How to succeed despite a troubled childhood! Interview with tech entrepreneur, Belinda Agnew

Belinda Agnew is a highly successful business owner,  tech entrepreneur, and podcast host who shares her story about growing up with a single mother with alcohol addiction. 

Despite various challenges and leaving school in year 9, Belinda shares her journey and approach to how she has gone on to be successful. 

We also talk about mental health in the workplace and the damage that social media is currently doing. 

Huge thanks to Belinda for her time and openness. 

Belinda's Website - https://belindaagnew.com/
Belinda's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/belindaagnew/
Belinda's Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/belindaagnew.eth/

Transcript

Joel Kleber: 0:03

Welcome to Live Experience podcast. I'm your host Joel Kleber. And on today's episode of an interview with entrepreneur Belinda Agnew. Now, I do a big intro for Belinda in the interview. So I'm not going to bore you with another one here. But the reason why I had Belinda on is because she's a very successful entrepreneur in the business world. But she did a post online where she shared a bit about herself, and she didn't have an ideal upbringing at all. And I love sharing these stories where people despite having a troubled childhood, or a really tough childhood, go on and achieve great things because you can fall into the victim mindset audit as a young person and as a young adult, and it really holds you back. And when you hear these sort of stories, and use examples of Belinda, it's just fantastic to sort of go well hang on. My life is what I make it and if Belinda can do it, I can do it as well. And then that's that's the point of this interview and a really big thanks to Belinda for her time. She's extremely busy and for sharing her insights as well. And you can learn more about Belinda by checking into Google Belinda Agnew or check out her podcast startups and unicorns. So without further delay, here's the interview with Linda Agnew. Also today I'm joined by Belinda Agni, and I've got a bit of an issue I've wrote down for you Belinda, which I always do for my guests. but correct me if I'm completely wrong. Okay, so Belinda as a top rated podcast entrepreneur, owns, owns and is a founder of multiple businesses in the world and the web three world. But what is there anything I missed them from what you do? Belinda? No, you own you own a lot of businesses, your advisor as well. So is there any

Unknown: 1:31

Yeah. No, that's that's pretty much on point. But I'd say web two first, and then web three starting.

Joel Kleber: 1:40

Awesome. Cool. Yeah. But now, the reason why I wanted to have you on it's not a business chat today, which people might be thinking, but it's more. The post, which I saw, which was was I read it and I was very, very powerful, I thought was good was the one where you you showed your success on one slide. And then the other slide, you had all your you listed what you perceived as your faults, and then you wrote a bit about your, your background and your mom. And I thought that was that was very powerful, because there's someone who's very successful, like you are now to have a background like that a lot of people wouldn't think you'd come from a background like that. And yeah, I wanted you to talk about that. So maybe we're gonna start with with your background, maybe a little bit about that post. And,

Unknown: 2:20

yeah, so I think the post that you're talking about was what people see and what people don't see. And I think a lot of that stems from social media and society and what people feel like they, they want to show people because obviously, we live in a society where we, most most of us want to impress other people and not ourselves. So a lot of the things you miss you see on Instagram, and LinkedIn, and all of that, most of that isn't true, to a certain degree in terms of happiness, and being present. And all of those things I know, many successful people. And even like normal people, you know, showcase this, their life online and show all these pretty things and highlights of their lives. But under the scenes, they're like about about to go through a divorce, or the children suffering from a mental illness or the child was in hospital seven times in the last month, because she she was committing suicide. You know, there's like lots of things happening in families and people's lives that they don't share. And I believe that the more people share the realness and the truth of what's actually happening, the better I guess, people be mentally, because a lot of people compare themselves to you. And, you know, it's a thing, like, I mean, I do it often, and I catch myself doing it often. So I showed that because it is what what people see is like, you know, she's successful, and she's like, living her best life. And you know, she has everything going for and like she's always happy, she has amazing friends and all these things. When she travels often and whatever, whatever they say, but they don't see the other side of it. Like where, you know, I don't have children. I don't have a family yet. And there are things that I do struggle with in business in the business world not to be a feminist because I'm not a feminist, but it's extremely difficult to run a business and multiple of them with 95% of men. So there's like a lot of struggles in that. And there's a lot of other things you know, that I go through as well, which I shared. So coming from a single home mom not knowing my dad, my mom's still going through the alcoholism and all of that and struggling with that still to do it today. So, you know, I wanted to showcase that to people They always message me and say, Oh, I love everything you're doing. And I just want to grow up like you, I want to be like you and all of that. So I just kind of wanted to share that side of me because it's the truth.

Joel Kleber: 5:13

So growing up with the mum, whose challenges, obviously alcoholism, how was that overall Job's gonna tell people about maybe something that they might not know about that because I've never had any I've never interviewed anyone on this, whose parents has had alcoholism, it's generally someone who's got bipolar schizophrenia. So sort of maybe just talk about that, from your perspective.

Unknown: 5:33

Yeah, so my mother. So alcoholism is somebody that drinks often. People that think, you know, alcoholism was like drinking on the weekend, that's totally not the case. It's like an everyday thing. So alcohol, alcoholism is literally somebody that is depressed and very sad internally. And they escape by drinking alcohol, or other things like drugs and things like that. But in this case, my mom escaped her life, her reality, with alcohol. And that's her fault, because she hasn't done the work, she hasn't sat down and actually, you know, seen a psychologist and gone through the ropes, because she's been very stubborn about that, and for a very long time, and she actually doesn't believe that she has an alcoholic problem. She believes that it's oh, you know, I work really hard. And I just want to come home and drink. Because it relaxes me. But you know, it's not just one drink. It's like, five. So she's been struggling with this issue. For many years since I was, I think, since I was born really, like she's had this issue for a very, very long time.

Joel Kleber: 6:57

Now, growing up, how did you because obviously, you're around all the time, like, you can either go well, my two, as I guess you could either maybe fall in the footsteps, or you just go completely the opposite way. So how did what was going through your head? Or what was your thoughts on that growing up?

Unknown: 7:12

Yeah, you know, it's so interesting, because I talk about this all the time, especially to my friends. Because it's like, it's like a reflecting thing that we do, when we catch up and get together, my girlfriend's the best. And I'm so blessed to have friends like that, but we reflect on certain things in our lives, and we talk about, you know, where we're at, and what could have happened to, you know, and with me, and there's a few of my other girlfriends that have gone through similar things, some of them, you know, extreme. And you don't, I could have taken the other the other side, I could have been on drugs I could have been, you know, like, in with multiple sexual partners, I could have, you know, done crazy things. Cuz you know, when I look at kids that grow up in an alcoholic family, my cousins, which I don't want to mention too much, but my whole family pretty much has very similar issues. So it's like a pattern. So I'm wanting to break, I guess, the generation pattern and the cycle. And when I look at my cousin's, they're, most of them are on drugs. Unfortunately, most of them have multiple children to multiple women. Most of them are on the dole and Centrelink and actually don't have work and don't have ambition to thrive or to do something or to do better. Most of them are depressed and have gone to hospital multiple times jail as well, multiple times. So I could have, that could have been me, because they're my first cousins. So when I look and reflect at my life, what had happened was growing up, my mother was a single mom. So looking back at it, what had happened is I had no choice. So I was in survival mode and survival mode led me to business and entrepreneurship. Because I didn't have a choice. I had to work, I had to go out and do things to survive. So I think that was my only focus at that time, because if I didn't have money, I wouldn't have a roof over my head. I wouldn't have food on the table. So it was like basic things. For me. It was like survival things. So that's what happened. And then I got a bit of a taste of it. And then I kept going and then I got more of a taste and then I kept going and then you obviously see where where it's going. So I think it really came from survival mode. And I really didn't have a choice because I have to step up because my mom mother couldn't and I grew up very quickly, at the age of five, self sufficient.

Joel Kleber: 10:04

So that's pretty amazing to hear that. So yeah, you because you just had to do as you said to survive, and but it wasn't obviously a choice of sort of, isn't it you had to go the other way.

Unknown: 10:14

And I never wish that upon anybody like, I mean, I'm super blessed because I have this thing called Grit, which I can never stop. So if I fail 100 times, I'll just get back up and keep going. Like, this is the gift that I have have now from my, my journey, and it's something that I can't get rid of, it's ingrained in you. And I'm super blessed for that. But I don't wish that upon any child or anybody to go through what I went through. Definitely. Conflict other things. Yeah, yeah,

Joel Kleber: 10:46

I completely understand. I can love the people I interviewed. That's the one thing they also they say, it's like, Well, what did you get out of and so as resilience or grit, you know, from, and obviously going into what you into now, you know, that's probably as you would know, the most, one of the most important things in business or being successful is to have resilience or grit. So it's sort of a double edged sword in a way, I guess you get over it, you have to go through all that stuff. But you have these other things that come for you get that really superpower resilience. Yeah, that's true. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Now, in regards to what you do now, into the modern world, so obviously, one of your businesses is recruiting. So yeah, I wanted to have you on to talk about burnout from employees now, because obviously deal with a lot of lot of people in the workspace division talk about burnout, and what you're seeing regards to mental health of just people in the workplace now and 2022,

Unknown: 11:35

oh, my gosh, this is such a good topic. And it's actually come to my attention in the last six months. I knew about this for a really long time, obviously, the burnout, thing and all of that, but I've been feeling really on edge. The last I would say, maybe just over a year, I would say now, but not doing anything about it has made it worse. Because if you don't do anything about it, and you just keep going and going and going and going and just doing and not actually working on what's happening here and like hear and your body, you need to listen to your body, because it's super important. It's actually led me to do something about it. So a founder actually reached out to me several months ago, and she's building a really amazing product just for burnout. And basically what it is, is, it's what she's trying to do is make this a part of the cultural roadmap, because everybody like individually shouldn't be seeking their own help individually, they should be having assistance with the employer. So the employers should have something ingrained within their cultural roadmap, where they have access to psychologist, life coaches, people to talk to meditation, yoga, all the things that really help with mental health really, and hygiene of mental health. So we're really trying to make this a roadmap of cultural internally, because this is like a thing. And I've heard so many crazy stories about what happens internally, people are not happy. And most people are not happy working for someone because of many reasons. And we're trying to really tackle that, and really trying to get them to talk about it and talk about how they feel, versus just showing up to work and doing their work day to day. So that's something that I'm really seeing in the workplace. And that's something that I really want to, you know, offer the solution to employers to give to their employees, because they need to be something like this huge, big four banks and huge firms like fortune 500 that have this implemented internally. But it's not enough like we've we've gone into it and looked at it. It's just a chat to a psychologist, here and there. And that's about it. And maybe like a gym membership, and you know, things like that, but they're actually not doing anything. And unfortunately, individually, you have to find your own path and actually do the work yourself. And not everybody gets there. So

Joel Kleber: 14:14

true. Now, is there any is there a story you can use to illustrate maybe a burnout from someone you or someone that you heard heard about?

Unknown: 14:23

Yeah, I'm the founder that reached out to me. So she is amazing. She worked for like Amazon, Google. She was like exact level, like, like 500 grand salary, something like that ridiculous, like, including bonuses and whatnot. And she had the lap, she was living the life. And she got poached by. She was at Google and she got poached by Amazon. She went to Amazon. And then she found herself really sad. Like every day she would just go show up to work and she would just stare at the screen and she didn't know why she was there? She was like, why am I doing it? She was questioning like, why am I doing this? Like, why am I here? What? How is this helping me? Like, where? Where's the value add for me internally, like, where? What am I getting out of this, I don't feel it's on purpose. It's not, it's not something that I want to do. So she actually burned, she ended up burning out really badly. And she then quit, she quit that day. And then she went into training. And she became like, a champion in weightlifting was crazy. And she's doing that for like six months. And that was like to just let her steam off. And then from that she she could obviously tell the story better than I could. Then from that she actually she actually started the product, which is called Journey J. You are and why. Which is really to help people like her in workplaces not to go through what she went through. Because it's almost like suicidal, like, you have suicidal thoughts, you have thoughts of, why am I leaving? Like, what's, why am I here? Like, I'm making money, but I don't have anyone to share it with, like, why am I doing this? Because when making money and when successful, it comes with a lot of other things personally, like you have a lot of issues in your personal life. So it's one or the other. Like there's no in between, really, you have to sacrifice one of them. So yeah, so she found herself in that. And obviously other stories with with men committing suicide, unfortunately, because men take a really big hit because they don't speak like women. And they don't speak about how they feel and what's going on internally, because they find it like a weak trait, which is totally not weak at all. So a lot of men unfortunately suffer more than women.

Joel Kleber: 16:55

And it's also very well, it's very onerous as well to get help. That's this because now you call the big brand hotlines, they're just really a referral service, really, a lot of times you can't get through. And then basically, it's expensive to get the sessions here in Australia. So you've got to get at the doctor to get the MIDI Medicare rebate, but it still could be one at a session.

Unknown: 17:15

super expensive. And to be fair like that it's not something that individuals should be paying for. That's something if you work for a company, that should be like the forefront of a company's focus is your mental health. What are they doing to help you internally, not just externally?

Joel Kleber: 17:31

Are you seeing a shift in people who come to you obviously, because with recruitment, who say that, Oh, I want a place where it's gonna be good, because everyone says, I want a good culture, they're like, what does that mean? So does it matter to you? Does it mean, now? Is it somebody they're gonna be mentally happy? Or they're gonna have to be more purpose? Or what is that? What does that mean to you?

Unknown: 17:48

It's what it means to me is different to everybody else, I think, Pete, when people come to us, it's more like, alignment issue. So like, the value the values, like, just the founder does the CEO, does the manager or manager, like exact level have the same alignment as what I would have in life, like in general, and I think getting along, you have to lack the people that you work for, you have to lack the brand, you have to lack what they do, you can't be involved in a company that you don't really like, or you don't really believe in, because it's just gonna go to shit. But I think that's what it means in terms of cultural and I guess, cultural fit in terms of the dynamic of the people like, age, current situation, female, male, a lot of other issues as well, like now I see a lot of people wanting to work remotely. So that's like the first question like, is it remote? And then if it's not, then they're like, ah, probably not. So it's really strange, because everybody's going back to the office. I don't think that should be an issue, but it is. I'm seeing that to be the main issue right now is people don't want to go back to back to the office.

Joel Kleber: 19:08

And you mentioned some of the force I found interesting. So you talked about you, you spoke about the big corporates and stuff like that. And you said, what they do is like, you know, he's achieved a membership. Now, here's that here's all these benefits. But these, you said basically good suggestions before about, do any of those places have free, let's say free counseling or free psychologists or something like that? Or is that somebody saying start coming in? Oh, yeah,

Unknown: 19:30

McQuarrie quarry does, for example, because I've got an exec that works there, one of my girlfriends and she has like a psychologist that she speaks to internally. But that's it. And they're not available. You have to go into the CRM onto their system to book it. And they're not always available. So if something's happening in your life that you want to talk about right now to get guidance or feedback or just somebody to vent to, in that situation. ration, you'd probably have to wait like, days or weeks, maybe months to speak to them. And by then, I mean, where's your mental health going?

Joel Kleber: 20:09

Well, it's a big problem, because I think you see, a lot of companies are all well and good to align with beyondblue, and all these other big companies. But the reality, if you've talked to the staff internally is completely different. So you've got this most cut version of virtue signal regarding, you know, mental health charities now, but they're actually not taking. They're, they're not they're not congruent with what they're putting out, online, especially. So

Unknown: 20:33

absolutely, they just put it there, like as a stamp to like a tick, like a tick off the box. Like, we've got this, you know, we've got a psychologist, tick, we've got mental health assistance tick, like, it's just a thing to like, find anything that they have, you know, to show that they're a part of it, but they're not really doing anything and totally yes, no, but if you have too many companies happening.

Joel Kleber: 20:59

I know from talking to people, it says, you can see him posting pictures online, you know, we're doing this with this organization, whatever. And then the people that are miserable, so that I spoke to, but I was gonna say the what? So if you had unlimited resources, what should a company? Do? They wanted to be serious about mental health or mental illness or stuff? What would be your what would be your, let's say, wish list that a company should do? What should they be doing?

Unknown: 21:25

I mean, I think every, I don't think I believe every individual should have access to doing the work. And what I mean by that is having a life coach, having a psychologist, having, you know, access to teachers that teach you how to meditate, because meditation is really key to mental health as well. Having access to yoga, like things that are very calming for your body, and things like things like that is really helping the mental, your mental stability. But I think having access to people that we would usually go outside and seek for individually, if we wanted to do the work, we should have access to those internally, at all times. I think that's really, really important. And I guess when I say life coach, I mean, somebody that has actually done the work to guide individuals to doing the work also. So you know, like, going internally, I would say more than externally, but they should have access to people like this professionals.

Joel Kleber: 22:40

I was set up to Yeesh, it was yourself, you obviously mentioned something. So is that something you use yourself or?

Unknown: 22:45

Yeah, so myself, I actually went externally outside. Because, you know, with internally, we don't do that. This is why this founder came to me. And this product isn't now amazing. And it's definitely something that I would use and everything that I touch. Now in terms of startups and business, it's definitely something that I will continue to do. Using a product like this is going to change the culture internally completely. And I think it's just going to benefit everyone and the whole, you know, companies like Amazon, Google, things like that. This is definitely something that I see that a lot of companies will use. But for myself, I have a psychologist, I have a life coach that I see often. And I also try to meditate as much as I can. I'm really bad at it. Because I have ADHD, I can't actually sit still. So I do really try but my meditation is more walking, talking to loved ones listening to podcasts, that uplift to me, things like that is also a part of meditation. I know what people would agree with me. But you know, it is really important to find what works for you versus what people think that will work. So I guess just try a lot of things first, before you kind of go in and say I just need a better team that's gonna fix everything. That's not

Joel Kleber: 24:07

the case. But you invest in you invest in yourself, which is an important thing. A lot of people I think will spend money on other things, whereas they won't spend money on themselves or things like that.

Unknown: 24:18

Yeah, no, it's super important. But look, to be fair, it takes a long time, like I was. I was given a book called The Power of Now I don't know if you've read that book by Eckhart Tolle. The name but I haven't read it. No. Yeah, so the Power of Now that's that book was given to me three years ago, and that's when I kind of started the work. And basically, the power of now literally just teaches you how to be present. Because if you're constantly thinking about what's going to happen or into the future, you're actually not living. You're not living at all. You're just living in your in your head. And that is so unhealthy. So it's so so important to live in the now and live within The moments and leave with what's happening versus you doing something and thinking about something else? Or what's going to happen next? Or I'll be happy when I'll be happy if you know. And I think that's where a lot of people suffer, because then they're not truly happy with them now, and grateful for what's in front of them now.

Joel Kleber: 25:22

It was a that's a really good point. I will check it out. But it's gonna say the up. Yeah. So how has that really changed your life? And so basically, for example, is it? Did you find yourself as you said, if you've got ADHD, wondering, when someone's trying to talk to you and just saw your fault, but your mind is over elsewhere, and you're not

Unknown: 25:37

my person, my gosh, I'm so so hyperactive. Like I like fun fact, I actually can't sit down and watch a whole movie. Really, okay. Like, it's a thing. And if I'm at the movies, I like leave, like, in the middle, where I get super agitated. Sit down for that long. So I can't sit still. But it's a problem. It's a gift. But it's a problem. Like with reading books, you know, meditating, like things like that, I kind of like, tap out. And I started to do something else. No, I, I am such a big believer in doing what works for you. Like, I'm not a believer in waking up at 5am or 4am, whatever the number, the time is now, having cold showers, you know, to be successful, reading 20 books a year to be successful. Like if you don't read and you don't take cold showers and you don't wake up at 4am you don't train every day. And you don't do all these things that people talk about, like successful, successful people talk about, then you're not going to be successful. I think that's such a load of BS. And I think that people get so caught up and doing all these things that think that it's going to work and you're going to be successful, you're only going to be successful, if you actually do the work, like actually do the work, get up and do hustle, do the work. That's the only thing that's really going to make you successful. All these other things are amazing to have for your mental health. But I don't think that works for everyone. Because I've been there done that that didn't work for me. It hasn't worked for other people.

Joel Kleber: 27:19

I love what you said about meditation, because you're right, I've got the calm app. And I've tried it before I found it very hard. But you're right, meditation can be a walk, I play a lot of guitar. So if I've got a metronome going, bang, bang, bang, I'm doing this exercise for 10 minutes, like my head goes into a, that's what I'm focusing on. So there's different forms of meditation, as you said, it's something where you've got to find that works for you. And it will be very beneficial. I don't know if there's an app in it or something, but like some sort of meditation, but it could be like six different alternative methods. And you know, because like, you know, the 50 year old trucky or whatever, might find it very hard to sit down with the combat, but it might be conducive to taking the dog for the walk and having a certain thing in his ears, right to listen. And that can be really helpful for

Unknown: 27:58

Yeah, absolutely. And that's what people don't get, like, all these like solutions that people talk about online. It's just all marketing, you know, this job better than anyone trying to sell you don't believe it? Just try. And if it works, it works amazing. If it doesn't try something else. Well, I

Joel Kleber: 28:16

think it's love what you said at the start, I think it's getting to a point where it's extremely detrimental, you know, places like Instagram and LinkedIn and stuff, as you said, like you need to be successful, you've got to wake up at 430 and do this and do that or you see someone and then you meet that person in real life and you go, that's not congruent with what you're putting out. Online. It's so

Unknown: 28:35

ridiculous. I literally wrote a post about this, I think six months ago, I said, I don't wake up at 430 I wake up sometimes nine o'clock, sometimes 10 o'clock. I don't train every day, I sometimes like take two weeks off without training, sometimes a month if I don't feel like it. I don't eat, like healthy every day. I had a pizza last night and a Diet Coke or, like I had an apple pie on the drive thru and Mac is like, you know, you have to, like be able to talk about these things. So, I guess it's important, to be real, to be honest. Because the truth is seriously kind of changed a lot of people a lot of people's mental health. Absolutely.

Joel Kleber: 29:17

Yeah. Cuz I think at the moment, it's really it's really detrimental. But I presume you let's say a platform like LinkedIn, right? It's a professional thing. And everyone wants to give off that vibe or show that they're successful. Right? That's the thing, but you would know probably more than most because obviously, you would have made a lot of these people from the platform. But um, is that does it doesn't from your perspective, it doesn't always add up is it you might you would make someone who you see online he's like this and representing this and that and then you make the person it's completely different to what you're seeing in that space. Oh my

Unknown: 29:45

god, black 1,000% like I have so much information around me.

Joel Kleber: 29:54

But it's funny to be clear. I think I go on LinkedIn all the time every day and I'm opposed to go Jesus I'm stuck and because Let's say this person doing this and this and I've met a couple, you sort of go, Huh, it's not congruent with what you see online, there's an online persona, and there's the reality and most of the time reality, never, almost the time doesn't meet up to the input to what's online.

Unknown: 30:13

Yeah, never, I think this is the thing like when we're humans, and LinkedIn is a business platform, remember that. So we are there to sell our product or ourselves. Like we're not there to show the realness because that that stuff's really not going to sell on LinkedIn. But you know, I like to think outside of the box and be real in the mix of talking about business in the mix of controversial topics as well. And I think people get caught up with a guideline of what you should be saying on LinkedIn, and what you shouldn't be saying on LinkedIn, I think it's such a politically correct thing to do. And I just think that's not the best way forward. It's such a short term strategy, like Jordan Peterson said, I think short term strategy is good now, and it's fun now, and it will work now. But in the long run, it's never going to work.

Joel Kleber: 31:07

I was gonna say, with the the overall use of social media now, how do you think just as a general question has been a positive or negative in the scope of things?

Unknown: 31:17

Look, you know, social media has been such a huge positive for me. So I can't say it's a negative, I think it's a negative for people that don't know what they're doing on social media. Like if you're just on social media, to scroll, and to post some images of you and your family, and all of that, I think, get on WhatsApp or telegram or a family chat or like a close friend, chat, and share. I think if you're on social media, like me, that is all about personal brand and showcasing my personal side and business side. Because obviously, my personal brand is literally my brand. And that's where people find me and see me and want to work with me and all of that everything that I have has been mostly inbound. So I would say 95% of the businesses that I'm involved in, actually 100% of the businesses I'm involved in inbound, the founders reach out to me, and they bet to me, and then 95% of the business that I receive to is businesses inbound. So it's from what I show online, what I talk about and what I say. But I think social media is definitely positive for that, if you know what you're doing, but it's not positive. If you don't know what you're doing. Like, for example, you know, I know people that just show up on social, social media on Instagram and LinkedIn just to get validation. And I don't think that's healthy. I think getting validation from strangers isn't healthy. And that's not a healthy way to have social media. So I guess what I'm saying is, it's good if you know what you're doing. But it's not good. If you don't know what you're doing. Just ask yourself, why do I have social media? How is it benefiting? Me?

Joel Kleber: 33:10

That's a good point. I want to talk about as well, you were very successful at a young age, in a very male dominated environment. So how did you put up with all the same mental stress that I presume you would have had to go through being in a madman, really male dominated environment back in when you're younger as well? Was it something where you just wish we had that turtle grit and resilience from your childhood where you're going? Well, but I'm going what I'm dealing with now is not nothing compared to that. So it's not a problem, or how did you deal with at all?

Unknown: 33:38

Oh, my God, it? That's a really good question. And I feel like every time I get asked this question, I change it all the time. I was like, the first thing that came to my head was like, I had a stick, you know, but like, I think I have such a huge, huge, huge respect for men, like massively. And most of the businesses like 99% of the businesses that I'm involved in, led by men, my co founders are men. My advisors are men. I chose that because men ultimate ultimately run the world. I know females and feminists might come to me like, Oh, my God, like females are like, you know, getting better and like blah, blah, blah, and they talk about pay gap and all this kind of crazy stuff. But, you know, the data doesn't lie. Men have ran the world for a very long time and they will continue to run the world because men and masculine and they are born biologically to leet provide and protect. So I will always work with men. I believe men will, you know, build consistently and they will always outgrow female was in the workplace. It's just it's a given. But in terms of working with men, of course, I've had issues, lots of issues with men trying to date me and not work with me. Men that, you know, lead you to believe that they want to do business with you, but they have other agendas. I don't hate them for it. It's annoying, and it's frustrating. But I think, you know, we have such women have such a huge advantage in business because we're women, like, you know, and there was something that Megan Fox said something on a real Instagram actually spoke about, I think, a couple weeks ago, she said, you know, being a woman being beautiful, and being, you know, like, smart and intelligent and all these things that's like you should weaponize that like you should weaponize your your beauty and weaponize your intelligence and weaponize everything that you have got going for you because that's your gift. Like, that's your magic. It's like you're a magician, like, you know, like rolling through, like, life in business. And I think that's what I am doing. And that's what I have been doing. I was, you know, back in two years ago, if you asked me the question, I probably would have hated a lot of the things that I've gone through. And I probably would have said, it's really hard. And it's really difficult. And I don't wish this upon anyone. But it's only hard if you make it hard. And it's only hard. If you think about it in a negative way. It's only hard if you look down at man, it's really hard if you're a feminist. And it's only hard if you think about all these like women clubs at talking about pay gap and whatnot, which is like absolutely ridiculous, to be honest. And I'm so not a part of that. But it's only hard if you make it hard. And it it's super, I wouldn't say easy for me, but I've accepted my position. And my position is I am a woman, and I'm biologically a feminist, feminine, not masculine. So I use that and I weaponized that not my masculine side. So it has been difficult, but I definitely wouldn't change it for the world.

Joel Kleber: 37:14

That's a great point. And the two things you said, which I find really good is the you've accepted it, you've accepted, that's the way it is, rather than trying to fight it. And then you've reframed your mind in regards to viewing it as of that way, and as you said, you know, almost weaponize, what you what you've got, you can use Yeah. Yeah.

Unknown: 37:35

Women are blessed. And like, this is what they don't understand. Like, they complain about all these things, like, men have it really hard. Like really hard, like, a man can't go and like meet with a billion dollar man, like they like it's extremely difficult for a man to land a dinner or a catch up with a billion dollar man that has that type of wealth, let's be honest. But for a woman, it's a lot easier. Like, can you imagine the people that went like the women can get in front of like, it's extremely difficult for men, you have to be at least 100 million plus you have to have a status, you have to be a certain type of somebody to get in rooms like that. But for a woman, you just need to look pretty. And you get in. And then the rest of the show, like your brain and your intelligence will show afterwards. But like and women don't understand this, we're super blessed, very blessed.

Joel Kleber: 38:34

That's a great way to describe I find that Belinda and it's um, it's something that's really it's really important. I know, some people might listen to it and not agree with it. But that's, that's fine. But I think it's so true. It's the truth and you have to accept it and then reframe it to your advantage and use it in a way you go.

Unknown: 38:48

100% I met with like one of the richest man in Australia, I'm not gonna mention his name. A lot of people know him. And he became a really good friend of mine. And he told me one day which I will never forget this piece of advice he gave me he said, Belinda I can't give you advice of like the roadmap for where I've been in life, but I can tell you right now, if I was you, and it looks like you and I spoke like you and I had a brain like you I would be going out and like connecting with ABCDEFG and I'd probably be 10 times it's a lot harder for a man a lot harder that women think otherwise.

Joel Kleber: 39:31

That's a great point. It's fantastic. You said it because it's a great point and it's obviously a reflection of where you are now so tell you've done it it's gonna take you a while to get to that point because as you said, if you ask me this a couple of years ago you want to set something completely different so is there something now where if it does happen to you just literally put a line in the sand that's just move on or you don't get litigated down? Or

Unknown: 39:52

ya know, or you just like you just like I was super flat like I'm always fighting my laugh about it and like you know, they're mad I'm like, like, what do you what do you want me to do? I can't change men, men, physical creatures, they think they're visual creatures. Women are emotional creatures, like I can't. That's how their biological biologically made up. Like, we can't change that. So women need to chill and stop trying to like, you know, downplay man and say, Oh man, a gross and men are disgusting. And men and like F men and like, oh my god, like women need to take over the world and women, like nor like men and men, they've always been men, and you can't change that you need to adapt. It's like when the market changes, you need to adapt. Like you can't change the market. It's there, it's happening. Just adapt to it, accept it, stop trying to, you know, push and try to change things that are never going to change.

Joel Kleber: 40:51

That's a great point. And last question, before I let you go is the advice for someone who's younger, so you're maybe going through a rough childhood or something like that, or having a tough time in their teenage years? What would your advice be to them?

Unknown: 41:10

Like, how young are we talking?

Joel Kleber: 41:11

So let's say let's say the ages, let's say 12 to 12, to 18. So someone who's obviously going to try and figure out what they want to do in life, or they might be in a rough situation like, and they probably think at the moment, it's, it's really bad situation, what what's it going to be like? I don't know. So what's your advice to them in regards to maybe finding the right path? Or in terms of added? Yeah, what what would help them?

Unknown: 41:33

Um, you know, I would always say what Gary Vee says is you need to taste a lot of things to really know what you like. I'm just directing this business, because this is like what I did when I was really young, I went to, I dropped out of school in year nine, and do the nine didn't even finish your 10. So first of all, University School, like, don't stress, like, if you don't like it, that's okay, like, drop out, do something that you lack. Because it's not, it's not going to change anything to be honest. And then I went to tape and I thought, you know, oh, like, I want to be traveling tourism, I want to, you know, be a beauty therapist, I tried all of that, absolutely hated it. And then I started selling Kirby vacuum cleaners door knocking on people's homes at the age of 17. And not that I loved it, but I loved it. Because what I was achieving in that, and were how I found my way was I was really good at selling. And that was my gift. And that's when I knew that this is my gift. And this is what I should be doing is selling. So from there, I obviously tasted a lot of types of selling like product service, you know, different things, different industries. And I tasted so much until I would say three years ago, I truly found and I'm like 32 now and so three years ago, out of from 17 years old to like 30, let's just say there was a lot of tasting, I was still tasting for a really long time. And I just found what I really want to do. And now I've really aligned with where I want to be and the future. But my advice would be taste a lot. And don't try and rush the tasting as well like because this ship takes forever. So in my language, but it's literally does it it takes it takes a really long time. So don't be so hard on yourself. And money will come it will come if you just keep going and you keep being consistent with where you want to be. Trust me, it will come it will come.

Joel Kleber: 43:51

I was gonna say do you have anything? Do you want to plug or what are you working on currently at the moment?

Unknown: 43:56

I'm not really I mean, like there's lots of things that I'm working on. I just want to say like, I'm really grateful for the people that I work with. And I'm super grateful for the position that I'm in and the opportunities that are given to me daily. And I never take that stuff for granted. I used to but I don't anymore. I guess the things that I want to do is I want to continue to be a part of early stage startups because that's a passion of mine. We're still growing the development company. We're at like 80 people right now for ixnay bla, and we're growing in the web through blockchain space of that. Yeah, and I guess that's kind of like what I'm going to continue to do and the podcast and media stuff. If you want to message me on LinkedIn, or check out my personal website on everything that I'm working on, it's just the Linda Agnew ag ne w.com. And then you can reach out to me on LinkedIn as well, which is despoiling direct you. There we

Joel Kleber: 44:57

go. So thank you very much for your time today. They're really appreciate it. And yeah, and hopefully everyone checks that those links and good luck with your future. And I'm sure you're going to achieve more things that which people will be able to see as well. So please check out Linda's website and once again really appreciate your time today, Belinda.

Unknown: 45:14

Thank you so much, John.

Joel Kleber: 45:16

Thank you. Thank you for Belinda for her time and for sharing everything she did about herself really impressive individual and it's just great to share those stories where someone doesn't who has every right to fall into the victim mindset doesn't and goes on to achieve great things and make make a really great life for herself. And so great inspiration other people and big thank you to Belinda for that. You can check her out on Google just go to Belinda typing Belinda Aggie and find a website LinkedIn, all that sort of stuff, and our podcast startups and unicorns as well. If you made it to the end of like what you heard, please make sure you leave us a review on Spotify or iTunes. That's a really good way of helping out the show and until next episode, I hope you have a great week guys and thanks for tuning in.