But, that didn’t persuade me to quit. In fact, I started my business not because I wanted to change the world, or because I came up with a brilliant idea.. or created a revolutionary product.. No, I started my business because I was compelled to.
I had to conquer my inner daemons. Those daemons that made me feel that I was not worthy... that I wasn't good enough... That time when I was a kid with aspiring tennis ambitions,...one fateful day it led me to being humiliated 6-0, 6-0 when I knew perfectly well then that it wasn’t because my opponent was better than me. It was because I beat myself up.
From the day, I asked myself a question over and over... if others could achieve their success, so could I! But how?... And what lessons do I need to learn to transform myself in order to succeed?
I started a business in the only area I knew best. Information technology, helping small business connect online and prosper.
Somehow I knew that within me, I could find the answers...and more importantly, I knew that no matter what, "failure was not an option!"
But business was tough! Very tough. For the first two years, I didn't pay myself a wage... and the answers that I was hoping to find, did not appear.
Success was no closer than when I started.
And by coincidence, through a friend of mine, I was introduced to Tony Robbins... yes, the great Tony Robbins. I attended his Unleash The Power Weekend and the flame inside of me suddenly ignited. A burning flame that finally started to provide me with some meaning and answers about ME. What made me tick!
I was so excited and passionate... but above all I was hungry for more understanding and more knowledge, so I attended his full Master University program and completed it within 12 months.
Two years later, I took a bigger step and got myself certified as a Master in Neuro Linguistic Programming (the study of human behaviour)
All looked promising...and yet, the business success that I was hoping to build was still not materialising.
I thought that if I started a brand new business...perhaps that would catapult me to the success I was looking for.
So, I did in providing cloud accounting services... way before the word "cloud computing" was popularised.
Unfortunately, that ended unhappily when the accounting software vendor that we partnered with decided to go against us. And we were forced to abandon our dreams, close our business and resulting loss of tens of thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours of wasted effort.
I remember once my tennis coach said to me when I was 14 years of age..."tennis is 95% mental and only 5% physical". I didn't understand it at that time. I was too young. Too immature to realise what it meant.
With the reality of a failed venture set in, I had to use every emotional energy and mastery to keep my head above water.
But as luck would have it, I met up with the great Jay Abraham, the business-marketing-genius in Sydney who passionately talked to me about "the strategy of pre-eminence". Little did I realise what profound impact it would have on me.
And that embarked me on an amazing journey.
Over the next 10 years, I was able to publish three cyber security books and over 100 white papers, blogs and articles.
There is a saying “when you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” and that’s what happened.
The truth certainly set me free when I realised that all through the years I was programming myself not only to be a respected and influential in the cyber security field but also an authoritative in the psychology of human behaviour and performance.
I believe that every business is a calling.
My calling is simple... find cost effective ways to help small to medium-sized businesses protect their business value without all the hassles and headaches. Find ways that they can be resilient in the face of cybercriminals.
That’s when I had epiphany… one day it hit me!
I realized that I have spent the past 25 years serving, advising, consulting and teaching different organisation of different sizes (such as small businesses, education schools, Government, banks, telecommunication carriers) how to overcome cybersecurity challenges.
I had gathered vast amount of knowledge and wisdom in the field of cyber, security, human behaviour, psychology, businesses strategy, marketing and even martial arts with great thought leaders such as Tony Robbins, Jay Abraham, Richard Branson, Jim Collins, Dale Carnegie, Jim Rohn, Joe Polish and others.
And through my personal trials of business, I have found the secret to effectively preventing cybercrime from harming businesses.
And it has little to do with investing thousands and thousands of hard-earned Dollars on security technology and consultants.
You see, cyber security is not a technology problem. It never was!
You see, there is no such thing as 100% cyber security! There will never be!