Willem Venter: on building successful business, great fitness and fulfilling life. The Balanced Entrepreneur Playbook.

Hustle is loud, but clarity is what lasts. We sit down with Willem Venter, founder of ZEDMEN - Men premium custom menswear with boutiques in Cape Town and Johannesburg, to unpack how Willem sustained a demanding entrepreneurial life for 20 years WITHOUT letting his health, relationships, or mindset collapse under the weight of growth. Willem Venter has spent 2 decades in business and never stopped training — not because he has to, but because he's built a system where health, family, and bus...

• 0:09Speaker 00

  Hello and welcome back to another episode of Change Wired Podcast. My name is Angela Sharina, I'm your host, I'm your Executive Master Health Coach 360, Partner in Personal and Collective Transformation and just someone who is really passionate about learning how to unlock more of our potential every day in our life, in our business, in our relationships, so we could create the most extraordinary lives and more positive impact in the world. And today, guys, I am very excited because it is another episode with

• 0:48Speaker 00

  an amazing, awesome, fascinating guest who I was blown away by, to be honest. What is the secret to running two menswear boutiques, great thriving business in two cities in South Africa for 20 years? Wasn't hustle, but it was clarity. Today's guest is Willem Venter, founder of Zed Men, premium custom menswear with boutiques in Cape Town and Johannesburg. And here is a secret: William did not build a 20-year business by grinding himself into the ground. He built it by treating his own life like a

• 1:33Speaker 00

  business with a plan, a schedule and zero tolerance for skipping the fundamentals. In this conversation, we get into why William trains almost every single day and why it's never felt like a chore. The four-part framework William has used for over 15 years to keep business, health, relationship and mindset all moving toward together.

• 2:00Speaker 00

  What William actually does when his business gets stressful, a mental tool borrowed from race car driving that keeps William from spinning out of control. And the one habit, writing your life like a script, painting it like a picture, that William says turned or was a secret to his long lasting, growing and thriving success. If you are an entrepreneur juggling growth, personal wellbeing, energy, personal and professional life and everything in between, and wondering how to sustain it for the long haul, not just the next quarter, this one is for you.

• 2:44Speaker 00

  Here's my conversation with Willem Venter. Tell me first, William, about like what's on your plate? What's your, what does your lifestyle look like in terms of when you work, how much you work? When you take care of other things, I don't know, family, personal stuff? Like, what does it look like day to day for you?

• 3:02Speaker 01

  Life is busy for everyone. And unless you prioritize certain things, they're not gonna happen. Because as you know, when you're busy, you can just, it's Monday, the week flies and it's Friday. You know, and it's like, unless you actually prioritize and you put it in the diary, that I'm referring to training, I'm referring to family. Because sometimes people only focus on one thing and then they drop the ball on other things. I read a book once called The Eighth Habit by Stephen Covey. And it's got five intelligences. Your SQ, your spiritual intelligence, your IQ, which is your, your brain, your EQ, which is your heart, which is your relationships. And then your, your, your PQ, which is your physical intelligence.

• 3:47Speaker 01

  And he drew like a parallel to, to a business and a person. But I find that it's crucial to have that balance. So. First of all, I make a point of training, but secondly, I love training. So I do that I love. So and actually, like, like, for example, today I'm working from home in Joburg. But I've got a five thirty, someone that's gonna meet me at the place that I train. And we're gonna go train and I'm super excited, wait for it. So, so training is not like a chore. You know, it's something that's, that's part of my lifestyle personally. And it's also something that you have to schedule and make time for, because if you don't. First of all, it's not gonna happen. And, and without a doubt, your physiology, how you feel affects your psychology.

• 4:32Speaker 01

  In other words, your mood or effectiveness, how, on what level you operate, your energy levels. And almost more importantly, in the long run, your health, you know, because you don't look after that now. Then one day, your health is your wealth, you know, so that's, that's what I prioritize. And then of course, family. So what I do is I live in between Cape Town and Joburg. So when I'm in Joburg, I train at night mostly, a few times a week when I'm here, love it. And when I'm in Cape Town, I train in the mornings, because night time's with the family. So trying to keep that balance, not trying to keep it, keeping it is actually crucial.

• 5:12Speaker 00

  Mm hmm. And we're always like this, like sort of aware of the training that's it's needed and prioritizing it, scheduling it. And also like knowing that you gotta enjoy it in order to make it sustainable and make it last.

• 5:27Speaker 01

  I think I've just, I'm just lucky like that, because ever since I could. Ever since being a kid, when I was very, very small, it was skateboarding. And I was very competitive and then it went to surfing, and then it went to fighting and that stuck. So, so I'm very fortunate that I just love training. So, so it's not like, not admin, it's not like, oh, I've gotta go train. It's something that I've always been lucky that I just really, really have a passion for and I love doing.

• 5:56Speaker 00

  Mm hmm. Anything else that you prioritize besides fitness? Might be sleep, might be nutrition, some self-care longevity protocols, like, I don't know, getting into nature. Are there, what are some other things?

• 6:12Speaker 01

  Absolutely. Sleep for me is crucial. Now luckily I sleep like a baby, very, very blessed day. So I don't have to work on that too much, but I actually really seven hours at least per night. I sleep because, and even when I travel, I don't fly first thing in the morning. I'll fly at nine o'clock, land at eleven o'clock, whether it's to Cape Town or to Joburg. And I do my best work on the plane. So sleep is an absolute priority. Secondly, nutrition without a doubt. And a regular checkups, you know, because as you get a bit older, you won't know yet, but as you get older, you've got to look after your health.

• 6:49Speaker 01

  And like I said earlier, your health is your wealth. So it's a very, I want to be able to, and I'm very fortunate because I see my clients who are older. And they're in great shape and they're still going strong and they've got a lot of energy. So I think to myself, geez, like, if I'm that age. That's a long way to go. If I've got that amount of energy, there's still a lot of life that's ahead of me. So, so yeah, sleep.

• 7:16Speaker 01

  Making sure that I do things that I enjoy, crucial, you know, and just after, yeah, looking after myself is, this is, is a non-negotiable, basically.

• 7:25Speaker 00

  Mm hmm. Are there any specific things that you spend your income on in terms of your health? Whether that's supplements, gadgets, certain therapies, any things of that sort?

• 7:39Speaker 01

  So, so good, actually interesting question. So I drink all the vitamins, the B, C, Omega. That are, you know, all of the, all of those things, magnesium and, but I actually spend quite, could actually not to ask them. I actually spend quite a bit on my gyms. So there's a lot of virgin active, of course, the, the. What's the premium one, whatever it's called, I like it because I don't have to take a towel. So, so you know, I spend on that. But then I also, I'm a member at two different other, it's Fight Clubs, one in Cape Town, one in Joburg. And I every month I with this with a smile because for me, first of all, it's not just for my health and wellness, it's also for my happiness, you know what I mean?

• 8:24Speaker 01

  So, uh, yeah, I'll say I spend on that. Other than that, not really too much. Eating is a priority for me. I eat very well, so that also fits into that category. So that's what I spend wellness funds on.

• 8:41Speaker 00

  In terms of nutrition, curious, how do you make sure that you get the right kind of meals? You know, you you travel, obviously, you spend your time in two cities and I understand family is not, you know, in every city. So how do you make sure that you get what you want?

• 8:55Speaker 01

  Yeah, so you're speaking to someone that loves eating meat. So quite a steak eater and I've got my absolute routine. I don't think anyone eats as much meat as what I do. So when I get to Joburg, first thing I do, I make a whole bunch of steaks and noodles and salad and there it is, ready to go. And in, and in general, also make sure that my lunches are very fortunate. My missus makes very nice lunch in in Cape Town and it's always packed away. And it's got the right amount of protein and everything in it. Same over here, you know, this is where planning comes in. Because it's very important if you don't plan these things, like you don't plan training, you don't plan sleeping, don't

• 9:39Speaker 01

  plan personal development, then there's a saying, how you do something is how you do everything. Because if you're not gonna look after these things, then you're not gonna look after the things in your business. If you're not gonna look after the things in your business, you're not gonna look after the things in your personal life. So everything sort of. Everything is equally important, your S Q, your I Q, your E Q. Everything is crucial and you actually do something about it. Because if you like, like in that book, it was quite interesting how Dr Stephen Covey said that it's like legs on a table. You know, if something, you can have a lot of money, but you're unhealthy. What does it mean? Nothing, you know, some, something's gonna go.

• 10:22Speaker 01

  You can be very healthy and have no money, there's also something wrong because you've got to change. You know what I'm saying? You can, you can have a lot of money, be very healthy and have no relationships. There's something wrong, you know what I mean? So our two, I know we started with food, but it's all the same thing. So you've got to things in place, thankfully in Joburg, I've got my lovely lady, Bongi, she makes meal, makes the meals in the freezer. When I get to Joburg, all I have to do is take it out and it's ready to roll. You know what I'm saying? It's all about, I guess, knowing what you want out of life. And then, and, and then actually writing the, the script, you know what I'm saying? Plaguingly so that everything is there and it falls into place.

• 11:07Speaker 01

  So that you can have that healthy, wealthy, happy life that you're working towards.

• 11:14Speaker 00

  Yes. Well, it sounds like, you know, you have so much self-awareness and intention about all of those things. And, um, and is it something that you purposefully worked at some point? Like, when, when did it happen that you created this beautiful system to make sure that all of the areas of your life are covered? What was it? How did you do it? Like besides reading the book? Was there maybe, also I'm curious, like, was there any specific event where you're like, okay, I need to do this work, I need to figure it out?

• 11:46Speaker 01

  You know, interestingly enough, I must say that book actually played a big part. So I always used to be like that, you know, always been healthy and always been very driven. Even when I was a little kid and I had to win the skateboarding competitions, you know, it's just who you are as a person. And then something that I started, that, that really, that I started doing that really stuck. And actually this happened when I started working almost thirty years ago. I fell in love with personal development and reading books within the.

• 12:20Speaker 01

  Interest that I had at that point. So like when I started thirty years ago, there was a big focus on sales. You know, and then you get to know how that work and then it works. And then after that, it evolves to other things, to other things, to big becoming more effective, time management, personal development. And that's when that book actually, actually just sort of that's why, that's why reading is so important. Reading podcasts, like what you do, your coaching is so crucial because if you, if you don't know, you don't know, you know, and you've been doing something sort of in that line, but now it's something that you

• 12:59Speaker 01

  that it's, you've got more clarity around. So when I read that eight habits, then I realised, you know, that your spiritual intelligence is crucial. Your relationship, we're going to make it and your IQ is crucial, you know, your, then your, your art, your EQ and then your physically. But then, then it's a matter of what are you actually doing about it? You know, are you doing something within that program? Cause remember it's Monday, then it's, then it's Sunday, then it's Monday and Sunday. Within that seven day sort of cycle, have you actually got things in place to make sure that you're working on each of the different intelligences, if you know what I'm saying?

• 13:39Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 13:39Speaker 01

  And if not, in change, you know? So, so I'd say I've always been like that, but that's why when you learn new things, you just maybe do them a little bit better, a little bit with, like we, we all know the answers, but until you hear it and you see it and you maybe re-ear it, then it's sort of, then the light bulb goes on and you actually do something about it.

• 14:03Speaker 00

  Yes. Well, how long ago was it that you read that book?

• 14:08Speaker 01

  Sure. I know I can tell you. I, it's going to be a wild guess, but I'm almost going to say. Fifteen years ago, maybe longer, very long, long ago, quite, quite long ago.

• 14:22Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 14:23Speaker 01

  At least fifteen years ago.

• 14:24Speaker 00

  It sounds like though that you've always been, as you said, driven, curious into self-development. Now, so that's how you sort of found your way to all of these tools and strategies and like methodologies. If, is there any other way that you, well, besides reading what I heard from you? What are some other way perhaps that you learn or that you source your information from different? I don't know, sources like, I'm, I'm looking for specifics. Podcasts that you listen to, people you follow, YouTube channels, yeah, something that you read.

• 14:59Speaker 01

  I'm such a YouTube guy, YouTube virtually every day, absolutely love it. So, so YouTube, I'd say mainly, mainly YouTube and reading. Those are my resources of information.

• 15:11Speaker 00

  Mm hmm. And again, any, any specific authors that you can name besides Kavi? Um, or personalities that you follow on YouTube that you always try to watch something from?

• 15:22Speaker 01

  Absolutely. So first, before the authors, I'll rather say the topics. So, so one of the, one of the main topics, I always say to everyone, they must, they must become a master at. First of all is, is goal setting and achieving. Okay, goal setting and achieving. And then things like the law of attraction falls into place. You know, because then you understand how it works. So the one thing is goal setting and achieving. The second one is definitely the law of attract, the law of attraction and how to, and how to work it and how it works. Then effectiveness is crucial as well. You know, if you go with those three to start with.

• 16:04Speaker 01

  It's, that's just a good, and it depends what your industry is, of course, then there are a lot of different sort of routes that you can pull in from there. Authors that I'll definitely recommend, Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich, with regards to goal setting and achieving, and that actually ties in perfectly with the law of attraction. Because if you read and study that book, then you'll see where the law of attraction comes from. It was written hundreds and hundreds of years ago, but that is where it comes from. Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill, absolutely brilliant. There's another book called The Source by Dr. Tara Swatz. Swatz, absolutely brilliant.

• 16:46Speaker 01

  She's got to do with neuroscience, but at the end of the day, all of this has got to do with neuroscience. You know, how does your brain work? The, the Dr. Joe Dispenza, he's brilliant. So it's all along the same sort of lines and that's got to do with goal setting and achieving. There's a gentleman by the name of Brian Tracy.

• 17:09Speaker 01

  Anything that comes out of his mouth, even if it's from many, many years ago, he's quite old now. But he's, he's an absolute genius, brilliant to listen to. You've got Tony Robbins, who's excellent still today. Who else is there? That's got to do with things like goal setting and achieving and effectiveness and all of that. Then when it comes to leadership, Simon Sinek, absolutely fantastic. Effectiveness again, I'll go back to Brian Tracy. He wrote a book called, wrote a book, but the one is, the one book, it's a thin little book, changed my life, called Time Management. I work every single day. Then he's got another book called Eat That Frog.

• 17:52Speaker 01

  Brilliant, absolutely genius. So that I'd say is when it comes to, to time management, what else is there? I think that covers quite a broad, broad spectrum.

• 18:06Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 18:06Speaker 01

  I just, personal development is key. And if you know how to set goals and work towards it, then that, that becomes your driving force. And also that becomes like a fun thing you do every day because you, as a, as a saying, progress equals happiness. And as you grow. You know, so and if you in business, it's not only you that grows, it's your team, your teams, your business and it's, I mean, it's exciting.

• 18:36Speaker 00

  Mm hmm. Thank you so much for so much, so much goodness and things to, to learn from and look into. You mentioned again, quite a few areas like goal setting, achieving, global attraction effectiveness. Another area that I want to touch upon, then let me know if you work on that or use any tools in that is resilience to stress and going through challenges and managing your mindset and emotions. Is it any, is it something that you are like intentionally work on or manage? And if yes, so how?

• 19:15Speaker 01

  Oh, you have to if you in business, you know, because as you grow, as your turnover grows, so do your bills. So if you, if you look at, if you look at people like Richard Branson, you know, in the beginning days, I mean, he, he's, he's at a rough ride, you know, it's not just, wow, look at the guy. If you look at Phil Knight from Nike, Phil Knight from Nike, he also, I mean, he, as he grew, grew and grew and grew, at some point, his business almost didn't make it because they didn't have the cash flow to fund what they bought. There's, there's so many different stories like that. You have to consciously be aware that stress is a thing

• 19:59Speaker 01

  and especially applying stress, you know what I mean? And the best way I'd, I'd say to handle that, get sleep, keep healthy, you know what I'm saying? And sometimes when it, when the going gets rough, you take a back, you take a step back, take a few steps back. Just Stephen Covey actually said with his book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, the seventh habit is sharpen the saw. So if you, if you really like tired and stressful and you can't figure out what to do and it's, and things get a bit much. Just sharpen the saw. It's like sawing down a tree, but the blade is blunt. So, so what you try, the only thing is happening, you're just getting more tired and burnt out.

• 20:43Speaker 01

  So what you do is you sharpen the saw and all it's like this, chif, chif, and it's off. You know what I'm saying? So, so managing your energy levels, focusing on what you want and not what you don't want, because what people do when things get a bit rough. What is his name? Jim Rohn used to say, also from, from, from, from long ago. Also brilliant. He used to say, when it's summer, think winter. So in other words, when it's going well, think winter's coming, but also when it's winter, think summer. So it's not always going to go bad. Because sometimes what happens is when things get a little bit hot in the kitchen,

• 21:26Speaker 01

  man, it's all the people focus on. It's like, man, oh, yes, oh, how am I gonna? They don't focus on, and actually, funny enough, Tony Robbins had this, this, this analogy. He said, as a racing driver, he learned something, someone took him on a racing, whatever. Have you heard it? And, and suddenly the car started spinning. And the, the, the co-pilot, who's the coach or the whatever, he said to, he said to them, don't look at the wall. Look at the, the track. Because wherever you, wherever you, wherever you, wherever you, your focus goes, your energy flows, you know? So in other words, if you look at the wall, you're gonna hit the wall. But if you look at the track, there's a big chance that you're gonna end up back on that track.

• 22:09Speaker 01

  So it's the same, it's when things get a bit rough. Make sure you're fresh, make sure you go have a workout, eat healthy, get some good sleep. And you know what? Sometimes you wake up with new idea, fresh ideas. And that's what gets you back onto the track, not against the wall.

• 22:26Speaker 00

  Mm hmm. So I guess what I'm hearing is, yeah, when it, it gets tough, take care of yourself. That, yeah, what, what do you mean, sharpening the saw and then control your focus? So it sort of helps you to get the best out of yourselves versus just, you know, focusing on the obstacles and getting, maybe into that obstacle.

• 22:47Speaker 01

  You're just gonna see and get more of it. You know, the law of attraction is definitely a thing. The more you focus on what you don't want, trust me, the more of that you're gonna get.

• 22:58Speaker 01

  And of course, vice versa.

• 23:00Speaker 00

  Yes. Is there anything else that you consider sort of very essential in terms of taking care of yourself, making sure that you thrive, that you last while working on your goals and going through, you know, a lot of challenging stuff in life?

• 23:17Speaker 01

  You know, I think it's just going back to ba- basically writing your script. You know, first of all, first and foremost is knowing where you want to be one day. And, and it's, it's, it's what by when, okay? Because sometimes if it's not about when, then there's like, you know, yeah, I'm gonna, I wanna go, I'm gonna go train tomorrow, you know? Or, or you know what, one day when I've, or the diet's gonna start then. That's not sort of a, that's not a thing. Success, there's a, there's a saying, it's, it's a known fact. Successful people are known to act on new ideas, new things, you know? Even sort of a new inspiration. So someone might listen to this and someone might think, you know, they need to go train

• 24:02Speaker 01

  or they need to, or there's in the different intelligences, there is maybe that phone call of that family member that they should actually make, but next time, you know? So basically, I'd say what I personally think is the, the secret to success, personally, financially and on all levels, is to, is to, to have a clear picture in your mind of, of what you want in all areas, you know? Be it finances, be it relationships, be it your health, be it anything, you know? Be even, even, even with regards to planning a holiday, you know what I'm saying? Just, it doesn't even have to be a reality. Literally just.

• 24:48Speaker 01

  Just draw a little picture, create a vision board, save it on your phone, whatever, whatever works for you, you know, write a notebook, you know, whatever works for you as a person. Personally, I like pictures, you know, on my phone folder that you can see the holiday, you can see the monetary amount, you can see the family, you can see whatever you want, what you want as a person. And you say, what does that look, what will that look like if it was perfect? You know, you write up all those goals, all those different things. And then slowly but surely, you just tick them off one by one, one by one, because then you'll start working towards that. Does that make sense?

• 25:30Speaker 00

  Yes, it's one hundred percent.

• 25:32Speaker 01

  Be it business, be it your personal life, be it something that you want to achieve one day, the question is, you may be not there yet, but if you know what you want, even two years' time, and you start working on it every day now already, you'll be surprised, it probably won't even take two years. It'll be sooner than that, but almost more importantly, like I say, progress equals happiness. So as you go on this journey, it's a fun journey and every day is a bit, look, every day is not easy, but if you, if you stick through it, stick through it, stick through it, eventually it gains momentum and that two years suddenly becomes one year, then you realise, goodness, I'm capable of this, it's actually up the game a bit.

• 26:16Speaker 00

  Yeah. Well, thank you, William, so much for this interview. Yeah, I learned so much and it's that there are so many like nuggets of wisdom, very practical. So I really appreciate your time and sharing all of this.

• 26:30Speaker 01

  It's a pleasure. Thank you, thank you. I really appreciate it. Keep up the good work.

• 26:35Speaker 00

  You too. Yeah. Thank you so much, William. Have a good rest of the day.