Escapees Mark Channon [Memory Coach]

[00:00:00] Everything is down to you and I love that because when it goes wrong no one's

[00:00:06] telling me no one's gonna be in structure there's none of that going on it's

[00:00:09] like hey I created this and therefore there's a huge freedom that comes with it

[00:00:14] Welcome to Escape The Rat Race Radio I'm your host Christian Rodwell and this

[00:00:18] is your ticket to Escape The 95

[00:00:22] With those challenges that show up you have to be very resilient in my

[00:00:32] youth I built up quite strong resilience of being rejected quite a lot so

[00:00:37] you build up a lot of resilience there because it's generally tough

[00:00:46] Welcome to another of our Escape His episodes of Escape The Rat Race Radio

[00:00:51] a shorter puncher insight into some of our members stories since they took

[00:00:55] the leap of faith and sat their boss now every two weeks I'll be bringing you

[00:00:59] interviews with leading offers entrepreneurs personal development coaches and

[00:01:03] marketing experts to the show as always but in between you'll now also get

[00:01:08] the opportunity to hear from people who may seem a little more within reach

[00:01:12] of where you are right now members of the Escape The Rat Race community

[00:01:15] we've been attending our events since we launched in 2015 working with

[00:01:20] myself and our mentors but most importantly working hard on themselves and

[00:01:25] picking a lane upon which to focus now I will be breaking down their story

[00:01:29] today into three parts where they were where they are now and where they want

[00:01:34] to get to I'll be asking them if they can remember the date that they set as

[00:01:38] there Escape The Rat Race Day and if you don't already have a date written

[00:01:41] somewhere for yourself let me challenge for you now to do so state your

[00:01:45] intention write it down and put it in a drawer somewhere you might just

[00:01:49] surprise yourself when you find it again in a year or two's time okay let's do

[00:01:54] this our next Escape Eat coming up

[00:02:01] so Mark welcome to Escape The Rat Race Radio hey don't today I'm Christian

[00:02:05] good good to be here very very good today yeah no great you're forward to

[00:02:08] this yes I know so Mark let's dive straight in so would you mind telling our

[00:02:13] listeners what business you are in and what specifically that involves day

[00:02:17] today okay so actually I've got two businesses right now I'm a memory coach

[00:02:22] I've been a memory coach and an executive coach about 25 years so I do that

[00:02:27] and I've done that part time let's say probably about 25 years and that's really

[00:02:31] about helping people figure out how they can perform at the best get through

[00:02:36] learning cards etc the second thing that I do and this has been primarily my

[00:02:41] full-time focus this year is I am a founder and CEO of a company called Blink

[00:02:47] us Blink with a queue and with Blink we've essentially taken revision for GCSE

[00:02:52] students and we've turned it into this live gaming event so if you've seen

[00:02:57] something like HQ trivia we're essentially doing that but we're doing it for

[00:03:00] students and we're rewarding with 50 pounds of actions every day so those are

[00:03:05] the two things that I've been doing with my life all I was up to date I tell

[00:03:10] about it because we've been trying to schedule this interview for my best part

[00:03:14] this year and you've just been so busy so busy with Blink but it's been

[00:03:17] amazing I've seen all the social media photos of everything you've been doing

[00:03:20] which is super cool so we'll get on to that a little bit later on in the interview

[00:03:24] so let's start with part one and I will split these interviews into three

[00:03:28] parts where you were where you are now and where you want to get to so part

[00:03:32] one Mark can you tell our listeners where you used to work and what you used to

[00:03:36] do yeah so I guess well I'm 48 now so a little bit called text I was 33

[00:03:42] I got into the world of digital products I became a product manager I work for

[00:03:47] BBC for seven years then I moved to Microsoft work there for a year and then it

[00:03:51] was at telegraph so last year I was essentially at the telegraph and I led

[00:03:55] their digital products for apps so any app you downloaded from the telegraph

[00:04:01] that was me I was basically the one kind of driving the the solutions the the

[00:04:07] you know who we were marketing to etc I do not really kind of product management

[00:04:12] role and so what was interesting is for years 25 years you know I've been a coach

[00:04:19] I've been a trainer I've always done it on the site and up until the age of

[00:04:21] 33 I'd always worked for myself I was an actor as well so I was very eclectic

[00:04:26] background but then after my first kid I guess my full-time gig was you know

[00:04:31] work in 95 wasn't really what I was used to but I say they're for quite a

[00:04:34] long time and so last year I made the decision that actually my kids are a bit

[00:04:39] more grown up I wanted to jump out back fully on my own again and okay I'm

[00:04:46] gonna ramp up the coach in business but also I want to get something that's

[00:04:50] going to kind of really light me up in terms of you know a startup that I

[00:04:53] wanted to run so was there a particular point then Mark was there

[00:04:56] something where you suddenly said enough to enough you know and what was

[00:05:00] some of the first steps that you started to take to lead up to that point of

[00:05:04] being able to leave your full-time job yeah so you know what if I'm really

[00:05:10] honest with you it was probably over a two-year period well I was at a teller

[00:05:15] I was after four years and the last two years there's a few times I just

[00:05:18] nearly left I knew okay this is I've got everything I need now and I fell I

[00:05:23] built up a skill set in this digital world which I never used to have and

[00:05:29] I would just get restless so it started with me becoming restless and then the

[00:05:33] last year the telegraph there was lots of strategy changes there but I thought

[00:05:36] you know what it's just time I just knew it was time for me to go out and do my

[00:05:40] own thing whether that was just fully ramping up on the coach inside of things

[00:05:44] or what I really want to do was take all these skills a bell over the years

[00:05:47] and put it to something that can make a real impact in the world so there was

[00:05:50] just a point where I just thought I just got go yeah yeah well I had I had

[00:05:54] exactly that same moment you don't necessarily know how but you've just

[00:05:57] decided that it's time is time is here so things that build up right over time

[00:06:03] and then what was some of the critical decisions that you actually had to make

[00:06:06] in order to know when was the right day you know or month to leave in terms

[00:06:12] of you know financial reasons you know everything else going on in your life

[00:06:15] how do you make that decision because people listening you know think about

[00:06:18] this for months and years and never do it but you did it I did it and I'll be

[00:06:24] honest with you it wasn't financially led because I got the point where I went

[00:06:32] okay yeah so I'm quite big on you know why do you do the things that you do

[00:06:36] so I really did a bit of session myself go and look what is my life about you

[00:06:40] know why am I here and really understanding that and I just made the decision

[00:06:44] and I handed in my nose and I said I'm leaving so it was more me knowing that

[00:06:50] the time had come and I was going to make a jump and I would figure out a way

[00:06:53] so I had a three month notice period I thought three months that used to be a

[00:06:58] full acting gig you know I could do that I used to live like month to month

[00:07:03] when I was an actor I can go back to that and so it was really about just deciding

[00:07:08] that this had to happen now and it was an emotional decision now after that

[00:07:12] I had to get super practical and go okay I'm literally gonna cut my wage

[00:07:16] my salary probably you know over half or probably about third what I was doing

[00:07:22] have I go on my own start up initially but I'm just gonna have to take that hit

[00:07:24] yeah and I know it's gonna be a period time that we tough and what was the day

[00:07:28] can you remember your skater at Rice Diet Mark? Well it was the end of December

[00:07:33] it was just before Christmas that I kind of left you know what it was interesting

[00:07:36] because I was finished and I done everything and so while I was still contracted

[00:07:40] till the end of the month I was just I was done yeah so yeah it was it was a slow

[00:07:45] kind of less and less going in more more folks on my own thing so I had a

[00:07:49] probably a few weeks just while I was finishing up just it really can have

[00:07:53] ramp things up and get things going okay so moving into part two where you are

[00:07:57] now in Mark so how long ago we since you quit the rat race so we're recording

[00:08:01] nearly end of November so it's coming up to the year right? It is yeah yes

[00:08:07] yeah why in Smith oh crazy yeah yeah yeah the amount you've crowned in I bet

[00:08:12] it does and can you share with us three of the biggest realizations that

[00:08:16] you've had since transitioning from being an employee to becoming an entrepreneur

[00:08:21] yeah so it's interesting I guess the first thing is the first realization and

[00:08:27] it was one that I'd experienced before you know 20s and 30s is just it's all

[00:08:33] down to you right everything is down to you and I love that because when it

[00:08:39] goes wrong and things don't work out there's been lots of occasions this year

[00:08:43] where I went crap right you've hit a wall something's happened you know how to do

[00:08:48] this but you know what no one's no one's telling me no one's giving me

[00:08:51] instructions there's none of that going on it's like hey I created this and

[00:08:55] therefore there's a huge freedom that comes with it so the first thing is

[00:08:59] that freedom but with that freedom you know the buck stops with you and that's

[00:09:04] probably my favorite thing about it and it's what I used to love about you know

[00:09:07] being an actor and all that kind of stuff as well the second realization it's

[00:09:13] just really tough right but again with those challenges that show up you you

[00:09:21] have to be very resilient so again in my youth I built up quite a strong

[00:09:28] resilience of being rejected quite a lot so you build up a lot of resilience

[00:09:33] there and that's because it's generally tough third thing okay what would my

[00:09:38] third thing be was my third realization you know what the third thing is

[00:09:44] really something I believe deeply since I was a kid and that is really

[00:09:49] look anything's possible and when you know anything is possible you just have

[00:09:55] to you know get yourself into the right state to solve you know be optimistic

[00:10:02] and I'm a really big believer in not being delusional right you know but just

[00:10:09] being super optimistic in your approach because you know running your

[00:10:15] business whether a startup or they're just kind of running like a business we are

[00:10:18] you kind of making money let's see from day one you get knocked back a lot and

[00:10:24] so having an optimistic approach I think it's quite okay hey this is Chris

[00:10:30] darker hey I'm Jill Stanton oh I'm Brandon block hi this is Perry Marshall and you

[00:10:34] are listening to escape the rat race radio radio radio what do you love most

[00:10:40] about being in control and having your own business well actually it's

[00:10:45] interesting because I wouldn't say I was in control I don't think you're a

[00:10:48] feel completely in control but I like that that's probably why I like about it

[00:10:51] right there's a real thrill that goes along with it but the freedom that goes

[00:10:55] with that and the fact that Luke the decisions are with you that's the thing

[00:11:00] that I love most about it and also you know beyond that I mean this is the

[00:11:04] day to day right but that's not why I do what I do is the impact that has

[00:11:08] another people especially if you do something like coaching you get an immediate

[00:11:12] result that you see from people when I was an actor that was being on stage in

[00:11:16] performing with coach in his thits and I guess we're doing blink it's seen

[00:11:20] the results that you get for students as they play the game and then the

[00:11:23] response you that's the best part about it really so it's not been a

[00:11:27] full year yet Mark but did you set yourself any goals or targets when you

[00:11:30] decide to leave your job and have you reached any of those yet yeah so I run

[00:11:37] these 10 week sprints so I don't like to set let's say yearly goals or five

[00:11:44] your goals either vision you know I'm very clear on why I do why do how I do

[00:11:49] that but then so I've got a guide in light and the same way I would deal with

[00:11:53] the product I understand what the vision is and I could go five year ten years

[00:11:56] 20 years in the future so what I'm very big on a set in these 10 week sprints

[00:12:00] where I go in the next 10 weeks I will do this and over the over the this year

[00:12:04] I've achieved a lot in terms of first proof for blink for example will

[00:12:10] students show up and will they come back that was my first objective like will

[00:12:14] this actually work can I prove this work and I did and so back in you know

[00:12:18] Maydune when I launched I got the metrics to quantify that that happened so

[00:12:24] I'm big on OCR's objectives key results so you can get clear on what is the

[00:12:28] objective this quarter and then how will you measure that success and so I've

[00:12:33] done that throughout the year this quarter is about fundraising right so I'll

[00:12:38] know the end of this quarter whether I've actually achieved on that or not

[00:12:42] and then I tend to split up my objectives into let's say relationships like

[00:12:49] my work and also my personal development yeah and so for me this year it's

[00:12:53] about really putting in effective habits so that I can multitask like I do

[00:13:01] across their startup and also the coaching and do you feel you've got great

[00:13:06] potential now Mark to achieve your bigger life goals now that you've got more

[00:13:10] control over your time yeah you just you've got the choice to do that I mean

[00:13:15] actually think you have the choice to do that at any point but once you set up on

[00:13:18] your own there's no excuses right you can't say oh I don't have the time for

[00:13:23] that everyone's got more time than they say they do anyway we've all got way

[00:13:27] more time it's about making the right choices then being effective with that

[00:13:31] time and you know I think for me as well so I'm a bit of a time rich mindset you

[00:13:36] know so you just feel good about the time that you have and what's the one most

[00:13:40] important thing that you believe will help you to continue your success over the

[00:13:44] next 12 months so I think it's two things one it's being really clear on

[00:13:53] that future vision and for me it's like you know you it's it's knowing what

[00:13:57] that feels like more than the details of what it is because that's what creates

[00:14:02] motivation and moves you and the second thing that and this is something that I

[00:14:08] personally believe really builds momentum and it's having some great habits

[00:14:12] that you do every single day for me the most simplest one is just priming it's

[00:14:19] just getting focused what am I gonna achieve today what's the most important

[00:14:22] thing I'll do no matter what and there'll be a number of little habits that I

[00:14:26] have that means that you are constantly primed and therefore you're much more

[00:14:33] focused to take in actions and making decisions that move you in the right

[00:14:37] direction yeah I love that so the final words mark for everyone listening

[00:14:42] right now there may be still stuck in the 9 to 5 there on that journey tool from

[00:14:47] work squashed up on the underground perhaps like you were not so long ago what

[00:14:52] would be your final words for those people listening right now they know there's

[00:14:55] something bigger and greater inside them but just something's holding them back so

[00:15:00] I guess my advice to be really figure out why you're here that sounds like

[00:15:05] quite a big question but it's not really you know what are you really here to do

[00:15:09] you know and don't don't worry so much about what it is initially but figure out

[00:15:14] you hear inspire people are you here to kind of you know what difference are

[00:15:17] you gonna contribute to the world that sounds quite big and large but actually

[00:15:20] you know you spend a couple hours you can start to figure that stuff out and then

[00:15:25] align that with things that you want to do if you look at your past there's

[00:15:28] probably things in your past where you go oh when I did that thing you know I

[00:15:33] felt really creative I did a talk for someone so maybe there's something

[00:15:37] there you know and so I would say figure out why you are here what really drives

[00:15:42] you what gets you excited in fact a simple way to think about that is ask

[00:15:47] yourself what excites me genuinely and then that will start to hone you in the

[00:15:52] right direction and then if you come to point where you actually know what

[00:15:55] you want to do just make a decision just make the decision to do it and then

[00:16:01] you know practically give yourself the time limit and go it's happening no

[00:16:06] matter what because that pressure will create a whole bunch of action and

[00:16:10] you'll just get it done and you just have to jump ultimately you have to take

[00:16:14] the risk right and you have to ask yourself question I'm it willing to take

[00:16:17] this risk will it excite me enough that I'll do whatever it takes spoken from

[00:16:22] experience Mark you've been a fantastic guest today on a skater at race radio

[00:16:28] thank you so much for coming on and I'll make sure that I link to everything

[00:16:32] that you're doing super cool stuff that you've got going on in today's show

[00:16:35] nice cheers thanks go to brilliant great time

[00:16:41] well another inspiring story there from a member of the escape the rat race

[00:16:47] community who made the decision to change found the right people to support

[00:16:51] them in their learning and personal development and then took action which has

[00:16:55] now allowed them to sack their boss and live a life with more freedom doing

[00:16:59] something they'd love now if you would like to follow in their footsteps then

[00:17:03] why not take your first step by either joining the escape the rat race private

[00:17:07] facebook group over at www.etr.onlineforwardslash facebook or by registering for

[00:17:14] my next webinar where I will show you how to stop putting together your very

[00:17:18] own escape plan now to register for that webinar just visit www.etr.online

[00:17:25] forward slash your escape plan so i'll be back next week with another

[00:17:29] episode of escape the rat race radio until then see ya

[00:17:37] hi it's christian here and i want to invite you to join the escape the rat race membership site

[00:17:42] completely for free there's no hidden upsells or monthly subscription fees you can join with just a

[00:17:48] name and email address and inside you'll get access to the following a free copy of my book

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[00:18:07] Chris Ducker and the full video recordings from over 30 of my escape the rat race London meetup

[00:18:14] events with world famous speakers covering a whole host of ideas to help you begin your own escape plan

[00:18:22] plus i'm also going to give you a 25% discount on my brand new five step free

[00:18:28] and formula online course where i teach you step by step the process you need to follow if

[00:18:34] you're serious about breaking free of your 9 to 5 and starting a business which can give you

[00:18:40] the freedom to focus on the things in your life which are more important to you this is a collection

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[00:19:02] escape plan right now