I’ve been hijacked!
This week, my show has been hijacked by Alex Barker of Leadership Dojo, and boy, has he certainly turned the tables on me!
Being on the receiving end of this interview certainly brought out the ‘why’ and the ‘how’ of my journey, including the reasons and inspirations that led to the creation of Inspiring Innovation Magazine and — of course — Inspiring Innovation Podcast!
A Journey To The Past
With a bit of retrospect and a touch of nostalgia, discover how a kid from a kibbutz in Israel went out of the norm and set to create a life free of restrictions and filled endless opportunities. I myself never realized until Alex asked me, what made my younger self search so obsessively for other ways to live life. What was the trigger? What could I not stand imagining myself doing? You’ll have to tune in to find out 🙂
My entrepreneurial journey started early on in my life. At a young age, I developed an affinity for computers and technology. Gifted with anything to do with mathematics and considered to be a genius by some, I moved on to acquire more knowledge to equip myself with what (I thought) I needed for my better future. That included leaving high-school at 10th grade and moving straight on to my undergrad degree, with a master plan to become the youngest person to get a Ph.D ever! (Yeah.. that didn’t happen..).
You Can’t Always Get What You Want
However, in life, you have to expect the unexpected.
With numerous opportunities already on my way, the universe gave me a trial — in shape of a pretty bad car accident. As Alex points out in the interview – while it might have defeated someone else, I never let that blow put me down.
As I lay recovering, I’ve never kept an idle mind. Even incapacitated and with my injuries keeping me awake for long hours, I listened to audiobooks that inevitably inspired me to look for alternate ways to generate income. I started a business from bed – and it did fine for a while – until I took one bad, bad, piece of advice that ended up crumbling my business (we discuss everything in detail in today’s episode!).
So I moved on.
Going Corporate
Needing to make ends meet, I took a corporate job. While managing hundreds of thousands to sometimes multi-million dollars projects, being a technical lead, and managing employees with the freedom to hire and fire them at will — all at the age of 22 — was a dream of many of my fellow undergrads. Yet, I was unfulfilled.
Searching for a better way, I stumbled upon podcasts. People like Pat Flynn and Leslie Samuel were making it big in the world of online business, and right then I knew that’s how I want to design my own life.
I left my job a few months later and was back to entrepreneurship. But I had no clue what my next move would be. I just knew it was the only way for me.
Entrepreneur, Again!
For the second half of today’s interview, I’ll take you from that moment of realization that I am, and always have been, an entrepreneur, to the HOW and the WHY of Inspiring Innovation as you know it today.
Tune in to this week’s episode and you’ll discover the nitty gritty details of my entrepreneurial journey and more – and please, leave me a review so I know what you think of this episode. 🙂
Items mentioned:
- Website: http://alexbarker.org/
- Leadership Dojo Podcast on iTunes
- Leadership Dojo Podcast on Stitcher
- Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
- Ed Dale’s 30-Day Challenge
- Leslie Samuel (listen to his IIP interview HERE)
- Pat Flynn’s The Smart Passive Income
- Chris Ducker
- Starve The Doubts by Jared Easley
- Cliff Ravenscraft
- John Lee Dumas of Entrepreneur On Fire
- Podcasters Paradise
- Tropical Think Tank (Cebu, Philippines March 2014)
- NMX
- Magcast
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Stay awesome,
Meron
Disclosure: Please note that some of the links above are affiliate links. There is no additional cost to you, and I will earn a commission if you decide to make a purchase.
Transcript
[spoiler title=”Episode 045″]Still in progress, please come back later![/spoiler]
Another terrific episode. Very inspiring.
Honored to inspire, Bill 🙂 Going back to my bootcamp editing so you can be the next! (Although you are already inspiring me greatly on a personal level! But now it’s time to share your greatness with the world. )
Wow, honored and impressed with this GREATNESS! Congrats guys!
Yo! You sexy, sexy man 😉 How are you?
Took your sage advice to heart, my friend. It’s happening next week! SHIPPING this bootcamp! Woohoo!
Can’t wait to see you in March. Cebu + tequila == Greatness! 🙂
Hey Meron! This was actually my favourite episode so far (and I’ve listened to them all!)
It was great to finally head a bit about your journey and it was SO fascinating hearing about your time growing up in a kibbutz in Israel! Completely different to my upbringing here in Brisbane, I can’t really even imagine it! I think what you’re doing is even more inspiring considering you grew up in an environment where being different and doing your own thing wasn’t really encouraged. Good stuff!
Sam
Hey Sam! Seeing your name on the screen always brings a smile to my face. THANK YOU 🙂
It’s so cool you say it’s your favorite – as it’s the one I was most afraid to publish. I guess “putting yourself out there” really does make a difference. It’s scary, but it feels good after the fear lets go.
As to Brisbane — I gotta tell you, I’m in the Philippines in March, and am so bummed that I can’t make it to OZ this time 🙁 How cool would it have been if we could meet?? Well, hopefully next time!
I owe you an apology on my slowness of email response.. I’m in bootcamp frenzy mode these days (produced over 70 videos in 2 weeks, yikes!) and it’s almost ready to be launched… and then I shall catch up ASAP!
What’s new with you? What excited you this week?
Meron, this was a facinating look at your life and how you came to be one of the voices in my ear buds!
Fascinating episode — it was really cool to hear you tell your story with all the ups and downs and turns along the way. I think this will go down as one of II’s deepest and most inspiring sessions. From teenage prodigy to 2cm from death to burnt out corporate slave to jet-setting new media entrepreneur, are you kidding?
And great job by Alex flipping the script on you 🙂