Season 3, Episode 107 : Julio Maria Muhorro

Will - 00:02
Julio, welcome to the green element podcast fourth time lucky. I hope you are really good today. And I am really looking forward to finding out more about you, your education businesses. Is how you describe it and be great hearing in your words what it is that you guys do, please?

Julio - 00:23
Yes, well, I'm super happy to be here today for the first time. Having fun. So yeah, I'm the founder of sharing knowledge International, a company where we enable powerful personal transformations to drive business career and life fulfillment. So how our business work is that for our consumers? We offer them different coaching packages. So, one is on business advisory to make sure that people start and grow their business. The second part being career crafting, making sure that people actually create a career that's tailored to them, and transformational coaching, because we are all about enabling people to become the best version of themselves. And then for our corporate clients, we offer them trainings, knowledge consultancy, and speaking engagements to make sure that companies become smarter. They think smarter, they operate smarter, and they've had smart goals to work with.

Will - 01:40
That's really, really, that's really cool. And I think what sparked my interest was the way that you describe your business and people is that we help organizations become more sustainable and more environmental. And you help people become more sustainable. And potentially, probably more environmental, I would imagine, as well.

Julio - 02:09
Yeah, sure. So, it really started with my own background. So, in 2019, I was nominated the most ascending delegate at Global Goals Model United Nations in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. So they really gave me a background in understanding the UN, you know, the global goals, but also known to understand not only understanding them as a sort of like a principle that as individuals we must operate with, but also how we can take that into a more organizational level. And I was managing this incubation program at a time, and one of our main activities was this boot camp, all tailored around the Global Goals model. So really making sure that business was setting up being consciousness, like we've been super conscious about the environment and super conscious about how people will feel, and from this place, being able to generate revenue. Now, fast-forwarding for my current company, one of my signature trainings, I call, usually, it's just using social impact as a business growth hormone. And this is where most people don't get it. If you look at the statistics, it's insane how much, you know, people have changed throughout the years. So, to give you just like a few numbers here, according to Gallup, only 33% of American workers are engaged in their job, the remaining 52%, they're just showing up and 72% of people are completely disengaged. So, this means their companies are literally leaving their money behind. And this super ends up connecting with social impact. Because if you look at how the workforce is right now, you know, many researches are selling that at least 36% of the workforce is Gen Z. And actually 75% of our workforce right now are composed of millennials. And one thing about those two generations is that we are super passionate about impact. So, we don't want to just show up at work, and make sure that we have money in your pockets, we want to know that we matter. We want to know that our actions are actually contributing to a better environment, you want to know that we are contributing to a sort of like a global peace, as you like to call it. Right. And we are not only like the majority of the workforce, but we are also the majority of the market. And this has been sort of like portrayed in the market itself, because you go ahead and look that $500 billion is available for global impact investing right now. So, there is a huge opportunity for companies to grow by tapping into social impact. And not only that, if you watch on the trends in like 2011, only 20% of companies listed in the S&P 500 reported having consistent CSR program in 2016. That number increased to 82%. So, if you're a business owner, and you're trying to grow your business, tapping into social impact, and therefore environmental community impact, it's a huge, huge opportunity to grow your business.

Will - 02:10
Yeah, yeah. And I think I think that's what trip sparked and triggered my interest when you did reach out to me was, we need more people like you in, you know, to help organizations because actually, it doesn't come naturally to an awful lot of people this journey, and I think what also is brilliant is you're based in Mozambique, and you've got businesses all over the world, you are like, the is there? Is there a definition not Generation Z or millennial? You're like the, I don't know, the modern equivalent of the future generation, as it were, you're running a business across the whole worlds. And it's brilliant, absolutely brilliant.

Julio - 05:36
Yeah, there's something that people will never talk about, like a few years ago, and even today, a lot of people have resistant in terms of like, so you're based in Mozambique in Africa, and we have plants in the US and you have clients in Europe and in Asia, how does it work? Right? I found it super amazing, because especially right now, where I cannot physically travel, at least I get to connect with people from different cultures, and really get to have a sense of how the road is really going. Because it's so easy for us to feel trapped in our own reality, right? In our like box and think that Oh, Mozambique, or Africa is the road. But that's not true. Like and one thing that I am super grateful to realize is that, even though we are different, we are at the court the same, we just showcase, and we operate differently. But like the core things that motivate us, every single one of us, it doesn't really matter who you are, where you were born, your gender, your race, are basically the same things.

Will - 06:58
Don't you reckon? Do you feel fortunate or privileged to be able to say what you've just said, because I for one, absolutely love? I mean, I love talking to people, full stop, actually. But I do also really love talking to people from loads of different cultures and look around the world. And I kind of feel like I'm traveling. So, I've kind of, I've traveled to Mozambique for this podcast, and I feel like and I'm sitting in a garden shed just north of Edinburgh, in the UK, it could be raining.

Julio - 07:33
100% I'm super privileged, and I'm aware of it. And you know, even the impact that I can have, just by tapping into social media, or a podcast like yours, like, people from the UK, I listen to me right now. And I'm still in my bedroom, you know, in my little bedroom, having this conversation with you. So yeah, it's amazing, that part of the Internet, and it's super tied up with, you know, the environmental causes that you're speaking. Because online, we get to like, cut a lot of the causes of having, you know, headquarters with people in there and operating in there. And I get to tap into talent from all over the world, literally, just by having access to the internet in advice.

Will - 08:16
Yeah, yeah. And I think that's a part of it, isn't it? And I think it'll be interesting with, I mean, with COVID. And with the current situation, how that will accelerate that, thinking I was actually funny enough to, I had a conversation with a guy who's managing director of an events business in the UK. And their turnover from usually march to now is between four and 5 million pounds. They've had a turnover of 8000 pounds. So that just shows the shrinkage that's just happened. But what he did say was, this is a time to reset, this is a time for our industry to go. Is this the way forward? Are we doing the right things? Should we not change our whole business model and look at the way that we're doing it. And it is business leaders like that, that we actually need to have in those big and bigger businesses, because it's all very well for us to talk about it. But we actually need a lot of the other businesses from a wider field and then much larger businesses to be thinking basically outside the box.

Julio - 09:36
100% 100% guess that for the past 10 to 20 years really people have been really focused on running business as usual, but never really thinking of the business they will be tomorrow. And what I love about... is sort of like forcing every single one of us to stop, take a really good look about around why our business is currently at and then how we can shift into the future. Because, again, to me, it's super amazing how every single system is being shifted and transformed really like the healthcare system, the educational system, how business work on a daily basis. And for me, this is literally the time where you get to reinvent and knowing not only you know how you can make money today, but in the future.

Will - 10:26
Yeah, yeah, no, absolutely. Absolutely. And, I mean, how do you, I guess, because the people that are listening to this podcast, are business professionals. And from all over the world, I think the main listenership is from the UK. But I think we do definitely have a large reach in the US. And from all around, so be great to hear from you guys. What it is that we are speaking about, if you've got any thoughts on this, because I think it's where we are looking at Green Elements, it's now businesses, environmental footprints, and we're looking at the impact from a home point of view as in how much energy you're using, what is compared to what you would be using in an office. And we've always been like you, Julio, where we're actually quite remote, we act we, we've got a remote working office that we had before. But it was only somewhere that we could meet up, but we're not a big company, we're only 10 people. So, therefore, you know, we're able to do that. But I think from an environmental point of view, it's just, I think it's just an interesting way forward, and, and we're going to see a massive change,

Julio - 11:48
A 100%, even in my own business. No, considering not my background, I'm always super focused and making sure that we are sustainable, environmentally sustainable. And as an educational business, it's super hard to go around using paper, for instance, right, like, even though a lot of our tools, they're online, you can use in your computer, I have to acknowledge the power that you can feel by actually writing things down with your own handwriting, right. So, I can be responsible for how my entire business process processes are structured, to make sure that we don't use paper at all, we can just approve things online. But then I have little to zero control around how my clients will use those tools. Right, a lot of people prefer to print them out and actually fill them in. So yeah, one of the things that even myself who are already running an online business is that we took a step back to rethink how we can enhance the experience that people are having with our company, to make sure that they are not only getting more value out of our offer, but how they remain more sustainable. And now they increase their level of sustainability, not only in terms of the environment, but even in terms of, I don't want to quote someone today, or to work in a company today on a specific challenge, and have them coming back in a few years for the exact same thing. Right, I want them to be able to be self-sustainable in the long run.

Will - 13:13
And most of the businesses do have coming to?

Julio - 13:15
honestly, every single type a most of them are our service providers, either providing services for companies to grow and scale. But we have people who run coffee shops, and they have to adapt because right now, coffee shops are not really like operating as they used to do it. We have big companies like one of my clients, they're based in Tunisia in North Africa, and are looking to expand their programs to other African countries. So, we have weekly clients from every single business stage, but mostly they're either starting or growing their businesses. And something that we found that every single one of them has, is this sense of being more self-sustainable. So, they don't get to rely that much into external stakeholders.

Will - 14:03
And how do people find out about you?

Julio - 14:07
So a lot of them find out via recommendations because, you know, when people work with us, they really value what we did for them and they don't recommend it as for other people, but of course via social media. I'm a millennial, I won't lie. I am super pumped through social media. So, people find me over there on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, that's when a lot of our clients come through.

Will - 14:29
Okay, interesting. And do you have to change the way that you speak to people say from Tunisia to the US not, I mean, you may be speaking in English but the language or the type of, you know, the way that you have to say to something to someone is, do you find you have to speak slightly differently or do you are yourself in every situation,

Julio - 14:58
I guess there is a fine balance between being yourself and getting your message across, because it's so easy for you, for anyone to be authentic and just spread their message, but most of the times, they will not be sharing it. Because if you're spreading is you just giving people out whatever you want to give out. But if you're sharing, you're building things together with other people. So, I found that even though I remain authentic on who I am, and how I work and operate, I have to be able to be flexible in understanding, for instance, different power dynamics within organizations. So, for instance, a company in the US, let's say, if I'm working with their R&D department, it's so easy for them to communicate with their like CEOs and talk to your levels. That's not the same thing, if I'm working with a company based in Singapore, when they have like a huge sort of like power distance between people in different positions, right. So, the way that we speak and ends up being different, and also the examples that we use. So, if I'm with a client from the US, I can speak about target, and, you know, Macy's and stuff like that. But those things don't really exist in Africa. So I might speak about wool words, I can give an example of local African entrepreneurs, the same thing of us being real people in the US, we had over the UK, we have sort of different constraints, the different challenges that we have to adapt to, in order to really make sure that they have value out of our conversations.

Will - 16:28
I'm curious to know now, how you contextualize your, because you've just used examples. So, you clearly have you traveled a lot?

Julio - 16:40
Because you're able to pull in different contextual kind of points of reference, within, say, the US or within different so I, either you've read an awful lot, or you've traveled a lot, and I was just trying to work it because that is actually you, I think, really kind of fine point, isn't it? Because people do like to be able to have that comparison or be able to have that contextual comparison to what it is that they're doing. And if you're able to do that, in whatever country you're in, that's a really good, amazing skill to have, actually,

Will - 17:23
yeah, thanks. Like, actually, what I guess most people don't realise is that, if you're in educational business, like me, you are in a transformational business, you are making sure that people transform into the best version of themselves, and they transform their lives, their business, right. And in every transformation, if you connect with someone in an intellectual or mental level, that's not going to be enough. I mean, how many of us know that in order to let's say, lose fat in-game Moscow, you have to focus on your diet and your exercise in your sleep. But how many of us are actually doing that, even though we know, on a mental level, that's what we should be doing? Right? It's because transformation also implies an emotional level, we need to have an emotional connection. And I found that with stories and examples, that's how people relate. That's how we create connections with whatever we're trying to work with. And of course, the last component is making sure that people have practical action steps, because you can sit all day strategizing, all day, conceptualizing your products, if you don't actually take the steps to make things happen. Nothing will change. So yeah, I have a combination of travels. And also, I'm in several international networks. And with my clients, I learned a lot, you know, I'm not afraid to ask so why does actually target looks like, right, wife, like your culture going to target?

Julio - 18:40
You know, I've heard afraid to ask this question. That's how I learned.

Will - 18:43
I guess it's also personality driven, then, isn't it? Because you've clearly got the personality to be able to, to grow a business worldwide. And the problem, not everyone has that personality? I would hazard a guess, really? I mean, I think it's fair to say.

Julio - 19:02
But I agree with you. And one thing about personality that that most people are also not aware of, is their personality isn't fixed. I mean, you can check doctors as Benjamin Hart and several others who say that if you look at your personality, as you know, introvert, extrovert or disadvantaged are something fixed, that's the same thing as you looking for a horoscope and believing that that's the description about who you are. And they don't believe in horoscopes. Right, but he's become so trapped into our past self that we know, right? Like, there's really of that I was 10 years ago, five years ago, 10 months ago, it's not the same issue they're speaking with you right here right now. Right? But if you stop focusing about who we were in the past, and we start asking, so who do they want to become in the future, wind up embodying the characteristics that allow us to be their version of ourselves. Like a quick exercise for everyone listen is that is actually come from based on you know, the Superman type of thing, when you have our Kollel, but with the glasses, he becomes quite client, and then you have the suit, he becomes Superman, you can test it out, you can have like a bracelet, a ring, shirt, whatever. And you just decided, whatever you are wearing that stuff, you're going to have a different characteristic you can be you're going to be more focused, or you will be better at saying no, or you'll be better at bouncing back from rejection, whatever it is. And it's actually our psychology working in is the same way that we do with kids, we offer them a blanket, and they go super crazy with their blanket. And over the sudden, you know, they can be alone in a room without crying because they have their blanket. It works with us even as adults. So, you can have those mental cues to allow you to embody the best version of yourself. Definitely.

Will - 20:50
And is that the sort of thing that you talk about, and you work your clients on?

Julio - 20:56
Yeah, one of them, because I found that it took me a long, long time to figure that out. Because for the longest time, like I've been doing this for seven years now, like working in personal development, business design. For the last five years, I was super into making sure that people had the strategies to grow their business. But I felt like I had pretty good success rates, like 80% of my clients were able to grow their revenue for at least 60% in one year. But then I was concerned about the other 20%. So, what makes them no have great results as well, right? And I found out that just like the health example, if you have two strategies, all you have to do you have the right strategy implemented at the right time. And with the right target. That's it. But what stops you to actually do that is your identity, your mindset, and your energetic work? Right, because and if you see people who actually get the surgery, implement them in the future, they start having imposter syndrome because they feel they're not the person that actually is doing that. Right? They are disconnected from your results. So also, a way to be that it's making sure that people upgrade their identity. And they become the person who is committed, who is focused, who is actually delivering those results. And habit, the mindset that allows them to navigate throughout different sorts of environments, and then being an energetic match to the things they want to have. I know it sounds a little bit woo woo. But it's like all backed up with quantum physics and actual results that people have in the long term.

Will - 22:34
So, what's your background?

Julio - 22:37
So fun story. I am, I have a bachelor degree in agricultural engineering, with a major in agribusiness, I did a bunch of other sorts of like courses, I have digital marketing specialization, I have plenty of trainings around adult education, around building intrapreneurship training methodologies, and mentoring programs. And a lot of the things that I know come from having great mentors and great coaches to support me throughout this process. And I take a lot of moments to reflect. And it's how I've been able to sort of withdraw insights that other people are not, because a lot of us get sort of like in autopilot, right? We're constantly doing things and never really taking time to stop and think about our results. So that's why I'm being able to also pick points and examples from different industries as well.

Will - 23:27
Yeah. Yeah. Interesting. Interesting. It's been really interesting to me. Thank you so much for this. And so, where do we find out you? You've said that you're on all the social media channels, is it? Is it your name that we look for? Is it your company name?

Julio - 23:43
Yeah, so you can look for my name is Julio Muhorro. That's Julio Muhorro. And on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, or you can find my company LinkedIn page, sharing knowledge International. And we will love to have a conversation with you guys over there.

Will - 24:02
Brilliant, and we'll be putting all of that upon our page on the podcast. Thank you very much, Julio, thank you for your time today. It's really interests really interesting talking to you.

Julio - 24:12
Thank you, Will. It was a pleasure.