We were lucky to catch up with Francis Holmes recently and have shared our conversation below.

Francis , appreciate you joining us today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

Ever heard of this saying;

“If you quit you can’t win, if you refuse to quit you can’t loose.”

This has proven itself true to me personally and in business over and over again,

In my view, Determination and refusal to quit or take no for an answer are probably the most important tools for success,

Business, like life in general is a full of challenges, you must be dedicated and determined so that you keep going through the hard times and challenges to emerge successfully, when you do, you’ll see the others that failed behind you.

Beyond that, making sure your business idea is actually needed and of use is next,
Your product of service must solve a problem by selling a branded solution

To make it personal to one of my current businesses;
I have a herb tea business in Belize, we grow the herbs on our farm, dry them, create blends and put them in individual tea bags and packets for wholesale and retail, it’s a lot of work for a relatively low priced product, the business works on increased volume. A year ago I considered discontinuing this business in favor of some other product based business I have that seemed to have a higher price tag, but…. I thought I should give it at least another year to see how the teas worked in the marketplace, less than a year later now and the herb tea business is my highest grossing product based business . If I’d quit prematurely, I wouldn’t have even known success for this business was literally a few months away.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

A brief summary of me,
I started my first business at 15 in gardening, I dedicated several decades in the construction industry establishing a number of small general contracting based businesses with varied success rates in a number of areas, anything from garden maintenance to luxury real estate development, this journey naturally led me to learning about investment, which is where I had wanted to be from a young age but had no idea how to get there. The absence of sound advice from those older than me at the time meant a longer journey to get to the same place.
Learning financial literacy, economics and how money really works allowed me the freedom to explore other business ideas, for the first time my money started to go further and I began to learn how to get money to work for me, instead of working for it. This came with some
Serious lifestyle changes with freedom, health and wellness at the core, as part of this, my wife and I established a small homestead style organic farm in Belize, this is where some of the above mentioned product based business operate. We are always happy to share our journey and have started to do this online either through our website www.decentralisedlife.com or on a one on one bases I can be found on LinkedIn and through physical workshops and retreats based here in Belize.
Freedom, physically, socially, politically, financially and all the many other forms of freedom are all part of health and well-being, this is an open invitation to anyone that is interested to reach out to me through any of the available means.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

Over the last 20 years, I have repeatedly been assaulted with ideas for new businesses, over and over again I’ve found an underserved area in an industry and offered for sale a solution. It works very well,

I think one of the most daunting and misunderstood areas of starting any business is capital requirements, more times than I can remember I have heard pitches from folks wanting to start a business about the capital investment they need to get their idea rolling, 90+% of the time, the business could be started with a lot less, the lesson here is; just start, start with what you have, as a pilot project, consider it beta testing for your product or service, start simple, gather data from your customers, often you’ll find solutions to your capital requirements by just doing that.

I have started more than 15 business over 20 years, with absolutely no capital beyond what I had available personally.
Obviously there are businesses that require substantial capital beyond your personal capabilities, but you will still need to have started, invested everything you have and demonstrated your determination to succeed before any VC firms or other private capital providers will take you seriously,

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Around a decade ago I was becoming very successful as a defense contractor with several small international businesses aiding in physical security and security constructions for organizations like the UN, in some of what are considered the most dangerous countries, the ones that have been at war or civil war for many decades. Things were going incredibly well financially

Then within a very short time period I realized my businesses were entering a grey area where the lines had become blurred ethically as to weather or not the awarded contracts where aiding in defense or offense,
This was a business and personal crises for me and ultimately the pivot point where I chose to leave hundreds of millions of dollars on the table in contracts and call it a day.
I made the choice of a new course in life and in business toward health and well-being, This is where I’ve stayed ever since
No amount of money is worth your sanity.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.decentralisedlife.com
• Linkedin: Francis Holmes