1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,000 So Patrick, tell me about your vision. 2 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:05,600 Well, my vision is to continue in entrepreneurship. 3 00:00:05,600 --> 00:00:11,360 I started a long time ago as a kid when I was looking at being, I was a little bit bored 4 00:00:11,360 --> 00:00:14,800 in school and I was saying to the teacher, you know, how do I get out and start a business? 5 00:00:14,800 --> 00:00:17,280 And I was like eight or nine years old. 6 00:00:17,280 --> 00:00:19,080 And he looked at me and he said, why? 7 00:00:19,080 --> 00:00:23,040 And I said, like, can we not just cram this like school into four hours and then we can 8 00:00:23,040 --> 00:00:24,160 go and start a business? 9 00:00:24,160 --> 00:00:28,200 So my vision started for entrepreneurship a long, long, long time ago. 10 00:00:28,200 --> 00:00:34,360 But I want to make myself sound old now, but it was a good few years ago to get into that. 11 00:00:34,360 --> 00:00:37,800 And my vision is to continue entrepreneurship. 12 00:00:37,800 --> 00:00:43,920 And ultimately, I'd love to contribute or create a situation where people see entrepreneurship 13 00:00:43,920 --> 00:00:47,480 as a profession, not just a side hustle. 14 00:00:47,480 --> 00:00:52,000 So a doctor, scientist, engineer, entrepreneur. 15 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:57,720 So my vision is to make that a profession, recognize standalone profession. 16 00:00:57,720 --> 00:01:02,560 And I hope to do that very soon because I want to start entrepreneurship academies to 17 00:01:02,560 --> 00:01:09,160 let people be absorbed into the world of entrepreneurship and become an entrepreneur. 18 00:01:09,160 --> 00:01:11,960 That vision. 19 00:01:11,960 --> 00:01:18,440 I want to say it's a very tough path you don't want to go down on. 20 00:01:18,440 --> 00:01:25,800 So tell me about where, how did you all get to, you said you were, sorry, excuse me. 21 00:01:25,800 --> 00:01:30,660 You were very young and you wanted to go build a business. 22 00:01:30,660 --> 00:01:31,660 So what was that like? 23 00:01:31,660 --> 00:01:32,660 What? 24 00:01:32,660 --> 00:01:33,660 Tell me more about that story. 25 00:01:33,660 --> 00:01:40,000 Yeah, I was around business at home because my parents had a small business and we would 26 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:44,480 sit around our dinner table in the evening and talk about entrepreneur, about business 27 00:01:44,480 --> 00:01:48,000 and the wins, the losses, the challenges. 28 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:53,320 And from a very young age, like from six years old up, I was listening to this every day 29 00:01:53,320 --> 00:01:56,840 and I was just absorbed in it. 30 00:01:56,840 --> 00:02:02,040 When I got to 14 years old, my parents said, we're going to get a food van and we're going 31 00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:07,000 to, you're going to have, you guys are on, myself and my brothers and sisters, and they 32 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:08,800 said, you're on your school holidays. 33 00:02:08,800 --> 00:02:09,800 You can help out if you want. 34 00:02:09,800 --> 00:02:14,600 You know, so I jumped into that and I was selling burgers and fries for two months in 35 00:02:14,600 --> 00:02:15,600 the summer. 36 00:02:15,600 --> 00:02:20,400 And I love the idea of taking something and making, taking essentially just an ingredient 37 00:02:20,400 --> 00:02:25,400 or ingredients and making them into a product and a profit. 38 00:02:25,400 --> 00:02:32,440 And also dealing with people, you know, kind of engaging with people and getting the satisfaction 39 00:02:32,440 --> 00:02:38,640 of concluding, concluding the exercise of going from nothing to something. 40 00:02:38,640 --> 00:02:42,980 I think that's probably the headline over all of my entrepreneurship journey so far. 41 00:02:42,980 --> 00:02:49,000 Taking an idea just purely as a seed and convert it into something valuable. 42 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:54,480 So where are you currently at with your vision? 43 00:02:54,480 --> 00:02:58,920 I've kind of from an executive perspective, I've taken the foot off the gas for the last 44 00:02:58,920 --> 00:02:59,920 couple of years. 45 00:02:59,920 --> 00:03:02,640 I've licensed out my technologies. 46 00:03:02,640 --> 00:03:04,560 So that gives me time to look at other things. 47 00:03:04,560 --> 00:03:09,160 And the other things that I've looked at and that I'm looking at are about a year and a 48 00:03:09,160 --> 00:03:14,640 half ago, I started writing for the first time and I wrote a business book for startups 49 00:03:14,640 --> 00:03:17,280 and entrepreneurs, a kind of a guide book. 50 00:03:17,280 --> 00:03:21,320 And that went well and it's like a pocket manual for entrepreneurs. 51 00:03:21,320 --> 00:03:26,480 And then about a year ago, I said, okay, I remember being in school as a kid and thinking 52 00:03:26,480 --> 00:03:29,920 I'd love to start a business and I was like eight or nine years old. 53 00:03:29,920 --> 00:03:35,440 And I said, if I could take my experience now and weave it into a children's story style 54 00:03:35,440 --> 00:03:41,440 approach to encourage the youngest of our society, i.e. kids in school, to think problem 55 00:03:41,440 --> 00:03:47,260 solving, think creatively and to think on, you know, it's kind of an entrepreneurship 56 00:03:47,260 --> 00:03:52,720 focus, but it's in the problem solving thought pattern. 57 00:03:52,720 --> 00:03:58,400 So I've just launched my second children's book, which is focused on creativity, creative 58 00:03:58,400 --> 00:04:04,840 thinking, energy around ideas, creating ideas and turning them into reality. 59 00:04:04,840 --> 00:04:11,520 That's fascinating. 60 00:04:11,520 --> 00:04:13,400 Thank you for sharing that, Patrick. 61 00:04:13,400 --> 00:04:17,560 What would you say that is your why of what you do? 62 00:04:17,560 --> 00:04:27,000 The way is to have the greatest effect possible while I'm in this lifetime, you know, and 63 00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:31,560 it's not just about the financial gain, it's about the achievement factor. 64 00:04:31,560 --> 00:04:35,760 You know, we're here for the old, the thing is we're here for a good time, not for a long 65 00:04:35,760 --> 00:04:39,840 time or something like those words, you know, so we just need to make an impact while we 66 00:04:39,840 --> 00:04:42,200 are on this planet, while we are in this lifetime. 67 00:04:42,200 --> 00:04:49,760 And we get opportunities that sometimes we overlook because life takes over. 68 00:04:49,760 --> 00:04:55,760 But if we grasp the opportunities and if we have the ability and the vision and the help 69 00:04:55,760 --> 00:05:00,800 and support and the advice and mentoring to make those opportunities into reality, that 70 00:05:00,800 --> 00:05:07,960 can be a very rewarding lifestyle and it can be a very rewarding life. 71 00:05:07,960 --> 00:05:16,480 So my way is really about utilizing and using time to achieve in order to be happy and to 72 00:05:16,480 --> 00:05:20,960 create a happiness and a happiness environment or a happy environment for our loved ones 73 00:05:20,960 --> 00:05:23,500 and the people around us. 74 00:05:23,500 --> 00:05:32,760 You mentioned earlier entrepreneurship and I think you see it as the path to happiness 75 00:05:32,760 --> 00:05:36,040 for most people if they're able to succeed. 76 00:05:36,040 --> 00:05:46,640 What is a fine line between self-employed or a glorified self-employed CEO and an entrepreneur? 77 00:05:46,640 --> 00:05:49,680 What do you think about that? 78 00:05:49,680 --> 00:05:57,280 That's a great question in the sense that I've seen the title entrepreneur slash CEO. 79 00:05:57,280 --> 00:06:04,080 Sometimes they're different people, you know, or you can see founder, CEO, sometimes they're 80 00:06:04,080 --> 00:06:09,760 very different people because the CEO is very much operational, you know, get the job done, 81 00:06:09,760 --> 00:06:11,560 execute the plan. 82 00:06:11,560 --> 00:06:17,360 A founder and an entrepreneur is this typically the creative type who wants to just create 83 00:06:17,360 --> 00:06:19,920 an idea and has the massive energy and drive. 84 00:06:19,920 --> 00:06:27,360 I'm not saying CEOs don't have that, but you rarely find that a founder is a good CEO. 85 00:06:27,360 --> 00:06:32,840 We each have our roles and by doing that and by taking that approach, it gives a more open 86 00:06:32,840 --> 00:06:34,520 view on the plan. 87 00:06:34,520 --> 00:06:39,920 When I look at a business or a new idea, I kind of look at it and say, so what, who do 88 00:06:39,920 --> 00:06:43,040 I need to make this happen? 89 00:06:43,040 --> 00:06:47,920 If I look at it and say this business is outside my comfort zone, so I don't know the operational 90 00:06:47,920 --> 00:06:53,160 factors, but I do know what I need to do to make it happen, I'll hire a CEO, you know, 91 00:06:53,160 --> 00:06:57,240 or I'll bring on a CEO as a co-founder or a partner. 92 00:06:57,240 --> 00:06:58,240 So all that. 93 00:06:58,240 --> 00:07:03,440 Patrick, so your phone is buzzing and it's disturbing with the mic, I couldn't hear half 94 00:07:03,440 --> 00:07:04,440 the things you were saying. 95 00:07:04,440 --> 00:07:05,440 Yeah, that's a pity. 96 00:07:05,440 --> 00:07:06,440 Okay, let me just turn that off. 97 00:07:06,440 --> 00:07:11,440 Okay, do you want to ask me the question again? 98 00:07:11,440 --> 00:07:14,200 Yeah, that's awesome. 99 00:07:14,200 --> 00:07:20,520 So Patrick, there's a fine line between entrepreneurship and being self-employed. 100 00:07:20,520 --> 00:07:24,880 What are your thoughts on that? 101 00:07:24,880 --> 00:07:32,600 Yeah, the entrepreneur part and the CEO or self-employed part are sometimes different 102 00:07:32,600 --> 00:07:35,040 baskets and different people. 103 00:07:35,040 --> 00:07:38,840 You know, being an entrepreneur is very multifaceted. 104 00:07:38,840 --> 00:07:43,280 You know, you have multiple things going on at any one time. 105 00:07:43,280 --> 00:07:48,520 The CEO has the same function, but the CEO is very operational focused, execute the plan, 106 00:07:48,520 --> 00:07:52,320 achieve the results, get the sales, get the profits, etc. 107 00:07:52,320 --> 00:07:54,640 Build a team. 108 00:07:54,640 --> 00:07:59,200 I find that the entrepreneur slash founder are sometimes different people. 109 00:07:59,200 --> 00:08:04,600 Actually, in many cases, different people to the operational CEO. 110 00:08:04,600 --> 00:08:08,200 In my situation, if I look at a business and if I don't know enough about the business 111 00:08:08,200 --> 00:08:13,200 on the operational front, then I need a partner or I need somebody to come in as a co-founder. 112 00:08:13,200 --> 00:08:19,800 I need to hire a CEO who will do a much better execution operation job than I could have 113 00:08:19,800 --> 00:08:21,320 or would have. 114 00:08:21,320 --> 00:08:24,760 So different hats for different people. 115 00:08:24,760 --> 00:08:32,320 I think in the startup world, sometimes we confuse founder and CEO as being melded into 116 00:08:32,320 --> 00:08:33,840 one role. 117 00:08:33,840 --> 00:08:40,880 Sometimes they're in probably, I would say, my experiences in seven out of 10 cases, the 118 00:08:40,880 --> 00:08:44,040 founder and CEO are different people. 119 00:08:44,040 --> 00:08:45,720 Wow. 120 00:08:45,720 --> 00:08:48,660 That insight you just gave us. 121 00:08:48,660 --> 00:08:51,800 I think everyone needs to hear that. 122 00:08:51,800 --> 00:08:59,080 Too many of us miss assume in a way that, oh, just because I started a company, I'll 123 00:08:59,080 --> 00:09:01,040 be a great CEO. 124 00:09:01,040 --> 00:09:08,480 And that controlling factor that we have is in a way a detriment to our growth where we 125 00:09:08,480 --> 00:09:12,520 get in our own way of bigger success. 126 00:09:12,520 --> 00:09:18,640 And in the earlier days of any entrepreneurship journey, it's hard because you're wearing 127 00:09:18,640 --> 00:09:22,840 multiple hats at the same time and trying to make the best decisions for your business. 128 00:09:22,840 --> 00:09:28,040 But in the reality, in the future, the goal is to be away from those roles, to get your 129 00:09:28,040 --> 00:09:32,880 time back and make your business performance without you, that your vision is surviving, 130 00:09:32,880 --> 00:09:35,520 your entrepreneurship journey is going. 131 00:09:35,520 --> 00:09:37,560 But you don't have to be part of it, essentially. 132 00:09:37,560 --> 00:09:41,240 You can, if you want to be, you can take the role that you love. 133 00:09:41,240 --> 00:09:42,640 But that will be the goal. 134 00:09:42,640 --> 00:09:44,640 So thank you for sharing that, Patrick. 135 00:09:44,640 --> 00:09:45,640 Pleasure. 136 00:09:45,640 --> 00:09:53,640 I would also say that the founder or the entrepreneurial creative engine at the beginning, if they 137 00:09:53,640 --> 00:09:58,800 assume that they are the CEO, then that can be detrimental to the business because they 138 00:09:58,800 --> 00:10:04,120 could be in a continuous loop of innovation, idea generation and creativity and forget 139 00:10:04,120 --> 00:10:10,760 about the operational part, which is achieving sales and profits in the business. 140 00:10:10,760 --> 00:10:14,760 So being able to segregate and allocate the role properly. 141 00:10:14,760 --> 00:10:20,360 Now, sometimes, as I said, probably three out of 10 cases in my experience, the founder 142 00:10:20,360 --> 00:10:23,200 and CEO are the same person. 143 00:10:23,200 --> 00:10:25,080 And that's great. 144 00:10:25,080 --> 00:10:29,160 If you can be that person, looking for you and have, you know, that's a happy place to 145 00:10:29,160 --> 00:10:31,120 be. 146 00:10:31,120 --> 00:10:35,520 But I think that analysis at least needs to take place at the beginning. 147 00:10:35,520 --> 00:10:40,000 What skills does each person have and matching those skills? 148 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:43,720 Because in my businesses, I've done three startups myself. 149 00:10:43,720 --> 00:10:47,360 And when I would allocate, I'd look at it critically from the outside at the beginning. 150 00:10:47,360 --> 00:10:51,880 I try and take myself away from the kind of emotional core of the business and look at 151 00:10:51,880 --> 00:10:55,600 and say, well, who do I need and what type of people and what type of skills do I need 152 00:10:55,600 --> 00:10:58,840 to match my skill set to make this happen? 153 00:10:58,840 --> 00:11:05,480 And when you put that people puzzle together, that should work like a very smooth machine 154 00:11:05,480 --> 00:11:07,280 with maximum impact. 155 00:11:07,280 --> 00:11:10,320 Yeah, thank you for saying that, Patrick. 156 00:11:10,320 --> 00:11:12,360 That's very well said. 157 00:11:12,360 --> 00:11:14,480 Thank you. 158 00:11:14,480 --> 00:11:18,960 So how did you get started on all this on your journey about all this? 159 00:11:18,960 --> 00:11:25,480 And what was your first experience like having your own company? 160 00:11:25,480 --> 00:11:28,040 And what lessons did you learn? 161 00:11:28,040 --> 00:11:34,320 I started first when I was working in a mainstream job in a factory back in Northern Ireland, 162 00:11:34,320 --> 00:11:36,800 where I was born and raised. 163 00:11:36,800 --> 00:11:42,680 And I was in the job for about a month and I was saying, OK, this is a pretty much ABC 164 00:11:42,680 --> 00:11:43,680 style job. 165 00:11:43,680 --> 00:11:47,240 I was working a machine and it was nothing magical. 166 00:11:47,240 --> 00:11:54,640 I was like a young guy and I was making my weekly income. 167 00:11:54,640 --> 00:11:58,960 And then I thought, OK, I was sitting one Saturday and I was looking at ways to buy 168 00:11:58,960 --> 00:11:59,960 a car. 169 00:11:59,960 --> 00:12:01,560 And I said, I need to buy a car. 170 00:12:01,560 --> 00:12:04,800 And then I was flicking through. 171 00:12:04,800 --> 00:12:09,160 This is when search engines really didn't, they were just about to hit the frontier, 172 00:12:09,160 --> 00:12:12,000 hit the front line. 173 00:12:12,000 --> 00:12:15,520 But for example, it was just about a year before Google started. 174 00:12:15,520 --> 00:12:20,960 So I was looking at all of these newspapers, car magazines, and I'm saying, this is hard 175 00:12:20,960 --> 00:12:21,960 work. 176 00:12:21,960 --> 00:12:25,700 I'm sitting here for two hours trying to decipher how I buy this. 177 00:12:25,700 --> 00:12:30,920 So I thought, if I could take all of this data, make it available in a search and find 178 00:12:30,920 --> 00:12:33,280 program, I called it at the time. 179 00:12:33,280 --> 00:12:36,600 And I asked a friend of mine who was studying computer science, I said, can you take all 180 00:12:36,600 --> 00:12:37,600 of this data? 181 00:12:37,600 --> 00:12:43,520 And if I punch in, you know, can be any brand Ford, Chevrolet, whatever, Blue, and my budget 182 00:12:43,520 --> 00:12:45,920 is five thousand dollars, ten thousand dollars, whatever it is. 183 00:12:45,920 --> 00:12:49,600 And I get a short list and he said, that's really innovative move. 184 00:12:49,600 --> 00:12:50,600 I can write it. 185 00:12:50,600 --> 00:12:52,560 I can write you a program. 186 00:12:52,560 --> 00:12:58,880 Long story short, I started AutoLink and AutoLink went on for about a year. 187 00:12:58,880 --> 00:13:00,760 I built it from a bedroom. 188 00:13:00,760 --> 00:13:07,720 You know, we put in system, we put in I went out and I sold the system, got everything 189 00:13:07,720 --> 00:13:08,720 started. 190 00:13:08,720 --> 00:13:09,840 It went really, really well. 191 00:13:09,840 --> 00:13:13,880 And the lesson that I took at the end of AutoLink was I had an option. 192 00:13:13,880 --> 00:13:15,720 I had a choice to make. 193 00:13:15,720 --> 00:13:17,800 I was working by day as a product manager. 194 00:13:17,800 --> 00:13:22,720 So that was my let's call it nine to five in two or three hours between that and college 195 00:13:22,720 --> 00:13:23,760 in the evening. 196 00:13:23,760 --> 00:13:25,360 I was going around selling AutoLink. 197 00:13:25,360 --> 00:13:30,960 So I had like from six a.m., seven a.m. until eleven o'clock at night days for a year. 198 00:13:30,960 --> 00:13:32,580 And I said, man, I got to give up one. 199 00:13:32,580 --> 00:13:33,580 So what am I going to give up? 200 00:13:33,580 --> 00:13:38,240 And I said, I need my education because I was delayed and going back into college and 201 00:13:38,240 --> 00:13:39,600 I was working, I was studying by night. 202 00:13:39,600 --> 00:13:43,320 I was studying marketing, law, business and so on. 203 00:13:43,320 --> 00:13:46,760 And then I was working by day and I said, that's my kind of bread and butter income. 204 00:13:46,760 --> 00:13:48,500 So I don't really take the chance on that. 205 00:13:48,500 --> 00:13:50,040 So I gave up AutoLink. 206 00:13:50,040 --> 00:13:53,480 I made nice money for a year when I was building it. 207 00:13:53,480 --> 00:13:55,480 And then a year later, Google came out. 208 00:13:55,480 --> 00:13:57,840 So I should have kept AutoLink. 209 00:13:57,840 --> 00:14:03,040 And I probably would be I probably would have a lot more zeros at the end of my bank balance 210 00:14:03,040 --> 00:14:04,600 right now if I had kept AutoLink. 211 00:14:04,600 --> 00:14:09,560 But it's it's a decision that I made and we make decisions in life. 212 00:14:09,560 --> 00:14:11,400 I don't ever regret decisions like that. 213 00:14:11,400 --> 00:14:14,320 I look at them and say, I made that decision then. 214 00:14:14,320 --> 00:14:19,400 I firmly believe that in the next couple of years, something will come that will replicate 215 00:14:19,400 --> 00:14:24,760 that opportunity or mirror that opportunity or be like that opportunity. 216 00:14:24,760 --> 00:14:26,440 And I'll probably take it. 217 00:14:26,440 --> 00:14:30,640 So it's a question of decisions at certain times in your life. 218 00:14:30,640 --> 00:14:31,640 You come to crossroads. 219 00:14:31,640 --> 00:14:38,040 My my analysis on that is when you come to your crossroads in life, you go forward, you 220 00:14:38,040 --> 00:14:39,280 go left or you go right. 221 00:14:39,280 --> 00:14:40,520 You never go back. 222 00:14:40,520 --> 00:14:42,920 You go one of the three directions. 223 00:14:42,920 --> 00:14:46,600 And and usually I try to go forward if I can. 224 00:14:46,600 --> 00:14:48,040 Thank you for being here today. 225 00:14:48,040 --> 00:14:50,520 I'm really happy that you tuned in to Vision Pros Live. 226 00:14:50,520 --> 00:14:55,360 I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions as these episodes continue to move forward. 227 00:14:55,360 --> 00:14:57,000 This is going to get more and more fun. 228 00:14:57,000 --> 00:14:59,000 We'll have more and more engagement as well. 229 00:14:59,000 --> 00:15:01,360 We'll invite people to participate in the show. 230 00:15:01,360 --> 00:15:03,600 And thank you for giving us your time and attention. 231 00:15:03,600 --> 00:15:19,040 Have an excellent time building out your vision and becoming a Vision Pro yourself.