Meet The PopUp Team: Alan Donegan

Who are The PopUp Team?
Amongst other things, they have been called Earth's Mightiest Heroes and A Ragtag Bunch of Misfits. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them... maybe you can hire The PopUp Team

We wanted to help you get to know the individual members that make up the PopUp Team so you can understand what makes us tick.

​This week we meet our Co-Founder:
​Alan Donegan

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Who are your biggest inspirations in life and business?

There are several types.
The personal ones that are close to me and breath daily energy and life into me and then the ones I have never met in the books and courses I have taken.  
Katie and Simon have had some of the biggest impacts on my life and their unfaltering belief in me and energy has helped inspire me to press out into the world and make things happen.

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Thank you Katie Donegan for being my wife. 

Thank you Simon Paine for being my business partner.
I am not sure I would be “here” without you. ​

Then from the courses, books, CD sets and more.
Tony Robbins: Wow, you changed the direction of my life with notes from a friend and you continue to impact my life to this day.
Tim Ferriss, Robert Kiyosaki (just his book), Jim Rohn, Richard Bandler and more. They have inspired and driven me.  Thank you to the content creators, course and self-help experts that have helped me to become the man I am today.  You inspire me to be better.  Thank you.

What song gets you motivated?

The Marvel Cinematic Playlist.
As I write I have epic movie music coursing through my body and my energy and desire is lifted and pushed forward.  I want music that will drive me onwards and inspire me and this fills me with energy!  For the non-marvel fans out there (really?) then just find a cinematic playlist and enjoy the music.

It is important to me that it doesn’t have singing or words as this distracts from my focus on what I am doing at that point.

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What is your key piece of advice for small businesses at this time?

Stop focusing on what is missing, what you have lost and what is wrong.  Start focusing on what is next, what is possible and what you can do.  Your focus determines your results and if you continue to wallow in what you have lost you are building a future of disappointment.  Change your focus and you change the course of your destiny.  Every single day focus on what you can build and create and work towards the future you desire.

Who are three people dead or alive you would invite to dinner?

Barack and Michelle Obama –
I am counting a couple as one.  I own the company so I don’t care about the rules.  I think they would have incredible insight, stories and more.  I would LOVE to learn from them and be grilled by them

Tim Ferriss –
I think he would be a fascinating guy.  He comes across online as a floored genius that suffers just like the rest of us but he has some extreme ideas and his books changed my life so I would LOVE the opportunity to talk to him and chat

The Russo Brothers – 
Joe and Anthony are responsible for the highest grossing movie of all time Marvel's Avengers Endgame and some of my favourite movies of all time. They are an incredible creative duo and the scale of what they built and achieved is phenomenal.  I would do anything to have dinner with them and sit and chat and explore and learn wow! 

What has been your biggest learning in the past year?

This last year has been an adventure as I set out from PopUp to write movies, explore the world, enjoy financial independence and more.   I have learnt so much.  My biggest learning is:
The rules are all made up by someone, by society, by religion, by people. 
They are ALL MADE UP.  Life is what you want to make out of it.  As long as you do good by other people you can create any life you want and it is your responsibility to build it.  You can take action every day and this compounds over the years to build the life you want.  You can build anything.

I can’t believe the incredible life I have today.  I also can’t believe it was only 10-12 years ago that I was crying beside the road wondering if I would ever make a success of myself and now I am here!  It is incredible what you can build

This belief is spurring me onto the next level of life creation.

What are some resources that have had the biggest impact on you?

The three books that has the biggest impact on me.
That one is easy.  I have written about it a lot.
Go here to read the full list: alandonegan.com/blog/book-the-books-that-changed-my-life

Tony Robbins – Notes from a Friend was the one that had the biggest impact because it was the first ever self-development book that I ever read.  Someone thrust it into my hands at 21ish and as I read this book it BLEW my mind.  The concepts and ideas have continued to shape my thinking ever since.  I would love to write a book like this or have this kind of impact for other people.

If you want to get into financial independence then read Mr Money Mustache or listen to ChooseFI.

If you want to learn about business come to a PopUp Business School.  This is the education I wish I had had when I was starting up.  If I was building a new business I would come and sit in one of the classes and listen as I build and launch.

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My advice to anyone that is reading this is that it is time to launch.  Stop waiting for the timing to be right and just get on with it. I launched my business in 2008 at the height of the financial crisis and it was painful for some time but I am glad I did it.
​If I could make it through that when the good times came it was so so so so much easier.
Just get on with it and take massive decisive action ever day to build the future you desire. 

Come back every week as we introduce you to a new member of The PopUp Team!