Craig Yeats

I write about money, business, and building a life with more choice. Not escaping work — building enough freedom that you can choose work worth doing. What are you freeing yourself for?

Bok Friday at Enriching Life! 🇿🇦🏉 Teamwork. Discipline. Resilience. Pride. The Springboks represent so much of what we strive for in business. You don’t build a winning team by accident. You build it through the standards you set and the people you develop.

I started my career selling photocopiers on purpose. I wanted to learn how to sell before getting into financial services. 19 years later, I still believe sales is one of the most valuable skills anyone can develop.

Give your best regardless of the reward. Not because of what comes back. Because of who you are. Do the right thing because it's the right thing to do.

Nobody succeeds alone. Clients, colleagues, support staff, mentors, business partners, family. Every result I'm proud of has a whole ecosystem of people behind it.

Life is a game of levels. Every new level brings bigger challenges. They aren't a sign that something went wrong. They're the chance to build what you'll need for the next level.

Success shouldn't only give you more. It should give you more choice. The goal isn't simply to work less. It's to create enough freedom to choose what is worth working hard for.

I've completed four Ironmans, and there's something addictive about having another challenge on the calendar. But the goal is never the goal. It's who you become chasing it.

Building a business is about more than targets, sales and production. It's about the people, the relationships you build and the culture you create. We spend so much of our lives working together, so we should enjoy the journey too.

Look down at your feet. Where are you? That's where you need to be. Be in the moment. Be present. Life's happening so fast. Don't miss the giraffes! 🦒

Talent is common. The one trait I recruit for is coachability. Give me someone with the right attitude, a strong work ethic and a willingness to be coached, and there's something to work with.

I schedule work appointments without thinking twice. I'm learning to schedule recovery the same way. Energy comes in ebbs and flows. Spend it without replenishing it and you'll eventually run out.

The person you speak to most is yourself. You can't always stop the doubt, the fear and the excuses, but you can choose what you say back. Speak belief into yourself. Speak encouragement into others.

Pressure is a privilege. An aeroplane takes off into the wind, not with it behind it. Resistance isn’t always a sign that something is going wrong. Sometimes it’s exactly what you need to grow.

Freedom isn't doing nothing. It's choice. Choosing your work, your hours and who you spend them with. Earn More. Live More. Work Less. But first answer the real question: what are you freeing yourself for?

The start and the finish are the easy parts. People cheer and the adrenaline carries you. The middle is where you're alone with your thoughts and want to quit. That's true in a race and in business. The dark times aren't the end times. Keep going.

Saving time isn't the same as being free. If the hours you win back just get filled with more work, nothing has changed. The real question is what you're freeing yourself for.

I started my career selling photocopiers. Not because I loved photocopiers! I’d read how Robert Kiyosaki joined Xerox to learn sales, and I wanted to do the same. 19 years later, I still believe sales is one of the most valuable skills anyone can learn.

A business that can't run without you isn't an asset. It's a job with more risk. I've learnt this as an owner. Every time I take work back because I want it done my way, I make the business more dependent on me, not more valuable.

Saving time isn't freedom on its own. Most people just fill the hours with more work. Freedom starts when you know what the time is for. What are you freeing yourself for?

The year isn't winding down at Enriching Life. We're turning it up. Yesterday we kicked off Challenge, our final 10-week push and biggest competition of the year, with a sunrise hike and breakfast as a team. Train Like Champions. Perform Like Professionals.