Entrepreneur and ex AFL player Joel Macdonald shares story on his business rise and fall
Former AFL player Joel Macdonald was worth $200m at the height of his post-footy GetSwift business success, flying first class and staying in luxe hotels. He then lost it all.
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Entrepreneur and former AFL player Joel Macdonald has revealed how he spectacularly lost $200 million.
And as is the way of the modern world now, he not only wants to tell everyone about it, the finance bro wants to become a life coach and teach others.
So much so he is urging young richlister wannabes to subscribe to his You Tube journey.
In a rise and fall confessional, Macdonald, who played 124 games for Brisbane and Melbourne revealed how he was worth $200 million at the height of his GetSwift start-up in 2017.
In the space of a three years Macdonald said he went from zero to hero flying first class around the world and staying at luxury hotels after his logistics software provider went global, locking in deals with big companies like Amazon and Pizza Hut.
“A few years ago I lost 200 million … it was f---ing brutal. I was 30, I was on top of the world, I was one of Australia’s youngest public company CEO’s, first class, best restaurants, young rich list and then BOOM! everything vanished,” Macdonald tells his You Tube channel.
He went on to say how his company was hitting $1 billion after going public on the stock exchange, with a move to New York City.
In 2018 things started to unravel with the Australian Securities Exchange suspending the company’s trade over allegations Macdonald misled the market by overstating forecasts and failing to disclose the loss of major contracts. “I mean how long is a piece of string,” Macdonald somewhat euphemistically asks. Cue dramatic music.
A messy legal battle ensued with the Federal Court hitting GetSwift with a record penalty of $15 million. Macdonald was also ordered to pay $1 million and was disqualified from managing corporations for 12 years. This does not get detailed in the lengthy discussion.
The court described GetSwift as a company that “became a market darling because it adopted an unlawful public-relations-driven approach to corporate disclosure instigated and driven by those wielding power within the company.”
At the time Justice Michael Lee, who more recently presided over the Bruce Lehrmann defamation case, found Macdonald was focused on making money, with “little understanding or regard for his legal obligations as a director”.
Again this is given the glossy treatment in the You Tube discussion where he largely blames bad press. Although he does say after a fierce battle during an Australian Securities and Investments Commission investigation he decided “fu — this” and stepped down as CEO.
“We had the book thrown at us by the judge. It was a real bitter pill to swallow.
“My reputation was destroyed … the company was in ashes and we couldn’t continue. I left New York and moved to Miami, I was broken mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually and financially.
“Hearing an Australian accent in the street triggered me. It was almost like a war veteran coming back and hearing a bullet, it was the same kind of feeling. It felt like my country had turned on me.”
What Macdonald does go into was his dark times mentally, falling into a spiral of alcohol, “self-medicating” and relying on anti-anxiety drugs.
“The rage I felt inside of me that it was all over was insane,” he said. “there were dark moments when I just wanted to end it all. That was the only way I could see that the pain could go away … I don’t wish that darkness on anyone.”
Hating who he had become, it was finally time for the 40-year-old to “own it”.
It was not until he got his testosterone levels checked, something he urges all males after the age of 30 to do, and taking stock of his mind, body and soul that he has started to make a comeback.
“My testosterone levels were at the same level as an elderly man – so embarrassing – but it made sense, I couldn’t get out of bed. So I went on a testosterone protocol and it literally changed my life.”
An ayahuasca journey, a psilocybin mushroom retreat – “unbelievable” – daily journaling, meditation and therapy followed – “I only focused on things that would raise my vibration not kill it.”
Now he wants to share his battle scars and teach others how to learn from visualisation – “I visualised every morning I was a millionaire again” – and how to release themselves from a mental prison by using the “universe free tools” and not take on a victim mentality.
“Until you get punched so hard in the face by the public you just have to let that go and it’s quite liberating. We are in our own mental prison.
“I wasn’t actually that happy when I was earning $200 million, it’s crazy to say hey, the money was good, the first class the restaurants, yeah all of that’s good, but what actually got me excited was the lead up to that.”
“It’s actually why I’m starting this You Tube channel.”
“If you’re someone who’s been beaten down, in a dark spot, rebuilding or just wants to have a massive crack on a global scale then this channel is for you …. BOOM!”
Just what the world needs, another white male success guru to take you on their journey.
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