Timothy Armoo: Why Property Is a Bad Investment (And What to Build Wealth With Instead)

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

[00:00] Sammie: Today we welcome Timothy Armoo. He sold his company FanBytes for an eight-figure sum before he hit 30. Was Entrepreneur of the Year by Huffington Post. And his story has massively resonated with me hugely over the years. And we’re going to be getting into the mindsets and principles that will actually change your life. Timo, how are you doing, man? You well. It’s cracking. I’m great. Let’s roll. This is fun. This is fun. I um thank you for giving it out of time, man. I appreciate it. And like you said, you’re someone in your team, Nally, sent me the book, and I have just been gobbling it up, man. It’s it’s awesome.

[00:33] Timothy: Yeah, thank you. Yeah, we put a lot of time into the book, and so it’s very cool to see even when I share with friends, you know, they send me a voice notes back saying, Whoa, like, thank you for communicating something that I thought about for a while in a very simple way. Thank you for, you know, I know people are going to be able to start the business with this and that. So yeah, it’s great.

[00:53] Sammie: Like your life, I think I hugely relate to because our grandmothers were like massive parts of our life as well, which was kind of cool. Like, my grandmother played a massive pivotal role in my upbringing. And so to read that about you as well was quite like I just sort of connected straight away to that story, which is really cool. Yours was younger years, mine was my teenage years, so a complete flip round there. But yeah, I think it’s safe to say that like environments have made you into the man that you are today, multitude of different environments growing up. Um you’ve seen both sides of the coin definitely through schooling, through environment where you lived, Ghana to Old Kent Road. Like those experiences have shaped you. Um, do you feel like environment is the biggest factor in your outcomes in life? And can you change that? Do you think?

[01:41] Timothy: Ooh, great. I think your physical environment is actually different from your mental environment. So, as you said, like I grew up in South London, Old Kent Road, from basically 10 up until say 23. And then before that, for the first 10 years, I grew up in Ghana. My physical environment on Old Kent Road during that time was like just around me was like drugs, violence. That was the height of the whole Old Kent Road, Peckham, Brixton beef. But my mental environment was different. Like I just had this desire to just get out of there. And so in my head, I was out of there. It was just like physically, I wasn’t there, right? There’s a story that we tell in the book, which is like once a week I will go to really fancy hotels and I will sit in those hotels and I would just work from my really like crappy Toshiba laptop. Because to me, I was trying to like brainwash myself to say, yo, mentally I am meant to be with these, you know, rich people, but sure, maybe like physically I’m not, but eventually it will catch up. So your physical environment does play a big role. But I actually think that you can counter that by just almost uh brainwashing yourself to be in a different mental environment, and eventually the physical would actually catch up.

[03:06] Sammie: Yeah, and you were like diving into websites of entrepreneurs like that retirees. Yeah. That was so interesting for me because you were like almost showing yourself actually this is possible, and then you framed it mentally, and then you framed it physically by going and sitting in carriages and doing all these cool things. And so, like, if you’re sitting there right now and you’re thinking, well, you know, this is my environment, like, how do I then start to sort of put those frameworks into place where I can actually like change my outcome?

[03:37] Timothy: Well, for me, one of the most important things is every day that I grew up on Old Kent Road, like fourth floor, a council estate, like every day I was there, I just mentally told myself this story that it was only temporary. And I’ve said this before, which is like we had four flights of stairs and there were no lifts, right? So, like you’re going up those stairs every single day, and I would constantly, like, with every step, I’d say, I’m not meant to be here. I’m not meant to be here. And I think there is something to be said for like brainwashing yourself to the point where it’s just your new reality. And you you mentioned that really interesting site, Retire at 21. Um, actually, here’s a very funny story. Yesterday I was at an event, and one of the guys who I used to read his story was there. And I was like, yo, you and your co-founder, I used to read about you all the time. They founded a company called Paddle, which then ended up being like a billion-dollar business. And I was like, yo, you and your co-founder used to read about you all the time. And like since then, I’ve met so many people who I used to read about. And the very funny thing is like I found out that these guys are so unremarkable. Like, they are so unremarkable. I put them on such a massive pedestal when I was younger. And I think in a very weird way, if I had realised actually how unremarkable they were, and equally, even for me, I tell so many people, I’m like, bro, don’t be don’t hear the story and go, oh, like this guy built a company and sold multiple companies, so there’s something so different about him. No, it’s just I just had like the same level of like self-doubt, negative self-talk, and then I just outworked that with enough evidence. You know, I was just like, oh, I started this business at 14. Okay, it didn’t kind of fail too badly. Oh, I did this thing at 17. Oh, it didn’t kind of fail too badly. Oh, I did this other thing, it didn’t kind of fail too badly, and then eventually you wake up at like 27 and you’ve sold a bunch of companies, and you’re like, oh, okay, I guess I still have that same kind of self-doubt, but I just I just kept going. And eventually over time, I thought, yeah, now this is my life now. I think that’s a big thing for people to really take, whether it’s starting a business or a new job of or going into any uh profession. I think at some point we think that the elements of doubt will go somewhere, and they never actually go. What ends up happening is that you just get good at recognising them and then quietening them and then basically still doing the thing. There’s a chapter in the book, uh cheat code number seven. So we call each chapter a cheat code. Cheat code number seven is do it scared. It’s not, it’s not just do it, it is no do it. You will be scared, but do it scared because that’s much better than not doing it. Ah, I love how you said that.

[06:38] Sammie: I was smiling when you were saying that to me when you said they’re not remarkable because it is so funny. Like, I made a video literally last night saying exactly that thing. Because I’ve met multiple millionaires that sold companies. Yeah. I was at an event with a billionaire the other day, and one thing I’ll say is that they are all you said unremarkable in the video. I said they’re all idiots just like us. And I and it is I think it’s true because the only thing that separates like me from them or us from them, or you know, whatever you might say, is that there’s just this inherent lack of fear of failure.

[07:12] Timothy: Yeah.

[07:12] Sammie: Like they just don’t care, they’re willing to embarrass themselves, they’re willing to push themselves outside their comfort zone, and actually they thrive in that environment. And that is the difference because they’ve gone and done the thing, and actually they haven’t got to that point without failing a hundred times before that.

[07:27] Timothy: Yeah, and um, there’s this whole idea of failing your way to success. Yeah. And you know, maybe if we come onto it, or if people were to go on my LinkedIn now, they would see like started a business at 14 and then started a business at 17, so that business, start a business at 21, so that business. But then what I didn’t include on LinkedIn is actually like the 12 other businesses that I started, and it didn’t actually go anywhere. In fact, there’s actually a position on my LinkedIn profile called like chief failure officer, because and then it just like lists a bunch of different things that I tried that didn’t quite work. And it’s because fundamentally, as you said, like the billionaires, multimillionaires, the people who’ve done anything of any significance, they basically like failed their way to success rather than the first thing that they did was that they won.

[08:17] Sammie: 100%. And I like that’s why I love content. Because it’s kind of like a real like a self-reinforcing loop. And actually, I really enjoy the failures. So I’m like, oh, what did we do wrong there? Like I I thought that hook was a banger. Was it delivery, was it captions, or was it timing? Like, there’s so many factors at play there, and it’s like the self-reinforcing loop. But I just want to tuck back onto this um environment thing because I think it’s really important. And I think in the UK, especially, you know, we have these tight-knit communities, we have these pathways laid out for us. We live often in rural areas or villages or even in cities and inner cities and small like communities, yeah. And stepping away from like your gang is really difficult to do. And people, when they do, they feel like they’re gonna betray the rest of the people around them, and suddenly they’re this new individual that’s on their own. And I’d love to know, like, because obviously, you know, you mentioned about you know the old Ken Road crew and in the book, which I found like really cool, but you obviously shifted your identity completely, yeah. And I’d love to know like how you even manage to do that, other than you know, obviously mentally telling yourself to do that, because it’s like it’s not easy, right? And how can someone that’s say stuck in that tight net community just go, I’m gonna be this new person? Because that is an inherent fear alone before you even get into building the thing.

[09:42] Timothy: So I’d love to give some kind of three-step framework for you to basically leave the leave the tribe that you felt so emotionally tied to. But the truth is, there isn’t really a three-step framework. A lot of it does come down to um, do you have the balls? That’s it. Like, do you have the balls to make the decision? Because the fear is actually not in then living after the decision, the fear is actually in the decision. Um, I think about this a lot also in like business and relationships, right? There have been a few like people that I’ve dated and and hasn’t quite worked out, and I know it hasn’t been working out. And the fear that I have, I think the fear is what life is afterwards, after not dating them. But the fear is actually like those two minutes where you say, Hey, I don’t think we should to be, I don’t think we should be together anymore.

[10:39] Sammie: That awkward converse.

[10:40] Timothy: Yeah, yeah. It’s like when you run a business and you need to let someone go, and you’re like, Oh, dunno, and uh, and then you’re like losing so many sleepless nights, etc. And you think that the the thing is I’m scared of firing them, but actually the thing that you’re scared of is that two-minute thing to say, hey, it’s not quite working out. And then eventually what will happen is you give it 48 hours and it would just go. And I find that to be the case whether it was myself when I was, you know, living in Old Kent Road, and I felt this pressure to be part of the gang, part of the people, part of the mandem. And then it was like, okay, well, the decision is I don’t actually want to do this anymore. Um, in my case, one of the weirdest things, and I talk about this in the book, and there’s a chapter that we title A Gangster Save My Life, right? Because I remember there was a time I was like 15, 16, and I was just like part of the man just because I was just around them, so I figured okay, this was a this was a fine community to be a part of.

[11:49] Sammie: Environment. You needed friends, exactly, right?

[11:51] Timothy: Yeah, I needed friends, I needed a sense of self because I already I lived in South London with my dad, and it was just he and I. Um, and my mum lived in North London, lives in North London, and I remember us like getting ready to ride out, and for those who don’t know what ride out means is the dumbest thing ever. Basically, you get on bikes and you go to like the other ends, so you go from Old Kent Road to Peckham, which by the way is separated by literally one street. Yeah, it’s so stupid that you fight against each other separated by one street. These post-code wars are so dumb. Um, so anyway, riding out means that you go to the other side and all you do is basically like take pictures and videos and be like, Yeah, man, we came over and you guys didn’t do anything. It’s like, well, okay, but if they were around, we still run away anyway. So, what the heck is the point? So I remember just like really hoping that we didn’t actually like see anyone. And then this guy, Mikey, basically, who was like the leader of the gang, basically, was like, This ain’t for you, bro. And when he said that, it was so strange because my first instinct was to try and prove to him that no, no, actually it is. But what he had seen in me was actually that I was significantly bigger than all this stupid stuff I was doing. Um, another story of that is actually my English teacher, Miss Shabaki. Um, what an amazing woman. Like, she saw more in me than I saw in myself. I remember when I was 15 as well, same age. She was just she took me aside and she said, Hey Timo, you’re a very smart person if you apply yourself, so just do so. And so, to answer your question about like to that person who feels like they’re part of a tribe, and then how do they move out of the tribe? The most practical thing I can say is like, have a greater vision for yourself than you currently do now. And if not, look for evidence that other people have a greater vision for you because there’s something weird that happens, like other people want more for us than we want of ourselves, in the same way you want more for your friend, you will give your friend better advice than you give yourself. And so sometimes I say to my other friends, I say something like, give yourself the same advice you give to your best friend because you are your best friend. And often then, like, yeah, why the heck don’t I care about myself as much as I do for my other friends? So if you’re gonna hold your friends to a high standard, then hold yourself to a high standard, which then gives you the permission to then leave the tribe you’re in, whether it’s a gang or whatever, but also whether it’s like a career choice, yeah. You know, whether it’s like your whole family wants you to be the doctor, the lawyer, and you really want to go become a creative, like you really want to go and start your own business. The truth is, like, if you hold yourself to a significantly higher standard and you realise life is actually weirdly short, you just go and do the thing anyway. I love that.

[14:59] Sammie: I love that, and I think as well, it’s really interesting. Like um, something you said there that sort of sparked this Alex Hormozi quote in my head, which is where he was like, There’s there’s that period where that’s six months where you basically are alone while you go out and you find your new tribe, but eventually you find your new tribe, and there’s that like lonely period where you’re like drifting in between, but actually, like that’s you growing into this new individual. But it does come. Like, I did it when I were used to run hospitality businesses. Now I do a financial education business. I mean, like hard switch, right? I didn’t really know anyone in website building and SEO and Facebook ads and these types of things. But as you start to dive into it, you start following these people online, you start having conversations, you get invited to the event. Suddenly you’re at the event, there’s 50 people there, you find your best friend who’s now my co-founder. And it’s like, you know, there’s like so many sort of things that would happen. But that first six months was basically me in a bedroom just trying to figure it out, like yeah, and you have to go on that journey with yourself to like actually get to where you actually want to be. Um, but a lot of people aren’t willing to sort of put themselves through that.

[16:07] Timothy: Yeah, that first six months is tuition for being your new self. That’s basically all it is, and it’s pretty good tuition because it’s only six months, yeah.

[16:18] Sammie: No, for real, yeah. It went fast, it went fast, like life changed rapidly after that period, like everything changes, and so it can be a case of six to twelve months, and life could look completely different. Completely different, yeah. You just gotta go and believe, and this is like this education’s free, yeah, it’s YouTube, yeah.

[16:40] Timothy: Every business that I’ve ever started, or every business that I’ve ever run, right? Even FanBytes, the business that people know me for. It was very simple business, it was like connecting brands to influencers, that was it. And then we just took a cut in the middle, and that business ends up becoming like an eight-figure business. That is not novel. Like, I I copied that idea from people in the US, and every single idea I’ve ever had has basically been an iteration of something else. And I am perfectly shameless about them. Like, yeah.

[17:14] Sammie: Yeah, you do. You say originality is overrated, it’s so overrated.

[17:18] Timothy: I like and you know, one of the things I find also, even about your content that I really like is the fact that when you’re talking about the basics of financial management and money management, like we know what it is, right? Whether it’s yourself talking about it or Dave Ramsey talking about it, or Ramit Sethi talking about it, like it’s fundamentally the same information, but then it’s packaged in a way that makes it accessible to whoever the person is. But if you understand the fundamentals of business, understand the like fundamentals of money, you can apply that to so many different things. Yeah. And so I think I was around like 21 when I went, hang on a sec, hang on a sec. This business thing is actually very solvable, it’s actually very predictable. It’s you find people who have a problem, you create a product or service that solves that problem, then you just do it over and over and over again. And then you maybe get some people to help you do the thing over and over and over again. And maybe you need some investors who just help you do the thing over and over again. And then at some point you say, Oh wow, now I have a business. And that’s business. And um, I think just like taking that view on it was has been such a mind-bending thing for me that it’s not actually, I don’t need to be a genius, I don’t need to be a savant or anything like that.

[18:38] Sammie: I love that you said that because it is true. Like when you look at our content, like all information’s already been said already. Yeah, like it’s it has. It’s just how you’ve distilled that information. It’s actually you’re the product, you’re the your your view on the world actually is what is driving that. Yeah, like I spend a lot of my time looking at US creators, okay. They’ve said that in dollars, that’s amazing for pounds. Like, we make the video, right? And the why wouldn’t you? You can see it’s got two and a half million views, like it’s right there in front of you, just like the business. Like, the problem is there in front of you, the solution is there in front of you. You need to fill the gap. And I think people overcomplicate it, they get themselves into like, I need this mad original content plan, and I’ve got to spend £25,000 on a logo just knocking it up on Canva, yeah, and get started, get moving. And I think that that’s what people lack, they stay in this like planning phase and they don’t take action. Yeah, how do they get past that and just get going? Like, what what what stops them? Do you think?

[19:37] Timothy: I mean, they just need to do it scared. That’s it. I mean, people are very surprised at this, right? Because earlier on, when you introduce me, you’re like entrepreneur of the year, like Forbes 30 under 30, blah blah blah blah, right? I don’t think there was a single point in fanbytes that I thought, wow, I feel really confident about the company’s future. Even at the time that we’re making like 10 million a year and we were profitable, I still felt very like, oh, this could all go to shit. This could all go left if I don’t make the right decision. But all I did was each time I went, well, someone else has made it work before. And so if that someone else can make it work and there’s no difference between me and that person, then I’m just gonna make it work as well. Right? Like my mom is from Ghana, and um I remember anytime, anytime I see someone online do something very interesting, or anytime I talk to her about it, she’d always say, Okay, cool, but do they have two heads? That was the line she’d always got. And it was always her way of saying, like, that person there is absolutely no different to you. And if they can do it, why can’t you do it? And so I think in the back of my mind, I just always had that, okay, well, they don’t have two heads, they’ve made it happen, therefore I can make it happen. But throughout the duration of even now, as someone who’s like somewhat accomplished, there’s new things that I’m doing now, which I’m like, okay, interesting. I’ve never done this before.

[21:11] Sammie: From speaking to you and your team that you’ve got fingers in many parts, and you’re trying, you’re always trying things. Yeah. So you must be going into that, almost doing the exact same thing, like scared again.

[21:21] Timothy: Yeah, I mean, well, the stakes are bigger now, right? Like yesterday, I’m I was at this event, and you know, I’m talking to people who’ve sold companies for like 600 million, 2 billion. You know, one guy started MuleSoft, which he sold to, I forgot, some company for like 2.4 billion or something. And I’m like, okay, interesting. There are levels to this game, but also if you think about a company like that, the skill level and the expertise that you need are different to the expertise that it needs to run a multi-eight-figure business. And so a part of me or my old self, or rather, like my normal self, which is us as human beings, are going, our first thought is, hmm, can I do that? And then literally, my mom’s voice came into my head, which is like, Does he have two heads? And then I look at the guy, I’m like, Well, he’s got one head, I’ve got one head, so we just got to make it happen. And so even now, even now, as someone who is somewhat accomplished, I still have that like nagging, self-doubty voice. And really, the only thing I can do is just like build enough evidence so that voice gets quieter and quieter.

[22:33] Sammie: I heard you say on a podcast, because they asked you this question. This was a couple of years ago you were on this podcast, and this is how I first got introduced to you. And it was really interesting. And I’d love to actually ask you how you’re feeling now. Because when you said it, you said, I’m actually not looking to do the hundred million business. And by the sounds of it, you’re thinking about it. Yeah. Like, what’s changed during that period? Because obviously you had the exit, yeah, so you’ve got the funds in, and then you were you’re you’re trying things, doing things, figuring out who you are, probably as well, and going on a journey. How’s that changed for you now? And are you going for that?

[23:09] Timothy: So I think for a lot of us, when we get early in the game, whether it’s a business game or the career game, we’re typically doing it from a position of fear or wanting to prove something. So I always I grew up wanting to prove something, right? So, as you mentioned, I went to live in Ghana for 10 years. I was born in Hackney, but I went to live in Ghana for 10 years because I was an unplanned for baby. So basically, it was either I went to Ghana or I went to foster care. And so I think even from that age, two years old, five years old, eight years old, my time in Ghana, I always saw that I was coming back to England, and that was when I was gonna like prove that maybe it was a mistake. It was a mistake for them, you know, to even think about me going to foster care, you know. And so I think for a long time, business for me was basically my way of just showing that I was actually significant in the world. And so when we ended up, you know, selling fanbytes at 27, I’d done all this money, I was financially sad. Then my next thing was actually that all right, what is the reason I want to do another business again? Because my core reason was like significance, significance, significance. I want to feel significant. I want people to see me and feel significant. And so on that podcast, when I was like, uh I’m not that bothered about it, it’s because at that point I was not bothered anymore by significance because I felt like I’d done it. And then what then has now happened is now I have a different source for the reasons to build businesses. It’s not I want to feel significant, it’s more like I really enjoy building businesses, I really enjoy it as a game, I I enjoy hiring great people, I enjoy seeing people succeed, I enjoy rallying people around a mission and saying, like, let’s go, boys, right? That is to me work, but it’s also fun. And so now when I think about how do we build the next big business, it is not from a place of fear, it is from a place of possibility where you go, whoa, that would be cool to do that. And I also think, you know, candidly, and I’m and he might hear this, right? One of my very good friends is a guy called Arian, Arian Kalantari. Arian founded Lad Bible, right? And he’s a good friend of mine, and you know, Lad Bible went public at uh 300 million. And I remember, you know, I played paddle with Arian, I’d hang out with House, etc. And I remember at some point I just went, oh shit, like you built a 300 million pound company, but you’re just like a normal dude. Yeah, yeah. And I think when I kind of internalized that, I was like, well, I can do that. And it didn’t come from a place of trying to prove, it came from a place of, well, if this dude can do that, then I can also do that. And I kind of want this to be the main, one of the main themes from the book, what’s stopping you. It’s like when you read through this book, you’ll see like a South London boy who basically had a bunch of fear and hopes and dreams, and then was tinkering around business and build a very simple business, like an agency connecting brands to influences. And when you close the book, once you’ve learned all the mentor and the business principles, I almost want you to say to yourself, Well, if this donut can do it, then I can do it as well. Right. I really don’t want you to then go and say, like, oh, this guy’s a savant and he figured this out. I want you to be like, bro, if this bozo can do it, then I can do as well. Because now, on a different level, like I’m also thinking the same thing. I’m I’m looking at people who sold their companies for like 300 million, half a billion, and I’m like, bro, I don’t think you were actually that good. I think you picked a good market, I think you were in at the right time, and I think that that you worked harder than me. But equal, but I can fix for all of those. I can also pick a better market, I can make sure the timing is right, and I can also work harder knowing what I know now. So therefore, done. I’m sure I can do that.

[27:23] Sammie: You’re almost like more well equipped to take on those challenges right now. And I imagine once you had that exit, you just sort of needed that time to just decompress and like re-evaluate. And you probably got a bit bored as well. I would imagine.

[27:38] Timothy: Oh, 100%, yeah. Like, I mean, since fanbytes, I’ve showed two more companies where I’ve been on the board of them, right? One for 19 million and the other for 23 million, right? I would not have known how to do that if I hadn’t gone through fanbytes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I would also not have become successful at fanbytes if basically I hadn’t started a bunch of businesses before and then gone, oh, this is what not to do, right? Like the first, like the tutoring business. I I I started a tutoring business at 14, and basically the way it worked was I would be like connecting tutors to students, and that business, I got 65 tutors in six weeks, and then the business failed because what was happening was once I connect a tutor to a student, they just go behind my back. So I’m not getting any commission. And then I went, Oh, well, that’s a bozo move. What I should probably do is like figure out how to handle the payments. And then that then led on to my next business, which was the business I started at 17, which was like Entrepreneur Express, which was just like an online magazine. That business, I was like, hang on, in this case, I am the media publisher, so now all the payments come through me. And then the thing I learned from that is like how to run Facebook, traffic, etc. etc. That business then got bought less than a year afterwards for like 110 grand. And but then I’m learning from that and going, okay, interesting. What is the thing that was good there? It was the fact that I had eyeballs and I had an audience. All right, how can we then parlay that into something else? So, like every single business stepped into the next business and then it taught me what not to do. And then eventually, now, if you were to come to me and say, Hey, I have this business, I want to sell it in the next three years, I’d say, All right, well, let’s work backwards, let’s do this, this, and that, let’s talk with these people, and then we’ll virtually guarantee you’ll be able to do that. But that only comes after I’ve done all the other things.

[29:26] Sammie: Yeah, I love that you said that because it you can take that story, but you can also take the story of like started in customer service and worked up, and then they turn around and go, Oh, I feel like I’ve wasted 10 years of my life. Yeah, you haven’t wasted a second, you have been learning the whole way up. And even if there’s minute things you’ve learned how to deal with people, you’ve learned so many things that you can’t like push a or like write it on a resume, but you’ve learned it, and then that can help you then make that decision to start that business. You can lean into one of those skills that you’ve picked up. And I I always find that with people that they feel like they they are, they’re wasting their life. And I just want to say to them, like, backtrack it a little bit. It’s like, you know, how can we backtrack that business? How can you backtrack your life to like pull out the things which are useful and put them into play and then learn the things you don’t?

[30:14] Timothy: Yeah.

[30:15] Sammie: Or or or hire or coaches or people like that. When you started FanBytes, like you know, these decisions for a 21-year-old, like, with all due respect, it’s not normal, is it? Like, to for a normal 21-year-old to think, oh, I’m gonna go and connect influencers and brands at that. They’re thinking about booze, girls, and you know, party and Xbox and playing football on a Saturday. Like, what’s different there about those decisions that you were making? And like, did you have a mentor or did you look up to someone at that point?

[31:32] Timothy: Pure desperation. Okay. Just pure desperation, pure desire to build something which I thought could change my life. That was it. It is shockingly, it is shockingly shocking how many things you can do when you back yourself into a corner. Oh, yeah, for sure. For sure. And for me, it was like I was this 21-year-old living in South London. Unfortunately, just like a just a few months before my dad had passed away, and I just felt this. All right, well, we gotta make it work. Like, stop playing small. And my hope is that, you know, people don’t wait until something significant happens and then they feel like they have to wake up. But I also think a part of it, man, you know, people talk so much about having an inferiority mindset, and I think just way more people should have a superiority mindset. Like you should just think you are better than other people. And I think so many people, they’re not gonna talk about it because it doesn’t sound good on a podcast, but so many people who have achieved anything of significance one day have woke up and said, hang on, I’m better than I currently am, and I’m better than other people, and because of that is the reason I’m gonna win. And more people should like walk around with that energy because when you do, magic actually happens.

[32:52] Sammie: It’s not like you’re gonna be a bad person for thinking like that, either. Not at all. You’re gonna help you like deeply. Yeah, yeah. No, I agree with you massively. I’d love to know because obviously, once you you sold FanBytes, you had this period of time, I would imagine, where you’re like, I’ve got lots of money now, and I can do these things, and you live life as you should, you know, you’re hard work, you enjoy it, but you didn’t buy a property, and I find that so interesting. Like everyone would make the 10 mil, and if you asked them what was on their list, they’d say a mansion and a Porsche, right? It’s funny. Like, you didn’t do that, and I’d love to.

[33:28] Timothy: None of them, I didn’t get a mansion or a Porsche. Um, in fact, I still hadn’t passed my driving test.

[33:35] Sammie: No way, yeah.

[33:36] Timothy: So then at 29 was when I passed my driving test. And the first car I bought is the only car that I have, which is a Tesla. So it’s not even a fancy car, it’s just a Tesla because it drives really, really smooth. Um, and I didn’t buy a mansion. I don’t have a mansion, I just don’t have a desire for it. So why didn’t I buy property? Um, I think property is the worst way to get rich. I think it is one of the most I think property is one of the biggest propaganda machines to you getting rich. Because to me, if your goal is I want to make X amount of money in a short period of time, then the number one thing you should bet on is your current skill set. Because if you compound your own skill set, you will make a lot more money than if you basically say, I’m gonna park some money into this thing I can’t control and just let time do its thing. So you’re basically outsourcing your own wealth, which I find crazy. If your thing is I want to create wealth, and then your vehicle is now I want to just outsource it to just a thing I can’t even control, which is just property and let time do its thing. I think it is such, such, such a bad message that we share. Now, property is good as a wealth preserver, um, as a wealth compounder, but in my humble opinion, if you don’t have liquid over 250 grand, do not invest in property. Take that money, equip yourself with the right skills, learn sales, learn marketing, learn copywriting, learn internet marketing, learn ads, learn public speaking, learn something which is basically your own money-making skill, and then deploy that into a business because that is gonna pay you a lot more returns than just oh, I get some money and then I’m just gonna stick it in uh a fixed thing that I can’t control. Um and maybe this might be even controversial, right? But I think this is definitely going to be controversial, like I think it is fear that drives people to invest in property. I think it’s a lack of belief in yourself that you can actually be someone who can build something of significance so you outsource your wealth-given ability to a propaganda machine like the bank a hundred percent. Because what happens what you do, you equip yourself with the skills, you make the money, then you take that money, and then you then deploy it into the property as a wealth preserver, and then you go back to your main wealth generation machine, which is your business, your skills, and your time.

[36:17] Sammie: So you’re saying build the wealth generation machine, yeah, and then if you want to preserve it, yeah, then you buy the house.

[36:24] Timothy: Yeah, but you do not make your money in property. Now I know people do the whole fixer uppers, and yeah, I’ve got a you know, I’ve got a four-bedroom in Lincolnshire, which I found for two pounds. All right, you know, great for you. Assume that is not what you want to do because there’s a lot of work and efforts in there. Sure, if that’s your business, great. But if your thing is I’m gonna buy this property, then I’m gonna remorg and I’m gonna do that stuff. It’s like, bro, if your goal is wealth, just invest in yourself and build a business. Very simple. Or, or, and my friend Dan Priestley actually talks about this, or um go work for someone, go work in close proximity to somebody who has already succeeded so that you can learn all the things to do. Because I’ve one of my biggest regrets in business is that I didn’t work for someone, and people are always shocked by this, but there was so much bullshit that I did in business, which were as a result of me just not knowing how to do certain things. Yeah, and if I just literally for 12 months just gone to work for someone who was already successful, I would have gone, oh, this is how to run this sort of business, this is how to do this sort of things, and also not have fear. It took us about three years for us to figure out how to charge over 100 grand for our service. Our competitors were charging half a million from year one, right? And a big part of it was just fear. It was fear where these 21, 22, 23-year-old kids who almost didn’t have the balls to ask for big numbers. If I had worked for someone during that period and they’re already talking about, right, let’s do this thing for a million, let’s do this thing for half a million, I’d be like, oh yeah, that’s normal. That’s normal. And so there is a there’s also a mental turnaround that you get when you actually go and work for people where your ceiling is their floor. And that is a very, very important part of all this entrepreneurship game.

[38:23] Sammie: Yeah, it’s that room thing, isn’t it? If you’re the biggest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room.

[38:27] Timothy: You’re in the wrong room, shut down that room, burn the room.

[38:29] Sammie: Yeah, yeah, no, it’s so true. Like, I I I found it so interesting you say that because it’s like everybody in the UK thinks that that’s their pathway, right? They go, uh, I’ve got to find the girl, I’ve got to get promoted, I’ve got to save really hard, and then I’ve got to buy the house. And I find that that journey alone for people is actually what causes most of the problems because the issues become later is that they haven’t really understood who they are and they haven’t chased their dreams and their purposes, which they and their values, and they haven’t kept to those, they’ve conformed. And when they get to 50, they blow up, they buy the red sports car, they leave the wife, they get their 21-year-old girlfriend, and then they go through this weird period and see the kids on the weekend, and life becomes inherently unhappy at that point. And I find that if we can break that cycle earlier just by asking ourselves the harder questions and not having the fear of having the two-minute conversation that you’re avoiding, it could change your entire life. Yeah, and as you said, it’s short. So, like, why the fuck are we putting ourselves through that?

[39:36] Timothy: Yeah, don’t you find it quite funny that we live in a world where your life now is a culmination of a lot of different turns that you took? And sometimes I like to play this experiment with friends where I say, let’s pick 10 pivotal moments in your life and let’s go back to them and make a different decision. What do you think would have happened? And some of them are so insane. It’s like, oh, if I didn’t go out with that girl, what would have happened? If I didn’t go out with that guy, what would have happened? If I didn’t go for that job promotion, what would have happened? If I didn’t go to university and rather had an apprenticeship, what would have happened? And you end up having this almost thing where you emotions went through my head to then you go, oh shit.

[40:25] Sammie: Yeah, right.

[40:26] Timothy: But then here is actually the thing that makes it amazing, which is your future life from now is also going to be a bunch of different turns. And you are the person who gets to dictate where those turns go. Do you go for that job promotion? Do you play it small? Do you ask out that girl? Do you not? And all of these. Things are just different pathways which get you to a completely different point. It’s pretty amazing to think, isn’t it?

[40:49] Sammie: It is, it is when you like break it back like that. Like I had a flashback of my ex-girlfriend just like clicking off. And I was like, oh, if I hadn’t done that thing that day, would I would I still probably be with her? Who knows? Like you didn’t even realise those types of things, like conversations that happen in your head. Fascinating. Those tiny moments which change your whole course of your life. And you are right, like you have always two paths ahead of you, right? Prop sometimes multiple paths, but you always have choice. And you’ve got the choice now. And so, where are you gonna go? Like, what’s the next move for you?

[41:23] Timothy: So I think there’s two main things. One is, you know, I wrote this book, What’s Stopping You? I wrote it out, Jan the 15th. Um, I wrote it because I genuinely was like, well, the 21-year-old version of me, that person who was anxious, self-doubting, and like knew that he could do more in life, but just didn’t know how to do it, would have absolutely loved to have this playbook, right? And so it’s structured, very short, 11 cheat codes. Each cheat code are something like we are the stories that we tell ourselves, or it’s not that deep, or how to build a network when you are a nobody. They’re all basically playbooks to say, Hey, you’re going on this entrepreneurial journey, or you’re going on this journey of like self-discovery. Here’s the things to watch out for because I went through them and here’s the way to circumvent them. And I hope at the end you realise that you can do it, and here’s a path to do it. So by the end of it, and that’s why it’s called what’s stopping you. It’s like now you have the mindset to do it, you have the practical do this, don’t do this. Um, and then you have the money as well, because we even go into like how to ask for investment and how to get investment for your idea. So now you have all of that, bro. What the heck is stopping you, right? And if you do that, you just come on. If that can’t help you, then boss, I don’t know what can. You know, I’m just I’m just like, I don’t know what else can help you if we lay out the entire path for you and you just don’t step in it.

[44:02] Sammie: What’s a cheat code that has become more true now since your exit, do you think?

[44:08] Timothy: Probably the final cheat code, cheat code number 11 is everything big starts small. And the reason I actually made that the final cheat code, and I’ll tell you why it resonates even more now. I made that the final cheat code because when you talk about my story, you say, you know, like he sold fanbytes, he made all this money, blah blah blah. And we’re talking about like multi-8 figures and all that stuff. But actually, the most important bit of money that I made was at 14 when I started that tutoring business. And I connected tutors to students, and someone gave me a five-pound cut out of a 15 pound an hour thing. And I was like, yo, that is mental. Like I have just thought about this idea and I’ve put it out into the world. And if that five pound hadn’t happened, FanBytes, the multi-8 figure exit would not have happened. Because in that I basically told myself, wow, I’m the sort of person who can invent stuff and like people pay me for stuff. I can go to strangers and they’ll pay me. So the reason why I say it’s even more relevant now is because as I’m starting new businesses now, and I have a vision for what could be a hundred million business or three hundred million business, a part of me is still going, crap, man, a hundred million business starts off with us doing like the first hundred grand again.

[45:35] Sammie: That’s customer free at all.

[45:36] Timothy: The first customer, the first order, the first this, the first that. You know, right now I’m in the business of like buying media companies, right? And I have this idea, which is I have this uh company that I look at on the stock market, they’re called uh uh future publishing. Yeah, you know future, yeah, right? Future make 800 million a year. It’s not right, yeah.

[45:58] Sammie: And most people wouldn’t even know who they are, exactly, right?

[46:01] Timothy: But you read their stuff or you use their sites, and I’m going and I’m thinking, okay, cool. I think we can build something similar to that. But that 800 million a year business starts over buying the first business, which probably just makes like 2 million a year. So now I’m back into the everything big starts small, where I’m like, all right, we get to 800 million and give it 10 years, give it five years, but it starts over this two million acquisition. So everything big starts small, Timo. And if you said that as the final chapter of your book, then you gotta live your raps, mate. You know?

[46:35] Sammie: Mate, I love it though, because um I’ve got my I sold an ebook on uh like literally on a website, and I drove that piece of traffic from Google. They clicked on the landing page, they had the ebook, and I’ve got the receipts still printed. That’s dope. There’s a 199. That’s it. Like a Canva ebook. And I just think it is true because like that was it for me. I remember that day is like I was running a hospitality business. That’s so interesting. We actually opened a venue literally two stones through from where we are right now, Amazing Grace, um, on um St. Thomas Street, and um I was standing in the middle of the church, and this band was getting ready around me. They were doing a sound check to play, and the note, like the notification came up on my phone, and I looked on my email, and I was like, fly. Yeah, it literally felt like I was like, wow, like this is one, yeah, like and we’re six months in, like, Jesus, like what happens now? Like, what and what happens is it grows, it grows, yeah, it’s grows. And so it’s so true, like just that first moment is the key point, yeah. But you believe in yourself to get to that moment, and so that’s why a lot of people they frame their first saying and do this, and I I had to because it was just such a big moment for me.

[47:44] Timothy: That was what I was gonna say. I think I don’t think enough of us like really almost I don’t think enough people memorialize their first wins, yeah. You know, the first Shopify uh ping that you get, screenshot that frame it. The first customer, you know, the first ever campaign we did at FanBytes was for 300 pounds from GoApe, right? And I dearly wish we had that framed. I dearly wish that we had that frame because by the time we sold the company, we’re sending like 300 grand deals to L’Oreal, and that happened in five, six years, but really taking stock, and this doesn’t have to even be in business, right? Let’s think about you working professionally, you want to get a role and your ideal role, and they send you the job offer. Fucking screenshot that, yeah, frame it in your room, yeah. Like that was me who did that, right? Because your brain then just gets used to I’m a winner, I’m the sort of person who just gets what they want. And there’s something incredible when you just walk around in the in the world like I’m a winner. Like good things happen to me. I expect good things to happen to me.

[49:00] Sammie: There’s abundance, isn’t it? Yeah, it’s thinking like that. Like I’ve got that framed, and I’ve also got my bank balance the day I hit zero when I had 24 days. So I got rid of that and I hit zero. Um, and it was like monumental for me. And I was like, right, we’re never going back there. Yeah. And so I have that, and I have the little 199, and a couple of other things as well. Like, I cut up the credit card and I’ve still got the credit card. So it’s just like these little things and moments, and I’m a massive fan of them because even though they’re there, like you don’t really know they’re there, but you know they’re there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And like it just gives you that thing. And every time, um, I actually wrote a post about this on LinkedIn today, which is like you’re taking stock, yeah. Um, and just like looking back, uh, because you’re probably really similar to me. You’re like decision, thank you, next. Yeah, decision, thank you, next, next, next, next. And it you do have to like it’s your own Spotify wrap, so you should be doing that to yourself constantly, isn’t it?

[49:55] Timothy: Like it’s you wrapped, yeah.

[49:56] Sammie: You rapped.

[49:57] Timothy: That’s a great product. So much have you wrapped? And it’s just this is what you did in 2026.

[50:05] Sammie: But it is like just look back at this year, like, what have you done? Like, I’m sure you’ve smashed it, yeah, but you just don’t let yourself believe that about it.

[50:12] Timothy: Yeah, yeah. One of the things I encourage a friend to do, um, and I highly encourage your listeners to do is go on ChatGPT or go on Claude, and then just open a project called Your Year, and then in it, just start voice recording, just rambling about your year, and then tell it to turn it into your top 10 highlights. Oh, nice, yeah. And eventually what will happen is what it will spit out at you would be things where you go, Oh my god, I actually did so many cool things this year. And then you can screenshot that, frame it, put it in your room, and like that is your 2025 rapt. That is you wrapped, and that’s a very powerful thing to be like, I did that, I’m the guy who did that, I’m the girl who did that. That’s a very powerful thing.

[51:01] Sammie: I’m gonna build the prompt and leave it in the description for someone because that’s a really cool idea. Like, I I love all of that because you can prompt it to do such cool stuff, and like you should believe in yourself, and I think it’s that’s like what we don’t let ourselves do a lot of the time. Like uh the post today was about like how much we’ve achieved in six months with a core team of six, yeah, which most people will look at and go, like, that’s impossible. Yeah, but actually now we’re like, Well, we’ve we’ve done that, yeah, it’s pretty cool, and I think I don’t let myself feel that a lot, so I think it’s quite a cool thing. But I’d love to know, like, if you were mentoring your 16-year-old self, yeah, um you know, someone that reminds you of old Tim, for example, which one of your principles in the book would you get them to master first and why?

[51:45] Timothy: So, chapter one or Cheat Code One is called We Are the Stories We Tell Ourselves. And it’s a reason why that’s chapter one. It’s because in the book we tell you about how to grow a network, how to come up with interesting business ideas, how to get investment, how to build a team, um, how to spot when you have a good idea or a bad idea. We do all of that, and that’s great. But if the foundation of it is that you still have a negative story that you tell yourself, then this was just gonna be another book that you read where you said, Yeah, that was a good book, and then you just dropped it. And so for a 16-year-old Timo, the thing which I would say to that person is what is the story that you are telling yourself every single day? And then how are you actively rewriting that story? Because the way that I think about beliefs is very simple. It’s like imagine a chair, right? If this chair had only one stand on it, and I just knocked it, it’d go over easier, right? If it had two, it’d be a bit sturdier. If it had three, it’d be sturdier. If it had four, it’d be sturdier. And eventually you could basically put like so many stands underneath that it’s the sturdiest thing possible. And the way that I see it is our beliefs are basically this chair, and then the evidence are the stands that we have. And so for me, anytime I thought about a negative story, like, oh, maybe I’m not the type of person who can do this, right? I mean, I’ll be candid. There was a site I used to read a lot, um, retire21.com, right? And when I’d go on the site and I read all these stories, every single person I saw was a white person. And I remember for some reason my brain then started going, well, they succeeded because they are white. And I remember thinking, What the heck is this bullshit? Why am I telling myself this excuse of a story? Yeah. When really it should be, well, they succeeded because they found a problem and then they applied a solution and they just kept doing it. And I legit had to rewire myself to do that. And unfortunately, I see this a lot with people where your first story you tell is an excuse. Like they succeeded because they’re white, they succeeded because they are taller, they succeeded because they are a man, they succeeded because they went to private school. They and it’s all these like they say it because of this, and all that does is that it gives you permission to not do the thing. And so, this is why the thing I’ll tell the 16-year-old Timo is like, you are the story you tell ourselves, intentionally pursue a positive story because when you pursue a positive story, you get positive outcomes.

[54:37] Sammie: Yeah, yeah. And after I read that first chapter, I said it to you outside. Yeah, I’ve just been chanting stuff at myself all day. I was doing it on a train on the way up here. I was like, You are gonna you are gonna deliver a great interview, you’re gonna deliver a great interview. Like, just if you get yourself into that mindset and I got here, and you just you know, because you see people like yourselves on the internet and stuff like that, and then you meet them in person, you you want to show up, like you want to be here.

[55:02] Timothy: You and so this is a great graduate. You asked you asked good questions, and you ask questions that I’m not often asked, and that is great. Thank you.

[55:13] Sammie: We try, man, because I can imagine like people will go through the cheat codes and the booth, yeah, they’ll pull out the things and you just say the same things. You’ve just you’ve just spent a year writing it. Yeah, of course I knew it was in it, yeah, yeah, exactly. So, but yeah, I wanted to sort of speak to you about it because I’m interested too. Like, you know, we’re we’re building businesses, yeah. We’re we’re building and out, we’re scaling content businesses and media companies, like that’s what we want to do. And so I just find it so interesting because I like learning from people that are a couple of steps or a few steps ahead of me. Um, you know, when I first started out, it’s like, how the hell do I set up this? How do I do that? You know, you wouldn’t really see it, you know. Now I’m like, okay, he’s done that. So then how do I get to that point? Where’s the gap? And like, what’s the things that I need to pursue to get to those points? And I think it’s like it’s just always about learning and challenge yourself. Um, but I’d love to ask you a question because we spoke about this earlier. And it’s like, what’s a principle that you haven’t spoken about publicly, but you absolutely swear by?

[56:08] Timothy: That you can speedrun opportunity. So, what I mean by that is I think often we are told that there is a certain amount of time for you to get from A to B. So this is actually very prevalent in the professional world. You go, how do you become a vice president at this bank? Well, you say, Well, first you become an analyst, then you become an associate, then you become this, then you become director, and then the whole thing takes seven years, right? But over time I’ve come to appreciate that that’s just a bullshit way of doing things. That actually there is always a third door. And there is always a way where maybe it’s you do something really significant or you do something which is really extraordinary that some bank somewhere says, you know what, this person is director level and forget going through all of that stuff, we’re gonna get them in. If I think about, you know, going back to 17, the company that I started, Entrepreneur Express, right? I got to interview Richard Branson because I went through the third door. Because I had this magazine, I knew that I needed to create amazing content, and I knew that in order to get amazing content, I needed to interview great people. And so there was an event which was a at ExCeL and Richard Branson, Alan Sugar, and James Caan were all speaking at the events, and I was like, I know that if I can get Branson there, I will be a great interviewer and I can then drive traffic to it. But I’m a 17-year-old who’s on a fourth four counselor stay on Old Kent Road. Who the fuck am I to basically show up when Forbes and BBC and all these big boys are doing the interviews? So then I go, right, okay, how do I do this? And at that point, I think I’d read a book which basically said, like, you can get everything that you want if you can help other people get everything they want.

[58:04] Sammie: Yes.

[58:04] Timothy: And I went, interested. What would the organiser of this business conference want? Well, he’d want to make more revenue, but also reduce costs. What is something that actually takes up a lot of costs? Well, the chairs for the event. Because you have 2,000 people coming to this event. What if I email him and I say, tell you what, you don’t need to pay the people for the chairs. I will basically come and I would like to lay out all the chairs for you. And in return, all I want is for you to just give me a press pass. I thought, well, logically that makes sense. I’m just gonna do that. So then I emailed him and I was like, You don’t know me, I don’t know you, but I would like to get a press pass to interview Richard Branson. And in return, what I want to do is just come and lay out all the chairs. And at that point, I’m 17, I’m still, I’m still at sixth form. Within 20 minutes, I get back an email. The guy says, This is the most ridiculous email I’ve ever got, but you’re on. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[59:00] Sammie: Can you save the money? Like it’s money and time, right?

[59:03] Timothy: Exactly. And then in a few days, I’m there in the accelerator. I skip school and I’m there and I’m laying out all these chests. But I’m happy. I’m happy because I’m like, yo, I’m gonna meet Richard Branson and I’m gonna interview him, and it’s gonna be great. And then the next day, I then got to interview Branson and I got to ask him questions. They were really bad questions, but I still did it anyway. And then I got the article, and then I drove traffic to it, and blah, blah, blah. The reason I share that story is because I could have just said, Well, I’m just not Forbes, I’m just not BBC, I’m just not business insider. So I’m not ready. So, sure, fine. But what I did was I sped run the entire thing. I didn’t go, I’m just gonna wait until the time when I’m ready. I went, nope. I think the path from A to B is not this to this. Yeah, I think it’s just and if I do it that way, then it would just win.

[1:00:06] Sammie: I love that you said that. A friend of mine, Cloda, um, she I know she listens to the podcast as well. So she was like, Hey Cloda. Hey Cloda. Um she did something so interesting, right? So when you one of your old clients, L’Oreal, um, someone who works in PR for them, they have uh roughly between two and a half thousand to three and a half thousand applicants for one single role, um, and that the role is open for a matter of days. Everyone wants L’Oreal PR, right? Because free stuff, right? I get it, and it’s also cool on the CV. But what Cloda did was instead of she third doored it. So instead of applying like everybody else, she built a massive billboard um that attached to herself as a costume that’s cool that said, hire me, I’m your PR manager, and went and stood outside the L’Oreal office and stood there for the whole day, making herself look totally stupid. But guess what happened? Head of PR walked out and went, No, you’ve got the job, like that’s it. Yeah, like you you’ve done the thing, like you went there and you third doored it. So, like, this is all of the things you’re looking at that pathway, going, Oh, I don’t have enough experience in my resume. She’d only ever done a couple of roles before that, she wasn’t really that well experienced, but it’s the ability to step out and conform, yeah, not conform to what the pathway is in front of you, and then see if there is a way around, right?

[1:01:26] Timothy: Yeah, and in there, I think, is a very amazing lesson, which is like, how do you make it a no brainer? Because the number one reason why people or an employer wouldn’t make a decision is because there is risk attached to that decision. And so often the best people that I’ve ever hired, I mean, he’s currently in the studio now, but like I hired a guy, Jonah, right? Basically, we were talking on LinkedIn, and then within a few hours, he built this like massive presentation about like the Timor brand, what each platform should do, how it should sit into the broad ecosystem. I was like, bro, I didn’t even ask you for this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it slaps. So let’s meet tomorrow, right? And I think that we met like the next day or something, we met on Sunday, and then Jonah doesn’t know this, so you don’t know this, but like I had already made my decision before I met you. Because I was like, if this guy has been able to do that, is meeting me also on a Sunday.

[1:02:29] Sammie: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That’s the guy.

[1:02:30] Timothy: You know, I was just like, okay, cool. So then I was just like, oh, that’s interesting, that’s interesting. But I’d already made up my mind. And then I just said, yo, I’m actually gonna invent a role for you. Tomorrow start. Right. And because what he’d effectively done is like taken out the risk out of the decision. Totally. And so if you again, this doesn’t just apply to business. If you’re going for any career, any job, anything at all, you almost want to ask yourself, like, for the hiring manager, what is the risk to them? And then how do I completely get rid of that risk? If you’re trying to get investment, for example, for your own idea, you might say something like, All right, I’m gonna create a pitch deck and then try and find investors. Or you might say something like, Well, I’m going to get 10 people to say yes and actually pay for the service because the investor’s biggest risk is that, well, what if I invest and nobody actually wants the product? Yeah. So I’m gonna get rid of the risk by actually getting people to pay for it and then go to them and say, Hey, I already have traction. I’ve already got rid of so much of the risk. So now you have to invest.

[1:03:32] Sammie: I feel that right now, man. That’s what every VC and investor is saying to us. Yeah, cool, you’ve got a great wait list, but does it convert? Let’s let’s find out. Let’s chat in next month. I’m like, We need the money now. Interesting. We’re playing that game, it’s really interesting. So, but we, you know, we’ve managed to do it, but it’s been a battle trying to get through, and you’ve had to we’ve had to de-risk certain situations for them. Thankfully, we have a big audience, and that sort of tears a lot of boxes for them, and they like that. Um, but yeah, it’s that’s a conversation we’re having there. So yeah, happens in all walks of life, like careers, business. What can you third door? How can you get yourself up the ladder quickly? I love that, man. Thank you so much. And look, the book’s coming out when?

[1:04:10] Timothy: So the book is out on Jan the 15th. We’re actually doing this um amazing, amazing, amazing thing on Jan the 10th. So the book is called What’s Stopping You? You can pre-order it now. Um on Jan the 10th, we’re doing What’s Stopping You Live, which is basically an event with myself, Simon Squibb, Dan Priestley, Tim Campbell. Oh, um mate, the Avengers of Business. That’s what I’m saying. Um, and we’re doing this event, it’s a virtual event and it’s a free event, which is basically to launch what’s stopping you the book. And the whole purpose of it is this, right? Like, everyone is coming on, and for 30 minutes, I’m asking them questions submitted by you. You get to pitch them your own business ideas, you get to also, I’m giving away 10 grand of my own money to basically people throughout the call for them to actually launch the business. And so literally, I’m like, bro, you are hearing from people about how to do the thing. You can submit your own business ideas. I’m even giving you money to start the thing. And if you have all of that and you still don’t do the thing, then bro, like I can’t help you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, and so that’s why we call it like what’s stopping you live, because we’re doing on Jan the 10th is the perfect way to actually kick off your actual year to say, all right, this year 2026 is not going to be the same as 2025. I’m actually going to do the thing. So that if you that you can just get on my Instagram or just search like what’s stopping you live. We have thousands of people on there.

[1:05:44] Sammie: Look, I have loved the book, so we will 100% be pushing this for you, May. And and we will put the link to the live event as well in there. We’ll pop an email out with it all in there as well for you. Because uh, yeah, I think more people need to be stepping out of this. It’s a massive part of what we do. We talk about fear, even with investing and yeah, and saving and just getting past like believing, oh you know, I I’ve come from this area in this neighborhood, so I can’t go out and be this individual. Happens in business life, finance is it’s all of the things. So this book so far for me has just been ticking all of those boxes. It’s like everything that I would like to say to someone. So we will 100% be helping you, man. So really appreciate you for coming on and uh yeah, good luck with the launch.

[1:06:25] Timothy: Thank you. Thank you very much.