Simon Crowe Joins Us On The Steve Jobs Inspired Join Up Dots Podcast
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Introducing Simon Crowe
Simon Crowe is our guest today on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots free podcast.
He is a man who seems kind of normal from the outside, but did deeper and you can see a world changing mission.
One side of the fence is a coach, and a very successful one at that.
He has has helped clients create multi-million pound investments from nothing, he has coached CEO’s to build thriving companies, philanthropists to set up charities, couples to conceive and lovers to start fantastic relationships.
He has helped the intrepid to change jobs, change careers and even change countries.
He has helped entrepreneurs to find their dream companies and senior executives to earn promotion to the Board.
He is dedicated to serving extraordinary people in recreating their lives beyond recognition.
Which is of course powerful stuff for sure but then you see the standout journey that he is on.
At least it is for us at Join Up Dots.
How The Dots Joined Up For Simon
In 2015 he created the Chicken shit foundation, which was created to honour and fulfil the legacy of Rafael Bejarano Rangel, who was tragically killed in Egypt, to bring empowerment, education, and transformation to all people through music, laughter and compassion, and to help re-awaken waning or lost indigenous traditions and support their sustainability and survival through the youth of the world.
They accomplish their mission by enrolling the support and voices of Chicken-Shits (ie. those who need to believe in themselves more, even if it’s just at certain times with certain people, and who would benefit from taking stock of the gifts and talents they posses that the world is hungry for, and then sharing accordingly.)
Our current projects include building schools in Liberia West Africa and for a community in Mexico as well as youth empowerment and preservation of indigenous traditions among youth around the world.
They do this by fund raising, mentoring, providing leadership and raising awareness and through building a global community.
Big stuff is going on in this mans life so it is a delight to have him on the show.
But what made this English man do something, very un-english, and peer his head over his own garden fence and start to make a difference to others across the world?
And does he look back and think, I wished I had started this earlier or did it appear at the perfect time for him to be able to achieve his aims?
Well lets find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots with the one and only Mr Simon Crowe
Show Highlights
During the show we discussed such weighty topics with Simon Crowe such as:
Why life is all about making a decision and simply going ahead and doing it……don’t spend time making life perfect…just do and do again.
Simon reveals that curiosity has always placed a massive part of his life, and why he spends a huge time of his day looking for new experiences that fulfills this curiosity.
How Simon got to the point when he knew that he could limit his coaching clients but charge more…..giving him more free time and enjoyment in his life.
Simon talks only about the excitement he feels when asking “What would it be like if anything that we could create was possible in our lives”
and lastly….
Why having a team and asking for help is such a powerful way to operate, although so many simply muddle through fearful of reaching out.
How To Connect With Simon Crowe
Return To The Top Of Simon Crowe
You can also check our extensive podcast archive by clicking here – enjoy
Full Transcription of Simon Crowe 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 [0:24]
Yes, Hello, good morning, anybody who listens to join us thank you for being here. Thank you so much. If you was here with me now I’d set your money I’ll give you a lovely little squeezy hug because I do appreciate you being a male and today’s guests I’m gonna get straight into it. Normally, I do a little sort of preamble but I feel this is one that could go on for about three or four hours. I’m gonna get straight to it because he is a kind of man who seems kind of normal from the outside but dig deeper and you can see a world changing mission. One side of the fence is a coach and a very successful one at bat. He’s helped clients create multimillion pound investments from nothing. He’s coached CEOs to build thriving companies, philanthropists, To setup charities, couples to conceive, I don’t know how he did that, and lovers to start fantastic relationships. He’s helped the intrepid to change jobs, change careers, and even change countries and he has helped entrepreneurs to find their dream companies and senior executives to earn promotion to the board. He is dedicated to serving extraordinary people in recreating their lives beyond recognition, which is of course powerful stuff for sure. But then you see the standout journey that he’s on at least it is for us at Join Up Dots. In 2015. He created a chicken ship Foundation, which was created to honour and fulfil the legacy of Rafael Beshear, Rhonda Rano wrangle, I do apologise Rafi Oh, if I screwed your neighbour, who was tragically killed in Egypt to bring empowerment education and transformation to all people through music, laughter and compassion and to help reawaken, waning or lost indigenous traditions and support their sustainability and survival through to you but the well now by accomplish their mission by enrolling the support and voices chickenshit ie those who need to believe in themselves more, even if it’s just at certain times with certain people, and who would benefit from taking stock of the gifts and talents they possess, that the world is hungry for and then sharing them accordingly. Now their current projects include building schools in Liberia, West Africa, and for a community in Mexico as well as youth empowerment and preservation of indigenous traditions. among youth around the world. They do this by fundraising, mentoring, providing leadership and raising awareness and through building a global community. So this is big stuff. This is big stuff going on in this man’s life. So it’s a delight to have him on the show. But what made this Englishman do something very an English and peer his head over his own garden fence and start to make a difference to others across the world? And does he look back and think I don’t wish I’d started this earlier, or did he appear at a perfect time for him to be able to achieve these aims? Well, let’s find out as we bring them to the show to start Join Up Dots with the one and only Mr. Simon Crowe. Good morning, Simon. How are you doing?
Simon Crowe [3:00]
Good morning, David. I’m great. Thank you. It’s really good to be here.
David Ralph [3:04]
It is lovely to have you here because you are a sexy looking man, you’ve got a full head of hair. You’ve still got the kind of Bon Jovi stuff. It hasn’t left. You may say you’re still clinging to a youth.
Simon Crowe [3:16]
in some senses, although I have had a haircut since that photograph was taken. Yeah, a short back inside.
David Ralph [3:23]
Oh, Simon. No, you’ve got to keep it going. There’s so many bodies out there. But look at you. We’ve kind of envy envy. That’s what they they want the main are you ever going to grow it back?
Simon Crowe [3:34]
Probably. Yeah, I’ve hadn’t had long hair since I was in my late teens, and it just keeps coming back. So yeah, probably.
David Ralph [3:42]
Good. That’s what we want. We want heavy manifesta Well, that’s got
Simon Crowe [3:47]
a lot going. I’ve got a little beard as well right now. So I’m looking like, like one of the other guys
David Ralph [3:52]
or the girls. I’m sure that grooming grooming was good at any time. So your life is as I say very unusual. English I speak to so many people and we like our, our environments. We like our back gardens. We like our front gardens, we like our sheds. Not very often Do people really look over the fence and see sort of a world apart from their local community, or Dubai. Is that the sort of people that I’m talking to? Or is there a big movement of people doing amazing things across the world nowadays?
Simon Crowe [4:25]
I don’t, I don’t, I can’t speak for everybody. But most of the people that I meet who are up for bigger big adventures, it doesn’t really matter where they come from. It’s not really about their, their personality or who they are as people. It’s much more about how they want to create their lives. So I don’t know where they come from. But there’s definitely something in them, which sets them apart the desire to do something creative, the desire to be, I don’t know, brave and take courage in their hand and just do have an impact in the world. So I don’t know where they come from, but I certainly know that you can recognise them when you talk to them.
David Ralph [4:59]
And how can Can you save them? Can you be in a bar and you think, oh, there’s somebody for my next travel, you know, like in Indiana Jones to when he found that little Chinese kid short round and then and he builds up that community are you like Indiana Jones and you’ve picked the right people for the mission?
Simon Crowe [5:15]
Well, if I say somebody, I’m going to West Africa, I’m going to Liberia, most people think about Ebola Civil War, civil unrest. And I said, I’m going there to build a school, would you like to come? And a lot of people would go, No, I don’t want to come. And in fact, that’s often the reaction. But occasionally, you get someone who says, Wow, that sounds really interesting. I’d love to know more about that. So I don’t know if you can spot him. But you can certainly you can certainly filter them quite quickly by talking about going to Liberia.
David Ralph [5:44]
I think most people, you know, when you say that to me, I think to myself, first of all, that sounds amazing. I would do it. And then the next book comes into my head is Oh, well what about my work? What about this? What about that? How do these people structure this where obviously They’ve got lives and lives kind of in golfers How do they free themselves up from like work responsibilities and stuff to be able to take their talents into a different world?
Simon Crowe [6:10]
So, to me, it’s all about making a decision. If you decide to do something, then you make it happen. Most people get caught up on the how, how am I going to do this? How am I gonna get the time off work? How am I going to, you know, get get the money to do this? How can I get the time to do this? What is really to me what what’s important is just deciding that you’re going to do it, and then making the decisions that enable you to do it. If you try and do it the other way around. It never happens. But really, it’s about that commitment, that desire. And then the other things fall into place.
David Ralph [6:40]
Do they need that sort of commitment and desire, you know, is that a sort of natural thing? Or have we all got that swirling around in us and some times it’s stagnant and sometimes it’s a bit stirred up? Do we all have that sort of commitment or desire? Or is that just how life is people generally can’t see more than what’s happening on a day to day basis.
Simon Crowe [7:00]
I don’t again, to me the kind of two broad types of people, those people who feel that they live their lives from the outside in. So we look at look at the world, and we and we respond to it. And then there’s people who live their lives from the inside out. So they make choices about how they want to live their life they make, they make choices about the experiences they want to have. They make choices about how they’re going to create those experiences. And so I think we all have that innate desire to do something exciting. I think we all have that within us. But some people see the fear first, and other people see the opportunity first. And really the only the people who see the opportunity those people who want to create the experiences they want to create for themselves, that really can consign up to something like this. I was meet I met up with somebody yesterday who I was talking about going to Singapore just just because we were talking about, you know, we had a mutual friend who’d been out there. I’d never go I’d never go to Singapore. She said and That’s just her she just wouldn’t get on a plane to Singapore. I’ve been there three times. And my it’s an amazing place. It’s 20 though
David Ralph [8:05]
in it Simon, Singapore, I’ve never sweated as much as in walking up and down Orchard Road, I think it was looking for a cheap mp3 player, it was tripping from me.
Simon Crowe [8:16]
So if you, if you the acid test is how much you’re going to sweat, then you’re probably not someone who’s going to sign up to come to Liberia, which is right now in the rainy season. It’s incredibly hot, about 3030 plus degrees, and it rains every day and it’s really humid. So if you’re choosing, you’re making your choices based on on the sweat factor, then you’re probably not going to come on one of these experiences.
David Ralph [8:40]
But there’s there’s a life you know, you can go some places and you can be quite comfortable. You can really embrace a lifestyle. I remember going to Where did I go Australia, very, very dry heat. And it was they were saying Oh, it’s 42 degrees today. I was thinking is it this is this is quite pleasant. Yes, my skin is peeling off but everything’s good. But I just remember just walking Along literally with sweat pouring out of every crack and I only just stepped out of the shower and I thought, I don’t know if I can put up with this all day it just zapped me how how do you keep going? How do you keep going wait eat so zapping
Simon Crowe [9:14]
I guess I think about the reason I’m there. You know, it probably it probably probably sounds a bit funny but you know, I’m there for a purpose. I’m there to create something. And, and I’m in a country which is hot and it’s sweaty and it’s raining. And the people don’t really have anything in terms of infrastructure or resources, but I’m there to create something. So it’s it’s so how do I create what is I want to create in this environment rather than wishing it was trying Australia? You know, I’m in Liberia. So except that I’m in Liberia, be there do the things that need to be done.
David Ralph [9:49]
I have you have you always had this outlet, because but before we started pressing recording, I was talking about how many coaches come to the show and they were corporate and then they quit and then They struggled and then they became coaches teaching people how to make businesses but you said that you’ve never been in corporate land so what what was your dream when you was a small kid? Were you a very adventurous was? Does this play really to your key strengths?
Simon Crowe [10:14]
I guess when I when I was a kid I used to want to be a sailor so I used to go to school dressed in a little sailor suit I used to wear wear blue and white a lot of the time you don’t like Donald Duck? Yeah. Yeah. But really what it what it was about was about my curiosity, I just I’ve always been really curious. I love to go into into places where, I don’t know really what’s gonna happen. I love to ask questions I like to discover and explore. I haven’t done this all my life. Absolutely not. I mean, for many years, I had it. You know, it wasn’t in the corporate world. I used to work in adult education and university education. Which was fine. It was absolutely fine. But I found that the the people’s outlook quite often was very kind of insular. And what I like to do is be around people Have the courage to talk about create the impossible. And what I mean by that is, if you can have an impossible dream, something you don’t know how to create, that’s who I coach. So, if you think about, well, I want to run a business and I want to create some more money. Well, you already know how to create money. So creating more money isn’t really a goal. It’s just repeating what you already know how to do. But if you say to me, Simon, what I want to do, and this is my personal example, I want to build a school in West Africa. Well, I’ve got no idea how to do that. You’ve got no idea how to do that. Let’s do it. Let’s create. It’s like the Wright brothers. You know, how did they decide that they were going to fly they just decided that was what they were going to do. No, no, never done that before. Putting a man on the moon, it’s, it’s the impossible, which I really love. Because I believe that if you set your intention clearly, and then you and then you’re prepared to commit, you’re prepared to take the courage in your hands, you’re prepared to take risk. He was prepared to grow, you’re prepared to fail then you can Create the impossible and that they’re the people that I really love to work with.
David Ralph [12:04]
This is fascinating because talking about myself, why not I’ve got a microphone in front of me, it’s my show. But when I started Join Up Dots when I really started it right at the beginning, when it was just a dream in my head, I knew it was going to be the number one show across all shows in the globe. And as I proceeded into it, I suddenly thought, hang on, this is a lot harder than I thought. I don’t know if I’m ever going to get this. But every morning I wake up thinking right here we go again now, but another day, another day, compound effect, keep on going. And little by little things are falling into place, and it’s moving up and there’s more profile and stuff. But it never seemed to me to be impossible because I looked around and I knew that other people had done it. So it was always doable, whether I could do it or whether I had the skills or talents, whatever. Well I’m always fascinated about is these people that do stuff, but no one’s ever done before. You know the real lunacy I was watching a programmed the other day now, an Indian bloke, and he basically grew up in a village, he had no chance of education. And he got himself through to university. And now he’s gonna be the first trillionaire by mining precious metals off the moon. And you think to yourself, I don’t even understand that. How do you get it back from there? How do you get I just, that is lunacy to me. I you close enough to that when you say the impossible is your impossible, gripped with? It’s been done before in a different sort of environment, would you be able to tackle something that’s never been done, but you just couldn’t even comprehend? Would that be too big for you?
Simon Crowe [13:39]
Really great question. No, it wouldn’t be too big for me because my belief is that we can create anything. Really, I do believe that you can create anything if you set the intention. Get really clear on the vision so that your all of your focus and attention goes on to creating that one thing. Again, I said earlier, it’s not about the house. Do I do this and that’s where most people fall down because they don’t know how to do something. To me, it’s about choosing to do something, and then trusting that all of the resources, all of the elements, the connections, are all going to fall into place. And that’s my experience. You know, I’ve just come back from West Africa. I went there with a with an architect who I’d never met before we just connected through the internet. She was very inspired by my vision to build this school. And she got on a plane, flew for 36 hours to get to get to Liberia. She’d never been to Africa before. She bought designs multimillion pound houses in Miami, and she arrived in Liberia and her first morning looked at me, man that felt that probably it probably felt easier for her in that moment to mine minerals off the moon. It was like how on earth have I found myself here? What on earth are we going to do? And we just started I mean, I don’t I don’t know how to describe how we went about it. But we need To meet meet a local architect, there are no architects in in Liberia, because there’s no university education. So any architect has been educated externally. within half a day, we were sitting in an architect’s office, because we’d met a guy under an umbrella on the corner of a street who was selling scratchcards for four mobile phones, and he heard of a guy and he knew somebody offers it. Anyway, long story short, within half an hour, we were sitting in his office, and I got him to agree to be the, you know, to do the project management and being the engineer for our school building project. Without him we couldn’t have built the project, but I couldn’t have known him before I went, I couldn’t have known him without setting the intention of finding someone like that. It’s like finding a needle in a haystack and we found him. So that’s, that is the answer to the question that nothing is impossible if you decide that you’re going to create it.
David Ralph [15:56]
Well, I’m going to play some words and then we’re going to delve a little bit back into this because This fascinates me. But his Oprah,
Oprah Winfrey [16:02]
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 too. But what is the next right move? And then from that space, make the next right move, and the next right move, and not to 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 [16:33]
Now, if I was a powerful words, especially linking him to what we’ve been talking about so far,
Simon Crowe [16:39]
absolutely, I mean, what I what I think is if you create a powerful enough vision, and then really connect with that vision, so I’ll just give you a little example with the school that I’m building. What I’ve already done is I’ve written letters from the students who are going to attend that school, to me, describing what it’s like going to that school. I’ve written letters from the teachers who teach in that school, from the head teacher from the parents of the people in the village. So I’m not just talking about sitting down and dreaming about something which would be nice to happen. really connecting with with that as if it were true today. And then everything that I do is now kind of, if you like, imbibed with that energy, it’s like a fractal of the of the, of the hologram, you understand. So you create that vision. It’s like a hologram. And every, every fractal of that hologram contains the full power of that vision. And that’s what Oprah is saying about test taking the next right move. You don’t have to know every step before you start. It’s what’s the right move right now. And when you’ve done that, it’s okay, so what’s the next right move? And again, most people get very, very overwhelmed by them by the magnitude of dreaming big. Well, if you break it down into tiny steps, then those each of those steps feels manageable. It feels easy, it feels achievable. Be some stretch, there may be some risk, but it’s not something you can’t do, then it’s that’s how we create the impossible.
David Ralph [18:08]
And do you need a team around you, Simon? Because one of the things, I’m very a one man band. And I know that at certain points in my journey, it would have been very useful to sit with maybe four or five people who are doing the same thing and say to them, you know, what’s your angle? Can you see a different way of doing it? Because we all only see the way but we can see. Does it make it easier by surrounding yourself with a team or is it easier just to plough into it and make it up as you go along?
Simon Crowe [18:36]
Right. I think I think asking for help is a really important part here. So I have a team so I work on my work on my business is called Simon you know, Simon Crowe limited so it’s very much me. I’m the person who coaches my clients, etc. But behind me, I have a an assistant. I have my own coach. I belong to two men’s groups. I belong to a coaching community based out and California, you know that I’ve got people who are helping me with with the logistics about building the school. I’ve got a project manager out there, that the list goes on and on and on. And, and to me, I know what I’m really good at what I’m really fantastic at is creating a powerful vision and leading people in and if you’d like drawing them into that vision, I’m also a really fantastic coach. And what I mean by that is I’m really great at helping people to create a mindset which enables them to, to design and create the life that they really want to live. There my skill sets, I’m not very good at administration, I am not very good at detail. So I delegate that it means I can give more of my focus and attention and bring more of my gifts, if you like to the to the party, because I’m not focusing on the things that I don’t know how to do. And so absolutely, you know that that’s, that’s what Oprah is talking about, about the right next steps who could I ring? I wrote I wrote a letter to Ed Sheeran just recently because he’d been out in Liberia, I thought wouldn’t be great if it came on in this on this programme with me it would be really fantastic because of his profile, and he could help me raise some funds for it. I asked him for help. I got a very polite, no, but Okay, so that may be seen as a kind of small failure. But that’s what I mean, just who’s who’s out there? Who can I who can I connect with? Who can I draw into this vision so we can create it bigger than even I can dream and obviously do it more quickly and more effectively than I can do it on my own.
David Ralph [20:28]
Now, what you were saying about delegation is absolutely right. We all have our strengths. What we do is brilliant and other things. We’re just rubbish. But at the very beginning, when you’re creating your coaching business, you may not be getting any money in and all the money’s going on growing it. Did you sort of just muddle along for a period of time or were you? Did you have the foresight to start delegating?
Simon Crowe [20:52]
Now I muddled I absolutely model I’d never run a business business before I had some idea about what needed to happen. But you’re right. You’re in That space of fee not very much money coming in, so you don’t want to spend it. However, I the first thing that I did do right back about 12 years ago now is I got a coach, I thought to myself, well, if I’m going to be coaching, in order to be kind of in integrity and authentic then I need to be working with a coach of my own. But what it what it was fantastic at doing is is just helping me to make the right decisions for myself to get clear on what the next right action was. And often helping me through my own kind of limiting beliefs that then other thinking habits that I have, that would stop me doing something, having something someone alongside so that wasn’t a huge investment. But it was a really worthwhile one. But yeah, I muddled I looked at lots of different ways that I could piggyback on what other people were doing. So I did a lot of associate coaching and that means that other people would be doing the selling of the coaching and then once they’d found a client they would if you like you they’ve kind of subcontract is one way of thinking about it, but but to me and I would Deliver the coaching and they will take a percentage of whatever I earned. That was fine. But what I wanted to have more control, I wanted to be the person who was connecting directly with my client. But I recognised the stepping stones. But I took I took what felt easy and achievable.
Unknown Speaker [22:16]
And those are the steps they took right at the beginning.
David Ralph [22:19]
And when did you have that moment when you’re laying in the bath or your it crashes into you, but you suddenly think, hang on, hang on. It was kind of right, but it wasn’t totally right. I can now see it. It seems so obvious. He should have been there all the time, but I just couldn’t see it. I think we all have that when it suddenly comes together for us and we realise that actually, our gifts aren’t being utilised, our strengths aren’t being utilised. We’re kind of going the hard path and not going the easy one. You remember that? I do.
Simon Crowe [22:49]
I was in a job which was really successful at it. Now. I’ve created a team of 12 people from from a team have won and it was really going well. I was getting really good results. The team very motivated, and they were very well well managed in the sense that they were beginning to manage themselves. And I felt horrible because I really didn’t see what value I was bringing to this role any longer. And I, you know, my moments of lying in the bath for those moments of lying there thinking, God, this is just this must, must be more to life than this. And not really knowing how to move forward, knowing that I had something more to give, you know, knowing that I’ve always had the potential within me to create incredible things, but not really knowing how to create the opportunity to do that. And I remember that moment, I remember that moment thinking enough of this. And I remember handing in my notice, I remember deciding that that that’s what I was going to do, I was going to leave that that role. And whatever happened, it was better than doing, doing what I was doing, dying slowly, in this role that I didn’t enjoy. And I knew that I could bring my gifts to bear in another context. And the only way I was perhaps going to find that to step out of what wasn’t working with the belief that I would die would be able to create something that would work.
David Ralph [24:07]
And that’s all you need, isn’t it? As you said, right at the very beginning, you need that belief and you need that willingness to step away. Just to sort of assess, you know, we’ve, I’ve said this a lot of times in Join Up Dots, but my life is absolutely brilliant. I love every second of it. And then every now and again, my parents have got a business. And if I short staff, because I’ve known this business all my life, I say, I’ll go in and cover I’ll go in and cover I’ll make it easy for you. And literally, I get in there at five to eight, where 10 past I am looking at the clock by 20 passe I’m thinking how much more can I take this? It’s just dreadful, but I spent a lot of my life like that going to work getting there by a certain time getting through to lunchtime, having an hour You know, and and just sort of like little periods of time with your life now, is it speeding up? Do you look at mumps and you whizzing past because it’s just kind of vibrant creativity, or do you still have those moments when you’ve been good 10 past eight, I base my life on radio to DJs when I’m down in a shop, and I think, oh, he’s finished the next one’s on now, and I sort of just work work through the day like that.
Simon Crowe [25:17]
I remember I remember those days, I remember. I remember when I was at young man working in a factory, and and, you know, using a bathroom break the opportunity to go and relieve myself, you know, time when I was going to do it, because it would be it would mean I could break up, you know, the chunk between lunchtime and the tea break in the afternoon. You know, we became an absolutely like, my whole life being timed by the DJs on Radio One, you know, and when he got when he got to Steve, right in the afternoon, you knew you knew nobody’s made it through the day. I don’t have those moments any longer. Yeah, I there’s never seems to be enough time in the day. And that’s and it’s not because it was the stress. It’s just that there’s so much I want to do so many people that I want to connect to so many conversations I have conversations with people all the time just looking for what it is that they’re looking for that spark in them looking for what would be impossible for them that would really make their you know their eyes shine make them come alive. I do that all the time and I work with some of them that’s how I really find my clients is I just I just talk to people I find ways of helping them to to change their perspective and change their lives and then some of those people want to come on the journey with me because I charge quite a lot of money to do the work that I do. We work together for normally a year or more and we go on it you know we go on a really exciting journey I don’t coach very many people at the moment I’ve normally between five and six people a year. So I you know very select selective about the people I work with and the projects that we work together on the things that really inspire me.
David Ralph [26:53]
And this is interesting because you allowing your life to have freedom in it. You’re allowing a time you’re structuring that people are paying you a lot of money, but you’re not taking that too many people on that it’s a journey you’ve got to go through as well, isn’t it at the beginning, you kind of almost base all your prices on what you think you could afford. When did that sort of change to you? Because I think that is one of the pivotal points where success really comes together. When you realise it’s not you deciding how much somebody could pay is up to them.
Simon Crowe [27:25]
Yeah, that’s a really good distinction, isn’t it? How When did I decide, I guess I decided about three years ago, because I was working as a coach and the way that most people work is looking to fill up practice. So if I’ve got 30 hours a week, which I can coach, then I need 30 clients, all of that, you know, paying me whatever, it would be an hour. And though that way, I can make a living and it’s incredibly stressful. So you’re sitting in front of somebody saying to them, I’m a life coach, I’m sort of stressed out. You know, my life is really difficult right now because I’m constantly trying to find new clients. You know, doesn’t work for me, but let me help you with your life and it doesn’t It doesn’t feel very authentic. So what I love to do is I coach three days a week, which means Monday is a day where I do my admin Fridays always about something creative within my business. And that’s how I’ve structured my I don’t I don’t coach in the evenings any longer. I certainly don’t coach the weekend. And that was that came about because I, I made a decision, I made a decision that I wanted to create my business differently. And it seemed, it seemed like lunacy. How can I possibly earn more by doing less, but that was what I that was if you like the impossible, they want to create it, I want I wanted to create a situation in which I was earning more by doing less, so that the hours that I was coaching, were really, you know, life changing, really making a massive impact on people’s lives. So I give myself self the time around my coaching to study to read to attend courses. You know, coaching for me is not just a business, it’s a way of life. You know, I’m constantly working on myself. I have a great coach who I paid six figures to work with some guy based out in the States. You know, it’s a huge investment. And I do it because I absolutely believe in the power of the work that I do. And I bring all of myself into that. Bring all of myself into that.
David Ralph [29:16]
And how do you choose that six figure coach how to do because it is difficult to find people online that actually connect with you on a personal basis. You can go over to Facebook, and everybody will show you the highlights. We talked about this a lot. How did you dig down and realise Actually, this guy is the real deal. Did you meet him personally? Or was he done?
Simon Crowe [29:38]
Yeah. Number of over a number of years, we started to develop a relationship. I sent it attended some of his events. And what I was really looking for is what value was he adding to me, you know, how was I how was I benefiting by every, every time that I had a connection with him? How did my perspective change? How did I grow in some way? And then I was I was decided that I was time I worked with a new coach. And we we had many, many connections, many, many conversations. And we got to the point where we’d agreed what it is we were going to create. We, we went into this, we went into this wonderful fantasy world, I do this with my own clients, if anything was possible, what could we create? There’s not talking about you and I working together, let’s just talk about what would what would it be like to create in a world where anything was possible. And once we’ve started to kind of create that dream, then we can perhaps talk about what that would look like in terms of a, you know, a contractual if you’d like Relationship Coaching relationship. The first of all, let’s get to the point where we’re both really inspired. We’re really excited about the work that we’re going to do together. We’ve got to that point, place where we’re choosing now to go on that journey and trusting that we can create the how, because again, if we sit down and start from the how it doesn’t, it’s not inspiring, it doesn’t create stuff, which doesn’t already They exist. So that’s how I, that’s how I create my my partnerships with the people that I work with. And that’s how I found my coach.
David Ralph [31:09]
And would you have just plumped for somebody because I get a lot of these questions, you know, should I use this guy in Vegas? Should I use the guy? Two minutes down the road for me? What would your advice be somebody starting and I mean, that scary zone of knowing that they need a coach, they know they need help, but not knowing which way to turn? Is it always better to sit down with somebody over a pint and really talk to them?
Simon Crowe [31:32]
I don’t know, over a over a pint. I mean, I get I kind of, you know, get the metaphors about sort of sitting down and having an open honest conversation, I’d absolutely recommend that. So, you know, with most of my clients, what I’m doing is I’m filtering for commitment. So what I mean by that is I’m looking for somebody who is ready to go on this journey. So people may contact me, I may have a conversation with them, depending on how we you know how we get introduced. Most of my most of my clients now come from Rif, Refer or invitation, you know, I’m really lucky in that way. But it’s then about going, you know, starting that process, having a conversation, exploring, seeing if it’s a fit. See if you feel challenged by the fit person feeling, seeing if you feel that your perspective changes each time, and then start to design what the programme would look like. Thinking about what the outcomes would be, what would be the vision, what would be the impossible dream that you would create through this work together? And if all that feels exciting, then you just say yes, you just jump in. That’s the moment of choice. But to me, it’s about spending time getting to know the person that you’re going to commit to working with per year or more often.
David Ralph [32:45]
But for the people out there listening to this show, and we obviously started off talking about Liberia and the sort of the mission that you’re on. What fascinated me was the chicken ship Foundation was about raising backhands Have awareness in individuals by getting them to give and giving time. And I saw a guy on your website as she called Dan Martell I think was Dan Martell was he on your gift?
Simon Crowe [33:13]
I don’t I haven’t met Dan Martell. I don’t know not sure what you’re referring to
David Ralph [33:18]
no problem. I must be thinking of something else. I do a lot of online stalking. But there was a guy who was on our show called Dan Martell. And he was very much about building his own business building his own business. And I’ve seen him recently and he lit up inside you can just see he’s lit up inside after he’s come back from a venture like you’re doing to help underprivileged people, or he just wants to give back and you can see it’s like life affirming. Now with the chicken shirts, which is a fantastic name as well. Do they come back with more because I think they must do. They must go there after the first couple of days thing. Oh my god, where’s the deal? And then actually get into it then thing actually, I can’t wait to get back
Simon Crowe [34:05]
to total. I mean, a really good example is is hire who was the architect that came out with me. I mean, on the first day she said to me Sorry, I don’t even know why I’m here. I don’t really even see why I’ve said yes to this. I don’t know how you persuaded me to come. The wonderful thing is I didn’t persuade I just invited her. By the end of the week, she was talking about her chest not being big enough for a heart. And those words for me describe the whole transformational process, going from the place of not knowing why you’re there, to feeling so much love and fulfilment and desire to serve that your chest is no longer big enough for your heart. Well, what a fantastic job to have. That’s what I do. I help people. I help their hearts expand to the point where they don’t no longer fit inside their chests. That’s that you know, in a very kind of beautiful sentence describes why I do what I do. It’s absolutely life changing. It has the potential To change the way that people see life, and how they, how they create their life, what I really want to do is I want to start taking leadership teams from large organisations with me to Liberia as part of my leadership development programmes that I do there. What I’d love to do, for example, is go to a local orphanage and say to this team, right, you’ve got seven days to turn this orphanage around at the moment, they don’t have food, they don’t have drinking water, the places is dirty. What I want you to do is to change this place around both physically so it starts to look really fantastic. And the kids feel a real sense of pride and where they live. And what I want to do is also want you to do is to make it sustainable. So when you’ve left after a week, how does your legacy continue to keep this orphanage thriving? That That to me would just be a fantastic thing to do? You know, get in touch with someone like I don’t know Facebook or Google and take their guys out there and say, right, you’ve got a week to change people’s lives. how deeply Do you think it would transform their own lives? And how will then will they bring that into the businesses that they run the run, and the people that they lead. That’s the that’s the kind of work that really lights me up.
David Ralph [36:09]
I can see that I can see it when you talk you are somebody that says not just the right words, but every word has feeling behind it. And that’s the powerful thing. I can see why people say to you, how did you get me out of here? You know, it’s just you, isn’t it? You have tapped into something but you can do naturally. Well, you talk with passion you talk we’ve infused as him but you have a kind of calmness with it as well. You’re not all arms flailing around sort of getting excitable you just like calmly persuasive.
Simon Crowe [36:41]
Thank you. It’s, I feel like I’m just very connected to my to my mission. And what I mean by that is, I know what I’m doing. I know what I’m creating, I know the impact that it has. And if you feel inspired by that want to come along on that journey, then let’s have that conversation. If you don’t, no matter how many times I wave my arms around or how excited I get isn’t going to change that in you, you need to find that in a spark, you need to have the curiosity to want to have that conversation. So I just have I just have real clarity that I’m serving something which is bigger than me. And you know that this, this idea of having a purpose, which is bigger than me, so I’m much more able to ask for things from people. When I’m talking in terms of the school project, I’m doing the chickenshit Foundation than I am about asking, you know, can you can you give me money? It doesn’t mean I don’t have that. I don’t have that that same kind of inner belief, I suppose. But when I’m talking about what what I know, is going to change both the lives of the people who come on these experiences with me, but also and this is really important. They they empower the people that we’re serving. That’s when I guess I speak with such clarity and confidence is that it’s just something which is really, it’s like describing something I know it’s like About my best friend, you know, you can really describe somebody, you know, really deeply talk about their gifts and their talents and how wonderful they are as a person. Because you’re talking about somebody else who you know really well. When I talk about my mission, it feels exactly like that. It feels like it’s real. So I’m really just describing something that already exists. We haven’t created it yet, but we’re on the path. And that’s, that gives me the the clarity, the confidence to, to, I guess, to bring people into the vision that I’m creating.
David Ralph [38:31]
Did you go into schools because I think schools I and I’m saying this I went to my daughter, my daughter who’s 12 years old, she won a high achievers Ward and drama. She’s like the best drama student in a year. And so we had to go up yesterday afternoon, and fortunately I’ve got freedom in my time so I could just sort of rock out there and we had this presentation and she got a trophy and a certificate. You know, it’s really lovely stuff. And as I was sitting there listening to the, the head of year, it is amazing. Kind of motivational speech about Andrew Carnegie being a small Scottish child, but creating amazing wealth and visions and just always know, knowing he could do it. I thought to myself when I was going through school, if I could dodge a blackboard robber, then that was a good day, you know, it was just basically rooms of lunatics, and, and just sort of unpleasant people. And then every now and again, one amazing teacher that stuck with you for the rest of your life. Do you think that life is becoming more motivation? Or do you think that what people are seeing is possible because we’re not subjected to just what the teachers are telling us? Or what the local communities telling us we can see across the world now? Do you think that is a good thing for the children or is that even restraints because they see it and it’s almost like, Oh, it’s too big for me to deal with.
Simon Crowe [39:50]
I don’t I mean, you know, this. This is really interesting because for me that the education system that we have in this country and I have a 14 year old daughter who’s just done her GCSE GCSE selection. What I see is that what we’re trying to do is prepare children to become cogs in the in the wheel. So it’s about how we retrain them to take their place in society. And what I’d love schools to do is actually forget all of the content that we’re trying to cram into children’s heads. Because you know, with with nowadays, information is something which is so available. What we really want to do is to help people and develop their discernment in how they use that information, want to develop people and develop the way that people think the way that they understand the natural laws of the universe, whether they understand how energy is is created and how we use the how we use the creative energy to create more of what it is that we want. It feels to me that schools are often and not all of them, but schools are often just trying to keep people to be to be cogs in the wheel, cogs in the machine. And what I want to do and I’d love to do is to see is to see people being trained differently, being taught about wealth. You know, now we now we know what we know about quantum physics. We know we know about the law of attraction. We know what we know about the laws of the universe, that start teaching people and giving them an exposure to what, to what the real magic of creation is. I love children to have that included in their curriculum. Yeah, I agree with you. I think kids should just have fun and enjoy themselves be kids while your kids because it becomes so serious afterwards. But the real people that are rocking and rolling like yourself, Simon, and in a small way of me, we are playing a game we’ve gone back to that school days when we just want to play and enjoy ourselves but we probably lost it on that journey. But we’ve we clawed it back playing and being inventive and creative is such a big part of human life. We can never allow kids to loser can we quit? No, I mean, you know, children that that’s what they’re fantastic at doing is that they they’d know loan limits. They just They just, they just want things, they just talk about what it is they want, I want this, I want that, and then think about how they’re going to get it. Whereas with when we grow into adults, our first thought is not so much about what we want. It’s all about the how, how am I going to earn more money? How am I going to create this? How am I going to find a way of making ends meet? And to me it’s, it’s that this by string, shrinking your thinking, and, and seeing the world in that way. It’s just, it’s just, I just want to just give people the opportunity to to lift their heads, you said, look over the garden fence, and just see the world as a place for exploration, fun, invention, risk, fail, fall over, stand up again, you know, if if we’d all given up at the first time we fell over as kids when we’re learning to walk, we’d all still be crawling around. You know, we were I think as young people, we have the capacity to fail to get up again because we just we just programmed in that way and I think that what happens with society In school, sometimes it just beats people down to the point where they they forget that they already have that within them.
David Ralph [43:07]
But let’s play the words now from a man whose whole dream when he started was to create a podcast called Join Up Dots maybe not. But he’s words, it’s certainly been a big part of what we’ve got now is Steve Jobs.
Steve Jobs [43:19]
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. I’m sure those words you bind to those bully assignment.
Simon Crowe [43:57]
And I love that I’ve heard that many, many times. I had realise that’s where the name of your show would come from.
David Ralph [44:03]
Yeah, right. In the early days, I got given a speech before Join Up, Dots was even put up, Join Up Dots. And I just read the three stories that Steve Jobs spoke about, and it touched me, they would have something in me. And so when the show was created, it kind of almost grew around these words. And, wow, I’m glad that I sort of stuck to those because I think literally every person at their core knows this to be true. You’ve got to move forward with faith. It’s just clinging to that one thing that helps you move forward through the dark times. Well, when you look back over your life, we call it the dark dark or the big dot. But do you remember the moment when you force yourself now hang on? This is really I can now see it the bathroom moment when you realise that this is what I should be doing with my life.
Simon Crowe [44:50]
I have. I have many of those. And I guess what I mean by that is that every time I see what my next big adventure is going to be, what my next big idea is, I think That’s it. And I step forward into that. And of course, you find that there’s just, there’s just another ring to the onion is Oh, wow, what’s what’s possible now from this place? take that step forward. Wow, the world’s just got bigger and bigger. And that’s that to me is is is those those dots those moments, it’s brilliant, but only by going on that path can you possibly explore there are things beyond the horizon that we can’t see. But that doesn’t stop us going to horizon. And once you get to the horizon, you can see this yet another horizon. And that to me is, is the beauty of this journey is that it’s infinite. You know, infinity is not about. To me, infinite. Infinite is like an infinite number of choices, an infinite number of opportunities to make creative choices. It’s not just infinite infinity, just being a kind of nebulous nothingness. It’s it’s made up of lots and lots of opportunities to choose an infinite number of opportunities to choose, but only by going on that journey. Can we ever come into contact with with with more and more and more of those?
David Ralph [46:04]
And I think as you you create the impossible and you look for those, I think people can start doing the impossible in such small ways. They can think, well, I’m gonna get out of the office by four o’clock tonight, where the last six days they’ve been there till seven o’clock, there’s a very small impossibles that you can start building up that belief on.
Simon Crowe [46:24]
I think it’s a really great point because what what feels impossible to one person, it’s completely subjective. And for some people, it may feel absolutely impossible to leave the office at four because they’ve always got so much to do, it must feel absolutely impossible to be at their, you know, the child’s prize giving at school because of the you know, because of the constraints of the work that they have. So if you can work with someone and help them to actually create them, and they create that that and they do it for themselves, and you think, oh, that wasn’t as difficult as I thought. They were just now just got a bit bigger. They just stretched that comfort zone. They just realised that the walls that constrain them the box that they’ve created, which is their life, they realise that those walls are not as solid as they might might at first appear. And it’s what’s beyond the solid walls, which feels impossible. But if you can actually step through them, then you start to realise there’s so much creativity outside of the constraints that we create for ourselves and that we, that we buy into the constraints that society as we said before, like to pedal as reality. And what we’re talking about here is how do you create your your new reality? Even if that reality is just finishing at four o’clock or maybe on a Friday getting home and having tea with the kids? You know, how would that change people’s lives just if they could create what that impossible for themselves? I love this conversation. I
David Ralph [47:50]
don’t want it to end But of course, we’ve got to make it end because otherwise it’s going to be the longest podcast on record. But this is the part that we’ve been building up to. And this is the bit that we call the sermon on the mic when we’re going to 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 young Simon, what age would you choose? And what advice would you give? Well, we’re gonna find out, because I’m gonna play the theme. And when it fades, you’re up. This is the Sermon on the Mount.
Unknown Speaker [48:22]
We go with the best bit of the show.
Simon Crowe [48:40]
So the younger me who that I would talk to would be the 16 year old Simon. So I left school at 16 with three levels, which was considered to be a complete failure. It wasn’t enough even to get into into college. And everybody told me throughout my my school career that I could do better I’d never amount to very much. I was told by my headmaster at my last school that I’d have to work very hard at my GCSE as if I was to achieve anything. Until left with three levels, I’ve left labelled as a failure. And what I’d really like to say to that, that 16 year old Simon, is that that was the moment in which you freed yourself from the path that people had prescribed. And if I could have just realised in that moment that I just created for myself an infinite number of possibilities, because I couldn’t go on to college. I couldn’t go on to university. I couldn’t follow the path that I guess people were expecting. But I didn’t realise that. So I just stayed in that path feeling like a failure. What I would say to the 16 year old Simon is that was the point in which you needed to to follow your heart. That was the point that you needed to go travelling. That was the point that you needed to start experiencing life from the perspective of what I wanted to have experience in my life, the people I wanted to meet the places I wanted to go, I had nothing to hold me back. Apart from how I’d been, I guess trained to think, and how my brain had been constrained. And what I’d love to say to that Simon is go out and have an adventure. Go out and be curious, go out and create a life, which is something which you are doing now as an adult, but just go and do it now. That’s what I’d say to the 16 year old Simon. Brilliant stuff.
David Ralph [50:29]
And for all the people out there listening, what’s the number one best way that our audience can connect with you, Simon,
Simon Crowe [50:36]
go to my website, which is Simon CRO with an E at the end.com there’s a contact form on there you can you can contact me. Just share your big ideas. That’s what I really love to do. That’s where I love to start conversations. So if you want to go on my site, find the Contact link and share with me what your biggest idea is. Let’s start to have a conversation about how we can make them Ria, make that a reality.
David Ralph [51:02]
Wonderful stuff. Simon, thank you so much for spending time with us today, joining up those dots. And please come back again when you’ve got more dots to join up, because I do believe that by joining up the dots and connecting our paths is the best way to build our futures. Simon Crowe, thank you so much.
Simon Crowe [51:18]
Thank you, Dave. It’s been a real pleasure.
David Ralph [51:23]
Simon Crowe doing the impossible, thinking big going for it. I love that. And I love the fact that you can start doing the impossible now you can just look at something that hasn’t been what you would perceive is possible and it might be getting a night out without the kids. We kind of get babysitters. It’s too hard. You can do it. Yeah, whatever you want in your life. You can do it. That show literally lit me up inside as he was talking. I could feel myself growing thinking, I’ve got to do bigger, I’ve got to do bolder, I’ve got to really get out there. Loads of ideas come into my head through that. So if you’ve got That same kind of passion for life, I really recommend talking to Simon. He’s somebody who is at the top of his game and can deliver big time. Thank you so much for being here and listening to this episode of Join Up Dots. And until the next time, we’ll see you again.
Outro [52:14]
David doesn’t want you to become a faded version of the brilliant self you were 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.
