next to him or the person that they think is going to be an offer or somebody else, but actually event because that self limiting belief is the thing that holds people back. So you must actually have to try to convince people to you when you see people sometimes you know, you’ve got a book in you, you’ve got a book in you, all you’ve got to do is put it together and there is income. How do you get over that? Well,
Chris Day [18:16]
if everybody were to do this, we would be absolutely drowned under books. And that would not be a bad thing. But not everybody is going to realise the value that they have. And it’s, it’s very much a personal thing you’ll either way wake up to, to that or be inspired and I think the only way to get anybody to do something is for them to want to do it. And if you can paint a picture that gives them the desire to, to do this, then you stand a chance and and being an author doesn’t Change Your Life, it opens doors and and the book can position you in a very interesting way. And if you are in a profession that is crowded if you are an accountant or a specialist in in any field, if you suddenly become a published author of a specialist book about your your subject, all of a sudden that gives you profile above all those other people around you, and they will hate you for it because you’ve done it and they haven’t. And by raising your profile in that expert space, other opportunities will emerge. You will end up doing public speaking, you’ll end up being interviewed by the media, you’ll end up being appreciated for the fact that you are an expert. The media will love you and if if that If that is a vision that appeals to you, the first step is to start to download and capture what’s in your head. And for people that haven’t sat and written a book before, you don’t have to sit and write, you can sit and talk. Because a way of writing a book is to talk it and many top authors will dictate their books. Very often I will be interviewing an author and asking them lots of open questions. And maybe yesterday, for example, I was I was filming an interview with an author and the fact that they were talking and rather than writing, they just expanded and spoke with such great passion and knowledge that the transcript from that interview I know will be turned into maybe a chapter in another book, maybe a series of articles. And it’s it’s talking sometimes that brings out the best in people and for, for somebody to, to realise their knowledge and realise the value of it, the best way to do it is to is just just start talking. And whether that be a seminar or workshop, just talking to a group of friends, all of a sudden when you hear what you’re saying, and you can you suddenly realise the value of what’s locked inside your brain. It only takes a question to start unlocking it.
David Ralph [21:40]
So when you as a small child, Chris, well, were you always on this route. Were you planning to be an author and helping other authors? What What was your first thought?
Chris Day [21:50]
And I think my first thought was my English teacher at the Harvey Grammar School in folkston. A gentleman called Sophie Huston. And isn’t it? Yeah, absolutely. I went. We never understood what the soapy sounds like. Yes, yeah. It was the nickname that his fellow teachers called him. We never looked into that. But he inspired me with with his love of English lover words, and I could still remember him quoting to me.
an extract from
cats. TS Eliot book of camps was a wonderful poem skimmable Shanks the railway cat written in the the metre of a train going over the tracks, and to this day, which is another century later, I can still remember him saying, there’s a funny little basin you’re supposed to wash your face in the crank to close the window when you sneeze. And this wonderful use of words, you know, was just really captivated me and I grew to, you know, to appreciate words, I had no thought of books and authorship, my brain was on totally different things at that time I went into, went into theatre, and down in folkston, there was a Repertory Theatre on the Lee’s overlooking the English Channel, and that’s 16 where I went for my very first job. And, and in my first season, we did 32 weeks of a weekly wrap with a different show every week. So most wonderful drama school opportunity, but I suppose Yes, it was all all linked to words and it just enjoying the intelligent use of words. So that was a big influence.
David Ralph [23:59]
It can be So record the emotions when when you heard him, obviously he was inspired. But have you ever sort of looked back and wondered why he was inspired when the person sitting next to you probably didn’t feel the same way? It’s very subjective, isn’t it? Yeah, I
Chris Day [24:14]
mean, we’re all different. And, you know, the, that’s the exciting thing we things will appeal to one person that don’t to another, it’s the connections we make. And over over time, if we are sensible about the things that we allow ourselves to be influenced with, and it’s easy to, to go in the wrong direction and surround yourself with with negative people who will suck the energy out of you. And, you know, it’s easy to go into a pub and and find yourself in the centre of a pity party, where everybody’s trying To top everybody else with your view, if you think that was bad, you should see this. Yeah. So if you manage to surround yourself with with interesting creative people that will spark all sorts of new connections and, you know, just open open, open windows into into worlds that you’ve, you’ve never come across. And I suppose I’ve been very lucky at the the amazing people that life has brought me in front of who have influenced me enormously and once I allowed myself to wake up and and listen, and to be inspired by these people. My life took a completely different direction.
David Ralph [25:53]
I think the key words you said there which really hit home to me was wake up, because so many of us go through a certain part Life is basically asleep. We, we feel like we’re awake. But we get up and we go to work and we come home and we lie on the sofa, watch a bit of Telly, get up and go. But once you actually wake up and you appreciate the present, not the future, not the past, but actually what’s happening at that moment. It really is a game changer. I I noticed now, I spent many, many years working in the offices of London. And now if it’s on walking down the road, and it’s windy, I actually appreciate the wind somehow, because I hadn’t had that for years and years and years. And the fact that I can walk down the road in the middle of the afternoon is being present. And so did you really feel that you did wake up?
Chris Day [26:38]
You’ve just used a very powerful word that’s being present. And I wouldn’t said the phrase presente ism, which is when people who arrive at work, they hang up their brain on the way in and then work all day and then pick up Brain on the way out and, and take it home with them being being present in the moment, and just living in that compartment so that you’re not distracted. And getting getting the most out of that moment is what really makes the difference. So many people have two briefcases, they have a briefcase and all their homewares in it. And they have another briefcase with all their work worries. And they tend to take the wrong briefcase with them. Where were they going to wear when they arrive at work? They’ve got their whole briefcase full of all the warriors from home, and when they go home, they swapped the briefcases so they’re now worrying about all the things work. They’re not present in the moment. And
Unknown Speaker [27:47]
the
Chris Day [27:49]
I’ve learned to become a lot more present and that is, again, had a massive impact on me.
David Ralph [27:57]
And it has an impact on your family as well. doesn’t actually speak to you. I’ve heard for many years again, I was I think I had those brief cases, to be honest. And I’ve never heard it phrased like that. But that certainly, it felt white when you were saying it. But now I do a job, but you’re hearing and when I turn off the computer, I have no computers. I have no mobile phone, I have nothing. So literally, when I’m in the house, funnily enough, when I’m in the house, I’m the only one who is present, or my kids are all on their phones, the wife is on a phone and you can’t sort of stop the world going on like it is. So I sort of sit waiting for them to put their phones down so we can have a conversation but it is it’s vitally important, potent justice or disconnect, isn’t it? So that you can reflect on what you need to do next have that quiet moment.
Chris Day [28:46]
It’s a bit worrying to see a group of people together all on their phones, sitting in the same space but texting each other. I mean, what about it?
David Ralph [28:57]
Is is madness but it is the way is the way of the world isn’t it now?
Chris Day [29:02]
Yeah, but, and the world, the way of the world is changing at an alarming pace. It’s only six years ago that we had smartphones. And it seems like we’ve now had them forever, it seems that you know, they, they have taken over our lives. And people are, are receiving information on their phones, you can read a book on a phone, you can listen to an audio book, on your smartphone, or on your tablet. And so where the the change of life is changing the way that we receive information, and, and that that evolution will continue, but fortunately, you know, people still have a greater need probably than ever, to improve themselves to learn to grow two to get new skills, because increasingly, we have a portfolio Korea, we are building skills using those for for a particular job or project, getting more skills by working on that project, adding them to the, to our skills bank and and then moving on to something where we can build on those and use those new skills for something else. But having, having built up all those skills, they have value throughout life, which is why I encourage people to look back at the people that they have been in the past and ask themselves one question, and what would you have found incredibly valuable to have known when you started in that particular job or in that particular profession? And think about, think about that and and say, Well, if I would have found that valuable, other people would have found that valuable and all of a sudden you’ve now got the opportunity to to craft book on that topic, which you know, there’s a ready market for because you would have bought it had had you had the opportunity.
David Ralph [31:08]
Excellent. Yeah, I can see this totally. Well what I want to do now I want to play some words that take us into the next part of the show. And these are the words that Jim Carrey said and I’m gonna be fascinated quiz to see your spin on these Jim Carrey.
Jim Carrey [31:21]
My father could have been a great comedian, but he didn’t believe that that was possible for him. And so he made a conservative choice. Instead, he got a safe job as an accountant. And when I was 12 years old, he was let go from that safe job. And our family had to do whatever we could to survive. I learned many great lessons from my father, not the least of which was that you can fail at what you don’t want. So you might as well take a chance on doing what you love.
David Ralph [31:48]
Now, did you take a chance on doing what you love or has it grown around you and do you buy into those words?
Chris Day [31:55]
I absolutely buy into those words and certainly in the, in the UK, culturally, we don’t look at failure. just picking up on that one word from from the clip, we didn’t don’t look on failure as in as an enlightened way as I believe they do in the States. In the States, failure is a stepping stone failure is a learning opportunity failure is part of the process of moving towards a successful outcome. And it’s a bit like chipping away all the bits of of granite from from a big chunk of rock that don’t look like the the statue in the centre you’ve got to get rid of all the all the best or the dross and left in the central this bit of rock is a piece of granite is a is a statue and sorry, where’s my brain gone? And so over over here, you know We can get hung up on failure and, and people can feel disempowered because of it. And, you know, having having sufficient strength of character and belief in yourself to, to learn from failure and to use it as an opportunity to to grow and be better next time. That’s that’s a mindset that does take work and you’ve got to have a great deal of confidence in yourself to be able to, to use failures in the in the in that positive way.
David Ralph [33:42]
And so did you take a risk on doing what you’re doing or has it just just occurred naturally? Has it been a sort of just a journey that you’re on?
Chris Day [33:51]
And there have been milestones it would be lovely to think and, you know, that that I had planned My bike my career and that, you know, this this was this was all down to thinking ahead and planning Master, the reality is that opportunities arise and, and blow you in in different directions. And I suppose if anything I’ve been a bit of an opportunist in in seeing something that had great potential and then embracing that and completely changing from one direction to another and one point in my life I was the terrorist and conference officer for a for a city and, you know working in local government very safe and you know, a good long term career option and then I was headhunted by a company that organised conferences. And my ego overtook by common sense. And I jumped at the opportunity and gave gave away all of the security that that I had working in, in the government’s position. And not surprisingly, sometime down the road, that particular organisation experienced problems and I was left in a crumpled heap, wondering what to do next. And my my good lady RoseMarie, at that time, said that she’d always wanted to work with animals. And so you know, there’s an opportunity she said, what why don’t we open a dog grooming business? Now that’s very different from being a local government officer. Very different from organising conferences but The the opportunity was there. That’s what she wanted to do. So we started a business up in Glasgow in Scotland called Gruber pet. And roseberry had all her qualifications that she took. And we built a business from the back room of a house to a chain of shops. And, you know, that was a complete change of direction. And we, we sold that chain of shops at the peak of its success, and I tripped over an advert in the paper for something I didn’t know what it was for. And I went on an assessment course. And that’s when I found myself a week later working for Encyclopaedia Britannica, and that’s how that particular
part of my life started. But so Jason, I’m
David Ralph [36:55]
interested you stumbled across this advert, you didn’t know what it was for but you Doing went after it. Why?
Chris Day [37:01]
Well, the it was very, very well worded, and you know, very intriguing. I forget what the wording was at this point, but it sounded like an interesting opportunity. And so, I went along to find out more about it. And the they had an assessment course. So you went, went along, every day for a week took a course, which was helping you to learn about yourself as much as it was to where to learn about that organisation. Britannica had put great store by personal development, and it was one of those very few organisations which, in which recognition was the norm, not the exception, and we felt very appreciated for our contribution. Now we were all self employed. And self employed in sales. And when you’re self employed, you know, people can’t really tell you what to do because it’s you know, it’s your business, but they can inspire you to do the right things they can make you to want to do the right things. And one of the ways that they did that was to recognise all the good things you did. And working with Britannica was a great inspiration. I became a different person, by being a part of an organisation that was was so positive and so appreciative of the people that were a part of it.
David Ralph [38:42]
Since So, do you think that your life is richer because there doesn’t seem to be a great plan to it? Do you deeping the flexibility is, is that what inspires you?
Chris Day [38:56]
What inspires me at the moment is working with absolute Amazing authors but I suppose throughout life, I’ve I found myself working with inspirational people. With Britannica, it was with Joe Adams who was the managing director and a very inspiring person. I’m thrilled to say that to this very day, he remains a great mentor and we we connect up for lunch at regular intervals. And he was incredibly supportive in helping me to be the best I possibly could be. But through through Britannica, they brought in some of the top inspirational speakers in the world to help train and motivate their managers and their staff. And Gary Glen was one of those people. I also had the great privilege of working with Tony boozin, the inventor of mind mapping and Subsequently, many years later, I became the general secretary of the world memory sports Council for Tony, who founded the world memory championships. And that took me in another complete direction as well. But today is the authors that I work with that that inspire me and some of the it’s amazing working with people that have got passionate enthusiasm, talent, and, you know, are absolutely excited about sharing their knowledge and it’s a privilege to work with them. They are my inspiration.
David Ralph [40:39]
So So what Where do you get your mindset of? Hi, I’ll give it a go. Yeah, okay, miss opportunities, bear. I’ll give it a go. I’m gonna set up a grooming thing, that dog, I’ll give it a go because most most people but I experienced not in this environment in this environment. They’re all very much like yourself, but in this sort of real world that I frequent, they’re very much I now know I wait to next year I wait until wisping is in position and that things in position before I give you the go, but you seem to just jump onto it.
Chris Day [41:09]
And looking back at it, it certainly seems that way. And
I didn’t know what I did or what it is, but
Unknown Speaker [41:20]
you know what?
Chris Day [41:22]
It is very easy to just get immersed into a comfort zone, change no matter who you are. change can be scary. And we all like to be in control of our environment and, and insulate ourselves from from surprises. And you know, for many people the comfort and security of normal employment is what they yearn for, and anything else, any sort of entrepreneurial directions. is scary is it’s horses for courses not that not everybody
Unknown Speaker [42:05]
is
Chris Day [42:07]
has the right mindset to succeed as an entrepreneur. Now, I found myself thrust into entrepreneurship having had a lifetime of being in comfort zones. And you know when that when those comfort zones vanished for whatever reason, you know, there’s huge motivation for finding a new comfort zone and just getting back to a normal situation. But the biggest change in my life was when Britannica came to a point where it’s dramatically restructured and it moved from selling books to selling information online. And at that point, it no longer needed the, the studio at the all of the resources that were geared up to supporting a sales False. And Joe Adams by managing director called me into his office at that huge point of change, and asked me to give him a pound. And you know, I look quizzical, but if your Managing Director asks you to give them a pound you gave him about. So I did. And he said, the studio is now yours. He gave me a television studio to start my own business. Now, I have to say, I wouldn’t have had the courage to, to leave that comfort zone and go off and start my own business. But he believed that I had the qualities necessary to succeed in a business of my own and gave it to me on a plate. And that was the start of initially, my television production business which morphed into publishing business. And that was 1616 years ago when we started publishing and but it was A huge change which I didn’t seek but an opportunity that was presented to me and and it was from that opportunity that the filament publishing as grown out of since then
David Ralph [44:15]
what a What a great gift that was wasn’t it amazing? Did you still look back on it now and think wow, wow, wow.
Chris Day [44:24]
Yes absolutely every day and
Unknown Speaker [44:27]
it’s
Chris Day [44:30]
I do believe you create your own luck and and you do so by the attitude you bring to bear in any given situation. I could have been a spiky person I could have not been easy to work with. But, you know, Britannica knocked me into shape. It put me in front of people who were promoting and training positive positivity and personal development And it changed me into the sort of person that
Unknown Speaker [45:05]
was more
Chris Day [45:09]
the created created the opportunity that that Joe gave me. And, you know, I should, I should always be grateful for that. And it absolutely changed my life.
David Ralph [45:19]
I tell you what changed my life as well. And it only occurred recently, but I’m going to play some words, but I didn’t actually reflect on the power of them until I started playing them daily on this show. And I think these words, a marvellous way to overcome that fear that people when they look at doing something thing, I don’t know, but this is a big decision. I don’t know what to do.
Oprah Winfrey [45:40]
Listen to this. The way through the challenge is to get still and ask yourself, what is the next right move? not think about, Oh, I got all of this. What is the next right move? And then from that space, make the next right move and the next right move and not be overwhelmed by it. Because you know, your life is bigger than that one moment, you know, you’re not defined by what somebody says, is a failure for you, because failure is just there to point you in a different direction.
David Ralph [46:13]
Now, that was a complete game changer for me. Because when I in the past, I’ve gone to do stuff. I’ve got bogged down by the enormity of the task. But now listening to those words every day, I think to myself, all I’ve got to do is decide to do something. And if it turns out to be wrong, I make another decision. And that has been such a game changer for me. Is that the kind of way that you operate as well?
Chris Day [46:38]
Yeah. And you know that that was, that was a very powerful
little clip there. And the
it’s the way you think about any given situation that that determines what happens next. You cannot control circumstances around you. You cannot control What people say what the government does the what the market does what the banks do. You’ve got no control over any of that. And that the moment that you realise that, you know, you become a lot more powerful, because what the only thing that you do have and what I think Jim Rowan, put this in the best possible form of words, when he spoke about the set of your sales. You we can’t control the winds, but the same wind blows on everybody, the wind of change the wind of market forces. But the only thing we have control over is the set of our sales. And it’s how we harness that energy that whether it be negative or positive, how we harness that and adjust our sails to ensure that we get driven in the direction that we want to go and it We adjust the set of our sales which I interpret to be our personal philosophy. Then we will weather the storms.
David Ralph [48:08]
And are your sales bully out and flapping at the moment? Are you sitting there giving them a quick path as well?
Chris Day [48:15]
And there is there is so much opportunity out there at the moment. And whilst there are there always be challenges, and it’s the way you look at the challenge. Sometimes a challenge is, is an opportunity to learn sometimes a challenge is an opportunity to reassess and to move in another direction. But it’s it’s it’s an opportunity to do something positive, no matter how negative things are that that that that happened around you. If you look at them as an opportunity, then you can do something about it. When you when you believe you are powerless. You are absolutely right. If that is your belief in You will indeed be powerless. So it’s just harnessing the wind, harnessing the energy and using it to your best advantage.
David Ralph [49:08]
Well, let’s play the theme of the show now. And we play this every single day. And with the words that Steve Jobs said back in 2005 10 years ago, and really have given us the basis of what Join Up Dots is all about. This is Steve Jobs.
Steve Jobs [49:22]
Of course, it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college, but it was very, very clear looking backwards 10 years later. Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something, your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever, because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well worn path, and that will make all the difference.
David Ralph [49:57]
Good words
Chris Day [49:59]
amazing. Words and, you know, he was a true inspiration. And when you look at the, the trail of inspiration that the that he has left behind through those, through the many quotes that that that he said his personal philosophy was hugely powerful. And you know, like, like every other aspect of us our personal philosophies evolve as as as we learn more as we get inspiration, and as we discover who we really are, fundamentally, and you know, use that philosophy to to, to find a way to the next set of dots coming towards us.
David Ralph [50:51]
So what’s your big.in life Chris? When you look back what what was the one that you go? Yeah, I think that was probably it when things started to really go that way, but I wanted
Chris Day [51:02]
It’s when I think the biggest one has to be that moment when I when I realised that the attitude that I brought to bear in any given situation was a choice. And if I continue to make the wrong choices, then it would take me in a particular path. But if I started to make more informed and intelligent choices, there was no no way that I couldn’t move in a far more positive and exciting direction. I think it was it Ziggler that said, Your attitude, not your aptitude will determine your altitude. It was indeed and Zig is what is also one of those hugely inspirational voices, which resonates, you know has resonated over the years. Ziegler Dale Carnegie and Jim Rowan, there’s there’s so many great voices and I think one of the one of the things that can make a big difference is to build into your day, the opportunity just to, to take in a bit of wisdom and to, to let that work on you during the day. You know, we haven’t got enough time to make all the mistakes that that we need to in order to, to find the right way we need to tap into the experience of others. And when people put that experience into a succinct, little phrase that is so meaningful. You know, like Steve Jobs like Jim Rowan, that little nugget of gold, if we allow it to work on us during the day can move us one little step closer to the person that we should be coming?
David Ralph [53:00]
Absolutely. Well, we’re going to send you back to the person that you started on now, because this is the part of the show that we call the Sermon on the mic when we send you back in time to have a one on one with your younger self. And if you could go back in time and speak to the younger version, what age would you choose? And what advice would you give? Well, we’re going to find out because I’m going to play the theme tune and you’re up. This is the Sermon on the mic.
Unknown Speaker [53:29]
With the best
Unknown Speaker [53:31]
of the show.
Unknown Speaker [53:43]
Well, it’s
Chris Day [53:46]
a scary moment to sit in front of an open mic and have a conversation with myself as I was in the in the Middle Ages and of course, as you possibly can Possibly gathered, I was around long before the bestow kids reference which we nothing in the USA but the 1950s was when I was growing up and moving into the famous 1960s and they say, if you can remember the 60s you weren’t really there, but I can remember the 60s and looking at myself then I was working in theatre and moving from from theatre to theatre to opportunity to opportunity. And what I would say to myself then is to is to focus on on the things that you are best at and not be deflected into wasting time on on the things that are not your core skill set. And also to have the confidence of, of following a path that without worrying about failure, and we’ve spoken earlier on about failure, and it’s one of those, one of those things that draw you back and one of the phrases which I’ll never forget is somebody once said, what would what would you be doing differently today if you knew you couldn’t fail? And if if somebody had said that to me, and at that time and given me the confidence of just putting all my energy, my thoughts, my focus into doing what I was doing at that moment, and not worrying about is it going to work, is it not going to work? Am I going to fail if I put a more confidence in into, into everything that I’ve done. Where would I be today? I don’t know the answer to that but having belief in yourself and confidence that you can achieve something if you put 100% effort and any energy into it. That’s what I would tell myself as I as I see the spotty youth of the 1960s bungling through the many opportunities that frittered through my fingers at that time, so, have have confidence. And if you believe you cannot fail, you will do far more and achieve far more than you ever believed possible.
David Ralph [56:52]
Well said. How can our audience connect with you sir?
Chris Day [56:57]
I’m so easy to find. I’m on Skype my Skype handle is Chris de creative. I also apart from filament publishing, I run a writers network in the UK called author craft. And by email, there is Chris at author craft.co.uk. And we have some amazing authors who are helping and supporting other authors through our network. We meet in the Institute of directors in Palau, in London every month. And, you know, I would love to invite any of your listeners as my guest to come along to the Institute of directors, rub shoulders with other authors, and where everybody shares and helps each other on their journey.
David Ralph [57:48]
Now, how generous that is lovely, Chris, we have all the links on the show notes. And Chris, thank you so much for spending time with us today. joining those dots. Please come back again when you have more dots to join up because I do believe that by joining up the dots and connecting our past is the best way to build our futures. Mr. Chris Day. Thank you so much.
Chris Day [58:07]
My pleasure.
Outro [58:09]
David doesn’t want you to become a faded version of the brilliant self you are wants to become. So he’s put together an amazing guide for you called the eight pieces of advice that every successful entrepreneur practices, including the two that changed his life. Head over to Join Up dots.com to download this amazing guide for free and we’ll see you tomorrow on Join Up Dots.