On some few articles in the past few weeks, I have referred to my respect for Vusi Thembekwayo – according to me, the best motivational speaker I have ever met. Vusi is now sitting on the panel of One Day Leader – it plays on SABC 1 every Tuesday at 18:30 – 19:30. SEE LINK. Basically on One Day Leader (for those who are too lazy to go to that link), a group of 6 youngsters debate on general issues affecting our communities and what solutions can be implemented in order to achieve development. They have a different topic every week, there’s voting and eventually there will be elimination and there are some government-related prizes for the winner.
I know it is probably being aired now to support that “love your South Africa” campaign ahead of the local government elections, but this is a show that I personally think has been missing on our TV screens for a long time. The youth need to be involved in conversations that mark the growth of our country and that shows their commitment to seeing change. Everything that has been called “educational” on our TV always involves sex, drugs, violence and I think with One Day Leader, the youth make a valuable contribution and even though it is entertaining, it is not too graphic and the lines are not blurred when it comes to what exactly the lessons are that are supposed to be learnt.
I find the show totally entertaining, the debates are ripe, the participants are making valid contributions and the panel of course, is on point.
So today I bring you Vusi Thembekwayo, a picture of what simple success is. I know you don’t know who this guy is, because he is not on the public eye, and that’s because real celebrities do not need to be. I celebrate Vusi’s life, I celebrate his way of thinking, I celebrate his attitude and for me, Vusi Thembekwayo is a celebrity.
When I first heard of this guy (through my favourite cousin who heard him when he was a guest on MetroFM), I got so excited I wanted to become a motivational speaker as in the next day. I told everybody I know about him and his awesomeness.
I wanted to include him in this article HERE about people who move my buttons, but halfway through it I realized naah.. he is completely on his own league.
So, I met up with him to chat about who he is and what makes him successful. This was one of the best chats I have ever had in my entire waking life. Think something that you have dreamt about for quite sometime – and one day, boom! It presents itself. Think someone that totally motivates you and that you have been drawing inspiration from for quite a while… next thing boom! You have a chance to meet with them. That is what happened to me with Vusi Thembekwayo. I think the guy is well-inclined entrepreneurially, his heart and attitude are on the right place, he is greatly successful, at a very young age, and still going places.
I have always said I am inspired by people who are confident about who they are, what they have to offer, who do not apologise for being who they are, and just generally who own their space. Vusi Thembekwayo is such a person. In a year, Vusi speaks to at least 250 000 people in 5 continents, and he does this in the simplicity of being himself. He is also not afraid to say: “I am good!” and he doesn’t go around looking for validation, he just delivers goodness and he is making a good living out of just being himself. If that’s not inspiring then I don’t know what is.
We hear distant stories of abo Bill Gates and Mark what what of Facebook. We read books like who moved my cheese and monks selling their Ferraris… and I tell you this Vusi guy is something else, hey… he is one of the young South Africans whose lives seriously need to be celebrated.
Okay, lemme stop singing the guy’s praises. I’m starting to sound like I want something from him. (hihi) But I’m serious, hey, you get to know this guy and believe me, his attitude and his passion will make you just make that decision to get up and start looking at yourself and your life in a different way. Don’t think Dr Phil, noh… think TD Jakes minus the over-emphasis of the holy spirit, with a bit of Trevor Noah in the mix.
Yes… the guy is freakin’ hilarious, he doesn’t mince his words and he doesn’t waste them either. He says exactly what he wants to say to mean exactly what he wants to mean.
You listen to him and you will be inspired to achieve more, do more and truly be more.
(before I get to the chat, I have to tell you that I made a special trip from Cape Town to Johannesburg this week, just to have this chat. I tell you, I had questions prepared but I got to the guy and we just spoke. The conversation just flowed, I put the recording thing on and I never took any notes, though it was my intention to. We chatted like we have known each other for ages – well… I have known him for ages – so he chatted to me like he had known me for ages).
Here’s some highlights of the chat:
Carino: How do you market yourself as a motivational speaker?
Vusi: I know my market. I am very business-focused, and that’s what a lot of people do not understand. A lot of my friends would say to me.. “Vusi, you need to be on TV – you should be a celebrity”, and I say.. ah-ah.. mh-mh (shaking his head). If I had a chance to be on the public eye, yes, I would do it, but Im not going to live my life trying to be a celebrity. If an opportunity comes up like this TV show (One Day Leader) came up, that I would take up. But it’s got to be aligned with who I am and what I do. Then it makes sense. The way I do it is very strategic. If you google “motivational speakers”, my name comes up number 1 in the country. And that is not a coincidence, it is deliberate. If you drive on the N1, I got posters up on the N1, if you dial Telkom’s 1023 and you ask for a number for a motivational speaker, they will give you mine. So those are marketing strategies and through them I attract my exact market. I know who my clients are. The big thing for me, though, which is part of the reason I like to think I’m the best, is that 80% of my business is repeat or referral; only 20% is new approaches. So I am that good – that 80% of the people that hear me, want to listen to me again, and again, and again. So I literally receive calls from clients saying “when are you releasing a new talk? We wanna hear it”. So when I release a new talk, I already got places to talk.
Carino: And that “I am that good!” attitude, does it not sometimes make you appear arrogant?
Vusi: (prompt response) No! It might, but my core model is that, I know that nothing that I have, and nothing that I have become was given, or was by chance. Nothing! It is by the good grace of the Lord that I have this talent, and that He has allowed me the time and the space and resources to use it. That’s the first, and second is I work f&&*n hard. There is nobody who works harder than I do. And if I meet anyone, who works harder than me, I will work harder. I speak all over the world. On top of that I run a successful business and on top of that I am studying. So you can see I have a lot on the table, but I still work that hard. So if I meet anyone, anywhere.. and people say.. you see that guy.. he works hard…
Carino: …You will top him.
Vusi: I will top him. I will work harder, and I will work smarter. And I will still do the smallest things. People do not know that it’s the smallest things that build success. I still cold-call clients. I still pick up the phone, tell someone “hi, this is who I am, this is what I do, I will send you this and that and when you have a need give me a call. By doing those small things, you develop a reputation... and you grow, and you grow, and you grow (showing with the hand)
Carino: And have you always been like this? Were you already working that hard, when you were… say, 10 years old?
Vusi: No! I was very relaxed. In fact, I was very lucky, my dad raised me in the sport of martial arts. And I was also very lucky that my dad and I were very close. So when he died.. I was 13 when he died. I think that’s when my life changed. Coz the man who had been there wasn’t there anymore.
Carino: So you had to be your own man.
Vusi: Yha! And we had to make lifestyle changes at home. We used to have a car, then there was no car anymore, had to drop the standard of living. From being the guy that had nice takkies at school to becoming the boy who doesn’t even have takkies, that typa thing. So… those are the changes that we had to make. My mother did an amazing job at raising us. Actually it was an absolutely phenomenal job. But yha, that’s when I just took ownership. And for me it’s my philosophy… I might not work for everybody, but I own what I do. That’s me.
Carino: ///nods///
Vusi: And sometimes it might come across as arrogant, other times people might say…bloody hell.. this guy is difficult to work with. But I own it. I am serious about what I do. It’s not a joke, you know. As doctors are serious about keeping people alive, I’m serious about what I do. And it puts food on my table, so I have to do it well.
Carino: Does it ever happen though that you are delivering one of your best talks and you sort of hit the wall? You see you don’t get through to your audience?
Vusi: That happens, yha.
Carino: And how do you deal with that?
Vusi: That’s also what makes a good speaker, you find a way to connect. The biggest lesson I have learnt though is, you need to choose your audience. But the thing is people are so hungry especially in this business, to get bookings, that they end up going for any audience. I choose my audience. I have a three-step programme that I use and it really works for me. The first step is I choose who my clients are. Second thing is, I always insist on a briefing session before the actual talk, where we sit down and you tell me about your organisation and its culture, your people, what you want to achieve and the role you want me to play. Tell me the challenges you have and the way your people talk. I then develop a talk based on that information. I do that to the extent that I will deliver the same talk at two different organisations but it will sound different coz those organisation are different.
Carino: Yeah. That makes sense. I always say I believe in “the bigger picture”. So what you do is you get the bigger picture of your audience then you play your part to complete that picture.
Vusi: Absolutely! And that’s part of the reason that they would book me again.
(then he mentions something about writing books)
Carino: I was going to ask you… have you thought of writing a book?
Im working on my book called Blacksheep. People have been asking me if I shouldn’t write a book since I was 21. I didn’t, and that’s for a variety of reasons. I didn’t feel ready. So my book thing was… if you think about Tupac Shakur.. he died at the age of 25. But he left a body of material that tells you who he was, what he represented and what he was about. And that’s material that his family can be proud of. And for me, I wanted to get to a stage where I can put a body of material together, give it to the world and say, world, here is a representation of me. Because when I do that, and if that work is not consistent with who I am, my reputation will be at stake. So I have taken my time, developed myself, and I am making sure that when I sit down and write something, it will be something that even my competitors who hate me, will read it and say wow! This guy is good! You know when people don’t want to say you are good, but have to admit it anyway…? Yha! That’s what I want. Kinda like what Muhammed Ali did to boxing. Ali used to beat white boxers. White people didn’t want to admit that he’s good, but he was good! If a guy is good, you cant take the thing away from him. So that’s what im doing now. And I have given myself a year and a half coz the first six months I am just doing research. I don’t want to come up with something that says.. “I grew up there… and I did that..” That’s boring. And people will be saying… Haai suka! He’s wasting our time this guy… flip to page seventy, that’s where it gets interesting. (LOL) I don’t want people to do that. I want to write a body of work that people will read and say.. woooow!!
I have to say sitting with Vusi, was inspiring in such a refreshing way. He sort of says out loud the things that I only think about or I write on my journal. Here are some quotes that I know very well I have thought of before.
Quotes:
“If you want to do it, don’t ask for permission. Forget what the world tells you and just do it!”
“Strive to not only look the part, be the part”
He says the reason 83% of black businesses fail within 2 years is because most people are concerned about looking good more than being good.
Vusi is simple, chilled, and successful. Did I mention that we also spoke about Khuli Chana? cough-cough. He thinks Khuli is good… he thinks Khuli is dope and he has his album. My chat with Khuli Chana is ON THIS LINK
For more about Vusi, his website is www.vusi.co.za he also has a blog on that site where he posts his random thoughts. It’s on one of his blogs that he tells about #Blacksheep.
Oh, and by the way, I had my camera with me nhe… but I ended up not taking any pictures… Next time I see him I should remember to ask him if he has thought of starting a mentoring programme. Talent like this has to be shared. I know nna that, I have already made a commitment that I will learn from Vusi so much so that I become part of that body of material thing that he says he wants to leave.
When something is good, we gotta recognize.
I bow!