"PAUSE BEFORE RESPONDING"
Master Paul Mitchell Tweet
Master Paul Mitchell is the Founder and Master Instructor of United Taekwondo. Currently he oversees 37 centres, around Australia, with over 1500 members and with school programs his organisation teaches over 2,000 students every week. Over the years he has been nominated for many awards including
- Australian of the Year 2006 and 2018,
- Pride of Australia Medal 2009 and
- Citizen of the Year Campbelltown 2009.
United Taekwondo has been selected several times as best Educational Service and Fitness Business at Local Business Awards and at the National Business Awards and won both
- Best Education Service 2010 and
- Best Fitness Business 2018.
- Finalist Fitness Business 2022
In the martial arts arena, he has represented New South Wales at a national level and received two second, third and fourth placings over four years. He has helped other students compete, with one individual achieving seven National Titles.
His passion and purpose in life is to now educate his students to understand that true happiness comes from sharing your knowledge and experience and helping someone else achieve more than they could imagine. He has detailed his thoughts in my latest book – Building People Not Fighters. Here he addresses the issues children are experiencing and give parents the tools to discover and nurture their child’s true potential.
Sometimes you never know the difference you make to someone life and believes that you never stop looking for opportunities to give people hope for a brighter future.
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Table of Contents
2020 and 2021 threw a lot of curve balls into business on a global scale. Based on the experience gleaned in the past couple years, how can businesses thrive in 2022? What lessons have you learned?
Master Paul Mitchell: Here are several lessons I have learnt over the past two years.
- PAUSE BEFORE RESPONDING
Much of our lives are spent reacting to others and to events around us. The problem is that these reactions might not always be the best course of action, and, as a result, they can make others unhappy, make things worse for us, and/or make the situation worse.
Notice when sensations are building inside of you. Maybe it’s rising heat in your body, a pulse in your head, a knot in your stomach, or a tightening in your chest. Recognise these triggers as signs to activate your internal pause button. Try not to be defensive and leave your ego at the door.
- LISTENING CAREFULLY TO OTHERS
Nelson Mandela is regarded as one of the greatest leaders that ever lived. He was asked the question, “What makes you a great leader?” He replied, “learn how to speak last”. As leaders, we want to share our thoughts and ideas with the people in the room and then ask their opinion. It’s too late, the damage is done. No one wants to look like they disagree with their boss!
I have tried both methods when meeting with my instructors and have found that when I prepare the meeting notes, hand them out prior to the meeting and hold my opinions until everyone has spoken, I get the highest input of new ideas. I can ask questions to clarify their thoughts, but I keep my opinions to myself until everyone has spoken. Even if they have similar ideas to mine, I don’t let them know that is what I was thinking. If they feel that the idea was theirs, they will feel that they contribute to the growth and development of the business. Then when they see positive results from their input, they are encouraged to look for more ideas to feel a part of the team.
- WALK AWAY
If you are feeling overwhelmed, stressed or anxious, stepping away from your current activity can tremendously shift negative moods and decrease stress. I give myself a “time out” and do an activity that reinvigorates me and clears my head from the problems I am facing. When I return, I see the problems from a different perspective and find they were only another challenge for me to conquer.
- EMPATHY AND UNDERSTANDING
I went for an interview for a sales position and in-between having my first and second interviews, I had a work accident. When I turned up to the interview I said, “I am sorry – I am on workers compensation”. They said, “but we really wanted you”. That made me feel so good to hear those words for the first time in my working life.
Next time you are with your employees ask them how are they going? Is there anything you can do for them to make their job more enjoyable? Sometimes just offering to listen to someone is all that they need.
- BEING PRESENT IN THE MOMENT
A lot of times we dwell on the past and never look forward to a brighter future. When I go to bed, my preparation for the next day is to think about something exciting for me. I normally wake up in the morning around 4am and do something that will light me up, something that will educate me, something that draws me closer to my dreams. Then when my day gets taken up by work and helping other people, and it will, I still feel that I have accomplished something in my day. When your brain is busy with thinking about all the things that you must get done, it prevents you from being present in the moment. To be more productive you need to be present. You need time to think and learn on your own. I suppose you could look at it as your meditation time and from experience, this is when you will be most productive.
The pandemic seems to keep on disrupting the economy, what should businesses focus on in 2022? What advice would you share?
Master Paul Mitchell: MARKETING TO MUMS
Mums are the powerhouse behind the Australian economy. According to the latest report, mums control $132 billion in consumer spending in Australia every year. They are the primary decision maker when it comes to almost everything. With over 6 million mums in Australia and 140,000 new mums every year, you need to learn how to market to mums. Think about this. Not only is mum responsible for the groceries, but she is also a major decision maker on where to live, where to go and most times what to buy.
There are two great books to read that will to give you an insight into the minds of mothers written by Katrina McCarter. They are Marketing to Mums and The Mother of all Opportunities. I have read them from cover to cover and found them priceless. They have changed the way talk to potential new parents/students and feel I have developed more empathy and understanding and now add more value to my customers.
How has the pandemic changed your industry and how have you adapted?
Master Paul Mitchell: CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
There is absolutely no doubt that today the customer is well and truly in the driver’s seat. There is so much choice in the world when it comes to buying anything and the customer is not afraid to use it. Today consumers are more informed, smarter and are sick and tired of being treated as idiots. If you are running your business like everyone else and focusing on your products and services, you will be left behind. Customer satisfaction needs to be at the top of your marketing agenda, and you will need to look at the customer’s journey and make every touch point an enjoyable experience.
I have carefully reviewed my journey and look at every touch point in my business from when a person is interested in joining martial arts to signing the direct debit form and leaving a review, both written and verbal. As I mentioned before, mums are now in the driver’s seat, so I designed a 5 minute survey for mums. We asked questions like:
- Location, age, martial and employment status
- Favourite social media channels and when/how long they visited these
- Why they keep coming back to us
- Describe us in one word.
- What is their favourite way of learning (online programs or face to face)?
- Would they like an online store – if so with what payment options
- Finally, would you be interested in referral and loyalty programs
All these and more will allow us to focus our marketing and adapt our website to encourage people to leave their details for more information. You need to keep looking at ways to connect with your target market and a survey is a great way to identify your ideal customer. Sometimes we sell a product and don’t even understand why a customer chose us over the competition.
What advice do you wish you received when the pandemic started and what do you intend on improving in 2022?
Master Paul Mitchell: STAND OUT IN THE CROWD
I wish I knew more about online marketing and training. I remember attending an Unleash The Power Within (UPW) event in 2018 with over 8,000 people at the event. When the pandemic hit the world face-to-face types of events were not available. Tony Robbins did not throw his hands in the air but went online and had over 500,000 people attended his four-day event.
I ran a few sessions online for school programs and was paid well to run these sessions for the children. Honestly, I was exhausted from the experience and am so happy to be back running my taekwondo classes in person. The hardest thing in teaching online is building the atmosphere where people learn through being emotionally connected. You need your customers to be emotionally connected with you, so that they want to return and get that incredible feeling again and again.
Currently I am working on becoming an inspirational public speaker. Once you get over the fear of public speaking and you connect with your audience, then they want more of you and what you have to offer. You will have heard of Richard Branson, Warren Buffet, Winston Churchill, Walt Disney, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Oprah Winfrey, Martin Luther King, Jr and Tony Robbins. They all story tellers and understand that if you can connect with your audience through stories, you can change the world.
Online business surged higher than ever, B2B, B2C, online shopping, virtual meetings, remote work, Zoom medical consultations, what are your expectations for 2022?
Master Paul Mitchell: INNOVATE OR DIE
If you don’t learn to innovate you will be left behind. The world is moving at such an incredible rate. In five years, if you are a driver you need to learn new skills, as vehicles will be driverless, don’t go on strike and can work 24/7. In 10 years, Elon Musk predicts that 45% of the world’s population will be jobless and they will be on a world income. You will receive just enough money to survive, without the trimmings. Artificial intelligence (AI) will be the dominate work force in the world. Think about this. These days if you receive burns to your face, they can use your stem cells and in one week you will have no scarring.
My advice is become focused on adding more value than anyone else with your products and services and always remember that customer experience needs to be your focus.
How many hours a day do you spend in front of a screen?
Master Paul Mitchell: Depending on if I am teaching school programs or writing my next book. I would estimate it is somewhere between 4 and 8 hours every day. Weekends I have devoted to family and home. There is nothing more priceless than spending time with your wife, children and grandchildren.
The majority of executives use stories to persuade and communicate in the workplace. Can you share with our readers examples of how you implement that in your business to communicate effectively with your team?
Master Paul Mitchell: FIND A MENTOR
For over four years I have been listening to Tony Robbins, Mel Robbins, Simon Sinek, Les Brown, Dr Joe Dispenza, Andrew Griffiths and Dr Bruce Lipton. They have helped me become a more inspirational leader, taught me to add more value to my customers than any of my competitors, have helped my team and I become more accountable, learn how to listen more sympathetically, how to market more effectively and have given me stories to share with my students that encourage them to give back to society in a meaningful way.
I believe that people are looking for inspiration and if they can inspire them to take your dreams and make it their own, then your company will build a culture that is envied by your competitors. For example: Traditional martial arts organisations focus on teaching you how to fight. As most teachers and parents don’t want their children to learn how to fight, I redesigned my organisation so that our products and services are not the focus, but our customers are the focus. We demonstrate that in our philosophy where we Build People Not Fighters™. I have now written my second book with this title – which helps parents discover and nurture their child’s true potential. Every family that joins is given a copy for free so that they can understand the culture of the organisation.
You need to be crystal clear with a vision that is inspirational and pursuing this vision will make the world a better place to live. Then you will attract the people that like you for being you and will take your vision and make it your own. Someone asked me how you manage 37 centres and over 1500 members, I laughed and said, “if you can work it out, please let me know”. It is not rocket science and all you need to do is surround yourself with incredible people, like the ones I mentioned, as they will keep you focused on your goals and ambitions. When you lead with an incredible sense of purpose you will give people hope for a brighter future and they will be loyal.
Business is all about overcoming obstacles and creating opportunities for growth. What do you see as the real challenge right now?
Master Paul Mitchell: LACKING MOTIVATION
I believe people have lost their motivation to do anything. They have been stuck at home in lockdown, and so it has become a part of their culture. These days you can buy just about anything online, without communicating face to face. So learning how to reduce anxiety, build resilience, build strong relationships, learning leadership skills, find their voice, find their true potential and develop an incredible sense of belonging, is not important anymore. You are only once click away from getting what you want and so many interactions away from any real chance of making a difference to someone else.
How do we get our motivation back? You need to find small opportunities for your employees to challenge themselves and then celebrate these wins. Over time they will get back to being motivated to accept large challenges with minimal rewards. The rewards will be in the form of personal achievement and not reliant on stimulation from a pay rise or gifts.
In 2022, what are you most interested in learning about? Crypto, NFTs, online marketing, or any other skill sets? Please share your motivations.
Master Paul Mitchell: I have recently started to invest in Crypto and would like to understand the market better. Best times to enter, how to prevent losses and other helpful tips. Th reason is simple. I want to establish a future where money is not a problem
A record 4.4 million Americans left their jobs in September in 2021, accelerating a trend that has become known as the Great Resignation. 47% of people plan to leave their job during 2022. Most are leaving because of their boss or their company culture. 82% of people feel unheard, undervalued and misunderstood in the workplace. Do you think leaders see the data and think “that’s not me – I’m not that boss they don’t want to work for? What changes do you think need to happen?
Master Paul Mitchell: WORKPLACE MENTALITY
Simon Sinek, motivational speaker, said it in one of his talks on leadership and give us a simple comparison between the mentalities of the army and a workplace. He also talks about mass layoffs.
In the army they give medals to people who sacrifice themselves for the benefit of someone else. In the workforce they give promotions to those that sacrifice others for the benefit of the company. They have it all wrong and will never build an environment of trust and cooperation. When someone knows that you have their back, they are willing to take more risks, go the extra mile and help the people to the left and right of them.
When you have a round of mass layoffs this does not only affect the people that have lost their job, but also the ones that have kept their jobs. In their minds they are thinking, when the company does not reach its next rounds of arbitrary figures, am I next to go?
A friend called me to talk to me about this exact situation and explained that once a group of people were laid off, everyone started to fix up their resume and check out employment agencies to see if there was work available or just to leave their name.
To give you a positive spin on a similar situation where a company projected that they would lose $10 million. The directors decided that they would have to have reduce the workforce by 50%. The owner said, “how can I let an employee go home to his family and tell them that because we predicted a loss that they have no job”. What they did instead was to have every staff member take four weeks annual leave without pay. Those that could afford it took five, so that some of the employees that were struggling only had to take three. The results were $20 million profit with a work force that knows that the owner has prioritised the needs of their employees, before the needs of the shareholders.
On a lighter note, if you had the ability to pick any business superpower, what would it be and how would you put it into practice?
Master Paul Mitchell: BUSINESS SUPERPOWER
It would be to become an inspirational speaker in my chosen field inspiring people to give back to the world in a meaningful way. So many people have come from nothing and now lead the world through their thoughts and ideas. Simply who do you remember the most. The one that gave you a business card or the one that motivated you by their speech. To have that power would be an incredible dream come true. To be able to change the mindset of my listeners through sharing inspirational stories is what would be my dream superpower.
What does “success” in 2022 mean to you? It could be on a personal or business level, please share your vision.
Master Paul Mitchell: Honestly, every day has been successful, as I am grateful for the little things in life. Sitting down and sharing my thoughts and ideas with your readers is very rewarding. If I can help someone find their true potential and achieve more than they could ever imagine, this gives me so much joy in life.
I remember helping an instructor of mine to achieve seven national titles in the martial arts arena. One night I was sharing some battle stories between the instructors and myself at local and national titles, when he stopped me and said, “I don’t know if I have ever publicly thanked you for the difference you made to my life”. I started to get emotional and went over and hugged him like a son. That was the greatest gift I have ever received.
Looking back now all the medal, certificate and ribbons, I have won over the years, these pale in comparison to the event that night. It moved me so much that I wrote and narrated my second book – Building People Not Fighters. This is what makes me happy. Finding little opportunities every day to help someone achieve more than they could ever believe, is all the success I need.
Jerome Knyszewski, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Master Paul Mitchell for taking the time to do this interview and share his knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Master Paul Mitchell or his company, you can do it through his – Instagram
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