Christiane [00:00:09]:

Well, welcome back to the Happy Healthy Hustle podcast, where we explore the intersection of health, happiness and productivity. I'm your host, Christiane, and I'm super excited to be here with you today and hosting a special guest at Today. We actually have a guest from the United Kingdom. Cameron Black is with us here today. I'm thrilled to ask him a few fun questions. And just to kick things off, Cameron, why don't you introduce yourself to share with our listeners who you are and what you're about to share with them.

Cameron [00:00:44]:

Thank you, Christiane. So, my name is Cameron. I am the CEO and founder of Swiftly. Swiftly is 24 Hours On Demand concierge platform that we developed out here in the UK and since then transitioned out to North America.


Christiane [00:01:01]:

That sounds absolutely amazing. And you look so calm and composed for being a CEO. So I can't wait to ask my first question, which is what is your superpower?

Cameron [00:01:12]:

Cameron, that's a very good question. I used to think it was carrots, but I think my biggest superpower is I like, what is it? A superpower is a question. Fail fast so I can succeed faster. Trying all the new things and never being afraid of losing determination, I guess.

Christiane [00:01:39]:

So you are trying to normalize failure.

Cameron [00:01:43]:

I love that you have to I mean, nothing's perfect, but in order to find that perfect equilibrium, you've got to dig out the weeds, as I say in the garden, so you can see the grass really clearly.


Christiane [00:01:58]:

Yeah, I like that. And of course, we sometimes think failure is really a weakness, where in fact it is a strength, because the more you fail, the more it shows you're trying things and the more you learn, the more you learn, you grow. And that's really what you got to have. You have that growth mindset to really keep the best of you shine and sharing that with the world, which we're doing right now. So we're sharing your particular superpower right there. So talk a little bit about your struggles. How did you struggle before and how did you overcome it?

Cameron [00:02:34]:

Yeah, so just to go back to your point there, before I answer this question is we don't believe in failures. Personally, I don't. We call them lessons and as a team as well, because you learn from these things and we put together opportunities through these lessons that we learn and that helps us grow and develop. So on to sort of your next question about struggles is we struggle with a lot, to be honest. I studied computer science and it was science based course at university. It was the hardest thing I've ever done. I hated computers, but I ended up doing a computer course and I really struggled with the science based courses and finding where my niche would be within the tech. So I actually veered out and I moved into more sort of It consultancy, It sales, It advisory and that's where I sort of got my strength and as you call it, my superpower from seeing other big companies that I worked for and supported do things and make mistakes. And through that I've learned to build my business or platform around.


Christiane [00:03:59]:

Yeah, you know, sometimes you have to experience things as nearly like appetizers, try, sample different things before you really know what is my main job going to be like, what's my dinner now? I sample all these things. But let's maybe really boil it down to what I enjoy most. Right? Where do I feel I'm the best fit and where do my skills really shine through? Absolutely amazing. What do you feel has been your biggest struggle looking back?

Cameron [00:04:30]:

Well, the biggest challenge for us was COVID. So as a business, we launched sort of like five, six days into what we didn't know what was going to be a pandemic. And personally, we had crowdfunded or crowd poured our own assets into a business, not knowing that we were going to have a shutdown worldwide and that would not last three months, but close to 36 months, and that we would barely have a business. And the biggest challenge was understanding what did we do right, what did we do wrong and where do we go next? And we pivoted. We decided to relaunch our business in North America for a number of reasons and again, as I said in the beginning, that was our lesson. So we took from our struggle and our pain point and we relaunched our business in North America and we have a bigger business now, bigger team, better team, and we have a wonderful product that we're continuing to build and to launch in. We better launched in one state and we're launching in another state in two months time.


Christiane [00:05:51]:

So this is very inspiring because I like that you say we assessed what worked, what we didn't work and kind of pivoting because life is all about the pivots. You have to think about staying agile, staying very much on the ear of the consumer and listening to what they want and how that resonates with you. Can you share a little bit of like an influencer that helped you all along, that somebody that you feel was your personal cheerleader in your journey?

Cameron [00:06:27]:

Yeah, I've got quite a few. I mean, in the facets of my life I call pillars of my life, as I call it. And I believe every entrepreneur or individual should have, as we talked, you should have your wellness coach, you should have your relationship coach, your business mentor, your finance coach, because if you have all of these people within your pyramid, only then can you set yourself up for success. So I've got quite a few, but one individual or a few actually in business. My business mentor who always tells me, hey Cameron, you need to get out of your head and if you don't get out of your head, the only person stopping you is yourself. And we have our weekly or bi weekly check ins and not so much now as we're both busy running the business itself, but all businesses, our businesses. But anytime I get stuck or have a challenge or a problem, I know he's one call away and that one call can set me up for the next three months. And so my biggest chili and biggest fan is my business mentor.


Christiane [00:07:29]:

Share a little bit with us. How can you stay well, keeping such a busy life and moving a business needle in the right direction? What's your biggest key to success in keeping yourself healthy?

Cameron [00:07:45]:

Right? I'm going to answer that question, but I'm going to go back to what you said is they say a great magician doesn't review all his tricks. But I will shout out my mother, because in the first business we started, it was actually through my mom that I got into real estate and I took a trip. And through that conversation that I had, random conversation and a magazine, I ended up buying a few units, and I've been fortunate to build as well. And so one of my business mentors and shall say biggest cheerleaders has always been my mom. So shout out to her. And what keeps me moving and keeps me well is conversations with, again, my mom. That's number one period. I share quite a lot. I think she gives me a really good reflective but also what really sets me up for success and has in building business is reading a lot. And one of the reasons why I got into podcasting is I do a lot of audiobooks because I travel, so I consume books. Like I do 1213 hours, flights, whatever. And I'll go through books and the easiest way to consume them was just listening because I might be writing something else and I'm listening to these books but also just yoga, meditation, and if you can, you don't have to go into the gym and run on the treadmill, but just take fresh air breaks. It's most important, fresh air breaks just to clear your mind and think about something else. Do anything, play basketball, play with your kids, take a dog out for a walk, whatever it be. Do something totally opposite. But most importantly, whatever you do in order to stay well, do stuff that you enjoy doing and that's going to make you ultimately happy and successful in life.

Christiane [00:09:48]:

Those are all great tips. I'm a big audiobook fan myself. What's the biggest book recommendation you had recently?

Cameron [00:09:56]:

Well, I've got a few. I've gone back to reading who Moves My Cheese and the magic of thinking Big.

Christiane [00:10:04]:

Oh, I love that. That's a good one. Yeah, my favorites are definitely atomic habits. It's such a gold mine of suggestions right there. And I think that it's great that you pick up on the business books because there's always something new you can learn and pick up and then also kind of like connecting that to your personal life, to your personal story and how you grow and become a better person. Thank you so much, cameron, how can we find you? Where can we follow you to get more of your insights and learn a little bit more about who you are? Tell us a little bit your contact information and your amazing podcast too
.

Cameron [00:10:46]:

Thank you. So it's just Cameron@swiftlyteam.com, you can email me directly. My podcast is called the Entree Ve. So the Entree, as in the menu. And if you want, you just connect with me via email and we'll send you out all the particulars to listen to our next show or even sit and have one on one with myself.

Christiane [00:11:09]:

Great. I like that. Thank you so much, Cameron, for being here. Big wishes to the United Kingdom from here to London all the way, and we look forward to hearing your questions. Look at the show notes to get Cameron's contact information. Let us know whether you have any questions, but otherwise, thanks for listening into this episode of The Happy, Healthy Hustle. And as always, we hope you keep hustling along. Stay well.

Cameron [00:11:36]:

Thank you for having me.

Christiane [00:11:37]:

All right, that's it for today's episode of the Happy, Healthy Hustle Podcast. If you have any suggestions for future content or any feedback, please let me know. I would also love to share with you that I'm about to launch my Journey to Wellness program. And I'm sure that you, as a Happy Healthy Hustler, would love to be part of this wonderful 21 day transformational program. It gives you some quick and easy tools that you can use at home to get your health journey started. Stay tuned, and until then, we'll catch you next time. Our channel.