And so it begins... the biggest 'dice roll' of my life.
I'm off to the US and the UK for 9 weeks speaking at conferences, churches, community groups, and podcasts.
Why?
Because I will never again put myself in the position of helplessness I found myself in at the start of Covid, where I saw and understood what was happening, what was coming, and I spoke up from the start, only to find that I didn't have the reach, the clout, the 'influence' to make a difference.
I spoke, but no one in power was obliged to listen. They could ignore mewithout penalty because I was 'too small'.
I realised then what a fool I'd been... thinking it 'didn't matter' whether i built an audience or whether i didn't, that it would be 'egotistical' to care...
No, that was foolish. It was fear of failure masquerading as humility.
I realised too late, in the middle of 2020 as the lockdown noose tightened in Victoria that id betrayed myself and my supporters by not doing everything in my power to be able to ACTUALLY MAKE A DIFFERENCE.
It's one thing to speak. Its another to be heard.
In today's 'attention economy' being heard by those in power means having huge reach among the public, and being a thought leader among others with audience, being able set the agenda, lead the way and have others follow.
Yes it's 100% absolutely about followers, clicks, engagement rates and reach.
I don't like it either but if those are the rules, if that's the game they're going to make me play, then I'm playing to win.
Not for the sake of the views, clicks, or follower count, but because that's the leverage I need so my words and ideas can truly make a difference in this lifetime.
So that I will never again be helplessness in the face of such obvious evil.
Im on a mission to make a difference and the first step is to grow.
You have witnessed the first stage of that growth journey over the last year as I've grown explosively in Australia.
Now I'm going international.
Your support has made this possible. I'm not being paid by any of the conferences I'm speaking at, in fact I'm covering my own travel and accommodation costs AND speaking for free.
That's just how it is when you're a 'nobody' in the US.
I started out the same way in Australia, by the way.
Now I'm given prime spots in some of the biggest conferences in the country, because I started at the bottom and i proved my worth one keynote at a time.
I'm starting the same journey, the same long climb, in the biggest, most influential, and most competitive market of them all. The US.
Why? Am I abandoning Australia? Am I just going to be another online face talking incessantly about US politics?
No, not at all. Its because this is how we put Australia back on the map. Imagine if I had the kind of reach that when I shone the spotlight on something in Australia the whole world saw?
What if I could break a story about Australia and it would be picked up by international voices and the Mainsteam Media?
What if they COULDN'T ignore my voice... YOUR voice, any longer?
That's my mission. Thats my 'why' for this trip.
9 weeks away from my family. 9 weeks without my studio (dont worry ill still be making videos on the road!), 9 weeks of hotel rooms and conference centres and podcasts studios and handshakes with strangers in the hope that in the end when you put it all together it will have been worth the risk, the time, the cost.
Thankyou for being part of my journey. Thankyou for joining me on this next step in my journey.
The time has come for the biggest dice roll of my life.
What happens next is in God's hands.