Luke Owain Boult speaks with Mark Leruste – speaking at TEDxCardiff – founder of The Unconventionalists podcast about life, the universe and everything.
What inspired you to create The Unconventionalists podcast?
Just after graduating, I found myself in Lithuania gate crashing an MTV party, trying to interview Supafly Inc. To my surprise, they said yes. I think that’s when I realised what it felt like to truly come alive doing what you love, especially being there backstage and seeing them perform in front of a live crowd, and I definitely wanted a piece of that feeling! That was probably the very first podcast I ever recorded.
I spent the next two years living abroad as a commercial journalist producing advertorial reports. I eventually left that job and took a jab at launching a startup with my childhood friend, but as our startup was far from paying the bills I needed to get a “proper job”. After being tired of the 9-5 desk job, I decided to create a video CV that went viral in 2012. Unfortunately, it didn’t occur to me that filming an online job application in my current office might backfire.
Luckily, a Tweet to Adam Garone, the co-founder and CEO of Movember (at the time) led me to a meeting in London, and I was invited to join the team as UK Country Manager.
So I quit my job, and hopped on a Eurostar over to London. During those years I heard the stories of some incredible people, from cancer survivors to passionate fundraisers. What I realised is that everyone, when it came down to it, was really the same. We all had aspirations, dreams, and a great story to tell.
And so, in 2015, I launched a podcast with a mission to share the stories of inspiring people who had been brave enough to turn their backs on the conventional path, who’d stepped off the standard conveyor belt, who were doing uncommon things and embraced the brilliant fear and freedom of the unknown, and who all had, above all, decided to live an unconventional life. Thus, The Unconventionalists podcast was born.
What is a purposeful life?
I love that question. It’s one I’ve been exploring for many years now. What I’ve come to realise is that there isn’t so much a one-size-fits all solution to the question. The very fact of asking yourself that question means you’re on the right track! So many of us go through life without even pausing for a second to re-assess what’s important to us. Now, I myself was an unconventional riches to rags story: when I was 22, I had a driver, a chef, lived in luxury accommodation and had everything paid for. Now that I run my own business I never know when the next client will come through the door and it’s a constant yo-yo journey navigating the ups and downs of the entrepreneurial journey. I wouldn’t have it any other way. And I think that’s what a purposeful life really means.
What is something you believe bothers most people about their lives, but they do not talk about?
One thing I’ve noticed is that we tend to feel guilty about feeling negatively towards what we do. Especially if on paper it looks like what we do “should” make us happy. I think the word “should” is a really dangerous word.
I’ve been in many jobs where on the outside it looked like I had it all, but deep down I felt awful. And the more external validation you get from what you do, the harder it is to open up about the fact that you’re actually unhappy. Especially when you hear things like, “What are you complaining about? At least you’ve got a job, and 99% of the world population have it worse than you.” Although there is some truth in the fact that we should feel grateful for all that we have, I think comparing our situation with people who have it worse than us, isn’t actually that helpful. Because it won’t change how we feel. Worse, it will make us bottle up about how we feel. Which is never good.
TEDxCardiff, Tramshed, Cardiff, Sat 22 April. Info: www.tedxcardiff.co.uk