Nic’s blog
I write about building businesses, failing and building a life, not a legacy.
Mike Joubert - Moving from Corporate to Entrepreneurship
In this episode, I chat with Mike Joubert who has had a thirty-year corporate career working with brands across the world. After moving from corporate to entrepreneurship, Mike started and sold his own successful business in 2009. From there, with the love of developing companies and people, he has spent his time investing in businesses in South Africa.
In this episode, I chat with Mike Joubert who has had a thirty-year corporate career working with brands across the world. After moving from corporate to entrepreneurship, Mike started and sold his own successful business in 2009. From there, with the love of developing companies and people, he has spent his time investing in businesses in South Africa.
From overcoming the fear of moving abroad, having the courage to turn curiosity into experimentation in the corporate companies, and starting his own business with amazing success, Mike has a wealth of business experience.
Combatting the fear of Starting Something and growing from it
During his early career, twice Mike was offered the chance to move abroad to head up teams in Amsterdam and the United Kingdom and twice he turned the opportunity down. He pegged the reason down to one thing: He was too nervous to leave his family and support and step out into the unknown. The people he knew and loved were based in South Africa, and he was concerned about the move from comfort. When the third chance to move and work overseas came from Levi’s, he couldn’t say no.
“I had the same doubts, but I thought that I was not going to get a fourth chance. I made the leap, and you know what, it turned out spectacularly. Not only was it a great opportunity and added some real value to the business but as a human being, I just grew.”
With no network, no perception, and no support, a person has to start afresh when making the move to another country. It’s a leap that is more common than expected when starting something, but it grows a person unbelievably quickly when the stakes are that much higher.
Money is money - it’s not about how much, it’s about what you do with it
At the time, the marketing budget for Levi’s for Europe was massive (as in, $94 million dollars massive). On reflection, Mike said that working with such an enormous budget and the perceived pressure of it taught him two things:
“The importance of being able to lead with both instinct and skill and secondly, whether you are working with R1 or R1 million, money is money. It’s not the quantum of the money that makes sense, it’s what you do with it.”
Experimenting takes courage but the results are proof in the pudding
Mike describes how he took some time to understand the variables in the corporate culture in Europe before making big decisions. Out of three major disruptive decisions he made, two worked out fantastically and one fell flat.
The leadership of innovation and disruptive thinking took some time for the European business minds to adjust to, but as soon as the results started coming in, the more innovation and experiment-thinking was accepted.
Young startups often compare themselves to an established competitor and try and follow. Mike’s experience with Levi’s shows that thinking happens at a high level too. The big guys are as clueless as startups. It often takes going back to the nugget of original thinking to get back to the point of success, not swaying to external factors.
“Once you believe in something, you need to consistently bang that drum. Don’t kowtow, don’t bend. With entrepreneurship, though, you are essentially your own master.”
As an entrepreneur, it’s up to you to build the business the way you want to and to put the work in to not follow the competitors and the crowds.
The mindset in mentorship & power of consistent messaging
Mike, with the insight of his own relationship with his own mentor Dr Anton Rupert, describes the difference between sponsorship and mentorship as this:
“A sponsor I would see as someone who believes in you and backs you, either financially or through open stores and takes his or her network to open doors. But a mentorship is a much more intimate relationship. As a mentor, you provide context and variables so that the mentee can take the information and make decisions themselves.”
One of the most important things from his time with Dr Rupert is not necessarily what was said in their conversations which lasted hours, but how he made him feel. Mike explained that one of the most important things he learnt was how consistent he was in his messages. It wasn’t about saying the same thing again and again, but having a consistent idea and threading it through all aspects of life and conversation.
Dr Adrian Saville - Starting An Asset Management Firm
In the first episode of the Curious Cult Show season two I talk with Adrian Saville, who built a registered asset management firm which started out as a side hustle between 12 friends.
In the first episode of the Curious Cult Show season two I talk with Adrian Saville, who built a registered asset management firm which started out as a side hustle between 12 friends.
“I’ve always been fascinated and intrigued by markets and the economy, I grew up in a business family. As early as 13, I remember listening to the radio and would pay attention to the stock prices, the gold prices, and I would build fictitious portfolios. That interest in investment has just never gone away.”
The art of Starting Something: If you can dream it, you can do it
In his early 20s, Adrian took his skillset in investment and economics and started something. Worried about job prospects out of university, and with the support of his friends who had investable assets, he was encouraged to share his expertise in economics which quickly became a useful tool, resulting in an investment club.
“I had growing anxiety and suspicions that I was turning myself into very well qualified, but unemployable.”
Once a month, the club would meet, talk about markets, economies, ideas and build an investment pool. The main idea was to “hopefully make some money” from the investment.
Within two years, the club had made some neat returns, gained some external attention and had expanded from 12 friends to 200 members with investments in the pool. Without intention, his business had grown from an informal arrangement to a licensed form.
“What it showed me is that what you dream is possible.”
Finding your element and being authentic about it
Adrian took a turn left from his father’s wish for him to become a Chartered Accountant and started a mobile disco as a way to finance himself in university. His love of music helped launch the university side hustle which helped develop the skills needed later to establish his investment firm.
“If you love it there’s a good chance it will work.”
Similar to the Japanese concept of Ikigai, Adrian sees business and vocation as a way to make money and live in your element: If you love it, you’re good at it, it gives back to people, and it makes you employable, the difficult work becomes more worthwhile.
“It doesn’t mean it’s easy, but it is a labour of love. And if you are in your element, it will turn into something brilliant.”
You can’t pretend you love something. You either believe in a business, a side hustle, an idea, or you don’t. And from that, there’s a deep well of authenticity which becomes a driving force of starting and carrying a business through the exceptionally difficult times.
“If you are in your element, there’s an authenticity which cannot be masked or bullshitted.”
For the Love and the Money
One of the most sustainable ways to build a business is to love something, make something of it, and have the end goal of it making money so that it can sustain itself.
“If your heart and your intention aren’t firmly in it, don’t set out.”
On the side of making a business of it, you need to make sure you’ve got something which will be able to make money before you take a leap. If you don’t have something people want, it will never be profitable.
“Life is too short to build shitty businesses, but at some point, it is about money.”
Integration versus balance
While working as a professor while maintaining his side hustle, Adrian found it extremely difficult time, but never impossible. It’s about finding the balance and keeping that as healthy as possible.
When it comes to a side hustle while you’re working full or part-time on something else, you need to try to get them to work alongside each in a way where they reinforce each other and feed each other. It doesn’t make it easy, and there’s still a lot of juggling happening, but if you can make them work together, it doesn’t always have to be one or the other, it can be both.
This is where defining success and defining failure becomes crucial, for the side hustle, the full-time position, personal life, and relationships. If something starts suffering, something needs to be addressed.
If you want to get in touch with Adrian or see what he’s up to in the world of business building and economics, find him on LinkedIn, on Twitter, through the GIBS Business School or through his asset management firm Cannon Assets.
MEGAN MACKENZIE - EP. 15 OF THE CURIOSITY CULT SHOW
Megan Mackenzie is a professional trail runner and has won South African Long Distance Trail Championships in 2015, African X in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017, Ultra Trail Cape Town 65km and others. She has also represented South Africa internationally at numerous events.
Her perspective on finding and maintain a direction in life is unique and insightful and our shared obsession with curiosity makes this a fantastic end to the first season of The Curious Cult show!
DAVID PEREL - EP. 14 OF THE CURIOSITY CULT SHOW
David Perel started his racing career at a very young age. He's had ups and downs, he's discovered a passion for real-life racing and found success there all the while progressing as a formidable sim racer. In this interview, David and I discuss his entrepreneurial spirit, what it takes to be the best at something, starting side hustles that become business, curiosity, hard work and sacrifice. A riveting conversation with an accomplished sportsperson and entrepreneur.
ERIK HERSMAN - EP. 13 OF THE CURIOSITY CULT SHOW
In this fascinating episode, I talk with Erik Hersman, the co-founder of BRCK.COM, iHub and Ushahidi about:
Innovative ways to bring wifi to emerging markets in rugged conditions. The business model of innovation. How they bought a 4-letter domain. How things work vs will this work type of curiosity. New words for failure that we should use. Tertiary education is nice but not necessary.
RICH MULHOLLAND - EP. 12 OF THE CURIOSITY CULT SHOW
Rock and Roadie turned entrepreneur Richard Mulholland is the founder of presentation powerhouse Missing Link, as well as the co-founder of 21Tanks, HumanWrit.es and The Sales Department. He has written three books, Legacide, Boredom Slayer, and Good story, bro and is a global public speaker that in 2019 alone spoke in 26 countries on 6 continents and to online audiences the world over. Mostly though, he's a husband, dad, brother, son and uncle.
In this episode we talk about adapting your skills to a changing world, how some people are knowledge hunters and others are knowledge gatherers and how comfort is the enemy of curiosity.
LAUREN BEUKES - EP. 11 OF THE CURIOSITY CULT SHOW
Lauren Beukes is the award-winning and internationally best-selling South African author of The Shining Girls, Zoo City and Afterland, among other works.
In this episode, Lauren discusses her badass parents, her ability to engage her own kid's curiosity, what it's like to launch a novel about a global pandemic in the middle of a global pandemic (which was unplanned) and more.
TINUS LE ROUX - EP. 10 OF THE CURIOSITY CULT SHOW
In the 10th episode of the Curiosity Cult Show, I chat with Tinus Le Roux, the CEO at Fancam. They take stadium-sized HD selfies that teams across the world use to engage their fans.
Tinus has a unique experience and understanding of his curiosity and is one of South Africa's unsung entrepreneurial veterans.
Rob McGinniS - EP 09 of The Curious Cult Show
In the 9th episode of the Curious Cult Show, Rob McGinnis talks about his intense curiosity about turning C02 into fuel that we can use in our vehicles today.
We discuss his storytelling ability, his theater background and how that helped him raise the funding he needed to change the world.
Listen to the episode here:
Rapelang Rabana - EP 08 OF THE CURIOSITY CULT SHOW
Rapelang Rabana is one of Africa’s most impressive entrepreneurs. She was a curious child who grew into an obsessive entrepreneur. She read voraciously and turned her curiosity into the need to build solutions to big problems.
Apologies for the sound in this recording!
Zev Siegl, Starbucks Co-Founder - Ep 07 of the Curious Cult Show
Zev Siegl
Zev Siegl is obsessed with small businesses around the world. He spends his days travelling and consulting to startups to help them thrive and survive. Aside from this obsession, Zev Co-Founded one of the worlds most known brands, Starbucks.
In this episode, I talk with Zev about Starbucks, how they came to the name and if they knew that they were creating a world-conquering brand as they were building it.
We also discuss Zev’s definition of innovation as insightful, adaptive reuse of a collection of ideas and thoughts combined in a new way to solve interesting problems.
Greg Smithies - Ep 06 of the Curious Cult Show
Greg Smithies and I have a long-standing online friendship. He’s called me out on LinkedIn in when I talk shit. He’s helped me meet investors when trying to raise funding and we’ve had some very interesting debates and conversations over the years.
Greg is a talented venture capitalist, CFO and startup-spotter. He has worked with Elon Musk at The Boring Co and has invested in some of the most innovative businesses in the world.
At present Greg is looking for trillion dollar businesses to invest in. That’s a business with the entire world as an addressable market.
In this episode I talk with Greg about growing up in South Africa and taking his skills to a global market. How one finds a trillion dollar business and how, exactly, he manages to stay in front of his curiosity. SPOLIER: He believes in a bit of balance and prefers founders who can actually live a relatively normal life.
Husayn Kassai - Onfido CEO Ep. 05 of the Curious Cult Show Podcast
Episode 5 of The Curious Cult show features an incredible founder and business person, Husayn Kassai.
Husayn is the co-founder and CEO of Onfido.
We discuss lifelong learning, hiring for curiosity and much more.
Onfido helps businesses digitally onboard users by verifying any government ID and comparing it with the person’s facial biometrics. Founded in 2012, Onfido has grown to a team of 350 across SF, NYC and London; received over $100m in funding from Salesforce, Microsoft and others; and works with over 1,500 fintech, banking and marketplace clients globally.
Husayn is a WEF Tech Pioneer; a Forbes Contributor; and Forbes' “30 Under 30”. He has a BA in Economics and Management from Keble College, Oxford.
Geraldine DeRuiter - Ep 04 of the Curious Cult Show Podcast
In this fantastic episode of The Curious Cult Show I talk to the inspiring author, Geraldine DeRuiter about her new novel, what it takes to research a book and where this kind of interesting research can take you.
We also discuss her badass parents and how they influence the life she lives now.
Evaluate What Matters And Move Towards Those Things - A Conversation With John Sanei
I recently hosted author, entrepreneur, futurist and all-round thinker, John Sanei on my Live Stream platform. It’s always a fun conversation that challenges my preconceived ideas when I talk to John.
Here’s the video in full:
Rand Fishkin - Ep 03 of the Curious Cult Show
In this week’s episode of The Curious Cult Show, I talk with my friend and founder of Sparktoro and Moz, Rand Fishkin.
Aside from being one of the nicest guys in tech, Rand is an accomplished founder, acclaimed author and an adoring husband.
In this episode, I talk about Rand’s love of risotto, his interesting fascination with frogs as a teenager, how he chooses which curiosity to follow and which to ignore as well as much more.
Hit play, subscribe, share, leave a review and send me your feedback!
Mmusi Maimane on The Curious Cult Podcast, Ep 02
Curiosity comes from many different places, especially so for South African politician, activist and theologian, Mmusi Maimane. Mmusi and I discuss how he engages his own curiosity, how he keeps his curious as they develop and where his curiosity stems from.
This fantastic episode is now live, listen above!
Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast, rate, review and share share share!
The Curious Cult Show - Episode 1: Trip Hawkins, Electronic Arts Founder
I have been playing video games since I can remember. I owned Pong. I owned the earliest Nintendo. I played Sonic the Hedgehog and just like hundreds of millions of other people I have spent many, many hours playing games produced by Electronic Arts.
Fortunately, I have been lucky enough to talk with Trip Hawkins, the founder of Electronic Arts for the very first episode of my newest podcast, The Curious Cult Show.
In this show I talk to interesting people about their obsessive curiosities.
Trip was kind enough to talk to me about his obsession with Dungeons and Dragons and how it led him down the path of creating a business plan at the age of 12 to build out what would become Electronic Arts.
Here’s the podcast:
Trip Hawkins, Electron Arts founder.