Welcome to Goals Do Come True with Doug Bennett, bestselling author, lifestyle financial planner, and international speaker.
Each week, Doug will share insights with you from inspiring guests who have already achieved their work-optional dreams. You’ll get a ringside seat into real stories of people who have overcome bankruptcy, built and sold successful businesses, and are now living life on their own terms WITHOUT ever worrying about their finances.
By the end of this journey, you’ll be one step closer to unlocking The Work Optional Lifestyle Financial Plan® – a toolkit of all the unique systems and processes you need to craft a lifestyle where work is truly optional.
So, if you’re ready to embrace financial freedom, retire early, and do it without constantly pinching pennies, stay tuned for exciting new episodes released every Wednesday.
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Join Doug as he celebrates 200 episodes of the Goals Do Come True podcast. In this special solo episode, he talks about resilience, reinvention and the rewards of setting goals that truly matter. He also talks about his own journey to success and how overcoming difficulties has been key to his own and others' success.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Anyone who has achieved something great has had to deal with difficulties or adversity.
Imposter syndrome and self-doubt are common in many people’s journeys to success.
Doug’s near bankruptcy, motorbike accident and recent divorce are all difficult events that he has had to overcome but right now he is happier, healthier and more in love with life than ever before.
Goal setting is the foundation of every transformation. You can’t drift into success, it has to be planned, designed and built.
Doug has bigger plans for the podcast, continuing to help people create a life they can live on their own terms.
BEST MOMENTS
"Every person that has achieved something incredible has had to overcome something difficult”
“When you let go of what no longer serves you, you make space for something amazing”
“Your goals really can come true if you have the courage to chase them”
Enjoy, and come back for the latest podcast each Wednesday. Thank you for listening.
Setting Ridiculous Goals with 'Lord Zoom' John Drinkwater
Episode 49
Wednesday, March 19, 2025 • Duration 01:05:18
Doug is joined by John Drinkwater, known as toastmasters Lord Zoom. John talks to Doug about how he became a Zoom expert during the pandemic, creating virtual Toastmasters events including TV productions that drew global audiences. He shares Zoom's AI capabilities, content creation strategies and his unconventional approach to goal setting.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
John describes himself as either fully committed or completely disengaged, which explains his approach to goals as ‘dangerous rabbit holes’ that consume his focus once he commits to them.
After closing his business to care for his parents, John joined Toastmasters International for mental stimulation, becoming involved just before COVID forced everything online, positioning him perfectly to become a Zoom expert!
When faced with hosting a Toastmasters conference online with no budget, John engineered a complex computer setup that transformed Zoom meetings into a TV-show experience, earning him the nickname "Lord Zoom" and attracting nearly 1,000 viewers globally.
John believes effective online presentations should combine public speaking skills, marketing techniques, acting methods, and video production knowledge. Being reasonably good at all four areas beats being excellent at just one.
Zoom's built in transcription, caption capabilities and companion AI can work together to capture meeting content and refine it, with the AI able to process transcript content into polished, concise material that preserves the speaker's intent.
For ambitious goals, John recommends multiplying your target by 10-100x to make it ‘stupendously stupid’, even if you fall short, you'll achieve far more than with modest goals, while pairing this with more realistic short term milestones.
Creating scarcity through limited availability (like offering only 500 spots for a program) generates FOMO (fear of missing out) and makes people more likely to commit, even when pursuing extremely ambitious targets.
Rather than giving all content away free, John advises offering enough value to inspire interest, then creating interactive coaching programs where people work through processes together, as group coaching provides multiple perspectives and is more scalable than one-on-one sessions.
Make Big Hairy Audacious Goals! Doug and Tanja Bogataj's Guide to Intentional Achievement
Episode 48
Friday, March 14, 2025 • Duration 51:02
Doug interviews Tanja Bogataj, a visionary leadership coach who made a bold transition from a government career to entrepreneurship. Tanja shares the challenges of reinventing herself and how she helps other leaders launch their big dreams. The conversation explores goal setting strategies, work/life balance and the importance of support systems. Doug also shares his expert goal setting framework!
KEY TAKEAWAYS
When setting goals, balance masculine and feminine energies by combining clear structure with intuition, be deliberate with goals but also listen to your inner wisdom about timing and direction.
Entrepreneurship provides freedom to create opportunities that align with your passions but also requires different types of courage and creates new challenges not found in a corporate career.
Leaders often struggle with having no one to share their challenges with; having a coach or support system is crucial as you can't always burden your team or family with business issues.
Being intentional about what you want to achieve helps align your actions with your values. It’s important to understand not just the goal itself but why you want to achieve it.
Doug recommends having one primary "big hairy audacious goal," but including smaller achievable goals you can easily achieve to maintain motivation and satisfaction with the goal-setting process.
Always prioritise family time in your calendar first, nothing is so important that it should consistently override commitments to family, family time cannot be recovered once lost.
Transformation takes time, approximately six months for individuals and up to 12 months for teams, but having a coach can help shortcut patterns of thinking and behaviours that limit progress.
BEST MOMENTS
"I knew something about coaching, but nothing about entrepreneurship."
"We're not brain surgeons, nothing we do is that important that we cannot have a date night."
"Trust yourself when you either go for one goal and to be open, flexible to change it and learn how to do it better or what needs to be done. Just go with the wisdom of life and living."
Why Your Face Holds the Key to Achieving Your Goals with Tammy Cho
Episode 47
Wednesday, March 5, 2025 • Duration 39:24
Doug speaks with Tammy Cho, a former healthcare leader who became an international bestselling author and self-love and energy leadership mentor. Tammy reveals how face and body analysis can identify the invisible blocks preventing goal achievement and personal fulfilment. She shares her journey from burnout and disconnection to energy alignment, explaining how our physical features mirror our emotional states and impact our goal attainment. Discover why your face might hold the key to unlocking your full potential and how energy leadership can transform your approach to goals from the inside out.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Tammy's burnout as a nurse left her emotionally disconnected from her baby daughter's milestones, revealing that even conventional success (becoming a millionaire) couldn't fill her inner emptiness.
Face and body analysis examines how physical features reflect our emotional history. The left side of your face shows your private world, while the right side reveals what you present publicly.
Most people blame failed goals on lack of motivation, but the real issue is misalignment between your authentic self and your conscious desires.
Your body stores unprocessed emotions as physical markers. Asymmetrical facial features can reveal disconnections between your head and heart that silently sabotage goals.
Energy exists in multiple forms; thoughts are electrical impulses, emotions are energy in motion and managing this energy creates a stronger foundation for achieving goals.
Before setting goals, practice acceptance of where you currently are. Goals set from an unaligned state create a flawed foundation from the start.
Feeling empty despite outward success is your "soul calling". A signal that deeper alignment is needed for everything to flow naturally.
Many high achievers fix physical symptoms of burnout but neglect emotional and spiritual healing, creating an ongoing cycle of disconnection that undermines their goals.
BEST MOMENTS
"At that point, me and my husband became millionaires in real estate and I still was disconnected and unhappy."
How to Prevent Burnout with Dennis Franczak CEO of Bright Matter
Episode 46
Wednesday, February 26, 2025 • Duration 39:53
Doug interviews Dennis Franczak, a transformative c-suite executive who shares his journey through burnout and recovery. Dennis opens up about how his single minded focus on business success cost him his marriage and nearly everything else until he hit rock bottom. Now, as CEO of Bright Matter, he helps other executives avoid the same pitfalls through his 12-week program. This honest conversation is all about vulnerability, legacy building and the importance of maintaining a healthy relationship with work before it's too late.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Burnout often manifests as stepping out of important routines, falling behind on communications, and feeling disconnected from your organisation. These are all warning signs that executives frequently ignore.
High performing executives resist showing vulnerability, which prevents them from seeking help; Dennis recommends watching Brené Brown's TED Talk on vulnerability as a starting point for leaders who need to break this pattern.
Dennis's 12-week program works in three phases: understanding personal motivations, examining the relationship with work, and defining legacy, helping executives develop a North Star that guides decision making.
Creating a legacy focused goal helps transform leadership from being self focused to purpose driven. Dennis aims to positively impact 100 people through each executive he works with, creating an exponential ripple effect.
Self care practices like journaling and meditation can help executives process emotions and make better decisions by creating space between feelings and reactions.
The fear of appearing vulnerable prevents many struggling executives from seeking help; acknowledging you're off your game and talking to someone you trust is the crucial first step toward recovery.
Tracking daily feelings alongside self care activities using a simple scorecard helps identify which practices most effectively contribute to productivity and wellbeing.
Practicing gratitude can give perspective during difficult times, remembering our finite time on earth and focusing on making a positive impact can transform how we approach challenges.
BEST MOMENTS
Making Business Simple Again with Del Parsons
Episode 45
Wednesday, February 19, 2025 • Duration 52:45
Doug interviews Del Parsons, a business coach and marketing mentor. Del shares her inspiring journey from corporate life to entrepreneurship, triggered by a pivotal conversation with her husband over cocktails in Portugal! With discussions about goal setting, business growth and balancing entrepreneurship with parenting a child with additional needs, Del gives her ideas and insights into building a successful business while maintaining work life balance.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Goals need to match your inner purpose, not others' expectations. Del shifted from corporate style targets to personal objectives that truly motivated her, leading to sustainable business growth.
Business success follows simple processes. Del reveals that it's our overthinking that complicates things, following clear steps and taking action creates results.
Find mentors and peers who challenge you. Del emphasises joining groups where you're not the smartest person in the room but can still contribute meaningfully.
Set revenue goals based on your lifestyle needs. Instead of chasing arbitrary numbers like "six figures," Del suggests focusing on what you actually need for your desired life.
Regular planning creates momentum. Through weekly, monthly, and quarterly reviews, Del shows how consistent reflection keeps your business on track.
Change your environment for better planning. Del discovered that stepping away from her desk leads to clearer thinking and more effective goal setting.
Experience builds unshakeable confidence. After years in business, Del developed deep trust in her ability to overcome any challenge and rebuild if necessary.
Measure impact beyond money. Del explains why tracking the lives you change often matters more than financial metrics for sustainable business growth.
BEST MOMENTS
"Everything's figureoutable and I think that is no bad thing and no bad kind of lesson to live your life by."
"Building the business is a series of processes that you take action on. It's a logical pathway, it's always the people and the thought processes that get in the way."
Transform Your Goals Through Self Care and Healing with Amanda Lemmage
Episode 44
Wednesday, February 12, 2025 • Duration 33:02
Doug is joined by Amanda Lemmage, the founder of Skingevity Med Spa and Wellness Clinic. Through personal narratives of resilience and healing, Amanda shares her story from early childhood trauma to becoming a wellness advocate and entrepreneur. She reveals her thoughts about the connection between inner healing, mindset, and achieving goals. Amanda's approach to holistic wellness, combining spiritual growth with practical self care strategies, gives a framework for personal transformation and success. Her story of turning personal challenges into a mission to help others heal demonstrates how adversity can become a catalyst for positive change.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Amanda discovered that starting each day with intentional quiet time and meditation, even just 10 minutes, transformed her ability to handle challenges and achieve her goals.
Through her wellness journey, she learned to break down ambitious goals into manageable pieces, focusing on one achievement at a time rather than getting overwhelmed by the bigger picture.
After experiencing significant personal loss, Amanda found that maintaining a strong faith practice became her anchor, providing stability and guidance through life's challenges.
Drawing from her experience running a med spa, Amanda advocates for regular wellness practices like infrared sauna sessions, having seen firsthand how they reduce stress and enhance immune function.
As a business owner, she discovered that implementing structured routines while maintaining flexibility actually created more opportunities for spontaneity and growth in both her personal and professional life.
Through developing her wellness practice, Amanda learned to focus on her natural strengths and delegate tasks outside her expertise, leading to more efficient business operations and better client outcomes.
After struggling with high cortisol levels herself, Amanda now helps others understand how simple 10 minute environment changes can significantly impact stress levels.
Her journey taught her the value of patience in achieving goals, recognising that certain experiences, though challenging, serve as essential stepping stones to greater success.
BEST MOMENTS
Protecting Innovation with Noam Krasniansky
Episode 43
Wednesday, February 5, 2025 • Duration 57:20
In this episode of Goals Do Come True, Doug interviews serial entrepreneur Noam Krasniansky. After experiencing the devastating impact of counterfeiting on his own successful products, Noam developed Komposite, a revolutionary blockchain solution to protect creators and brands. His fascinating transformation from traditional product development to cutting-edge technology showcases how challenges can spark innovation. With counterfeiting surpassing drug trade as a trillion-dollar industry, Noam's insights on goal setting, perseverance, and protecting intellectual property are more relevant than ever.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Goal setting requires both vision and actionable steps. Noam demonstrates this by using two separate books: one for annual planning and another for daily operations, creating a practical system for turning dreams into reality.
Success demands resilience through multiple iterations. As evidenced by Noam's journey from infomercials to Shark Tank to blockchain, each "failure" became a stepping stone to greater innovation.
The counterfeiting crisis extends beyond luxury goods affecting everything from medications to car parts, this trillion dollar industry threatens innovation, safety, and creative integrity worldwide.
Blockchain technology can bridge physical and digital authentication - By combining security features like holograms and forensic markers with blockchain verification, products become impossible to counterfeit.
Goal achievement requires regular review and adaptation, Noam and his wife's annual goal-setting ritual demonstrates how consistent evaluation helps maintain focus and adjust strategies.
Everyone can be an entrepreneur and the only real limitations are external negativity and self-doubt; with persistence and belief, any goal becomes achievable.
Innovation often emerges from personal challenges, Noam's experience with patent battles led to developing a revolutionary solution for protecting intellectual property.
The future of authentication is decentralised, Komposite aims to expand blockchain nodes from 20,000 to over 3 million, democratising product verification.
BEST MOMENTS
"Dream it. The bigger the dream, the harder it is but if you can dream it, you can make it."
What Modern Sales is Missing with Bryan Flanagan
Episode 42
Wednesday, January 29, 2025 • Duration 41:59
Doug interviews Bryan Flanagan, a sales legend with an extraordinary journey from IBM to becoming a key figure at the Zig Ziglar Corporation. Bryan gives his advice on goal setting, sales ethics, and personal growth, drawing from his 14 years at IBM and 29 years working alongside Zig Ziglar himself. He also shares his experiences and knowledge about consistency, relationship building, and the balance between personal and professional goals.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
You cannot consistently perform in a manner inconsistent with how you see yourself - this fundamental principle transformed Bryan's career from a struggling salesman to a successful trainer.
Goal setting requires evaluating both benefits and obstacles, if the obstacles outweigh the benefits, you need to find more benefits or reconsider the goal's viability.
Personal growth must come before professional growth, investing in yourself and maintaining intentionality in daily goals is crucial for long term success.
The intent behind your technique determines your ethics, and understanding this principle helps maintain professionalism and integrity in sales.
Successful goal achievement requires involving and communicating with all stakeholders, especially family members who will be impacted by your pursuit.
The POGO system (Person, Organisation/Occupation, Goals, Obstacles) provides a structured approach to building meaningful business relationships.
Real selling is about relationships, not just digital interactions. Modern sales professionals need to balance traditional relationship building skills with new technology.
Setting realistic deadlines is crucial, understanding your obstacles and required skills also helps establish achievable timelines for your goals.
BEST MOMENTS
"You cannot consistently perform in a manner that's inconsistent with the way you see yourself. You can't perform here if you continue to see yourself here."
"If you don't set goals, somebody will set them for you. Obstacles are what we see when we take our eyes off our goal."
Rewriting the Rules of Grief with Ghulam Fernandes
Episode 41
Wednesday, January 22, 2025 • Duration 42:55
Doug talks to grief specialist Ghulam Fernandes to explore the complex world of grief and loss. Through her own powerful journey of multiple personal losses, Ghulam talks about handling grief, building emotional resilience, and transforming pain into purpose. This episode isn't just about dealing with death – it's about understanding how various types of loss impact our lives and learning practical tools to navigate life's challenges while maintaining our goals and vision.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Unresolved grief has three main causes: undelivered communication of significance, regrets about things being different/better, and unrealised hopes, dreams, and expectations
Grief isn't restricted to bereavement, it can arise from any significant change in familiar patterns of behaviour, including career changes, relationships, and life transitions
Common myths about grief like "be strong," "keep busy," and "time heals all wounds" can actually hinder the healing process and keep people stuck in their grief
Grief is both cumulative and negative, it doesn't simply go away with time but needs to be actively processed and addressed
Self-soothing behaviours like comfort eating, drinking, or gambling often mask unresolved grief and shouldn't be relied upon as coping mechanisms
Building emotional resilience and establishing good self-care strategies are crucial for handling grief effectively
While we can't change what has happened, we can choose how we respond to it and work to create something positive from our experiences
Goal setting plays a vital role in grief recovery by helping create a clear vision and path forward while maintaining healthy boundaries
BEST MOMENTS
"It's like we carry a backpack and whenever we have difficult things we're not sure what to do with we kind of stuff them in there and then try and carry on."
"You don't have to have one big wound, you can die from a thousand paper cuts and if you don't have a way of processing those things and regaining your peace of mind, then those things will sit there and keep being added to."
BEST MOMENTS
"I'm a very binary guy, I either sit there and don't say a word, or you can't shut me up.“
"I basically just told my customers, I'm terribly sorry, but I'm going to stop trading in a couple of months time because I've decided that I love my parents so much that I want to look after them in their final years... and I disappeared for ten years."
"If you're going to do it, you need to have an overriding ridiculous goal and whatever your overriding ridiculous goal is, you probably need to multiply it by 10 or 100 to turn it into absolutely stupendously stupid goal."
"If you think half a million is good, then why not a million? And you think a million is not good, why not aim for five million? Now if I fail miserably and I get five hundred thousand, it's still a brilliant goal."
"If people are gonna watch you, then you should take some effort to make it more interesting.”
Enjoy, and come back for the latest podcast each Wednesday. Thank you for listening.
"A lot of people when they go move about to set intentions and goals for their lives and they don't hit it or they're not getting there fast enough and they blame it on lack of motivation, procrastination."
"If you're wanting to set goals over and above your set point, and create a deeper impact in the world, it's so important to go beyond that."
"If you feel like you've been on somewhat of a hamster wheel, or you feel like, why am I doing everything right and it's not working? Or you're getting everything done and there's a part of you that feels like there's something missing, but you can't put a finger on it. It's actually your soul calling."
"Choose your reaction to an event and choose a positive reaction to an event, and then you'll spiral up instead of spiralling down."
Enjoy, and come back for the latest podcast each Wednesday. Thank you for listening.
"What happens is when you start to get burnout, you start missing your goals... all the little fuses were starting to trip. Yet, I didn't notice them until the whole darn fuse box blew up."
"High performers and executives don't have an opportunity to really think about their legacy when they're in the grind day to day."
"The loss of the marriage was my fault because I was completely out of whack with my work life balance... I became very selfish in that and it cost me my marriage and my wife for years tried to bring me back to reality."
"I go by this thing called a rule of 100. For every executive that I work with, I want my work to have a positive impact on 100 people in their lives.”
"We only have a limited amount of time on this planet... be grateful for what you have, the people you have in your life. And the experiences you're having that are going to allow you to be the best version of yourself."
ABOUT THE GUEST
Dennis Franczak
Transformative C-Suite Executive and Operations Leader
Enjoy, and come back for the latest podcast each Wednesday. Thank you for listening.
"If I was to sit, flip back to eight years ago when I felt really trapped in a corporate job and I didn't know where to go and how to do it and what I could create as a business, I'd have never pictured what I have now."
"You put one foot in front of the other and keep going."
Del Parsons is a chartered marketer and certified mastercoach. She set up her business back in January 2017 with the simple mission to support female founders to develop the skills, confidence and self belief to get out there and market their business and sell their stuff.
Having supported hundreds of female founders of service businesses to grow their figures to six figures and beyond Del supports her clients not only with her skills as a coach but also through her lived experience of growing and scaling multiple seven figure businesses.
As a working parent to a teenage son with autism and dyslexia Del is a champions other entrepreneurial parents who have to juggle the additional needs of their children alongside the demands of their businesses.
Enjoy, and come back for the latest podcast each Wednesday. Thank you for listening.
"I notice not feeling so great was not helping to achieve those goals that I may have set in place, so I really started to tune in and just notice taking care of myself and my mind and spirit really allowed me to persevere."
"When I stay focused and I'm in my mindset, having a clear mind has really allowed me to propel just in my personal journey, as well as in my professional journey as well."
"The world is a little heated out there right now, and we can choose. We really have the opportunity to choose how do we want to feel, you know, regardless of what's going on around us."
"Finding what is my forte and what are my strengths that I can excel on and be successful in those areas, and then like you said, delegate or hire for the other things."
Enjoy, and come back for the latest podcast each Wednesday. Thank you for listening.
"I wanted to create a product that was uncopyable and where the original creator, entrepreneur could actually not be attacked to death by the copycats of the world."
"Do you know when it's too late? When you're dead. Okay, if you're alive, doesn't matter how old you are, doesn't matter what colour you are, what sex you are, it doesn't matter if you speak the language."
"And without a goal, you are aimless, right? You might as well eat biscuits and tea and watch TV all day."
"Every day is a new day. You look at your goals, and even if people say no, remember a no is just a maybe. And the next one could be a yes."
As a seasoned entrepreneur and Shark Tank winner, I co-founded Bambooee with my wife, introducing eco-friendly bamboo paper towels to the market. While the product thrived after our appearance on NBC's hit show, it unfortunately fell victim to copycat competitors. This experience underscored a critical lesson: patents alone are not enough to protect a brand's integrity. That's why I launched Komposite Blockchain, a cutting-edge platform designed to safeguard brands from counterfeiting and imitation. With our whitepaper complete, we are now focused on revolutionising brand protection worldwide.
Enjoy, and come back for the latest podcast each Wednesday. Thank you for listening.
"I want to be able to make a world of difference to those people that come into my path without expending lots of energy, worrying about all the people I can't help."
"You can't change what's happened, but you can choose how you respond."
"If you don't take care of yourself first, you actually end up with an empty cup and nothing to give."
Enjoy, and come back for the latest podcast each Wednesday. Thank you for listening.
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