Welcome to the next episode of How to be a Hero in Real Life. I was out on a walk in nature and found myself thinking about a story I’ve never really told properly.

Back in 2014, life looked very different. I’d made a lot of money, I wanted to invest it, and one of the things I’d always dreamed of doing was opening a restaurant.

What followed was a journey involving love, heartbreak, betrayal, rebuilding myself, getting into the best shape of my life, modelling, taking a risk on a completely new concept and eventually creating "NAKED", a restaurant that went on to win Tatler’s Best Restaurant and become known far beyond Malaysia.

But this story isn’t just about a restaurant.

It’s about what can grow from failure, heartbreak and taking risks.

NAKED eventually led to other ventures, including Naked Diablo Tequila and Naked Diablo Airlines, but the journey wasn’t without its losses. Covid hit the restaurant incredibly hard, I continued paying staff while we were unable to open, and eventually, in 2022, we had to close the doors.

There have been plenty of stories, opinions and rumours online about what happened, so in this episode I wanted to tell the story from my perspective and put the facts straight.

Some things work. Some things don’t. We win some and we lose some.

But sometimes the thing that appears to have failed can create opportunities you never could have imagined.

Believe in yourself. Trust your gut. And whatever you decide to build, aim to make it the highest quality it can possibly be!

In this episode, I want to talk about something that has followed me in different forms throughout my life-bullying, criticism and the opinions of other people.

As a kid, I was small, ginger-haired and constantly the new boy at school. My mum had left my biological father because of his gambling, we moved around a lot, and for a period of time she was couch surfing while trying to create a better life for us. I was bullied, I struggled to fight back, and sometimes the only thing I could do was run — so I learned to run fast.

But I also learned how to survive. My mum taught me chess, and by 10 years old I became a school champion. Those early experiences started to teach me something I've carried with me ever since: you can't always control what happens to you, but you can decide what you do next.

Today, the playground looks different. I've dealt with keyboard warriors, online bullying, people trying to tear me down, being labelled controversial and even being blackmailed. And sometimes the people who try to hold you back aren't strangers — they can be the people closest to you.

But here's what I've learned: you cannot build your life around the opinions of other people.

If you have a dream, go after it. If you have something to say, say it. If you want to build something, build it. Be careful who you allow into your closest circle, because the people you spend your life around can have a huge influence on the person you become and the direction you take.

And when the criticism comes, don't automatically see it as a reason to stop. Sometimes it's a sign that you're being seen, that your message is travelling further and that you're inspiring people you may never even know about.

Life is too short to shrink yourself to make other people comfortable.

Be who you are. Go after what you want. Document your journey, protect yourself, stand by your truth — and whatever you do, don't let the bullies, the haters or the keyboard warriors stop you from living the life you know you're capable of.

You only get one. Don't waste it living for somebody else's approval!

In this episode, I sit down with my client and good friend Jennifer Bates, whose story is one of resilience, reinvention, adventure and having the courage to start again when life doesn’t go to plan.

Born in New Zealand, Jennifer moved to Australia as a young woman and began building a life for herself from an early age. After meeting her partner in Sydney, the two of them drove across the country to Perth in 1976 with very little to their name, even sleeping in their car near the beach while they searched for work and somewhere to live. From those humble beginnings, they went on to build successful businesses together, including a building company and later a fruit and vegetable business that supplied food to international airlines. Jennifer also raised two children while helping to run the businesses behind the scenes.

But after 21 years together, everything changed. Following their separation, Jennifer discovered that assets had been moved and she had effectively been pushed out of the businesses she had helped build. Faced with losing almost everything, she made the decision to fight back. What followed was two years of stressful and expensive litigation while she worked part-time and tried to hold everything together for her family. Eventually, she won her case in court and was able to begin rebuilding her life on her own terms.

And that was only the beginning of Jennifer’s next chapter. She bought the property she had been renting, later purchased a café in the centre of Perth, and decided to learn how to fly. That decision eventually led her to Romania, where she lived on and off for many years, travelled extensively and experienced a completely different way of life. From stories of having to take a suitcase of cash to the bank to buy a car, to travelling the world and embracing opportunities she never could have predicted, Jennifer’s life has certainly taken the scenic route.

Throughout it all, writing has always been part of her life. Jennifer began writing poetry when she was younger and continued during her travels, capturing her experiences, observations, adventures and her ability to find humour even during difficult times. After conversations around the Start Over series, she finally decided to publish her work, resulting in her book She Took the Long Way Home, which contains more than 100 poems inspired by her extraordinary life.

In this conversation, we talk about what it really means to start over, dealing with betrayal and loss, fighting for yourself, taking risks, embracing change and refusing to let your circumstances determine the rest of your story. Jennifer also shares the mindset that has carried her through so many different chapters of her life: finding a way forward, maintaining a sense of humour and remembering that you have a right to make decisions for yourself.

Her message is simple but powerful: “In the end, it’s your life. Stick up for yourself. You are as important as anyone else. You can’t blame the other person all the time.”

You can connect with Jennifer and follow her poetry at @JenniferWritesPoetry.