Ben J Owen
Co-Founder of Konsu Agency & Savage Thrills Magazine
Introduction
Hello there and welcome to my little slice of the internet my name is Ben Owen and this is my story. I want to start off with complete transparency, I find the idea of writing about oneself somewhat confronting. There is a slight feeling of awkwardness as you sift through your thoughts and memories. Compiling words onto a computer screen. I would be lying if I didn’t state that doubt rages inside… You know, I have never put myself out there when it comes to my own online persona! What will people think of me? Will they even care about what I have to say, should I care what a stranger thinks of me?
I know how to answer each question logically, but am I ready emotionally? It has taken me quite some time to feel as though I am comfortable in my own skin. Being ready to take that first step out from the shadows no longer hiding behind our online brands and the services we offer clients. It gets to a time in your life when you just know “YOU ARE READY” to face a challenge. Take that next evolutionary step and push towards a calling you know has been there for a long time. I thank you for taking an interest in my story.
The Reason
In short, I felt I needed a creative outlet outside of our client’s businesses and brands, even outside of my own. I wanted to create a place where I could write and rant about topics of pure interest to me. My own personal blog benjowen.com where I can talk about various ways to make money online or finance and entrepreneurship, reviewing software or music and books who knows I might even talk about my travels isn’t that what blogging is all about?!
In all honesty, I have always had a passion for writing, and being a content writer and editor of Savage Thrills magazine has been one of my great loves. Writing on topics such as music, artists, surfing, skateboarding and photography filled my thirst for creativity. My interest in these subcultures allowed me to learn from the many talented people across the globe. A true blessing that fueled what would become Konsu Agency. With our team of highly gifted individuals (you know who you are) I wouldn’t trade in a million lifetimes. Friendships are born and fostered over hours upon hours of working together building our own dreams of what a working life should be.
The Beginning
Do you recall what you wanted to be growing up? You see, I do not remember much of my childhood but one memory has always stuck out to me. It was my sixth birthday and the summer holidays in Australia and our family was away in the coastal town of Point Lonsdale. I distinctly remember my wish and when it came time to blow out the candles on my chocolate cake. Blowing as hard as I could to make sure all the candles went out in one breath, I held the thought of my wish so strong in my mind “I want to be a surfer, I want to be a surfer, I want to be a surfer”.
How would this wish ever come true?! My hometown of Ballarat is inland the closest beach with ridable waves is 110km or 65+ miles (if you judge distance that way) away. I did not know a single person who had ever surfed or spent any significant time remotely close to the ocean. How was I to fulfil this dream?
All it takes is one person to change your life
Let me tell you how my dream came to fruition, you see I come from a single-parent household. I am the oldest of three siblings and when I was around eight years old. My mother began to see a man who would forever alter the course of my life along with my brother. At this time there was only my brother and me our sister was yet to reach this earth.
This man would become a father figure to my brother and me and the biological father to my sister. How about I make this rather long story short?! Wayne is his name and grew up next to the golden sand beaches of Scarborough, Western Australia. My first interaction with surfing was at Torquay, Victoria what many call the spiritual home of surfing. I still remember it now standing up on one of those long blue foam learner boards on the small rolling waves at Torquay back beach.
Instantly I was hooked on surfing, the feeling is hard to describe but it draws you in and you become fixated on it. Throughout my teens, I would catch the bus to Torquay just to go surfing. Due to being young and I guess more nimble, I would be able to stand up quite easily. It was not until I turned 18 years old and gained my license and was able to drive my own car that surfing cemented itself in my life.
My brother and his friend started to come regularly and learnt to surf, we would travel up and down the coast. Almost every week we would be testing ourselves in waves we had no business surfing. But, it built up the skill level quickly! Fast forward to today I am 35 years old and have spent most of my adult life residing by the ocean and have surfed waves worldwide.
The moral of my story is never give up on what you’re passionate about you deserve to have fulfilment and joy in your life whatever that may be to you.
Brand Builders & Storytellers
The Journey
Walking a path from point A to point B is never a straight line. It’s filled with many twists and turns that shape the person you have become. We build our lives from all the experiences we’ve encountered throughout life. Whilst our journeys are different one thing remains the same, we all are constantly evolving. My story of business evolution commenced back when I was 21 years old. I had worked a slew of different jobs since I was 16 years old I thought I wanted to be a tradesman as that is what all my friends were doing.
At the age of 18, I started an apprenticeship and I could only manage 14 months out of 4 years. The work was not what I had envisioned myself doing for my lifelong career. This lead me to bounce around until I decided to pursue work in an industry that I loved. Which at that age was music and surfing, after deliberating over a pros & cons list. The music industry was where I would be starting my career I weighed up my options over the different types of roles I could work in. Events Management was what I settled on and within a day I applied for one of the first courses offered in events within Australia and was accepted to commence the next term.
Once again it was time to move across the country back to Melbourne to commence studies. This eventually lead to me working and becoming a manager at one of the nation’s premier music venues. Within a few months of completion of event management studies. I like many other Australians set off on a trip abroad for 7 months of continuous travel throughout Asia & Europe. I found when abroad (especially when you’re younger) you learn a lot about yourself and I believe you are forced to grow in many areas that are shielded by your parents. The safety net from all that is familiar, being in your own country and having family close is all but gone. You are on your own and have to navigate all situations with the limited knowledge of the world you have.
Start of the runway for my career
Upon returning to Australia it was back to Perth in 2012, which started the trajectory of my story in the present tense. I befriended Perth’s leading promoter for electronic music at the time, became his right-hand man and started running tours and festivals for four or so years. Facebook was considered the king of social platforms at the time. And I was tasked with generating buzz around our events using social media. This was my first taste of using social media to build brand awareness and sell tickets to our events.
It is also the time when I would meet one of my future best friends and business partner in our media/agency company. Laurie was travelling throughout Australia in 2015 from France and we hit it off straight away. I am a firm believer that people come into your life for reasons unknown. From just a concept we grew Savage Thrills to one of Australia’s premier music/subculture websites which also picked up heavy traction overseas.
Through this period I was learning invaluable skills in blogging, website editing & management, social media marketing, team management and advertising. This led to the launch of Konsu Agency, off the back of Savage Thrills we were able to leverage the media to acquire clients quickly. This allowed us to scale the agency to well over 6 figures per month.
One of the number one rules I have learnt working for a range of brands and clients is “RESULTS MATTER” to make sure you can get the results you promised to your clients. This is where many agency owners struggle they over-promise and under-deliver.
The Present
Don’t be afraid to fail I have had over 20 business ventures fail and I have lost countless thousands of dollars on investments that didn’t go the right way. Do you remember the hysteria around the 2017/2018 crypto bull market? Like many others, I rode it all the way up and all the way back down. I learnt from it! The bull market, just gone I made over 7 figures in crypto alone, and I bought my mother a brand new house worth over $400k with no mortgage. On the other hand, I have also lost 80k when the market goes against you. My point is you will have wins and you will have losses in all areas of life. Don’t let either stop you from showing up on a consistent basis to achieve your dreams.
This is what I currently do to push toward my dreams. I am working on building this blog and my personal brand, sales calls to expand our agency, meeting with clients, searching for a new home with my wife, reading Influence by Robert B Cialdini, taking language classes twice per week and making sure I surf a few days per week when the waves are good. the aim is to live life on my terms not being told when I have to go to and from work. Working for a big corporate company stuck in a cubicle answering the phone to people who are rude and ungrateful. Or digging a hole for a boss that only hurls abuse at you all day every day. I am sure many of you have encountered this at some point and can relate.
The Love
If you have read this far, I am curious about what your dream life is. Are you working towards it or have you given up? Do you love your life? If your answer is yes, that is amazing I am truly happy for you. If you have answered no I challenge you! Make the changes you seek, in order to achieve what you want you will need to sacrifice. I am no stranger to working 80+ hours per week across 7 days.
Put in the work in order to achieve your dreams, I meet so many people who are afraid to hear the words “No” or they fear being rejected. Thinking to myself now, if I had been afraid of rejection I never would’ve been able to build my business in an industry where you hear the word no more than any other. Also, I never would’ve met my now wife if I was afraid of her rejecting me when I approached her.
With age comes wisdom I finally realised I love my life most when I am pushing myself to achieve what I have set out in front of me. This is my purpose and away from business, I love to spend time with my wife Aleksandra we enjoy travelling, going to shows, spending time outdoors hiking or going out to a nice restaurant or for a casual drink together. Building a life with a partner has its challenges but it is also one of the most rewarding things you can do. Time spent around the ocean makes me happy and of course music, I love pretty much most genres of music.
The Reality
No one is coming to save you or me. The vast majority of us reap what we sow and if we do not design our own life someone else will design it for us. We are the masters of our own destiny! If you’re reading this, I encourage you to look into finding the right solution for any roadblocks preventing your progression. Maybe you’re a business, a professional or a blogger looking for inbound growth tactics. You’ll find a wealth of knowledge here related to SEO, Content Marketing, Outreach strategies and the best software to use.
If you’re a blogger or individual curious about personal growth and making money online you’ll find practical and actionable articles to help kickstart and accelerate any goals and passions. If you enjoy crypto and trading I will add content on this topic as well. Now, here is to you, me and all the success we can achieve.
Thank you for taking the time to read my story.
Regards,
