Oct. 18, 2017

Tahar Ali: Fail Your Way to Success

Show Notes
Transcript

Born in Scotland into a family with very little means, and having lost his parents in his teens, Tahar could have made every excuse in the book to avoid achieving his dreams. His road to success was paved with numerous failures, and now these lessons provide real value to everyone who hears his message. You’ll discover how this success was earned with hard work, determination and the drive to find and seize opportunities while learning from his setbacks. Tahar will share his secrets, strategies and stories of facing economic downturns, loss of market share, slumping sales and low morale from his employees with a whole variety of other challenges.

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There are some people that make their
work just another thing they have to do,

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and there are those that make their
work something that they want to do.

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Welcome to Working on Purpose with your
host Elise Cortez. In our program,

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we provide guidance and inspiration from those
people who have found deeper meaning and

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personal connection to their work life.
It's beyond nine to five. It's working

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on Purpose. Now Here is your
host, Elise Cortez. Welcome back to

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the Working on a Purpose Show.
Thanks for tuning in again this week.

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I'm your host, Elise Cortez,
joining you from Dallas, Texas, which

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is home base for me. This
program is all about helping people more meaningfully

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and productively connect with their work and
equipping organizations to do the same for their

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employees. So I bring on guests
of a particular perspective or experience that I

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think expands the conversation about meaningful and
productive work, and I often draw on

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the meaning and work research I've been
doing over the last fifteen years, as

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well as my own consulting experience,
including the work that I do today at

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Insidim, which is a global management
consulting firm. I'll get to my guest

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in just a moment, But first
a shout out to my media partner and

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sponsor at jobbing dot com. They
are the leading locally focused job board in

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the nation and they are dedicated to
helping employers find quality talent in their own

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backyard while giving jobs control over their
search so they can find work close to

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home. If you missed the show
live last week, you can always catch

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it via podcast. We were on
the air with Brittany Meryl Underwood. She

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used the founder and CEO of the
Akola Project. We had a most inspirational

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conversation about how this social enterprise nonprofit
company helps pull women and children in Uganda

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out of poverty while also helping women
in Dallas, many of whom have been

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victims of sex trafficking, earn a
living wage. It was incredibly inspiring and

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I was personally moved to tears at
least twice myself. It was amazing what

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this woman is doing. So a
couple of things for you listeners. I

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am changing my format here a little
bit as we go forward here, and

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I love to hear your input on
that. What do you like about the

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show. What would I like to
see done a little bit differently, so

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you can always tweet to me at
Alice Cortez Ali s c O R T

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e Z now with us. This
week we have a guest named Tahar Ali,

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who was a successful and respected international
keynote speaker working around the globe.

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He is author of Failure Way to
Success, which is an incredible story what

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it takes to achieve your goals and
dreams in life. He is also the

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CEO of a billion dollar real estate
investment business with over sixteen hundred sales staff.

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We'll be talking about the fascinating and
very challenging early life that he had

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that helped to make who he is
today, what he's learned from any of

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those experiences, and some of his
secrets and strategies for facing economic downturns,

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among other business matters. He joins
us today vas skyte from London, where

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it's currently eleven pm after a very
full day. Tahar, Welcome to working

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on Purpose. Hello Alis, Hello, Hello. I have to say you

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know I love that accent of yours. Yes, everybody does love my Scottish

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accent. It's wonderful. And then
when you look at your face, it

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just doesn't make sense. It's fantastic. There's just so much to you.

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Well, they can't complain, told
Doc Hansom, And how's that accent?

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I know, darn it, it's
terrible. I only wish we were doing

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this in person. So let me
also tell my listeners that we found each

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other on Twitter. I have really
so enjoyed that media to be able to

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meet people all over the world and
have them join me on the show.

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So again, welcome, It's wonderful
to have you. Yeah, I'm I'm

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truly grateful. Well for this first
part of the conversation here to hire,

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I really wanted to presence the listeners
to a bit of your background. You

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and I had a good initial conversation
about just really what you went through as

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a young person, and boy,
you know, listening to that. The

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reason I want you to talk about
that is because I want to listen to

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understand that one you really do know
how to work from adversity and to what

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I hope they get out of hearing
some of this is that man, you

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know, there are some amazing challenges
that people face in the world world and

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it helps him make them who they
are today. So tell us a little

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bit about what it was like for
you to grow up in your early background.

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Yeah, well, firstly, you
know, a listeners and I would

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like to know that I'm not a
silverspoon child. I don't have any trust

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funds. You know. I just
had the determination, the resilience, and

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you know, the outright and just
focus on what I wanted to do with

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my life. And for me,
you know, I was a young entrepreneur

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at the age of twelve years old. I decided to you know, go

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into business purely as a result because
you know, we were struggling at home.

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Our family was you know, very
very tight for money, as most

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household are around the world today,
so it's not any different. And for

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me, you know, my father
has said to me that not one person

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is going to employ you at twelve
years of age. And I could have

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easily have taken you know, rediction. I could have said, okay,

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Dad had no problem, I'll just
go back to school. But I didn't.

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I went out there and I found
someone who was willing to take a

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chance on me. I even offered
my services for free so that they would

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you see what I'm like and believe
in me that I had the ability to

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do what I needed to do.
And that's how my entrepreneurial journey started just

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with a bit of determination and a
bit of grit that I didn't take no

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for an answer. And what were
you doing? What service or product were

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you offering? Well, most of
your listeners might be too young to figure

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out, but I was selling computer
games for the Commodore sixty four and the

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ZX Spectrum. That was the first
computers that were we out in the market

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back in the nineteen eighties. And
for me, it was just a question

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of those days. That era was
where you purchased a game for a computer.

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Once you finished it, that was
it. You move on to the

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next one. But the people who
didn't have the means to go out and

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buy expensive games, I would take
the expensive games from the children who had

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played with them, finish with them, and put them in my market stall

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and sold them like lesser value,
purely so that someone else can take advantage

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of that game. And I made
a small profit in the process. Okay,

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really quick, and I do want
to make sure we have plenty of

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time to get to your store.
But how in the world did you come

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up with that idea? It was
just I had started working in markets for

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about a couple of weeks and one
of the skill sets that I have today,

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and I'm not sure how I've got
this. A lot of people,

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you know, are very envious of
it. Is I can sit in a

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coffee shop, or I could be
in a business meeting, or it could

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be a networking event, and I
can hear five conversations at the one time,

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so I can practically know what's going
on in all five conversations. Now

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in the markets, when I was
walking around looking at other stall owners and

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how they were selling the products,
my focus was on what they were doing,

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how they were selling stuff, and
I just thought to myself, I

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could do that. I could definitely
do that. And that's that was my

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first, you know, venture into
it, and I just had to think

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what it was that I could do
that could be very niche of what the

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kids wanted. And because I was
a kid and I wanted computer games,

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I simply couldn't afford to buy them. So I thought to myself, well,

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what the you know, the kids
who have bought them, I'm funished

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with them. What are they doing
with them? Nothing, They're just going

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to go in the bin. So
I took them off them and I started

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selling them that Still, I'm so
glad you started with the story to her

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because it'll be a nice bookmark as
we finished and talk about what you do

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today in the business world. But
I have to say, it's very very

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endearing way to start this conversation.
And I know that you know there were

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many other things that happened to you
along the way that we're certainly not fun.

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So let's let's get into some of
those things that you had to deal

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with. Yeah, well, the
first thing I had to deal with was

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my mother was ill at the time
with cancer. I also had a drug

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addicts sister, and growing up was
tough. It wasn't easy, to say

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the least. And you know,
the reason that I went to do business

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at twelve years of age because my
mother just simply couldn't you know, work

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because of her illness to bring additional
revenue into the home. So for me,

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I thought, well, if I'm
going out and I'm helping my father

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with the bills, you know,
the electricity, the gas, or the

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you know, the mortgage, then
at least he didn't have the stress of

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not having you know, my mom, you know, providing for the home.

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Now, my mom did pass,
you know, sadly, and I

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took my eye off the ball in
business, and I took some time off

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to care for her on her last
few months. And it was very tough,

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you know, as it's you know, a young boy at thirteen fourteen

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years of age, losing your mother
is not something that we all win.

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Visage and life just got a whole
lot to offer, and sometimes for me,

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I had to lash out, and
I did, and I got involved

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with the wrong crowd. I was
involved in gangs. I started, you

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know, stealing motor cars, and
I spent more time in the police stations

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than I did at home. You
know, my father was just getting sick

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of it because, you know,
every couple of days there'd be a knock

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on the door and he'd always say
to the officer, you know, what's

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he been arrested for now? And
you know, but he still stood by

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me. That was one thing about
my father, you know, he knew

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that I had the ability, you
know, and the mental capacity to make

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it. He just thought that he's
you know, rebelling and the fact that

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his mother has passed away and he
just wants to lash out and have a

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placed event. Actually, that is
wonderful that your father was in that place

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that he could actually be there for
you like that. That is very commendable.

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He's an amazing man, he really
is. And most people who have

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read my book, as you'd mentioned
earlier, fail your way to success.

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I've written very highly about my father, and everybody who's read it actually loved

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there my father more than they loved
me. So oh wow, it's hard

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for me to imagine knowing you.
I don't know you very well obviously,

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but moining you a little bit that
I can't imagine you being in gangs and

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stealing cars to her. I just
can't. Yeah, well, I still

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almost two hundred cars. I'm not
proud of it. Wow, you know,

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I'm not proud of it, to
be honest with you. And for

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me, it was I always I
was a petrol head and that's you know,

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I still am today. And for
me, you know, that was

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the one outlet where I thought I
could be me, you know, And

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it was tough. It wasn't pleasant, and you know, spending time and

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the police sales was never easy because
you're in amongst different criminals and they all

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ask you, you know, what
you in for, and you have conversations

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with you and late at night and
you're in a cell on your own and

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you're you're kind of contemplating what you
did, but you went out back at

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I went back out the next day
and I did it exactly the same,

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you know. So it's just stupidity
on my part. It's incredible, It's

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absolutely incredible. Okay, so that's
what age? How old are you at

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that point when this is happening.
I was going on, This was all

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going on around at fifteen sixteen,
okay, all right, and then and

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then what's next? I mean,
wait, there's more, Yeah, there's

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more. The reason my father thought
that to you know, settle this man

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down and calm down his you know, gang land ways, he would,

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you know, take me on the
pretense of a holiday to Pakistan, and

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that pretense of a holiday was actually
indeed that he had arranged marriage for me.

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And at sixteen years of age,
I think, I don't think there's

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very many kids that think about marriage
for me. You know. I got

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there and I overheard him having a
conversation with some elders and I said to

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mysas, you know, they're talking
about marriage, and he says yeah,

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he says, we're talking about your
marriage. And I'm like what, and

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he says, yeah, he says, I thought that this would, you

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know, calm you down, and
it would maybe give you some settling and

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get you away from the gangs and
you know, get you out of trouble

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with the police. And to a
certain degree that says, well, I'm

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only sixteen, I says, you
must be crazy if you think I'm going

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to get married at this age.
And then he said to me, he

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used the emotional blackmail. It was
like, you know, I don't know

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how long I've got left in life, and I would like to see you

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settle down, see my grandchildren.
And I kind of fell for it because

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I had to look at the fact
was here was a man that after my

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mother passed away, he did absolutely
everything for me. You know, he

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stood by me through all my criminal
activities and he simply, you know,

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didn't judge. He basically remained as
a father loyal whether I was getting arrested

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at three in the morning, and
he would come out to bail me,

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O, bring me home, make
me something to eat. So I didn't

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want to say no to him,
so I did went along with it,

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and to a certain degree it did
work out. At least. Yeah,

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let's make sure that our listeners understand
because I, of course I'm looking at

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your handsome face and they probably don't
know what you mean by coming back to

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for a vacation pretense vacation to Pakistan. Your father must be from Pakistan.

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Yes, he was originally born in
India actually, and then he went over

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to Pakistan during the war, and
I think it was nineteen forty seven or

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something, so it was a long
time ago. So he had came over

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00:13:41.919 --> 00:13:46.600
to the United Kingdom in nineteen fifty
eight as an you know, expat and

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he settled here. He obviously you
know, I married my mother over the

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prom Pakistan as well, so it
was you know, that was the background

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where they were. But I'm born
in Scotland, I'm born in the United

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Kingdom. You know, my heritage
in terms of you know, where my

207
00:14:03.120 --> 00:14:09.720
father comes from and my parents as
from another country. Okay, so you're

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00:14:09.759 --> 00:14:13.000
you've got an arranged marriage at sixteen? Did you actually get married at sixteen?

209
00:14:13.480 --> 00:14:18.120
Yes, I married. I was
just three weeks after my seventeenth birthday,

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00:14:18.360 --> 00:14:22.720
That's what I got married, Okay. And you'd never laid eyes on

211
00:14:22.720 --> 00:14:26.679
this woman before, and not until
the day of my wedding. No,

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00:14:26.720 --> 00:14:30.480
that's amazing. Can we just talk
about that for just a moment. As

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00:14:30.480 --> 00:14:35.080
a person who was married for sixteen
years together for eighteen certainly saw my husband

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before I married him. From the
Western culture perspective, what was it like

215
00:14:39.759 --> 00:14:43.240
for you to look down that aisle
and go, that's that's her, That's

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00:14:43.240 --> 00:14:45.480
who I'm going to be married to. Yeah, well, the thing is

217
00:14:45.519 --> 00:14:48.639
he didn't exactly walked down and aisle. Hey, what happens is you actually

218
00:14:48.639 --> 00:14:52.480
get married first, and then once
the wedding ceremony is done, she then

219
00:14:52.559 --> 00:14:56.840
comes over to sit next to you
as your wife. Oh, that's how

220
00:14:56.840 --> 00:15:00.080
it works. So that's how I
actually seen her. So it wasn't any

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00:15:00.120 --> 00:15:01.799
I hope, it was kind of
actually came from a room from behind me

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00:15:03.159 --> 00:15:07.519
and just sat next to me.
And what do you remember about that?

223
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It was quite scary, but you
know, and as to a certain degree,

224
00:15:11.200 --> 00:15:16.559
I had to then I realized there
and then I had responsibility and I

225
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had to get away from the criminals
and the gangs that I was associated with,

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00:15:20.799 --> 00:15:24.000
because you know, I had a
duty of care and an obligation to

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00:15:24.039 --> 00:15:26.799
this women, because you know,
she is someone's daughter, she's someone's sister,

228
00:15:28.320 --> 00:15:30.960
and you know, someone has obviously, you know, their parents have

229
00:15:31.519 --> 00:15:35.440
you know, put their trust in
me to look after her. And that's

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00:15:35.480 --> 00:15:39.360
what was going through in my head. Okay, so you're seventeen years old,

231
00:15:39.440 --> 00:15:43.279
you're married. Now what happens?
Yeah, well, I came back

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00:15:43.320 --> 00:15:46.039
to the UK. I, you
know, want to be my own man,

233
00:15:46.200 --> 00:15:50.200
and I decided to leave my father's
home. I didn't have the money

234
00:15:50.200 --> 00:15:52.840
to do it, in all honesty, and I was working, you know,

235
00:15:54.120 --> 00:15:58.279
religiously, NonStop, just to earn
money, enough money for a deposit

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00:15:58.320 --> 00:16:02.919
to buy a home so we can
our our own house. And my wife

237
00:16:02.919 --> 00:16:07.080
at the time, she was pregnant, expecting our first child, and you

238
00:16:07.120 --> 00:16:10.840
know, we were still staying our
parents. And once I had saved the

239
00:16:10.840 --> 00:16:12.320
money, I then purchased my own
home, but we didn't have any money

240
00:16:12.360 --> 00:16:17.759
to purchase furniture or anything like that. And I said to my father,

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00:16:17.799 --> 00:16:21.600
eventually I broke the news to him
that I've purchased my own house and I

242
00:16:21.759 --> 00:16:25.039
like to be my own man,
and you know, how do you feel

243
00:16:25.039 --> 00:16:27.519
about that? And he just took
it badly. He just says, well,

244
00:16:27.559 --> 00:16:30.799
I want you to leave tonight,
and I says, well, I

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00:16:30.799 --> 00:16:34.480
can't leave tonight because you know,
the house that I've purchased. I don't

246
00:16:34.519 --> 00:16:37.679
have any money for furniture. I
don't have money for a bed, you

247
00:16:37.679 --> 00:16:40.879
know, I don't even have anything. And he says, that's not my

248
00:16:40.960 --> 00:16:42.720
problem. I said, if you
want to be your own man, go

249
00:16:42.840 --> 00:16:51.720
figure it out. M okay.
Then and it wasn't easy. So it

250
00:16:51.799 --> 00:16:55.720
was heartbreak. I had to leave
the home. And that night I went

251
00:16:55.799 --> 00:17:00.799
into my first home that I had
purchased with no furniture or anything, and

252
00:17:00.840 --> 00:17:04.759
I just slept on the floor and
I was like, really cold, but

253
00:17:04.799 --> 00:17:08.799
I had a little bit of heating
on and I just cried myself to sleep.

254
00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:14.680
It was quite tough. I think
it dawned on me that this is

255
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what the world's all about. It's
not going to get any easier. And

256
00:17:18.839 --> 00:17:22.319
then in the morning when I got
up, I was extremely tired and I

257
00:17:22.440 --> 00:17:26.400
decided, you know, I needed
to have a glass of water, not

258
00:17:26.519 --> 00:17:29.400
realizing that I didn't even have a
glass. I had to put my mouth

259
00:17:29.440 --> 00:17:33.039
to the tap, you know,
to have a half a drink. So

260
00:17:33.240 --> 00:17:36.279
that kind of kind of walked me
up. Yeah, welcome to the real

261
00:17:36.319 --> 00:17:40.440
world. Mmm, okay, I'm
an adult now, I'm I'm a man

262
00:17:40.559 --> 00:17:45.880
on my own. Now, yeah, you're right. Absolutely, somewhere in

263
00:17:45.920 --> 00:17:48.759
there you told me that. And
I don't know where this happens in the

264
00:17:48.799 --> 00:17:49.920
story. I want to make sure
that we do presence of things that are

265
00:17:49.920 --> 00:17:53.200
important about your earlier upbringing. But
you told me there were at least a

266
00:17:53.240 --> 00:17:59.119
couple of times that you were homeless. Yes, that's true. The homeless

267
00:17:59.160 --> 00:18:03.359
stage had the first home, which
I've just explained to you that I had

268
00:18:03.359 --> 00:18:06.839
purchased, and you know, slowly
but surely, I was in a job

269
00:18:07.359 --> 00:18:10.640
and it was paying you know,
the bills, it was paying my mortgage,

270
00:18:10.640 --> 00:18:14.279
and you know, I started to
buy household things like a bed and

271
00:18:14.640 --> 00:18:18.440
you know, a city to sit
on and a dining table and you know,

272
00:18:18.519 --> 00:18:22.119
cut the ray forks, palots,
pans, dishes. And then the

273
00:18:22.200 --> 00:18:27.319
recession had hit in nineteen ninety the
interest rates who are going through the roof.

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00:18:27.839 --> 00:18:32.559
There was a lot of you know, redundancies that were going on within

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00:18:32.559 --> 00:18:34.599
the United Kingdom, and I was
one of them. So I lost my

276
00:18:34.680 --> 00:18:38.119
job. I just bought my first
home. And you can imagine someone has

277
00:18:38.160 --> 00:18:42.119
just purchased a first home, has
just now bought some things to make it

278
00:18:42.200 --> 00:18:47.119
into a home, you know,
and at the time, my wife was

279
00:18:47.200 --> 00:18:49.880
expecting, you know, child number
two, and I just lost my job.

280
00:18:51.720 --> 00:18:56.279
So it was quite a dawning experience, you know, thinking that,

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00:18:56.680 --> 00:18:59.599
oh my god, what do I
do now I've got no income? How

282
00:18:59.599 --> 00:19:02.759
do I pay the mortgage? How
do I pay the bills? And I

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00:19:02.799 --> 00:19:07.359
just started falling into our ears,
at least practically with everything. It was

284
00:19:07.400 --> 00:19:10.920
like I was robbing Peter to pay
Paul. So if I was going to

285
00:19:10.960 --> 00:19:15.480
pay my electricity, I would use
the gas money to pay the electricity.

286
00:19:15.559 --> 00:19:19.200
At the same time, I had
to juggle money to find money for baby

287
00:19:19.279 --> 00:19:25.359
formula and die purse for my children. And it wasn't easy. And I

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00:19:25.400 --> 00:19:30.160
think that was probably the biggest lesson
of learning you know what it's like to

289
00:19:30.200 --> 00:19:34.039
be a patent. Oh well,
that is On that sobering note, I'm

290
00:19:34.079 --> 00:19:37.599
going to stop for a second year, Davis stick our first break. Let

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00:19:37.880 --> 00:19:41.720
our listeners just kind of let that
settle in for them. And listeners please

292
00:19:41.920 --> 00:19:47.359
please interact with us, join us
for your sinis or your comments or your

293
00:19:47.400 --> 00:19:52.440
thoughts on Twitter to Elas Cortez Ali
Scart easy love to hear what you're getting

294
00:19:52.519 --> 00:19:56.240
from this conversation. I'm Elise Cortez, your host. We've been on the

295
00:19:56.240 --> 00:20:02.079
air with Tahar Ali, who was
a successful in respected international keynote speaker working

296
00:20:02.079 --> 00:20:04.480
around the globe. He is author
of Fail Your Way to Success, which

297
00:20:04.559 --> 00:20:07.599
is an incredible story of what it
takes to achieve your goals and dreams in

298
00:20:07.640 --> 00:20:11.960
life. He joins it today via
Skype in London. We've been talking a

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00:20:11.960 --> 00:20:15.000
bit about his early upbringing. After
the break, we're going to get into

300
00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:18.519
some of the lessons that he got
from those experiences. Stay with us,

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00:20:18.519 --> 00:20:33.559
We'll be right back. Friend us
on Facebook to keep up with what's empowering

302
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the world. Voice America Empowerment so
Alice Cortez is a speaker and engagement and

303
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development catalyst. She designs and delivers
professional development, leadership and engagement workshops and

304
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can bring her expertise to your organization. She will help ignite meaningful development within

305
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your workforce that will increase employee engagement, performance and retention. To learn more

306
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or to invite a last to speak
to your organization, please visit her at

307
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www dot Elise Cortez dot com.
She would welcome the opportunity to help get

308
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you friended us on Facebook yet Why not?

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ready to tackle the rules of business? He may think you're doing everything by

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the book, following your own best
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only to find that your business is
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to stop and figure out where things
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host Peter Feinstein. Peter and his
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to help you and your business succeed. Listen Wednesdays at eight am Pacific time

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322
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the most successful people tick. Keep
listening to the Voice America Empowerment Channel.

323
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Voice America Empowerment dot Com. This
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324
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To reach our program today, please
call in to one triple eight three four

325
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326
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also send an email to Elise Ali se

327
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at Elise Cortez dot com. Now
back to Working on Purpose. Thanks for

328
00:22:51.480 --> 00:22:53.839
staying with us, and welcome back
to Working on Purpose if you're just joining

329
00:22:53.920 --> 00:22:57.240
us. My guest is to Ali, who is a successful and respected international

330
00:22:57.359 --> 00:23:02.799
keynote speaker working around the globe.
He's author of Fail Your Way to Success,

331
00:23:03.000 --> 00:23:04.799
which is an incredible story of what
it takes to achieve your goals in

332
00:23:04.880 --> 00:23:08.279
dreams, in life. He's also
the CEO of a billion dollar real estate

333
00:23:08.319 --> 00:23:12.319
investment business with over sixteen hundred sales
staff. I'm your host, at least,

334
00:23:12.359 --> 00:23:17.480
Cortez so to her. Before we
went on break. We were just

335
00:23:17.680 --> 00:23:21.160
presenting a bit about your early upbringing, and I know we were not quite

336
00:23:21.160 --> 00:23:26.200
through with your about of homelessness,
and so if you'll fill us in on

337
00:23:26.200 --> 00:23:30.000
the rest of those details. Yeah, as we just finished before the break,

338
00:23:30.119 --> 00:23:33.920
I said to you that I just
lost my job and things were tight,

339
00:23:33.960 --> 00:23:36.640
and I was struggling for money,
and they got really, really bad

340
00:23:36.680 --> 00:23:41.480
to the point where, you know, my electric trist City was cut off,

341
00:23:41.599 --> 00:23:44.799
my gas was cut off. It
was, you know, just coming

342
00:23:44.880 --> 00:23:49.079
up before my twenty first birthday,
and I received an eviction notice as a

343
00:23:49.079 --> 00:23:53.519
gift for my twenty first birthday.
So that morning, you know, I

344
00:23:53.559 --> 00:23:56.359
just looked at it and I thought
myself, well, there you go.

345
00:23:56.559 --> 00:24:00.759
At least I don't need to worry
about the mortgage. And I had arranged,

346
00:24:00.920 --> 00:24:03.559
you know, for us to to
to go to a homeless shelter because

347
00:24:03.559 --> 00:24:07.799
I had still had about a month
or so before I was due to be

348
00:24:07.839 --> 00:24:12.440
evicted. Then my eviction day,
it was the fourteenth of December nineteen ninety

349
00:24:12.480 --> 00:24:18.359
two. So you know, I
packed up my things and you know,

350
00:24:18.359 --> 00:24:22.160
a week before we were due to
get a victed. You know, things

351
00:24:22.200 --> 00:24:26.640
were really tight at home and had
any food for about a week, and

352
00:24:26.880 --> 00:24:30.559
I just had a box off copper
coins, and all I knew that is

353
00:24:30.599 --> 00:24:33.599
I needed to get baby formula and
I needed to get diapers. And I

354
00:24:33.759 --> 00:24:37.400
used the copper coins, you know, to the storekeeper to ask him if

355
00:24:37.400 --> 00:24:41.000
he can do that for me.
He says, keep your money, just

356
00:24:41.079 --> 00:24:44.759
take whatever it is that you need. And I was truly grateful, you

357
00:24:44.799 --> 00:24:48.359
know, because it's lovely to see
people out there that can help you in

358
00:24:48.400 --> 00:24:52.640
that time of need. And it
was hard, and you know, I

359
00:24:52.759 --> 00:24:55.039
looked at the fact that, you
know, within a few days, I'm

360
00:24:55.039 --> 00:24:56.640
going to be out of a home
and I just need to make the most

361
00:24:56.680 --> 00:25:00.519
of it. So the day of
eviction, it was nine thirty in the

362
00:25:00.599 --> 00:25:06.400
morning, I went to the homeless
unit. After that and I was doing

363
00:25:06.400 --> 00:25:10.359
an IT training course to learn new
skills so that I can apply them in

364
00:25:10.400 --> 00:25:12.000
a job. Because if someone asked
me, you know, do you have

365
00:25:12.079 --> 00:25:15.920
computing skills, I didn't want to
say that I didn't. So I was

366
00:25:15.960 --> 00:25:18.799
doing training on a training course which
was provided, you know, free of

367
00:25:18.920 --> 00:25:22.000
charge. And I decided, you
know that I needed to go there just

368
00:25:22.039 --> 00:25:25.759
to get my head out of you
know, losing my home. That morning,

369
00:25:26.359 --> 00:25:30.240
and that very afternoon at least,
my father passed away at two thirty.

370
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I was so broke that I didn't
even have the money for the bus

371
00:25:36.480 --> 00:25:41.720
fare to go and get his dead
body. That I walked six miles in

372
00:25:41.720 --> 00:25:45.400
the snow, which was practically up
to my knees to the hospital to see

373
00:25:45.480 --> 00:25:49.279
my father. And it wasn't easy. And the first thing I thought of,

374
00:25:49.519 --> 00:25:52.119
you know, was how do I
bury him? Because I've not even

375
00:25:52.119 --> 00:25:56.519
got any money for any you know, funeral. I've not even you know,

376
00:25:56.599 --> 00:26:00.200
had anything to eat in the past
seven days, and can this day

377
00:26:00.240 --> 00:26:04.119
get any worse? So yeah,
that was my one lesson that I learned

378
00:26:04.119 --> 00:26:10.599
that it's all about resiliency, it's
about determination, and life will always do

379
00:26:10.680 --> 00:26:14.400
its utmost, you know, to
break you down today and if it doesn't

380
00:26:14.440 --> 00:26:21.000
succeed, then it's going to make
another attempt tomorrow. Oh my gosh,

381
00:26:21.000 --> 00:26:22.880
there's so much that I could ask
you about this, but let me let

382
00:26:22.880 --> 00:26:29.160
me first just see if if you
can. How do you think you're able

383
00:26:29.200 --> 00:26:33.240
to respond? I mean you,
this is true resilience we're talking about here.

384
00:26:33.359 --> 00:26:37.119
How how do you think you were
able to handle this as seemingly well

385
00:26:37.160 --> 00:26:41.960
as you did? Well, believe
or not. When I was in my

386
00:26:41.000 --> 00:26:47.200
twenties, I was quite stubborn,
and everybody everybody said that about me.

387
00:26:47.240 --> 00:26:48.480
They says, you know what,
he's so stubborn, He's such a stubborn

388
00:26:48.559 --> 00:26:53.200
child, And that was it.
I was stubborn. I was very you

389
00:26:53.240 --> 00:26:57.240
know, and in a way I
would think I was quite arrogant, cocky,

390
00:26:57.359 --> 00:27:02.319
even at least, and I'm not
saying that these are good traits to

391
00:27:02.400 --> 00:27:04.759
have. And you know, as
an individual now, because as the years

392
00:27:04.799 --> 00:27:08.319
of progressed, I know that that's
not something I am. But I think

393
00:27:08.359 --> 00:27:12.039
that's what got me through it.
I had a stubborn streak and I knew

394
00:27:12.079 --> 00:27:17.279
that, you know, that's fine. I was quite young, and I

395
00:27:17.359 --> 00:27:22.440
realized that no matter what comes my
way, I always felt invincible because as

396
00:27:22.480 --> 00:27:26.759
a child, you know, I
was a big risk taker. And everybody

397
00:27:26.839 --> 00:27:29.400
knew that about me. They says
that he is a big risk taker,

398
00:27:29.839 --> 00:27:33.720
you know, he will I was
jumping out of two story buildings just to

399
00:27:33.759 --> 00:27:37.759
get kicks. I would, you
know, do school field trips, and

400
00:27:37.799 --> 00:27:41.160
I would go into places where you're
not supposed to go when it says no

401
00:27:41.359 --> 00:27:45.039
entraye danger. And I was the
first person there, you know, So

402
00:27:45.960 --> 00:27:48.599
I didn't have the fear. I
generally didn't have the fear. So that's

403
00:27:48.640 --> 00:27:55.680
kind of what got me through that
first phase of being homeless. M I

404
00:27:55.759 --> 00:27:59.400
somehow I don't have a hard time
imagine you being stubborn and a risk taker.

405
00:27:59.559 --> 00:28:03.759
That doesn't surprise me somehow seeing you
today. But what I also do

406
00:28:03.880 --> 00:28:07.000
want to do for our listeners too, is I think there's so much power

407
00:28:07.039 --> 00:28:10.880
in being able to reflect on these
things that we go through to see what

408
00:28:10.920 --> 00:28:14.359
we can learn from them. And
I'd love it if you can share about

409
00:28:14.359 --> 00:28:17.400
about what did you get from these
experiences, what did they teach you?

410
00:28:18.240 --> 00:28:22.279
Well, one thing I've learned is
that during and I think most of your

411
00:28:22.279 --> 00:28:26.200
listeners will appreciate this as well,
is that during the times of your need,

412
00:28:27.000 --> 00:28:33.240
you can only ever count your true
friends on one hand. And you

413
00:28:33.279 --> 00:28:38.240
know, Will Smith said it perfectly. He says that when you hit rock

414
00:28:38.440 --> 00:28:42.400
bottom in life, you know who
your rock is when you're down there.

415
00:28:45.480 --> 00:28:51.640
That is a great way to think
about it. So, yeah, I

416
00:28:51.759 --> 00:28:57.480
had some fantastic friends because I had
a phenomenal childhood growing up with those friends

417
00:28:59.240 --> 00:29:00.759
and they got me to do it, you know. So it's very much

418
00:29:00.839 --> 00:29:04.519
that we all supported one another.
If I needed to vent, they were

419
00:29:04.559 --> 00:29:07.160
there for me. If I needed, you know, someone a shoulder to

420
00:29:07.720 --> 00:29:11.079
cry on, they were there for
me. If I needed you know,

421
00:29:11.119 --> 00:29:15.000
assistance with moving or anything, they
were all there for me. So I

422
00:29:15.200 --> 00:29:19.319
value loyalty, you know, very
importantly. That's one thing that everybody that

423
00:29:19.440 --> 00:29:26.240
knows me knows that loyalty and respect
as two things that I cherished daily.

424
00:29:27.000 --> 00:29:30.559
Okay, so friends, loyalty in
respect, I got that all right.

425
00:29:33.759 --> 00:29:37.519
So it's you know, it's about
making sure that you believe in yourself,

426
00:29:37.720 --> 00:29:41.720
you know, because it's easy for
anyone else out there to say, you

427
00:29:41.759 --> 00:29:45.400
know, don't do this, don't
do that. And I was getting you

428
00:29:45.400 --> 00:29:48.240
know, so many people who would
always come in and say to me,

429
00:29:48.319 --> 00:29:51.680
you know, you should do this
and do that, and I my reply

430
00:29:51.759 --> 00:29:56.839
would always be the same, you
know, don't judge my life in a

431
00:29:56.920 --> 00:30:03.839
manner that you've walked in my shoes, because you haven't, you know so,

432
00:30:03.519 --> 00:30:08.039
And until you've walked on mail in
my shoes, then feel free to

433
00:30:08.119 --> 00:30:11.319
give your opinion. But if you
are going to do so, you're reading

434
00:30:11.359 --> 00:30:15.039
my shoes and you're a mile away, so I'm not even going to hear

435
00:30:15.079 --> 00:30:21.160
you. Yeah, you know,
there is such power, right and one

436
00:30:21.200 --> 00:30:26.160
of that whole notion of being able
to really understand somebody's perspective. The only

437
00:30:26.200 --> 00:30:27.920
way to do that is to really
as you say, they're walking their shoes,

438
00:30:29.039 --> 00:30:33.720
or get so deeply into their experience
that it's as if you're right there

439
00:30:33.759 --> 00:30:36.920
with them, and then that will
take something right, really takes something to

440
00:30:36.960 --> 00:30:42.559
do that absolutely at least absolutely okay, got it. So this whole notion

441
00:30:42.640 --> 00:30:47.359
of being able to walk in somebody
else's shoes, to be able to have

442
00:30:47.400 --> 00:30:51.160
something to say about their life or
to join their dialogue, got it?

443
00:30:51.200 --> 00:30:53.079
What else did you learn? What
else did you get from these experiences?

444
00:30:53.599 --> 00:30:59.160
Oh? I learned I think a
lot more to reflect. And the reflection

445
00:30:59.319 --> 00:31:03.920
was very important to me because you
know, it kind of determined who I

446
00:31:03.960 --> 00:31:07.720
was going to become. And that
was important because you know, I learned

447
00:31:07.720 --> 00:31:11.640
that, you know, I've just
had a passing of my mother. I've

448
00:31:11.720 --> 00:31:15.160
learned that my father, you know, had had passed and he was still

449
00:31:15.200 --> 00:31:18.599
supportive of me going through the periods. And you know, my mother and

450
00:31:18.640 --> 00:31:22.880
father never had a relationship, right, They never spoke. They stayed in

451
00:31:22.960 --> 00:31:26.680
the same home for you know,
fourteen years of their marriage and they never

452
00:31:26.759 --> 00:31:32.200
had a discussion. They did not
even want to share the same floor space.

453
00:31:32.720 --> 00:31:36.759
Now, when my father found out
that my mom was ill with cancer,

454
00:31:36.920 --> 00:31:40.599
he was, you know, her
primary care. He looked after her,

455
00:31:40.720 --> 00:31:42.839
fed her, clothed her, bathed
her, washed her, and did

456
00:31:42.920 --> 00:31:47.160
everything you know for this women.
And I asked my father I said,

457
00:31:47.200 --> 00:31:49.759
you know, you've never had a
relationship with my mum. I says,

458
00:31:49.759 --> 00:31:53.319
she's never once asked you, you
know, if you were ill? Can

459
00:31:53.359 --> 00:31:56.319
I get you anything? Can I
help you with anything? I says,

460
00:31:56.319 --> 00:31:59.960
you were in hospital for three months
and she never once came to visit you.

461
00:32:00.079 --> 00:32:04.319
She doesn't even acknowledge the fact that
you are her husband. You stay

462
00:32:04.319 --> 00:32:07.920
in separate rooms within the home,
You don't speak to one another. Can

463
00:32:07.960 --> 00:32:12.400
I ask you why you did everything
for her when she was ill? And

464
00:32:12.440 --> 00:32:16.039
he said that you know, if
you life, you know, he said

465
00:32:16.079 --> 00:32:22.200
this amazing quote to me, and
he says that anger is the wind that

466
00:32:22.400 --> 00:32:29.559
blows out the candle to the mind. Oh that's so powerful. I never

467
00:32:29.599 --> 00:32:32.960
heard that before. That's amazing.
Okay. Now he says that when you

468
00:32:34.039 --> 00:32:37.200
live your life in anger, he
says that all you do is you become

469
00:32:37.279 --> 00:32:44.559
resentful of everything and everyone around you. And he says that you'll never move

470
00:32:44.599 --> 00:32:50.200
forward because the energy that you're radiating
from your body just doesn't Nobody wants to

471
00:32:50.240 --> 00:32:54.279
company it. So he says,
you know, just forgive and whatever has

472
00:32:54.319 --> 00:32:58.960
happened, let it go. And
I had to do that. So that's

473
00:32:58.960 --> 00:33:02.200
one thing I learned you know is
I had all this adversity and I just

474
00:33:02.319 --> 00:33:06.880
had to let it go. And
I knew that, you know, nothing

475
00:33:06.920 --> 00:33:12.920
in life will ever happen to you, it happens for you. That's a

476
00:33:13.000 --> 00:33:16.240
very powerful perspective to heart. What
I like about that perspective is it removes

477
00:33:16.680 --> 00:33:22.880
the victim mentality and it's empowering instead. Absolutely so, I then started to

478
00:33:22.880 --> 00:33:28.799
become grateful for all the hardship,
for all the you know, suffering that

479
00:33:28.839 --> 00:33:31.559
I had went through. And once
I started to be grateful for it,

480
00:33:32.279 --> 00:33:37.559
everything, and I mean everything has
started to come into my life the way

481
00:33:37.559 --> 00:33:40.039
I wanted it to come in.
You know, I was back in the

482
00:33:40.079 --> 00:33:44.960
corporate world. I'd found myself a
job. I started earning good money.

483
00:33:45.079 --> 00:33:49.400
I was doing a part time you
know, self employee basis selling mobile telephones

484
00:33:49.440 --> 00:33:53.240
because at the time that's when they
had just started to become a thing.

485
00:33:53.799 --> 00:33:59.559
And I decided that I'm going to
save enough money and buy my own home

486
00:34:00.279 --> 00:34:02.440
with a mortgage. And I did
that. So I had the determination to

487
00:34:02.519 --> 00:34:07.240
succeed. I had a goal.
I was focused on it, and it

488
00:34:07.279 --> 00:34:10.519
just didn't let anything saught me.
And how old were you when that happened

489
00:34:10.559 --> 00:34:15.719
to her I was about twenty three. Wow. Okay, holy cow,

490
00:34:15.760 --> 00:34:17.960
that's quite a turnaround. Okay,
I have to go back to something else

491
00:34:17.960 --> 00:34:21.159
that you said, because I'm riveted
on it, if you don't mind.

492
00:34:21.760 --> 00:34:27.639
You mentioned something about you were reflecting
on who I was going to become when

493
00:34:27.840 --> 00:34:30.719
all this was happening in your life. And because I have been somebody who

494
00:34:30.719 --> 00:34:36.920
hasn't been investigating not only meaning in
work, but also identity for years,

495
00:34:37.079 --> 00:34:39.960
I'm really interested in what was happening
for you when you were thinking about this

496
00:34:39.960 --> 00:34:44.840
whole, notion of who you were
becoming in this process. Did you have

497
00:34:45.119 --> 00:34:47.199
a target in mind of where you
were trying to get to in terms of

498
00:34:47.239 --> 00:34:52.159
who you were becoming. Yeah,
because I wanted to be the leader,

499
00:34:52.719 --> 00:34:55.760
because that was important for me.
And you know, I wanted the to

500
00:34:55.800 --> 00:35:00.360
be the person that someone could rely
on because I want, you know,

501
00:35:00.400 --> 00:35:04.239
my children to say that, you
know, our father got us out of

502
00:35:04.360 --> 00:35:08.440
this whole. You know. I
wanted to be the person that everybody looked

503
00:35:08.480 --> 00:35:14.280
around and said that, look at
everything that this man has went through and

504
00:35:14.320 --> 00:35:16.400
he's came out of it. You
know, he's not let anything stop him.

505
00:35:16.440 --> 00:35:21.679
He's not let the people come in
and dictate to him how he should

506
00:35:21.719 --> 00:35:25.960
live his life. I'd learned leadership
skills and that was important because I took

507
00:35:27.039 --> 00:35:31.519
ownership. And what you find is
leaders you know, they always say,

508
00:35:31.519 --> 00:35:35.000
you know, what makes a good
leader, and a good leader is the

509
00:35:35.039 --> 00:35:38.320
person who brings out the best and
everyone. That's what a good leader is,

510
00:35:38.760 --> 00:35:43.559
you know. It's someone who who
brings out the best and everyone.

511
00:35:43.599 --> 00:35:45.079
And that's what I wanted to do. I had to bring out the best

512
00:35:45.360 --> 00:35:51.519
and the people around me, and
whilst doing that, that allowed me to

513
00:35:51.639 --> 00:35:58.119
grow and be focused and determined of
where I wanted to be. I really

514
00:35:58.119 --> 00:36:00.960
like that definition to her. I've
never heard that. Very very simple,

515
00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:04.920
but incredibly powerful. A good leader
is someone who brings up the best in

516
00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:08.400
everyone. I love that. I
love that. Okay, so you're twenty

517
00:36:08.440 --> 00:36:15.360
three years old, you buy outright
your home for your family, just chronologically.

518
00:36:15.800 --> 00:36:19.079
What's next in what you learned along
the way. Yeah. Then I

519
00:36:19.119 --> 00:36:22.920
went into the corporate world because I
kind of decided that I needed to take

520
00:36:22.920 --> 00:36:28.960
a safer approach, release and stop
taking the big risks that I was taking.

521
00:36:29.679 --> 00:36:31.239
And I did that. I worked, you know, for a number

522
00:36:31.280 --> 00:36:37.480
of years for a well established bank. Then I moved into the financial services

523
00:36:37.480 --> 00:36:42.440
sector for a large wealth management company, and then I spent another you know,

524
00:36:42.559 --> 00:36:49.239
ten years or so within media and
you know, the television industry.

525
00:36:49.320 --> 00:36:53.840
Now I was doing those jobs side
by side because I wanted to learn everything

526
00:36:53.880 --> 00:36:57.840
about the corporate world, you know, how to do business, how to

527
00:36:58.320 --> 00:37:01.239
you know, learn everything about well
investing, financial planning, and everything else.

528
00:37:01.280 --> 00:37:06.079
Because this was knowledge which was important
to me because I learned that when

529
00:37:06.079 --> 00:37:08.880
I didn't have money, you know, I didn't want to be in that

530
00:37:08.920 --> 00:37:13.559
same position again. I really wanted
to invest it and make something with my

531
00:37:13.639 --> 00:37:16.079
life, plan for my future and
not be in the same position that I

532
00:37:16.119 --> 00:37:20.079
had to go through again. So
it was very important that I did that,

533
00:37:20.400 --> 00:37:22.679
and the corporate world taught me a
lot of things. It's not something

534
00:37:22.679 --> 00:37:29.760
I would ever go back into today, but it's been worthwhile. M That's

535
00:37:29.920 --> 00:37:32.840
quite a breadth of experience you had
in terms of you said you sold cell

536
00:37:32.880 --> 00:37:36.960
phones, then I heard you say
you worked for a bank, and then

537
00:37:37.079 --> 00:37:40.880
financial services are investing and then media. That's actually quite an interesting combination.

538
00:37:42.480 --> 00:37:45.440
Yeah, it is. And you
know the surprising thing is, at least

539
00:37:45.559 --> 00:37:52.199
I started as a temp in all
of those companies and when I left at

540
00:37:52.199 --> 00:37:57.920
the bank, I was one of
the senior lending officers. When I left

541
00:37:57.920 --> 00:38:00.360
the wealth management firm, I was
a director of the National Accounts division.

542
00:38:00.719 --> 00:38:05.880
And when I left with the Media, I was an operational director there as

543
00:38:05.920 --> 00:38:09.320
well. So you know, these
are three roles that I started at the

544
00:38:09.360 --> 00:38:13.679
bottom, and I just worked and
worked and worked and worked and worked,

545
00:38:13.719 --> 00:38:16.440
and you know, left there a
very high position. So I learned everything

546
00:38:16.719 --> 00:38:20.679
that I needed to learn about the
business world and the corporate world, as

547
00:38:20.679 --> 00:38:23.679
you say, not the business side, but the corporate side of you know

548
00:38:23.920 --> 00:38:30.559
that fifteen years within those industries,
I think I want to presence that really

549
00:38:30.599 --> 00:38:32.800
quick for our listeners. We all
know how important it is to keep learning

550
00:38:32.840 --> 00:38:36.199
in life, right, we all
know that, But boy, you are

551
00:38:36.239 --> 00:38:40.000
a living, walking testament to that. To heart. Thank you, You're

552
00:38:40.039 --> 00:38:45.639
welcome. We are so close to
going into our first break here. Is

553
00:38:45.679 --> 00:38:49.159
there anything else that you learned from
that period or first we are second break,

554
00:38:49.280 --> 00:38:51.679
Anything else that you learned in that
period that you want to be sure

555
00:38:51.679 --> 00:38:54.199
and share with us. Yeah,
One thing is you need to read.

556
00:38:54.800 --> 00:38:58.000
And a lot of people, you
know, they don't like to read.

557
00:38:58.039 --> 00:39:00.400
They don't want to pick up a
book. But you know, my father

558
00:39:00.480 --> 00:39:07.320
always used to say to me.
He says that learning is earning m And

559
00:39:07.920 --> 00:39:09.559
you know, think about it.
You know, ladies and gentlemen, if

560
00:39:09.559 --> 00:39:15.960
you're reading one book per week,
that's fifty two books in the year over

561
00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:19.840
a ten year window. If you
started at the age of thirty, by

562
00:39:19.840 --> 00:39:23.760
the time you're forty, you will
have the knowledge which is equivalent of a

563
00:39:23.760 --> 00:39:30.639
PhD. Wow. And you know, you have to also look at the

564
00:39:30.679 --> 00:39:35.239
fact that everyone else who's at forty
years of age, who hasn't read the

565
00:39:35.320 --> 00:39:38.719
same number of books in the past
ten years before you, you're going to

566
00:39:38.760 --> 00:39:44.960
be earning ten times more them as
well. Oh my gosh, I should

567
00:39:45.000 --> 00:39:46.480
send you a picture of my long
old list. I've got a cube of

568
00:39:46.480 --> 00:39:50.400
books that I that I that are
set for me to read to herd because

569
00:39:50.400 --> 00:39:52.719
I'm also big into reading two in
addition to doing the show each week.

570
00:39:52.760 --> 00:39:59.039
So I'm completely with you. You
got one believer and that's me. All

571
00:39:59.119 --> 00:40:00.639
right, let's take a shore break. I'm Elise Cortez, your host.

572
00:40:00.719 --> 00:40:04.800
We've been on the year with Tahar
Ali, who is a successful and respected

573
00:40:04.880 --> 00:40:08.480
international keynote speaker working around the globe. He is author of Failure Way to

574
00:40:08.519 --> 00:40:12.960
Success, which is an incredible story
of what it takes to achieve your goals

575
00:40:12.960 --> 00:40:15.719
and dreams in life. He judges
to day via Skype in London where currently

576
00:40:15.840 --> 00:40:21.000
it's almost midnight after the work.
We're going to hear about how he actually

577
00:40:21.079 --> 00:40:23.079
uses some of this stuff in his
business today, some of those secrets and

578
00:40:23.079 --> 00:40:27.159
strategies that you can take and use
as well. Stay with us, We'll

579
00:40:27.159 --> 00:40:44.599
be right back. It's your world. Motivate, change, succeed. Voice

580
00:40:44.599 --> 00:40:52.119
America Empowerment dot com. Elise Cortez
is a speaker and engagement and development catalyst.

581
00:40:52.280 --> 00:40:58.559
She designs and delivers professional development,
leadership and engagement workshops and can bring

582
00:40:58.599 --> 00:41:02.880
her expertise to your organ She will
help ignite meaningful development within your workforce that

583
00:41:02.920 --> 00:41:07.880
will increase employee engagement, performance and
retention. To learn more or to invite

584
00:41:07.880 --> 00:41:13.599
a lease to speak to your organization, please visit her at www dot Elise

585
00:41:13.719 --> 00:41:17.800
Cortez dot com. She would welcome
the opportunity to help get your employees working

586
00:41:17.920 --> 00:41:23.320
on purpose. Now there's a new
destination for video content. Voice America dot

587
00:41:23.360 --> 00:41:28.440
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and so much more. Voice America Variety

588
00:41:28.519 --> 00:41:30.760
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589
00:41:30.760 --> 00:41:35.840
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590
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592
00:41:45.719 --> 00:41:49.800
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593
00:41:50.039 --> 00:41:53.920
let us surprise you. We all
have unique experiences and outlooks when it

594
00:41:53.920 --> 00:41:59.760
comes to leadership and team building,
Yet sometimes we clash even when trying to

595
00:41:59.760 --> 00:42:05.320
achieve the exact same goals. Check
out Unleash your Inner Goldilocks How to get

596
00:42:05.360 --> 00:42:09.360
it just right. Your host is
doctor cass Henry. A shared journey equal

597
00:42:09.440 --> 00:42:15.960
success, and every human interaction has
the power to achieve this success by working

598
00:42:15.000 --> 00:42:21.280
together. Tune in every Thursday at
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599
00:42:21.320 --> 00:42:27.960
Time on the Voice America Empowerment Channel, Change your World, Change your Life,

600
00:42:28.320 --> 00:42:40.679
Voice America Empowerment dot Com. This
is working on purpose with Elise Cortez.

601
00:42:42.159 --> 00:42:45.960
To reach our program today, please
call into one triple eight three four

602
00:42:45.079 --> 00:42:50.559
six nine one four one. Again, that's one triple eight three four six

603
00:42:50.800 --> 00:42:55.639
nine one four one. You may
also send an email to Elise Ali se

604
00:42:55.880 --> 00:43:05.480
at Elise Cortez dot com. Now
back to working on Purpose. Thanks for

605
00:43:05.480 --> 00:43:07.639
staying with us, and welcome back
to working on Purpose if you're just tuning

606
00:43:07.679 --> 00:43:12.840
in. My guest is Tahar Ali, who is a successful and respected international

607
00:43:12.920 --> 00:43:15.840
keynote speaker working around the globe.
He is the author of the book called

608
00:43:16.119 --> 00:43:20.440
Failure Your Way to Success, which
is an incredible story what it takes to

609
00:43:20.440 --> 00:43:22.639
achieve your goals and dreams in life. He is also the CEO of a

610
00:43:22.679 --> 00:43:28.199
billion dollar real estate investment business with
over sixteen hundred sales staff. I'm your

611
00:43:28.199 --> 00:43:31.079
host, Elise Cortez. We would
love to hear what it is that is

612
00:43:31.159 --> 00:43:35.440
really landing for you in this conversation. What are you getting from this conversation?

613
00:43:35.480 --> 00:43:37.559
Would be great to hear from you
via Twitter Send me a tweet to

614
00:43:37.639 --> 00:43:42.679
Elise Cortez. So, Tahara,
one of the things I wanted to do

615
00:43:42.800 --> 00:43:45.199
if we can, as we were
talking about over the break, I remember

616
00:43:45.400 --> 00:43:52.000
very very fondly something you told me
in our first conversation via Skype, and

617
00:43:52.079 --> 00:43:52.719
I said, well, gosh,
are you sure you want to come on

618
00:43:52.760 --> 00:43:55.599
the show at that time and do
a live show because it's going to be

619
00:43:55.679 --> 00:43:59.360
eleven o'clock your time, and we'll
finish at midnight. And you said,

620
00:44:00.079 --> 00:44:02.760
well, I go to bed anyway
later anyhow, And I sleep only about

621
00:44:02.760 --> 00:44:06.519
four hours a night, That's what
I do. And I really am not

622
00:44:06.599 --> 00:44:09.320
able to go to sleep anyway until
I feel like I've helped someone. That's

623
00:44:09.360 --> 00:44:14.079
true. I think that's extraordinary.
Can you say a little bit more about

624
00:44:14.119 --> 00:44:17.280
this perspective of yours is value of
years? Well, firstly, how I

625
00:44:17.320 --> 00:44:22.280
came about for four hours sleeping And
I'm very open and honest, and everybody

626
00:44:22.320 --> 00:44:27.480
realizes that about me as I had
a nervous breakdown and during that breakdown of

627
00:44:27.599 --> 00:44:31.480
eighteen months, I wasn't sleeping.
I was crying myself. You know when

628
00:44:31.559 --> 00:44:36.320
practically when I woke up and I
was crying myself practically through the whole day,

629
00:44:36.360 --> 00:44:38.400
and before I even managed to did
get some sleep, I would cry

630
00:44:38.440 --> 00:44:44.840
and I would wake up having panic
or anxiety attacks. It was tough.

631
00:44:44.920 --> 00:44:47.159
You know. I stayed at home
and I didn't leave the house. I

632
00:44:47.320 --> 00:44:51.159
just didn't want to meet anyone,
didn't speak to anyone. I didn't even

633
00:44:51.159 --> 00:44:54.199
have a support network because you know, it was very, very different from

634
00:44:54.239 --> 00:45:01.480
me so that four hour time constraint
had resulted a period of insomnia, and

635
00:45:01.800 --> 00:45:05.920
I then had to build a routine
that I decided that this is when I'm

636
00:45:05.920 --> 00:45:07.400
going to state, and this is
when I'm going to wake. But one

637
00:45:07.400 --> 00:45:14.480
thing I learned from it is that
I obtain my happiness in life by helping

638
00:45:14.599 --> 00:45:17.920
and serving others. So for me, now that's very crucial. And I

639
00:45:17.960 --> 00:45:23.400
speak with almost between you know,
fifteen, sometimes twenty people in the day

640
00:45:23.639 --> 00:45:28.880
who need my assistance, need my
guidance, or just need that little bit

641
00:45:28.880 --> 00:45:34.719
of inspiration to make a difference or
make a change with a life. And

642
00:45:34.880 --> 00:45:37.679
you know, Will Smith is one
of my favorite actors, and he's probably

643
00:45:37.719 --> 00:45:42.320
one of the best motivational men out
there in the world. And you know,

644
00:45:42.599 --> 00:45:45.880
I've seen an interview of him just
a few weeks ago, and he

645
00:45:45.000 --> 00:45:49.719
was asked that when you're on a
movie set, he says, why do

646
00:45:49.840 --> 00:45:54.199
you take the time out to speak
to everyone who's you know, like watching

647
00:45:54.280 --> 00:46:00.360
in the public. And he says
that he does not know what they may

648
00:46:00.400 --> 00:46:02.719
be going through in life, but
if he can give them one minute of

649
00:46:04.400 --> 00:46:07.960
his time and make a difference to
their day, he says, it's worth

650
00:46:08.000 --> 00:46:13.000
it. And I have the same
mentality. So if I can, you

651
00:46:13.039 --> 00:46:16.159
know, speak to someone be at
twenty minutes half an hour and make a

652
00:46:16.199 --> 00:46:20.400
difference to their life, no matter
what it is that they're going through,

653
00:46:21.199 --> 00:46:23.199
I know what's worth it. So
the four hours that I sleep is so

654
00:46:23.280 --> 00:46:30.280
that I can dedicate the twenty to
serve others. Okay, So obviously you

655
00:46:30.320 --> 00:46:34.719
clearly are a man who is living
and working on purpose. You are you

656
00:46:34.840 --> 00:46:37.320
at you, You've got a purpose
statement. Theority is right there. I

657
00:46:37.320 --> 00:46:39.119
think that's so important for our listeners
to get to that. This is part

658
00:46:39.159 --> 00:46:43.199
of I think probably what makes you
who you are to her is that you

659
00:46:43.199 --> 00:46:45.480
can stand from that place and you
can live and work on you from your

660
00:46:45.480 --> 00:46:51.440
purpose. Absolutely, and that's important
to me because you know, as we

661
00:46:51.440 --> 00:46:55.480
were chosen from one in fourteen million
sperm, we were not brought onto this

662
00:46:55.519 --> 00:47:00.519
planet to just pay a mortgage and
pay bills. I do not, under

663
00:47:00.559 --> 00:47:06.039
any circumstances, want my tombstone to
say dead but not used up. I

664
00:47:06.079 --> 00:47:10.039
wanted to say that millions of people
in life never gave up on their dreams

665
00:47:10.119 --> 00:47:15.320
because of me. Oh, I
really applaud that. I really appreciate that.

666
00:47:15.400 --> 00:47:19.960
And we know that's happening. And
I think it's also important for our

667
00:47:19.960 --> 00:47:22.719
listeners to know. I think you
don't you give away certain amount of your

668
00:47:22.719 --> 00:47:27.960
proceeds from your book too, Yes, I do. All my proceeds go

669
00:47:28.159 --> 00:47:31.960
to our charity foundation. From the
book sales and from my speaking engagements,

670
00:47:32.519 --> 00:47:38.960
thirty percent goes away to my charity
foundation. And any consulting work that I

671
00:47:39.079 --> 00:47:45.440
received, that all goes to charity
as well. It's phenomenal to her,

672
00:47:45.519 --> 00:47:49.480
it's phenomenal. So for this last
little bit here, we're coming or it'll

673
00:47:49.480 --> 00:47:53.559
be soon enough that we have to
close the show. So let's make sure

674
00:47:53.159 --> 00:47:59.199
that you do today. Your real
estate investment business, when when did that

675
00:47:59.280 --> 00:48:00.920
come about? Tell a little bit
about that if you will. Yeah,

676
00:48:01.000 --> 00:48:06.400
the business started in two thousand and
three. You know, I was sold

677
00:48:06.440 --> 00:48:10.960
out by my corporate world after September
eleventh and two thousand and one and decided

678
00:48:12.000 --> 00:48:15.679
that I wanted to make a break
and go on my own. And it

679
00:48:15.800 --> 00:48:17.599
was risky. I knew that,
but I was always the type of person

680
00:48:19.039 --> 00:48:22.239
that I was willing to take risks. I had met a you know,

681
00:48:22.280 --> 00:48:28.480
someone in property who's still in my
business partner today after fourteen years lovely,

682
00:48:28.559 --> 00:48:30.039
lovely. You know, I treat
him like a brother. He treats me

683
00:48:30.079 --> 00:48:34.119
like a brother as well. If
the car and we built the company from

684
00:48:34.159 --> 00:48:36.519
nothing. You know, we didn't
have any investment. We didn't have any

685
00:48:36.800 --> 00:48:39.320
you know, crowdfunding is what we
can get today or you know, investors.

686
00:48:40.079 --> 00:48:44.280
But we just had a like an
ambition and a dream to to go

687
00:48:44.320 --> 00:48:47.119
out and you know, create a
brand, create a company that could do

688
00:48:47.199 --> 00:48:51.960
well. So we started off very
very small in two thousand and three.

689
00:48:52.119 --> 00:48:54.679
And it did take a setback at
a later stage because one of my business

690
00:48:54.679 --> 00:49:00.039
partners had stolen all the company funds
and had you know, disappeared off the

691
00:49:00.079 --> 00:49:05.199
face of the earth and went off
to Switzerland to enjoy the money. And

692
00:49:05.480 --> 00:49:07.840
that was the second time that I
became homeless. So there was more business

693
00:49:07.880 --> 00:49:13.039
lessons to be learned there. Hence
the reason why I just mentioned to you

694
00:49:13.119 --> 00:49:15.400
earlier about my nervous breakdowns, because
it was a lot to take on board.

695
00:49:15.960 --> 00:49:21.559
So that started from nothing. But
what I did do was I started

696
00:49:21.599 --> 00:49:24.280
selling real estate at a small scale, so I was doing maybe five or

697
00:49:24.320 --> 00:49:30.239
six properties at a time, and
I was knocking on doors of developers to

698
00:49:30.280 --> 00:49:32.880
say, please, please give me
your stock so I can sell it.

699
00:49:32.920 --> 00:49:37.360
And every single developer practically turned me
away, and I said, you know,

700
00:49:38.239 --> 00:49:40.239
okay, they all said to me, we don't know you, you're

701
00:49:40.360 --> 00:49:44.119
unknown. You know, we will
deal with the people that we deal with,

702
00:49:44.159 --> 00:49:47.079
the large investment companies and the people
that we're in bed with our private

703
00:49:47.159 --> 00:49:51.320
members clubs and country clubs and golf
courses. And I says, well,

704
00:49:51.320 --> 00:49:53.280
if you're not willing to take a
chance on me, then how will you

705
00:49:53.320 --> 00:49:58.800
ever know that you know I'm good
enough to sell your product. So I

706
00:49:58.880 --> 00:50:01.159
kept knocking on doors, and I
must have knocked on about eleven hundred doors

707
00:50:01.199 --> 00:50:07.199
Aelicia, And it wasn't easy taking
rejection after rejection. But one thing I

708
00:50:07.199 --> 00:50:10.719
have to say to everyone that's on
listening in is you need to make rejection

709
00:50:10.840 --> 00:50:15.400
your best friend, you know.
And I have a principle called the thirty

710
00:50:15.400 --> 00:50:20.440
two one. So for every thirty
people that you're going to ask, one

711
00:50:20.519 --> 00:50:22.440
is going to say no, one
is going to say yes. So just

712
00:50:22.480 --> 00:50:25.719
look at it is. If you're
going out dating on a speed dating network,

713
00:50:25.760 --> 00:50:30.039
you know, thirty women are going
to say no to you, and

714
00:50:30.079 --> 00:50:30.760
one will say, oh yeah,
okay, I'd love to go on a

715
00:50:30.840 --> 00:50:34.400
date with you. So it's the
same process and you can laugh about it

716
00:50:34.599 --> 00:50:37.599
because that's the way to deal with
the rejection. And I did that and

717
00:50:37.639 --> 00:50:42.679
eventually, you know, a couple
of developers and they took the chance on

718
00:50:42.760 --> 00:50:45.199
me, and I delivered for them
practically, you know. They gave me

719
00:50:45.840 --> 00:50:49.960
ten sales to do and I got
the ten sales done in a matter of

720
00:50:50.079 --> 00:50:53.000
days. And we slowly built the
business up. But then I moved to

721
00:50:53.039 --> 00:50:58.920
the Middle East and expanded at a
larger scale and I did that and I

722
00:50:58.960 --> 00:51:01.400
brought the business back to the UK
and we just grew it. And it

723
00:51:01.440 --> 00:51:05.039
hasn't been easy. I'm not saying
that. And how do you recover from

724
00:51:05.079 --> 00:51:07.960
the fact that once you built a
business up, you've got phenomenal cash in

725
00:51:07.960 --> 00:51:12.679
the back, you're very cash rich, you're well established, and then all

726
00:51:12.679 --> 00:51:15.800
of a sudden the rug comes out
under your feet because your business partner has

727
00:51:15.840 --> 00:51:20.199
just cleaned out the company takings and
you know, headed off to Switzerland.

728
00:51:20.800 --> 00:51:24.239
So it was hard. So that's
a big knocking confidence and you had had

729
00:51:24.239 --> 00:51:27.920
a breakdown on the back of that. But at the end of it,

730
00:51:28.039 --> 00:51:30.639
you know, I decided I need
to give up on my pity party.

731
00:51:31.320 --> 00:51:37.719
I got back out there and I
started knocking on doors again and building up,

732
00:51:37.760 --> 00:51:39.079
you know, the business, and
I built it up to a great

733
00:51:39.119 --> 00:51:42.559
deal. And my business partner,
he stuck by me. The two of

734
00:51:42.599 --> 00:51:45.079
us went out and we did what
we had to do. We created a

735
00:51:45.119 --> 00:51:49.840
team. And in business, you
know, your team is very, very

736
00:51:49.880 --> 00:51:53.400
crucial. No matter how brilliant your
ideas are, you know they will never

737
00:51:53.440 --> 00:51:59.239
work if you don't have a great
team, because your success is all about

738
00:51:59.400 --> 00:52:04.199
execution. And if you don't have
the right people in place, it doesn't

739
00:52:04.239 --> 00:52:07.719
matter what knowledge you have, how
much time and energy that you give to

740
00:52:07.800 --> 00:52:12.559
your business, it will not succeed. So you have to have great teams

741
00:52:12.599 --> 00:52:15.239
within the business. And that's what
we started to do. We created a

742
00:52:15.239 --> 00:52:20.599
team around us and slowly but surely, and then decided that I need to

743
00:52:20.599 --> 00:52:23.199
bring on people that will do the
sales so that I can then spend more

744
00:52:23.199 --> 00:52:29.320
time managing on the business rather than
managing in the business. So there's a

745
00:52:29.320 --> 00:52:31.760
difference there. You know, once
you manage on your business, it's more

746
00:52:31.840 --> 00:52:38.159
likely to succeed than it is when
you're managing in the business. And you've

747
00:52:38.639 --> 00:52:43.000
just got to, you know,
realize that everything that you want to do

748
00:52:43.079 --> 00:52:46.440
in business, it will never happen
overnight. No one does that. You

749
00:52:46.480 --> 00:52:51.360
know, it takes years worth of
work. It's never going to come easy

750
00:52:51.679 --> 00:52:55.079
and it's never going to come fast, and you have to learn to say

751
00:52:55.159 --> 00:52:58.559
no, you know. So when
people come to you say, oh,

752
00:52:58.760 --> 00:53:01.000
you know, are you willing to
do that? No, because if it

753
00:53:01.039 --> 00:53:05.639
doesn't matter to you, say no
to it and move on quickly. Because

754
00:53:05.800 --> 00:53:10.599
anybody can fill a day with nonsense
or choices or opportunities and distractions, but

755
00:53:10.639 --> 00:53:14.280
you need to get away from that. You just need to focus on what

756
00:53:14.400 --> 00:53:16.400
it is that you want to do. And this was important to me.

757
00:53:16.480 --> 00:53:20.880
So I went out and I decided, you know, this is how we're

758
00:53:20.920 --> 00:53:22.599
going to grow our business, and
we did. We then opened our second

759
00:53:22.639 --> 00:53:28.400
office in Dubai. Our third office
then open in Hong Kong, our fourth

760
00:53:28.400 --> 00:53:32.719
office opened in Malaysia, and then
our final office opened in Singapore, and

761
00:53:32.760 --> 00:53:37.880
all of a sudden, we're now
a global brand and we started bringing more

762
00:53:37.920 --> 00:53:39.880
sales staff. And then we decided
that we're going to start working with what's

763
00:53:39.920 --> 00:53:45.320
known as strategic partners. So if
you want to call it in layman's terms,

764
00:53:45.320 --> 00:53:50.440
it's called collaboration. And then once
you call collaborate in business, it

765
00:53:50.519 --> 00:53:54.800
becomes a lot easier to grow and
you know, create a brand for yourself,

766
00:53:55.639 --> 00:54:00.440
and that's important, you know,
So always be willing to work with

767
00:54:00.480 --> 00:54:04.639
other people. Don't see them as
competition, see them as colleagues and co

768
00:54:04.800 --> 00:54:08.239
workers that you can grow a business
with. And in our business, you

769
00:54:08.239 --> 00:54:12.679
know, as big as it is
today, we do sell almost you know,

770
00:54:12.719 --> 00:54:16.239
to bill in a real estate plus
per year. We don't have any

771
00:54:16.239 --> 00:54:21.360
senior management within the business. So
from the guy at the bottom as a

772
00:54:21.440 --> 00:54:25.880
temp to myself and my business partners, every person is a CEO at last,

773
00:54:27.360 --> 00:54:30.320
every single one. You know,
we don't have a board. We

774
00:54:30.400 --> 00:54:34.400
simply do not have a board at
all. And for me, that's important

775
00:54:34.440 --> 00:54:38.360
because I value people. That's what's
important to me is I value people.

776
00:54:38.639 --> 00:54:43.559
And because they know that I'm like
that, they give me the utmost performance

777
00:54:43.960 --> 00:54:47.840
in creating my brand and my business. Oh my gosh to her, and

778
00:54:49.119 --> 00:54:52.880
this has been an amazing conversation.
And we are at the close of the

779
00:54:52.920 --> 00:54:54.760
show. So I like to give
my guests the last word, if you

780
00:54:54.800 --> 00:54:59.480
will, so say, in about
thirty seconds, what would you like to

781
00:54:59.559 --> 00:55:01.480
leave our list with today. Well, what I want to say to him

782
00:55:01.599 --> 00:55:07.440
is your time is now. You
know, we're too busy expecting tomorrow,

783
00:55:07.800 --> 00:55:10.920
next month, next year. But
one thing I need you to realize,

784
00:55:12.119 --> 00:55:15.960
you're never guaranteed it. Okay,
it's good to have your savings accounts plan

785
00:55:16.119 --> 00:55:21.519
for the future, you know,
but one thing you need to remember is

786
00:55:21.559 --> 00:55:25.840
that you need to enjoy life today
because the only thing that you truly have

787
00:55:27.000 --> 00:55:31.199
in this world as the present moment. Boy, and who knows that better

788
00:55:31.199 --> 00:55:36.719
than you. Some of the I
can't believe what you told me about one

789
00:55:36.719 --> 00:55:38.599
of your business partners running off to
Switzerland with all the money. That's just

790
00:55:38.639 --> 00:55:42.440
amazing. I almost fell off my
chair when you said that. By the

791
00:55:42.480 --> 00:55:46.000
way, I want to thank you
very much to her for being on the

792
00:55:46.039 --> 00:55:50.840
show, for being you, and
for being the example of a person who

793
00:55:50.880 --> 00:55:53.039
we can all be. It's spent
quite an honor to have you in this

794
00:55:53.039 --> 00:55:55.880
conversation. Thank you for being on
the show. You're more than welcome.

795
00:55:55.920 --> 00:56:00.480
Thank you for having me. If
you want to learn more about har Ali

796
00:56:00.559 --> 00:56:02.119
and his book Fail Your Way to
Success, or even his role as to

797
00:56:02.119 --> 00:56:07.280
the investment business, you can start
at his website, which is tahar ali

798
00:56:07.360 --> 00:56:10.760
dot com. That's t A t
excuse me t a h A r a

799
00:56:12.360 --> 00:56:15.360
l e dot com. L I
l I excuse me, ahead and say

800
00:56:15.360 --> 00:56:21.119
it for us one more time.
Yeah, it's www dot tahar t e

801
00:56:21.840 --> 00:56:27.880
h a r ali ali dot com. Thank you, sir. On the

802
00:56:27.880 --> 00:56:30.119
air next week with us, we'll
be Chris Patch, who is the CEO

803
00:56:30.199 --> 00:56:34.559
of the viro Way, and the
conversation will be all about how to have

804
00:56:34.719 --> 00:56:39.119
good and productive conversations around networking as
business people and why doing so as important

805
00:56:39.119 --> 00:56:43.559
way to build our businesses for long
term success. See you then, remember

806
00:56:43.559 --> 00:56:45.519
that work was at least one third
or alive, So let's work on purpose.

807
00:56:52.840 --> 00:56:55.320
We hope you've enjoyed this week's program. Be sure to tune into Working

808
00:56:55.360 --> 00:57:00.840
on Purpose featuring your host Alis Cortez
every Wednesday at six pm Eastern Time three

809
00:57:00.840 --> 00:57:06.519
pm Pacific Time on the Voice America
Empowerment Channel. This week, find your

810
00:57:06.559 --> 00:57:07.159
life's purpose at work

Tahar Ali: Fail Your Way to Success

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