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EXPELLED FROM SCHOOL to WINNING the APPRENTICE | Joseph Valente | The 2%

Eric Partaker

Do you feel like you’re not reaching your full potential? Do you have a burning desire to achieve all your goals? Join Joseph Valente (CEO, Winner of The Apprentice) and Eric Partaker to discover some useful tips to change your life forever and lead you on the path to achieving your goals.

KEY POINTS

Dream, Believe, Do it, Repeat – Don’t let anybody tell you, you can’t do something. If you decide to go for your goal, then it’s going to happen. Don’t listen to naysayers who don’t believe in what you’re capable of. 

Who Is Going To Lift You Higher? – We are constantly told ‘Be realistic, don’t try and do that, don’t be too ambitious, don’t work too hard, don’t try and overachieve.’ If you surround yourself with people who don’t believe in your goals, that is a road to failure. 

Connect The Dots –  All the resources, people, expertise, everything that you need to achieve already exists in the world. Your job is to connect your way to it.

Learning Is A Gift! – Constantly be learning from other people. Listen to all different types of people, from business people, life coaches to monks. Take a piece from each of those people and create the best version of yourself.

Anything Is Possible – Believe that anything is possible. Believe that you can speak anything into fruition. So many things going on in the world today seem unfathomable 50 years ago, but now they are the norm.

Everything Is Impossible Until Somebody Does It! – If you are struggling to believe in yourself look around for inspiration of what has been done before then relate it to your life and go! If humans can fly a plane and make light come out of a lightbulb you can start your own business.

Be Better Than You Were Yesterday – if you’re  0.1% or 10% better than you were yesterday, then that is a step in the right direction. If you are always focused on being better than yesterday then that is constant improvement

Look In The Mirror –That’s Your Competition! – Forget about competing with those around you, compete with yourself, be better than who you were the day before. 

Believe In Yourself – Believe you can, or believe you can’t, either way you’re right. 

TRANSCRIPT

Joseph Valente:

I know self limiting beliefs and it’s very, very difficult. And they’re very difficult to break. “Don’t work too hard. Don’t do too much.” I’m like, “No, no, no, no, no, I’m fine. I need to do more. I need to work harder. I’m not doing enough.” “You need to rest.” “No, I don’t need to rest. I need to achieve more.” So I quit my 50,000 pounds a year job. I took out a 15,000 pounds home development loan with my salary from Tesco’s. I bought a van. I branded it Impra. I’ve bought a set of tools. I’ve got a website. And within two weeks, my business was born. It starts with belief. There’s no point in having finance. There’s no point in having a great idea. There’s no point in having hard work ethic. If you don’t believe that it’s going to go off, first and foremost, then you might as well pack your bag and quit now.

Eric:

Hey, everybody. Welcome to another episode of The 2% where, as always, we’re interviewing peak performers in all walks of life to decode excellence, give you the strategies, tips, and tools that you can use to close that gap between your current and best self. To break free from the 98%, and join the 2% of people worldwide, estimated to be operating at their full potential. And I’m super excited today to welcome to the show, Joseph Valente. Joseph, a big hello to you. Welcome.

Joseph Valente:

Hi, Eric. How are you doing, my man?

Eric:

Yeah, very good. Very good. And you’ve done some amazing things. I mean, I’m just going to mention a few of them, and I’m sure a lot more will come up in our conversation today, but you won The Apprentice in 2015. I can relate to that, I was a guest judge on The Apprentice during one of the seasons. So we have-

Joseph Valente:

Nice.

Eric:

… we have some common ground there.

Joseph Valente:

Excellent. We’ll explore that in a bit more detail.

Eric:

Yeah. Yeah. And you’ve done a lot of entrepreneurial things. You’ve gone through the highs.

Joseph Valente:

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Eric:

And importantly, the lows as well, because a lot of people-

Joseph Valente:

Without a doubt.

Eric:

… [crosstalk 00:02:00] all the things that they’ve achieved and a lot of people don’t fully appreciate all the pain that we have to go through to get that sort of achievement.

Joseph Valente:

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Eric:

And then these days I know you set up the Trade Group, which is incredible online training company, trying to help people, entrepreneurs in the construction industry scale themselves and their companies, right?

Joseph Valente:

Yeah, exactly right. I felt coming out of the background that I’ve had from going as a plumber, to a CEO of a national business in just a few years, that journey was all about leveling up. It was all about upgrading. It was all about finding new skills for education. And when I exited my last business, I decided to look at the construction industry and see how I was going to help business owners, that were construction business owners, to become business people. By teaching traditional business skills, sales, marketing, finance, HR, structure, recruitment. And allowing them to have the foundational knowledge that they need to scale.

Eric:

I mean, now you’re in this incredible position with this rapidly growing business. Just to bring things down a level though, of course, you didn’t start that way. And so, I’d love if you could just share your humbler beginnings. How did life start for you, and what were the early days like?

Joseph Valente:

Yeah. So, as a kid growing up, we didn’t have a lot of money. My mom kind of struggled. She did lots of jobs. My dad was an alcoholic. He didn’t work. And so, it was a very difficult upbringing for us. It was very hostile and challenging. And as a youngster, I was always one of those kids that wanted everything and I wanted it now, but our circumstances didn’t allow us to have those things now.

But even circling it, and waiting, and circling it in the catalog, and asking for it for Christmas, those days just didn’t come because we couldn’t afford it, whether it was today or Christmas. So I decided very, very early on that if I was going to have to make money, if I was going to change my future, change my life, change my circumstances, have a good life for my family and so on, that I was going to have to take action in some shape or form.

And that I couldn’t follow the blueprint of what my dad was laying out for me. I needed to break the mold and go and find out what successful people do to become successful and kind of copy that. And I was very, very lucky to have a very successful uncle. My mom’s brother was super successful. He’s an MD of a big finance company. He’d show up in his brand new BMWs, his sharp suits. Very tall guy, walked in a room with presence. And I used to look at my dad and then I’d look at him and I’d say, “How did that man become like that? And how did that man become like that?” And I decided that I was going to replicate this guy, and I wanted to be like him.

And so, as the years went on and I entered into my early teens, and then my mom and dad split up and I became a bit of a rogue at that point. And I didn’t want to listen to authority, I didn’t want to be told what to do. I thought I knew best. And pretty much went off the handle, really. And so, at the age of 15, I was expelled from school. And I remember at that point, even though it seemed like it was my ultimate failure, everybody was around me like, “Oh, what are you going to do now? You’re screwed. Life is over. You’ve got no future. You’ve messed everything up.” And I remember thinking at the time, “Well, hang on, this is only just the beginning, this isn’t my final destination.”

And I can remember looking at my mom when I came out of the headmaster’s office and she was crying and she was like, “You’re finished.” So on, and so on. And I remember looking back at my mom and saying, “Listen, don’t worry. One day you will see that I am going to be a success.” And I just want to quickly fast forward to paint a picture on that story. There was a time and a night that I actually won the BBC Apprentice. I came out through the back and across the aisle to go and sit down with Jack Dee and Lord Sugar. And I clocked my mom and she sat over in the corner and she was crying again, that was the second time I’ve seen her cry. Fast forward 10 years. And I just walked out like an absolute boss and nodded at her. And in that moment I knew, she knew that I told her that day that I was going to make her proud. And it was a prophecy that I fulfilled.

Eric:

That’s beautiful. That’s like one of the most special things you can do, right? Is to make your parents happy, right. It’s like this-

Joseph Valente:

Oh, without a doubt.

Eric:

… Yeah.

Joseph Valente:

You know when you’re young, you see things in a completely different way as you did when you grow up. You’re very much focused around you. And teenage years are turbulent even in good homes, let alone when you’re from a bad one. So it was just my moment to say, “I told you I was going to do it.” And it just goes to show you that you can’t let people paint you with their brush if that’s the saying. You can’t let people put a label on you. And if you own those labels, you’re always going to become that person. I never let anybody label me or tell me that I can’t do it. If I decide that it’s done, it’s done. And if I’d have listened to those people in the early days, I wouldn’t become the man that I am today. So, that’s a big lesson for people listening, I suppose.

Eric:

Yeah. And it’s a really interesting point about, I’ve talked about this on other episodes, the idea of when you have a limiting belief, when you see that you’re somehow stopping yourself from progressing in an area, or just not achieving what you would like. And if you really analyze, well, what’s limiting me here? Often what you arrive at is not even your own limiting belief, but it’s something that you’ve inherited, perhaps from your parents or they inherited from their parents. And it’s not even you. Sometimes it shows up, for example, in families where families might say things to each other like, “Well, don’t do too much, because we don’t do that sort of stuff.” A family of a certain type. Can you relate to what I’m saying at all?

Joseph Valente:

Yeah, a hundred percent. I think taking that from what my mom always says to me, “Oh, don’t work too hard. Don’t work too hard. Don’t do too much.” I’m like, “No, no, no, no, I’m fine. I need to do more. I need to work harder. I’m not doing enough.” “You need to rest.” “No, I don’t need to rest. I need to achieve more.” If I’m always resting, I’m not achieving anything kind of thing. But all those self limiting beliefs, and it’s very, very difficult. And they’re very difficult to break. We’re constantly told, “Be realistic. Don’t try and do this. Don’t try and do that. Don’t be too ambitious. Don’t work too hard. Don’t try and overachieve. You’re not going to be able to do that.”

And the people that we grow up with, the people that we surround ourselves with, the places that we live. If those aren’t environments where people are thriving and that they’re pushing forward and growing, then you become like the five most people that you spend your time with, right? So if you’re not spending your time with high achievers saying that, “We can go and do this, and we can go and do that, and we can do whatever we want, and we can put a colony on Mars,” then you are going to be like the glass that you’re spending your time with. So I always try and break that mold and surround myself with believers.

Eric:

And so what’s another way in which people can get out of this cage that they create around themselves with these limiting beliefs? How do you recommend that people break free?

Joseph Valente:

It’s kind of, you need an epiphany moment. I think for me, I’ve always been a high achiever, I would say. After I was expelled from school, I went to college and became a qualified plumber. And then a gas engineer. By the time I was 19, I was making 40, 50,000 a year salary, which was, 10, 15 years ago, about 12 years ago, it was good money. So from where I grew up, that was like, “Wow, you’re smashing it now.” Yeah? And so, I read Lord Sugar’s book when I came back from Australia when I was 22. and I’d got back into the same job, same money, same town, same lifestyle. The lifestyle I tried to escape when I went to Australia to see the world, very quickly fell back into it.

And my mom got me Lord Sugar’s autobiography for Christmas that year. And I remember reading it, and it was in my mindset. It was the people that create true wealth and deliver insane success are people that have come from places, not like where I’ve come from. So they’ve been given something, they’ve been blessed. God has graced them with a special power that He hasn’t given to me, and so on, and so forth. So I remember reading this book and thinking, “Hang on, this guy’s built billionaire wealth. I’m not seeing anything here,” because it was his auto biography, “I’m not seeing anything here that I don’t have, or I haven’t lived, or I can’t do.” And it was literally such a ping, light bulb moment that I quit my 50,000 pounds a year job. I took out a 15,000 pounds home development loan with my salary from Tesco’s.

I bought a van, I branded it Impra. I bought a set of tools. I’ve got a website. And within two weeks, my business was born and I started my company. It’s hard to describe for people, but it was almost, “Hang on, I’ve been told my whole life that I can’t do this. I’ve just read this book and he has done it. I’m going for it. I don’t even care about the risk of failure or anything else. I’m 100% going all in on this.” And that was what happened from there.

Eric:

And it reminds me of another thought. I’ve never had any inhibitions about starting a new business. And it sounds like you’re similar. And I’ve always had this comforting thought that all the resources, people, expertise, everything that I need to make that new business, whatever it is, successful, already exists. It’s there, already in the world. So what we, you and I need to do is, we just need to connect our way to it, right? We need to [crosstalk 00:12:14] together. So with that in mind, how did you go about stitching together the right relationships, knowledge and expertise to get that first business launched?

Joseph Valente:

I literally just went like a bull in a China shop, pretty much like I do with anything, if I’m completely honest. I just go for it full force, with no brakes, and hope it works out. I bought this van and I started, and I didn’t have any work. And I remember going three days in, “Hang on, I kind of need to find some work now.” And so, but I’ve always backed myself to… When the writing’s on the wall, or your back’s against the wall, sorry, is the right saying, that I’m going to come out fighting. I kind of always liked that environment. So I bet on myself that I’m going to be able to go out and win. So I went and found work. Within a week hired my first person. Within a month, my second person. Within three months, I had an office. Within six months I had two people.

And by the time I hit 25, I was doing half a million a year, but I was a gas engineer running a plumbing business. I wasn’t a businessman, right? I was, just through pure ambition, and drive, and grit of seven days a week, 18 hours a day I’d built this half a million pound company, but I was also very self-aware that my skill set needed to upgrade to be able to take it to the next level. And so, that’s when I started to search for, “I need mentor here. I need cash. I need exposure.” Like, “I’m not going to get there without something big.” Like, “Something’s got to change.” And I’m a big believer in the law of attraction.

I like to put my energy into these things. I believe results go where energy flows. And one night of January the ninth at seven o’clock in 2015, I came into my house. I had a real crap day. It was terrible weather. And I can remember thinking, “Man, I don’t know what to do next? I don’t know what my next move is?” I got my phone out. Lord Sugar’s page came up. Final call for The Apprentice. 24 hours to apply. And look, I’ve just told you I started my business and was so passionate because of Lord Sugar’s book. And I used to tweet him. I used to send fake tweets, “Lord Sugar, thanks for the meeting. Can’t wait to chat again.” Because the papers actually picked them up in 2013, 2014, they were screenshotted. And these things saying, “Was there a secret meeting in the past with Joseph and Lord Sugar?”

No, that’s just Joe being crazy, sending out law of attraction tweets to Lord Sugar. And then as soon as I saw that, I knew the universe had sent me the sign. That was my moment. I was in the exact place, right where I was meant to be there. And believe it or not, I knew from that very moment I won, I knew it, it was mine, it was already done. It was destiny. It was written in the stars for me. And so, I followed the process. I applied. I got in. I went for all the auditions. And on the 23rd of December 2015, three-and-a-half years after starting the business through reading his book, that same billionaire gave me 250 grand and became a 50% shareholder of my business. Some pretty crazy story, right?

Eric:

An absolute rocket ship. I love the grit and the determination and just the… You have a real action orientation, right? So it’s like, boom, the opportunity to apply for the show comes up. Don’t think about it. Just execute, get it done. On that subject of thinking versus doing, where do you think the dial should be from an entrepreneurship thing between thinking and doing, or does it differ depending on where you are within the company? And-

Joseph Valente:

I kind of… Go on. Sorry.

Eric:

… No, no, go ahead. Go ahead.

Joseph Valente:

Yeah. It’s a great question. And I don’t necessarily think you can be both of those people. I’ve got a business partner who’s completely different to me. He’s the thinker, he’s the logical one, he’s the planner. And if it was down to him, nothing would get done. It would be well planned out, but we wouldn’t execute anything. And if it’s down to me, loads of shit gets done, but it’s chaos. So it’s creating chaos. So in terms of finding, when you spoke earlier about finding people that are aligned to where you’re going and have they got the right talent? I look for people that have different skill sets to me. Two Joe’s does not make a good opportunity. Two Joe’s, two of me in a room together, it isn’t going to go down well. I need to know what I’m good at, and I need to hire people to compliment what my weaknesses are.

Yeah? Because I have a lot of weaknesses, a lot of weaknesses in business and in just general skills, but I’m extremely good at a couple of things. And so, I’m very self-aware about what I’m terrible at. And I don’t spend time investing on trying to improve it, if I’m completely honest, because I don’t like doing those things. It takes too long, and I’d rather improve the few things that I am good at. So I hire against those roles to bring people into the business, to compliment and create the alpha team. Me and Chris as a business partnership, we’re a lot more effective than we are apart. So that then makes the perfect hybrid of a partnership, which is the perfect hybrid of an entrepreneur I suppose. But I don’t think you can be both necessarily.

Eric:

Yeah. I mean, what a fantastic answer, thinking versus doing. Well, you need both. Respect, be aware of what you’re good at, and then make sure that you got the right people on the pitch, on the field to help you win the game, right?

Joseph Valente:

Yeah.

Eric:

Wonderful, beautiful. Earlier in the chat, in our conversation, you talked about your uncle, and you talked about how you wanted to model his success.

Joseph Valente:

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Eric:

And modeling the success of others, I mean, well, it’s one of the primary ways, obviously, human beings learn. But in your modeling of success, can you share some of the key insights that you’ve learned?

Joseph Valente:

What, in terms of just modeling success in general, across the board?

Eric:

Yeah. So we can be specific, for example, like with your uncle, what [crosstalk 00:18:54] the traits within him that you thought, “Okay, I need to be more like X, Y, and Z.”

Joseph Valente:

Okay, great. Great. Presence. Walking into a room with presence. When I walk into a room, I intend everybody in that room to know. I like that. I’m walking in, Joseph’s here now, everybody look and give me your attention. That is one. I suppose, the way that I engage with people, trying to get the best out of people. If my staff heard that sometimes, probably they’d say different, but sometimes I can be a bit of a beast. But, trying to get the best out of people. And that’s kind of what I get from him. Dressing smart, looking good, feeling good, talking confidently, being the leader. If a bill comes to the table, it was always, he would take care of it.

“Oh, I’ll take care of it.” It was always taken care of. Like, “I’m always the guy to take care of it. Listen, it falls to me. I’m the man here. I will take care of it.” So those types of things. In terms of, you could look at Lord Sugar, there isn’t too many traits that I would want to take from Lord Sugar. I’m not going to pretend. I think he’s the greatest character in terms of likeableness. But once again, I’m very self-aware. Sometimes I’m sure in a business environment when things aren’t going right, I’m probably not the greatest person to be around sometimes.

So I try to take things like his ambition, his belief, his… I say ruthlessness. I am very ruthless in some circumstances. I think you have to be if you try to drive real big success. I think ruthlessness comes down to it. So I suppose it’s about taking bits from a number of different people. And I listen to Buddhist monks. I listen to great speakers. I listen to successful business people. I listen to all different types of people and try to take each bit from them to create the best version of me.

Eric:

So we get like part Buddhist monk, part Lord Sugar, part your uncle, a few other things and we get this Frankenstein.

Joseph Valente:

Yeah, exactly right.

Eric:

Cool. Now what’s something that you believe that maybe you find few other people believe, or that they don’t believe at all? What’s something that you believe, but that others don’t?

Joseph Valente:

Anything is possible.

Eric:

Right.

Joseph Valente:

Anything is possible. I literally believe that anything is possible. I believe that you can speak anything into fruition. I mean, you just got to look at… And in terms of my belief, you look at Elon Musk and what he’s achieving right now, it’s unfathomable to so many people.

Eric:

Next level.

Joseph Valente:

I know, that’s levels, that’s levels. And I’m not even on that spectrum. But that kind of self-belief that anything is possible. If he can do it, then why can’t I? I always look at other people’s journeys and go, “If they can do it, then it’s being done.” There was the old thing about the four minute mile. There was a guy, and I can’t think of his name. I always forget it, but there was… Everybody thought the four minute mile was impossible until a guy ran the four minute mile. Then within a month, another person ran a four minute mile. Then it was 3:90. Then it was 3:80. Then it was so on, and so on. And it’s almost impossible.

It’s always impossible until somebody does it. Yeah? But what’s impossible to me is to flick a light switch and a light comes on. What’s impossible is to see a chunk of metal in the sky, flying people to another country and it landing and everybody just gets out and they’re like, “Oh, look, we’re on the other side of the planet.” That’s impossible to me. But being whoever I want to be, isn’t impossible. And if somebody can do that… And a lot of people get into a plane like it’s nothing, “Oh, well, I’m just in a plane and I’m going on a journey and I’m landing. But they don’t think, “Hang on, how is this plane flying?” Because I’ve got no idea how a plane stays in the sky. No idea whatsoever, right?

I have a rough idea, but not a detailed idea. So if that’s happening and you’re flying in the sky at 500, a 1000 mile an hour, and you can land across the world when you’re telling me that you can’t go win that promotion? You’re telling me that you can’t go and start a business? You’re telling me that you can’t become a millionaire, or whatever it is, or buy that house, or go to that place, or get that girl, or get that guy? So, look around you for inspiration of what crazy stuff has been done. And then relate that to your own life and go, “You know what? I can do whatever I want to do.”

Eric:

Love it, love it, love it. Leap, and the net will appear. That’s a quote that I live by. And it seems like we share that kind of mentality. If you could only mentor one person in the world in your way of thinking. And it can’t be a family member or a friend, you can’t do one of those cop-outs like, “My wife.” Right? Not that that’s not a great answer, but if you could only mentor only one person in the world in your way of thinking, can’t be a friend or a family member, who would it be and why?

Joseph Valente:

Okay, good question. And I’m just going to say, because I have to. I’m having my first child in eight weeks and it’s a boy. So if I could’ve answered it, it would’ve been him. He is going to be the perfect version of me, or a better version of me. Who would I mentor and why?

Eric:

Who would benefit from this bold-

Joseph Valente:

I suppose another version of me. Another teenager. His dad’s gone, his mom’s moved on. He’s there and he’s stuck, and he doesn’t know what to do. And he’s getting in with the wrong crowd, and he doesn’t know where to turn. And he doesn’t want to be a bad person, but is being a bad person because he’s angry. So just maybe that guy. Just one person, that guy, and just show him that, you know what? Believe in yourself, change the stars, become a man. Don’t worry about what’s happened. Do what you’ve got to do, I suppose. So another teenager that’s not got a father, that is about to go down the wrong path in life. And then I’ll grab him, and then I’ll pull him back and stop him.

Eric:

… Great answer. Love it. Do you feel that you’ve reached your full potential?

Joseph Valente:

I don’t try to be cheesy, but I feel like I’m only just getting started. Just getting started.

Eric:

What’s left to focus on for you? What’s the future?

Joseph Valente:

It’s so difficult, because by the age of 30, I’d won The Apprentice. I’d been in Forbes. I’d had a best seller. I did a number one podcast in the world on iTunes. I built a national, largest boiler installation company in the UK. And it was kind of, at one point in my life, everything I said I was going to do, everything I touched turned to gold. It was literally, that’s what it felt like. And so now I look at my life and I go, “Right, what is it that I actually want to do? Where do I want to end up? Who do I want to become? What do I want to be?” And I feel like the answer isn’t fully there yet. I want to achieve a 100 million valuation of my business by 35. So I’ve got about three-and-a-half years to do that.

I want to reach billionaire status by 40. So I’ve got 9.5 years to do that. I want my own TV show. And not being a star on the show, I want to be the star of the show. And like an Apprentice-style TV show. I want to create an international business that operates in every continent in the world. And I want to leave a legacy that’s going to last a 1000 years. And so, people will look back and go, “Wow, man, that guy actually left something when he left the planet. He made an impact. He helped people believe that anything was possible through what he achieved.” Kind of like what Lord Sugar did for me, I suppose, but just make it more known so people can buy into that journey. So only a small list.

Eric:

Yeah. It’s a very, very ambitious list. I think that’s great, because part of what I like to do on this show is make sure that people realize that the people I’m interviewing are just people at the end of the day. So with that in mind, I’d like you to picture in your head that you fail at all of that. You don’t achieve anything that you’ve just told me that you want to achieve. None of it. If that were to become the truth? If that were to become reality, what would be the number one reason driving that failure? Why might that happen? If that were to happen, what would be the reason?

Joseph Valente:

I mean, look, it’s very, very difficult for me to comprehend that outcome.

Eric:

If it were to happen.

Joseph Valente:

Because it will never happen. But if it were to happen, I’d have to be dead.

Eric:

Right?

Joseph Valente:

It’s the only way. Or completely incapacitated. I mean, there is no other way that it cannot happen. I’m so set on it happening, and based on my track record, and I’ve said that everything I said I’m going to do comes true. I can only now just believe that it will happen, unless I’m not on this planet anymore, or something happens to me.

Eric:

Beautiful. Love it. Love it. That’s definitely confidence. If you could share just one final tip, super practical tool, which would help a listener break free from that 98%, join the 2% of people estimated to operate at their full potential. What would you recommend that they do on a daily basis, or what’s that one powerful tip that you can recommend?

Joseph Valente:

Be better than you were yesterday in some shape or form. I know it’s very, very basic and very, very simple, but I’m always pushing people that tomorrow, you come in, and if you’re 000.1% better than you were yesterday, then that’s better than you were yesterday. If you are 10% better than you were yesterday, it’s better than you were yesterday. If you’re always focused about being better than you were yesterday, that is constant improvement. It’s constant improvement. So just own those words, be better than you were yesterday. And I know that’s quite broad. So I can give you that as an answer, as a quote to live by. But I think that’s practical in itself, I know people might think that’s a cop-out, or it’s too vague, but I think that’s quite practical. Or-

Eric:

I love it. I personally think that that is one of the most important things for people to live by is, forget about competing with those around you, compete with yourself, be better than who you were the day before, right?

Joseph Valente:

… 100%. So I can drop you that one, and I’ll drop a practical one, and that is write down your goals and review them day and night. I think one of the biggest things that’s made me… Everybody says, “Oh, goal setting, goal setting, goal setting.” And people that say they set goals, they don’t really set goals. And if they do, they don’t really review them. But in terms of setting goals, and look at them day and night, day and night, day and night. And I am going to hold my hands up and say, I do not review my goals day and night. There were days that I miss it, but I always try and get it in the morning. If I miss it in the night, I try and get it the next morning. If I miss it in the morning, I try and get it at night. But I have one of these things here called Remarkable, right? I don’t know. Is this a video podcast or not?

Eric:

Yeah, it is.

Joseph Valente:

Okay, good. So if you go here, I’ve got goals for the 21st of May. I don’t know if you can see that?

Eric:

Yeah.

Joseph Valente:

But these are my headers and I’ve got pages in each one. So I set goals like this. I set sales goals, health goals, wealth goals, educational goals, relationship goals, brand goals, networking goals, destination goals, business goals, and not-for-profit goals. And then I’ve got a page against each one of those goals outlining what it is that I attend to achieve within that month against those set of goals.

And I don’t always get all of them, but some of them. I find that I get the surprising ones that when I wrote the goals, I didn’t think I was going to get, and the easier ones I don’t get. It’s quite a strange thing. There was one that I wrote down the other day, and I live in a city here, and I was like, “Speak to this politician.” I’ve become obsessed with wanting to speak to politicians at the moment, right?

So I was like, “Speak to this politician here.” And then, lo and behold, something happened that he got promoted to the head counselor here, head of the city council. And we ended up speaking. We ended up connecting on it. And it was kind of very strange. And I look back and I’m like, “Man, I wrote that guy’s name down a week ago. And then he’s got promoted, and now we’re chatting about it.” Because I knew him anyway, kind of, but it was a strange one. But it’s weird ones like that, that come true and probably the easier ones don’t come true sometimes.

Eric:

I could totally relate to that. Just the other day. I was looking back at a list of goals that I had written. And similar to you, I’ll write them down. They get written. I don’t refer to them daily. I have the aspiration to. It’s more of a hit and miss than that. And the act of having conceived them at some point, having written them down is so powerful, because even if they’re not front and center in your mind, I look back… The other day I was looking at the goals and I was like, “Huh, oh yeah, achieved those two things.”

Joseph Valente:

Yeah. So crazy, right?

Eric:

Yeah. Yeah.

Joseph Valente:

It’s so crazy. And it’s kind of crazy, but it’s not crazy. It’s so crazy that it’s not crazy. And I’m a big believer in the law of attraction. I don’t know if you are? Sounds kind of like you are.

Eric:

Yeah.

Joseph Valente:

And so, for me, it was that whole affirmations, and sending out your desires to the universe, and asking to them to return. When you first hear about that stuff, it sounds like pseudoscience, magic. BS, most people think. And I remember when I first found out about it at the age of 24, I typed into YouTube, Oprah Winfrey, Oprah Winfrey, Jim Carrey, Bob Proctor. All of these guys, and they’re all talking about it. And then I remember, it was like I’d found gold somewhere. And I’m telling everybody around me, “Mom, guess what?”

Friends down the pub, “Guess what? I’ve got this thing where you vision stuff and you believe it, and it comes true.” And they’re like, “What a load of bollocks.” Right? “What a load of BS.” And then, I remember thinking from that day, “Well, hang on.” It’s kind of like the dad and the uncle thing again. You’re there, these guys are there. Who am I going to listen to? So then I chose… We spoke earlier about replicating success?

Eric:

Yeah.

Joseph Valente:

Do the things that the people are already doing. Follow what successful people do. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. This stuff has been done before. Okay. So follow it, watch as many podcasts as possible. Read as many books, listen to as many podcasts, watch YouTube videos, and see what these people are saying. And take the good bits that you want to take, and get rid of the bits that are not about you. And then that will give you a very quick roadmap to the shortcut to success. And there is no shortcut to success, but there is a shortcut to success as well as [inaudible 00:34:18].

Eric:

Yeah, no, I love it. I love it. And I like what you just said there about look at what people are doing, and take the bits, take the pieces that you like, right?

Joseph Valente:

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Eric:

Because there is no, like I say, there’s not like this is the way. I might have a way, you have a way. And you have to just look at it all, soak it in and determine, well, what’s your way going to be? And you only learn that by trying stuff out, like you’re suggesting, experimenting, seeing what works, discarding what doesn’t. And it’s that constant evolution, right?

Joseph Valente:

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Eric:

Getting better and better, stronger and stronger.

Joseph Valente:

And it’s funny, because if you look at Google for example, and how they run their offices. And it’s such a casual environment and people come and go and everything else. And then you look at, I suppose, even from my own style, I wouldn’t be able to run an office like that, it would send me crazy. Because you have people coming in and out, and relaxed, and doing what they want, and all of that type of stuff. And so, but obviously they’re super, super successful. And then you’ve got other businesses that are a bit more traditional office. You show up, do your thing. You get behind your desk, you do your work, you’re focused and stuff. And that works.

So it is quite surprising, but there are common traits in all of those businesses. Have you got a client? Are you providing value? Are you going above and beyond for customers, and do you bring the right people that fit your business, and so on, and so forth. So different strokes for different folks, but in each one of those success stories there will be common traits. Even if, on face value, they look like completely different people or completely different organizations.

Eric:

And there’s common traits in business, like you’re saying. And then there’s also a lot of common traits that have come up in our discussion, right? Such as, if you want to reach your full potential, you need to believe that it’s possible.

Joseph Valente:

100%. And that’s the biggest. For me, that’s the biggest. It starts with belief. There’s no point in having the finance. There’s no point in having a great idea. There’s no point in having hard work ethic. If you don’t believe that it’s going to go off, first and foremost, well, you might as well pack your bag and quit now. You may as well not even bother getting started. You either believe it 100%, or don’t bother, because it is not going to work. And at some point it will catch you up and it will fail. And I’ve seen the things that I’ve done in the past that have failed. And it was when I really wasn’t that passionate and interested in it. But also, I didn’t really believe. It was kind of a, “Well, this could work.” So I’m going in, kind of could work. And they’re the ones that have failed. The ones that have succeeded for me are the ones where I’ve just gone in 100% it’s all in, all in, all in, all in, all in.

Eric:

Yeah. I’m not going to embarrass myself by miss-attributing the quote, but there is a quote. I think I know who it is, but, “You can believe you can, or you can believe you cant. Either way, you’re right.”

Joseph Valente:

Yeah. Love that. I can’t think of who that is either, but I’ve heard it a few times and it’s a very, very good quote.

Eric:

Awesome. Joseph, really enjoyed the chat.

Joseph Valente:

Me too.

Eric:

Really enjoyed the conversation. You got lots of energy. I think you’re only at the tip of the iceberg for what you’re going to achieve, clearly, with the ambitions that you’ve outlined. Thanks for all the advice and the stories that you’ve shared. Again, really appreciate that.

Joseph Valente:

No problem.

Eric:

If people listening want to get in touch, reach out to you in the same way that you’ve reached out to people, how did they do that?

Joseph Valente:

So hit me up on social media @MrJosephValente is most of the tags. Insta, Twitter, LinkedIn. [inaudible 00:38:17]. I’ll be there in some shape or form.

Eric:

Awesome. All right. Thanks a lot, Joseph. [crosstalk 00:38:23].

Joseph Valente:

Take care guys. Thank you very much.

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Eric has been named "CEO of the Year" at the 2019 Business Excellence Awards, one of the "Top 30 Entrepreneurs in the UK" by Startups Magazine, and among "Britain's 27 Most Disruptive Entrepreneurs" by The Telegraph.
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