Unscripted with Spencer Lodge

Chad Le Clos won an Olympic gold medal in the London 2012 Olympics and in this interview, Chad tells all. The story behind his Olympic wins, personal injuries and his family life. Olympic swimming was changed when Chad Le Clos stepped up to the blocks at the London 2012 Olympics, his story from underdog in a South African pool with no tiles, to gold medal winner has lessons we can all learn from. But most importantly he gives us an inside look into his mindset going into the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, this is going to be huge!

Donna Benton is the founder of The Entertainer. From what started as a small company selling booklets with 2-for-1 coupons, she took The Entertainer from startup to industry titan, and Dubai's must-have discount and loyalty app. Donna sold The Entertainer for hundreds of millions of dirhams, and she was kind enough to share her story with me on the podcast. I really enjoyed speaking to another entrepreneur that has the passion and back story of having built their business from the ground up. I know that you'll enjoy this podcast just as much as I did making it.

In this very special episode of my podcast I spoke to my good mate Lewis Allsopp, CEO of Allsopp & Allsopp; an award-winning Real Estate firm operating in multiple markets around the world. Lewis has always been the type of entrepreneur to push boundaries, and in this episode he gave me the exclusive scoop on a brand new offering he's bringing to the market. I'm certain that this ground-breaking platform is going to change the way people approach the buying and selling of real estate.

Mental Health problems such as anxiety, and depression are incredibly common in the modern workplace. On World Mental Health Day I wanted to release this episode from my Sales Clinic where Emma Belle and I discussed how workplaces could be better managed for those with mental health difficulties. ⁠ I know that a lot of people suffer in silence, but I wanted to talk about mental health in the workplace to bring the subject to the surface, because I believe that if we speak about it, we can do something to help. I've faced some very dark days in the past, and I was able to overcome them, so this topic means a lot to me.⁠

Have you ever noticed that despite your hard work the results just don't seem to come through? ⁠⁠ There's a really high chance that you're making one a few serious mistakes without you even noticing it! For the first time I'm bringing my live Sales Clinic to the Spencer Lodge Podcast! In this episode I spoke to Rick Waind, Managing Director of Betterhomes about how salespeople can get past the simple mistakes and REALLY start making an impact!⁠ After having built businesses and trained thousands of salespeople over the last 30 years I know that there are some mistakes that seem so simple, but are massively slowing down your success.

It’s time to review some of the things I've picked up on while consulting and training companies across the UAE in September. Here are the three big takeaways: 1) Many companies struggle to attract good quality talent, which appears to be the case in many industries. I think companies need to focus on making themselves more attractive to candidates. 2) We always hear about how tough "the market" is, but the fact is - there are still companies that are successful. Businesses have to ask themselves what they could do differently, instead of blaming the market. 3) People find things more valuable if they have to pay for them. The same goes for training and development.

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing my very good friend Mustafa Khawaja, CEO of Khawaja Holdings and Bio Vape, President of Sparta Nutrition; originally from the US, but now based in Dubai. Mustafa recently got married to my dear friend Sara Al Madani, and they really are a true power couple. Mustafa's journey is one straight out of an entrepreneurial fairy tale. His parents immigrated to New Jersey from Pakistan. Growing up in the US, Mustafa had set up his own business at the age of 17, and by 26 had bought his parents a house. I really enjoyed this conversation with someone who looks at entrepreneurship the same way that I do. I know you'll really love this episode.

I recently had the privilege of interviewing one of my heroes, Tony Robbins. At the beginning of my career I purchased a set of CDs with his teachings on them, and they changed my entire life. As a result of what I learned from Tony, I've built a hugely successful group of companies and given value and training to thousands of people around the world. With my good friend, Omar A from Mental Unblock, we spoke to Tony about the journey that brought him to where he is today, his successes, his failures, and what he believes are the core principles that people should apply in their own lives.   Tony has been coming to the Middle East for several years, but in his first public event in the UAE, he headlined Najahi's Achieve the Unimaginable event with Nick Vujicic, Prince EA, and Alicia Keys, where over 10,000 people soaked up all of the energy and wisdom offered up by these exceptional individuals.

I am so pleased to have sat down with my friend Prince Ea. We met about six months ago at the Najahi Cha Ching 2.0 event with John Lee, Greg Secker, and Lisa Nichols. I had a chance to speak to Prince just after he came off stage at Najahi's Achieve the Unbelieavble event at Dubai's Coca Cola arena where Nick Vujicic and Tony Robbins spoke to 10,000 people. In this episode we spoke about his amazing rise to fame from rapping at high schools in the US to speaking to stadium audiences and getting billions of views across social media.

Nick Vujicic was born with no arms and no legs, but has changed more lives than most. Through his message of persistence, passion, and purpose, he has helped thousands of people to overcome their challenges, and strive for a life of fulfilment. I've followed Nick's journey for many years and I am so glad that I was able to spend this time with him at the Tony Robbins event that was hosted by Najahi, and I am so excited to be able to bring this episode to you. Enjoy it, because the message he has to share is so important.