#128 The SDR DiscoCall Podcast - Stu Taylor

Welcome to the SDR Disco Call Vidcast and Podcast, a show designed for brand new sales reps working in the world of tech sales. I'm your host, Neil Buyen, and I'm going to be taking you on a journey on the SDR Disco Call Vidcast and Podcast. Did you know that you can watch this show live with the guests on YouTube? This show is available on YouTube at happyselling .io. Hello, listeners, fans, watchers, subscribers. Welcome to another chapter of the SDR Disco Call Show. And this is actually the first chapter for 2026. So happy new year to all you happy sellers out there. If you're stumbling across this for the first time, what is this podcast and show all about? Well, we work in the world of tech sales and there's a cool role called sales development, which is all about. drumming up new leads, finding new business and helping us to bring in new sales. And what we like to do is go around the world and find really cool and interesting people that work within this profession and find out what's their story to either inspire you to come aboard into this world and industry or to kind of relate to other people that are going through what perhaps you're about to go through or have gone through. And I'm your host Neil Booyan. A big favor if you're listening to this on your local podcast platform such as Spotify or Apple what would really help help us out is by giving us a rating and sharing this episode with anybody that you think could benefit from it and if you're visual like me and you're out on youtube please make sure that you like comment and subscribe down below because what you're telling the algorithm is that this is good content and more people should see it so with today's guest i've actually known them for a number of years i actually have seen them in similar companies that we have worked in as well they're a really cool book author And they've been around the block, but they're an all -round nice person and fellow dad. But without further ado, guests, could you please introduce yourself? Who are you? Where are you based in the world? And what do you do? Hey, everyone. Thanks for having me, Neil. Real privilege to be kicking off 2026 with you and your listeners. So I'm Stu Taylor. I'm based in sunny Sunderland in the northeast of England. And for all you Southerners who don't know that or anybody outside the UK shores. born and bred Northerner. Who am I? Where am I from? What do I do? So I'm currently CRO at the Lennox Academy, which is a sales training organization. I've been in sales 20 years, so man and boy. I'm really passionate about sales, about self -improvement, trying to get better. I'm really passionate about giving people the opportunity to become SDRs and change their lives because that's what having a career in sales has done for me. Thank you very much, Stu. And an absolute privilege to have you on board and like a boy and a man within this industry. Oh, that's really cool. I like that one. And Stu, outside of sales, or actually, sorry, before we get into like, what do you like to get up to with Linux Academy at a super high level? What is it that you guys do and like kind of what's your mission? Yeah, so really in a nutshell and being very quick, I don't like to make things about us, but at Linux Academy, our kind of North Star is to help sellers be better. I genuinely believe being in sales should be something you're proud of. And we've got a massive opportunity to earn more than doctors, lawyers, solicitors, and have fantastic careers. Unfortunately, a lot of people don't get the support. They don't get the coaching and the training that they need to unlock that. And Lennox Academy, our North Star is to try and help people achieve that and have those long, successful careers rather than pips and stress and pressure that comes with this career a lot of the time. A man from my own heart. Absolutely appreciate and love that. And again, we'll be giving links to find out more about Stu and Lennox Academy. And if you want to find out more and reach out to him. And Stu, outside of sales, you're a fellow dad as well. But what things do you like to get up to outside of sales and outside of this industry? What are your passions and hobbies, mate? Yeah, so they're taking a back seat recently. I've got a five -year -old and a three -year -old, so they take up most of my free time. I never knew how busy I was until I had the kids. But yeah, I do have some passions. I'm a big car man, as we would call it. I've owned over 50 cars in my life, which is ridiculous. My wife keeps reminding me. I like to try and get to the gym. to lift weights i'm not a cardio bunny i don't like running lifting weights fast is my cardio so i like to do that to keep sharp and i'm big on investing now um you know that's unlocked a big part of my life and giving me a lot of financial freedom and i've been doing that for the last decade or so so they're probably the three things that i would say i spend most of my time researching doing at the minute I love that. Thank you so much. And I think with the financial intelligence piece, I think that's something definitely we should discuss today. And what I'd love to dive in with you in a moment. But for our listeners and watchers, normally at this point in the show, what we like to do is go to our guests LinkedIn profile. And with all of our guests, you'll be able to get the LinkedIn profile within the podcast show notes, or if you go down into the YouTube description, I'd highly recommend connecting with our guests, checking out their experiencing, and also the content that they're putting out there. Stu on LinkedIn puts out a hell of a lot of great content. He also has the Revenue Room newsletter, which I subscribe to, and I love getting them through into my inbox. There's not many newsletters, Stu, that I actually subscribe to, but I do like yours, so thank you very much for that one. But what we can see with Stu, he's got an extensive career, and my guy has been in the industry, like he says, as a boy and as a man. But if we go way back in the day... Working out within financial services with Barclay. You've been a sales exec at Sunderland AFC. You've been a sales exec at Technically Compatible. You was an account director at the Test Factory. You've been a sales coach at Trenio. Love those guys. Sales Impact Academy. You've been a sales director at a Lego Slash and Refract. And I'd love to hear more. about that journey. You've been a co -author with the book Problem Prospecting, which is super cool, and we'll be giving more info on that. And obviously, as you've mentioned, for the last two years, you've been the CRO at Lennox Academy. Stu, man, you've got a wealth of experience, my dude, and you have been around and you've done many different things, but you've also worked in the capacity of sales. But sir, if we go back to the beginning of how did you get into sales and what's this journey been all about? Yeah, yeah. I think that's called being old, Neil. I've been around the book. That's why. So yeah, I've been in this business for about 20 years now, so two decades. So when I say a man and boy, I genuinely mean it. I left school at 17. I started doing my A -levels, got halfway through my A -levels. Done the first year, I thought, this just isn't for me. I need to earn some money, like anyone. And I fell into a job in a call center. So it sounds quite glamorous, working for Bartlett's Bank. it's it's it's quite far from the truth um i worked in the outbound call center from one in the afternoon till nine at night so we used to dial people in the middle of their evening meal or when they were watching eastenders or whatever it was was their favorite tv show and we used to try and tell them payment protection insurance which might resonate with a few people yeah yeah But yeah, so I'm to blame for selling some of that pain protection insurance. But that was my first kind of opportunity in sales. I didn't know what I was doing. I worked hard. I was ambitious. I wanted to get some commission. And I found out through graft and not giving up that I was actually okay at this. And that's when my career in sales started in outbound. And what I think is possibly the hardest type of sales job, you're in an outbound call center, you're attached to a dialer, you timed how long you go to the toilet for. It was a real, real hard environment. However... I wouldn't change it for the world because that really set me up to success and give me another foundations of hard work, which is something that you can't, you can't get a career in sales without. 100%. And that does ring true, like with the payment protection. Yeah, I do remember those as well. Then Barclays Bank, like being in that call center. Like when I started sales, it was telesales and it was in that call center vibe. And it's a quote that I've said many times on the show and to SDRs that I've coached. You know, we had to do 120 dials a day, two hours call time and book a minimum of two meetings. And it was just a list in Salesforce. I think it was Eloqua that was leading like the lead scoring thing that brought these leads through and you just had to like pick them off. But you had no context as to who you're really ringing other than their name and their job title. And it was soul destroying, but. you learn a lot of because all you could do was cold call right there wasn't any linkedin there wasn't any like prospecting with email and stuff like that it was just speaking to people um and i think to your point it's like a really good place to like cut your teeth yeah and again i wouldn't change it for the world because it made me like who i was and everything but the other piece that i wanted to know stew like you said you know like studying and realize this wasn't for me like i wanted to earn some cash And you then went looking for that job. How did you come across Barclays? How did you find that? What was that journey? A friend was there. The true story is we were playing pool in a pub and I found out what she was earning. It was a little bit like if anybody's seen The Wolf of Wall Street. Yeah, yeah, yeah. How much did you earn? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It wasn't those numbers. There wasn't as many zeros. But he was earning decent money. When I say decent money at the time, he might have been coming out with £1 ,500 a month, but we're going back quite a time. And I was living at home still, didn't have any outgoings. turned turned my head and i thought like i didn't know what i wanted to do i was doing my a level because everybody said that's what you should do you should go to university and i come from a real working class family like nobody in my family's ever been at university you know i didn't financially if that was going to be too big a stretch on my family for me to want to do that as well so when i found out that he was earning decent money and he was enjoying he said it's really hard graph but it's fun You know, it's a lot of people around our age. We go out a lot. We have a good time. We work hard. And I was like, I want some of this. And I do sometimes compare it to the Wolf of Wall Street with very poor salaries and less Ferraris and Porsches. But it was that kind of environment. We were in the trenches together. It was hard. It was hard, but we had fun and we made it work. And that was it really. You know, after that, I applied for the job. I managed to get it. Blagged my way through the interview and, you know, the rest is history as it's here. I love that. And you were selling payment protection, but those pink slips as payment protection. But I love it as well. Like where you say, like you're having that chat with the managers, like how much are you earning? And then hearing the earning potential. And that's the thing that draws a lot of people into sales, the earning potential. And I think, you know, nowadays in tech sales, when you meet a lot of perhaps new SDRs or perhaps people that have been sales veterans in other industries, but they're coming into tech sales, the amount that you can earn for some, like when I came in, I thought it was a scam. I was like, this must be a pyramid scheme. How could you be earning that much money? But it is literally life -changing. And I remember my manager saying to me when I went into my first SDR job, she was like, this is going to change your life. And I was just like scared, but she was right. But I think having the opportunity when you become a hiring manager and then bringing on those new people said, look, if you pass your probation, this could literally just change your life. And you know, there is so much you can earn, but so much you can learn as well. You know, I think coming into tech, it's one of those industries where you don't need to have those formal qualifications. You don't have to have those degrees. You don't have to be a technical expert to kind of break into this industry as well. But kind of going back in time again, like after Barclays, you was at Sunderland AFC. And I was a bit surprised because I've met a few people that have worked for football clubs where they've worked on the commercial side, but I wasn't really aware there was a commercial side to like football clubs. I just saw them as football clubs. But like, what's the story of Sunderland? Yeah, yeah. It's a huge arm of a football club to try and get as much revenue as possible. Everybody sees the players on the pitch on a Saturday afternoon, but that's a tiny part of it. We had a commercial department of about 11 people. Again, I'm talking at least 15 years ago. I don't know the years off the top of my head. I used to sell the advertising. So when you look around the pitch and you see the advertising, I used to sell that. I used to sell all the hospitality. So the executive boxers and the fancy, or what Roy Keane, if anybody's a football fan, what Roy Keane would coin is the prawn sandwich brigade, who are the corporate sponsors who go to the games. I used to sell all that. So that was my job. And that's hard. The hospitality industry in general is tough. It's long hours. You've got to deliver the product, which is another thing about software. You know, we onboard somebody and set their account up and away they go. You've got to feed them. You've got to try and get a good result, which is out of your hand at the football. So there's a lot more involved. But yes, so I'd done that for a number of years, got some amazing memories, met some, I'd say met, you know, with Ruben Scholes and some unbelievable footballers and, you know, people who you would talk to. It was a fantastic part of my life, but the salary was rubbish. Really? Yeah, from a sales point of view, the footballers are megabucks, right? Yeah, you'd think, yeah. It doesn't translate. Yeah, the footballers are megabucks. And again, somebody turned my head a little bit, like you said, who was in tech sales, who was making money and was like, you're wasted doing that, Stu. You should come and have a stab at this. And that's what ultimately why I decided to turn my back on the hospitality and football industry and went to work in software. And so after that, I got my first break in software. I always remember, and I'll always share this story with everyone. The first day I walked in, sat down, done my onboard and got to meet everybody. And when we started to settle and do a bit of work, I was like, this is Disneyland. yeah this is unbelievable i come from that outbound call center i come from that hard hospitality cell and then i was in this you know it wasn't even called sass when i was there this techno this tech whatever you want to call software company there's that wow this is unbelievable e i can earn great money be that people are lovely everybody seems to want to support me and i know that's not true everywhere but culture is super important and you know i've never looked back and that's why i've done things like train you it's why i coach people now because i said earlier and kind of teased it but it genuinely changed my life yeah put me on a completely different trajectory and that's why i'm here today i love that like you said like you coined that phrase like it was like disneyland it was just like this amazing space which was unreal but it had this environment of you know, great people around you that supported you, you'd gone through your onboarding. What kind of space or what space was your first software gig? Yes, it was online assessments. So shout out to Kevin Bales, who I know you know, who was the founder of that company. It was a startup. We got to about 50, 60 people, Mabby's, before it was acquired. And it was online assessments. So at that time, there was a big shift from paper assessments to doing it online. So whether that be, you know, formative assessments or summative assessments, it might be education bodies or it might just be recruitment, various different things. They were moving to a more online model and we were the delivery of that. So we would deliver those online assessments. So we were kind of in the right place at the right time selling that software. And it was my first foray into the software world. I love that. And again, big shout out to Kev. We both know Kev, big fans. I'm just curious tonight. So that guy that was in the pub speaking to a mate, he was like, you're earning, you know, a good water cash. You're selling that payment protection. Then you went into the world of hospitality and then he was coming into software. What was going through your mind in the world of like working in tech and software? Like you said, it was Disneyland. But how was you rationalizing? Like, did you feel like you was on the cusp of new age technology and you're going into the space age in the future? Like, what was that transition like for Stu? Yeah, it was overwhelming. Like you said earlier, you know, you don't necessarily need to be a technical wizard to do this. And I am certainly not. And it was overwhelming because we would do, you know. product demonstrations or whatever. And sometimes the team would talk about what technology was coming down the pipe. And I'd be like, wow, this is just over my head. And I struggled when I first started. But what I did know was hard work and sales. I had a lot of that. So I don't really care about the product and I still don't. Yes, you need an amazing product. I don't mean I don't care. I mean, as a salesperson, I don't need to know all the bells and whistles of a product. If I want to speak to a prospect. I want to know what their challenges are and how we potentially solve them. And that's what I kind of embraced. And that's what I did. And that's how I had helped me excel. But I was massively overwhelmed. I had so much self -doubt thinking, have I done the right thing? And I come from being a performer in the football club and having a really, you know, you would say a comfortable job. I was well regarded and I took a big risk, left that and went into something new and I was kind of bottom of the ladder again. And I had to prove myself all over again. But what always was the other side of the coin for me then was this opportunity. And I knew what was in front of me. I could see, you know, what potentially could happen if I become good at this. You mentioned the potential, the career. And that's what I grasped with both hands. When I got that opportunity, because I had some really, you know, shitty jobs in the past and really hard jobs in the past, I think it made me appreciate what I had more. And when I got that opportunity, I grabbed it with both hands and really ran with it. And here I am 15, 16 years later. Love that Stu, love that. And I think you've raised a good point. It's the gratitude of having that role. And I think sometimes I've worked with some people where I'm like, you've got something amazing and I don't know if you fully appreciate what you're doing or, you know, like where you're in a position where some people can't get to or haven't had that opportunity. And I think when I went into my first tech job, I was scared shitless because as a lot of our listeners and fans know, like not having that degree, there was an element of imposter syndrome. Where I'm working with people that had MBAs, you know, they've been to, they've done their Erasmus and they've got all this like knowledge. And this guy who doesn't have any business acumen is hearing all this technology. He's just been given a salary, which has doubled where he was from the call center. And he's just constantly thinking, I'm going to be seen as a fraudster soon. I'm going to be found out and I'm going to lose my job. Like here's this good money, but it's all going to go. And the other bit is restarting, you know. Like not to kind of make it all corny and cheesy, but with the new year, I always do see it as a fresh start. And anytime I join a new company, I go into this beginner's mindset. Like I am the idiot in the room. I'm not the expert yet. And it's probably going to take me a long while before, you know, I start doing good at this if I can stick to this. But I think with a lot of us in sales, there can be that point of imposter syndrome kicks in and we're worried that we're going to be successful in this or we don't even know. And we're constantly doubting ourselves as the weeks go by. And if something comes along and like unkilters us, it's like, right, this is all done. Like, do you have any advice for the people that are just getting so nervous when they're either transitioning? Like you said, you're a top performer, but now you're coming into a new industry and there is that fear. Like, have you got any tips like to deal with that, Stu? Yeah, I have. And it's something I've definitely battled with in my career. And, you know, your story there about, you know, not having a degree and such could be reminiscent of my journey as well. And I definitely thought that myself. I think the big thing that's helped me throughout my career, though, is understanding that nobody has it all worked out. We all have that imposter syndrome. It doesn't matter whether you've got a PhD, Neil, and I've got, you know, scraped my GCSEs together, right? It doesn't matter. You will still have imposter syndrome because you maybe think I'm too overqualified for this or some people who are super smart. are don't necessarily have the common sense there's different things we all yeah it doesn't matter every individual has strengths and weaknesses and when it's a new situation when you're under pressure but that imposter syndrome sneaks in so I think understanding that everybody has it right doesn't matter who you are your background what your qualifications are we all have it and anybody who says they don't is talking rubbish you know Elon Musk to anybody will have it at some point I listened to the CEO of Nvidia And Jensen, I listen to a podcast with him and he mentioned he had it, the biggest company on the planet. And he's got fear and imposter syndrome, right? So understanding everybody has it first makes it easier. It's not just you. You're not special. You haven't got this, you know, problem. And then, you know, embracing it. Fear is there to try and guide you in the right direction. It's to try and see that saber -toothed tiger coming over the hill when we lived in caves. And it's to guide you, but it's not to control you. You will be fearful of things. I call fear, what is the acronym? It's false evidence appearing real. It is true. Mind plays tricks on you, right? And you think it's real, but it's not real. It's just your mind thinking of all the eventualities so you can try and steer yourself in the right direction. And look, take a risk. If you fail, so what? Do it again. Do something else. And it takes a lot of time to get that. And I definitely didn't have that mindset at the outset. But that is huge. So if you can kind of think that through those things, whenever you take on something new and always back yourself, right? You know, back yourself, have a go through the fences. If you fail, it's not the end of the world. I'm learning one of my girls is three now and I'm learning to ride a bike. The amount of times she falls or stumbles and I pick her up and it's fine. Let's do it again. It's fine. Let's do it again. She falls off, but she will get it one point and you only need to win once. And that's something you do in software sales. You get a good gig, you earn really well, you only need to win once, you can fail three, four, five times before that. It doesn't really matter. I love that. You've hyped me up still. You've got me on this mojo of this positivity and I absolutely freaking love that. So thank you for that. And you're right, you know, I think the other thing is, like I was speaking to somebody the other day, like the failures, you know, the falling off of the bike or, you know, stumbling. I said, it's normally that when you stumble and fall, that's the biggest learning bit because you realize what isn't working and what's not taking you in the right direction because if you got it all right and ticked all the boxes it'd be a boring job you'd have no satisfaction of getting that win and and i've effed up multiple times in my career and i've had some people say like no how do you know what you know i said because i've effed up more times than you know than some people but it's because you've got to be willing to put in the bats and just like try and have it and i think with myself i'm somebody who's quite stubborn So I get annoyed until I can figure it out. And a mindset that I will have is, you know, if rather than, oh, I can't do this, I'll ask myself, what do I need to do in order to get to where I want to get to and what to do? And that's something that stuck with me when I was younger, being in those call centers or those jobs where, you know, prospects will tell you to piss off. I'm like, right, so what do I need to do to go? get past that pissed off or co -find that prospect or you know if my friends are like say nil sales tech it's a bit risky i'm like i don't give a shit i just want to give it a risk because i would hate to sit there in five to ten years and ask myself what if i did that thing because i didn't do it can't live in regrets and i think the thing with fear or you know i love that acronym so was it uh what was even real false evidence appearing real and with the fear thing like worrying about things i think i've either learned this in my meditation podcast or headspace whatever and we love a bit of meditations too but with this worrying you're do you're doing yourself a disservice twice one you're worrying about something that hasn't happened yet and two you're taking away the joy in the present moment so sometimes embracing that fear And I think I used to say to a lot of reps is like, if we did cold calling or they're about to go into their first discovery call as an AE and I'm like, are you nervous? And they're like, yeah. And I said, but that makes you know that you're feeling alive. Then you're actually doing something and you're feeling something right. But anyway, I digress. So obviously working at Test Factory, meeting the lovely Kevin Beals. You then went on to another company in the world of conversation intelligence. And I think that's kind of where we met, Stu. But what was that journey and story? So interestingly, I followed Kev. That was Kev's next gig. So Kev has been a great mentor for me. And I wouldn't be where I was. I am today without Kev. So yeah, massive shout out to Kev. So that was his company. I loved working for Kev. He created an unbelievable culture. And when he was setting up Refract, I wanted to be part of it. So I actually got made redundant from the test factory. So I got let go. after the acquisition. I stayed probably longer than I should have. You know, we talk about mistakes. If I'm honest and transparent with everybody, I was in a comfort zone. You know, I had a safety blanket. I earned pretty good money. I was comfortable. The pressure wasn't massive, but I also wasn't growing. I was treading water and, you know, we were doing okay. And I remember the CEO said to us in the sales meeting, the company who acquired us, we just need to wash our face in terms of the test factory, which, you know, the inspiration was absolutely pouring out of those words. And I didn't. from that you know i just thought i'm doing well we just bought our first house she wasn't my wife at the time but my wife and i just bought our first house obviously i had a big mortgage all of the things that come with it and those are my excuses for staying where i did ultimately it didn't work out they let me go made me redundant and got rid of the whole entire sales team and then it just so happened that the kind of universe is aligned and kev was just getting refracted off the ground again and i went I met Kev for a coffee. He showed me what the product was, which was half a dozen slides on his laptop. He talked me through what the business plan was and what we were going to do in the world. And the product that he had in his mind then was very different than the product that we ended up selling. But that was a plan. And I just knew I bought into Kev. I'd been there before. I'd seen what he'd achieved. And I knew it was a massive opportunity for me. And I went to work with Kev and spent. I think nine or 10 amazing years there as part of Refract and then ultimately your acquisition of the label when they bought us out in 2020. Love that. Thank you. So many things I can relate to, Stu, and we've gone through similar journeys, especially with Kev and the slides, and I'll come to that bit in a moment. But you raised a really good point about getting comfortable. And that's something that I've been foul of for many years, like within jobs or things that I've been doing where I don't know if it's because... I'm potentially on the spectrum, but I like structure and order. And I like things that are repeatable and things that sometimes stay the same. Right. And when things are going really good, I'm like, cool. Money's fine. I got that security. I'm all happy. Bills are paid and everything. And then the big change comes along and it completely throws you off guard. You're blindsided by it. Right. And to come into the story of like with Kev, like that mutual sort of thing, that experience that I went through. I think like for transparency for the audience, I think it was around 2022, just before 2022, like was facing recessions and worries and post COVID life. And nobody was looking for a sales trainer. And I had to kind of bite the bullet and say, right, I kind of need to get a job. And I had to go back being an SDR manager, right? After being a trainer for a number of years. But luckily I did it on a freelance basis. And again, I'm grateful to Happio, the company that I was working with, but it wasn't what I loved doing. And I found it very stressful because as a lot of people who know me, I don't like doing management. It's just something I can do, but I don't like doing it as a job. So I did that project for about 11 months. It was successful. It was happy days. And then I was lucky enough to find a client that needed sales training. And we had a contract in place for 12 months where I'd be training and coaching their SDRs. And I then for the first time went into coaching leaders. That was my first taste of it. And everything was going well. And then I had some personal problems in life, which was costing me a lot of money. But I was like, I've got the job. I'm comfortable. I can cover it. But then one day we had a call for the renewal and they turn around and say they're cutting the contract early. And I'm like, shit. And I didn't have any backup. I didn't have anything, you know, lined up. And I remember having the meeting and I remember just feeling a horrible sensation going down my left arm and asking myself, am I having a heart attack? Am I having a stroke right now? Because I was that stressed. And no word of a lie, I just shut my laptop for the day and I said, I can't do any more down talks. Woke up the next morning, turned up the laptop to try and come up with an idea to save myself. And I had an email from Kevin. And then Kevin says, and it's been a number of years because he tried to ask if I would join in the days of refract. Like he said, would I come on board? And I said, no, I'm doing happy selling. I'm doing my own thing. I'm not looking to go back to a job. And he just said, we've got this new idea. Would you be around for a chat? And I was like, I got all the time in the world, mate. I ain't got nothing going on, so might as well. And that turned into the initial chat. sharing a couple of slides and him you know talking about my sales coach and again grateful for the past three years of working with those guys and I've learned a hell of a lot but my question to you is I sometimes fall into that trap of being comfortable when things are going good and you know a point where you talked about financial freedom that is a goal of mine because one of my end goals is I want to have a life where I've got a lot of time with my son and we can go do whatever he wants to do or we can do things together. What advice do you give to the person that gets, well, to me, give me a bit of coaching here, dude, if you don't mind, like getting too comfortable, what would you say? It's a great question, Neil. That's one I've toyed with myself. You know, I, similar to you, for a very similar reason, want to be financially independent so I can do more. I can pick the kids up. we can go and spend four weeks in france or whatever the summer hold is and i want those options and that financial freedom gives you um so i've definitely toyed with this as well but i don't think comfort is the answer you know we all dream of sitting margaritas on the beach all day yeah that would that would ruin 99 of people you know you need and there's a lot of you know different words we can use like purpose or you need some something a meaningful thing that you need to do but i do think it's true like you need something but back to the original thing about comfort Because I don't think comfort is the answer. It's comfortable to sit on the set and watch Netflix and eat Doritos every evening. I love nothing more than that. I love crisp and I love binge watching TV, right? But I know if I do that, I'd be 25 stone in six months. I know I can't do that because comfort seems good and we all create it, but it's actually probably one of the worst things for you. And it's the same as anything. I struggled with this because in my career, I wanted the comfort, I wanted the financial security, and I wanted to take the stress and the pressure off by having money in the bank. But I now realize I wanted to give me opportunities to do things I love. I don't want to do nothing. You said you love coaching. I love coaching. I want to help people. So now I've moved into the Lennox Academy. And where I work now, I took a pay cut from where I was. I don't earn as much money, but I did a session for Lennox prior. I was working as a bit of a consultant for them. And I did a session. And after the session, my wife's words always kind of ring true. She was like, you can see how much you enjoy that just in your behavior after. And I was like, you know what? She's right. And I don't tell her that very often, but she was, she was absolutely spot on. And it kind of, I think, but back to the hard questions, because I know I went around the fences there. No, no, I love that. Thank you. I try to make a difficult choice now. If I'm presented with two choices, you know, it could be as simple as you've just got off the train and there's steps in front of you on the escalator. I try to take the steps because I genuinely believe hard things, problems are going to come your way regardless. If you choose more hard things, you've got more control on what those hard choices are going to be. You know, Tony Robbins, I listened to a podcast with him recently. I just, I'm a massive learner. I like to listen to all different things and Tony Robbins was talking about, you know, if you haven't got problems, you're dead. It doesn't matter the world, you've got problems or you don't do much and the problems could be going to the supermarket to get your next meal. Whatever it is, everybody has problems. Problems are a privilege. We've got them. How you deal with the stress, the pressure is the key. And that's a big thing that I work on now, trying to actually deal with that. I think you've just got to acknowledge that, look, life is going to throw problems your way, curveballs. How do we deal with them? um and that's a big thing that i'm just working on now then and you know similar to yourself we could probably you know chew the fat on this for hours on end but it's something i'm working on now massively and i feel like i'm in a better place than where i was but i'm you know far from the finished article in that regard i love that and it's not to chase perfection and it's to it's progress right and i love how you say about choosing those hard paths because like this week uh coming into the new year it's always a bit of a slog like dust in the cobwebs the frivolities i've had a lot of curveballs thrown at me this week and you know i went out for a walk with my mate my mate ashley and he's like so how's the week been i was like bro it's been shit i've had these emails i've had this notification i've got these debts these bills and things to pay i've got you know things to sort out i've got contracts and invoices and whatnot and he's just like you're always like in some sort of shit and i said you know what i am But I said, the difference is I'm more comfortable being in that now. Cause to your point, I've come to the realization problems are going to come. Life doesn't stop and problems don't stop, but it's how you deal with it. Right. And I think something I made a conscious effort of last year was going alcohol free. And it wasn't a case of, and this isn't a preach to anybody to say, stop drinking alcohol. I'm not saying that. Right. But I did realize going through those hard problems, like you wait to the end of the week and you think you have a drink. to like numb and escape and everything and i took a conscious effort to get away from that and i realized when i did that stew the problems or the feeling of those and problems intensified and you felt them more because you're with a narrow straight mind but what i was able to achieve is i went again i'm not going to go into it today but i went through a lot of crap last year i got very comfortable in certain things and a lot of curveballs were thrown but I was able to marshal my thoughts and think, right, what is it that I need to do to fix this problem? And with the amount of problems that have come in this week, it hasn't really phased me and it hasn't made me, you know, like panic per se. but it did motivate me to like on my whiteboard behind me to just come up with plans all right what are we going to be doing this year what are we going to be focused on how much money do we want to earn and what do we need to earn to be comfortable that all bills and everything are paid and to your point with the coaching bit I found this week because I had three weeks of no coaching and I disconnected from the matrix but when I went into my first couple of coaching sessions this week and speaking to these sales people catching up as to what happened since we last spoke i've hit a promotion i hit the target and then they're asking for the advice and i think that intrinsic feeling of helping people like you want to help people but speaking to people that want help can be so uplifting so even though i had a couple of curveballs in between the week and the lovely chats the uplift and like your wife said you can see that you're enjoying it and i know this is what i like to do so again thank you for the lift this week and yeah like you said just face those hard problems And as somebody who owns a business, Stu, again, a lot of people that may be listening to this may want to one day go into coaching themselves or they want to go launch that business or they want to become financially free. What problems do you think people like us may go through, but some people don't know too much about, in your opinion? What a great question. So many, right? You know, you've been doing this a lot longer than I, Neil. I have had various different things and I've kind of dipped my toe into this world, you know, and I don't think you necessarily always have to burn the boats. I know a lot of people talk about like, you know, you have to absolutely throw everything at it. If you have to have, that is your only option of success, you know, get the business off the ground and go with it. And I don't think that's true. I don't believe that. For some people, fair enough, but not for me. You know, I've got a wife, two kids, a mortgage. I've got all these things that I can't risk. on me pressure i know i'm not that person some people can't even have that ultimate self -belief that they're going to make it work i'm not that person so for me it's been about you know trying to dip my toe in the water and have a side hustle do something whatever that might be right we've never been in a world where it's easy to do something this all started this journey started for us with problem prospecting in lockdown we done some webinars because people were getting furloughed nobody knew what the future was going to hold You know, COVID was around the corner. We were all living in our houses, allowed to go for one walk a day. And that's the situation we were in. And we had time. My wife was about to give birth in three months with our first kid. So Rich, Mark and I decided we'd just do some webinars. We didn't really have any... aspirations from it we just thought we'll try and help a few people we'll share a few ideas between us we've been in this game 30 decades you know 30 years three decades so we thought we might have a few things to share and we did some webinars and the kind of attendance was blew us away and you know we've got so many positive feedback so much positive feedback and then somebody said you guys should write a book And that was the light bulb moment. And to be fair to Mark, who was the guy who really pushed it and wanted to do it, we got together. We had some time on an evening because you couldn't leave the house and we wrote Problem Prospecting. And that was just a little side hustle. A book doesn't make you a millionaire by any stretch, but it puts you out there as a voice. So we wrote the book and then other things started to happen. I worked with TrainU, I worked with Sales Impact Academy. Working at the Lennox Academy now, that opportunity come first through doing some consultancy work. I actually sold to Ross, who's the CEO of the Lennox Academy, in a previous life. Instead, when this opportunity come up, Ross, you know, tried to encourage me to come and work with the Lennox Academy. And I just knew it was the right move. And yes, it was the pay cut. I just knew it was the kind of thing that made me happy. And, you know, like you said, there's some huge reward in trying to help other people succeed. And that's the big thing that gets me out of bed in the morning now. love that mate that is freaking inspiring and what i've learned in life is the best way to help yourself is by helping other people and then good things typically come to you like off the want the intrinsic want to help people right and it's weird like you said um and like problem prospecting again i'll put a link in the comments for people to check it out it's a book i highly recommend when i'm coaching reps and said it's like the the yellow bdr bible like it helps you the cold call in with your emailing everything like that big fan But as you said, there wasn't any goal to be like become a millionaire. It was you're in lockdown. You're in this situation. Do something with your free time. Mine was I figured out I'm going to do a podcast. And like five years later, it's here and it's helped lots of people. But it then could take you and open doors to so many other things. Like you said, like with Trainio, with Sales Impact Academy as well. And a lot of the times I look back and I think it's always important to maybe make a list of the things you have done to remind yourself. how far you've come by just taking that first little step right yeah so totally inspirational mate um but it's been a pleasure to have you on board today stew and i'd like to say like if you used to go back all right let's imagine this stew you're in the pub you're playing pool with your mate and your best team and you're just about to find out that this guy earns a nice bit of dosh but then this stew taylor walks in and you come to yourself that younger version is about to like queue off what three bits of advice would you give to that younger stew i thought about this like a little bit and you know i've tried to do this with people i've worked with you know i've worked with sdrs and ees who were junior and you know in their early 20s if it's not a bit younger and i've tried doing this and i don't want to be that old man that preaches to people either so it's a fine line between trying to give people advice i'm going to pinch four in there if that's all right take a mile and i think the first thing and i've struggled with this myself is take a risk because the risks are never as big as what you really think whatever that might be back yourself take a risk give it a go what's the worst that can happen would probably be the first and that's for me because like i said i've stayed places too long i've got in a comfort zone that is personally to me i would always say that take a risk stew you know what's the worst that can happen i think the second thing is don't care what anybody else thinks right you know it comes with age i turned 40 last I genuinely don't care now I've become that old grumpy man who really doesn't care and you know my life now is to embarrass my kids not really yeah I'm there and part of that comes with age you know you definitely don't I think you can try and fake that until you make it but you've got to be less bothered about what other people care whether that's online because whatever you do right some will love it some will hate it some won't care doesn't matter what you do Doesn't matter who you are on this planet, right? You will get negative people. And that's just part and parcel of anything. If you're not getting negative people or people who disagree, then you're probably not doing anything, which is a big problem. You mentioned it actually earlier, and it's a big one for me, is keep a beginner mindset. Whether you've been in this game for two months or 20 years like me, my mindset hasn't always been a beginner. That's a lie. I definitely had a stage where I thought I knew it all and I failed miserably. But now I embrace learning. The more you learn, the more you realize you don't know. And that is just my journey for life. I'm a real nerd now. I just want to cram as much information as possible and keep learning and keep trying to progress. And the fourth one, which is really easy, and I say this to anyone, is try and invest some money. Learn how to invest. It's easier than you think. As a working class man like me, being able to invest in things has set me up for financial freedom and things that I never thought possible. So those would be the four things that I would say to anyone. Take a risk. Don't care what others think. Keep your beginner mindset and try and invest some of your money that you earn. Put that away for your future self, as boring as that sounds, because it will absolutely change your life in 10, 15 years. Well said, Stu. I freaking love that. Thank you so much for sharing. And for anybody that's interested in getting in touch, obviously we're going to put you linked in, but if they want to find you, what's the best way to get in touch with you through socials and stuff? Could you mention them? Yeah, I'm a bit of a dinosaur to be fair. I think I only have LinkedIn, so I'm not really a social butterfly. linkedin i post regularly on there if anybody wants to connect then please feel free to do so and drop me a dm if you've got any questions or anything on on linkedin like i say happy to help um or check out lennox academy if there's if you are looking at any anything like that but yeah a real privilege being on this thanks very much for having me it's an absolute blast i feel like we could have spoke all day but i i know other things to do i love that thank you and definitely would love to have you back on board and for our listeners and watchers all of stew's links uh with his linkedin profile with lennox academy problem prospect and all of these will be within the show notes so feel free to reach out connect and pick his brain and again equally if you're listening to this on our local podcast platform please make sure that you give this a rating and share stew's chapter with anybody that could benefit from it or perhaps put it on repeat and use it as your monday motivation And also, if you're listening to this on our YouTube channel, please make sure that you like, comment and subscribe down below. And if you've got a question for Stu, put it down in the comments. We'd be more than happy to answer and I'll pass these on to Stu as well. But Stu, before we end, are there any shout outs that you'd like to give on today's show? Given a couple already, haven't I? You know, my biggest people and my motivation and everything is my wife and kids and my family. So that's always the biggest thing that I would, you know, let me do what I do. I'm a really sloppy old man now with two little daughters. So yeah, they'd be the biggest shout out that I'd give because, you know, everything I do is kind of for them and they allow me to do what I do as well. So yeah, nothing else. I can't think of anybody. And if I start listing people, I'll miss people off and offend them. So simple that. Thank you. And that's just reminded me, I need to do a special thing for my son, Blake. Daddy loves you. Thank you for watching as well. But gang, thank you for joining us on the SDR Disco Course Show. If you would like to learn more information about the show, feel free to reach out. Or perhaps if you want to be a guest and you've got a story to share. Please let her know my DMs are open. But Stu Taylor, have a great week. And most importantly, happy selling. Same to you, Neil. Thanks for having me, mate. Have a good one.