Aaron Knightley: Make £1,000 a Month From a Side Hustle

This transcript is auto-generated and lightly edited for readability, it may contain errors.

[0:00] Sammie Ellard-King: Hello, welcome to the Money Gains podcast. We’ve just wrapped with Aaron Knightley, and he is the founder, CEO of Peak Performance and the Breakout Program, learning all about how you can transition from your nine to five and start your own business. Now, Aaron’s approach to social media and content and life in general is just so bloody refreshing. I absolutely love this episode. It’s gonna open eyes up for a lot of people. I’m not gonna spoil it, but seriously, listen to the next 55 minutes with open ears. Take it all in because it’s changed a lot of my thinking too. I absolutely love this episode. If you’re listening on YouTube, whack that subscribe button. If you’re listening on Spotify or Apple, hit follow and send this episode to a friend. It will change their life too, just like it’s just changed mine. But for now, let’s get started on the Money Gains podcast. Let’s go.

[0:53] Aaron Knightley: The Money Gains Podcast, financial guide, agreeable. Let’s make some break. So, Aaron, welcome to the Money Gains Podcast, man. How’s it going? All good, my man, and I appreciate you having me here, so I’m looking forward to it. Yeah, I’ve been following you for a while. Absolutely love your content, man. Uh blowing up on TikTok and you know, rightly so, some uh some wicked stuff on there. Yeah, it’s uh it’s an interesting platform, it’s a great platform, and uh one that I’ve only been on just over 12 months, which I’m sure we’ll we’ll touch on. But yeah, dude, it’s been I mean, the last 12 months have been crazy, so um, which is what I’m sure you know will probably cover off some of that as well.

[1:43] Sammie Ellard-King: So, you know, what do I need to understand about Aaron to understand you? What’s the audience gonna want to know? I think something that I’ve been talking about a lot, which I think is resonating with a lot of people, and I’m I’m definitely gonna try and not come off as strong in terms of this subject because I talk about this one a lot. I think for me, I where I’ve seen a real change and relatability from others to myself and really sort of take to my content is the realist side of me in terms of I just um I just say as it is, and I I don’t tend to beat around the bush. And I think that is it’s quite refreshing for some people, and certainly my audience is that you know, I’m not I don’t fluff things up. And the reason I don’t fluff things up about any part, any walk of life, going into business, escaping your job, or trying to change your so social circles is that one you waste time by fluffing it up, and things can be done in a way that if you get on with it, normally good things happen. Like if you just take action and get on with it and not to worry about what other people think or to try and please other people, you normally make pretty good steps in life, and that’s what I’ve done over, I would say, most of my life. I’ve just got on with it without looking for external validation or worrying about what other people think. And I put that across in a lot of my content in all areas, personal, professional, and financial. And um, and I think people like it. And that’s just I think that’s one of my things is that I just say as it is, and I’m quite marmite. But you know where you stand with me, and I think that’s what that’s what people take to. And I’ve been like that my whole life. And I I think in a world where everyone’s comparing, I think I think maybe people are thinking, I actually quite like the uh the transparency of this guy, and that’s what I’m trying to push even more now.

[3:39] Sammie Ellard-King: Yes I completely see that from you. Like that’s what drew me to you straight away. I was like, okay, cool, there’s no bullshit here. Like it’s straight, straight up, straight facts. It’s the stuff people don’t really want to hear. Kind of just like slightly underneath the surface that they don’t necessarily want to touch on. But as soon as you press that button with them, they actually really resonate with it because it’s happening to them on a daily basis, but they just brush over it like it’s kind of not there. Yeah. Do you feel like that? I do. And one, do you know this sounds really minute, but it’s a massive thing. When you listen to my content and even me talking to you now, my voice tone is very much the same. Like, I don’t put on any, I don’t put on anything. Like I don’t I don’t go into some form of an act. You know, what I’m like now on this podcast is what I’m like in real life. It’s what I’m like with my family, it’s what I’m like with my friends. I don’t change um depending on the person that I’m around. I I’m not, you know, uh we are in a world where a lot of people are chameleons, right? And that I also talk about a lot of that those issues in the workplace is that and those are the people that you do have to be slightly careful of. And depending on what you want for your life, you do have to uh be aware of these types of people that are yes people or people pleasers. And um I think that’s quite rare in a world where everyone’s trying to think, what do I need to sound or look like in order to get X amount of views? Um, I just I started this journey, and really, really funny actually, and I’m glad I said it, and this is gonna be a part of a bit of a story/slash content that I’m gonna produce. Last um about it’s about last October, I did a podcast where I said, I truly believe, and this is before I blew up really and fully on TikTok, I said, I think there’s a massive gap for people to be very authentic and transparent, and I think that’s gonna take off over this because we’ve had so much bullshit and we’ve been fed the Dubai lifestyle, we’ve been fed how nice things really are, and life’s um, you know, a bed of roses, and it’s not. And I think if you can be very authentic and transparent with the good, the bad and the ugly, I think people will take to you. I’ve done that over the last 12 months, and all I can turn around and say is I think it’s working. You know, and it also helps me in business as well.

[5:56] Sammie Ellard-King: Well, it’s something I struggle with because especially with finances, you’re uh in in personal finance, you do have to be really careful about how you come across because sometimes you know you’re pushing people’s buttons, but actually what I found is the more I do push those buttons and just say, wake up almost, in and taking that kind of tone, that content has resonated more. I get more click-through to the websites on those days, and actually people are just integrating more with my content because I’m just being frank and honest about the situation, even though it might generate less likes, the click-throughs are higher. So something’s right there, and you’re right, the authenticity thing is so mad on social media. Like we we just don’t a lot of people now just see that as the norm. Like, we have to now document our entire life. So I separate my personal account now, it’s on private. I I barely post on there. The only things I’ll post on there is it like if my mum tags me in something on a birth on my birthday, I might put it on my stories because you know it’s family, right? Like, that’s probably it, but everything has to be separate now. I don’t want my my work guys knowing what I’m up to, like outside, and I’ve really toned that back before. I used to be like 10 stories on a weekend Saturday, like, hey, I’m in this cafe, oh, we’re out tonight, you know, this type of thing, but it’s changed so much now, man.

[7:16] Aaron Knightley: Yeah, well, that that’s really important, you know. I have always I know what I get asked this a lot is that where did you learn to have this disconnection from social media? God’s honest truth. I haven’t really had to learn it. I just knew that that’s really how you should stay mentally sane, is that you that they’re two one’s one’s a false reality, but is used predominantly for business. And it’s like what Ed Sheeran said, you know, he uses his for marketing, but he sees so many people that are portraying this happy lifestyle, but actually they’re they’re probably not okay. And it is totally true. So I think what needs to happen is, as you rightly said, and that’s exactly what I did. People in my workplace were very limited, if not, couldn’t see anything of what was going on with my external business and how I was trying to build myself up. And I’ve always managed to keep the two separate. And if you have a look at my profiles, you don’t see anything about my family. I don’t post my family, I keep my personal life very separate. And that’s really important to stay mentally sane and know that your socials is not socials, it’s business. And then your personal life is separate. You can’t merge the two because I think that’s really unhealthy, especially if you’re in a relationship as well. I think it’s really unhealthy.

[8:41] Sammie Ellard-King: I completely agree. Like my nobody will know the name of my partner, I’ll never say it on a podcast, I will never bring it out, I will just refer to her as my partner, and because it makes sense, because I’m talking about couples content, I’ve got to kind of bring her up. Like otherwise, it doesn’t really work. But you know, I I feel like that separation is really key. And I I think a lot of it kind of stems from you know, you’re it’s this keeping up with the Joneses mentality that we’ve been then forced upon us, and then now we’re stuck in, and we’re kind of bringing this back to the money conversation, really, is that you you’re then stuck in this kind of need and drive to constantly compete with the people around you. And actually, the friends that used to just be your mates used to just go and knock on their door, hey John, you’re coming out today. You’re now looking at John, he’s got a a new the new the new Mercedes GLA sitting on his 23 player aren’t man, right? Cool. Well, I’ve got a one-up John, so I’m gonna go get the M3 when it comes out next year. And that’s like and that’s what we’re that we’re we’re instilled into us at the moment. And I feel like that’s such a such a big, big issue. What what what are you seeing and what are you working on with people and that side of stuff?

[9:49] Aaron Knightley: Yeah, so obviously finance is a massive part of my life, and it’s probably something that is not always known on my content, especially on TikTok, in terms of, you know, the business that allowed me to leave my job was my was my finance firm, you know, and and that really allowed me to leave. I’ve always had good relationships with money. So why have I always had good relationships with money? Another question that comes up where did you learn that and how did you adopt that mentality? I just did. I I haven’t I haven’t come from money. So I really, especially growing up, my parents didn’t have money. But also, whilst not having money, they had good habits. So I’ve never been around drugs, drink, like stuff like that. So fundamentally, my parents showed me uh stability, stability without having a lot of money, never spending anything unless you have the money. So growing up, that was instilled in me. Right. So that kind of gave me a good, I think, foundation to save and be cautious about things. But then, of course, when I got older and you know, I started exploring sort of entrepreneurial things and stuff like that, I knew that investing, you had to be quite active. You know, you didn’t just want to sit on it. But so I’ve always saved from like 16 years old, you know, I’ve always been good with money. But also from playing high levels of sport from such a young age, I’ve been very disciplined. Discipline led to me really being aware of who I am. I was never insecure. I’ve never, you know, to this day, I’ve never suffered from anxiety, I’ve never had a panic attack in my life, I’ve never had depression. I don’t know what any of that is because I come from my parents, are very cutthroat, very to the point, don’t beat you around the bush. Um, and if you want it, work for it. If you can’t afford it, wait, have patience, you know, um very kind of old school ways. And that basically just set me up to really, I was I was never like I never suffered from peer pressure. I was always quite loud, I was always quite confident, I was always wanting the attention on me. I could always hold a room, even if I wasn’t the biggest person in the room. I used this quote on a podcast the other day, which was really random. But look, if we had a zombie apocalypse, I’m I’m 99% sure I would be the guy making the decisions. I’d be confident with it. I guarantee it’d be I guarantee it’d be my plan that we execute. It won’t be anyone else’s, it’ll be my plan because um logically I I come up with with realistic plans and an approach.

[12:19] Aaron Knightley: Right. Um, it’s not going to be based on who’s the biggest person in the room. So I was then, I just kind of implemented that into my money. It’s like, right, well, can I afford that? No, I can’t. Um, you know, and I would always do my own self-checklist. You know, before I buy that, have I topped up my emergency fund? Have I got a maintenance fund? And because I come from no money, I understand what no money’s like, and I don’t want to go back to no money. And especially as having a young family myself, I knew that it was um it was about setting up stability. I was never bothered about what other people were doing. I even to this day. If someone came up to me and said, Oh, I’ve just bought a Lambo, I have no interest, like I’m not jealous, I don’t suffer with envy. I don’t know, I think these are quite rare traits. But for me, I’m very lucky in the sense that they’re just instilled in me. And and if you have those traits, you can really control your money. And that’s why at 31 years old, I have I have very good financial stability at 31 years old. More than more than most 31-year-olds, I think. It’s helped me.

[13:30] Sammie Ellard-King: I think you are a rare breed, if I’m being honest. Just like looking around me, like looking on social media, like 98% of the content that I see, 99% of the content, let’s do that 99 and 1 that you just brought up, are more on the other side. And um, you know, it that’s why going back to this authenticity thing, that’s why I think you shine through with your stuff. Um, but a lot a lot of what you um a lot of what your content is is centred around trust and like trust within the workplace. Um has something happened to you there? Is there something we should know?

[14:58] Aaron Knightley: No, so obviously I’ve been asked this one a lot because that’s sort of where people try to get to the root reasoning, I suppose, around my content, and damn it, no, the the God’s honest answer is that my content stems from yes, my experiences, but not in the sense of I’ve ever been a victim or I’ve ever um been pushed around in the sense that you know, where my content will try and empower other people not to put up with crap. It wasn’t a case of that I put up with crap because to give you the honest truth, is that when I was in the workplace, I was very outspoken, I’ve been very confident. Like I say, and and this is obviously what has helped me financially to make my own decisions, is that I was very secure in knowing myself. I’ve never let anyone bully me around, regardless of levels or ranks within the workplace. No one ever, you know, outshone me. No one told me what to do. I would always demand respect in terms of, you know, everyone’s everyone’s an equal, everyone’s a human. So I I just never what I what I was never prepared to do is be spoken to like crap, devalued and not respected. I’ve always been very respectful. I absolutely would do tasks that were asked of me, of course, because I was in my last job for eight and a half years. But I just always refuse to be this do as I say, ask how high, and um, and if you don’t, we’re going to we’re going to push you into these god-awful things with human resources, the performance reviews. And also I wouldn’t actually allow it for other people. So if I saw someone else being spoken to wrongly, I would also address it on their behalf. I could never watch from the sidelines. God’s honest truth, I can’t keep my mouth quiet if I see something wrong. I’m also the same in the street. If someone was mugging you, you might see you might see 20 other people sitting there just watching it, not wanting to get involved. I’ll get involved, I’ll stop that mugging. I won’t stand there because I won’t sleep that night. That’s the way I’ve been brought up. I won’t, I wouldn’t watch an old lady get pushed down the road by a couple of young youths. Wouldn’t happen. Not if I’m there. So I know my worth, I know other people’s worth, and um, and everyone’s a human at the end of the day, and respect, you know, I’ve been shown huge amounts of respect by ultra successful people. It’s it’s now my duty to empower other people to expect the same for them. So, no, a lot of my content actually, yes, I’ve had experience, I’ve had issues with human resources, I’ve had issues with managers, but was I ever uh was my self-esteem ever lowered? Not never, never, never dented. Was my confidence ever lowered? No, never dented, ever. I’m very, very headstrong, very headstrong. Um, but uh, but it’s more about empowering other people and making them aware.

[17:50] Sammie Ellard-King: It’s a it’s a constant battle because I uh a lot of similarities to you with me is that I wouldn’t I’m never worried you put me in any room, CEO, doesn’t matter who you are, if that decision you’re making is I know is gonna be detrimental to the business in some way, shape, or form. 100% speaking out. I’ve always been like that. Often I get looks from people in the room like, how are you going this far? Like, how are you how are you disagreeing to this point where you’re almost saying, we are not doing this, like I’m not gonna let you do this, I’ll go that far. And I just believe in myself that much to be able to be able to go and have those types of conversations. But it can also rub people up the wrong way in certain situations too. But I I found that people find uh, you know, when I’ve had those uh god awful, what’s those, you know, when they send that note around to everyone in the in the office and they they all fill it out anonymously about you and it comes back in. It’s like an 80 to 20 or something like that, or some weird little thing.

[18:51] Aaron Knightley: Yeah, what yeah, we had our own version of that, yeah. You get feedback and you’re like and a lot of things is like I can be um not approachable so because of the way I’m I’m outspoken so much. How do you find that you manage that side of stuff? And uh, you know, do you do you work on that side as well? Well, well, when it comes to people skills, I’m actually very good at people skills. You know, that’s how I’ve built a network of $2.8 billion, you know, a very important network. So when it comes to people skills, I’m very good at net, I never I don’t hold a chip on my shoulder. I think from my background as well, growing up, and the you know, the people that I was growing up around, you know, seeing people who didn’t have a lot of money and you know, just uh enjoying life as it is. I so I’ve never really had this kind of ego. You know, I of course there’s been some form of an ego because you have to have some, but in the terms of a negative ego, you you know, you can’t do wrong, and you know, you you you dislike people more than you like them or get on with people. Nothing like that. I’ve always been very open to everyone, regardless of their background, regardless of where they come from, regardless of what their parents are like. You know, that’s never really bothered me. Even even today, um, I’ll have a good I’ll have a good laugh with anyone. Like so people skills has just kind of been a uh a strong point of mine. And it also reflects in my son. My son, excuse me, my son can get on with anyone, and he has great relationship skills with with just everyone, and that’s a real good trait. So I think that’s helped me. So when it was in the workplace, you know, we can we can just be very black and white with it. Would I ever ever put up with crap or or see crap or or see mistreatment to other people? No. But would I get on with absolutely everyone to the best of my ability? Yes, without without any effort at all. Very polite, would get on with everyone, but you know, the the buck stops when people aren’t valued and there is just outright rudeness and disrespect. Because that that that that can never ever be justified by a pay packet.

[20:58] Sammie Ellard-King: And that kind of leads us on to, you know, what you think uh I you know, I I watched a video on it, I thought it was brilliant and actually really eye-opening uh about toxic workplaces. We don’t talk about this enough, and I’m really glad that you’re kind of pushing this because I do think it’s really important to see and spot these signs because you know, a lot of good people, good-natured people will just sit there and take a lot of these things until it builds up to the point where they’re taking it outside of work and putting it into situations where they never deemed it, really wanted it to be affecting their lives, but they don’t realise subconsciously that it is. So, what are some of the key signs that you see about toxic workplaces? I think depending on what you want personally from life, you’re gonna see things from a different angle. So, if you are building a business and you’re wanting to work for yourself, you’re going to see it from a totally different angle. You’re gonna, when you start building your own business, you’re going to have a bit of a light bulb moment where you’re like, fuck, I I’ve been putting so much time and effort into another company where you have this wake-up call of being reminded that you are a number. You know, you could have four or five promotions, you could be the teacher’s pet for six months straight, but ultimately you could be out the door the day that AI wipes out your job, or the day that they just decide that they need to cut costs. And, you know, your four or five promotions and your dedication and your yes man, yes woman situation for the last few years and doing as you’re told, like a good little boy or girl, meant nothing. You know, so when you realise you’re starting to build your own business, you really see you see you almost get a little bit of a taster of that light at the end of the tunnel, a little bit of financial freedom, financial stability. So if you’re coming from that point of view, your views on the workplace are going. Going to be looking at things and signs of mistreatment and wrongdoing. Being spoken to uh as you as if you’re not an equal, that’s not acceptable because you’re gonna be building a business, I would like to think, where you’re gonna start a business in the right way of a happy culture, of a fair culture, equal rights, you know, the ability to have real person, you know, real and personal growth. So that’s gonna uh bring up some signs. When people talk down to you, that’s not gonna be okay because that’s not what you’re gonna be doing. If you’re just in the workplace and you have no interest in building a business, the signs are, and I think everyone should have standards and a benchmark to set themselves, is if you are going home, and I know many of these cases, let me just say something right now. Even to this day, as we speak this morning, I’ve probably had six of them. In total, now I’ve probably got, and they’re unread. I I’ve read some of them, but they’re unread to those who send them. Uh, probably about 120 long, long, maybe three, four hundred character, uh long messages about just mistreatment. You know, and just to state some facts, because people say, well, you know, it’s a very few that say this, but where some people say, Well, you’re just bringing a negative light. Absolutely not. I uh this is all it’s called is awareness. There is no negative light. This is there are alarm bells that I am ringing that have not been brought to the forefront for such a long time until socials have has become a thing, you know, and we’re talking, I’ve done 250 plus million views. We’ve done over a quarter of a billion views in less than uh, sorry, in just over 12 months. And I would strongly say you’re probably looking at about 75% of those views are in favour and being watched around the workplace videos. Yeah. There is a massive problem. There is a massive problem. So if you’re remaining in your job and you’re going home and you’re taking out on your family or you’re acting different, and also you’re not able, especially as a man, you’re not able to vocalize it into words. Maybe you struggle to put things into words and you’re going home and your wife’s or your wife or your partner saying, What is wrong with you? Like, why are you being so miserable? You know, there’s so many men out there that aren’t saying anything where really they should be turning around to their wife and saying, I am a provider, but I’m struggling to say this. I’m really being affected by my workplace. And I don’t know how I’ve been, I actually been struggling to say to you and the kids, I don’t think I can be here anymore. And I’m worried that that makes me someone who’s not providing at the moment. And actually, most of the partners should turn around and say, Oh my god, I wish you’d have told me earlier. This explains why you’ve been miserable or you’ve been taking, you’ve been snapping at the kids. If you’re in that stage, you need to go get another job. And and the important thing here to remember is this is why you can’t get attached to titles, because if you are given that back rub and you are told, well, you’re gonna be a general manager, it’s gonna be really hard for you to leave that place as a general manager, which is making you unhealthy, to go and call yourself a night stacker in Sainsbury’s. But you’re gonna be happier mentally. So it’s all around awareness, but the signs are the biggest one if it’s affecting you mentally and you’re taking it out on your on your family. That is the biggest telltale sign. You need to go get another job and start somewhere new. That’s it.

[26:03] Sammie Ellard-King: I love that, man. What a what a great explanation. I I um you know, you said something on one of the videos that really got me, which is what you would ban the word manager. Yeah. Why was that? Yeah, so I did, yeah, so I did a video recently. Uh I mean I’ve said it in a couple, but maybe it was the one most recently, where yeah, if I could change five things, and by the way, we do this with peak performance, um, which is probably gonna have sort of most staff um in that company, is that I would replace the word manager because we are in a world where, let’s face it, we’re clinging on to some pretty old sayings: business is risky, getting a job is secure, going to university is the only way you’re gonna get a high-paid job. You know, we are hanging on to baby boomer stuff. We’re we’re almost like in World War II still. We’re still living in the industrial age and we’re not there anything. Yeah, we need to move on. You know, they say 90%, and I’m gonna tie this all into your question, but they say 90% of all businesses fail in the first two years. It’s not, it’s 18.4% now. When’s someone gonna address that apart from me? Like, you know, so you can’t keep listening to your uncle who’s like 57 or your granddad saying, Don’t do that, go to uni, because do you know how risky business is? Well, firstly, granddad, how many businesses have you run? And two, grandad, it’s 18.4%. And even your granddad won’t believe you. Your granddad still won’t believe you. He’ll be like, it’s not, it’s 90%. Well, grandad, it’s not. Like, you know, you you are just you’re an old dog who we can’t teach new tricks. There’s nothing wrong with that, granddad. We love you, but this is a pointless conversation to be having. But it’s like manager, it’s an old terminology which um instills that feeling of power hungry. Manager stands for man management, which means uh which is also aka control. Manager is very um egotistic in its title in itself because there are too many case studies around the world day in, day out, week after week, month after month, year after year, where everyone loves to say to someone else that they don’t know, I am a manager and I have people under me. This whole under me, no one’s under you. No one’s under you. So manager, I would swap for leader, because leader still does the same role, but it’s in a proactive moving forward together way where the leader will lead by example. A sergeant and a corporal will never say, go over that hill and clear that room without being the first one to go through the door. So everyone will back them. And someone said to me yesterday on a live, Aaron, I am a general manager, how can I be better? And I said, Don’t work for the company, work for your team, and your team will look after you. And she was like, Oh, yeah, I haven’t seen it like that for a while. I was like, Yeah, how long have you been working for your team or your company? She’s like, Yeah, I’ve been working for the company. I’m like, Yeah, start working for your team, start putting them first. Have have you provided when was the last time you sat them down and said, What do you need from me? Give me a review. How well am I doing? Oh, oh, I’ve never done that.

[29:12] Aaron Knightley: Yeah. Well, there we go. So, manager, I would get rid of for leader. I would then get rid of titles. I wouldn’t have titles, I would have levels. Level one, level two, level three, level four, level five. Um, they can all have their own definition of what that level entails, but it’s not very, it’s not very um exciting to tell someone else what level you are, is it? Yeah, nice. So we remove we we remove that ego and that that sort of power hungry feeling. And then I would I would, I would, I would build in leader reviews where the team actually get to sit down and do like an anonymous review of how their leaders performing. We do all these performance reviews for the staff, very, very rare we do it for the leaders. And then finally, I would not have the word employee. I think employee in the current day and age is quite degrading. I think it’s condescending, I think it’s belittling. I would have team members. What’s a team working together? Employees is very under you. And the only people that disagree with these changes are power-hungry people.

[30:31] Sammie Ellard-King: I completely agree with what you said there. I think like for me, one of the big deal about this is that I used to have a big team underneath me, you know, team members uh as such, they weren’t I didn’t see them as employees, I saw them as human beings, and I always put their personal growth and their person their personal life as well before the actual job and the task. What that did is then generated way more output and trust in the mission and trust in the team in where they wanted to be, they valued coming into work, they wanted to be at work, they were more honest, there was less mistakes made because everyone was just on it and because they really enjoyed the environment, and actually fostering that, you know, if you’re if you’re if you if you’re creating a dodgy environment at work, what are you creating at home? Like, how are you in that environment? Is that the same environment that you would like to be in? And you know, if you’re a manager now, like how are you treating that environment that you’re creating? Is it at 5 30 down tools, and suddenly this nice guy pops back out after being an arsehole all day? It doesn’t work. Like, so I think that we there’s a lot of work to be done about this. But I didn’t want to get too far into the podcast without talking about the breakout program and uh and your um you know your nine to five mission. I was very interested in in talking about it with you because you know it’s a big thing, especially on this podcast, you know, we’re talking about creating new income streams, starting businesses, and also you know how we can help people level up and often business and starting a business is the way to do that for a lot of people, yeah. Um, that is. Um, step two was around building a business. How do you actually go about finding these businesses and you’re going through this program? Because there’s millions, there’s millions, it can go in so many different ways. Is there is there certain like categories that you fall into?

[33:37] Aaron Knightley: So, yeah, so just to give sort of background um on the breakout program. So that came from a huge demand, specifically from TikTok, where you know, quite literally every day I was having people reach out to me saying, Aaron, I want to get out of my job, uh, you know, I love your content, I want to get out, I want to do that. So that and this was this was just on the mass, especially when my channel blew up and you know, I hit sort of like in a week when once I’d done sort of something like 18, 19 million views in a week, you know. I just had I had just this abundance of and this influx of uh demand. And like with any business, one thing that I’m always learning, but I but I but I know is that you build a business off of demand first before you ever really launch it. So I had this demand ready to go, and also I’m a big believer in proof of concept. And what I mean by proof of concept is that if you’re gonna bring something to life and you’re gonna really dive into it, is make sure that you’ve you’ve done it and you’re coming from a place of experience and proof of concept. So I had that behind me, which um is one of the reasons why I had a really cool trailer sort of promo of my life put together most recently, which was shared. And you know, I’ve I’ve managed to leave my job. I managed to leave it and I applied traits and habits and discipline in order to pursue getting out of that job. And I was very calculated about it. I held emotional mastery to the highest standard. And the breakout program I put together, and for all my members, which are on a private Facebook group and they’ve entered the full program and there’s masterminds, there’s this five and a half hour video program, four modules, there’s homework, there’s value stack items, they get access to everything I use on a day-to-day basis. Um, I’m heavily involved in it. I wanted, so we had 241 applicants on release on the 7th of August. Uh 280 pounds, but it’s not a commodity. So I run intakes and I will pick, I hand pick the applicants. So I have applicants every single day, pretty much. There’s not a day that goes by I don’t have someone apply to join the program, which is awesome for me as a business. You know, it’s great. I could, you know, I could have opened up the doors and made this a quarter of a million business in like the first six months, you know, quite literally. But I didn’t do that because it wasn’t going to massively change my life financially at this point. But what I do want to do is to everyone who says you, well, you can’t start a business, you can’t leave your job, Aaron. That’s a very unique thing for a very small minority. I disagree. Do I think everyone could be an excellent entrepreneur and really successful business owner? No, but I do believe everyone could bring in an extra thousand pounds a month minimum. Everyone, I do believe that. 100%. I truly believe that. I truly believe everyone could be a lot smarter with their money, which would make them happier. I believe everyone could be smarter with their money and business decisions. So they’re not forced to go into a place where they hate their workplace. And to throw that fact out there, and I think it’s important to back this up, 85% of the UK working adults dislike and hate their job. That was a that was a survey done this year. That’s 43, that’s on average, or an estimated 43 million uh working adults in the UK. That’s an hour, that’s a horrific stat. Like 85% do not like their jobs, but it’s their financial situation that forces them there. They are not financially empowered. So when I put this program together, it was with the simple goal of showing someone how to very uh calculate it in a smart way over a sustainable period of time in a realistic time frame as well, build the side hustle, learn to scale it, systemize and process it, and then uh get it up and running, work it alongside the job to eventually get yourself to a position where you will know roundabout when you can leave and then scale it and run that full-time business. But you you go through there’s such an in-depth process, and you know, don’t get me wrong, I’ve had people say, Oh, it’s a scam. You like if you bring out any type of program, someone will say it’s a scam. £280, and I can tell you now, just from the masterminds alone that I run, um, with some of my good friends who come on, who turn over 100 million uh a year plus, uh the 280 pounds is a steal, like it’s peanuts, like God’s honest truth. That program, I could probably sell it for six, seven, six, seven grand. That’s probably what it’s worth. And it’s 280 pounds. But if you go on my breakout Instagram page and have a look at the testimonials and what’s coming from it, and I showcase, like it’s awesome. I’m extremely proud. And that’s a company that is like it’s it’s like my real baby, and I have a real passion for it, and I want everyone in my program to have an incredible success story. One that’s going to do me justice, and that’s gonna that’s gonna prove a lot of people wrong. But I’m also gonna have almost like members, elite members, go on to build their own businesses. Some of them already have their own businesses now, and they’re scaling and they’re trying to get to this replace um your income stage. And um I’m extremely proud of it. So that breakout business, I can’t wait to produce elite members who leave their jobs and run a full-time business so that I can show to people I told you so. It’s possible. It’s possible. Yeah, but that’s why I choose the applicants, mate, because um I want to vet people before they come in to make sure that they back themselves as well as I back them. That’s why I choose people. So um, but yeah, I love that. And that’s that’s one of my that’s one of my proudest moments really in business is starting this company.

[39:20] Sammie Ellard-King: I really love the way that you’re approaching that, man. Like it’s really refreshing again to hear like you’re not just opening the floodgates because within that, you know, I’m sure I don’t know what the percentages are like, but I’m just gonna pull some out my ass. But let’s say 70% of those applicants aren’t actually gonna follow through with it, but they will pay for it, then that’s not gonna do you any time. Like you’re spending your time on these group calls and training and putting together all of this stuff that’s just gonna be a disservice to your product and to them as well. Like, why why spend 300 quid or 280 quid on on it? Like, if you’re gonna go in, go in with it wholeheartedly, and knowing that about yourself is just gonna be like, as you say, if you get 280 elite members, let’s say, like, wow, man, that’s gonna you’ve got 280 case studies that are gonna sing your hymn sheet for the rest of time because you changed their lives. Like, that’s so powerful for for anyone. I love that, and I agree with you, like everyone’s got it in them to make a thousand pounds a month, and if that business that you create is only a grand a month, then great, like brilliant, well done, like absolutely hats off to you. No one’s gonna ask you to turn around and be the next Elon Musk and create a 250 billion pound business. If it that business goes on to, you know, make a quarter of a million quid or a million quid or five million quid, great, like well done again, like hats off to you. But that was you know, you did a great job on that. But if you don’t go on to that and you just end up being able to pay for your kids’ Disneyland trips or whatever that might well be, and amazing, absolutely amazing.

[40:53] Aaron Knightley: That that’s all it is, it’s just those little changes. And the thing is, I I do feel that sometimes, and this is why I probably try to not come off as strong because I I can I can really get into this quite passionately. And I, you know, I’ve told by my wife, I need to tone it down a little bit. I get it all the time. She calls me stone cold Sam. I yeah, I I can come across, but look, this is why the whole cost of living, I do struggle with it because one, I don’t listen or read or watch the news. So that that eliminates negativity and that eliminates the doom and gloom mindset of oh my god, what is the point? Like it’s all we’re all gonna die. It’s all it’s all catastrophe. You know, World War III is upon us situation. Once you eliminate that, um you become you become happier and almost more positive in your in your day-to-day because you’re not you’re not uh choosing to bring negativity in your life. And it’s the same with people. Uh, but then with the cost of living situation, is that okay, I totally, I totally get. I come from no money, so I I get it. I have to remind people that. Look, I I get it, I get what no money is. I really do. Like believe me, I really understand what that that’s like. But you know, going to the petrol station and filling up your car and going, oh, it’s gone up by 70p, you know, it’s £1.5 for petrol, and that’s now that’s £1.75 or whatever. Moaning about it or looking at that fuel meter is going to do nothing. What you need to do is you need to go home. You need to have an honest conversation with yourself. You need to do a full financial evaluation of what comes in, what goes out, being very honest. What do you really need to live on? And then you need to work out your time evaluation, right? Where’s my time? How much spare time do I have every week to counter this problem of going to the petrol station and moaning about the increase of 70p and going to Sainsbury’s and saying that, you know, a nice bit of pumpkin seed bread has gone up from a pound five and now it’s a pound eighty-five. Well, if you still want to buy your pumpkin seed bread, which I like, which I had last night with my suit, is that um you need to figure out how to bring in a bit of extra cash.

[42:50] Aaron Knightley: Yeah. Everyone can do that, but of course, there’s always some smart, clever dicky who says, Well, how’d you do that? Well, if I have to tell you that, one, that’s concerning. Secondly, exactly how I did it, you have to go learn. And most recently, this is the type of people and the mentality that we need to avoid. And this this is really concerning. I did a bit of content where I said to avoid the cost of living situation, you need to earn more money. It’s very simple. And someone put, oh, this Molly-Mae over here, you know, if you’re homeless, just buy a house. And I thought, oh, here we go. And this guy put, Aaron, I have a young family, I work full-time. It’s not just that easy. When do you expect me to work? During the night. Yeah. That’s what I did. I don’t know what else to say to you, mate. Yeah. I did it, I replied to him in a video. That’s exactly what you do, yes. You go to work, you come home, say hello to your family, eat your dinner, let them all go to bed, go back downstairs into the dining room or the lounge, open up your laptop and work for another three hours. Oh, well, does anyone do that? Because I’ll be tired. Okay, there we go, there’s the problem. Or let’s take it back. How many hours do you spend on TikTok? And Instagram scrolling at far ass things. Well, I’m not letting you see my hours of what I watch Instagram or TikTok. Okay, so what we’re doing is we’re addressing the real problem, but we’re doing a bit of denial on a head in the sand situation. So you can only help some people, but only if they want to help themselves.

[44:19] Sammie Ellard-King: That is so true, man. Like, as to start Up The Gains, I had a very good hospitality business, doing well. Could have just stayed in that. I could have been happy, could have cracked on, but didn’t want to do it. I want to start something else, I want to build something for myself. So, what did I do? I woke up at 5 a.m., did four hours, got home, said hello to the missus, hi darling. You know, had a bit of dinner, cooked a bit, had a couple of hours chat. She went off to watch, you know, reality TV and I cracked on for three, four more hours. So I did a full working day and another full working day. And I did that for 18 months and then I had a business. And then I like that was the sacrifice I needed to make. I was very honest with my partner, we’re about to go through this. Are you okay with me going through this? Yes. Okay, great. Now we’re in. That’s what it does take. And um getting people to realise that because I get it all the time as well, man. Like financial content, they’ll be like, Well, you know, it’s all gonna crash tomorrow. And I’m like, Oh man, like I can’t help you if this is what you’re gonna put on TikTok in response to this. You need to go and do your research and learn.

[45:24] Aaron Knightley: Yeah. And this is why your circle’s so important. You know, a lot of people say, How do I start earning money? Well, look, let’s before we even get to the money situation, there are three key things that need to be done. One, you need to do your own financial evaluation to make sure that you your habits are in place, you’re doing your fundamentals. That’s the first thing. So don’t even start thinking about making or investing. Secondly, is your time evaluation, and thirdly, is your social evaluation. Those three things come well before any business or Any money making decision that you ever do, your three evaluations need to happen financial, time, social. Once those three are aligned and they’re good, you are now ready to move into the next phase of looking at a potential business and what the layer of the land looks like in that respect. But also something that’s really, really important is that you have to have a reason why. It cannot be monetary. I I get asked this one quite a bit, you know, what made you do what you do today? And the honest answer is it’s my son. You know, I and I had my son early, and I think that was a blessing because I got my skates on a little bit earlier than some other people. You know, I got my skates on uh at 19, you know, going on 20. My son was in the world by 20, he’s now 10, he’s making all the noise in the world, as you can hear. Excuse me. So yeah, he he got my skates on. And also, rebound time, you know, when you have a bigger reason than yourself and buying Levi jeans and financing a car, when you have a reason of providing for a child and you have real life perspective, when you come upon hard times, it’s so much easier to rebound for a real reason, which is something like your child or your family, opposed to going, oh well fuck, I need to overcome this hurdle because I’ve got a 740 quid finance payment to make on my on my Audi. And, you know, I promised the new bird that I was gonna buy her, you know, a nice Ivy Asia this week, and I was gonna get her whatever. Those aren’t tangible reasons to get back on the horse. And believe me, you’re gonna fall off the horse many times. So there’s so many key things to do before you ever start making money. And a lot of people just don’t like to look at those things because they’re the boring, mundane, truthful, uh, you know, the truth hurts sometimes, and they don’t like to look at that.

[47:46] Sammie Ellard-King: Yeah, literally got a video drop in today. It’s called Start With Why. Um YouTube video about exactly that. I have my goals, uh, they’re not financially motivated, they’re real, tangible goals, mine are creativity, positivity, and energy. I want those three things in my life. And how can I go out and create them? Money is the vehicle to give me those three things. So by giving me those three things, I need money to do that. So I need the business to create these three things, and the business also feeds into these three things that I want in my life, and that’s my why, and that will feed me back. Like, I don’t want to be around toxic workplaces, I don’t want to work for a bunch of dickheads anymore. Like, I want to go and find out and I want to create and be positive, and I want the right energy around me to do that, and so that’s my why. And I and that and I think it’s really important. So I’m so glad you said that. And a great book for that is Simon Sinek, Start With Why. It’s uh probably one of the best business books going if you want to look into start a business.

[48:45] Aaron Knightley: Do you know one thing I would really say to people, and I try and empower this as much as I can, is is the the change of your social circle is just um it’s underestimated. It’s so underestimated, swapping swapping the norm or the negative for something far greater and ambitious in terms of the people that you’re around. You know, I’m very blessed. What was I always around the people that I am now? Of course I wasn’t. I was around dickheads, I was around people who wasted time, I was around people that loved the gossip, I was around, I’ve been around the worst, you know, I really have. And there was no growth, there was nothing good. I became a person that no one really liked. I I gained nothing. It was very short term, and there would have been no great outcome. What would have been guaranteed is regret, bitterness, and um wasted years, really. Whereas now I’m around ultra successful people, charitable people, nice people, supportive. Aaron, I’ve got your back. Aaron, if you don’t know how to do it, pick up the phone. Do not hesitate to call me. Come up to the office. Aaron, you need anything, let me know, and I’ll uh I’ll make a couple of phone calls. You know, it’s just it’s inspiring. And then you want to help more people as well, you know. Uh and that was one of the last conversations that I had in my workplace. And I did a bit of content about this. On the last day that I left, I said to them, the biggest boss, I said, I’m I’m off. And she said, you know, are you really leaving? I said, Yeah, I just can’t, I can’t comprehend what’s going on here anymore. And she said, you know, what? Like, what is it? I said, look, I said, I think you know a little bit about what I do now. And she said, Well, yeah, I know some of it. I said, When I’m not here, I just want to give you some context. This is what I see. So I said to her, Step in my shoes. I’m around, I’m not sort of gloating about this, but I’m around multimillionaires. And multimillionaires are actually really nice people. Really nice, you know, this whole bar humbug screwed, they’re all greedy robbing bastards and all this. They’re not. I mean, that’s just so cliche and made up, you know. It’s a wives tale. And I said, uh, they help me, they’ve helped me build my business, they’ve provided me clients, uh, I’ve collaborated, I’ve been motivated, I’ve been spurred on, I’m uplifted, motivated. You know, every word I I’ve seen, I’ve seen a better lifestyle and the respect. And I referred to one guy who’s a good friend. He joined my mastermind not last week, the week before. He turns over just under 200 million. He’s a very good friend of mine. I’m seeing him tomorrow actually after the podcast. He has over 250 staff members, and um, he came from nothing, and he he’s a very good friend of mine. He has helped me beyond belief. And I said to her, I am shown all the respect in the world by such successful and incredible people who turn over hundreds of million, and you would never know. And I have to come back here on a Sunday to Wednesday and listen to some of you who are on 40,000, 50,000 talk to assistants, cleaners, like they are bits of shit on your shoe, and you th and you think it’s okay. It’s not, it’s not okay, and I refuse to be a part of it, which is why I’m so passionate about this. Um, I’m covered in tattoos, um, but yeah, I’m I’m I’m around people who are just ultra successful and incredibly incredibly charitable and helpful, and everyone can do that. There’s no discrimination in going and meeting great people. Everyone can do it. And then when you meet these incredible people, you’re like, why am I putting up with no, it’s not okay. It is not okay. And I haven’t realised over a period of time my self-esteem has been lowered so much I’ve not even realised that going into a workplace being spoken like that is okay. It’s not. So I’m being the voice because everyone can change their circumstances, they truly can. I’m a big believer of that.

[52:45] Sammie Ellard-King: Rate long may I continue. I absolutely, you know, I think you’re doing some absolutely incredible work, and and you know, it’s testament to where your channels are growing and your businesses are growing because you’re banging a drum that really needs to be tracked banged, and not and I don’t think anyone’s really ever had the balls to. Um so I you know, I love it. I love seeing it. Lastly, I just want to chat quickly about peak performance because it’s something you know you uh you you partnered with Paul on that. Is that yeah, yeah, Paul’s great. I think that’s it. Yeah, so Paul, yeah, so Paul was my first YouTube sponsor, and then during that we we spoke about the idea of building a business together because we just get on like a house on fire, and we have done, and I don’t think there’s been a day for nearly two years now. We’ve not spoken, there’s not been a day we haven’t spoken, even on Christmas Day and stuff like that. We we talk maybe six, seven times a day, and we’re just very aligned. And it’s like um, you know, we started this company peak performance, it’s grown you know, beyond belief. We we couldn’t we couldn’t have ever predicted how quick this company’s grown and and where we’re going with it. Um, and we just wanted to change the game and again have people come from the workplace, you know, get a cheat. You know, I’ve got a guy who came off of TikTok who’s pulling a sicky to come, you know, to the event. And I’m glad, and you know, that’s a great reason to pull a sicky, you know, come and be inspired and and then see the other side, you know. So we started that we started, yeah, peak performance. It’s um it’s turned into an incredible brand. We want it to be household name uh in the UK. And uh our plan is to sell in 10 years’ time for for around about 20 million. We reckon we could probably push a valuation too if we if we hit year-on-year targets. Um and we started that to again inspire people, whether you come from a council estate, whether you whatever, come into the room at an affordable price, listen to incredible people on stage, network with um amazing people in the room in an atmosphere that’s just insane. And uh and go away and and apply it. And you know, and when we do those quarterly, so yeah, peak performance was um was a very proud moment, especially when Alan Sugar, uh one of his law firms, got in touch with us. That was obviously a big moment.

[55:01] Sammie Ellard-King: And and you know, it’s been great ever since. And you’ve got one coming up soon, haven’t you? Then November. Next Thursday, yeah. The sales and business accelerator. Oh, interesting. Okay, is it sold out or what? Uh we have a few tickets left. So this is gonna be we sell out every time. We uh we are gonna be able to because we’ve had a change of floor plan, we can probably just hold over 250 this time. So, but we’ve sold out every event and um it’s gonna be gonna be buzzing. Yeah, we’ll have about 200 well, potentially about 255 people. That is incredible. And I I just I’ve been watching it grow and I always just have my eye on it. I definitely want to try and get myself down to one as well, and so yeah, I uh I can’t wait. I see one that uh has got some good speakers for me, and I’m gonna be like, yes, I’m in. I love that type of thing, man.

[55:51] Aaron Knightley: Yeah, they they they’re great, they’re great. And and one thing as well, again, all organic. This is the power of the world that we’re in. Organic. We don’t spend a penny on marketing. Wow, not one penny. That’s amazing. And we started the company with no money. By the way, so for the record, when I say Paul and I have not even put one British penny in, we’ve not. Wow. And we’re 100% profit as well. So just for anyone listen listening, that that company will be six figures by um February 2024. We’d have gone over six figures um in revenue, gross, um, and not one penny. Literally not one penny in the business. That’s not not a joke, that’s not over-exaggerated. Not we have not parted with one British penny each. It’s all been all been through sponsorship and leverage. Yeah. Yeah. And we’re not in any debt either. We don’t owe anyone any money. Smash. It’s it’s a hundred percent profitable business.

[56:50] Sammie Ellard-King: And it’s a great business, and I can totally see how you could scale that because there’s really kind of a gap in the UK for cool events that actually change people’s lives. You know, you you’d see Tony Robbins fly in and he commands like three, four grand a ticket, and and people pay it, and it’s sold out within days. So, you know, it just goes to show there’s a real appetite for that, and and I I think you guys do really well with it. I I really think um it’s a great business. Uh yeah, mate, thank you so much for coming on. It’s been a really amazing chat. Uh, I think there’s so much for people to take away. I’ve learned a lot, um, a lot about myself as well that I want to think about and address as I I grow my business. And uh yeah, so thank you very much. Where where can people find you? What’s the best places? Uh, just very simply, Aaron Knightley, pretty much on all handles now. I’ve uh apart from TikTok and all the fake accounts that I’ve got going on at the moment, which is a whole another story, but it’s Aaron Knightley on everything, mate. That’s you know, just very simple. The right spelling, because otherwise you’re gonna land on a fake account, I promise you. But yeah, it’s Aaron Knightley, mate.

[57:50] Sammie Ellard-King: We’ll leave all links to that in the description below. But again, thanks very much for coming on, Aaron. It’s been a pleasure. Pleasure, my man, and I’m gonna go.