The Can Do Coffee Chat with Malcolm Teasdale, Entrepreneur, Storyteller, Author, and Travel Addict.

[00:00:01] Hi, I'm Gail Gibson, accredited Master Performance Coach, International Speaker, Podcast Host and

[00:00:15] Author. Known as The Can Do Coach, I thrive on enabling leaders to step up, shake it off

[00:00:22] and shine. Welcome to my podcast, The Can Do Way. My guests from across the globe have Can Do

[00:00:30] stories of growth, resilience and success to share. Tune in and be inspired by these individuals who

[00:00:38] have developed a strong Can Do approach. Each one of their stories is unique. Each one of their stories

[00:00:46] has a key message. In this episode of The Can Do Way, I'm talking to Malcolm Teesdale,

[00:00:54] entrepreneur, storyteller, author and travel addict. British and American citizen Malcolm

[00:01:01] was able to take early retirement when he sold his technology company in 2013. After travelling on

[00:01:09] business for more than 30 years to the major cities and business hubs around the world, he now travels

[00:01:16] to the more unusual destinations in search of rich cultural and educational experiences.

[00:01:23] Think Nepal, Mongolia, Tibet, Bhutan and Borneo to name a few. Author of several books and

[00:01:31] magazine articles about business and adventure travel with an emphasis on real life experiences,

[00:01:38] culture, education and humour. His public speaking engagements focus on entrepreneurship,

[00:01:45] adventure travel, destinations around the world and foreign cultures.

[00:01:51] Host of the travel addict podcast show and a guest on many business and travel shows worldwide.

[00:02:00] Currently living in Destin, Florida, Malcolm has also lived in England, Wales, Canada and

[00:02:06] Singapore. An adventurer, traveller to 118 countries to date who says he will consider

[00:02:16] settling down at the grand old age of 95. So welcome to the show today, Malcolm.

[00:02:22] Well thank you. What an introduction Gail. How do I follow that?

[00:02:29] Wonderful. Wonderful. Well let's take a deep dive into some of that travel and your story.

[00:02:36] So if we could take a short walk through your life just to give the listeners

[00:02:40] a glimpse of your background and what it is that drives your passion for the work that you do today?

[00:02:47] Depends how far you want me to go back. I was born in Coventry, England by the way.

[00:02:51] My parents were World War II veterans and survivors of the Coventry Blizz.

[00:02:55] So that's why I was brought up and so I went to just a regular school there, high school and

[00:03:01] took my usual exams there, the old levels, A-levels and went to college and blah blah blah.

[00:03:07] Then I was in the job world at that time. My very first job was with what's now called British

[00:03:14] Telecom but anyway I'm going to jump over this briefly but I got an opportunity to emigrate

[00:03:19] to Canada over a couple of years, came back, lived in South Wales then I emigrated to the

[00:03:24] United States in 1985. The company I worked for at the time wanted to transfer me to

[00:03:29] to Florida, in Boca Tom, Florida preempting a three-year

[00:03:33] contract in Papua New Guinea, probably the good thing at the end of the day.

[00:03:37] And I came to the States and worked for a technology company at the time and

[00:03:41] that was it and things started to change for me when I started my own business back in 1991

[00:03:50] with another buddy of mine or a work lady of mine to develop some products, some technology

[00:03:57] products for the marketplace. We fly by the seat of our pants, many of us do and that's what we did

[00:04:04] and it worked out for us in the end but I'm an engineer by trade and I had to become an engineer

[00:04:12] turning into a salesperson and we spread, we expanded in the US then over to Europe then

[00:04:20] Asia and the rest of the world. We had a presence in 80 countries in the end

[00:04:25] and so we had a lot of intellectual property and we obviously gave it a target for an acquisition

[00:04:29] and that's really what happened in 2013. And so I spent a lot of time on the road traveling

[00:04:35] the business and then I retired and then I had to on a large non-compete clause based on the buyout

[00:04:42] but what I did, I got bored, you know, it shocked the system, maybe able to relate to that

[00:04:49] so I decided I need to get out of town more, start traveling and that's when I start doing

[00:04:54] the adventure stuff. That's basically in a nutshell, right? Anything you want me to elaborate on,

[00:05:00] I can but that's pretty much it, you know. Yeah, no, that's great and you did keep it lovely

[00:05:06] and succinct which is great because it just, it forms the start, it's the beginning of

[00:05:12] the traveler that you have become and that desire in you. So when you think about

[00:05:19] the life that you've led and you're continuing to lead Malcolm, what would you say gave you that

[00:05:28] idea that you could do this? You know, you said that your parents were both from World War II

[00:05:36] survivors and lived their lives and you've done multiple different things in your life

[00:05:44] and you've lived on either side of the world. What do you think it was in your background or your

[00:05:51] makeup that really encouraged you to just say, you know what I can make travel part of my life

[00:05:58] and I can do this? Well, I blame my parents. The reason, let me tell you this quick story,

[00:06:04] I was living at home one day, you know, back on 18 and my parents came to me and said,

[00:06:12] my mother said to me, hey Malcolm, your dad and I are going on a trip to Asia for three weeks,

[00:06:17] I was 18. Will you be able to look after the house and take care of the cat?

[00:06:21] And well, I'll give it a go. So they went away, came back and the cat was still alive,

[00:06:27] the house was still not burned down to the ground. But they told me about their trip to Asia and it

[00:06:33] really piqued my interest because back in those days, it was me and me mates, if you know what I

[00:06:38] mean, we used to go to Spain for the holiday and stay up all night, hang around on the beach all day

[00:06:42] and that was a thing to do but this was somewhere different. And you know, I thought I need to

[00:06:49] take a trip over to that part of the war to learn a little bit more about the culture

[00:06:53] and I tried to get some friends to go with me and they said, why would we want to go there? It's

[00:06:57] too far away. We can just go down here, down there. So I went by myself and that was the start of it,

[00:07:04] me getting into interest about foreign cultures and I've done it ever since, you know, I've

[00:07:09] you know, I lecture about it now actually, in cultures of the world, to make people aware

[00:07:14] of the fact why people live the way they do is because they want to and if we all had a better

[00:07:22] understanding of that, we'd all get along a lot better in the world today rather than falling

[00:07:25] out of that trivial stuff. So I continued to do that and it's educational and I'll do it as long

[00:07:32] as I can. Yeah, definitely. Well saying that you intend not to stop doing it at 95, it sounds

[00:07:38] like to me you will continue going well past that if you're able to be moving around still.

[00:07:46] One of the things that really stood out for me when you were talking about your background was

[00:07:55] you got to that point where you swapped and became a business person for yourself. So you swapped

[00:08:02] the employed role to self employment, you know, that's a period of change in anybody's life.

[00:08:10] So what was one of the first things you think you noticed when you embraced that shift?

[00:08:17] Well, those two of us in the business at the time and it was a chance for us to break away. We thought

[00:08:24] we could develop a product that was better than what our current employer had and they were focused

[00:08:31] on other technologies but we could focus on this area and the thought of well doing this

[00:08:39] on our own or develop a company but the main thought was if we don't do it now we never will.

[00:08:45] Right? So that's when we decided to get going and we brought the right people on board. A lot of

[00:08:52] people straight out of university, you know, had academic qualifications for computer science

[00:08:58] and electrical engineering and it just grew from there. We basically took off and

[00:09:05] it wasn't problem free by the way but it was those challenges but you know we made the effort

[00:09:13] to get our presence overseas. We translated our product into seven languages also. I mean

[00:09:18] these things we did with common sense approach. It's all common sense actually. That's what I

[00:09:22] say to people best degree you can get in the world is a degree of common sense because

[00:09:26] that's really what it is. So yeah, that's really it. No looking back, but at the time if

[00:09:33] it had gone crash and burn at least we would have given it a go and that's the main thing.

[00:09:41] It became successful when we kept at it through the highs and lows so yeah, be tenacious.

[00:09:48] Definitely common sense and tenacity. I couldn't agree with you more being a

[00:09:53] business owner like you and having run my own business for 18 years now. There are those

[00:10:01] peaks, there are those troughs but it's how you pick yourself up each time from the challenges

[00:10:06] that you face. There's deals that go wrong. There's clients that aren't always the best

[00:10:12] clients to be working with but then there's also those bright lights and those great

[00:10:18] opportunities and incredible experiences that you have with other clients or with other

[00:10:25] people that you get to work with along the way. So I think it's managing all of those

[00:10:30] things and never giving up as well. When you talked about boredom, I talk to people

[00:10:39] a lot and sometimes these are friends and other colleagues or connections that I have

[00:10:44] and sometimes when people are faced with boredom they just have no idea. They don't give

[00:10:51] themselves a chance to go into what I see is an absolute opportunity for curiosity

[00:10:59] and curiosity can take you to different realms. It can take you down different paths and it can

[00:11:05] open doors for you. So tell me when you got to that stage where you were feeling bored, Malcolm,

[00:11:13] what prompted you to take that next step and what was it? What was the first thing that

[00:11:18] you did when you were bored? I'm trying to cast my mind back to that era. Basically,

[00:11:25] well, I've got to be doing something. It's the same mentality I have today but to sit around

[00:11:32] and watch TV and drink beer or go down the local pub. Well, it's different over here but

[00:11:39] no, I wanted to get out and about because I still have bills to pay

[00:11:45] and an opportunity to make a success for myself. Hopefully if my parents were around

[00:11:52] today they might be sort of proud. I don't mean to throw it, I do it for them but I do it for

[00:11:58] myself at the end of the day because I want to do these things and yeah, I've got to be doing

[00:12:04] something productive or educational and so that's what I do. If I get bored one afternoon

[00:12:11] now I'll go walk around the block or do something like that to get a bit of exercise

[00:12:15] but yeah, that was just a need for me to do better and so that's really what it was. I just don't

[00:12:24] hang around doing nothing or looking around. What can I do now? What can I do now? So that was

[00:12:29] probably my mentality. Yes, that can do mindset most definitely and here it's very strong in you.

[00:12:38] So being a serial traveller you must have had some highs and lows just like being a business person.

[00:12:45] You know, not every trip goes well, there's challenges along the way, sometimes situations

[00:12:52] happen or you get yourself into a situation that might be quite scary or a very challenging time.

[00:13:00] Tell us how you get through or if there's a story you could share with the listeners,

[00:13:07] something that you can reflect on that was a real key learning point for you in terms of travel and

[00:13:14] being an international guest in another country. What I did when I started seriously going overseas

[00:13:21] for business, you know, when I had my own company was to learn a little bit about

[00:13:26] the culture of the people that I was going to visit. So I could hit the ground running.

[00:13:32] I think it's important to know that when you do business overseas they expect you to be honest

[00:13:39] and sincere, they want to be friends before they trust anybody, trust is a big thing.

[00:13:45] But yeah, I've asked near misses of course, you know, I can name them but you know,

[00:13:50] the fact is, you know, one time went to Argentina. Remember the Falklands war? I mean,

[00:13:56] I was going to Argentina and is a Brit go to Argentina trying to do business with Argentinians

[00:14:02] and apart from soccer, which is another big rivalry there between the two nations.

[00:14:07] And I think this is subject to the Falklands war going to come up. But I met with the

[00:14:11] people that they were just great. They even took me to one of their local soccer games.

[00:14:15] I ended up going back there. But we just, a lot of people just put things behind them and

[00:14:21] just get on with the task at hand. And that's what we did, you know, and saying that first time

[00:14:28] I went there left about a week before the riot started because I had an economic downturn. So

[00:14:33] I got out of there at sort of the right time. But yeah. So you can't even try, right? And

[00:14:42] at first, if you don't succeed, try again. Remember that statement? So that's what we did.

[00:14:48] Yeah. Well, I did. So lots of memories. Indeed. And was there ever a time when you had a very

[00:14:58] dangerous situation that you were in in any of the countries you've been to that it was

[00:15:03] quite life changing for you that you would say like changing. I mean,

[00:15:10] you know, I was in Columbia during the height of the drug lords and that was a messy. I was in Myanmar

[00:15:16] and the cab driver was taking me out of the way different opposite way from my hotel.

[00:15:22] I had to tell him to pull over and got out of the car. So where was he taking me to? I don't

[00:15:26] know. That was a bit edgy. I was in Nepal about four months before the earthquake happened.

[00:15:33] I was on flight MH 10 not long before it got shot down out of the skies.

[00:15:42] These things just happened periodically. There's, you know, just weird stuff. Yeah. So anyway,

[00:15:50] I just have to feel blessed that I haven't had anything really bad. I've never been kidnapped

[00:15:59] and never been shot at or whatever. So until that stuff happens, if it all happens,

[00:16:07] I'm just going to carry on, you know, I've been to some scary places. I was in Moscow during the

[00:16:13] final days of the Soviet Union's existence because December 1991, big time I was there

[00:16:20] because I was doing some work for the the embassy and I was asked to go as there as a

[00:16:24] technical advisor. So that was scary time, but it was all right. The Bolshevik theater was still open.

[00:16:30] I went out and went down on the town myself. I'm daring sometimes I could be classed as my

[00:16:36] own worst enemy if I got into trouble, but yeah, you know, or self-inflicted injury, whatever you

[00:16:41] want to call it. But so far I'm still alive and I've dodged a few bullets, but I'm still here.

[00:16:47] We all do in life. Yeah, but you fill up your fill up suitcase or that backpack and you still march on

[00:16:57] into the next adventure it sounds like to me. So if you think about all of the years that you've

[00:17:04] been traveling and the change that you've gone through the different challenges that you've

[00:17:09] faced along the way, what do you think it is that travel has taught you more than anything

[00:17:16] else about yourself as a person? I've allowed myself to learn about how the rest of the world

[00:17:25] lives and works and have more respect for other cultures. One year I just went to the world list

[00:17:31] in Mongolia and you mentioned that earlier and I spent the day with a nomadic family

[00:17:36] to learn how they live. Man is wife and their young kid in the middle of nowhere.

[00:17:42] They live there because they want to. I said, why don't you go to Hulumbatu?

[00:17:47] Great city, lots of technology and they said not a chance this is the way we were born,

[00:17:52] raised this is the way we want to live our life and I've come across that even in mountain

[00:17:56] villages in the Himalayan mountains. People do that so it's enlightening to find out how

[00:18:03] people live and you've just got to accept it. That's the way they want to live. Yeah,

[00:18:08] the element of hate is here, it's a big way but a percentage of it could be attributed to the fact

[00:18:16] that people just don't understand and respect how other countries or other nations live in the

[00:18:21] world. We could eliminate some of these problems maybe, that's just a thought.

[00:18:28] Yeah, I've been to China and business there and Russia two years ago in Kiev in the Ukraine.

[00:18:36] People thought I was bonkers going there and I got back in the local Northwest Florida news

[00:18:41] were banging on my door. I said, Mr. Cheese there, what the hell were you doing over there?

[00:18:46] I wanted to go and find out, I would learn a little bit about Kiev, how the people live

[00:18:52] and the spectacular architecture. So then my picture was on the front page of the news.

[00:18:59] This is the interest I have and it's fulfilling. I think people will do that.

[00:19:06] More people will do that. Love it, love it. And you see the opportunity of learning, like you said,

[00:19:14] it was in the Ukraine things were getting more and more dangerous and yet you still saw it

[00:19:22] that it was an opportunity to learn something because we are, we have faced daily with the

[00:19:28] press and whichever way you choose to believe or not believe what is written in front of you,

[00:19:35] going and seeing it firsthand. And I know that from my own travel experience as well,

[00:19:41] when you go and talk to the people in a particular country and you see things at their

[00:19:47] level and you see the life that they have, it shapes you into being a very, very different

[00:19:54] person. And so I share your sentiments 100% of going and seeing and listening

[00:20:03] to what other people in that country and see what they're doing.

[00:20:06] You know, I tell you what though, I just come off of, I do lecturing on cruise ships and I just came

[00:20:11] off a one that was sailed from Hong Kong to Singapore and down the Vietnamese coast.

[00:20:18] The ship had a mixture of North Americans, Europeans, lots of Brits and Asians and people from

[00:20:25] Australasia. So there's people from, and in the, from the Middle East, Africa,

[00:20:29] there's people from all over the world, all getting along famously and I was lecturing about stuff

[00:20:35] there. And it was great atmosphere. And when the ship ended in Singapore, I got on a flight

[00:20:43] and flew to the country of Bhutan. One of the most strenuous things that I ever did

[00:20:47] nine years ago was trek to Tiger's Nest monastery at 10,500 feet up on a face clip.

[00:20:53] I wanted to do it again to see if I could still do it. I took a guide, the guy said,

[00:20:58] Mount, you're getting on a bit. You're thinking you're going to make it. We may have to turn

[00:21:03] around halfway. So let's give it a go. And I made it, made it again, got to the top.

[00:21:08] So I was held bent on making it to Tiger's Nest monastery at 10,500 feet up, very

[00:21:13] strenuous climb, but I made it. So I did pat myself on the back for that.

[00:21:19] But that country is beautiful, peaceful. And it was just great to go back there and relive that

[00:21:25] experience. So anyway, that's just the way I am. I've got this bucket list going on,

[00:21:31] so are the places I want to go to, but we'll just have to see.

[00:21:37] You've got 118 countries in that bucket already. So I'm sure you've got, yeah,

[00:21:43] there's many more to still see. There's so many wonderful places in this world. But

[00:21:48] that story of Bhutan, that is a real can-do moment for the listeners to be thinking about.

[00:21:53] You really want to do something and even though you'd done it before, there was that desire in

[00:21:58] you to say, I can push this, I can go that bit further. And you just had that,

[00:22:04] you had that in your head, that focus, that mindset to say, I'm going to do this.

[00:22:10] I went down the gym on the ship most days to make sure I was physically okay.

[00:22:14] Yes, it was strenuous. But yeah, I made it. So that's great.

[00:22:19] Fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. So Malcolm, what would you say your three can-do tips

[00:22:26] that maybe you live by that you'd like to leave with the listeners today?

[00:22:30] I would say three tips. I would say this. If you've got something you feel like you want

[00:22:38] to do, do it. Just don't have any regrets in your life. Right? Me, if I'm on my death bed,

[00:22:43] they get ready to pull the plug. I said, I don't want any regrets thinking about, damn,

[00:22:48] I should have done that. So have no regrets in your life. And secondly, there are lots of

[00:22:54] opportunities in the world. Right? There's more now than there used to be when we were growing up.

[00:22:59] And I say to my son, go and teach overseas is a great opportunity. Teach English overseas.

[00:23:06] He's still thinking about that. But there's lots of opportunities today

[00:23:12] that take you above and beyond what you may be doing right now, maybe bored with. You just have

[00:23:16] to look around and do that. There's always opportunities to do better. The opportunities

[00:23:22] are there. And at the end of the day, if there's another one, I think we all need to get

[00:23:30] better at learning how the rest of the world lives and have more respect for them and get

[00:23:38] better educated about that. Because I've had so many arguments about discussions about people saying,

[00:23:44] God, what a bunch of idiots those people are. I said, Ashley, they're not, they're very nice

[00:23:49] people. Let me tell you actually why they are. They don't act like us. No one acts like us. We're

[00:23:55] different. The Brits are different. The French are different. But all parts of the world,

[00:23:58] they act differently. They behave differently. That's the way that they were brought up.

[00:24:02] So let's just respect that. Brilliant. That third one resonates with me too, because I've had

[00:24:09] people who've said to me about countries and said, oh, it's like that. And I'm like,

[00:24:14] have you been there? Have you actually left the UK and that country? And when they say no,

[00:24:21] and then I say, well, I have been there like you. And it's like, this is what they are

[00:24:26] like. And they still will hold that opinion. But we're not here to split hairs. We're here to

[00:24:33] share stories of possibility with others. And when we respect how others live and the choices

[00:24:41] that they make, then we can be happy with the adventures that we've been on, knowing in our

[00:24:49] that is the way that we want to respect those people. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you

[00:24:56] for those three can do tips which I know will inspire my listeners. And my final question

[00:25:02] for you today, Malcolm, is how would you describe the opportunity of a can do mindset

[00:25:08] as a way of life? How would I describe the opportunity of a can do mindset?

[00:25:14] Is that a difficult one to ask you? Because having a can do mindset is if you class me as having

[00:25:23] a can do mindset, it was just in me. I don't know the opportunity. I've got an opportunity to have

[00:25:30] a can do mindset. It just happens. I think I just woke up. I want to do this. I want to

[00:25:36] do these things. So I did it. Probably because there are opportunities out there to make yourself

[00:25:44] better. There always is. And try it. Dip your feet in the water and give it a go.

[00:25:51] If it doesn't work out, at least you tried, right? It's better than not trying it all.

[00:25:56] And then go on to the next opportunity. Fantastic. Yes. Thank you.

[00:26:01] So I think that would be it for me. Just like if you see something, at least try it,

[00:26:07] if it fails, move on. Because we all live our lives. Things fail. We just ignore it and

[00:26:11] move on. Right? That's what we do. We do. We do. So what would you say is your plans for

[00:26:20] country 119? Well, it could be one of several. Right? Moving house first. It won't go

[00:26:29] won't happen until probably next year. I want to go back to the continent of Africa.

[00:26:38] I spent a fantastic time there two years ago in the country. I'm now maybe I thought that's

[00:26:43] wonderful and I like to go and see more of that continent. So that would probably be

[00:26:49] higher upon my list. Probably Tanzania or Zanzibar, that area. But I've got to put that on

[00:26:58] the back burner for now because it's not something we've forgotten about. It's just there. I've got

[00:27:03] a list document somewhere on my computer saying these are places of consideration. Yes. Fantastic.

[00:27:11] Fantastic. Well, I wish you every success on your continued journey and may you make it into the

[00:27:19] 120s or more in all of those countries that you plan to visit. Keep enjoying your travels.

[00:27:28] Thank you so much for being a guest on my show, The Can Do Way today.

[00:27:33] Well, thank you Gail. Thank you for having me and just enjoy that beautiful countryside you live in.

[00:27:40] I will and you too. Thanks so very much. Thank you for listening to my podcast, The Can Do Way.

[00:27:48] Do you live and breathe the Can Do attitude?

[00:27:51] Since 2019, my podcast has gifted listeners across the globe access to an incredible selection of

[00:27:58] guests with stories to refresh your perspective, bring you joy and inspire Can Do positivity.

[00:28:06] Always curious and with an insatiable appetite for a good yarn, I invite you

[00:28:12] to be a guest on my weekly show. If you have an inspiring perspective,

[00:28:18] a life-changing experience or an intriguing story to share, then drop me an email at gaillmgibson.com.

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