Bondi’s Stacy Henderson has been an entrepreneur for 20 years. His journey ranges from being a tour and event manager around the world to founding entrepreneur education venture POVAR, entrepreneur communities Entraccom and more.
Having semi-retired at 33, he decided he wanted to help his friends retire too. He combines his love of personal development with business and finance to help people design their dream lives, escape the rat race and be financially free.
Check out our great interview with Stacy where he outlines his own personal journey, his mission and entrepreneurial ventures along with his vision for Bondi! A transcript can be found below the video.
Transcript
Ross:
Stacy, you’re a stalwart of the Bondi community. So wonderful to have you on Bondi Innovations.
Stacy:
It’s great to be here.
Ross:
So what’s your story? What’s your back story?
Stacy:
My back story… My journey began when I was in my early 20s, and up until the age of 27 where I was a broke, lonely, overweight alcoholic.
Ross:
Oh.
Stacy:
And that was kind of how my life was going. And then I discovered this really intensive personal development. And then within the space of five years, I’d set up a number of different businesses, created some passive incomes, and I was semi-retired by the age of 33.
Ross:
Very good.
Stacy:
So everything I do from that point onwards is about packaging the journey I went through in those five years. So it started off with teaching people how to set goals. It was a goal setting process. And I set up a property business, which sort of offset a lot of my living costs.
Stacy:
And then I started to really push into the personal development side of the world. So I ran a workshop called Life Design, which I think maybe you’ve been to?
Ross:
No, I haven’t.
Stacy:
No, you haven’t. Okay. Lots of Bondi people have, which has been great. So there’s a goal-setting workshop. And off the back of that, I realized that most people for them to get the life that they designed in that workshop, they needed to sort out their personal finances, and for most people, they needed to refine a niche and a specific offering so they could make more money in less time and have a better lifestyle.
Stacy:
So that’s pretty much my journey. And that’s where I’m at nowadays is putting products and services around that mission.
Ross:
Fantastic. So what are your current projects or initiatives or directions?
Stacy:
It’s two things… Two really exciting things that this has evolved into. Number one, which I have spoken to you about which is going to be part of Bondi Innovation Alliance, or at least my contribution is something called [Entre-Comm 00:00:01:59] which is a entrepreneur accommodation where I rent an entire block or a large house, or a couple of large houses next to each other, and fill it with entrepreneurs who are all at the same baby stage.
Stacy:
So I have a 12 week program where I help people go from zero to having online courses, webinars and workshops. And so I want to have a group of people all move in at the same time and go through that journey together. And so we get to record almost like a TV show, the ups and downs and the emotional journey and the wins and losses of that process.
Stacy:
So that’s something that’s going on at the moment, which is really exciting. In addition to that, I found that I can really help thought leaders who are out there trying to make a big change in the world, but they don’t really have a product ecosystem. Right? And they’re doing all this marketing and they just don’t have products to sell. So that’s my other thing. I’m really excited about helping those people so that we can have a bigger footprint and make a bigger, positive, difference while they actually make money.
Ross:
I’m sure there’s plenty of people in Bondi that could benefit from that.
Stacy:
The sure is. There is. And it’s an exciting field.
Ross:
So why do you choose Bondi?
Stacy:
It’s safe and clean. I’ve done a lot of travel.
Ross:
Safety’s actually… You should lead with that.
Stacy:
It’s phenomenal. I was a tour guide. I traveled around the world a lot, and I’ve spent most winters out of Australia. Every time I come back here, I notice those two things… It’s safe. It’s clean.
Stacy:
The demographic of fit and healthy. Obviously we have the beach, but what I really like is the interactive nature… There traditionally is a very transient sort of element to Bondi. Not so much now with this new change that we have, but in the past, there’s a lot of people coming and going, which creates kind of like a stimulus, a catalyst to saying like getting to know somebody quickly and connecting faster than I find in other suburbs around Australia or even around the world.
Ross:
Interesting point.
Stacy:
Yeah. So that’s one thing I really love.
Ross:
So what do you think the potential for Bondi is? If it’s good now, how could it be amazing?
Stacy:
I think we have the capacity to really… And I believe we do. I believe we lead the way in Australia in a number of different things. If soy lattes become popular in Bondi, then it tends to radiate throughout Australia. If skinny jeans are the next big thing, that often starts here or in Newtown for jeans and then radiates around Australia.
Stacy:
I believe we can do that with a couple of innovative things. Entre-Comm is something that I’m passionate about, and I think there’s a need for that all around the country, not just here.
Ross:
Yeah.
Stacy:
So I personally want to see that vision into fruition.
Ross:
See test market here.
Stacy:
Absolutely. Yeah. And prove that can be done and create that TV show… Actual TV show. There’s a few people who are interested in filming that. And also I’m a big fan of cryptocurrency, and I think that has a big role to play in the future.
Stacy:
I think Bondi could lead the charge in the uptake of retailers who accepts cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin and so on over the counter. And funny enough, on my small amount of research that I’ve done, it seems like it’s not too hard to be number one in the world, let alone in Australia. It wouldn’t take too many retailers to go into that for us to actually come up on the global map as somebody who illustrates and expresses innovation through that simple act of accepting Bitcoin over the counter.
Ross:
All right. Awesome.
Stacy:
That’s my two visions.
Ross:
Okay. Well it’s definitely game on for that one. That would be amazing.
Stacy:
Thanks for doing this, Ross.
Ross:
Thank you.
Stacy:
Appreciate your efforts, buddy.
Ross:
Take care. Bye.
Stacy:
Rock and roll.
