Overcoming Extreme Adversity To Creating A Life Of Fulfillment

The Fail On Podcast with Rob Nunnery - Fail Your Way To An Inspired Life

Chris Plough is a big time adventurer and explorer. He founded a company called MavenWire, which became an eight figure global consulting and hosting company before selling it. Chris is someone that has always really intrigued me. He is always doing really interesting things and going on new adventures. He is known for leaning hard against his limits and fears in order to enjoy a great story. From performing naked on a stage in front of hundreds to trekking across Siberia in subzero temperatures on a motorcycle to reach the Arctic Circle

In this episode we will be discussing what three primary factors one must look at in starting a new business. Chris shares how extreme tragedy completely shifted his perspective on both life and business. He discusses how adventures and experiences have allowed him to grow personally and professionally, and why he wants to share that gift with others.

Key Points From This Episode:

• Chris shares with us at what point in his life he got started in business and entrepreneurship.
• Find out how selling his company has helped Chris realize what he actually wants to do.
• Understand why Chris wants to equip entrepreneurs for the world that is coming.
• Hear Chris’s advice to young entrepreneurs looking to start a business.
• Learn why it is important to have motivation, desire, ability and to know the market needs.
• Understand why you need to keep momentum in order to be continuously learning.
• Find out why you need to get a clear idea of who you are at the core.
• Hear how skills and lessons start relating to your life as you make sense of who you are.
• Learn more about the differences between fear and anxiety.
• Discover how Chris leads into his fears through his adventures and day to day life.
• Find out why shifting your perspective can help you overcome your fears.
• Hear what’s the craziest adventure Chris has done and how he has had to overcome fears in his own life.
• Learn how to be more intuition driven amongst other things.
• Find out what’s next on the horizon for Chris.
• Hear what shifts Chris is trying to create for people on his retreats/adventures.
• Discover different ways to find clarity by understanding yourself and surrounding yourself with the right people.
• Hear how Chris steps out of his comfort zone in his day to day life.
• Find out how Chris has grown to be so self-aware.
• Understand why helping somebody is the one directive Chris believes in.
• Hear why Jim Kelly and Al Smith are the men Chris most looks up to.
• And much more!

Tweetables:

“Sometimes you just need to do something to learn the lesson.” — @chrisplough

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[0:08:25].1]

“The path is never direct.” — @chrisplough

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[0:12:39].1]

“You serve somebody else and you get served in return.” — @chrisplough

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[0:22:28].1]

“When I get to the goal, it’s not about the accomplishment, it’s about what have I learned along the way.” — @chrisplough

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Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Chris Plough — https://chrisplough.com/

Chris on Twitter — https://twitter.com/chrisplough/

Chris on Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/chrisplough

Exponential University — https://exponentialu.org/

Oracle — https://www.oracle.com

Jay Georgi — http://nadvia.com/

Bright Order — http://www.brightorder.com/

Wayne Gretzky — http://www.gretzky.com/

G Log — https://www.oracle.com/corporate/acquisitions/g-log/index.html

American Dream U — http://americandreamu.org/

Hair the musical — http://broadwaymusicalhome.com/shows/hair.htm

Groupon — https://www.groupon.com/

Richard Branson — https://www.virgin.com/richard-branson

Al Smith — http://www.alsmith.com/

UJ Ramdas — http://www.ujramdas.com/

Jayson Gaignard — http://www.jaysongaignard.com/

Transcript Below:

Read Full Transcript

EPISODE 011

“CP: So for me, everything coalesces. It’s like is it in line with exploring? Is it in line with teaching and guiding? Is it in line with helping the entrepreneurs or the artists or the explorers of this world shape it? If so, that’s what I’m doing.”

[INTRODUCTION]

[0:00:20.1] ANNOUNCER: Welcome to The Fail on Podcast where we explore the hardships and obstacles today’s industry leaders face on their journey to the top of their fields, through careful insight and thoughtful conversation. By embracing failure, we’ll show you how to build momentum without being consumed by the result.

Now please welcome your host, Rob Nunnery.

[INTRO]

[0:00:47.1] RN: Hello and welcome to the podcast that believes you are destined for more and that failing your way to an inspired life is the only way to get there. Today we are hanging out and learning from Chris Plough, he is a big time adventurer and explorer, he founded a company called Maven Wire which became an eight figure global consulting and hosting company before selling it.

He’s just a great dude overall and I will be chatting directly from Eleuthera in the Bahamas and we’ll be discussing what three primary factors one must look at in starting a new business, how extreme tragedy completely shifted his perspective on both life and business and how adventures and experiences have allowed him to grow personally, professionally and why he wants to share that gift with others.

But first, if you’d like to stay up to date on all fail on podcast interviews and key takeaways from each guest, simply go to failon.com and sign up for our newsletter at the bottom of the page. That’s failon.com.

[INTERVIEW]

[0:01:46.5] RN: Hey there and welcome to the fail on podcast, today’s show has me really excited, we have Chris Plough joining us today. Chris is someone that has always really intrigued me, he’s always doing really interesting things, going on new adventures, he’s known for leaning hard against his limits and fears in order to enjoy a great story.

From performing naked on a stage in front of hundreds to trekking across Siberia and massive subzero temperatures on a motorcycle to reach the Arctic Circle. And, I’m really excited to jump into his journey. Chris, welcome to the fail on podcast. My man.

[0:02:18.4] CP: Thank you man, glad to be here.

[0:02:20.5] RN: Let’s just jump right into it man, let’s go into your journey, how did you get started in business and entrepreneurship and at what point in your life was this?

[0:02:28.2] CP: Yeah, no problem. I tried to start a few very crappy businesses starting from when I was like man, I think it must have been like 19 years old. I had traveled across the country to live in Pennsylvania, one of the pretense of going to school at Pen state but really it was because I was in love with this girl right?

[0:02:49.4] RN: Of course, it’s what it comes down to right?

[0:02:51.4] CP: Yeah, I was making next to nothing and I was trying to find ways to make money, I think my first was I created this forms on a disk program and I called the company like Riven Ware, it was crap. It was a horrible nothing, it never went anywhere with it. I kept trying like little ideas like that over the years, nothing really came through.

Ended up working for a startup and giving a sense of what a real business was like. Especially in the software realm and that really formed a lot of my vision of entrepreneurship and then when that startup was acquired by Oracle, I left because Oracle just wasn’t my cup of tea and I started a company called Maven Wire.

We had the expertise there, I was the one who designed the technical architecture for what was then Oracle transportation management so I had a distinct advantage and a lot of the original developers and people had worked software in so we had a competitive advantage against everybody else. Now, I’m telling you this in hindsight, it wasn’t all necessarily planned out that well, trust me.

[0:03:48.4] RN: It never is.

[0:03:49.2] CP: It never is. That was the company for me that really solidified my entrepreneurship and I learned most of my lessons through and where I found the bulk of my success through.

[0:04:00.0] RN: Just first some context. When was this and are you still involved with that company today?

[0:04:04.3] CP: Yeah, started the company in May of 2006 and had been a 10 year journey and was just sold acquired last year and is now part of a company called Bright Order which is run by a friend of mine, Kentin Hoe and another friend, Jay Georgie. Kentin Hoe is the owner and the beautiful part about that is number one is they’re continuing and taking care of a family that I really care about because I became evident to me that the mission of that particular company just wasn’t in line with what I wanted to do with my life.

I feel very fortunate for that and then second, they actually have better capabilities to help Maven Wire in this case Bright Order, achieve what I’d hope to do would achieve from the beginning, it’s almost this continuation of I saw this path of the company and there became another way to achieve that that I didn’t have to spend my life doing. There was a lot of fulfillment in that particular choice and made it easier to go down that route.

[0:05:00.5] RN: That said, what is it that you want to do with your life if obviously that’s not it? What are you drawn into now?

[0:05:06.4] CP: You get to a point, I mean, you can talk about Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs , you have needs and everything else right? We get to a point where we’re looking for something deeper than traditional success right? Sometimes, I can’t say everybody but I can say a lot of people that I know that I get the opportunity to hang around, get to a point of traditional success, there could be money and things or prestige or fame or whatever it might be.

Find it empty and hollow and then spend time trying to figure out, okay, what is it that actually fulfills me? What is it that actually drives me, gives meaning to my life, how can I use this massive skills that I have in whatever area right? Whether they’re entrepreneurial, artistic or whatever else and how can I take them and apply them into the world in a way that it makes a difference?

That’s what I care about. I want to equip entrepreneurs specifically for the world that’s coming because you look at all the shifts in technology, you look at this movement from ambition to fulfillment. I think that that’s the incredible journey that I want to help other people through and I think by doing so, we can create a world that is full of world shapers.

And people who can take this world into the direction that it’s meant to go in and those might be hard words right? I think that you can create an army of good, let me put it that way. That army of good using these tools and technology and everything, it’s coming, we can have a phenomenal impact upon the world as we know it.

[0:06:24.1] RN: So you’re looking to help entrepreneurs that are pretty much already established, kind of forego the empty hollow feeling that maybe you felt, just to get quicker to more of a place of fulfillment, is that pretty much accurate?

[0:06:38.0] CP: Yeah, because that’s a journey I understand right? There’s people within that realm that I know. However, I’m really glad you brought this up so I thank you. What I’m also finding which is incredibly interesting is that I talk to more and more younger entrepreneurs and by younger, I’m talking entrepreneurs who are in like 20’s, especially early to mid-20’s.

Sometimes later 20’s and whose business are just getting going. They’re making six figures, they’ve accomplished a lot but they see that the path that a lot of us have followed in the years previous with the generation previous isn’t the path that they have to go down right?

Instead of going A to B. B being that point of emptiness and hollowness and then trying to find a way to see, they’re asking the question directly. How do I get to see directly, that’s the path I want because I want more meaning fulfillment in my life. I think that you have this two groups, the ones who have been there and done that and don’t know where to go and the ones who say why would I even want to do that? Why can’t I just go directly towards where the future is going right?

I never thought about this before but it also kind of reminds me that Wayne Gretzky quote, go where the puck is going because that’s what the younger entrepreneurs are looking for. Rather than trying to follow where his puck been.

[0:07:49.2] RN: This analogy, yeah. What would you say to somebody that’s not necessarily at that six figure business yet? They’re not necessarily even thinking about fulfillment, maybe they are in the back of their mind but they just want to get business up and running and get something off the ground, that’s their number one priority.

What would you advise to them if you were to sit somebody down or maybe it was even your younger self. What would you say to that person with the path that you’ve already gone down?

[0:08:17.1] CP: It depends right? I think every advice is contextual, depends on who you’re talking to, what’s going on in their life right? But if we generalize this a little bit, first, sometimes you just need to do something to learn the lesson.

I’ll be honest with you, I needed to run Maven Wire as it was even though it wasn’t my ultimate life mission to learn some incredible lessons. When I went into