Break Free From Corporate Podcast With Gavin Sequeira

In this podcast, Steven shares his journey out of engineering, a field he has studied and worked so hard to excel at, and where he had moved up as far as he could on the corporate ladder.  In one of his last jobs at Samsung, he experienced his darkest hours where his health took a toll fuelled with alcohol consumption. It was also during this time that he was involved in training and development where he experienced the joy of helping others to reach their potential and he explored options of learning and growing from experts he came across on a regular basis, working out how he could create an effective presentation skills class. This was a passion he would seek out to fulfill. Steven made the tough call letting his employer know that outside of his professional hours in the company, he would dedicate his time to teaching presentation skills classes and concentrate on his coaching. He took the time to plan his move with careful consideration. Steven is an advocate for getting to your truth as quickly as you

In this podcast, Daniel shares the journey of how his parents came to Australia during the Vietnam war as refugees with absolutely no money and no possessions. In his words, they were so poor that they would run out of food. Daniel believed that to be successful in life you had to be born into wealth and therefore he had no dreams. Using Tom Cruise as one of his idols who overcame poverty, he decided to turn his life around. By studying hard and working as a dentist he became successful but realized he could only help so many people in the day. This was also a time when he discovered the power of marketing and messaging to reach people in a unique way that spoke to their wants and needs. Fast forward to today, Daniel runs his own marketing agency 'Full Books Marketing' which helps personalities and brands scale their businesses and outreach through PR (Forbes, Vogue, Entrepreneur, Yahoo), social media verification, and business consulting through the use of innovative (and sometimes controversial) marketing m

In this podcast, Dave shares his journey that started back in the day, when he worked for the Kodak factory during his time at college. His career saw him try his hand at various different jobs in broadcasting as a radio and television instructor covering all aspects of the business from lead anchor to marketing and advertising, even writing award winning commercials. Dave continued on his journey and became an insurance agent, where he was dedicated to helping his clients meet their long-term goals and improve their quality of life without risk. Dave’s passion for others has seen him volunteer for many worthy projects with Emmaus Inn Ministries, Young Life and Kilgoris Project in Kenya to name a few! Today, Dave lives in beautiful Costa Rica and focuses his energy on helping people towards their retirement. He is a motivational speaker, best-selling author and also a podcaster doing what he loves, sharing powerful stories of encouragement, impactful interviews and and life changing dialogue. Having faced man

In this podcast, Caitlin shares her story of balancing a high pressured corporate marketing role at the agency where she worked and had to make a tough decision when her son was born with a heart condition. In searching for answers she turned to Google and was blown away with what she was discovering and often people would ‘fact-check’ for themselves online. She realised that she was playing small and the fear that was holding her back was tiny compared to what she just faced. Her realisation into how people search for information led her to niche down to become an SEO expert. Caitlin decided that she did not want to continue working 15 hour days in a corporate office and wanted to do something that she truly had the urge and passion to do. So she started offering paid marketing services and today this has evolved where Caitlin is now the founder and CEO of Rising Ranks digital agency, specialising in SEO management services, SEO website audits, and SEO coaching. Now, she enjoys the balance of working from ho

In this podcast, Raj shares how he was able to shift his mindset by following successful people, which led him out of his corporate job as an IT/Computer Consultant towards becoming a successful Real Estate Investor that saw him featured on late night TV. This enabled him to quit his full time job. However, when the housing market crashed, he had the challenge of having to rebuild from scratch and learnt an important lesson of not pouting all his eggs in one basket. This got Raj exploring into many vehicles where he could leverage passive income such as ATM machines, Forex investing, Amazon automated stores. Once again, he credits his knowledge from mentors and people he looked up to that had the success he was wanting to emulate.. and associated with the likes of Bob Proctor, Jordan Belfort, Dr. John Demartini, Tai Lopez and others. Raj shared his personal life journey in a TEDx talk to inspire people into taking action to change their mindset and their lives and he loves teaching people a systematic way of

In this podcast, Ray Homsany shares his journey from being a teacher who loved what he did, to finding himself stuck in the red tape and administrative bureaucracy within the education industry. Ray loves teaching Maths, English and Science to his students, however was finding that because of the breakages in the system, he was not able to offer the quality time to his students and started to notice skill gaps emerging across the board. He needed to find a better way to do things and this led him towards face to face tutoring. The only issue was once again he was investing a lot of spare time doing this and he wanted more out of life and needed a smarter way of doing things. Ray was looking at how he could work independently from home, not have to travel as much, have an additional source of income and leverage his time so that he could travel and still keep working with his clients. Ray approached us with his dilemma and we began working closely to help him establish his own brand ‘Opera Estate Tuition’ so t

In this podcast, Kay shares her journey that started as a youth worker for deaf kids, then saw her become an MMA fighter and then a police officer for several years. Whilst she loved her job, Kay noticed she was so badly affected by stress that her skin gave way and her throat almost closed up! In an effort to address this, she knew she needed a change and looked for other ways to earn an income. As she researched into entrepreneurship and through myriad of fortunate circumstances, including a strong determination to get involved in the Live events industry, she manifested this dream with an international events company and landed in Costa Rica, with absolutely no experience. When the company unfortunately folded, Kay was facing homelessness, but with her back against the wall, resorted to using her skills to help local small businesses in the area to improve their productivity and was able to generate an income and build on her resilience that would help her down the track. This experience taught her that th

In this podcast, Tara shares how she left her job as a graphic designer working in the surf industry on the South coast of New South Wales, Australia. Tara loved what she did and her work took her around the world to capture images to promote their brand. It was during this period she met her husband who also worked at the surf brand as a graphic designer. Whilst they enjoyed what they did, the company made changes to the way they operated, there was a lot of office politics and suddenly the joy of her work was missing. The restrictions meant that she couldn’t be creative anymore and this was a turning point for Tara, and that's when she began exploring opportunities where they could do something that would allow them to be creative and grow. Today, Tara and her husband Danny run their own Furniture & Homewares business that really took off from day one and has gone from strength to strength. Tara discusses the challenges they faced in launching their business, however she also stresses on the importance

In this podcast, Tracy shares her journey growing up in Northern Queensland, Australia with her dad being a Flying doctor and having to travel and change schools constantly. This taught her resilience as a kid growing up. Her 30+ year career as a teacher and principal in remote parts of Queensland made her witness a lot of troublesome issues like bullying, trauma, paedophilia, violence, drugs and corruption. This pushed her to turn into a whistle blower on what was happening in the industry. She became a well known disruptor and one of the first principals to defiantly shut her school down during a flood, against regulations. When Tracy walked away from the industry, her ability to shift her attitude and flip her perception around fear, saw her bounce right back and land a gig the very same day working with the Air Surveillance and Coast Watch Patrol team flying across the country. She’s since carried on this entrepreneurial path and never looked back. Tracy is the author of ‘Fearless, Buckleup and Build Resi

In this podcast, Gail shares her journey of trying to find out what her passion was. Starting from her early days she completed speech and theatre degree and wanting to be a stage manager and work in theatre and with her interest in sales, she ended up in Television in Chicago area working as a sales manager. Whilst she loved the fast paced life, high income and was able to travel to exotic places, buy lots of things with her disposable income, she took on a lot of stress which eventually resulted in her having infertility issues and multiple miscarriages. Coupled with this was that her work environment became politically charged and she was coerced into having to lie just to keep her job. This was out of integrity for Gail and that’s when she decided to walk away from her job. After working on a farm and a womens shelter doing something she was passionate about, turning to God and Jesus, with renewed faith and pure joy in what she did helping others and the lack of stress, Gail finally fell pregnant. Today,

In this podcast, Johann shares his amazing journey which started when he was 15 working for McDonalds and then Hugo Boss where he was top sales consultant. When he found out that he wasn’t being rewarded well enough and these were his early experiences working for others. He graduated with honours in genetically modified canola, only to find out shortly after he began that the Australian government put a ban on this type of work, so effectively he was without a career. He pursued a PHD as a backup, however within a year he was discouraged when he found out how much his supervisor earned and this was the turning point where he began his entrepreneurial journey to make money a smarter way. By leveraging online and systems he had made a small fortune online selling survey software, got into trading jewellery and even founded his own digital marketing agency which did amazing projects for big clients such as the airport and the Defence Force. Johann’s business success saw his scale one of his business to $20M in

In this podcast, Zahrina shares her journey from the corporate world where she was in Marketing for fashion powerhouse Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy (LVMH) and was doing really well. She was achieving great results professionally, however unfortunately became the subject of bullying from one of her colleagues. This ended up affecting her skin and was not good for her mental health and unfortunately the way management handled it was not really supportive. This is where Zahrina made a promise to herself that if she didn’t enjoy doing something, she simply wouldn’t do it. This was a turning point that encouraged Zahrina to become an entrepreneur and focus on her passion of photography. Today, Zahrina works with coaches, thought leaders, speakers, authors and business people elevating their brands and focuses on story telling using video and imagery and utilised the skills in marketing that she learned in corporate. She allowed her business to grow organically from photography to videography and then onto branding,

In this podcast, Angel shares his journey that started in Spain where he worked for several hi-tech companies helping CEO’s and C-level executives to accelerate the growth of their business, as a business development expert, training sales teams and uncovering hidden gems within the company. This took him to the Americas and Latin America. He really enjoyed helping people taking their game to the next level and experiment with new unconventional ideas and training. When he left corporate America, he found that there is no perfect path. He recommends people to start working on something and take imperfect action now. Angel recommends we take a 10,000 feet view when talking to prospects. He is a big believer in sharing your mission with others and don’t be afraid to make mistakes along the way. It’s the only way he believes we can course correct ourselves and start achieving our goals. Angel shares the importance of developing our critical thinking, to see things that others won’t. He tells us that we all have

In this podcast, Getrude shares her transformational journey that has taken  her and her family from their home country of Zimbabwe in Africa across the world throughout Asia, Europe, United States and New Zealand. Her parents instilled her with important life skills which included having a long-term vision and using her creative skills to solve everyday problems creating business opportunities that make a difference in peoples lives. Her first job was as a systems analyst saw her gain invaluable technology and business skills, which has helped propel her as what can only be defined as a ‘serial entrepreneur’. Getrude is a woman of purpose and she is passionate about helping people achieve their full potential and finding their individual life purpose. She is the Global Curator & Founder of HerStory Circle, a movement designed to share women’s stories across the globe and empower change in the community. Getrude is well known for several accomplishments as an African textile artist, fashion designer, insp

In this podcast, James shares his journey of studying Arts and Law and qualifying as a lawyer but never ending up in the profession, often cited as someone who was too ‘hip hop’. This was the universe signalling that he was meant for something else. He started his career in public relations, corporate affairs and investor relations at a large telco company, where he worked on fun promotional events launching various products and raising capital for various projects. This then transitioned into corporate issues management dealing with some very morally challenging projects and it was at this point, where James questioned the integrity and authenticity of what he was doing, his contribution to the world, and where his true purpose lay. A chance meeting with a venture capitalist gave him the confidence to take a ‘micro gamble’ during the GFC and launch a blog, which ended up becoming Anthill magazine, and now rates as one of the top business and finance print magazines in the country. James believes strongly in

In this podcast, Scott shares how he started off his career as a chartered accountant working for a national engineering group and then went onto work for a large tobacco company where he got a wide range of experience including roles in financial accounting, internal auditing and even marketing management and was able to see the big picture of how business worked. During a recession, he ended up working in the insolvency side of business where he saw first hand the exposure and risk that small businesses faced. It was at this point where Scott started looking at ways in which he could make a difference and add value to the small businesses community that he considered the true ‘heroes’ that didn’t have access to the same resources as a big business. Scott went on to start several businesses from ideas he had including a franchise specialising in specialty tortilla wraps! After several learnings, and being forced to go back to the drawing board, Scott’s next job led him to start his own consulting practice, w

In this podcast, Alex shares his exciting journey on how he got started in business. From his early days as a courier driver and being a rifleman in the Australian army, Alex learnt a lot about structure, discipline and hard work. Also, his time at university once again reinforced the importance of having structure and his desire to learn set him up for his time in the corporate world. Alex’s love of sports led him to join the retail and operations division of Nike and soon he was heading up customer service for Australia and New Zealand. This role gave him great exposure in sales, working with people, solving problems and process management. Unfortunately, a restructure in the company forced Alex into having to move within the company to save himself being made redundant and this was a turning point in his career. Post Nike, Alex shifted gears and joined the world of digital marketing, where he worked for an agency and really honed in on his interest in the emerging world of digital marketing. This experienc

In this podcast, Kevin shares how his rather fun journey in and out of corporate to entrepreneur and business visionary. From his early days as a data analyst and web designer, Kevin worked out he loved to figure out how stuff worked and spent his time learning, creating and designing. His definition of ‘work’ was doing what he loved and he spent many hours improving on his skills. This took him to his dream job in Silicon Valley as a front-end developer for a technology company that seemed to have all the right aspects he was looking for, i.e. a job he loved doing, great culture and the ability to learn and be creative. Kevin quickly went on to apply his skills in various startups including a cleaning business, in which he was a pioneer at the time applying technology to a traditional business. Interestingly, this is where he learnt all about growing a team, hiring, training and putting in place structure and systems to scale and expand. Kevin took his creative passion into launching more ecommerce startups

In this podcast, Amy shares how she began her journey in the corporate world working in several roles ranging from customer service to financial planning and it wasn’t till early on in her marriage that an opportunity for her husband Alan and her to enter the hospitality business as restaurant owners became a reality. Amy shares all the highs and lows over the last several years of being in business and how they literally learnt on the job. Neither had business experience or an understanding of the restaurant business, but they took it upon themselves to learn everything they could and really listen to their customers, creating a cafe restaurant for the people, by the people. Fast forward to today and 17 years later, Amor Mexico is a thriving restaurant, but its become more than just an eatery. It is a community hub that focuses on people and stories. Amy has worked tirelessly to develop a culture in her business that underpins the success of the restaurant and makes it stand out. Amy shares her deep philosop

In this podcast, Anfernee shares his adventurous journey that took him from the shores of Australia across the world to Canada and then across the world again to his ancestral birthplace of Laos. Anfernee has done everything from being a team leader at a large corporate call centre, to project management, sales consultant and marketing advisor in various large and small organisations, to blogging, teaching salsa, volunteering with a kids charity, to speaking and other advisory roles with startups. Anfernee has seen it all and has developed a deep understanding of psychology and human behaviour, what drives people and the power of telling ones story. He’s also someone who has seen the good and the bad side of business, been through redundancies and the fallout as a result of poor policies implementation by management. He knows firsthand the pressures of work and the profound impact it can have on the social and mental health of people in the workforce. Today, Anfernee combines all his experience helping leader