The Mexican Fisherman and the Banker: Are You Chasing Freedom or Living It?
Release Date: 01/20/2026
I Warned People About This in 2019. Then I Did It Five Times.
The Matt J Hanham Show
In April 2019 I recorded an episode called How To Start A Podcast. In the description I wrote: "90% of podcasts only have 7 episodes. Why is this?" I diagnosed the exact problem, publicly, confidently, on the record. Then I did it five times. This episode is about consistency, discipline and accountability for founders, and why restarting is the most reliable way to never finish. My publishing runs since 2019: four episodes then dead. One then dead. Three then dead. Seven then dead for twenty months. Eight then dead. I landed on the exact number I'd warned everybody else about. Twice. In this...
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Clarity Isn't a Mood. It's a Cut.
The Matt J Hanham Show
You've been getting clarity on this for months. The thinking is done, the notebook is full, you've had the conversations. And the thing hasn't moved an inch. This episode is about clarity, decision making and focus for business owners, and why the thing you've been waiting for doesn't hand you a bigger plan. It hands you a shorter list. But you must decide. It's in the word. Decide comes from the Latin decidere. De, meaning off. Caedere, meaning to cut. To cut off. Same root as incision. Same root as homicide. A decision isn't a conclusion you arrive at. It's an...
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Story vs Scoreboard: Are You Fudging The Numbers For or Against You?
The Matt J Hanham Show
A bad meeting, a couple of setbacks, and suddenly you've decided the whole thing is failing. Before you spiral, check which scoreboard you're reading. This one is about business numbers, KPIs, financial reporting and marketing metrics, and why a number on its own tells you nothing without the story wrapped around it. 100 leads this month. Good or bad? You can't answer that. A million dollars profit. Best month of your life, or a quarter of last month's? The number can't tell you alone. Only the story can. But flip it, because this is the part most people miss: a...
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Motivation Isn't Holding You Back. This Is.
The Matt J Hanham Show
Here's an uncomfortable admission. The best marketing I could ever do is dead simple. Just live my own advice, out loud, consistently. And I've done it, on and off. A year straight, then it slides. Start again, slide again. Never all in. And I reckon if I ever had, I'd be running a completely different business by now. This is a quick, honest one about eating your own dog food, and why doing it in fits and starts quietly costs you everything. It doesn't make you a hypocrite. It just means you never get the compound. In this one: Why "eat your own dog food" is never yes or no, it's on and off...
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The AI Build Trap + How to Avoid It
The Matt J Hanham Show
AI means anyone can build anything now. An app, a business, a brand, in an afternoon. The cost of building has fallen off a cliff. So here's the question that should worry you: if everyone can build, what's left to separate you? I learned the answer the hard way, stuck like a record skipping, rebuilding the same thing over and over. In this episode I break down the AI Build Trap: why building was never the bottleneck, and why the people who win from here are the ones who actually finish. In this one: Why building is now the easy part, and finishing is the moat How you oscillate when there's...
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Why I Lost the Race I Should've Won
The Matt J Hanham Show
I was the favourite to win my school cross country. I'd beaten the kid beside me dozens of times, always by running my own race. Then the gun went, he shot out too hard, I got scared, and I chased him. Burned out early. Came second by ten metres. I didn't lose because he was faster. I lost because I ran his race instead of mine. In this episode I unpack the most expensive mistake I watch founders make: letting fear pull them off their own game. On the track it looks like chasing. In business it looks like hedging. A few clients paying the bills, options open, half in on A and half in on B,...
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You Get Judged on What You Do Next.
The Matt J Hanham Show
You get judged on what you do next. Not the mistake. Not the slip-up. Not the imperfect launch. In this episode, I share a story from my first customer in business — a job that went wrong, a difficult conversation, and a lesson that’s shaped how I've lead ever since. Mistakes are inevitable when you’re building and growing. What separates professionals from amateurs is ownership. Silence damages trust. Avoidance erodes authority. But fast, honest follow-through builds relationships that last. If there’s something you’ve been avoiding — a message,...
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The Real Risk Isn’t Failure. It’s Drift.
The Matt J Hanham Show
The real risk in business isn’t failure. It’s drift. In this bite-sized Inside Out episode, I explore why most founders don’t stall because they try and fail — they stall because they stay safe. Planning feels responsible. Tweaking feels productive. Research feels strategic. But often, it’s hesitation disguised as preparation. Growth requires exposure. Open water. Movement. The danger isn’t being out there and getting it wrong. The danger is drifting in the harbour — slowly postponing the very thing that would move you forward. If there’s a launch you’re delaying, a...
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When a Cold Call Goes Wrong...
The Matt J Hanham Show
A cold call on my personal mobile this week turned into a useful reminder. The call wasn’t malicious. The pitch wasn’t terrible. But within a minute it became clear we were in the same line of work. In this short Inside Out episode, I unpack how cold calls and outreach can go wrong not because the execution is bad, but because the context is missing. Marketing and sales are investments of time, money, and attention. When the who isn’t clear, even good effort can quickly backfire. This episode is a simple reminder to slow down just enough to do the homework, understand the context, and...
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The Mexican Fisherman and the Banker: Are You Chasing Freedom or Living It?
The Matt J Hanham Show
In this Inside Out episode, I read a short parable often referred to as The Mexican Fisherman and the Banker and share a few reflections it brings up for me. It’s a simple story about ambition, success, and the idea of “someday.” How easily we can postpone the very freedom we say we’re chasing. This episode isn’t against ambition or rejecting growth. It’s about pausing to ask a better question: Are we building businesses and careers that support our lives, or are we deferring life in the name of building more? Inside the episode, I reflect on: The difference between chasing...
info_outlineIn this Inside Out episode, I read a short parable often referred to as The Mexican Fisherman and the Banker and share a few reflections it brings up for me.
It’s a simple story about ambition, success, and the idea of “someday.” How easily we can postpone the very freedom we say we’re chasing.
This episode isn’t against ambition or rejecting growth. It’s about pausing to ask a better question:
Are we building businesses and careers that support our lives, or are we deferring life in the name of building more?
Inside the episode, I reflect on:
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The difference between chasing freedom vs "living it" now
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Deferred happiness and “someday” thinking
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How easy it is to measure success externally
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Designing a life intentionally, not accidentally
If you’ve ever found yourself chasing the next milestone without stopping to ask why, this episode is an invitation to pause, and see what’s already here.