Episode 154: From Idea to Product, How Adam Jelic Turned MiGoals Into Australia's Leading, Empowering, Stationery Brand
In this interview episode, Fiona talks to Adam Jelic of Mi Goals about how he went from simply having a business idea through to getting his empowering stationery brand and products made and out into the market. They also discuss how to start and develop a business when perhaps not everyone around you believes in your idea or thinks it is going to work. There are so many tips and insights into how to start a small business and scale one, while also attending to the needs of family and values. Listen now for a heavy dose of small business and startup inspiration.
Topics discussed in this episode:
Introduction
Covid's Impact on MiGoals
MiGoals' History and Products
On Longevity
Advice on Goal Setting
On Money and Values
Setting His Own Goals for MiGoals
On Putting Yourself Out There
Recommendations (Tech Tools, Coaches, Mentors)
His Most Proud Achievement
Getting in Touch
Conclusion
Get in touch with My Daily Business Coach
Connect with Adam
Email: Adam@MiGoals.com
LinkedIn: @AdamJelic
Instagram: @MiGoals
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Episode transcript:
I quickly realized that we’re not too different. If you create something out of your own passion, out of your own needs, there are going to be millions and millions of people around the world that would probably be looking for the same thing. We’re not wired too differently. We all want the same thing, we want love, respect, progress, and whatever it might be. We’re searching for the same things. If you create a product based on what matters, you’ll connect with millions of other people around the world.
Welcome to episode 154 of the My Daily Business Coach podcast. I'm a business coach, podcaster, and author. Yes, I brought out a book. It's a good Christmas present, a Hanukkah present, any other kind of present you want to have. It's called Passion Purpose Profit: Sidestep the #hustle and build a business you love. You can find it in all good bookshops. If you are going to buy it, please try and support a small business owner at the same time.
I do a whole lot of things. I run a business called My Daily Business Coach. In addition to one-on-one business coaching, we also do group coaching, have a whole lot of courses, and all these other things. If you ever follow this podcast and think, “I would like to work with Fiona in some capacity,” get in touch. You can check out everything that we offer over at MyDailyBusinessCoach.com.
This is an interview episode. I'm super excited about bringing you this conversation. It is going to help many people out there, particularly if you are in the early stages of your business or if you're transitioning. You're up-leveling, maybe you're expanding to a new territory, maybe you are bringing on a partner, some other transition part of your business. It's going to provide you with many ideas and inspiration.
Before I get stuck into that, I want to acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians on the land on which I work, play, love and create this podcast, the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation. I pay my respects to their elders, past, present, and emerging, and acknowledge that sovereignty has never been seated.
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It is my absolute pleasure to be bringing you an interview conversation that I had with Adam Jelic, who is the Founder of MiGoals. For those who may not have heard of it and have been living under a rock somewhere, MiGoals is Australia's leading, empowering, stationery brand. They're on a mission to help people unlock their potential to dream, plan, and take action in the life that they want. I needed to get Adam onto the podcast. He has been on my list since I started this podcast because I know how much passion goes into his business.
Years ago, way back when I was working at a digital agency and I was doing some workshops, I ran one with Danielle and Salvatore, who are the Founders of Scrunch. They do incredible things. Danielle is coming on to the podcast. I did a workshop with them. After that workshop, they sent this wonderful gift to say thank you, which they didn't need to do but it was appreciated. Within that, there were these Get Shit Done notebooks. I remember being like, “These are awesome.” This would have been 2013. I thought they were awesome.
I was running an event with my friend, Kate Dinon, of Character + Distinction. We were running this event and we contacted Adam to ask if we could get those notebooks for all of the media and everything else that was coming. We ended up having this good conversation. When I went out on my own, MiGoals were one of my first clients. I loved learning more about the business and how they started.
I went in and had a look at where they were working from, where they were packing orders. It was amazing to see firsthand the passion, energy, effort, and everything else that they were putting into this book. They were walking the talk. They weren't just putting these things out and being like, “This is how you should play it. This is how you should set your goals.” They were doing that for themselves.
I instantly found so much integrity in everything else around Adam and I thought, “This is awesome.” I need him to come onto the podcast and talk about how he started this. They were one of the first in the country to be doing this stuff, stationery that was cool, gold planners, and that stuff. Now, it's everywhere. If you think about it, years ago, it was not around. People were not doing it, which is why it stood out.
I wanted to talk to him about how do you go from having this idea to getting this stuff made? Also, how do you do that when perhaps not everyone around you believes in what you're doing or thinks this is going to work? I love that Adam takes us in this conversation right back to his school days and what he wanted to become, which was a pro soccer player, and how that didn't work out the way that he had dreamt it.
What he did is turn all that passion and all that idea of goal setting and going for your dreams into a product-based business and how it's grown. Also, how the people get goals. It's one thing to set them and it's something else entirely to achieve them. We go through so much of this and more in this conversation.
I have to say a massive thank you to Adam because he carved out a bit of time in a hectic week. We were both homeschooling. We both have children. It was that manic time of the last Melbourne lockdown. I have to say thank you to him because he took the time. For me, it was such a reprieve from this challenging day that I was having. I could have talked to him for hours and hours but had to get off because I had a coaching call to do afterward. Adam is the type of guy that you can't help but feel inspired by and want to know more about. Here is my interview with Adam Jelic, the Founder of MiGoals.
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Welcome, Adam. How are you feeling about life? For anyone reading, how's life going for Adam?
It's been interesting. Like for anyone, it's up and down. It's been a roller coaster since COVID. There are good points and bad points. I’m feeling good and a little bit more optimistic being based here in Melbourne, seeing a roadmap out, seeing that Sydney got their freedom day. I’m feeling optimistic about things, which is a good thing. I’m hopeful that we can get back to some normality. It's been a learning curve. Ups and downs, that's part of the journey.
Such a positive outlook, as always. I'm right there with you. Congratulations to Sydney who will and truly be out. Hopefully, we will as well. Speaking of COVID, how has COVID impacted your business? You've been around for some time. How did COVID impact your life and your business?
COVID was such an unknown that it was like, “What's going to happen overall?” There are segments of the business. We've got three pillars. We've got the wholesale section, the online sales, and the corporate section. Wholesale as a whole has been affected by COVID, international retailers, local retailers being shut down or in lockdown. There's been an impact in that market. In terms of online, we've grown quite a bit, which is good. Corporate sales have started to pick up again.
One of the things that I tell people is when COVID started, I took it as an opportunity to look at the business and put together three plans. Plan A, if we grow, what does it look like? Plan B, if we stabilize, what does it look like? Plan C, what happens if the business goes back 50%, 60%? That was a good exercise that I did. I could look at the next months and go, “Can we get through this? What are those three plans look like if they come to fruition?”
Looking back, I'm not glad that we went through something like this but it helped me stop and pause in all areas of my life and say, “What's important? What's not important?” Get rid of a lot of the factors in parts that I didn't need it. There are some good points that came out of COVID, missing my friends, family, and social interaction.
I completely agree, good and bad. I love, that you sat down and planned out these three scenarios. Often, I talk about that with my clients but also in my own business. Too often, we either go, “It's all over because this has happened,” or we’re like, “If I don't reach this, there's no other option.” I love that you started quickly by giving so much insight. If you can sit down and go, “What’s scenario A, B, and C looks like?” You can see the worst case and the best case and somewhere in the middle as well.
Doing that exercise in itself, you see where the error is that you're spending a lot of money and a lot of wasted money. In some cases, there’s this expense, that expense. I took it as an opportunity to run the business lean. I cut back on all the things that weren't adding value and start again, which was great exercising. Sometimes running a business for this long, you get into the habit of like, “That’ll do. Let's add that. Let's add this.” You don't take that time to pause, reflect, and survey, “Has it worked? Is it working?” Making better decisions based upon what's happened as opposed to keeping going with the flow. It's something that I continue to do and think about. It's positive to come out of it.
Have you read the book The Lean Startup by Eric Ries?
I've got it at home but I haven't read it, to be honest. I've heard about it. It's on my bookshelf. I haven't got around to it. That's the one with the block, isn't it?
No. I used to run 10Ks way back in the day when I used to be fit. When I was pregnant, I was doing a 10K run. I remember I was listening to it in the audiobook at the time. I remember thinking, “This is amazing.” As the title says, The Lean Startup, it’s to make everything lean rather than throwing stuff at things that you don't know.
It's across everything, it’s not just in business and life. It's that minimalist approach in terms of getting rid of the stuff that we don't need. It's one of those things that we all suffer from in terms of more and more. Sometimes it's taking time to reflect and go, “What's important? What's not?”
Marie Kondo got a new Netflix thing that I’m desperate to watch. Every time I say to my husband, “Should we watch that?” He's like, “No. That's a Tuesday night thing. That is not a Friday night thing.”
I started watching one of the first episodes. Sometimes it’s the simple things that we forget about. It takes time to sit down and think about it and write it down, plan it out, and make sense of it all. Pause and reflect. That's one of the things I've been using. There's an acronym that I've used for quite a while and it's called RAM, Reflect, Acknowledge, and Move. Reflect on the past few weeks, how you’ve done. Acknowledge the wins the losses and make plans to move forward after that. I had some lady talk about it years ago. That's what I've picked up over time. I've picked up all these little bits and pieces to live by, rules, acronyms, or whatever it may be. That helps me when I get off track.
Speaking of helping when you get off track, your business helps many people when they get off track or when they're excited and starting something new. If people have not heard of MiGoals, I'd love for you to describe what is MiGoals and how did it start and what do you offer.
I'll go back probably to the beginning. MiGoals started as a passion project. Growing up, I wanted to be a professional soccer player. In 16, 17, that was my goal. That was my escape from the normal life that I was growing up in. At the time, I started setting goals. I started to read about successful athletes, entrepreneurs.
There was this common denominator about people talking about their goals, “My goal was…” “My goal is…” That's when I got into goal setting. I was struggling with the direction that I would get off in tandem of start something and stop something. I needed something to help me focus. I started setting goals based on sports and what my life will look like at 20 and where I’ll be playing soccer overseas. That stuck with me.
Unfortunately, I didn’t make it as a soccer player. I was probably 21 or 22 and I realized, “This is not going to happen for me.” I got to a certain point but I missed that next grade. From there, I started different jobs and went through survival mode for a few years. I was getting angry with myself because I knew I had these dreams, I knew I had more to give but I was succumbing to that ordinary life, which wasn't me.
I started MiGoals with the aim of creating a product that will help me set and track my goals. I couldn't find anything in the market and I was like, “Enough is enough. I'm going to start focusing on some bigger goals and bigger aspirations and do something with my life.” I created this book to help myself. I got it printed locally here at a university in Melbourne. I used it for a few months and found it helpful.
I created the structure for myself. There was a little bit more detail based on what your goal was. It was based on what, why, when, and how. What is the goal? Why is it important to achieve it? How are you going to achieve it? When do you want to achieve it? It’s these key critical questions. I started to use it and then I realized, “I might try to sell this product to a few bookstores and see what their thoughts were.”
I remember the first bookstore that I got into was Readings in Carlton. That's where the light bulb went off for me and I was like, “People are receptive to this. They like it. They've ordered some products. I'm going to probably try to create a business out of this.” That passion project turned into a little bit of a side hustle. From there, the whole ethos of MiGoals is how can we make people better? How can we create these stationery products and hopefully in the future tech-based products that can help people take back control of their lives, do better with their lives, become their best version of themselves?
That's been the bigger overarching picture for MiGoals. What are these tools? I've realized the power of these simple tools that we sometimes take for granted. Having a to-do list, writing what you're grateful for, creating some positive habits, reflecting on how far you've come with your goals, writing your goals out, all these simple things that we sometimes think are too easy for us to do. I found that these were helping me in my personal journey. It started as this passion project, one product, and now we've probably got about close to 60 SKUs in the product range. Looking at different ways to empower people to be the best version of themselves.
I love the whole story. Firstly, sorry that you didn't make it as a soccer player. Do you still play soccer?
I don't. When I was 26, I got into golf. Growing up in the environment that I grew up in, soccer was the escape from the ordinary. I never knew anyone in the business to make it whereas I knew a lot of people played soccer and ended up playing for Australia, ended up playing in the National League, or ended up playing overseas. That was my escape. That was the dream. That's what I knew and that's what I was going for.
I always like to ask people this question. When you said that was your escape, what was your upbringing like? Are your parents small business owners? Even having that initiative, even if you go back to wanting to be a soccer player to think, “I could be.” I'm wondering what were your parents like. Are they super into goal setting? Was that something that you talked about as a family? Where did all this drive come from?
The drive came from the fact that I didn't have anyone that was doing anything different with their life. My parents came to Australia in the 1970s, a European background. They ended up coming to Australia from Croatia. They settled in, got jobs in factories. My dad was a forklift driver all his life. My mom worked at the counter at Meijer. Their whole thing was survival. Don't do anything out of the ordinary. Be safe. Don't take any big risks. Go to school. Get good grades. Go to university and get a good job. It’s that whole European mentality from that time.
I dropped around with no business base people. I didn't know anyone. The person that I knew that was doing well was a guy that worked at Microsoft. They had met Bill Gates a few times. He was the pinnacle of the person in the family that we knew was doing something from a business base perspective or a corporate base perspective. My parents never set a goal. My brother never set a goal. People around me weren't into goal-setting. I was always the odd sheep when I talk about personal development, “That whole thing, that doesn't work.”
It took me a few years even when I started this that people that I’ve grown up with would say, “Are you still selling those books?” They didn't know what I was doing and they probably still don’t know to this day what goal setting and personal development are. Growing up here was a good upbringing, middle class. In terms of having dreams and wanting to do something outside the ordinary, that wasn't implemented in us, that wasn't instilled in us. It was like, “Play it safe. Get your mortgage. Get a house. Look after your family.” That's it.
Even in the first couple of years, my parents were asking, “Are you sure you know what you're doing? Is this worth it? That doesn't happen.” Now, they’re coming around to the party and they're seeing the growth and they're seeing the numbers come through and they're like, “This could work. These things happen.” The upbringing was traditional European. You need money to make money. You need to know people. I only know people doing bad stuff, getting rich, and all those misconceptions.
Thank you for sharing that. Do you have nieces and nephews?
Yes. Predominantly, daughters. I'm trying to instill in them the things that weren’t instilled in me like family values. I had a great upbringing but in terms of when it came to dreaming or thinking outside the box, that wasn't part of it. I have a daughter. Some days I'll show her the Shopify numbers and I’m like, “Look what we made today.” It’s to give her the thought process to say that anything's possible and not pigeonhole yourself into like, “If I can only make this a year.” Anything's possible. It's endless.
If you've got a good idea, go ahead and do it. Believe in yourself. Have a crack. That's probably what I was going through between 22 and 26. I wasn't angry at the world, I was angry with myself because I was like, “Come on. Take that leap. Do something.” I have lots of ideas and I wasn't doing anything about it. Anytime I've mentioned it to someone in my social group, they'll be like, “Not a good idea. You’re wasting your time.” They’ll ignore me. I was like, “Come on.” I was willing myself.
It's amazing that you've done what you've done without a huge amount of people around you to learn from. My parents are similar, they came from Europe. Both of us probably had similar strong values but also the same, like, “Get a job. Look after yourself. Have security. You don't have to work as hard as us.” All this stuff. One of the last emails that my mom sent me was, “I saw this cool book at the library, The $100 Startup. It might have some good information.” I was like, “I love that you're reading this stuff because of what I'm doing.” My sisters or my brothers are very much like a lawyer, doctors.
That's a thing, see them turn and start to say, “Wow.” I always called my journey a journey of belief. My journey has been a journey of self-belief. In the beginning, I tell people, “If I could get my book into one bookstore, that would be amazing. I’d go into one bookstore and then ten bookstores, that'd be amazing. I'm going to 100 and 200 and overseas.”
I started from these limiting beliefs. From one bookstore and now it's grown to where it is today. We're up to the next stage. Some people start from a self-belief where they think they can start a $10 million, a $20 million business from day dot. That wasn’t me. Mine was one bookstore and that'd be amazing. From there, I went to the next one. It's been a long journey but it's been a rewarding journey at the same time, personally.
I was going to ask you about the journey because it has been long. In the intro, I talked about how I first came into contact with you and it was through the Get Shit Done notebooks. Danielle Lewis, who now runs Scrunch and is an amazing founder, had done a workshop. She sent these thank you gifts, which included the notebook. Myself and my colleague, Kate Dinon, who runs Character + Distinction, reached out to you because we were running an event together. We kept in touch and worked together. That was years ago. I know you've been around for a long time.
It's been over eleven years. I tell people that I've gone through every single stage, passion, project, which is making it for yourself. I went through that first initial stage and went to the side hustle. In 2010, I got married, we bought a block of land, I had the mortgage on that. Probably twelve months later, we found that we’re having our first child. I decided to stop my goals around the same time. I had a lot on the plate.
When people talk about regrets, “I wish I started earlier.” All of a sudden, when you got a mortgage, you've got a family to support, a wife, you got to put food on the table. I wasn't in a position where I could say, “I'm going to take two years off and give this a good crack.” I had to go to work from 9:00 to 5:00, earn money, come home, do this on the side. That went for about 4 or 5 years in the beginning. I tell people that we started with a diary, which is a dated product, meaning you only got about six months out of the year to sell it.
From a business decision perspective, it wasn't a great idea. That's why I tell people I didn’t start this business to make money in the beginning. It was passion. I was like, “I need a diary.” I've quickly realized that selling a product for six months isn't a sustainable model. It took me five years to get to a point where I could quit my work, quit my job, and focus on my goals full time. It's been a journey-man journey.
When you see people in sport or athletes like AFL Players, they may not be at the top of the list like Gary Abletts or Lance Franklins. They can still have a good career in the AFL or the sport they played. I consider myself one of those from a business perspective. I've been around for a while but we’re still profitable, we're still growing, we're still opening up new opportunities. We might not become the next big thing but that's okay. I'm still happy and proud of the journey that we've gone on.
The question I was going to ask you is around that longevity. I've been in this business for over six years, half the time that you've been in. I agree that sometimes people are like, “You popped off overnight.” It's like, “No.” Before that was fifteen years working somewhere. How have you gone with the brand, MiGoals?
When I started working with you, that was 2016 or 2017, you've changed the rules and had a refresh. You've built such a strong brand. How did you start building that brand to start with and all through it? You've changed and adapted. You started with diaries and then you've gone into other things. Do you have a brand DNA? Do you keep coming back to something? How have you remained so strong and consistent for so long?
The biggest thing is the products that we create are based around personal frustration, our own personal passion. I'm creating these products to help myself. I've always been a slightly anxious individual, “What if this happens?” I've needed tools like this to help me. Every time we come up with a new product, it's like, “How can this help me?” I use the product. This is not just about creating a product for the sake of creating a product.
I was getting these emails from people saying, “This diary is exactly what I've been looking for.” I quickly realized that we’re not too different. If you create something out of your own passion, out of your own needs, there are going to be millions and millions of people around the world that would probably be looking for the same thing. We’re not wired too differently. We all want the same thing, we want love, respect, progress, and whatever it might be. We’re searching for the same things. If you create a product based on what matters, you’ll connect with millions of other people around the world.
It's the same with music, it's the same with most things, any business idea. The ones that are truly passionate about the things that they're creating end up building these big brands because there's a lot of other people that connect with that. It has been authentic and they've been honest. That’s been one of the big lessons, for me anyway. There are brands out there that know how to make money and can see trends coming up.
Steve Jobs, Zuckerberg, all these ones that are creating something to fix their own needs, they're the ones that end up being the ones that stay around for the longest. That's been the whole mentality going forward. It's like, “What do I need?” It was a starting point. I realized that whatever I need, a lot of other people need the same thing. From a brand perspective, that's been the thing, create products that matter and that are authentic and true to what we're searching for to help us become better.
I love that idea. You can tell in all your marketing and talking to you that you are passionate about what you do. Some of what you do is about the Gold Digger goal. I find the same. When I work with clients, quite often they'll say, “I come to you because you know it. 24/7 hustle. I can 10x your business overnight.” I'm the opposite of that. I'm on the anti-hustle train.
With goal setting, there's always this idea that getting your goals equals 24/7 work. You've talked about already that you stood back and you've got two children and you've got a family and everything else. Firstly, what are your thoughts on the whole hustle culture? Also, what advice would you give to someone who's an expert in goal setting, productivity to do it in a way that aligns with them versus, “You have to get up. You have to be working 24 hours a day.”
It depends. It comes down to self-awareness. What's important to you? What's your definition of success? It’s all these questions. If you want to be the next Mark Zuckerberg, if you want to be the next Elon Musk, you realize that hustle is real. You're going to have to work 24/7. That means everything else goes out the window. It depends on what level you want to get to. That comes down to defining what that success is.
Look at Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi, LeBron James, great athletes, they work consistently. Kobe Bryant was the same. That hustle thing was real because they wanted to be the best in the world. For me, I realized quickly that I don't want to be the next Zuckerberg. It's nice to be huge or whatever it may be. What's more important to me is seeing my girls grow up, spending quality time with them, having the freedom to go out and play golf with my dad. It’s having that harmony in my life.
Self-awareness is the critical thing and understanding what your dreams are, what your goals are, what you're willing to sacrifice to get to where you want to get to. If you want to be the best, realize you're going to have to hustle and give 24/7. If you want to have a successful career, you can find the balance, you can find the harmony. It comes down to understanding what's important and that's it.
I got nothing against the hustle culture. I got nothing against anything. It depends on what you want. If I want to have time to see my kids and I need to work 24/7, it's not right for me. It's been critical of what's important to you and defining what that success looks like to you on a personal and professional level and that's it. Once you do that, you’ll realize, “I don't have to work 24/7. I still want to be great. What can I do? What systems can I implement?” You can start looking at your business and say, “How can I lead this life that I want and have that success without having to burn myself out?” Be critical of your thoughts and what you want to do, that's going to help out.
Whenever I work with people, I always look at money. I'm like, “Your money needs to work for you but also, your values need to be there.” You could be the most value-based business in the world but if you don't make any money, you're going to resent everything. If you start making some money but it doesn't align with your values, you're also going to resent it and not be happy either. I completely agree.
Ask someone, “What is your definition of success? What are you willing to sacrifice to get there?” If they're not willing to sacrifice too much, the goalpost has to change and the end goal has to be brought down a little bit. It’s not being as harsh on ourselves. Be nicer to ourselves and say, “I'm not the biggest, I'm not the richest, but that's okay, I'm okay with that.” It's about finding joy and fulfillment in your life. That's a critical thing. Make progress, feel good, help others, make good business, but enjoy the ride as well. That's been critical for me as well.
I don't want to get to a point where you've made all this money and you've hated every second of it. That's not winning for me. Self-awareness has been critical and is picking the route I want to go on. I understand at the same time, if they want to take the business to the next level, they have to be a little bit bigger and stronger. It’s being critical of that. There are going to be times when you have to dig down deep and work hard. I'm okay with that.
Even in my book, I'm all for hard work. Work is a concentrated effort for a bit. As someone who regularly talks about productivity and goal-getting, how do you set your own goals for MiGoals or even in your personal life? It's one thing to set them and then it's another to achieve them. How do you do that? Do you have any tactics or practices that you'd share with us?
I use a principle where I always tell myself, “Long term vision, short term focus.” Having a really clear and compelling long-term vision of where I can see the business going, where my life goes in the next 4 to 5 years. What does that look like? Am I excited about it? What are the things that I need to tick off or want to do? Getting that really clear in the beginning, and then working backwards.
I'm reverse engineering and working on the short-term focus. What do I need to do today to take me one step closer? It's a very simple approach. That goal, I'm excited about. Most of the goals that I set on, I’m predominately excited about. These ones, I wake up in a bed and go, “I can't wait to do this.” There are so much cool things that we're working on professionally or personally.
Then, every day, I've got a list of key things that I need to do, and you start ticking them off. You build better habits. You build better routines. It's just about that incremental progress every single day that takes me closer to that end goal. That's the approach I take. It's about, “How can I make that progress every single day?” I use the analogy, most of us have the all-or-nothing approach, whereas I take the always something approach.
I might be having a bad day, it's like, “Can I send off one good email?” That’s still progress because I know if I do that every single day for a year, it's 365 good emails or 365 positive things I've done to help me, my health, my relationships, or my business. I don't get too hard on myself, sometimes I do but I've managed it a lot better than I used to. It’s like, “I'm making progress. I'm feeling good. Things are getting ticked off.”
I haven't hit a lot of the goals that I've set in terms of the beginning of the year. I had some big lofty goals in terms of number-wise, but I'm okay with that because I look back and go, “Look how far I've come since I started.” If I gave up every single time I didn't hit a goal, I wouldn't be here. I would have chopped and changed, started new things, missed the goal, dropped back. It would have been a stop and start process.
Now, it's two steps forward, one step back. I'm okay with that process because that's more the reality of it. That's helped me from goal-setting. It's like out of sight, out of mind. I write my goals so I can see them and I get off track a lot. Having goals written down or looking at them every day helps me focus on the things that I should be focusing on.
You said long-term vision, short-term focus.
Yeah.
What’s the other one?
All or nothing or always something. It's like we start the gym. We haven't gone to exercise for two years, and all of a sudden, we try to go to the gym seven days a week and three times a day. It's like, “I'm just going to start out, but I’m going to try to be perfect.” Then, we get to a road bump. We have one or two bad days, and we give up. “It’s too hard. I tried that thing, it just doesn't work.”
For me, if I can't get out to the gym or can't do proper work, I go to the park with my kids and do a ten-minute walk. That’s something. If I do that single thing every single day, if I have a bad day and I have done nothing on the business, I send one good email, that's something. I'll just take that approach, and it's that small incremental growth that over time compounds. It's like with compounding interest in the share market. You don't say it straight away, but over time, you say it.
I love that. Always something. I'm going to put that on a quote card.
These are the things that I remind myself of. That RAM thing that I spoke about, Reflect, Acknowledge, Move. These are the things that are trigger points for me. Like everyone, I'm battling my own anxieties, my own imposter syndrome, but these are the things that have helped me along the journey. I encourage anyone to find out their own little trigger points or things that can help them, whether it be quotes, sayings, or ways to live. These things help.
I'm putting that on a post-it note. Thank you. Something else I wanted to ask, and I know we're coming to the end of our chat. You are someone who's known as the face of your brand. If we look you up anywhere, if you look at MiGoals, there you are. I'm wondering, you said you have a bit of anxiety or that sometimes you can be anxious. How have you been able to speak at events, even just do podcasts?
I know they're less of a stress than going to a public event. You've done lots of events. You've done lots of panels. You've been here, there, and everywhere. A lot of small business owners, when we talk about figurehead marketing or putting yourself out there, will be like, “I can't do that.” Or the other thing is that they'll say, “No, I'm a product-based business. That's fine for service-based businesses, but I sell a product.” I'd love to know any tips or anything that's helped you move through any shyness around figurehead marketing and putting your face out there.
To be honest, I still struggle with it. In terms of social media, you won't see me much on social media. For whatever reason, it's been something like that imposter syndrome. My ego gets ahold of me, and I just struggle with that. In terms of when it comes to podcasts and talking about events, just jumping in into the deep end, that's been the best approach for me.
Sometimes someone says, “Would you be happy to do a talk?” I don't even think about it, I just say yes. I get to the day, I don't think about it and just get up there on stage and think, “I'm actually trying to deliver value. I'm passionate about this industry. I'm passionate about what I do. Just be yourself. Hopefully, you can connect with 1 or 2 people.”
The expectations are very low, but the idea is, if you can change or say something that one person might listen to and find a positive thing to come out of it, you've done something great for someone. I don't expect too much, but I throw myself in the deep end, and I realized over time I get better and more competent at it. It will probably always be a struggle, but that's okay. I'm learning to deal with it a lot better. Throw yourself in the deep end, that's the best thing. “I can do it,” and then learn as you go.
Often, I feel like the idea of it, it's actually scarier than doing it.
That's the thing. I always remember, musicians talking about they still get nervous before a concert or wherever it may be. I'll take that on board as well. It is the way I'm wired, I'm just going to work it out. Athletes get nervous before a game, it’s just is. Sometimes that helps me do a better performance, whatever it may be, but I just want to be myself. If people like it, great. If they don't, bad luck.
Your products have helped so many people. I've bought many of your products for clients, but I've also used them myself. I love your goal planner. I buy it every year. Have you had any coaches, mentors, or mantras? It sounds like you've got a lot of different mantras and books. Even tech tools or anyone that's worked with you that has helped you in some way for your business because you help so many other people?
When I go back, the original was Tony Robbins. I got into listening to Tony Robbins after 16, 17, or 18. I got his cassette tapes. I resonate with that type of thinking because there was no one around me feeling the same things I was feeling. Tony Robbins, at one stage in the office, we used to call Uncle Tony. He’s the man when it comes to personal development industries. He’s really cool.
I've had some mentors across the time. It's been a lot from books, looking at case studies on different businesses, and just trying to implement these key things that I’m learning. I'm not trying to overcomplicate things, but just be the best version of myself as cliché as it sounds but what can I do? There's this guy on the Joe Rogan podcast, he spoke well. He's a tech entrepreneur and angel investor. The way he spoke, the way he looked at life was perfect.
I bought his book, and he's been someone I’ve liked. His messaging, the way he talks about life, the way he looks at business, and all that, I’ve really resonated with. I come across these certain types of characters, and I find little tips and tricks from them to implement it into my own day-to-day. That's it. Going forward, definitely, I need to probably expand my horizon, find some new mentors and get out of my comfort zone again to expand to the next level. It's always about growth in different stages in your life as well.
What are you most proud of from your journey so far?
I'm proud of the resilience, to be honest. There's been plenty of times across the journey where most people would have said, “Too hard.” Too many external factors, people telling you’re wasting your time. The fact that I've kept going, there are tipping points in business, there wasn't a time where I blew up. You've read so many case studies and stories about businesses that did a tough for 24 months, and then all of a sudden, they’ve done $10 million, $20 million. That hasn't happened for us, it's been an organic growth. I'm proud that I've stuck it through and continued to build it, even against the odds.
The resilience to keep going when people have said enough or even when the numbers showed you at one stage, it’s like, “Is this really going to change?” I’m proud of that. Also, the fact that the products have been used across the globe. I'm proud, even if it ended tomorrow, that I’ll walk into a bookstore in the Middle East, Europe, US, or Canada and find the MiGoals product.
No one can ever take that away from me. The fact that I've created something on a global scale, impacted people across the globe, 100-plus countries, people have bought our products. That's something I'm truly proud of because, in the beginning, I was like, “I want to make an impact. I want to do something different. I want to do something extraordinary.” I'm super proud of that. Also, I’m super proud that we're still here. We're still growing and expanding and people we’re connecting with. Sometimes when you look back, you go, “I've actually come somewhere.”
I'm super proud from the sidelines. You're doing amazing things. I remember first seeing that book and being like, “That’s the coolest book.” I remember, which is something that you talked about, I got the corporate order, put my stamp back, and collaborated with you. So many people said, “This is so cool.” I had one client once, he said, “Do you think I don't get shit done?” I was like, “No.”
That product came about because me and ex-business partner kept meeting up while working full time. We had this huge to-do list to do. It's like, “What do we need to get done?” Then we just kept telling ourselves, “We've got this list. We just need to get shit done.” That essentially equated to that product, the Get Shit Done.
I still remember the first time you got in touch because you worked at Mimco. I remember telling my business partner at the time, “Someone from Mimco got in touch with us and wants to work with us.” I still get that to this day. We've had orders from Apple, Pinterest. Snapchat, we had an order. These big companies are getting in touch with us and I always get that, “How cool is that?” I'm still giddy when we get some cool corporate orders from these brands that we follow and use their products. I still have that feeling every single day. We just spoke to Canva. I was like, “Was that Canva?”
That's so great that you do. That you haven't got so big or whatever, that you've gone, “Oh, no, that doesn't…”
Even getting emails from people saying, “Products out.” They are the things that matter. They're the things that keep you going, significance and helping someone out. I've got a saying that I always tell myself. “To love what you do, feel that it matters, and make a living from it. That's the ultimate.” I love this personal development space. I love creating these new products. It matters. It makes people's lives better. It changes their lives, it helps them. We also make a good living from it. It's tick, tick, tick. Anyone starting a business, if you can tick those three things off, you should be in a good place, as opposed to just trying to go out and make as much money as you can.
I could not agree more. What a perfect place to finish up. If someone's reading this and they're thinking, “I would love to connect with Adam,” or if Dwayne “The Rock” is reading, I know he’s on your hit list.
He’s a humble guy. Successful, humble, family man, doesn't take himself too seriously. These are the kind of values I look up to and say, “At the top level, he doesn't have to be like that, but he's showing his true colors.” He's just being himself, which is so commendable.
I love that. If Dwayne or anyone else is reading, and they want to get in touch with you, where is the best place to connect?
Direct email or LinkedIn. Email is Adam@MiGoals.com. LinkedIn, @AdamJelic, or the website, www.MiGoals.com.
Awesome. Thank you so much for your time.
Thank you, Fiona. It's always a pleasure to chat. You've been a super inspiring part of our journey as well. Thank you so much for the opportunity as well, and for being there for us.
You're so welcome. Thank you. And enjoy the rest of your day.
Thank you for you know. You take care.
You too. Bye.
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So many ideas in there. So many acronyms. So many things that I'm going to think about myself and put on post-it notes and so many other places around my house. I love that chat with Adam. I find him very inspiring, very passionate about what he does. That is so important in business. Yes, you can make heaps of money. Yes, you can expand and do this and do that, but without the passion and I guess I see that. I see people who come to me who have lost the passion for what they were doing. Without the passion, what are you doing it for?
I love that Adam is just so passionate about what he does, and the message that he's giving out to people through the products and through the whole MiGoals brand. I would love to know what you took away from this so please don't be a stranger. Hit me up on Instagram. I'm @MyDailyBusinessCoach. I'm sure you can hit up Adam as well and the MiGoals team. You can find them on Instagram @MiGoals.
What did you take away most from this? I have so many things to take away from this. But two that really stood out for me, the first one was when Adam was talking about sharing his Shopify numbers and sales with his daughter and showing that anything is possible. And I love that. I have two young children, I love hearing my son talk about the type of businesses that he would like to run when he's older.
The more that we can show the young people in our life, whether they're our own kids, friends of friends, or children that are somehow in our life, and not just children, but teenagers, show them what is possible. I really hope that, in time, it puts less pressure on kids today. Because back when I was at school, way back when, there was so much pressure in that these are the ways that you make money. You have to be a lawyer or a doctor or a specialist or a surgeon. You have to do that. If you're not interested in that, well, good luck to you. The amount of people in my life that told me, “You're just doing an arts degree? Where’s that going to get you?”
I love that so many young people today are starting businesses, are following their dreams, are following their creativity. Yes, they may also do a university degree, I'm not for a minute saying that you shouldn't do that. Education in any form is incredible. But I love that Adam is showing his daughter what is possible from a very early age. That is going to hold her in such good stead for the rest of her life. I love that he brought that up.
The other thing that he brought up that I completely agree with is to define what success means to you. I have rabbeted on so much on this podcast. And anytime that you've heard me speak in any kind of trade show or anywhere else that you've heard me, I push and push the idea of figuring out what your true definition of success is for you.
When I work with clients on their money mapping and revenue streams and brand and why are we building this brand? What's the purpose behind it? What's the vision? What's your mission? Where are you going? It's always about you, what you want to do, and putting the blinders on to other people around you who are telling you, you need to make this much money or you need to expand or you need to go bigger or you need to go smaller or whatever it is.
I love that Adam raised that question when we're talking about hustle and anti-hustle. What is your definition of success? That is so important. I've had clients who have literally cried about, “I'm not where I should be.” Then when we uncover and unravel it, it's like, “You don't want to be there so where is this coming from?” It's just this pressure that we put on ourselves. Often, it's somebody else's story that is causing that pressure, rather than what we want to achieve with our business and why we have started in the first place.
I love both of those things that were brought up in our conversation and so many other things that Adam said during this time as well. If you would like to connect with Adam, I've mentioned Instagram, you can find them at @MiGoals. You can find MiGoals online and shop up all the planners and all the other great things that they put out.
If you're reading this in real-time, they are right in the middle of Black Friday sales. A perfect time to get yourself over to MiGoals.com. Check out everything that is available there. I definitely love the 2022 Gold Digger planner. I've loved the Gold Digger planner pretty much every year since they put it out. I think they had a Kickstarter fund for that, and I was part of that because it's such a good planner. I've recommended it to so many people. That is it for this interview episode. I hope you enjoyed it. Thank you so much for reading. I'll see you next time. Bye.
