Dropout to Dealmaker: Ricky Blair's $30M Journey

What if the kid who dropped out of school at 16 came back to sell his company for $30 million?

Ricky Blair didn’t follow the traditional path—but he forged one hell of a journey. This is the story of how mentorship, grit, and bold vision turned a teenage outsider into a game-changing entrepreneur.

At just 16, Ricky Blair left school feeling like the odds were stacked against him. A year later, a mentor unlocked his potential and set him on a path to defy expectations. Fueled by grit and unrelenting drive, Ricky entered London’s cutthroat real estate market, ready to prove everyone wrong. 

By 24, he launched Hatton Real Estate, transforming the industry with bold ideas. Six years later, he sold it for $30 million. Now in Los Angeles, Ricky channels his success into Platform Seven, a mentoring platform reshaping how future leaders are made. 

During this conversation, Ricky shares lessons from his rise, the power of mentorship, and his mission to inspire others to chase audacious goals. His story proves that with determination and vision, anyone can write their narrative. 

🎧Don’t miss this journey of resilience and reinvention. Tune in to discover how Ricky challenges the status quo and empowers others to own their success. 

🎯 What You’ll Hear:

• Why Ricky believes failure is a better teacher than success
• How mentorship changed the course of his life—and can change yours
• The mindset that fueled a $30M exit by age 30
• Lessons from building (and selling) a business in one of the world’s toughest markets
• Why he’s betting big on the next generation of bold thinkers

💬 Tell Us:

What’s the one mindset shift that helped you level up in life or business? Tag @NRJMediaGroup or DM us ✨

💬 We’d love to hear how Energis Podcast has sparked your journey! Share your story with us ✨

🌐 Thank you for listening! Stay inspired. Stay bold. Stay Energis’d. Visit us at www.nrjmediagroup.com to learn more and connect with our growing community.

Episode Transcript

Rich (00:15):
Thank you for listening.
Norma.
This one for me was personal.
Ricky Blair is not just a guest, but he's also a really good
friend, someone I've known forquite a while, and his story is
wild.
Someone like him going from ahigh school dropout to a
powerhouse businessman I meanthat really is like next level
hustle.

Norma (00:32):
His whole story is exciting.
I mean he started in the UKwith barely anything and built a
career most people only dreamof.
I mean that kind of drive is soimportant.

Rich (00:42):
It is.
It's him and it's about hispassion for mentorship as well.
Ricky is really proof.
You know, someone with theright guidance at the right time
can really make a change in theworld, can really change their
entire future.

Norma (00:53):
I love that he went from being mentored to now mentoring.
I mean he's mentoring the nextgeneration of leaders.
I mean that's a full circlemoment, isn't it?
It really is, and you knowthat's a full circle moment,
isn't?

Rich (01:03):
it, it really is, and you know it's a powerful moment.
You know, also, on top of that,you got to mention these
stories as well Hollywoodbusiness, five state deals.
You know, someone like him hasseen it all and he breaks it
down with such humility and suchwisdom.

Norma (01:16):
So this one is for those risk takers, the dreamers,
anyone who's ready to level up,because if Ricky's story proves
anything, it's that successisn't about where you start.

Rich (01:32):
It's about where you're willing to go.
It is about where you'rewilling to go, so let's get into
it and let's get there.
Today, we have someone from mypast that I met whilst here at
the hotel I'm staying at now.

Norma (01:45):
And where is here?

Rich (01:46):
Here is LA.
Well, we're here at Vitello's,but in LA it must have been, we
said six years ago.
Casually just a spark of aconversation sitting by Paul but
it's strange, it's strange, youdidn't know each other.
Very strange.
Yeah, we didn't know each otherand here we are today.
So our guest today.
We are very fortunate to haveon Ricky Blair, entrepreneur,

(02:06):
who has grew up in England, leftour sunny shores to come over
to LA.

Norma (02:12):
To the sunnier California sunshine, the much sunnier
sunshine of the Atlantic.
Yeah, it's a bit of a contrastover here.
But thanks for the introduction.
My pleasure Welcome, Ricky,Thank you so much for being here
.
Thank you.
What bonded you guys?

Rich (02:27):
together when you first met probably our accent, I would
say, because I must have saidsomething to the kids or it must
be messing around and we juststarted talking and we had quite
a good conversation actually,if I remember correctly.

Ricky Blair (02:37):
Yeah, I just think there was like some common
commonality there and we just itwas probably.

Rich (02:41):
Oh, do you know so?

Ricky Blair (02:42):
and so something like that.

Rich (02:44):
Jewish religion there was like one degree of separation.
Someone always knows someoneelse.

Ricky Blair (02:48):
I'd say that's pretty much how it went.
No, we just got on, had a niceconversation.

Rich (02:51):
Ironically, daniel, my son , ends up working at Ricky's
company two years later, just byby sheer chance, because I
remember Daniel went in for aninterview and it was like dad
guess what?
Guess who's working, guess whocome here?
Went to see and it was likeit's a ricky blair went, you
mean the guy we met by the pool.
He said yeah.
So uh, yeah, it's a very smallworld, very, very small world.

(03:12):
Maybe that's not such acoincidence.
Maybe things happen.

Norma (03:16):
Wait a minute so he, your , your son, interviewed with you
, but you didn't know beforegoing in, or you had no before
going in.

Rich (03:23):
We didn't know all I know.
Or you had no before no, notbefore going in, we didn't know
all I know is we had aconversation.

Ricky Blair (03:28):
Daniel was in an interesting place with his
career right and I was buildingmy company in real estate and we
had a like.
A big focus was on employingand giving the opportunity to
young people and I didn't wantto unsettle daniel with where he
was at, in his, in his, in hiswork but things seem to just
align at the right place at theright time.

(03:48):
Maybe a year and a half, twoyears later, I think, the right
opportunity came along andDaniel came and joined and the
rest sort of.
Yeah, the rest is history, wowhow bizarre.

Norma (03:59):
But I actually love stories like that, when people
just come back into your life,because there's always like, how
did that happen?
And you know anyway, and peoplealways.
I believe that people come intoyour life for a reason.
I'd agree right, so hence we'resitting here today for a reason
yes so, ricky, yes, okay,what's what.

Rich (04:17):
Where we like to start is, again, understanding of who you
are, where you started.
You know what, what drove youto to one, to into property and
to do the things that you did.
Because one thing I would sayis that you built up a highly
successful business, one of thebest in the industry, and you
were, like we discussed recently, you were the real.
It was a real David and Goliathaspect insofar as there's some

(04:39):
big hitters in the propertymarket in the UK, but I've been
around for a long time hat andreal estate comes along and just
turns it on its head I mean itstarts probably as a 16 year old
kid 16, 16.

Ricky Blair (04:51):
okay I'm, I'm in school, I have my exams and I
fail these exams so badly.
I think my well, I know my two.
My three grades were two e'sand one u, and I had no call.
I had no option but to leaveschool because no college or
university would take me on andI, being completely transparent,

(05:12):
had never felt so scared in mylife because I didn't know what
was going to come of my life andI was brought up very much to
believe, as a lot of us are,that if you fail in education
you're doomed out there in thereal world, Exactly exactly.
And I was in a bit of a stickysituation.
I had no one there to sort ofhelp me navigate myself out of
that mess I found myself in andI figured the best thing I could
do was get out into the realworld and start working

(05:33):
immediately.
And my thought was, if otherpeople of my age were going off
traveling or going to college,university or doing all three,
by the time they went out intothe real world and started
working, I might end end up witha three, four, five year
headstart over them, and thatcould be my edge.
So I didn't know what I wantedto do.
I had no idea whatsoever.
All I knew was I was desperateas hell to find some way of

(05:54):
succeeding and somehow,miraculously, I land myself a
job in a commercial real estatebrokerage in central London and
this company I'm a 16-year-oldkid they give me this job and
they're renting and selling someof the largest office buildings
in central London to some ofthe biggest companies in the
world.
You're probably wondering how Imanaged to land myself such a
drop.

Norma (06:13):
I'm still like, I'm perplexed.
I'm like how did a 16-year-oldeven land that gig?

Ricky Blair (06:17):
Well, it wasn't as glamorous my job as it sounds.
My official job title was theoffice junior.
Okay, I mean, I kind of referto it.
Looking back now, it's like theoffice bitch.
Basically I, I, literally therewere 60 people working there
and from the minute I walked inthe office every morning at 8 am
to the minute I left at 6 pm,whatever anyone needed glass of
water, a sandwich, a cup ofcoffee, something printed, some

(06:37):
mail, delivered they came to drycleaning I was stuck in this
basement which, looking back itfelt.

Norma (06:42):
It felt like a dungeon.
There was no windows.

Ricky Blair (06:45):
The ceiling heights below it smelled down there and
I was going nowhere very, veryquickly and I remember looking
back having this overwhelmingfeeling that the people that
fail education as badly as I did, this is literally what happens
to us.
We end up down here in thisdungeon.
One day, out of nowhere, I geta call which completely changed
my life.
I get a call from a completestranger, a guy called Nigel,

(07:09):
and Nigel is this 55-year-old,super, super successful British
guy, multi-multi-millionaire.
He owns something like 300 bitsof real estate all around the
world.
And Nigel invites me out forlunch.
And immediately I'm completelyintimidated.
I can't understand why he'staking me out for lunch.
There's nothing I can do tohelp him.
I don't know anything aboutreal estate, but I've got
nothing to lose.
And I go for this lunch andNigel asked me about me and I

(07:32):
told him everything.
I pretty much just told youthat I failed, that I was scared
, and I also told him I wasdetermined to find some way of
succeeding.
And after he asked me a coupleof questions and I'll never
forget, he looked up at me andhe just said he just said, ricky
, I'm gonna, I'm gonna help you.
And I thought he was joking,and he definitely wasn't joking.
From from that minute on, nigeljust took me under his wing and

(07:55):
every four weeks without fail,we'd meet at the same pizza
restaurant in central London,the same table in the window,
and I'd go along with ascrumpled up piece of paper
where I would just ask him.
Even to this day, I just I'mobsessed with asking people
questions, and I would ask himabout how he succeeded.
He would answer them and he'djust teach me.
But what I started to realizewas he wasn't teaching me what

(08:17):
school had taught me or what anyof my friends were learning in
college or university.
He was teaching me the thingsyou needed for the real world to
succeed in the real world,things like how to goal set, how
to manifest.

Norma (08:29):
He taught you how to manifest.

Ricky Blair (08:31):
Yes.

Norma (08:32):
You were 16?

Ricky Blair (08:33):
16, 17 at this time .
That is young.

Norma (08:36):
Yeah, that is young.

Rich (08:37):
More than he has to understand it.

Norma (08:39):
Well, yeah.

Ricky Blair (08:40):
He was giving me books to accompany it, but he
was also teaching me about howto use your intuition, how to
make decisions, how to be happy,how to do what you love.

Norma (08:50):
But also it's like life living, life lessons too.

Ricky Blair (08:53):
How did he get ahold of you?
I mean, was it he knew of mydad.
My dad was an antique jewelerand I think Nigel bought a piece
of jewelry for my dad.
They started talking and my dadsaid to Nigel that my son,
Ricky's gone into the businessand Nigel just said let me reach
out to him.
And then he just stayed with meas my mentor and from then on
things started to just move,Like I got a promotion from the

(09:16):
dungeon to the second floor.

Norma (09:18):
You saw a light, I saw a light.

Ricky Blair (09:21):
And just yeah, just normality.
Then I got this new job inanother company and all of a
sudden I started to earn moneyand things were moving and I was
learning and I felt useful andthings were just sort of
starting to fall into place.
But then I had my first biggoal.
My first big dream was I alwayswanted to go into business with
my best friend, sean.
Sean and I.

(09:42):
He grew up with me, we went tothe same primary school when we
were six or seven years old andSean also dropped out of school
and I had this harebrained ideathat I wanted to set up a
business with him.
I just started to implement allthe things Nigel told me about
visualization, manifesting,setting goals, the importance of
knowing what it is you want.
Sean thought I was crazy when Itold Sean years prior that
we're going to sell the businesstogether, Especially at that

(10:03):
age as well.

Norma (10:04):
right yeah, he looked at me like I was mad.

Ricky Blair (10:05):
But I think you talk about what drove me One of
the things.
If someone tells me I can't, Ijust see red and I think Sean
thinking I was crazy for evenconsidering setting up a company
one day, he thought I was crazy.
So I just this is what's goingto happen.
And then, when we were 24 yearsold, we set up our first

(10:27):
company, hatton Real Estate.
It was unbelievable.
I think I've got morecomfortable saying in America
than I was able to in England,because I think the humility
doesn't work as well here but wecompletely transformed and
revolutionized the entirecommercial real estate sector in
central London and I think thatwas a hybrid of tenacity, work
ethic.
I think it was absolutely beingin the right place at the right
time.
But also Nigel one of the mostimportant things he taught me

(10:50):
about business was you don'tcompete with what people are
doing, you change the landscape.
Or, as he would coin it, he'dalways say to me you don't
compete, you change the game.
So all I was interested in wasnot how could I compete with
those people?
It was like how can we innovate, how can we transform the
industry?
And it was unbelievable.
I mean you referenced likeDavid and Goliath.
We were competing with thebiggest real estate companies in

(11:12):
the world and, I think, a wewere so innovative and doing
things so differently to the bigcompanies that that was what
gave us our edge.
We had this confidence If wecould get in the room with a
real estate developer and wewere going to get the ability to
pitch for the work millions ofsquare feet, hundreds of
thousands of square feet ofoffice buildings but we believed

(11:33):
we could win the work and wewere.
We were winning.
It felt like we were winningpretty much everything take me
back.

Norma (11:38):
I'm still on.
How does a 16 year old, howwere you so receptive to the
advice that you were getting?
Is it something that you, deepinside, believed that you wanted
more?
I mean because you take thework of manifesting and
visualization, that's that thereis a belief, trust, there's all
these other words that have toexist in you for you to be even

(12:02):
open to it first of all, andthen actually believe in it and
then, later on, exercise it.

Ricky Blair (12:07):
It's a great question.
I think there's two parts tothat.
One is I would be veryskeptical about that sort of
stuff, manifesting visualization.
It all seems a little bitwoo-woo.
But I grew up.
One of my very good friends'mother is a medium healer reader
, so I would always askquestions and there was part of
me that normally would thinkthat's a bit crazy.

(12:30):
But I knew this woman.
I knew she was smart.
She had a head to.
You know, she was a smart womanand I just asked her questions
about this sort of stuff.
And the other thing is whenyou're a 16, 17-year-old kid and
you've failed so miserably andI joke, you're stuck downstairs
in the dungeon.
You know making people'scoffees.
You have got nothing to loseyeah.
So when nigel's sitting theretelling me how you get like, you

(12:50):
know, he said like life's likea menu if you can see on the
menu, you can choose it.
If you can choose it, you canhave it.
Like.
It sounds like some sort ofgimmick, but when you're a 17
year old kid and a you havenothing to lose and b you're
hearing this from someone whoyou admire.
He's probably one of thesmartest human beings I've ever
met and I just started to messaround with this visualization
manifesting and all the rest ofit, and I started with small

(13:12):
little things.

Norma (13:13):
Like a parking lot or, you know, finding a dollar, a $5
bill on the floor or somethinglike that.

Ricky Blair (13:19):
And every and yeah those sort of things.
And then it was things like acar, like I wasn't a big car guy
, but I just was a stupid thingthat would be fine if it
happened, and if it didn't Iwouldn't care.
So it was a porsche and ithappened.
So I then just thought tomyself if this works, why don't
I just keep raising the bar andkeep making the visions as big
as I can?
That's kind of what sort ofprompted me on the manifesting

(13:42):
process and it became your go-to.

Norma (13:44):
It sounds like so.
Once you, once you learn theways, you practice them right.
You got, you got a promotionand then did you was your
mindset was already driven thatway, like you started hardwiring
yourself to believe that andlive, live like that yeah, I got
obsessed with setting goals,really obsessed.

Ricky Blair (14:02):
I learned very young that it's something like
one% of the world populationknow what it is they want.
If you take that group of 1%,3% of that group will actually
put pen to paper and write downtheir goals, and the ones who
write down their goals are it'ssomething like 10 times more
likely to achieve the goalsthey've set for themselves.
I was just laser focused ongoal after goal after goal, so

(14:25):
it was just like next my owncompany, next revenue numbers.
When I talk about real estate,I'm not this phenomenal 10 out
of 10 real estate agent.
The difference between us andwhat we did as a company and our
competitors was we knew howimportant it was to set goals.
We just always knew what ourNorth Star was and when we
ticked them, we just went to thenext thing, and I've just been

(14:48):
setting goals ever since.

Norma (14:50):
Wow, and is that something that was?
You started your own company,you started implementing right
that exercise of goal building,project and visualization.
Was that your management styleand your leadership style?

Ricky Blair (15:03):
Amongst my business partners and I.
I always set the vision forthem, like I always, I wanted to
sell that company.
So my dream was to move toAmerica and to do something
which I always wanted to dosince I was a kid, in a
different field, different arena.
But I knew we had to sell thatcompany and I mapped out that
vision and I there was a day,bizarrely, where I presented

(15:25):
that vision to my two businesspartners and they both looked at
me like I was completelybonkers and I think there was
some cursing going on.
They basically told me to getout of their way.
And yeah, I just, I didn't.
Not everyone knew the goals.
Like you talk aboutvisualization, manifesting and
setting goals, I never toldanyone what my goals were.

(15:46):
I never told anyone what mygoals were.
I never told anyone what mydreams are, because I was always
told as a kid what couldn'thappen or wasn't possible for me
.
So I just thought, if I didn'ttell people what my goals were,
no one could tell me whatwouldn't happen.

Rich (15:55):
I was always told what wasn't possible it's probably
better to keep it to yourself.
Anyway, let me ask you aquestion.
So, amongst uh sean, it was inmichael, yeah, as your partners
and your star, your team, okay,did you share in terms of not
what your goals were, but theidea of manifesting the idea of
you know, look, if you see it,you can be it.
You know that type of that typeof view, or did you keep that?

(16:18):
You still keep that, or did youkeep that to yourself?

Ricky Blair (16:21):
we had a bit huge.
So when it came to hiring staff, almost as a way of thanking
Nigel, I had to pay it forward.
So we'd only hire young kids.
We only employed kids comingout of school, college or very
early on in their careers and Ifelt it was my responsibility to
help them the way Nigel helpedme.
Sure, no one told me how tolead people or manage people,

(16:42):
build a company, because Ididn't go to business school or
anything like that.
But the way I learned was Ilooked at sports managers.
I watched how they led theirteams and the greatest managers
and this links into manifestingand self-belief the best players
in the world.
I learned from reading theirstories.
The reason why they got therewas because their manager or

(17:05):
their coach made them believethey could be the best, and
because they believed it, theybecame it.
So I think my responsibilitywith some of these young people
was making them aware of theirpotential and actually making
them believe that they were atthat level.
So there was an element of, Iguess, manifesting indirectly in
that respect.
But when it came to the bigvisions and dreams for the

(17:26):
company, which the ultimatedream was to sell the company
for tens of millions of dollars,pounds.
I only shared that with my twobusiness partners, but the mini
targets along the way I sharedwith everyone.
And the reason why we decidedto share it with everyone is
because when you've got threepeople or two people believing
in a goal, believing in anall-star, that's pretty powerful

(17:47):
.
You're literally doubling ortripling the potency, the power.
When you've got 30 peoplebuying into it and actually
believing in that, believingwe're going to hit that number,
that's like rocket fuel.
So we utilized it in that kindof way Wow See it works.

Norma (18:04):
I know, no, I know it works.
I've I've I've been doing itmyself too.
But it's always so nice to hearsomeone who's applying it to
business and said and says itoutwardly, like publicly,
because it is a bit woo woo.
But when you, when you sit downand you actually start meeting
professional athletes,visionaries, they all, this is

(18:24):
all.
This is the same formula thatthey have in their head of how
they achieve and you alwayswonder, well, how do you get
there?
Were you given a silver spoon?
And you're like no, Imanifested it.
There's something energeticallythat happens in it.
But step one is believing itand knowing that you can do that
, but do you use it in otheraspects of your life?

Ricky Blair (18:47):
I use it in everything.

Norma (18:49):
It's a way of living, isn't it?
Yeah, a bit.

Ricky Blair (18:52):
In every aspect of my life.
I think the biggest dream Iever had was moving to America.
Why did?

Norma (18:57):
you want to come here.

Ricky Blair (18:59):
There's a long answer to the short.

Norma (19:03):
Besides the obvious, the sunshine, the food.

Ricky Blair (19:05):
As a six, seven-year-old kid, I always
wanted to be in America.
It sounds bizarre, like there'sprobably some people that think
I was born in the wrong country.
There's something about Americaand the belief out here, the
American dream, which youprobably think.
What's he talking about?
Like there is this ability togo and do whatever it is you

(19:26):
want in this country, and afriend of mine he said it
perfectly about six months ago.
He went back to the UK and I'msorry if I'm speaking out of
turn here, talking about the UKversus America.
No matter what's going on inthe UK, there's always a bit of
like, maybe scepticism or a bitof like, I don't know.
I don't know if negativity isthe the right term, but in
america there's always, nomatter what's going on, there's

(19:48):
always a bit of hope.

Rich (19:49):
There's always this belief that something's possible yes,
I'll put it to you this way, soin the uk it's very much, the
answer is no, what's thequestion?
But in the us it's very much.
The answer is yes, what's?

Norma (19:58):
the question.

Rich (19:59):
Yes, it is, and that's that's how I would interpret
what you just said.
It's exactly how I feel.
Look, we're very similar.
I have, probably for the last20 years tried to find a way to
work in the US.
You know, that's been my dream,okay.
Now, until I met you, I didn'tknow.
Sorry, norma, that is yes.

(20:19):
I didn't know what manifestingwas.
I'd never heard of it, itdidn't even enter my head.
However, from conversationsI've had with Norma, from books
I've read and reading, all of asudden, yeah, things it says
make sense.
It really does make sense.
There's certain things when youlook back in your own life, you
think to yourself I understandwhy that happened.

(20:40):
Now I really do.
So.
Obviously it was on my mindenough that norma and I met.
We had another partner and weset up a business and we joint.
We set up our podcast, whichhas been, you know this is now.
We've been doing it sinceaugust last year, so just over a
year.
So that's great and we have acompany over here.

(21:00):
So one of the goals I set myselfa long time ago has come to
fruition, and the reason why ittook so long?
Because I got in my own way,because I didn't know what it is
or how I was going to do it orhow to make it happen.
You know how to believe it intoexistence and I think that's a
lot as a lesson I've learnedalong the way.
Did you figure out the how?

(21:21):
Yeah, and what was that?
The how to do?
It was to do it with someonethat I, um, that I, I had, I
trusted over here for someone tocome over here on their own and
to do something with, notknowing anyone, is, is, is, it's
hard, okay, because you, yougot, no, you got no route to
entry.
Okay.
So, brief story.

(21:42):
So, norman, I met at a tradeshow in january last year.
I got introduced.
Uh, it was an event I wasn'teven going to go to.
I turn up, the guy that had washaving this mixer.
I said look, I'd like tointroduce you to someone.
Come over here, introduces meto norma.
Okay, norma used to work forparamount and george lucas at

(22:03):
Lucasfilm.
No, yes, yes, really okay.
Ensued a half an hourconversation of me just like
just staring, unbelievable, Icouldn't believe that.
You know, there was someonethat was been an industry that
is like almost like sacrosanct,and we I just love the
conversation we have.
We really hit it off.
Then met again.
Norma came with her company toLondon.

(22:24):
I got off to another event,went, met her and then a couple
of weeks after that I emailedNorma.
I said look, I've been kickingaround the idea of doing a
podcast.
Are you interested?
Norma came back and said yes, Iam.
And it kind of went from there.
The only reason why I askedNorma is because I felt
comfortable asking her becauseof the conversations we had.

(22:44):
I only had two conversations,but I just felt comfortable.
I felt like Norma was someone Icould trust and that was the
how.
That, for me, was the how.

Ricky Blair (22:54):
But you didn't try and figure out the how did you?

Rich (22:56):
No, it came to me, it was just there.

Ricky Blair (22:57):
That's it, that's it, and that was when I asked
you the how I know.

Norma (23:02):
I was staying quiet too.
I'm like I wonder if he's goingto answer this question.

Ricky Blair (23:09):
I teach.
We have courses where we teachbusiness owners and young kids
coming out of collegemanifesting, and it's a six to
eight week program.
And the one piece of the six toeight week program that I
wouldn't even say blows peopleaway the most, but that surprise
them or allows it all to makethat bit more sense, is all
around the how and it's.
You don't need to worry aboutthe how.

(23:29):
You can't work out the how, youjust need to know where you're
getting to and the hows ie theserendipitous synchronistic
moments you're referring to asto how you guys met and all the
rest of it.
The how presents itself.
You're literally like drawingit to you.

Norma (23:44):
You magnetize it to you laws of attraction come, start
coming into play.
Yeah, yeah, and I think.
But you know why we get stuckis because we're programmed that
way.
School, our logical brain, youneed to have a plan.
Everything needs to be ironedout, the steps.
I mean when a simple example,example here in the United

(24:04):
States, when you're in gradeschool and you have to, you know
you're doing math, you have towrite out all the steps, your
teacher would force you, if youdon't show me all the steps to
validate how you got the answer,then you then you know, then
the answer is is wrong, eventhough you put the answer in
there.
So you're, we're trained thatway in school, and so there is
this thing of if there isn't asecurity, if there isn't the the

(24:25):
logic, then then it's flawed.
So it's hard for us to get outof that way, the way we've been
programmed.

Ricky Blair (24:33):
You're smiling I am smiling because I think you're
absolutely.
I couldn't agree with you more.
But I think there's a biggerproblem that occurs even before
that process.
We're talking about figuringout how to achieve a goal, how
to achieve whatever it is you'retrying to get to.
But the even bigger problem, inmy opinion, is we don't even
know that we can set goals orchoose what we want from our

(24:55):
lives.
Set goals or choose what wewant from our lives and that
society, school, parents, thenews media that gets in our way
at such an early age.
So as kids we're, you know,young kids we're all like
dreamers.
We've got this like childlikenature to us that by the time we
enter the real world, that'sgone.
And if we still have thosedreams or goals intact, it's
either because you're incrediblylucky, a little bit different,

(25:17):
or quirky, or crazy or you havejust incredible parents who
right you know, out in LA youmeet.
You meet movie stars, actors,musicians, um entrepreneurs that
knew from as a kid what theywanted to do, but the beauty
they had or the fortune they hadwas I had parents on their side
that actually supported andbelieved in those dreams.

Rich (25:36):
It's funny you say actually, because we've probably
interviewed maybe 35, almost 40people.

Norma (25:43):
Oh, in total?

Rich (25:43):
in total, yeah, 40 people and the one thing that you find
that comes across is that Iwould say 99% of the people that
we've interviewed have comefrom nothing, as in they don't
have a Hollywood background.
They don't have, they're notcome from.

Norma (25:55):
They don't have a silver spoon in their mouth.

Rich (25:56):
No, they don't have they're not come from, didn't
have a silver spoon in theirmouth, so but what they've done
and how they've got where theywanted it because they've wanted
it.
There's a desire there and oneof our guests described it as
almost an obsession to get wherehe wanted to get to, because he
could see it, you know, andthat I'm interpreting as
visualization.
He knew he would get there.
They all knew they would getthere and they wouldn't accept.

Norma (26:19):
And there he would get there.
They all knew they would getthere and they wouldn't accept.
And there is this, and then itgoes even deeper.
It's this knowingness I don't,I just know it, like I know my
first name it's just it.
There's a draw, there's a pull,it's just it's there, and and I
cannot explain it to you, Ijust know it's, it's my thing,
and so when it's your thing,then it's your being and it ends
up being your truth, and youcan't argue against anyone's

(26:42):
truth.
Your own truth.
Right, absolutely, that's it.
That's who you are.
It's almost soul-like kind ofright.
And so you, using that and itsounds like going back to your
career, you applied that, butyou were obviously successful in
it because you created this.
You sold your company.
For how much?

Ricky Blair (27:00):
it was in dollars.
It equates to approximately 30million dollars.

Norma (27:05):
Wow going okay.
So that kid that struggled inschool for reasons that you
haven't shared yet, but hestruggled in school.
Like, do you have conversationswith that little kid that
struggled and do you say we didit or you're like we're not done
.
So I got very profound now.

Ricky Blair (27:26):
No, I can't believe it happened.
I yeah, I can't believe ithappened.

Rich (27:32):
All right.
So let me ask you on that,actually, because you that was
your goal and you almost willedit into existence.
So by definition, it happened,and it happened pretty much the
way you wanted it to happen.
So you should believe ithappened.
Do you see what I mean?

Ricky Blair (27:51):
I know exactly what you're saying and now, looking
back, it blows me away.
But I, absolutely I was inMalibu about seven or eight
years ago and I went to theocean, I went to the beach and
this is a true story and I hadthis visual of me being in
America and I don't share thisstory that often because it does

(28:13):
sound a bit nuts.
I had this vision of getting tothe end of my life and
regretting not coming to America, like I didn't want to be on my
deathbed or whatever,regretting it.
So I promised myself in thatmoment, I gave myself three
years and I promised myself thatif I don't get to America by in
three years, I will just dropeverything I've got going on in
my life in England.
I'll find a way of gettingthere.

(28:33):
So I went back to the hotel,which was the hotel you're
staying in right now, the Londonand I sat on the roof terrace
and I wrote out this businessplan.
And this business plandeveloped and it ended up being
this like 200-page document thatmy two business partners were
unaware I'd put together.
And the reason why they didn'tknow I'd put it together was
because if they knew I wasputting something together,
they'd been on my case, they'dbeen nudging me.
So I spent the whole summerwriting out this vision.

(28:56):
And so I spent the whole summerwriting out this vision and the
end of the 200 pages was thisnumber, which equated to about
$30 odd million.
And, copying Jim Carrey, I wroteout the check and I went back,
presented it to my two businesspartners.
They basically told me bothwhere to go.
They thought I'd lost mymarbles and they were annoyed
with me Because they're like,why would you put that much
pressure on us?
That is stupid.
And I had this, this checkwhich was in my wallet, which

(29:18):
kind of disheveled and it'swhatever.
And then, and two, literally tothe pound, the exact number was
what we got for it.

Rich (29:25):
I bet I didn't say that to you when you agreed that deal.
You know what?

Ricky Blair (29:28):
it's funny because you sure now goes on when he
gets asked about the story or ifhe goes on podcast, he now
tells the story about how Rickyhad this harebrained idea he's's
like it was all Ricky's idea.

Norma (29:37):
And that check is.
We're trying to tape it backtogether and frame.
We love that check.
I still have the check.

Ricky Blair (29:43):
You do Okay, good, I promise you.

Rich (29:44):
I bet they believe in it now, don't they?
I mean, I think absolutely theydo oh.

Norma (29:48):
Ricky, that's a great story.

Ricky Blair (29:51):
Thank you when is this?

Norma (29:53):
Because it's energy.

Ricky Blair (29:55):
I mean, you're talking about decisions and
about knowing.
I was inspired by people, likeyou know.
You talk about manifesting.
I used to get frustrated as akid.
I would research the hell outof this sort of stuff.
I would consume and devoureverything I could find, the why
people struggled with it, iethe how or the timing.
There were so many reasons whypeople struggled with it.

(30:17):
But then you would go out thereand look at successful people
and you'd see they all knew howthis stuff worked, some
consciously, some subconsciously.
Like the most extreme exampleand probably not the best
example, depending on what yourviews are Donald Trump.
Donald Trump is one living,breathing manifesting machine.
He just manifests.
You hear him.
It's positive, positive,positive.

(30:39):
He's always talking aboutwhat's happening, what's going
to be.
When he was a kid in New York,growing up, his parents took him
to church and the pastor whogave a sermon every week was a
guy called Dr Norman VincentPeale.
Dr Norman Vincent Peale was aguy that wrote all these books
about the power of positivethinking.
So he was drilled into DonaldTrump as a very young kid.

(31:00):
But you know, will Smith wasanother massive inspiration of
this sort of stuff.
Again, regardless of what youthink of Will Smith.
There was two videos or clipsthat he spoke about which had a
massive impact to me.
The first was he just said likeyour goals, it's not a hope or
an aim, you just decide.
You decide what is good, it's adecision, it's not.
This is what I want, this iswhat's happening.

(31:20):
And then, with his level of gritand determination to make it
happen again.
This is a really extreme thing,but it hit me.
He said it's like somethinglike I'm going to get on a
treadmill in a gym and there's aguy or girl on the treadmill
next to me and he'd like he'd becompetitive.
So he'd start running and he'dsay there's either two things
that are going to happen eitherthey're getting off first or I,

(31:43):
as in will, are going to die inthe process, meaning he couldn't
give a shit.
That was what was happening andthat was it.
That's the level and it takestime and the house which we get
so you know steve jobs was bigabout the how he knew exactly
how that sort of stuff workedsteve jobs gave an amazing
speech in in a university.
Yeah, he talked about the dotsjoining.

(32:03):
He's talking about the how youdon't.
He said you don't connect thedots.

Norma (32:06):
Looking forward only back yep, yep, I get that, I get
that, and that was somethingthat I told lyle.
So, lyle workman, who weinterviewed before you, you
joined um we.
I told him that the one thingand when I would sit at
skywalker ranch and I would sitnext to the skywalker ranch, you
know the sound, um, theengineers, and I would see them
creating stuff and I would tellthem.

(32:28):
You know, I just learned fromthem.
They said we would focus on theend.
We know how it's going, whatit's going to sound like, we
know how people are going to bemoved by it, we know the ripple
effect, the score is going tohappen and how it's going to
affect people's lives.
We focus on that.
When you focus on that,everything just comes together

(32:52):
and it was just like holy shitreally, and so they tune into
that feeling.
And then, when you do that,things just start coming into
play.
And that is what that level ofthinking and release and letting
go.
Letting go was a big aha momentthat it hit me and I saw it

(33:15):
firsthand and it made me thinkall right, well then, that's
what I need to do.
I just need to let go and trust.

Ricky Blair (33:22):
Right and that goes .

Norma (33:23):
That goes deep and profound, but the fact that you
were introduced to it in such anearly age like, well, no wonder
now you've you sold yourcompany and now you're onto
goodness, so you're onto thingsthat you really want to do,
right, yeah, good, good.

Rich (33:38):
Talk, talk us through what you're doing, to things that
you really want to do, right?
Yeah, good, good, talk.
Talk us through what you'redoing now.
Give us a bit more of anunderstanding how would I
describe it?

Ricky Blair (33:44):
I would describe it that we made a business out of
giving young people anopportunity, and that led me to
going into colleges anduniversities in the uk.
I knew there was this painpoint that when a human being
transitions from the educationprocess to the real world, no
matter when that happens,whether they're 16 or 25,
whether they succeeded ineducation or failed, whether

(34:06):
they know exactly what they wantto do next, they've got no idea
whatsoever.
That is a really tough momentand I've been trying to figure
out what is the solution to thatproblem.
Whilst there's that problem,you touched upon education
before.
The education landscape ischanging dramatically.
At the moment, I think, fewerpeople are enrolling in college
now than ever before.
In America today, the dropoutrate in college it's almost like
one in two.

(34:26):
It's up to nearly 50%.
So I've been trying to figureout what the solution is, and
we've basically interviewedhundreds of college graduates,
college students, kids that areconsidering whether to go to
college or not, throughout theUS.
Over the last three or fouryears, we've tried to understand
what is their challenge.
Why is this post-collegedepression which is a real thing

(34:47):
, by the way why do theystruggle so much?
And we've whittled it down tothree unique reasons.
One is fear.
They're scared as to what'snext.
They don't know what they'regoing to do with their lives.
They're scared.
They're not going to fulfilltheir potential in life.
The second is loneliness.
It can be a lonely path.
As you guys know, the path ofan entrepreneur can be a lonely
one, or someone you know,successful people, ambitious

(35:09):
people it's a lonely journey.
And the third is we just heardit time and time again young
people would say I just wantsomeone to show me how college I
had fun at, it was a greatexperience, but no one showed me
how to navigate this next piece.
So we've created this, this onestop shop mentoring platform
that help provides our studentswith the, the real world

(35:31):
teachings of the mentorship, thesupport and all the resources
they need to get to whereverit's they want to get to.
I think our first job isactually to help them figure out
what it is they want from theirlife and then we put like a
unique plan together to helpthem get to where they want to
get to.

Norma (35:45):
The way school is structured is so antiquated.
I mean, I feel like even inmiddle school and grade school,
kids should be taught rejection.
Kids should be taught you knowthings are not fair.
Kids should be taught thesereal life lessons.
Kids should be taught you knowthings are not fair.
Yeah, kids should be taughtthese real life lessons.
Kids should be taught tovolunteer.
I think there should be in highschool.
There should be credits.
Everyone should work in aservice industry, be a waiter,

(36:08):
be a waitress because you learna lot when you actually have to
work and service people.
There's there's so many thingsthat I feel like our our school
system, especially here in theus, that could it needs a revamp
.
But the fact that you decidedto do that, but why did you
decide to do that and not buildanother $30 million business?

Ricky Blair (36:28):
I always had this ambition as a kid to do
something which would have toput it bluntly, maybe like an
impact, and to do the same realestate thing all over again
didn't appeal to me and Americadid, and I wanted to test myself
.
I think people some peoplecould think it's completely nuts
and crazy, like I don't putmyself through enough stress and
pressure.
But and also, just yeah, I thinkthe the impact a mentor had on

(36:53):
me.
I felt like I don't know, Ifelt like I had to do this and
that is really why I'm out herein America and if it wasn't for
that, I wouldn't probably behere.
Like, I've got to figure thisout, because there are lots of
young people that I don't knowwhy I'm just this lucky one that
came across a mentor that hadsuch a big impact on my life.
Like I shouldn't be the rarity.
Oh, I love that you said that Ishould not be the rarity, but

(37:20):
it's also sorry to throw a loadof statistics at you.
80% of CEOs in America havereceived mentorship at some
stage of their lives.
Nearly 8 in 10 people want tohave a mentor, but only 3 out of
10 of us are lucky enough tofind someone.
Like why it's crazy Mentorshiphas such a big influence?

Norma (37:34):
Yes, it does it, does it really really does a profound.
I mean, I, I did my.
We just interviewed my, myprevious boss, and I gave him
this little award, which he gotall choked up and he sent me a
long text.
He's like it was the world'sgreatest boss, because even
though he, he was my boss, uh,like back in 2000, not even that

(37:55):
, yeah, in the earlys.
His leadership style I willnever forget he.
First of all, he said it's okayif you're a little animated and
you're, you know, you use yourhands, because I'm very and I
use my hands a lot when I speak,but you're passionate and that
passion is infectious.
So I'm going to help you and hedid.

(38:16):
He helped me, he gave mepromotions and he put me in
positions where I could easilybe myself and then he was
pushing me be more you.
And then I had a whole bunch ofbosses after him that were not
great, and I always refer backto his leadership.
So the leader that I am todayis because of him, because he

(38:37):
exposed me to it, and I willalways give credit to him.
And when we win an Oscar, I willcredit Rob Hollick somehow in
that speech.
Okay, because he, he doesn't.
I don't think he even realizeshow much he affected me.
To have someone believe in youand to have someone say it is
okay to be, be you, you do nothave to be in a box, is very

(39:00):
releasing to a kid who had bigdreams and didn't grow up with a
silver spoon in her mouth andwas told no all her time.
And then you find someone whosays yes, and why not do more?

Ricky Blair (39:12):
it's, it's incredibly powerful have you
shared with him what you just Idid.
I did I did.

Norma (39:17):
I shared it with when I gave him the award, but then
okay.

Rich (39:20):
so to take that, okay, if you look at society today, I
mean that that was 20, 25 yearsago and not a lovely guy and we
met him today, really, reallylovely.
But we live in a very selfishworld.
Okay, we live in a societywhere it's me, me, me, me, me,
me, and a lot of that is drivenby social media because everyone
wants to be this vision of whatis perceived as being perfect.

(39:43):
It doesn't exist no such thingas perfect, so there's very
little room for people to wantto take mentorship, because
people, you know, you look atthe, is it Gen Z, the current
generation?

Ricky Blair (39:55):
Yeah, gen Z and Gen Y?
I think yeah.

Rich (39:57):
But they I mean I'm probably going to get shot down
from what I'm about to say, butthey believe everything is
instantly downloadable, becausethey live in a world where
everything is instantlydownloadable.
Everything they want is ontheir phone.
You cannot download experience.
The only way you'll get fiveyears experience is by doing
something for five years.
You can't cut it any other wayAgain five years, no matter how.
You can't cut it any other wayagain.

(40:18):
You can't shortcut that.
Okay, you can if you take onsomeone that will met all you
have, the.
You have been blessed by havinga mentor, someone that will
guide you through, yeah, youknow a nigel of this world that
will turn and say you know what?
I'm gonna help you.
I'm gonna help you realize yourdream.
Okay, well, I'm gonna help yourealize a dream you don't even
realize you've got yet do youunderstand?

Ricky Blair (40:38):
I aren't, I do, and I and the thing you said
earlier on, which wasinteresting how we see online
this version of success the cars, the boats, the yachts,
whatever one's version ofsuccess looks like and there's,
and it gives this perceptionthat it's that simple to achieve
that at 19, 22, 23.
That's a, that's a dangerous,damaging thing, but I think

(40:59):
there are plenty of people outthere that are realistic enough
about what it takes no, andabsolutely, and those ones
absolutely.

Rich (41:08):
If we are able to reach out to these people and with
what we do, and give them anopportunity or give them
inspiration, even to pick up abook or go online and look for
something, go and look for thewhat's your company called the
mentor, the mentoring platform.
Go and find a mentoringplatform.
Go and do something to helpfacilitate a change in their

(41:29):
life, then we've done somethingright, and that's what this is
about.
This is the essence.
We've got five pillars in ourbusiness.
So inspire, illuminate,navigate, pay it forward,
promote positivity.
Those are what we stand for asa company.
That's what we project outthere.
We want to see people succeed.

(41:51):
You've got to want it as well.

Ricky Blair (41:55):
I don't know why we're not all given this
information at a very early age.

Rich (41:57):
I don't know why we're not all given this information.

Norma (41:59):
I know I don't know At a very early age.
I don't either, but you need tostart at an early age because
that's when you're the mostinfluential, that's when you're
trying to identify who am I?
Do I belong?
Should I be here?
And I don't know either.
But I think you can shiftsomeone's mind.
But they have to be A, be opento it and then follow through
with it, because it does takework.

(42:20):
It is not something that, oh,you read it and you're like, oh,
okay, great, now I'm going tobe doing this way.
No, it's a new muscle, right?

Ricky Blair (42:27):
If you're going to go down the road of conspiracy
theories.
There is a belief that thisstuff was kept away from us
because we're creators, aware ofhow this stuff works.
We're not anywhere near aspowerful, and there's a belief
that once upon a time, someonekept this stuff away from us and
it seeped through to just a fewpeople.
We should all receive this.

Norma (42:47):
We should all receive it.
I think we should all receiveit, and I said this a couple of
times and when we had Terry Nunnhere, right, she said the same
thing.
She's like the universe isbenevolent, the universe
actually wants to see us happy.
The universe will do and and Ibelieve, believe the universe is
more creative.
We do have a higher self and ahigher being, and this is just

(43:09):
one aspect of us.
There's multiple aspects of usand the world needs good now
more than ever, and we all havea gift.

Rich (43:19):
If I was able to, I would buy everyone on this planet.
What would?

Norma (43:24):
you buy us.

Rich (43:24):
Manifesting your Destiny by Wayne Dyer.
I would do because that is avery brief book.
I mean, I've been reading thatbook for a while but I've taken
my time reading it because Iwant to take it in and it's so.
18 months ago I wouldn't haveknown what manifesting was if,
if it hit me in the face, but itwas a light reading that.
But reading the book as I amnow is, it was a light but is a

(43:46):
light bulb moment because yousee things in there and it's
like shit.
Yes, I get it I understand thatand it's like it just, you know,
I've always tried to live mylife on record.
Okay, because you learn everyday, you learn something every
day.
Okay, and that, to me, isreally, really is what life is

(44:06):
all about.
I mean to take that, you takeyour last breath, you should
like, you should learn somethingnew and I, I love it and you
know so I I'm at a point now,maybe 40 years after you, but
I'm all of a sudden thinking,yes, I understand that and yes,
I get where they're coming fromand, yes, it makes sense.
And if that's, I'm oneindividual, nobody special, I'm

(44:31):
just a person, a billion otherpeople on this planet.
Give them the opportunity tosee that, to feel that, to have
that ep, to feel that, to havethat pivot, that, that epiphany
that yeah, yeah, I mean I therewas.
I've written this book and Iwas away and it was a, it was a
part in it.
It really made me click and Igot up and I went for a walk and

(44:51):
I was quite emotional, thinkingI get this now do you look back
, yeah, and things make sense.
That have happened absolutelythe things that happen in my
life make sense because ofvarious reasons.
I mean, when I was ill, Ialways knew one day I would get
ill.
I couldn't tell you why, yeah,I just knew I would get ill.
There's there's no rhyme orreason to that, it just happened

(45:13):
so.
But I understand now why ithappened.
Okay, and it's like if you, ifyou think negatively or you
think shit's gonna happen, yeah,it will happen.
On that logic, if you thinkgood things are gonna happen,
then good things are gonnahappen why would they not yes?
absolutely, and that's a verysimple, very basic understanding

(45:34):
of, of, of that I'm manifestingyour destiny, but it's other
people would just take that okayand just go with it they'd be
so much happier.

Norma (45:45):
Well, they need to.
They need to join his programthanks for the plug there.

Ricky Blair (45:55):
It's, uh, the company's called platform seven,
but the website isTheMentoringPlatformcom.
Thementoringcom.

Norma (46:01):
Okay, mentoringplatformcom and so when
people go up there are.

Ricky Blair (46:04):
There's different programs.

Rich (46:05):
Are they online or are they in person?

Ricky Blair (46:07):
They are both.
Both.
We do some online which arepre-recorded, Others are live,
either online or in person.

Rich (46:14):
I'm going to ask you a question listen to what you do
you not say part in it with withabsolute pleasure because it'll
be good.
You know it'd be good to speakto some of the people if you had
no objection to it.
Come to get an understanding ofhow they feel, like a before
and after you can do that, oralternatively.

Ricky Blair (46:39):
I mean one example we actually there's some
entrepreneurs in Holland.
In the Netherlands, they hadtheir own Netflix TV show and
they run a jewellery company andthey did the course, the
eight-week course, and theircousin, who's?
Bizarrely, she's a judge on theShark Tank version in Holland
and I couldn't actuallyunderstand why all these people
were coming onto this course,because they were already

(46:59):
incredibly successful.
Two of the three girls had thisthing about being in Forbes 30
under 30 and after the course,that was a thing they focused on
and they they manifested inthat.
So with you we can talk topeople like that, or with
pleasure you can jump in with,but actually they'll be great
people to talk to.
Yeah.

Norma (47:14):
I think we're gonna start seeing you manifesting during
this podcast you already havegood, good, I'm glad.
But you're right, I wish morepeople have it and they will, I
think.
But it takes us, and it takesthe community of us and
like-minded people to normalizeit, or ayahuasca, or whatever.

(47:40):
You need to do some alternativedrug to get this.
You know this feeling ofeuphoria, to get that level of
thinking, but then you come backto earth and it doesn't exist.
No, it fucking exists you speakto professional athletes.
They spend time, you know,working with mind, working with
visualization, when they gethurt.

(48:01):
That's why they heal better.
You know professional, you knowvision visionaries they spend
as much money working on thisthan their diet and their.
You know the physical, thephysicality of whatever they
need to do and it's like why not?
Why not do this?
And so the fact that you're nowdedicating this next chapter in
your life to it must you mustbe so.

(48:22):
It must feel a you're on theright journey.
Right, because now you're itmust you must be so.
It must feel a you're on theright journey.
Right, because now you're doingthis.
But it must be so fulfilling,knowing that you're providing
this self.
You know you're not beingselfish about it.
You've learned something andnow you want others to achieve.
That's actually I don't know.
Tell me, am I, am I correct?
How do you?
What do you feel?

Ricky Blair (48:42):
I enjoyed real estate and I enjoyed leading a
team of young people, but Ididn't love real estate.
That's the difference.
It was a vehicle for you.
Yeah, it was a vehicle this is.
I get to do what I love everysingle day, and the only problem
with that is I don't know wheremy life ends and my work begins

(49:03):
, because it's one, it's just so.
My biggest challenge now isactually taking time, time away
and like time off working, butit's I, love it, it's I feel
very lucky, so what we'd likeyou to do?

Rich (49:12):
yeah, it's manifest a card that has a question on it.
Okay, if you would read it outum answer it, if you would, and
then Norma and I will answer itas well.

Norma (49:25):
We asked this from all of our guests.
Oh, no, what?

Ricky Blair (49:32):
what have you learned about love?

Rich (49:40):
that's your universe coming to you there.

Norma (49:41):
Yeah, exactly, I mean, I know what the answer is.

Ricky Blair (49:48):
Like a mentor I've had, has spoken, has said this
over and over and over and overagain virtually my whole life,
and the older I get, the more Irealize it's absolutely real and
it's such a simple thing.
But this is it.
Love is all there is the end.
That's what I was realized isabsolutely real and it's such a
simple thing.
But this is it.
Love is all there is the end.
That's what.
I was going to say Sorry forstealing your ass yeah thank you

(50:10):
, which means I'm going to giveyou a second no.

Norma (50:13):
No, someone told you that .
Your mentor said that to you.
Okay, so.
Another mentor, like aspiritual mentor, a woman, a
wonderful woman A woman who's aspiritual mentor of mine who
died and she came back.
She was clinically dead forlike 10 minutes and she came

(50:36):
back and one of the messagesbecause I asked her was she was
told love is all that matters.

Rich (50:51):
Okay was she was told.
love is all that matters, okay,so take that as a given, because
it is because, in the absenceof love, you see what happens in
the world today?
Right, it becomes a world,becomes toxic, yeah, but what it
?
What?
What was the question?
Read out the question, sorry.
What have you learned aboutlove?
All right, so what have youlearned about love?
Okay, so saying love is allthere is is a statement.
What have you learned aboutlove?
All right, so what have youlearned about love?
Okay, so saying love is allthere is is a statement.
What have you learned aboutlove?
Okay, I?
I?
My answer to that is love isthe most deep, warm, cherishing,

(51:15):
nourishing, nurturing,embodying, encompassing feeling
any human being can feel to,from one person to another.
Okay, that that is what itmeans in in my eyes.
Okay, now, love, like success,are two very ambiguous words.
Okay, I love.
I love chocolate.

(51:35):
Okay, I'm not in love withchocolate.
Okay, success could be gettingout of bed in the morning.
Some people's success isrunning a marathon.
It's got different meanings,but what is that's the is,
that's what it does.
You know, your parents, yourfriends, your mentor, your
girlfriend, your boyfriend, yourthis, your that, it doesn't

(51:56):
matter.
If I'm looking at love, that'swhat love is and there's no
other way you love.
Okay, because if it's none ofthose, it's not love.

Ricky Blair (52:05):
If I thought it was a bad answer, I probably
wouldn't tell you it was a badanswer.
But, I actually I think it's.
I don't think you need me totell you, I just think it's an
absolutely magnificent answerand I think part of the reason
why I had the old shit when Isaw the question was A because I

(52:27):
think there are so manydifferent ways you can answer,
and B, what my mentor has beentelling me all these years.
Just just, it was just.
She'll be smiling and laughingwhen I, when I, when she hears
what the question was.

Rich (52:32):
But that is on point, like it's it's just such a powerful
answer, Amazing To me 56 yearsago.

Norma (52:39):
But you got it.
You got it.
That's the most important part.
You got it.

Rich (52:42):
So the last thing, ok, we would ask, ok, as we do it all,
I guess is you've had an amazingjourney.
Ok, you've obviously had thingsin your life that you, that
you've had a great run.
You've had some highs, you'vehad some lows.
You're doing what you love.
You're not working, you're.
It's your passion, it's youpassion, you're doing what you

(53:02):
love.
But to anyone else, to anyother 16-year-old that's
listening to this, or parent ofa 16-year-old that's listening
to this, what advice would yougive to?

Ricky Blair (53:13):
someone starting out, can I give it through a
very brief, 90-second story?
With the greatest of pleasure,I listen to a podcast on the
weekend, which may be one of thegreatest podcasts I've ever
heard, other than this one.
Other than this one, but singleepisode, sure.
Okay okay, single episode.
Nothing's competing with this.
Very good.
You know the fighter, the UFCfighter, a guy called Francis

(53:37):
Ngannou.
Francis Ngannou grew up inCameroon and he dreamed of
getting to America and being afighting champion, a boxing or
martial art champion.
That was his obsession and heknew the only way he could make
his dream come true was to getto America.
The only way he could get toAmerica was first he had to get

(53:57):
to Europe.
Getting from Cameroon to Europein 2012,.
This was, I think, was, anightmare.
He tried by boat.
He tried to go over fences toget into Morocco and Europe.
He failed six times.
He got caught.
He fell on barbed wire.
He tried over and over again.
Eventually, on the seventh time, he got to Morocco.
He goes into a gym and he getsto Germany via Morocco.

(54:18):
He goes into a gym.
He's never boxed in his life.
He's never boxed in his life.
He's a 23-year-old kid with hisdream of boxing and he's got no
money, nowhere to stay.
And he goes into the gym and hefinds this trainer and he said
this is my story.
I've been trying to get toEurope for, however many years,
blah, blah, blah.
I've got no money, I've neverboxed.
And he just says to this boxercan you?
To the trainer, he said can youhelp me?
The trainer said yes.

(54:39):
The trainer said I'm going toteach you.
This is a true story.
The teacher the trainer, taughthim how to fight and found him
a home.
Francis Ngannou got to America,became world champion.
He's now a multimillionaireliving his dream.
And the question that he gotasked was why did you keep going
?
Why didn't you give up?
And he looked at the interviewand he said why would I give up?

(55:01):
It was my dream and he said buteven after six times of failing,
and he said, he said he saidthe ultimate failure is not the,
the mini failures, the failingthe first, second, third, fourth
, fifth and sixth time.
The ultimate failure is nottrying in the first place.
So, to answer your question,the, the only advice I would

(55:21):
ever give anyone is go for whatyou really want, no restrictions
.
Don't listen to what yourparents or society or anyone
else is telling you to dream orvision or goal set or manifest
or North Star you want to set.
Go for what you really want andjust go for it.
And if you can implement themajority of things we've
discussed in this conversation,you don't need to worry about
how you're going to get there.
You will find a way and it willhappen.

(55:42):
So that would be my advice,that's really good.

Norma (55:46):
Amen.

Rich (55:47):
Ricky, it's been an absolute pleasure.
It's the longest conversationwe've had seven years ago,
really.

Norma (55:53):
And it's on a recorded podcast.

Rich (55:54):
I know it's been brilliant .
Thank you very much.

Ricky Blair (55:56):
Thank you for having me on I really enjoyed it
.

Rich (55:58):
Absolutely a pleasure, absolutely.

Norma (55:59):
We want to actually do one just on his platform.
I would love to hear more aboutthe platform you have.

Ricky Blair (56:06):
Yeah, whenever with pleasure.
But really, thank you so much.
I really I didn't know wherethis conversation was going, but
I really really enjoyed it.
And we're done, aren't we?
Yes, your answer is magnificent, and I don't know, I've done a
few of these, but this was likea really I don't know.
You made me feel very.
It was very.
I can't explain it.

Norma (56:26):
You were speaking amongst the like-minded spirited people
here.

Rich (56:30):
Look, it was great.
Honestly, it means a lot to us.
When you say that, I mean, as Isaid to you before, we're very
relaxed.
It's a very easy game.

Norma (56:39):
Thank you for tuning in to Energis Podcast, where
ambition meets achievement.
If today's stories energized,you, share this episode with
someone who needs that spark.
Stay connected.
Subscribe to our newsletter atnrjmediagroupcom and follow us
on social media for morepowerful insights.

(57:01):
Until next time, stay inspired,stay bold and keep striving for
greatness.

Rich (57:19):
We are highly engineered and edited by Rich Evirs.
Our seriously creative directoris none other than David H
Tanaka.
Our talented music composer isSteve Devaney.
Our devotion to motion graphicdesigner is Mike Macklin.
Our very spirited technicaladvisor is Tracy Williams.
Our amazing marketing manager,Lauren Carter.

(57:39):
Our man of many words publicistis Josh Gershman.
And introducing our producer'sassistant, blake mealy, Energis
Podcast is brought to you by NRJMedia Group.