Dr. Brandon Croud spent over 20 years leading corporate underwriting teams. He thought he was doing what he was supposed to do. Then the mortgage market collapsed, his team shrank, and he was laid off.

What happened next was not what anyone would have predicted. A catering company. A food truck. A son born at 39 who cracked him open, helping him remember childhood experiences and energies he had suppressed. A PhD in Metaphysics he had started years earlier and never finished. And a crystal called Moldavite that started his writing journey.

Brandon is now the founder of The Awakened Croud, a business consultant, intuitive energy guide and author of Alden and the Light That Blinked Back, a children's bedtime story about light and intuition.
He also hosted over 350 episodes of a nationally recognised NASCAR podcast.

In this episode Brandon explains metaphysics in the clearest way I have ever heard it. He talks about the danger of sharing your excitement with people who do not understand it, a tarot card he pulled the morning of our recording, a blindfolded warrior taking a shot without knowing where it will land, and the analogy that stopped me in my tracks:

Stand in front of a mirror and demand it to smile first. You will be waiting a very long time. You have to smile first.

If you have been waiting for the right moment to write your book, Brandon has something very direct to say about that too.

Guest Links:
Website: theawakenedcroud.com and brandoncroud.com
Social: @awakenedcroud on all platforms
Book: Alden and the Light That Blinked Back — 📕 Click here to check out my book
The Awakened Croud Podcast: 🎧 Click here to listen to my podcast

Favourite Books:
Steven Pressfield — The War of Art
Elizabeth Gilbert — Big Magic
Jen Sincero — You Are a Badass

Join the free Skool community: okleaf.link/LateBloomer

The Late Bloomer Author newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/the-late-bloomer-author-7461846836018974720/

Wendy's books: mybook.to/Ultimate-retirement | mybook.to/Ultimate-retirementWB

#LateBloomerAuthor #BrandonCroud #TheAwakenedCroud #WriteYourBook #SelfPublishing #Over40 #NeverTooLate #PodcastLife #NonfictionAuthor #YoureRightOnTime #LateBloomer #Metaphysics #SpiritualAwakening #TrustYourJourney #StartNow

Rob McPhun spent 34 years in the UK police force. Every single day, difficult conversations. The kind most of us spend our whole lives trying to avoid.

In a wonderful full circle moment, Rob was also Wendy’s coach during her property investing days.

Now here they both are, authors, helping other people find their voice.

Rob left the police and became a property investor, then a coach, then an author. His first book was published at 60. He now has four books in various stages, all built around his Perfecting Conversations model, a framework developed from three decades of learning what actually happens when human beings talk to each other honestly.

In this episode Rob and Wendy talk about the excuses that keep people stuck, why getting out of your comfort zone means giving things up not just adding things, the traffic light system he used to write his first book in 31 days, how his second book took just seven days to draft, and why the word author suggests authority, whether you like it or not.

He also reveals the plot of his secret fiction novel. A terminally ill police officer who decides to convict the people the justice system keeps letting off. Think Dexter meets The Equalizer. It is called Terminal Conviction. You heard it here first.

And he answers the question directly: what would you say to someone who has a book inside them but keeps talking themselves out of it?

His answer might be the most honest thing you hear this week.

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🎙 Subscribe to the podcast, new episodes every Sunday

You're not too late. You're right on time.

💬 Quotes

🗣 From this episode:

"Getting started is the hardest bit of anything. But if you don't start, in five years you will be exactly where you are now."

— Rob McPhun, Episode 13

✍️ This week's writing inspiration:

"The most important thing about art is to work. Nothing else matters except sitting down every day and trying."

— Steven Pressfield

🔗 Links

💜 Free Skool community: https://okleaf.link/LateBloomer

👤 Guest: Rob McPhun

Website: perfectingconversations.com

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/rob-mcphun-1b263920

Free discovery call: find him on LinkedIn

Rob's books: search McPhun on Amazon

📱 Social Media:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendy-s-williams/
https://www.facebook.com/wendymuppit/

https://www.instagram.com/the_late_bloomer_author/

https://www.tiktok.com/@latebloomerauthor

#LateBloomerAuthor #RobMcPhun #PerfectingConversations #WriteYourBook #SelfPublishing #PodcastLife #NonfictionAuthor #YoureRightOnTime #LateBloomer #AuthorLife#JustStart

Some links in this description may be affiliate links. If you purchase through them I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only ever recommend tools and resources I genuinely use and love. Thank you for supporting the show! 🧡

Noel Guilford has been a chartered accountant for over 50 years.
He started his career as a partner at Deloitte's. He knows exactly what a conventional, successful practice looks like. And then, in his sixties, he made a decision most people in his position never make. He sacked some clients. He gave others away. He rebuilt around the work that actually helped people, the ones who were awake at night, not drawing enough from their business to fund the life they wanted.
What came next was deliberately small, deliberately lean, and deeply intentional.
A one-person advisory practice built around meaning, monthly virtual board meetings, and a methodology he calls Business Alignment, asking clients the two questions most accountants never ask: why are you in business, and what is your relationship with your numbers?
He also wrote four books. The first one in 2018, at the age of 65.
In this episode Noel and I talk about:
• Why he made his business smaller in his sixties, and what that actually felt like
• The Business Alignment Method and the 12 questions every business owner should answer
• The one-person business model and why one person with a laptop can now run a sophisticated business
• The difference between AI-generated and AI-assisted, one of the clearest explanations I have heard
• Why age is a genuine advantage when writing a book
• His book writing method: clear outline first, then write one section at a time
• Why you should write the introduction last (not first)
• His new book The One-Person Advisory Practice, out September 2026 Plus a genuinely funny moment about the mentor character he created in his first book who was, in his words, considerably better looking than him.
Noel also offers a free call for anyone thinking about starting or realigning their business. No charge, just a genuine conversation.
Link below.
If you want to write a book AND build something meaningful around it, this conversation is for you.
Guest Links:
Website: guilfordaccounting.co.uk
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/noelguilford
Free call: https://calendly.com/noelguilford
The One-Person Advisory Practice is out in September
Favourite Books: Steven Pressfield — The War of Art
Elizabeth Gilbert — Big Magic
Jen Sincero — You Are a Badass
Join the free Skool community: okleaf.link/LateBloomer
The Late Bloomer Author newsletter: [LinkedIn newsletter link]
Wendy's books: mybook.to/Ultimate-retirement | mybook.to/Ultimate-retirementWB
Timestamps: [add manually from YouTube playback]
#LateBloomerAuthor #NeverTooLate #NoelGuilford #OnePersonBusiness #WritingPodcast #Over60 #LateBloomer #BusinessFreedom #AuthorLife #WriteYourBook #TimeAndFinancialFreedom #AIForBusiness #SoloPreneur #MeaningfulWork #BookAt65