Mastering Work-Life Balance as an Entrepreneur with Peter Banigo

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Discover realistic work-life balance tips for successful entrepreneurs, uncovering unique strategies and exploring the delicate balance between work and life. Is achieving work-life balance possible? Dive into our latest episode for insights into the work-life balance of successful entrepreneurs and learn the right way to achieve it.

Transcript

Transcript:

(00:01) hello guys and thank you for joining us today on another episode with entrepreneurial truth I'm Kesi Case and today we have Peter Banigo and he is joining us today he has the tech your business podcast as well as he's from Target ICT limited he's going to talk to us today about his journey you know entrepreneurship marketing he's going to bring his expertise to the table um I know you'll be delighted to hear from him Peter happy to have you today glad to be on too KY awesome awesome so listen I I've

(00:40) learned a little bit about you your journey um we had a great conversation and um I want you to share with our listeners a little bit about you um where you're coming from where you started and where you are today all right so basically I started my Journey entrepreneurial Journey I'll talk about that for the purpose of this show I started that back in 2010 that's like 14 years ago um the day I finished my college so I had the idea to start a web hosting company so I started that fortunately for me that

(01:19) worked out because you know most times businesses don't work out I think that's what gave me the Courage the confidence then um 2010 2011 I started an SMS wholesaling business 2012 I 2011 to I started a barbecue so I just kept starting different things [Laughter] I because I since the first one worked second one worked I just kept I had that confidence and kept starting different things then that continued up till 20 I started Target ICT 2018 at at the point I started Target ICT I had four of the businesses I had

(01:57) started before running at the same time then um yeah something happened and um I found myself having to focus only on target ICT from 2018 and what I always tell people is that that's where I realize that focus is really powerful agreed agreed focus is powerful and I I know as entrepreneurs we want to we have that mindset where we want to do all these different things multiple streams of income well you know what I think we may have what they call Monkey mind right so we want to do this and we want to do that but I get it focus is

(02:37) important and how has Focus changed your business okay so I think one one thing I noticed you know back then we always had this um I used to have this fear that probably if I'm doing one single thing and something happens um yeah I'm not going to have that thing again but what I realized was that was that those four things I did I had had a team I had a team running those businesses and all that but I never ever ever had time for myself that's first of all secondly I hardly had the business were making like

(03:11) one or two making a lot of money but I hardly had enough money for my personal um stuff because while this V is making money this one is taking it away [Laughter] so so it was just a big mess because um this this one one business was B2B the other was b2c everything was just you wake up in the morning then I used to wake up around um I used to be in the office by 6:30 in the morning then I wouldn't be back home till like 8: or 9 and I used to do this from Monday till Sunday I had no break and had no breaks

(03:49) or anything but now um I later I decided okay Target I it is something the first thing I said was it before I started doing any business I was always buried in my computer so that's my thing Tech and um figuring things out and all that so when I once I focus on target I realize I have these days I only work Mondays to Mondays to Fridays I work 9 to 5 I don't walk outside um um working hours yeah and funny enough I have a lot more money to myself than I had having those multiple streams of income and

(04:30) oh oh speak to them speak to them speak to them oh a lot money I have much more time like I have time to after we talk I'll be going to the gym for two hours I didn't have the time to do that back then I couldn't even imagine doing that back then so was that bad so I think focus is really is good because you now inste of trying to go wide and stay shallow now you just go deep on what you know stay narrow and the funny thing is that if anything like the fear have that if anything goes wrong what um you're

(05:03) going to do and all that I don't think the fear is really found because if anything goes wrong you can either find a way around the same business to find a solution or find a new group of people to serve with your experience so far and apart from that another thing I learned at that point was when you when you have your business especially when there is um Plenty when you have Surplus you have more than enough you should always plan for the future so I I'm trying to build a life where at least if two three years

(05:31) I don't work I wouldn't be bothered I wouldn't be stressed or anything yeah and whatever the whatever it was that experience that brought you to this place right how has it changed you as a person like what have you started to implement to make you better at a as being an entrepreneur as okay um what have I said Implement I think one thing started implementing especially in the last year this 2024 so from 2023 uh mon I always for the first like 34 35 years of my life I didn't know what the inside of a gym looked like I

(06:14) never participated in any sports as in date I don't even watch any sport because I growing up I never participated in any I never I didn't get the interests in any of it but I realized that was really really really really unhealth I was unhealthy and the thing is that when you're not healthy both mentally and um physically you're going to be working you're going to be working really hard but you're never going to maximize your potential never you're never going to going to do the maximum

(06:47) you would have been able to do if you were fully fit so since 2023 I've been not focus yeah focusing I've been putting a lot more attention on my health a lot more attention so this is I I walk every day I make sure my job is sitting so I make sure before I start sitting in the morning I take like a one hour walk that's about 6,000 steps or there about then after so that that means okay even though I see behold they have already walked then after work for the day I try to I go to the gym like three times a week probably to

(07:23) compensate for the past like three decades or so then I try to watch my food I I think for the past year or so I've really cut down on um processed anything I don't drink soda anymore I don't drink Coke I've been I've been in that battle trying to stop sugar yeah sugar is one of those things yeah so just basically I think health health has been the main thing I've been this same because my brain is clearer my brain is fuzzy I always tell people like I feel much younger now than I did when I was 25 and it's interesting

(07:59) it's interesting you know and and here are the things right I think we focus a lot on business right so as an entrepreneur we're focusing all the time on getting from point A to point B and servicing our clients making sure they're happy but we have to find happiness too as entrepreneurs you know yeah and and then brings me back to the point right so you're focusing now on health what systems have you also put in place in terms of your business so that your business is growing too while you're

(08:37) still focusing on your health all right so for the business parts for the business Parts one thing um I know I mentioned earlier that I always used to jump up and start SC jump and start different things so one one thing I've really done in the past few um this 2024 for the past like four years or thereabout has been to cold cultivate and to make sure that Focus works I I I try to set goals this time and not just set goals I try to set goals that I track because I've always said goals back in the day I'll say Okay um it's

(09:13) December it's January we set a goal for this or it's this quarter and we're setting a goal for this but the funny thing is that when you just set goals that way you don't really a lot of times it's after the go the time for the goal has elapsed you remember or you say oh I said this school and I didn't do anything about it so these days what I do these days is I have a system it's a paper paper this thing calendar so I'm I'm I I get really distracted I know I know everything I

(09:44) said so far as make that really clear so I used to have a to-do list before I've always had a to-do list all through my business time but I realized when I pick up my phone to check my to-do list I might go somewhere else that's not related to work called what I wanted to do so I developed this it's um paper it has Monday Tuesday wednes th Friday then it has the day divided into 30 minutes and U every Sunday um I have my assistant print Um send a PDF of the week for me so the PDF has those like this interview we scheduled it last week

(10:18) the PDF had has this at this time today so and I have it always in front of my computer so once I'm front the computer I look at the time I look at the paper oh I'm supposed to be doing this so it's um it's really kept me focused kept me um grounded and that way I can walk my phone can be in another room and I'm just focused just me my computer and um I get a lot more done like five six times more done than before honestly I love that tip I love that tip because a lot of us have what they would

(10:54) say ADD ADHD right having the piece of paper where you're not looking on your phone because your phone is going to say hey something's going to pop up I I love thank you for that thank you for that because you don't know how many people you just saved with that a while ago because it was a running battle like I have I've had them todoist app the todoist app for like 10 years now like I'm at the highest level for usage of the app I realized it wasn't really working I have Google Calendar it wasn't

(11:28) really working so what we do now the system is just I see use too I see use Google Calendar like if we are talking and and maybe we have some you mention something I just straight into todoist to look at later but what happens is that on Sundays um I and my assistant go through and put those things on my Google Calendar and my to-do list on paper so I don't need so those distractions just leave me till weekend right and it's funny right because you're in technology space right so we're both in the technology

(12:02) space no no you're laughing but you know what it's bad it's it's it's bad because I'll be on my computer and something pops up I'm like oh yeah and then another oh yeah 100 notifications and then for me I have kids so they send me messages and I'm like oh yeah the day the day is literally done I'm like wait what happened wow it's it's crazy because I think so someone mentioned that that the people that um go in technology are usually the highest the biggest techn fobes yeah yeah yeah listen I mean okay

(12:44) so I'm GNA bring up the point right so are you an apple or are you a like Android User which which one Android Android Windows no okay okay okay hold on let me tell you why let me tell you why I have avoided it right right I feel like I need the simplest point of entry I just need buttons that I can just press and be like if it if it if it has too much capability and it's too technical I feel like it's going to distract me so I use apple but everybody else in the technology no no they're like no Android is the way to go I'm

(13:22) like yeah I get that I just want some big buttons with the phone number so I can just okay no I think I like I like the control like I have a I have a Macbook behind me there I think I only take it out maybe if I want to go out and I know I need to do a bit of work because my browser everything is synced I have the Dropbox and everything so if I want to go out I use the um Mac um that's behind me but if I want to work I'm using my Windows PC yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah okay so so I I will confess I only have the phone as

(14:00) Apple I I refus when I was in when I was in college I went through so many um MacBooks and they couldn't the the it couldn't hold up to the amount of it it it was play they just they just they just go off and that's it's they can't manage and yeah for for people in the tech space it's very hard like I have like almost Maybe 90 or 90 plus tabs open if I did that there okay okay okay so I'm not the only one like everybody looks and they're like why do you have a million tabs open I'm like I

(14:43) can't help it the funny thing that I'm never going back to those things but they just there just in case very true very very true you know what it's it's refreshing to have these conversations because a lot of us feel like a lot of the things that we're doing we're on an island by our and we're the only ones that do the stupid stupidity you know and and here's the crazy part right I think I think that may be a social media fault cuz even when even when I am doing social media for someone I'm curating their

(15:16) feed so it looks so nice but I know that that's not the person that my client that's not my client it can never be no no but the feed looks so good so organized so curated but really and truly that's not entrepreneurs right and when you work with entrepreneurs you know that that's just not how it is if you see my desk you might have a brain anism or [Laughter] something I I get it trust me when I tell you I get it I get it I get it and I I wish more people showed the other side I think I and I know we're talking

(16:06) about it when you when you get really big in business you're so far away and far removed from the starting point that you don't remember what it was or what it took to get from point A to point B and then nobody online shows the real truth of Entrepreneurship true you know it's it's a lot of paper it's messy it's not organized it's you know I think I think I I was listening to a podcast recently and someone mentioned that too I forgotten who was talking about um when people come on and

(16:39) talk about their story and when they talk they talk about these their morning routines and the I baths and the this and the that and and the funny thing is that at the point where they doing these things is where they have a really large team that's taking abstracted everything away from them they no more in the trenches peing out solving problems putting out fires every few minutes so they don't even understand and and most most people starting out read those things and you start your business and you want to

(17:12) start doing ice baths in the morning and morning routines and I don't know you know I'm glad you say that because I had a conversation with someone the other day and they're starting their business they may be in like month five of of entrepreneurship yeah they' never had a business before this is month five brand new they're like I'm just so overwhelmed there's so much work you know and I really need to slow down I'm like no that's I need to speed up I'm like no so you don't move from a

(17:50) 9 to5 and going into entrepreneurship thinking that it's going to be easier that you're going to have more time that that it allows you to have a flexible schedule nothing that doesn't exist but no one talks about that all all of that is just a really really really big lie because it is because I talk to lot of people about that because I've always um I've always I've never had a job before so um the friends I had when I was in uni and all that a lot of times you're like oh my job is stressful my job

(18:23) doesn't pay that much I want to start business or my job doesn't give me enough time for my family and I need to start business so I can take time off and and I'm like if you start a business and you start taking that time off the business is not going to last if you start a business thinking you're going to make money honest taking time off even even exactly even thinking you're going to make money because that's why when when I talked about my first business I I said specifically I was fortunate that one worked cuz most

(18:54) don't work no most don't work the first time most don't even work no no no no no and I mean you're talking to someone who's I mean yeah I get it yeah it's it's it's it's a a really hard hard thing and I that's why I started this podcast because I really want to shed light on the truth of it and I want not just entrepreneurs to listen to this but I want customers clients to listen to to this businesses that start out aren't Amazon and everybody thinks about Amazon but they don't think about where he

(19:37) started from where Jeff B started right where did he start and how long did it take him to get there right right the the concept of treating business owners like they can drop ship or or or provide your service the next day or these are real life people individuals right that are trying to provide a service for you but light speed they're they're sacrificing time with family they're sacrificing all these things to provide a service and I feel like you know at some point someone needs to say what you're seeing isn't real

(20:18) life that's all no it's not real isn't it's it's curated and people make it sound easy it's not easy it's hard it's hard work it's a lot of [Music] stress it is because I I I I I used to say back in um that was 2018 2018 I actually used to have high blood pressure 200000 I used to have four business at the time because there was just there was just so much going in going on I didn't have time to exercise every day every day some just imagine four business at time so every day

(20:54) something new is going to go wrong and then I didn't really I had a team but I did I hadn't really figured out how to really delegate so then when something goes wrong they just come straight to me but what I learned after that is that when you delegate you delegate everything you delate even this problem solving to the person so I learned this from someone um I think when I was doing some this thing where where he said when when you have a team member that comes to you to challenge ask them to give you three

(21:28) possible solutions to that challenge Co and after they give you possible solutions ask them to choose the best right if you do that like two three four times they will not come to you again because they'll know how you think they they'll know that you're not going to solve the problem you're going to make them solve the problem and that mean you've abstracted yourself the problem solv for me I didn't know that then then I was Problem Solver in no no no I I I I like that you say that I like that you say that I like

(21:55) that you say that because I feel like in my previous business a lot of responsibility and you can't be everywhere all at once that's all right and and that is the issue but now with technology and I know I've been implementing a lot of technology and AI for people that imple that that does help us that the the entrepreneur coming up that is going to help them and in the next year or two it's going to like it's going to take off it is MH and how are you using it in your business all right so basically what we

(22:36) some of the things we do for marketing we do um we do do content so blog posts and things like that we've always done blog post from the beginning but it was getting expensive and time consuming both of them because first I used to have someone I used to Outsource it too then later had someone in the office doing it but it just take some more time then in comes Ai and with AI like what we would use maybe three four five days to produce before we do that in like an hour or two and an hour or two because we

(23:12) usually edit everything so it sounds like this thing without the editing 10 minutes right 10 minutes so it's just it's just something else then plus this um like the for for my podcast now something like um transcription before we have to ship out the video you have to ship out your video to someone to listen to and transcribe and just upload it and five minutes you have your full transcription just go through for any mist and when when.

(23:44) com came out I was like what it's just it's a lifesaver a lot of these things are Lifesavers like if if we had this prior to 2020 think about all these people sitting home 2020 right what could have happened oh man listen everything I think becomes full circle and I think it it goes to serice you know that you know now you can take some hours back and it's like having another employee exactly exactly like like my assistant mentioned most of the things she does I I just um I have um like a Google doc that shows how all

(24:32) those things are done so most of them is just like for the Articles now it's just um okay every month we research the articles that come out for the month then on um each week the article for the week look for a good title tell AI to do an outline tell AI to write the outline session by section so at time is just the time is just nothing just doesn't take any this thing just doesn't take any time yeah compared to before you like oh can you do this for me oh I'm writing the article you said I should

(25:01) write earlier everything is just oh yeah oh yeah and we know you know managing people is not easy it's it's it's it's it's I think that's the hardest thing I had to learn because I'm an introvert I am growing up I didn't really I was just this kind person I was I mentioned earlier I used to be pared in my computer so I was this person that didn't really have a lot of friends I was always on my own then started my business and all of a sudden I I I I have people I have to motivate and talk

(25:34) to and I think that was really difficult for me really difficult but I think I that's what we do as entrepreneurs we just um pick what's uncomfortable and get comfortable with it you don't have a choice you don't have a choice choice I mean now we have we have air but you know a lot of people not they they they probably don't even know how to use it accurately yes right and there are so many ways that they can be it can be used in the business to help them but they think that just putting it into

(26:10) chat GPT and listening to what chat GPT spits out but that too is funny when I watch it it is too it is funny but you know uh at the end of the day I think that's where you know our our expertise come in your expertise and marketing and my expertise as well I think that's why you get people that know about how to do it you know yes yes yes or else it just waste a lot of time because I see a lot of um especially with the content writing part like I I just described our process for Content writing I said it takes like an hour or

(26:48) so some businesses might just decide okay I want to use AI to write my content and they just write right an on this and it spits out something and they paste it there are different things to take into cogn first of all one thing I always say is that AI can lie very conf confidently very it's true it's true and and they don't even realize that a lot of it won't rank because Google picks it up yes yes because I think I I so they mentioned ear that was in March March right that Google deranked a lot of the

(27:24) sites using Ai and the funny thing is that they derank them but my blog I have I have like a blog like on AdSense and all that is in AI nothing happens to it well here's the thing here's the thing though what you did say was important you'll have it create something but you go through and you edit it whereas other people will take it and then they put it they they they don't have the time right so they yes they're business owners they're busy they're like oh AI is great they have it

(27:51) right they just fit it out and put it up there and they're like that's not how it works yes and it doesn't have personal to it doesn't have any link to you as a person correct correct yeah yeah they they definitely aren't getting the the yes it's an assistant but you still have to be there you still have to be present or someone you need to be the supervisor exactly exactly well it was a pleasure speaking to you and I want you to like tell our listeners a little bit more about where they can find find you a little bit more

(28:30) about what to expect when they find you all right um I think the only um two places I updates on social media are are my LinkedIn so that's linkedin.com my name I think I'm the only person with my name on LinkedIn for now probably someone will get born soon and take over so that's my LinkedIn first of all then um my podcast um YouTube that's um Tech your business podcast so those are the only thing two things I know that updated at least every week so you can come on the LinkedIn I just post random

(29:11) things that get in my head on the podcast is Tech your business so for your business different ways you can use Tech to make your business better help your business do do more with technology like I think um some weeks ago we had an episode where I talked about this my process of writing better content with AI things you can do things you should um watch out for those um words that AI always uses like unleash discover things like that awesome so yeah so that's that's basically the two places you can reach

(29:44) me take your bus podcast.com or LinkedIn awesome awesome well it was a pleasure having you on today and I'm sure it will not be the last thank you so so much for enlightening our fellow listeners have a fabulous day thank you so much for having me on all right perfect [Music]