Nick Leighton, executive coach, international marketer and author of Exactly Where You Want to Be: A Business Owners Guide to Profit & Happiness, brings adventure and fun into the world of global marketing.
As an owner of a creative agency founded in old Dubai, he hired a diverse team to achieve their goals, won large international contracts, and then sold his agency to be with his wife in Southern CA.
Listen to this fun episode where we talk about his “Champagne Moment” in a hijacked helicopter while hosting international journalists in Pakistan, riding in a car high speed chase in Moscow, and how he met his wife at the Playboy Mansion.
You will be edutained!
Links from the episode:
TAAN - https://taan.org/
PRGN - https://prgn.com/
His book - https://www.amazon.com/Exactly-Where-You-Want-Happiness-ebook/dp/B0764TRZNJ
Connect with Wendy - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendypease/
Connect with Nick - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickleighton/
Music: Fiddle-De-Dee by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
ATTENTION: Below is a machine generated transcription of the podcast. Yes, at Rapport International, we talk a lot about how machine translation is not good quality. Here you see an example of what a machine can do in your own your language. This transcription is provided as a gist and to give time indicators to find a topic of interest.
[00:00:34] Wendy: Hello listeners to the global marketing show podcast. I'm so excited that you're here with us today. It's been interesting over this journey. I've done a lot of outreach to people that I've specifically wanted to have on the show, because I thought that they could add a lot of value. Uh, yet recently I've had people reaching out to me to be on.
[00:00:55] And so we've, we've developed an application form that we've put [00:01:00] on our website, Rapport, translations.com. And if you go to resources and look for the podcast, you can see the place that you can apply to be on the podcast. So if you have a global marketing experience or international business, and you can cover a topic that we haven't covered in an earlier episode, or you'd want to talk about some of your fun business experiences, certainly go to the website and apply it.
[00:01:24] Also be in the show notes down below. But enough about that, we're going to get to [00:01:30] our guests today, Nick Leighton. Is he's, he's got tremendous experience and he believes in champagne moments and over the past twenty-five years, he's worked in north America, south America, Europe, the middle east Africa and Asia.
[00:01:49] And as a seasoned entrepreneur, he's founded and sold multiple multi-million dollar agencies and advised countless others, including fortune 500 companies [00:02:00] and nonprofits, small business entrepreneurs, political parties, and even members of royalty. So this guy has been around, we'll even talk about where he met his wife.
[00:02:13] And that is really interesting. So now he owns and operates a coaching and peer advisory agency and international marketing agency and a project management company. So Nick, welcome.
[00:02:27] Nick: And thanks.
[00:02:28] Wendy: Oh, I'm so [00:02:30] excited. I'm excited for this conversation. So I led off in that you believe in champagne moments. Can you tell us what that,
[00:02:40] Nick: that's a great question.
[00:02:41] Absolutely. Well, obviously we'll love pretty champagne, but what are the champagne moments? So we're in business and I think a lot of people who listen to your podcast probably own businesses or agencies or working within agencies, it doesn't matter if you own an agency or if you work in an agency, there's always the question of why, why are we doing this?
[00:02:59] Wendy: Why are we [00:03:00] doing this? Particularly, we also, I think a lot of people who are in manufacturing and consumer products and they're thinking about it. But if you are an agency owner, think about which clients of yours could do global marketing. So, sorry, I had to jump in and add that into cocoa. Go ahead.
[00:03:17] So, so let's
[00:03:18] Nick: say you fall into a manufacturing company. I don't know, maybe your parents owned it or whatever. Now you own this manufacturing and that's what you do. It doesn't matter what the business is though. The question is as the owner, why are [00:03:30] you doing it? So the champagne moment is the first reason.
[00:03:35] It's your why? And it's the celebration of your why? So people talk about your why quite a lot. I think that's a common conversation we have, but if you could do one thing on a personal level in the next year to two years, what would that be? So let me give you some examples and see if that kind of clarifies things.
[00:03:55] So I'm working with people right now who have all kinds of champagne moments. Maybe you want to buy your first. [00:04:00] If you're doing the business, maybe you want to build a second home in the country. You will born in. Maybe you want to never have to work Fridays. Maybe you want enough time, money and freedom.
[00:04:13] So you can backpack around Asia for a month without anyone contacting you. Maybe you want to set up your business and have the money and the freedom. So you can work for three months during the summer from a little Chateau or province, whatever your champagne moment could be, it's going to be personal and meaningful [00:04:30] to you.
[00:04:31] And then that gives you the reason your why of how to run the business or how to work. Does that make a little bit more sense?
[00:04:39] Wendy: Yeah. Yes. And that is, it runs parallel to the why the Simon Sinek, why that I usually hear about is to what. What's your motivation for doing it? Like I, like, I like connecting people across languages and cultures.
[00:04:54] I mean, that is my whole life I've been doing that sort of land and a business for that. [00:05:00] Why is really good, but you're right. I always have like a personal goal. Like, like when you said that at first, let me see, let me see how this one fits in. As I just feel like I should be doing so much more for the refugees in this world, because we have a lot of refugees that work for us.
[00:05:18] And we provide interpreters for a lot of refugees that come to the United States that need interpreters for medical care, or they need information from the government. And so I feel like I should be [00:05:30] doing so much more. So that fits into the why of the company got some more Simon Siddiq. Why? But my, why is I want to retire?
[00:05:41] 10 to 15 years. And so that's my goal to push the company to grow.
[00:05:47] Nick: Right. And you're absolutely right. This is the celebration of the Simon Sinek white. I think that's the best definition of it. So maybe if all those things are important, your personal champagne moment could be the [00:06:00] setting up of a nonprofit that allows support around that.
[00:06:03] But for you to do that, you need time and you need money from your business. Um, and you have all the connections from your business that would allow this to happen. But maybe that point is the launch of the charity organization that gave and the humanitarian aid. I mean, I'm not suggesting you do that, but I mean, that's how people come to the champagne moment.
[00:06:21] So it's so
[00:06:22] Wendy: great because you, uh, you really take my blinders off. Cause I was just thinking like, oh, personally adopting a, you [00:06:30] know, adopting for lack of a better word, a refugee family. And contributing that way, but if you think about starting a nonprofit to help, you've just some large, my vision. Well, just taking the
[00:06:44] Nick: steps.
[00:06:45] I mean, and it doesn't have to be giving back necessarily. I mean, it's totally fine for too personal about you. So, um, I worked with someone who there Shannon, most recent champagne moment was to get the son into college. That's totally legitimate as well. Absolutely. I [00:07:00] need time and resources to be able to support that.
[00:07:02] Cause that's the best thing for our family at this point. So it can be anything and that's the beauty of it. And then every year you achieve it or returns, you achieve something and then you move to the next one.
[00:07:11] Wendy: So it almost is like an annual personal, so it's like losing way. You can't just say, I want to lose 10 pounds.
[00:07:18] You've got to have, so I feel healthier. So my pictures look better so I can. Hike with my children. There's more to just the number on the scale it's
[00:07:29] Nick: [00:07:30] finished a moment is that time where you can see I did it. It's the celebration, which is really important. So it could be launching the charity organization, or it could be the photo shoots with whoever who is well-known because I've hit the weight, my fill.
[00:07:45] Amazing. And then I want to show it off. So there has to be a movement to
[00:07:49] Wendy: it. Oh, a moment to it. Okay. So does that, you've done a lot of international business, just the champagne [00:08:00] moment convert over to thinking about global business globally. Absolutely.
[00:08:05] Nick: Absolutely. So you know, and there's so many different ways but you know, yes, we've done all kinds of work and we've done work with refugees and with aid organizations.
[00:08:16] And, and that's how I came across the champagne moment in the first place. So. I owned a marketing agency, w media, a specific round PO I'm in the middle east and all our clients were technology [00:08:30] clients. That's what we specialize in. That's what we had a lot of expertise and results, but we needed something extra in that agency to spark enthusiasm, to help us in recruiting, just to get us out of the day-to-day tech stuff.
[00:08:41] Um, so we took on the United nations world food program. The world food program is owned by the United nations, one of the largest charities in the world. And we did pro bono work for them. And this was great because everyone loved this difference. You could get all techie with our clients and know stuff, but then also you could do something that made a difference.
[00:08:56] And everyone wants that, especially in the marketing world, we all want to do things [00:09:00] that make a difference. So this allowed us to do it more than just push a company's profit. We were raising money that gave children food. This was fantastic. So we were running, um, an exercise mom, running a campaign with media from around the world.
[00:09:15] And what we would do is we would bring international. To the middle east. And then we would fly them to an area which needed aid in this case, it was in Pakistan, but we went, so we would show them opulence, we'd meet the prime minister or the president of whichever country we [00:09:30] were in. And we would feed them well on day one and then day two, we'd show them where the aid workers needed.
[00:09:35] And the juxtaposition for these journalists and international journalists from war or known publications, it would really hit home. And then hopefully they would report on that. And that would drive donations. That was a strategy. And we were doing that and we were in a United nations helicopter flying over the Kashmir region of Pakistan.
[00:09:53] And we were hijacked. We were playing the was hijacked two F sixteens [00:10:00] were controlling where our helicopter went. And at that moment at bear mind, I'm in charge of these international journalists. You know, we were told where to land and put on a back of the truck and set up to a refugee camp, which actually was run by a military police.
[00:10:14] So they didn't want to cause us harm, but they didn't want us to control what the media voice. I didn't tell the media during this time there would be hijacked. They had no idea. They just thought we were, ah, this is an unplanned stall. Um, and once we'd done that while we were allowed to go off and do our own thing but it was at that moment [00:10:30] as I was being hijacked from like, you know what?
[00:10:32] This is my champagne moment for me right now, even though yes, we were in danger and we weren't a hundred percent in control of what was going on. I was providing aid in an environment with the people I wanted for a greater good I'm like, this is a champagne moment for me right now.
[00:10:48] Wendy: Wow. Wow. They didn't know. And you're celebrating a champagne moment. Did you ever tell them?
[00:10:56] Nick: I did afterwards? Um, I didn't feel like they needed to [00:11:00] know during the time, because I mean the pilots, so with us, we had a United nations person with us and then the photographer that I work full time, who I take to these events, I told him and he was pretty calm.
[00:11:11] So that was cool. And we're like, you know what, maybe, I mean, we talk about crisis communication all the time. Like maybe we're not going to lie, but we're not going to tell the whole truth at this moment. We're gonna wait until the helicopter is taken off again. And we're in another location. Um, which is fine.
[00:11:26] And obviously we didn't want to bring bad publicity to the area. [00:11:30] So, you know, we were controlling the message as well.
[00:11:32] Wendy: Right, right. Wow. How calm you must've stayed. And then how did you get out of the house? A hijack situation?
[00:11:39] Nick: So they took us up to this aid camp. Cause they really wanted to show that they were doing amazing work.
[00:11:44] The military police were doing amazing work. So we were a known commodity for those two days. You know, we we'd been to these amazing places. So they knew we were there. They knew the press were with us. So in their mind, oh, we just show the press. Well, we want to show the press. It'll be good. [00:12:00] So yeah, literally, you know, we were given a cup of tea and we were allowed to walk around.
[00:12:03] So only so far and about, you know, 15 minutes, 20 minutes maybe. And then they said, okay, go back on your truck. And they took us back to a helicopter and our pilot was waiting there and we got things going again. Yeah.
[00:12:18] Wendy: What an experience that would be a champagne moment, particularly since you came out alive and celebrate it.
[00:12:26] Yes. But at the time you thought, okay. [00:12:30] I'm
[00:12:30] Nick: like, I'm like, this is actually, even though it's clearly dangerous and I'm not in control. I am doing something that I really want to be doing. And that was the realization at that point. I'm like, well, okay, how do we form that? So people can in a valance think about a champagne moment and then try and reach that champagne moment because frankly goals suck.
[00:12:46] I mean, like who wants to run a business or be in business and go, I just got to hit the next million or the first million or whatever. It might be a revenue goal means nothing. So this just makes things more meaningful.
[00:12:55] Wendy: Right, right. It does tie back to that. So say, say, [00:13:00] how did you, how did you get your agency?
[00:13:05] To come up with the UN world food program, because as you said before, somebody could say, my champagne goal is to get my son into college years is to be hijacked with a bunch of press and a place is not safe, you know? So everybody has such different levels of you know, [00:13:30] how much excitement they can handle it.
[00:13:32] Or some people are really into dogs rather than, you know, like save the animals and the dogs. So how do you rally a team around one?
[00:13:41] Nick: Awesome. First. So a champagne moment is individual. Um, I don't know if you can have a champagne suppose you could, for a team I've never thought about that. How do you work out what your personal champagne moment is?
[00:13:51] Um, and you're gonna have a personal vision. So I think you can go through about 15 questions and find out what, what is your core? So, you know, Why [00:14:00] do you do what you do? Some people have that on some people don't what do you love doing? What don't you love doing? How much time do you want to spend doing it?
[00:14:05] What else is important to you? Money maybe no monetary rewards health family, friends, hobbies. Once you ask for support and money in 15 areas, you can write that down. As in a hundred words, it becomes pretty clear. So Mike has, I didn't go to look to get hijacked, but I like traveling in out of the way places.
[00:14:28] Um, I loved everything to do with air [00:14:30] travel, hotel, balloons, helicopters, sliders, planes. So those two elements would definitely there. I was a place in my life where I wanted to. And I was in a position where I could, and also a multiplier effects. I mean, you know, short, we don't give him small ways, but how do you use your talents and the position you're in today for a greater good?
[00:14:49] So those three things were important to me and that's what led to the United nations. Um, so that's what made it my champagne moment. I don't think you could say that anyone on my team, their champagne moment was [00:15:00] to have been on that helicopter with me that that's not what happened. But that's what made that champagne moment important to me at that time.
[00:15:09] Um, and as we go through life, how we go through businesses and things change. So your champagne moment is going to, um, change. And, you know, it was only a few years later where I didn't want to go out. So, I mean, before I had children still, you know, once you have children and a family and a house. Yeah. My champagnes moment moments change to.
[00:15:28] Which is kind of [00:15:30] the excitement of getting hijacked, for example. Yes.
[00:15:33] Wendy: Yes, it is later. But, but you were talking about your team when you were running a PR agency in the middle east that you pick the UN world food program. And so obviously you were passionate about that and that came from the leader. How did the team get passionate about it?
[00:15:54] Nick: I think that back in, we were in Dubai in the middle east. So, you know, it was quite a [00:16:00] small environment and people were very business focused. Everything was very much, if you were an ex-pat living in Dubai, your life was around. You went there for work. You live the work, you work long hours and you might party hard outside of work if that was your chosen lifestyle.
[00:16:18] But there wasn't much else outside of the work environment, the base infrastructure wasn't there at that time. So we were just trying to find meaning, and as an agency with about a dozen people working there, [00:16:30] you know, we would all ask ourselves, okay, well, what can we do? That's important. And, and we love the technology clients that we had at that time.
[00:16:36] That was fantastic. We worked for major brands and that was great, but success for them was. Measure, either in media exposure or when people turning up to an event or ultimately people buying a product, or I guess ultimately, you know, getting out of a crisis or revenue growth will stop market performance.
[00:16:54] Um, and we can help in those areas, but we felt like we weren't really connected to people quite as [00:17:00] much as we wants to be. So we didn't want to lose the folks versus even just say, well, let's go general. You know, I I'm sure if we doing media for restaurants, we might feel like we were supporting a restaurant and the family.
[00:17:11] But, um, we were just looking to see what would work and the option to the United nations came to us.
[00:17:17] Wendy: Okay. Now your team there, where they in international team or were they mostly from the middle east? So
[00:17:23] Nick: that's a really interesting question. And I think that ties into very much what you do. The middle east culture is very interconnected, but [00:17:30] then not connected at the same time.
[00:17:31] So in Dubai, you have English language, newspapers and Arabic language newspapers. You get some other newspapers of other languages as well. The population breaks down between Western expanse and that's Americans and British and European. Ex-pats where that you get Indians of content. Um, ex-pats mainly from India.
[00:17:50] And then you get Arab expats. So you got Arabs who are from Dubai and right. I remember it's because you've got Arabs who come in from Jordan or Egypt. So those are three very distinct groups. [00:18:00] They all have very distinct, distinct to media that they read that are all written by very distinctive journalists.
[00:18:05] And that. So I would have loved to have started my agency and had people I know and connect with very easily. I'd love to have all the European ex-pats with me. That would have been fun, but I quickly realized that we couldn't get results across the media landscape like that. So we would set up pods, which always had to have an Arabic first language in India sub-continent and a Western ex-pat.
[00:18:28] So three very different people [00:18:30] because only then could that pod of people create results for all the media that was out there in our area, which of course led to difficulties because these are three types of people who may not socially get on. They probably don't have religious things in common.
[00:18:47] They don't have social or family things in common. There's a lot of differences. So it made the agency quite full of friction in a way, because I constantly we're putting people together who wouldn't necessarily choose to go. [00:19:00] Um, but it gave the best results. And that was a very interesting culture to create an agency well in any business, because most people want to create an environment which is highly productive, but what people really enjoy it.
[00:19:13] And here I was creating something which was different. That wasn't my first objective. My first objective was to get results at a broad level. And for me to do that had to have many different types of people. So it was a challenge, but it worked out and we suddenly got great results from it. Um, and I think I'd like to say that I [00:19:30] created intercultural friendship that maybe wasn't that because Dubai really is a culture where you stay within your own group where it was back then anyway.
[00:19:37] Wendy: It's so interesting right now, because in the U S particularly DEI is just skyrocketed, uh, of interest is you have to have diversity, but if you don't have equity people, aren't going to stay well, it's more about an equity. It's about inclusion. And so you started with inclusion and that drove the rest of it because, [00:20:00] and you were focused on results.
[00:20:03] So you had to do it in that situation. And I hear that frequently is that it can be full of friction, but the outcomes can be so much better. Right? Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. What year were you doing this?
[00:20:16] Nick: 99. So, you know, for a good seven or eight years, that's how we were running things.
[00:20:21] Wendy: Yeah. 1989. 99. Okay. Yeah. So diversity was around, but [00:20:30] it wasn't as talked about or front and center as it is today.
[00:20:33] What fantastic experience, what advice would you give to people that are trying to build,
[00:20:40] Nick: you know, uh, and and I speak at all kinds of places and opportunity to talk about diversity. I don't think that's something that can or should be forced. I, I think people who talk about a lot now we've got to have diversity.
[00:20:52] Well, what you have to have like those city, for what reason do you, I mean, are we just proving it for numbers? You know, is it, and then [00:21:00] why would one diversity over another make more sense? I heard an organization saying that they must get more female members into it recently and I'm like, okay. But I understand what your organization is about.
[00:21:11] And first of all, the question is, are female members representative to your area? And then why you saying female members over our religious group background or color? Anything else? Why choose one diversity? You can't? I mean, that's just like, you know, just tell [00:21:30] us what, what was the reason? So is it tit numbers?
[00:21:35] To me, it's fascinating. Different people have different strengths. So find the right people with the right strengths. That's what we came from. It resulted in diversity. But I don't know, should every company has equitable diversity cause it's fair. Yes. But is that going to give the best business results?
[00:21:52] I don't know if you asked me to rank every country I've ever been to infant fatality. [00:22:00] And if I could choose a country that I think has the best hospitality, let's say. Say it's Thailand. And if I then had a company that had customer service, I'd want most people from Thailand to work there, it's not necessarily positive diversity.
[00:22:13] I'm just trying to find the people with the best strengths.
[00:22:15] Wendy: Right.
[00:22:17] Nick: So I, I, you know, diversity is a big topic right now. I, I don't know if I agree with everyone on the posties bridge
[00:22:26] Wendy: and I, I hear what you're saying. Yet a lot of [00:22:30] the research that I've read is not only McKinsey has a famous report out on diversity equity inclusion. Then there, there are talking about the companies that are inclusive.
[00:22:42] They have, they continually pay attention to the thing. That might weed out candidates because they're not the norm that when they can bring that in, they're more creative, they're more profitable, have higher revenues and they keep people [00:23:00] longer. So it makes a real business and they're at full employment.
[00:23:05] They're not scrambling to find, you know, tech workers or people who work in manufacturing. So I see it with manufacturers that we work with. The HR department is calling us to provide translation or interpreters for their people who work on the manufacturing floor with really good jobs that they can't speak English.
[00:23:27] So those kind of tell me that [00:23:30] diversity helps companies.
[00:23:34] Nick: I agree with you. And I've seen that study, read that study as well. Um, so I think maybe what I'm saying is exclusion shouldn't exist. Don't exclude people for. No reasonable. So, I mean, just because I liked the idea of inclusive, I just don't know if you can go out and promote inclusiveness over anything else.
[00:23:54] So yes, there's definitely, if there are barriers to promotion because of someone's [00:24:00] gender, that should definitely be got rid of how, how do, how do we eradicate that issue? How do we replicate and make it equal depending on someone's background or language that they can work in any environment?
[00:24:11] Totally. A hundred percent behind that, just against the, we must go and hire someone from this minority to balance numbers right
[00:24:20] Wendy: now. No, you absolutely can't do that because then you're making numbers and you've not built an inclusive. I mean, you were very good at, you know, when you were talking [00:24:30] about it, our objective was to get results.
[00:24:33] And so if you pull people in to get results, but then you're. Making your hiring practices fair. Like there's all sorts of studies on little micro things you can do that are eliminating a bunch of candidates before you even get in there. Now isn't that
[00:24:49] Nick: fascinating because in the U S obviously there's a lot of tight controls over recruiting.
[00:24:54] When I had that team in Dubai, there was zero controls around [00:25:00] how to find and recruit people. So. I mean, I, I could, I could have asked any question any time I could literally post an ad back then in a newspaper. And like I say, I'm looking for a female worker between the age of 22 and 25 that has blonde hair.
[00:25:17] I could write that. And then people would send in the resumes with pictures. I mean,
[00:25:24] Wendy: you can still do that.
[00:25:27] Nick: And I can tell you, I [00:25:30] mean, knowing all the information that a very famous airline from that area recruited that way. And my friend was seven to be the son of the HR director and they'd get the resumes in.
[00:25:42] And he was the first person who looked at the picture and say, attractive goes to this pile. And then his sister would look at their resume and go speaks. A second language can go on to be considered two criteria. Isn't that crazy, very, very successful airline based on that.
[00:25:57] Wendy: Because you get all the businessmen flying on it, [00:26:00] straight businessmen.
[00:26:07] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there is that, but how many of those pretty women were actually promoted up into senior leadership? Or where are they held in the roles? Because they, yeah,
[00:26:21] Nick: yeah, yeah,
[00:26:25] Wendy: yeah, yeah. I don't know. Okay. So. You [00:26:30] ended up in Dubai, but we can obviously tell you're not from there. Right. So tell us a little bit about your background.
[00:26:37] Where did you start?
[00:26:38] Nick: Yes. So I grew up mostly in the UK and worked for companies in the UK and that, and that was super fun. Um, and then, uh, I got head hunted in a roundabout way to work for an American technology company. And, um, I went for the interview. Um, I didn't actually, I wasn't actually looking for a job.
[00:26:55] I just went to for fun to help out a friend who needed to put so many [00:27:00] candidates in front of his client. And the job that he wanted me to go into before was a marketing manager based in the UK for the UK and South Africa. But it was based in a city called slouch and slouch is known as the armpit of England.
[00:27:15] It is what. If you have sold the program, the office, which is based on the English one, the office, that's where that office is, if it's that right. Which is not the most desirable place to go to work. So I went to the interview and they said, well, what y'all have you come for? And I said, well, what jobs have you got?
[00:27:29] Cause I didn't really [00:27:30] care. I had a job. They go, they go to the multi manager based in England, or we've got this other position, which is a marketing manager for Eastern Europe in the middle east. I'm like, yeah, that's the one. And because I didn't really care. And I'm like, I had never been to Eastern Europe or the middle east, but why would that stop me?
[00:27:44] And still wasn't interested. So I got interviewed and then they called me the next week and they said, Hey Nick, can you come to Munich to meet some of our team in Munich for the day? I'm like, sure. So they flew me to Munich for the day from London and I met people in the team. And then I went back to.
[00:27:59] Interesting still [00:28:00] don't want the job. Then they phoned me up again and they said, Hey Nick, can you come to Paris next week for the day? I'm like, okay. I went to Paris for the day. And as I was flying back, obviously, you know, they were courting me. So I was flying back business class with a glass of champagne and flying into England, which was cold and rainy.
[00:28:14] And, you know, there was gridlock around me as was flying in. And I'm like, you know what? This job doesn't seem so bad. They're going to fly me around in business gloves. Little did I know that wasn't the case? So I took that job and they looked paid to meet in Paris, um, which was fun. Um, a lot of [00:28:30] fun, but I did point out to my boss at the time that Paris was not in Eastern Europe or the middle east, and maybe I should go and work in the region.
[00:28:36] So, so that's good. Good idea. Where do you want to go? I said, well, you've got a big office in Prague, so should. Sure so fine. So I moved to Prague and I managed to find people to work for me in agencies throughout Eastern Europe. But after a couple of years I realized the middle east, I just couldn't find anyone.
[00:28:53] So I went back to my boss.
[00:28:54] Wendy: You're living in Prague at that point. Were you doing all business in English? [00:29:00] Like you only speak English, right?
[00:29:02] Nick: Um, we would, so my region top languages were Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Turkish, English, and Arabic. Yeah. So we were doing marketing and all those languages, um, occasionally a little bit of Romanian.
[00:29:16] Um, but we wouldn't go into like the Latvian Lithuanian kind of languages. So those are our main languages that we did everything in. So I had a lot of translators and you know, advertising campaigns would produce in every language and all that kind of thing. Um, so no, I don't speak [00:29:30] those languages.
[00:29:30] I learned check and I live in general, but but I became incredibly good at proofreading in a language. I don't understand
[00:29:40] Wendy: how to do that.
[00:29:42] Nick: Cause you know, it intrinsically because you see things like Toca, she see Turkish, you know, if you do work in Tokyo and you're like, hang on, this is not a Turkish. You know, and then, then you'd read something in French or in Czech or Polish and like, okay, hang on. That does not work that I just know that, send that back to the [00:30:00] check it.
[00:30:00] Right. So there's a lot of that that went on.
[00:30:02] Wendy: Um, and I, I, and I understand what you're saying because there's, you get to know that German capitalizes their nouns, not the first letter of the sentence, which languages need the upside down question mark at the fun of the, yeah. So there's a lot you can pick up without reading the texts to signal.
[00:30:21] There might be an issue with this. That's a good point. Yeah, we,
[00:30:26] Nick: yeah, we do internal teams as well and then translated some [00:30:30] across that region. So yeah. It was a lot of fun working in multiple languages. Yeah. Yes.
[00:30:34] Wendy: Yeah. Oh, that's fantastic. And so I had a, you, how did you find a translator that you could trust the quality.
[00:30:42] Nick: That was it was very hard back then. It was re the only thing in my advantages. I was playing a game that a lot of other tech companies were playing. So I was a marketing manager from Western Europe in Eastern Europe, in the middle east. And a lot of other tech companies were growing so quickly. They had the [00:31:00] same thing.
[00:31:00] So there was a small group, about a dozen of us. We were all marketing managers for a tech company, and we'd all see each other at the same tech shows. And we'd inevitably around in the same city at the same time. Some of us would, you know, some of us are based in Germany and some of the based in Czech Republic, some are based in France and we're in the UK.
[00:31:15] We do meet each other, even though we came from maybe competitive companies and we would just share stories and share resources. Um, so that's a lot of how it happened back then. Um, you know, we're talking about times where. You know, I think we might've had a Lotus [00:31:30] notes database of what health tell to go to.
[00:31:32] I think we could even look that up online. Right. I mean, it's like, yeah, this is a trusted hotel. I mean, yeah. We have no idea that it was, you know, yeah. It was pretty crazy. Um, but yeah. Then as soon as you found some good people, you kept them close and gave them as much work as you bid. So they stay with you and then there was, and this is your world.
[00:31:51] And that's why I love what you do so much because you've got to be so patient with people, there is no right translation. And you know, [00:32:00] there's definitely a real translation you're right. But you know, back then, you know, I'd translate worldwide web into Arabic and there were probably six or seven legitimate ways of doing that.
[00:32:10] And so yeah, there was, it was very much a system and I'm sure you have these kinds of systems in place yourself, your clients, where, you know, we had, we have brands and storybooks for each. Products and each country. So even if we have trainings translations, you know, we've done, this is the way we do it here about this.
[00:32:29] You know, [00:32:30] it was a lot about processes,
[00:32:33] Wendy: right. And a lot about keeping glossaries to, or translation memories. So if you've done worldwide web one way, it's best to stay consistent as in any marketing communications. Right. Exactly. Right. So when you were young, did you have a lot of exposure to other cultures or languages?
[00:32:53] Nick: She born in Greece. My parents haven't. So I kind of spent the first couple of years in Greece and then, um, grew up most of my [00:33:00] childhood in the UK, but I went to a boarding school, um, in England, um, effects at an early age, about seven or eight people diagnosed, I had dyslexia, so kind of the drugs on everyone else that I now proof read in English when I'm dyslexic, but whatever.
[00:33:11] So I went to dyslexic school, which is kinda like going to Hogwarts. Have you ever seen any of the Harry Potter movies similar to that? Um, but yeah, but it was pretty spooky and old
[00:33:21] Wendy: school.
[00:33:25] Nick: I'm not sure where the sorting hat would put me, but, um, yeah, it was pretty much [00:33:30] schools like that and, you know, competing internally against the other, you know, houses and yeah, it was just like that. So that gave me a lot of exposure to other people in England, you know, going to. Desirable. It isn't in some cultures.
[00:33:43] But there were a lot of people who were sent to boarding school from outside of the UK. Um, a lot of Commonwealth countries, for sure. But, you know, I certainly met, you know, people who've been sitting there from the U S or from Africa or from Asia middle east, that was not uncommon. So, you know, [00:34:00] and I don't know, maybe.
[00:34:02] Promotes this, or maybe they were ignorant to it. You know, they put someone from Israel and someone from Pakistan in the same room together. They're like, oh, get on with it. You'll figure it out. It's like, so yeah, it was a lot of understanding of different cultures in a very small close community.
[00:34:17] Wendy: Okay. So you didn't, did you have any fears about setting off to Prague to work or then later?
[00:34:23] Nick: Oh, no. That's full. I mean, that may be as a European outlook. It's, you know, family holidays [00:34:30] roars. Okay. Either go in the car and drive to another country or just fly somewhere. So yeah, that was never an issue. Yeah. The fact I'd never been to Prague and I was going to really kill myself. That was ridiculous.
[00:34:39] Yeah, I mean foolish. And we, you know, I, every, every time I travel every week, I'd go to different country and I'd come back to Prague and I'd go into the, into our office and the guys would say to me, how much did you pay for the taxi. Because this was always the running joke. How much check and how much you sound like check was how much you'd get charged for taxi from the airport and [00:35:00] stamp.
[00:35:00] And like through the two years, gradually it went down and down and down and down and probably to a third of the place, you know, when it was just. Oh, yeah. We get in calls and go to crazy countries and then cities and walk around at night. And yeah, it was probably shouldn't have done all those things.
[00:35:19] That'd be,
[00:35:20] Wendy: it's so interesting. Cause I, you know, I've had other people on the show that grew up in the United States with no exposure to other languages and cultures and [00:35:30] the fears that can bring up and realizing people are people. And so just being open to that, they've been able to work through their fears and have good stories, but you got an early exposure to that with people or people
[00:35:44] Nick: in Europe.
[00:35:45] Got into car chases and Moscow and craziness, you know? I, I met someone recently and there was a time where I was in. Um,
[00:35:59] [00:36:00] okay. So everyone is different. Everyone has different culture. So this is obviously before Uber existed and Lyft and things like that. And I came out of a club at one o'clock in the morning or something. I had three friends with me, um, who were Arabic. And we had someone else who was who's from Moscow.
[00:36:16] And he said, look, I'm going to get you back to your hotel, but we don't have regular cab. So we just stopped. The first call was going past. We also moved direction. They're going, if they're going the right direction, this is going to take you. And we're like, really not like, yeah, just give them $2 at the end of the ride, be [00:36:30] fine.
[00:36:30] So the guy stopped two calls and he goes, look, this call is going in my direction. I'm going to take this call. This call is going in your direction. So you guys get in this one. So now we're in this old clap. Lauder or whatever Russian car was. And this driver who we have no way of communicating with me and three friends, one guy's in the front, I'm stuck in the middle, in the back and soccer, and we're going really pretty fast down these cobblestone large lanes where you see like the old pictures of Russian [00:37:00] soldiers, marching.
[00:37:01] And then from nowhere, this helicopter comes in and pushes us onto the wrong side of the roads, black Audi. And it's playing with us, not allowing us to get onto the right side of the road. It's just like playing with us. So now we have oncoming traffic plus goes on both sides and it's one o'clock in the morning.
[00:37:16] So I'm sobering up very quickly. And then suddenly I hear sirens and I can see blue flashing lights, kind of reflecting of the windows as we're driving along. And the Audi then disappears and I'm thinking, well, this is good because one, I'm [00:37:30] not going to die tonight. And two, if there's a police car that stops our car, we probably are in the right.
[00:37:35] I'm just thinking there's only so much trouble I can get into here. Right? I look around and try and find what's a police car is, and there's no police car we're in the police car. We were in an unmarked police car and the driver had just turned on the sirens and the blue lights to get rid of the other cop, not a word assert in this whole car.
[00:37:51] I'm looking at my friends, they're looking at me. And about two minutes later, we pull up at the hotel we're staying in and we give the guy $2, the undercover [00:38:00] police go. And he goes, thank you. See you. That was it.
[00:38:02] Wendy: We thank you. See you in
[00:38:03] Nick: English. Totally in English. Yeah.
[00:38:09] Wendy: English. It was a police car. None of you knew that. And you had no idea what the black car was trying to do to Nope.
[00:38:17] Nick: Don't know if they knew each other. Didn't know each other. If they realized an undercover cop, I have no idea, but I just love the undercover policemen would just stop and make two bucks on the side as well.
[00:38:28] I mean, that just seems great. [00:38:30]
[00:38:30] Wendy: Okay. So if you're a listener out there and you're thinking about doing global marketing, next experiences are not the norm.
[00:38:40] Nick: No, aren't they isn't the one everyone goes
[00:38:42] Wendy: through. No, no, no, no, no. They talk about trying different foods or you having bad manners, but being at yeah.
[00:38:49] High speed chase at 1:00 AM in Moscow or a big hello, hijacked in a HELOC.
[00:38:55] Nick: That's normal. Okay. Well, I'll tell you what is normal, but I can tell you, this is definitely very normal. [00:39:00] So you see, you get shared experience. You meet people. After you've traveled. Who've been traveling the same place at the same time.
[00:39:07] So I used to go in and out of Waltzer a lot and he stay at one hotel right in the center. And that's where the trade shows were and had a little like cafe out the front and just cause I went in and out so much and you know, people in my own team and we talk and we realized there was a girl who would sit in the cafe and she'd wear a different color wig, everyday.
[00:39:24] You know, she'd be born one day, then a red and then a brunette. And my guess is she was selling stuff. I dunno. So [00:39:30] selling stock or selling herself, I don't know what she was on with that.
[00:39:37] And then I met someone maybe 10 years later, who would also went in and out of Warsaw. And he's like, yeah. Do you have to say that hotel? I'm like, yes. Or the hotel. Did you ever see that woman to change the hair? Every I'm like, amazing. This is one individual, but randomly you can meet other people who have the same experiences.
[00:39:56] Wendy: That is hugely fun. And I have heard that I heard, [00:40:00] uh, in an earlier interview, somebody who was over in the middle east and he was there, he sold like farms, meat, and he was there with another American and they found out like they were from the same county back from the Midwest state. So there is a lot of small world stuff when you're, you're doing international business.
[00:40:23] Yeah. So, okay. So you're, you're living in, uh, Prague. How did you get over to Dubai? [00:40:30]
[00:40:30] Nick: So same conversation with my boss. I'm like, you know when I was in Paris and I wasn't really being able to do all the work, so it was in the region. I'm like, well now, like Eastern Europe is sewn up. We've, you know, I've got people in different offices for me.
[00:40:41] I've got agencies working for me. Light's good. Middle east. Like confined to people. So I think I need to go to the region. So she looks at me and she said, oh, I didn't know. You could speak Turkish. I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, not Turkey. I want to go to the middle east, the Arabic middle east. And she's like, do we have an office down there?
[00:40:56] I'm like, yeah, we have one in Dubai. She's like, okay, then go for it. [00:41:00] And it was that simple. Um, and I got that and this was way back before anyone heard of Dubai. So, you know, we had like a dusty office. I literally sat 96, 97 roundabout. Um, so this is before Bush or at the big hotel. I have hoods, I have pictures of the buzzer up Hoffman construction.
[00:41:20] Um, this is before we started building islands of the world and things like that. Um, it's this before to buy internet city existed, which is such a driver for that [00:41:30] region. So I worked for that tech company, um, for a couple more years until they want to move me again, back to Paris. And I said, no, I, you know, I think I've had enough putting a stop me first agency in the middle east.
[00:41:40] And that really was the driver. I was, it wasn't anything spectacular. It was the right person, right place at the right time because I started an agency. I spoke to the 12 people who was when my marketing manager friends picked up amazing work from day one, and then nine months later to buy, started their expansion and they announced to [00:42:00] buy internet city.
[00:42:01] And here I am with a technology PR agency in the middle east setup, ready to go. And all these companies, so many had been hit the region and it was just very lucky.
[00:42:10] Wendy: Okay. So you were somebody who understood Western marketing in a region that went through explosive growth and you knew marketing and how to connect with all the different people.
[00:42:21] So what recommendations would you give to people who want to enter a new market either, you know, [00:42:30] the middle east or Europe or old Eastern block countries or Western Europe, or, you know, I mean, there's so many out there. How do you pick where and how do you start?
[00:42:41] Nick: So I think there's probably a few things.
[00:42:44] Obviously it depends on what type of company product services. Um, obviously we're talking about a product there's a lot of. Understanding that needs to be taken off you know, thought about electronic product and, you know, do you have the same power? Do we have the same sockets? You know, we'll suck.
[00:42:56] I said, there's all kinds of things you'd have to know for service industry [00:43:00] less. So it's actually easier now than ever to have conversations with people in other countries. So I would see who can you find in that in a suggested target country that you can speak to as an insight? So it was, I took to a marketing agency based in California earlier this week.
[00:43:19] And he said to me, I'm thinking about doing some work in the middle east, have some, I have a couple of Middle-East clients already. So I'm thinking maybe we should open an office that should I. [00:43:30] And I said, I don't have the answer for. But here's the name and address of the person who writes who's the main editor for the marketing magazine and the region.
[00:43:39] What are you going to ask them? Because they'll have all the information for you. Um, so that's normally what I'll say to someone it's like, okay, if you know, if you have a manufacturing company and you're considering Eastern Europe, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, as the three largest countries go and speak to whoever writes the marketing for the manufacturing magazine industry countries, what information can you get from an editors?
[00:43:59] And [00:44:00] media is changing rapidly, but those traditional editors know everything. And in a small country in Europe, many small countries, let's think outside of the UK, Germany in France. Probably everyone knows everyone in some of those countries. I mean, it's crazy. So just go to the, where that fountain of information is and find out everything you want to find out and people are so open because for some reason, people love.
[00:44:26] Yeah, opening their arms and inviting people in from other countries. [00:44:30] I've seen that everywhere and I'm just, you know, you've said it yourself. You've been like, oh, maybe I can, uh, adults, you know, a family or whatever it is. We will want people from outside. Oh, come and stay with us. Yeah. Come and visit.
[00:44:41] That'd be great. That's how it is in every country. So yeah, I'll send the questions.
[00:44:46] Wendy: Interesting. Some people who want to come into the United States listen to the podcast. And so you gave a great suggestion. Talk to the traditional editors of the marketing magazines in the country. What would be the marketing [00:45:00] magazine for the us, or how would you figure out?
[00:45:03] And then the next question is how do you figure out what the marketing magazine is for each country? Ah,
[00:45:09] Nick: you know what? I think he could pretty much Google that I don't know for any country, but that's, if you're a multi-agency and he wants to move to the. Speak to, but you know, if you're a manufacturing, then go and speak to someone who's running.
[00:45:22] One of the manufacturing magazines, referring to logistics, but someone who runs a logistics magazine that's what I would suggest really is somebody wants stands for [00:45:30] whatever industry you're in for your business. And they've probably had conversations. They probably know. So yeah, I don't know. What is the name magazine?
[00:45:37] I don't know, magazine. The whole media landscape changed so radically in the last three, four years. And I don't do media here in the U S icons that question, but I'm sure we could find out.
[00:45:47] Wendy: Yeah. The only one that comes to mind is American marketing association. I don't know if they have a magazine anymore, but they certainly do emails with tons of
[00:45:55] Nick: content.
[00:45:55] That's pain magazine at one stage and
[00:45:59] Wendy: direct [00:46:00] marketing DMA. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. But that's, I think the concept still works. So even if it's not a magazine go to your industry association in country and talk to the lead person there.
[00:46:13] Nick: Yeah. I like the idea of media people over associations because they have no vested interest in, you know, if you go to an association, chances are its members.
[00:46:25] So that could be a competitor. It might not be such a large knowledge and the [00:46:30] person you're speaking to, they might, because, you know, they have limited amount of time and they're running a business and all that kind of stuff. You go to the media, the media thrive on speaking to other people. So that's what I like about that solution.
[00:46:41] Wendy: Oh, okay. That's a, that's a great idea. I see that little twist on it. That makes a lot of sense. Right. And so now marketing agencies, so many of them just stay in country. Like how do you, what do you recommend for agencies that are local or in their own [00:47:00] country? Because a lot of them don't realize they think off, I don't speak the language.
[00:47:03] I can't prove the material I can't create. What do you recommend for agencies?
[00:47:09] Nick: So let's bust that myth. First of all, you, I mean, you can get talent, whether that's full-time or go someone such as yourself and get language. So, you know, I mean, at any given time the agency that I run is working in French and Spanish and Portuguese and German at any given time, we have translations in those [00:47:30] areas going on it's it's like best just normal.
[00:47:32] So that's fine. English as a first language is used in a lot of countries particularly in the business environment. So you can get, if you speak English, you can get away with a lot. And then it only takes a few words of another language for the socialization and the whatever. So while I was going to Eastern Europe, I didn't know any one language very well, but I could speak, you know, critical 15 words and everything with the accent and make it sound like, yeah, can I left and [00:48:00] right left and right.
[00:48:01] So if you're in a taxi, you can give them directions. It doesn't sound like you're tourist. Um, two beers please. Cause you need to know that wherever. And I was traveling, I was broke on a single, so all you over 18 was a very good sense of smell as well. Um, puffer that, you know, you could pretty much get away with anything.
[00:48:13] Um, so.
[00:48:17] Wendy: Thank you and excuse me.
[00:48:19] Nick: Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, that's all good. That's good. But you could pretty much know that in French or in Italian and use it in any place wouldn't matter. That's true. [00:48:30] Okay.
[00:48:35] WC, how many different ways can we say it? That's always like the most confusing thing. It's like, how do we, what do we call it in this country? Let me get that right. Yeah.
[00:48:44] Wendy: It's the funniest story on one episode about the restroom and they slid, they pointed to like a comfortable chair over in the you can rest them.
[00:48:52] Nick: Yeah. So just take it easy. Okay. Get it. That's what the restroom is. That makes sense. Yeah. So anyway, going [00:49:00] back to a question about how do we get into other countries? I'm a big believer in, um, and that's often that's really one of the success stories of our middle east agency was we would go up against global brand agencies all the time.
[00:49:15] And we weren't, we were a middle east focused agency. And every time at the beginning of our life cycle, we would lose to big brand agencies because for some reason that was more trustworthy. But then after a year, they'd often come back to us and go, you know what? Although there was a large brand, there was a lot of smoke [00:49:30] and mirrors and pretty, it wasn't an integrated team big enough, or in the regional sense, the region.
[00:49:35] So we realized we had to overcome. Okay, how do we overcome fighting a very, a large global brand and you know, personal seller or ultimate, whatever it was at the time, you know, we'd go into that pitch and they go, yes, we all 600 people in 30 countries and that was it. They'd set the stage. We'd come in and go, hi, I'm Nick and I've got 11 employees and we're Dubai.
[00:49:55] They'd never go with me. So we joined a network and that, we're a, since we [00:50:00] joined the network of PR agencies and the next day I went into a pitch and I'm like, hi. Yeah. Um, Nick net results. We have 12 people in our team and our network has 300 people in 20 other countries. And that was that we overcame it straight up from day one, just be part of a network.
[00:50:16] So whether you do it through association on network, huge, huge bonus.
[00:50:20] Wendy: Okay. And so what network did you join?
[00:50:24] Nick: Um, and network doesn't exist anymore. Um, so, and throughout the lifestyle of the agency, we were [00:50:30] members of a number of different agencies and networks, which have worked for us at the time.
[00:50:34] So that was great. And then if we had a relationship with a client and they suddenly said, oh, and we've got an event going on in whatever other country we could call up a person in the country go, Hey, could you handle, you know, feet on the ground? And yeah, then it was never an issue.
[00:50:51] Wendy: Okay. Yeah. So the only network I know right now for communications agencies is Tom T tan, worldwide ton or 10.
[00:50:58] However, your accent would say [00:51:00] T a N worldwide. And I spoke to the executive director, uh, the other day and was really impressed with the membership that they have there. So if anybody else knows if any, certainly send them over to me and we'll put them in the show notes, is that,
[00:51:16] Nick: yeah. I mean, if you're talking just PO then today we're part of a network which is PO GN relations global network.
[00:51:24] And they have great connections around the world. Um, and that's fantastic. So, you know, if this goes to be [00:51:30] something, a press conference in Munich, I'm gonna call up the guys in Munich or the Bill's in Munich and go, okay. You know what I need to know?
[00:51:38] Wendy: I have about five or six minutes left and we still have to talk about.
[00:51:43] What you're doing now, your book, how you met your wife, your favorite foreign word and your favorite vacation. So we're going to Spitfire through some more. Oh my goodness.
[00:51:52] Nick: Okay. Let's do that around. Let's
[00:51:55] do
[00:51:55] Wendy: this. Okay. So tell us about how you met
[00:51:59] Nick: your wife. [00:52:00] I met my wife as living in Dubai and Dubai is a very poor place for socialization.
[00:52:06] And I would travel a lot as part of the entrepreneurs organization at the time. And so I'd go to the universities were in different cities around the world, and I went to an event at loss in Los Angeles. And one of the evening events they'd hired. The Playboy mentioned if you haven't played, we mentioned back then.
[00:52:21] Um, so that's where I was. Now when you, when you hear that people in my show that you can't anymore, cause I sold it, but back then you would hire the venue. Then you call your [00:52:30] food and beverage and then you would hire bunnies to be that. And your bunny menu was based on how much they didn't wear. And when they were in there.
[00:52:39] So the entrepreneurs organization being a very sensible organization with many amazing female members said, well, we've been on like two risks. We might offend someone. So we will have six girls wearing black cocktail dresses. Everyone was happy. So here we have 450 members of EO at the Playboy mansion.
[00:52:56] 200 of which are probably looking to see if [00:53:00] they can find a bunny, um, cause I'd never been there. And who knows? Yeah. And some hanging out and, um, a handy way of by the bar and it's all very cool. He was in the window waving and doing his thing and as famous people at the bar because the pole was always open for famous people.
[00:53:13] Um, just outside the grotto and Scott looks up to me who was marrying a black cocktail dress. Can you get me a drink of the book? So it was between her and I'm like, absolutely. He either has a drink. And I looked and everyone at the organization, entrepreneurs organization, and a, a member had a bad. Hi, my name's Nick I'm in [00:53:30] public relations and I come from the middle east pretty much what it said.
[00:53:32] So you could have a conversation with about it. She was not wearing a badge. And I said, oh yeah, I have a badge on. She says, no, that's because I work here. I'm like, oh, what's your name? He said, well, my name is July 98. And I look still thinking that's probably not her real name. And lot of people taking pictures with her.
[00:53:49] Um, so I got to talk to her. I'm like, well, so we really in July issue of 98, just like, oh no, I just get crushed. I'm like, oh, [00:54:00] um, I'm like, okay. So yes. Um, She wouldn't admit today that she gate crashed a few years later, but she was kneeling down in the back of the catering truck to get into the premises.
[00:54:10] So I'm pretty sure she gave crash. Um, so that's where I met my wife and we dated internationally dated, which is very fun. So long distance. She was in Southern California and I was in Dubai and for a year we dated on and we met in many places in between because everywhere is in between feed that
[00:54:26] Wendy: bank.
[00:54:27] And I learned from you and our previous call, [00:54:30] but she's a successful business owner. And you say gatecrash, but you know, for a little interpretation, we'd say in American English party crap.
[00:54:39] Nick: Okay. Okay. Okay. Yes. That's a good term that I should probably take on. Yes.
[00:54:43] Wendy: Oh, that is just hysterical. I love that story.
[00:54:47] Okay. So what are you doing now? And tell us about
[00:54:49] Nick: your book. I wrote a book called exactly what you want to be a business owner's guide to passion, profit and happiness. Um, so I've taken the experience of. [00:55:00] My agencies. And then since I sold that my main agency in the middle east I also started coaching, um, other companies.
[00:55:08] Um, so this is an accumulation of how to run a company, but also have fun doing it, which goes back to the champagne moment. So everything's centered around pain. Why am I in business? What makes this fun? And how can I make money and have the freedom I want, most people get into business. So reasons often high up on that is the freedom.
[00:55:26] But then after some time they get so pulled in through a [00:55:30] business, they've lost the freedom. It seems exciting and attractive to leave a job when you work for someone else. So you have control of your time, but then as your business becomes successful, you get pulled in and you're suddenly working 10 hours a day.
[00:55:41] So how do we reverse that? How do we have a business and still have a. Hm. So that's th that's what the whole book is focused on is bringing in processes outsourcing but having a structured, knowing how you're doing all that. So that's what the book looks at, how, you know, how to make the most of monthly, how to [00:56:00] make the best of sales, how to have the best people around you, how to manage those people, have how people, how to have freelances, all those, all those kinds of things are covered in that.
[00:56:08] Wendy: Fantastic. I'm going to have to get that. And I know a number of business owners. I can share that with you. We'll pass that along.
[00:56:17] Nick: Hmm. And that's exactly what I do my coaching. Right? It's so the coaching is I work one-on-one with business owners, the majority of people I work with are in the agency space because that's my background.
[00:56:28] So I don't say it don't [00:56:30] work. You know, I have home services and a lawyer and a couple of other places, but for agencies, it makes sense we can talk the same language and more like an easily coach. Someone who has a civil engineering business or a metal manufacturing company, both. Those are examples of people.
[00:56:46] I have coached. They're using different words. And I can learn the words for it in an agency. We talk the same thing, you know? So if someone says some stuff to me yesterday from an agency that they wanted to choose the type of [00:57:00] work within their agency, so they want it to be able to delegate a certain amount of do so.
[00:57:03] And I could just straight forward he say, are you saying it really the type of work or do you really mean that the type of client and just little nuances like that really make a difference if you're going to invest in coaching and also in those for industry?
[00:57:18] Wendy: Yeah, that's fantastic. All right. I'll share that around, uh, some creative, well, I'll show the whole episode because it's a whole thing about breaking down those blinders that I started at the beginning for people who are not agencies.
[00:57:29] [00:57:30] Okay. Favorite foreign word,
[00:57:32] Nick: champagne.
[00:57:36] Wendy: Of course.
[00:57:38] Nick: Um, this all kinds of great words everywhere. I think one of the most powerful words is solo Millicom, which is hello. Welcome in Arabic. Now it's powerful because everyone says it and you replay by saying the same word and it's on instinct. So I can walk past someone today, not in the Arabic world.[00:58:00]
[00:58:00] And I can say that, and they'll say it back to me before they even know that I've said it. So say it again, slam Malibu, which is hello, welcome. And if you walked into a room of just Arabs and you said it, every single person will come back and it's a chorus. So it has power in that way.
[00:58:21] Wendy: Oh, that's wonderful.
[00:58:22] What a wonderful, a nice way to unite a room. Okay. Favorite vacation, [00:58:30]
[00:58:30] Nick: I guess it wasn't Pakistan or pre-fund, isn't amazing how vacations change all the time. I mean, right now I'm just happy to get to Mexico cause I can get some Mexico. But, um, right, exactly. I think I've spent a lot of fun times in Thailand and it was very relaxing.
[00:58:51] I got to say that Bali is a beautiful place to visit as well. Or it was when I was there. But I was born on a small Greek island kind of like mamma Mia, the movie. So [00:59:00] I have a lot of happiness when I think of going back to various little islands. Oh, that's
[00:59:08] Wendy: that? Wasn't one, but boy, you've got us all dreaming about different places that we can go.
[00:59:13] Yeah. How can people reach you?
[00:59:15] Nick: People can reach me. Um, best way to connect with me is on LinkedIn and give you that link. But you know, very happily set up a 15 minute conversation with people, love meeting new people, seeing if I can connect into my network.
[00:59:27] Wendy: Okay. Why don't you, um, say your LinkedIn [00:59:30] profile and spell out your
[00:59:31] Nick: needs so people can find, oh, it is Leighton and I C K L E I G H T O N.
[00:59:39] So throw that on the end of the linkedin.com. I think you're gonna find. Or just type it into LinkedIn. That's going to find me.
[00:59:45] Wendy: Yeah, there you go. Nick Layton. I G H T
[00:59:52] Nick: and the best website is exactly where you want to be.com
[00:59:56] Wendy: exactly where you want to be. Okay. And so you can [01:00:00] get the book. We can get the book on Amazon then.
[01:00:05] Fantastic. Well, Nick, thank you so much for being here today.
[01:00:09] Nick: Did he? This was so much fun. Thank you. I love the type of work you do, and wish you much success as the world becomes a bigger and a smaller place.
[01:00:19] Wendy: Sure. Sure. Yeah. So thank you everybody for listening. You know, what really struck me in this episode was that everybody has a [01:00:30] different tolerance for risk.
[01:00:31] And Nick is somebody who certainly a lot by being in a, a hijacked helicopter and a high speed chase Russia, but you don't have to have that kind of risk taking ability to do global work. As, as he said people are the same everywhere. So I hope you enjoyed it. If you know somebody who owns a creative agency, please share this episode with them because it might take some blinders off their, the way they think [01:01:00] about marketing and give them a new resource.
[01:01:02] When they've got questions about how to run their agency. Thanks for listening. And we'll talk to you next time.
[01:01:08] Nick: Take care.
[01:01:09] [01:01:30]
