Carl is with Stuart Baillie founder of ‘Hastings in Focus’ a local news website that values its place within the local community and the part it can play.

He talks about the importance of self-reliance and not sitting back waiting for someone to give you what you want. Stuart shares great advice about what you need to do to make it happen yourself and how if you're trying and it's not happening what you can do to work out what changes you need to make in life. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• When you get the right people around you it can help to make your pathway smoother.
• If you want things to happen you have to be prepared to go out there and get them.
• Everyone has a value to them and you need to value yourself.
• Covid is a virus and we all react to it differently because we are all individuals.
• We expect everybody to react to everything in the same way but our emotional and physical responses are all different.
• Boxing is something I’m incredibly proud of.
• Victory boxing was a course that culminated with a fight in the ring in front of an audience
• Training for the Victory fight required focus and commitment
• People who train need not only to be fit physically but also have the right mental attitude.
• Boxing is about determination and absolute focus
• The mindset needed when fighting is transferable to your everyday life.
• You have to put the effort in if you want things to happen
• You have to use the lessons from the boxing ring and apply them to everyday life.
• You have to be prepared to go where others won’t.
• Everything you do contributes in some way to your journey and experiences.

BEST MOMENTS

‘Sometimes it can just be that one journey has ended and another is starting’

‘With Judo I found a sport that my body shape was suited to’

‘Often when you are up against a problem you are so close that it can be difficult to see but you need to take a step away’

VALUABLE RESOURCES

HKA Main landing page www.hastingskickboxing.co.uk/kickstartnow

YouTube  https://www.youtube.com/user/Hastingskickboxing

HKA Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Hastingskickboxing

carldenne@hotmail.com  

Hastings In Focus Website

ABOUT THE GUEST

I started my own business in Dumfries in 1992 by 1999 we'd had some good times but overall, it wasn't going where I wanted it to so I stopped banging my head off a brick wall and made changes. Then we had a big reset and came down here because opportunities appeared better – and they were, moving, despite the huge upheaval and significant risk was the best thing we ever did. I went to work for Dog World in 2003 and led a management buyout in 2007 – I didn't know how to buy a company but wanted to do it, so found out how, got good people around me and did it, spent over a million quid. 

By 2017 newspaper publishing is a shit place to be and I reach the conclusion that I can't return the business to profit and take the decision to close it down and in the process, I move in to "property" because I own the building Dog World operated out of so I adapted, change course a bit and moved on to what has been a better life since 2017, reduced stress, anxiety etc.

Also, stress and anxiety are part of life, they will happen to you no matter what you do so don't use them as an excuse.

In short, I'm kind of tired of hearing people make excuses about how their life isn't working out but they do nothing about it and expect someone - god knows who but someone - to bail them out. When like I've done and like you've done, you take a risk, take a chance, you can only ever blame yourself for the mistakes and we've all made a few _ and I reckon you and I probably still worry about our past mistakes and don't give ourselves the credit for what we've got right and I reckon having got myself to a position where I don't need to worry too much about formal work again at the age of 55 was something of an achievement.   

ABOUT THE HOST

Hi, my name is Carl Denne.  

I was born in Hastings in 1980. Married, father of two beautiful daughters, Bethany and Leigha. 

My daughters, the wife, and gym ARE MY LIFE.

IF I’M HONEST, I pretty much failed at school. Heavily dyslexic, I was dismissed for being a “naughty kid” that didn’t want to learn. I was heavily bullied for having shit clothes and ginger afro hair. I didn’t have many friends. 

When I say bullied I don’t mean called a “poo-poo head” and being looked at in a nasty way. I mean thrown downstairs, and hit with chairs and tables. Clothes were stolen whilst in the shower. That kind of bullying…

Oh, how things have changed… 

Martial arts, and specifically Kickboxing, have changed my life, and now I am much happier and change other people’s lives for the better on a daily basis. 

I am a complete adrenaline freak, so In my spare time, track days, jumping out of planes, sitting on top of them, rage buggies in the desert… The higher, the faster the better for me. I’m always looking for the next thing to get my blood pumping, so if anyone has a challenge I’ve not found yet, please feel free to share. 

I do like a Saturday night movie night, Chinese, Netflix, lots of chocolate with my three little ladies. I love being around my friends and family. This is why I love the crazy HKA family so much, as this is my extended family.   

I left school with pretty much nothing! A few sad GCSE’s C - D grade, BUT I did have a shit-ton of energy and passion to achieve, and to prove all the teachers and people that looked down on me for all those years, wrong. So, after a few jobs here and there, I settled on working for Openreach (BT) as a cabler/jointer copper and fibre optic multi-skilled engineer with HGV.

I left this in 2015 to chase my dream of running my own Kickboxing Academy and working with the future of today, rather than a job that just paid the bills. 

I’ve trained pretty much my whole life: Karate, boxing, Judo, from the age of 9, and of course, I’ve now done over 29 years of Kickboxing. I’ve passed many Instructors and coaches courses, attended many training courses and seminars, grading up through the syllabus. I passed my 4-hour hell-on-earth 3rd Dan black belt in July 2018 with the ICO.

If I’m honest my real passion and skills have come from learning the hard way; through being in the trenches. I know how it feels to be on your arse. I know how it feels to have to pull yourself out of the pit. I’ve been through

a divorce. I’ve lived through the pain and have worked with thousands of members, students, children, teachers and adults over the years, and the one thing I get told every time is how well I/we keep it very real, and that I have a complete understanding on most eventualities. 

Thank you for reading and listening. I hope you connect with myself and the team, take away some ideas, understand you’re not alone, and that it’s good to talk, listen and help others as and when you can.