Paul Higgins – Fast-Changing Technology and its Impact on Businesses

Derek: Hi, and welcome to another episode of The Outsource Accelerator Podcast. Today, I’m really excited to be joined by Paul Higgins again. Paul joined us in episode number 157 and also 163. So, if you want to listen to his back story, and also about Build Live Give thing, go back to those episodes. Today though, we deep dive, we speak more broadly to Paul. We talk about outsourcing. We talk about business. We talk about the future of business and where it’s all going. So really interesting conversation, I certainly learnt a lot. So, if you want to know any more about Paul or get the show notes thing, go to outsourceaccelerator.com/167. Enjoy.

Derek: Hi, and welcome back everybody. Again, I’m super excited to be talking to Paul Higgins of Build Live Give. Hi Paul, how are you?

Paul: I’m great, Derek. It’s good to be on the show again.

Derek: Yes, so it’s great to have you. You’re in Melbourne. I’m in Manila. It’s really one world these days. And you have a good corporate background. I’m going to get you to introduce yourself, but I got you back today so that we can talk about the future of business, the future of outsourcing, the future of work as we know it. Because as I think we’re all sort of becoming more aware, everything is really changing, and it’s changing so fast now. So, it’s great to have you back on. And I suppose just initially, can you just introduce yourself, and how you got to be running Build Live Give.

Paul: Yeah. Thanks Derek. So, in short, I spent 18 years at Coca-Cola. And it was a brilliant career. Just you know, the amount of global exposure, but also working locally with small businesses was amazing. And then I’ve got an inherited condition, which was getting worse. And my specialist basically said, “Look, you could either have kidney failure in 12 months or 5 years. Which one do you want?” I said, “five years, thank you.” And she said, “Great. Well, you’re going to have to give up your corporate job and stop flying around the world and stressing.” I said, “Okay.” So, I did that in 2011, and then made a series of brain adventures into multiple things, but the overall theme was helping small businesses grow. And that then led me to create a community called Build Live Give to help people that have left corporate for whatever reasons, mine was health. For other people, it’s other reasons, but who want to really build their dream business. They want to have freedom. They want to take control. They want to live a great life. And they also want to give back. So that’s the community we have. And outsourcing is certainly a key component of what we do to underpin people living that lifestyle.

Derek: Fantastic. And you know, we’ve had a couple of podcasts already, but I didn’t realize the inherited condition was so severe. So is there quite a sort of a shorter time span on it.

Paul: Yeah, well look, so fortunately I’m in my 7th year. So, I beat the odds. I’ve basically done everything, or most things right. But I’m just waiting on a kidney transplant. So, I should be getting one hopefully at the end of the year. Five of my best friends have all stuck their hand up, and one in particular is looking to donate a kidney, which is an amazing thing. Yeah, I’m so grateful. But if that’s successful, I would have to have a kidney out. Wait three months until that heals. And get another one in. But look, the great thing is it’s not life-threatening. But what it was for me was life-changing. I would not be here talking to you today. I’d still be in some jet, waking up at 4 AM to get a flight. Missing all my family events, all of the things that came with being a corporate high-flyer and director. If it wasn’t for this illness I wouldn’t be here. So, I’m really grateful in that, but I can’t wait to be able to have a beer with my mates after I get the kidney in.

Derek: Yeah, that’s incredible. That’s amazing. You see the silver lining from that cloud. And again, we’ve previously spoken about the power of networking and community in business, but that really is a show of the incredible power of community. Isn’t it, when you have your community giving you a kidney? That’s incredible.

Paul:  Yeah. And I think that’s what we’re about in Build Live Give is actually making sure that you’ve got that life, lifestyle you want. So, for me, yes money is important, but once you got a certain level. And certainly, we’ve been lucky in corporate work. I’ve made some good investment. I’ve got that there, but now it’s really about living. So, it’s living with my family. Taking my family overseas. Being able to do those things, I think that’s the memories that mean more to me than just making more money. And also giving back. Sort of give back to help my charity. So, I give back with the local football club. For the world listeners, that’s Australian football rules. If you ever want to see a great game, I highly recommend it. But you know, doing things like that, that just makes me feel great. I mean, when you help a customer or when you help someone, and you can actually see the change that that’s had in their life, I think that’s so much more fulfilling. Yes, I loved working for Coke, but selling another can of sugary soft drink. That wasn’t what I was put into the earth to do.

Derek: And you said, your doctor advised you to leave it because of the stress. I can certainly see when you’re in business by yourself, you can control your own hours. You’re obviously around your family and hell of a lot more. But I suppose, in a very short answer. What is more stressful, the corporate or a start-up? In your own experience.

Paul: Look. I think some of the stress in corporate, I think is harder to change, because you rely upon so many more people. Whereas I think, you definitely have stress in your small business. I certainly had years of that. But I think you can get help a lot easier, because a lot of it you can change quickly. Because a lot of it’s got to do with you. Whereas I know if I had a CEO that had a particular direction, and so I was always going along fine. I thought that’s the way we’re travelling, and they’d come in and completely change the goalpost overnight and have a completely different culture. There’s not much I can do about that. But if you get the right community and get the right support, I think it’s much better running your own business. Because you do have a lot more freedom than you do in corporate.

Derek: Yeah, incredible. I think that’s big for humanity or, to feel good about yourself, you need control, don’t you? I think if you don’t have an aspect of control in your life it really can have a lot of knock-on effects. But and then you know, let’s bring it back to outsourcing for our audience. But you’ve had a lot of involvements in outsourcing. You’re advising people to start on their business journey, to accelerate that business journey into success a lot earlier. And one of those major functions is outsourcing, but also, I think one of your kind of major teachings is to kind of embrace the new economy and the new world. And where do you see all of this economy evolving? Because the only thing that’s certain is that it’s quickly evolving, isn’t it? Like the pace of change is getting faster. Things are changing on a kind of one or six months scale instead of a 10-year scale now. I suppose, where do you see all these going, and how on earth can you coach people when things are changing so quickly.

Paul: Yeah look, great questions. And I was at a presentation the other day, which talked about between now and 2031, we’ll have the most technology that humans have ever seen introduced. And I’m thinking, while I just looked at what I’ve seen in the last 10 years, just to think that’s nothing compared to what’s coming ahead. So, I think it’s a brilliant and exciting time to be here. But there will be a lot of change, and that’s why I think that you’ve got to have an agile model. And I listen to about three hours of podcasts a day at two and a half times speed. So, I’m constantly listening to what’s happening in venture capital, what’s happening in the world, what are the big trends, and then bringing that to my community.

I think you’ve got a choice. You can do that by yourself, or you can join a community like mine, where I’m doing that on your behalf. But I think you need someone giving you up-to-date information, because it does change so quickly. Plus, also I think you need to tap into global experts. And that’s where I think outsourcing is brilliant, because you can tap in and use people’s expertise around the world, rather than just relying on the person who’s local. Like, that’s fine, but someone three doors down can do a particular skill. But if they’re not the best in the world, and they’re not learning and staying on their actual cutting edge themselves, well then, they’re not the right person. But you can find that person.

So, I think you’ve got to make sure that, or for me, that’s why I think outsourcing is so critical, because we all know it’s going to change. It’s going to change rapidly. I don’t think anyone can really predict what’s going to happen with AI, cryptocurrencies, so many variables that are going to come up. But I think getting in the right community and getting people to help you right through that is important.

Derek: It’s huge, isn’t it? Because things are just changing so fast. They call it the idiot tax. You could learn stuff. You could make a few mistakes. It’ll cost you a lot of money or take you a couple of years. Or you can fast-track that and get a better coaching and sort of being mentored by a community where they’re keeping abreast. Because it’s just incredible. I heard the other day on a podcast actually that it was only 10 years ago that Google and Facebook. Well, 10 years ago, there wasn’t Google advertising and Facebook advertising. And now, those two companies alone take more than 50% share of worldwide advertising overall. So, it’s just incredible that the whole route to market, or the way that you’re reaching out to a market has changed in a decade. And none of those skill sets were there. None of the appreciation was there just 10 years ago. It’s incredible, isn’t it?

Paul: Yeah. And I think governments like, in this presentation, they talked about it’s sort of the death of governments, the death of institutions and corporations. And you’re right, there’s a couple of powerful players that I think some time, the ones that have been historically around for a long time and haven’t moved quickly and being adaptive are getting eaten very quick. So, I think, people thought it’d be very stable working in a large corporate, and they got a job for life. Now, and even more so in the future, that won’t be the case. And those businesses or industries that are struggling will lay off people unfortunately. And what we want to do is provide people an option as that’s happening to actually say, “Well, come and join the global economy of people working from home. There’s never been more credit cards online ever. There’s going to be more options for you if you’re an expert to earn income. Come and take control. Come and do that rather than sitting and being in what’s perceived to be a very stable job where I think, for a lot of those stable jobs, they will disappear in the next 10 to 15 years.

Derek: And those jobs are sort of stable until they’re not, and then you’re gone. It’s often better to make hay while the sun is shining, than to wait until you kind of turf down, you got to reinvent yourself in a day. It really is changing so fast, isn’t it?  And I suppose, to put you on the spot then, what do you think of, what is the future? Because we talk about outsourcing. That is employment. People are worried about employment. There’s also artificial intelligence. What is employment going to look like in 10, 20 years from now?

Paul: Yeah look. I think there will be a lot more machine to machines. So, where there’s a white-collar role currently that is just processing, I think that’ll change. So, if I look at Coca-Cola for example, when my father first worked back in the early ‘70s on a production line, there was sort of pick a number, for every bottle of Coke, there was 10 people.

Derek: Wow!

Paul: Now, there’s, you’re walking in a factory and it’s all automated, it’s auto-robotic. And there’s hardly a person there, other than some people sitting there overseeing things, etcetera. So, it might have gone from a thousand people down to five people in that plant. I think the same thing will happen in work environments. Now, that didn’t mean that through that industrial revolution, and robotics in manufacturing. So, people went and found out other jobs. So, I don’t think the total jobs will be displaced, and I’m actually pro all this technology. So, I think it’ll mean things are brilliant. Like for example with Watson. There were 600 cancer patients that were incorrectly diagnosed by humans, because we make mistakes. That’s cool. But now with Watson, they can say, “Well actually, here’s 600 people that we can save their lives.” So, I think there’s enormous benefits of it. And then doctors will just morph into doing something else. They’re doing higher research or something. So, I think as humans we should be embracing the technology, but it will be different. And if you’re sitting in a job where you really look at it and think, “Well, God I’m just doing the same thing repetitive every day, and there’s not much uniqueness”. I think if you’re sitting in a role like that, I would be concerned. But if you’re constantly developing yourself. You’re constantly learning, and you want to move quickly with the pace of change, I think you should be very excited by the opportunities that are coming forward.

Derek: Yeah, it’s incredible isn’t it? And you mentioned the Coca-Cola manufacturing that’s gone to five people managing an entire plant. We get, outsourcing is already getting a lot of kickback from people that are more conservative, saying that outsourcing is taking their jobs. And it’s really not. And I sort of try and tell people, look at robotics, look at manufacturing. And you’re now getting entire car factories that would have hired entire towns of people. And now you’re making entire cars with one or two people pressing one or two buttons. And the impact of robotics and machinery. Washing machines for example, obviously don’t take any human input now, whereas previously it used to be by hand. There’s just a huge shift in what we consider work, isn’t it? And it won’t stop. One of the things is it is inevitable. It just won’t stop. Yeah, incredible. Incredible change.

Paul: Yeah. And we use a simple analogy at Coke. You spend 80% of the time looking through the front mirror of the car when you’re driving, not 20% looking in the rear vision mirror. And I think that analogy applies in this. Like a lot of people try to defend the past. And it’s, look at history, that just doesn’t work. I think you just got to embrace the change. I do think outsourcing and technology is definitely a key business benefit. So, I think if you’re not taking that up, you’re effectively I think looking in the rear-view mirror. And I know some people will get really offended by that. But I remember in 1993, Nokia came into Coke, and they had a mobile phone. And they said, “Own a mobile phone. In 20 years’ time, you’ll be doing these things. You’ll go and open your car, and you’ll open your car, etcetera.” And a lot of people in the room said, “That’ll never happen, blah blah.” Well look at it. It wasn’t Nokia unfortunately, but look at Apple and look at what you can do with your phone now. So, I think you know, it’s going to happen. Just embrace it and be comfortable. The pace you’re going to change, but certainly change, because if you don’t someone else will. And there will be opportunity for them.

Derek: Yeah, and as you say, it’s about building the community around you, which also kind of buffers you from that change, and keeps you abreast of it. So, thank you so much, Paul. Incredible, incredible insight. And if people want to reach out to you, or get in touch with Build Live Give, how can they do that?

Paul: Yes. So, they can go to the website, BuildLiveGive.Com. And also, they can check me on my LinkedIn Profile, which is PaulHiggins555.

Derek: Fantastic. And of course, all of that will be in the show notes. Thank you so much, Paul.

Paul: My pleasure, thanks Derek.

Derek: Okay, that was Paul Higgins of Build Live Give. If you want to get in touch with Paul or know any more about Build Live Give, then go to our show notes, which is at outsourceaccelerator.com/167. And of course, if you want to reach out to us, if you want to get in touch, then just email us at [email protected]. See you next time.