Alex Congdon

Full transcript: Alex Congdon on London Real

1:05 This is London Real, I am Brian Rose. My guest today is Alex Congdon, recent graduate of the Broadcast Yourself accelerator. Welcome to the show. Thank you, Brian, pleasure to be here. Tell us about you. Where are you from, what do you do? Well, I’m from here, Brian. I’m actually from the UK, but I’ve not been here for the past 13, 14 years. I live in a place called Geneva, Switzerland, nice little town.

1:32 I graduated from England, from university, as an engineer, a bit like you, but then I decided that I want to go away, I need an adventure. So I found myself, my first sort of part of my career, working abroad, in Rome, in Germany, working in an American multinational, doing that part of my life, which was very informative. I mean, life as an expat has its own challenges, but it’s a lot of fun.

2:03 I think what happened was that, with many professionals, you go through a period where you think, well, is that it? Is that really what I want to do? And I came out of that and worked in a number of smaller organisations, technology organisations, consulting organisations, which was a better outlet for my talents, I think. And more recently, in the past I guess 10 years, I’ve been dipping in and out of entrepreneurship, a real estate business, and now this current project, which I’m doing today.

2:34 And why start broadcasting yourself? Well, there was an idea there that I had about two years ago, and it was this idea of wanting to speak with people, to connect people. Something about me is about connecting people, and I had a passion for entrepreneurship. I found myself abroad, as usual, as I’m in Geneva today, and I thought, well, I want to talk with people and get them to talk about their experiences of being an expat entrepreneur. That was my thing.

2:58 But it was two years in the making. It’s been in the seed in my head, and it took two years to actually get started with it. That’s what we’re doing today. And why London Real? Originally it was my brother, actually. He said, “Alex, you need to look at this guy,” and the other guys, “you need to listen to them. They’ll teach you something about having to get stuff done.” And so that was about a year and a half ago, in fact.

3:30 So it’s been in the back of my mind, and in fact, as they say, when the student is ready the teacher appears, and it just was a very quick decision for me. Just a couple of months ago I said, I don’t even think I went to all of your webinars and stuff, I said, that’s it, I need to do this, the time is right. And there was something specific around working with a group of people, but with a very good accountability type structure, which is what I was looking for, and you had it, and that was why I jumped in.

4:04 Had you tried to broadcast before? I hadn’t, no. I mean, I’ve done some speaking before, I’ve done those things before, but broadcasting, though, I was one of those people that was always a little bit reluctant about putting stuff on social media, if you can imagine, putting a photo, all of that. And going from that to putting your image and your voice out, it’s a huge step, and I’ve done it, so yeah, huge transformation.

4:29 All right, tell me about the beginning of the class. I drop you into this big Facebook group, there’s all these people, accountability docs, live calls, I’m asking you to upload video. What’s that first week like? Well, I used to be a hurdler. I used to sit down at the beginning of the race, and it felt like that: you’re at the beginning of the race, the gun’s about to go off, but in this race there’s a curtain in front of you. You can’t actually see what’s about to hit you, and bang, the gun goes and all of a sudden, wow, this is the first challenge, this is the first hurdle.

4:59 So that was incredible, but I loved the idea of the competitive spirit within the program, and so I felt, well, I’m up for this. I want to win, I want to have my team win. So that was something which for me was a great aspect of the course. So yes, overwhelming to start with, but game on, it was a challenge.

5:23 What was the thing you struggled with the most? I think at the beginning, for me it was getting clear about my message and who I wanted to work with, who I wanted to speak with, my audience. And for me it was clear, it was all about helping expat entrepreneurs, but it took a while to get that clarity, and there’s not that much time in the program to dwell on these things. You’ve got to make a decision and move forward, because that’s the key thing, is moving forward and learning as you go forward. But that was the bit that I struggled with at the beginning, I must admit.

5:54 Okay, and tell us, what is your podcast, and what were some of the highlights of the course? So it’s called Expat Business Hero, and the idea is to interview expat entrepreneurs or other business experts and get them to tell their stories, their real stories of the ups and downs, the successes and the failures they’ve had in creating their business, and hopefully to inspire other expats to create their own business, so they can have freedom and choice in their lives.

6:21 And the hero part is interesting, because the reality is that it’s a journey doing these things, as you all know, and I want people to tell the real truth about what they’ve been going through, the ups and the downs, and also who helped them along the way. I think that people don’t relate to people if they think that they’ve done it all themselves. No one likes a smart aleck that says, “Oh, I was successful, I did this.” They want to hear the real story: who helped you?

6:54 So that’s a big theme that we get into in a lot of the conversations, around who mentored you, who supported you, inspired you, and to see if that’s something that other people can learn from. So that’s what it’s about, and it’s been a great adventure so far, speaking with people all around the world, and looking to grow it from there.

7:10 Any great guests in particular, or any great moments? Well, I mean, the reality at the beginning is that I had no shortage of guests. I somehow, in my network, found a lot of people who are entrepreneurs around the world, and they were very, very quick to volunteer, and then people started approaching me. So some fantastic guests coming up. I’ve got one of the world leaders in NLP coming on the show very soon, who’s very good at the whole money mindset thing.

7:39 So it’s really, I’m surprised actually on that side. I think it’s going to be very interesting approaching people. It’s a great licence, a badge, to go and now talk with all of the people that have influenced me over the years. Right, looking forward to that.

7:56 Tell me about the community. What are these people like inside the Academy? It’s a crazy bunch. They’re a lot of fun. We’ve got in our team people from all over the world, from the west coast of the USA through to Australia. And there’s something there, because personally, for me, I was always a little bit hesitant in working with groups to help me, and this experience has been amazing, because I found that not only have they helped me, but I’ve also found it very rewarding helping other people as well.

8:27 So the dynamic of the groups and the teams and so forth is very powerful, and it’s a great lesson for everyone listening, that this is how it actually works in life: you can’t do it on your own. And I think the way you’ve structured that program is very clever, and it appeals to people’s sense of community and helping each other, which I think is great.

8:50 What’s it like to meet them in person? It’s funny. I mean, some are a bit taller, or I’m a bit shorter than I thought they were, but they’re all amazing people, actually, with great stories. At first, obviously, you come together because you’ve got a common objective, and that is to get your message out on this platform, on your podcast, whatever, but behind them they’ve all got amazing stories. There are some amazing people there with different businesses and different objectives in life, and it’s quite extraordinary, the reasons why people are doing this today. Very inspiring.

9:22 What is the next 12 months for you? What are you gonna do with this thing? Well, I always came into this thinking I was gonna start with a video show, and that’s still my plan, but thank God I started with an audio one, because I know there’s a lot of work to do just with that. But I need to get 40, 50 episodes on the podcast up, but sometime this year I will create my video format as well, and we’ll do that.

9:47 But behind that, the objective is actually to create some programs to support these entrepreneurs. There are a lot of things that they’re asking me that they need, whether it’s things around mentoring or other types of how to create location independent businesses. So that side of it, I think, is going to come, and I think having this media channel in the front of that is going to be really, really powerful. So yeah, the next year is going to be a lot of things going on. Very busy, it sounds like.

10:26 So how is Alex different? Like, if we went down the road right now and bumped into the guy that didn’t take this course, what’s he like compared to you? Well, I’ll tell you one thing that happens straight away after I launched this, is that all of a sudden I’m going to a dinner party here, or my son’s football game there, and people coming up to me and saying, “Oh, it’s the podcaster.” So all of a sudden I have a different kind of aura around me. I feel different. There’s a confidence that you have about being clear on what you’re doing, and that’s been brilliant, absolutely brilliant.

10:59 And I’m seeing it in the interaction I’m having with other people. So I think you can walk a bit taller, be yourself a bit more. Yeah, it’s great. It’s a weird thing that happens. Yeah, and you’re just getting started. Yeah, it’s gonna be exciting. To someone who’s on the edge, who’s not sure if they should take this course, what would you tell them?

11:23 So I think that anyone that’s looking to get support or mentorship in any kind of program, I think you’ve got to look at what’s missing today in your life, and why you haven’t succeeded, why do you not make progress. And I think for me the key things here, firstly, is that there’s the whole idea of the accountability, and a lot of people just need that kick, they need that nudge, and this program will give you that. And you can’t do it on your own, it’s very difficult.

11:53 So this program is not about being the number one top expert in the world in how to do podcasts. No, this is about getting stuff done. So I think if you really are honest with yourselves and admit that you’ve struggled to make progress, then this would be perfect for you, because you’ll have no choice. You will make progress on this course, and that’s what I would say.

12:19 Alex, it’s been amazing watching you work, and you’re super prompt to do this. I have no doubt you’re gonna make your 50 episodes, because I can see you kind of got the bug now. And now, welcome to the family. You’ve got the next 12 months of accountability in your group, and just super excited to see what you’re gonna produce. Thank you, Brian, it’s an absolute pleasure. Let’s do some big things, shall we? Nice. Right, cool.