Braeden Rhys is the Founder of Axis Global Limited with a collection of brands including Axis Global Co, Sweet Release Agency and Soiree Cabaret Productions, based in Australia providing End-To-End, Full-Service solutions in Marketing, Publicity, Media, Growth Strategy, Digital Communications and Event Production to SME Businesses and Entrepreneurs worldwide.
Since 2017, Braeden Rhys has consistently positioned himself and his brands as international market leaders with award-winning reputations with over 5000 clients worldwide.
For more details, visit their websites: Sweet Release Agency, Axis Global Co, and Soiree Cabaret Productions.
Here we sit down with Braeden, to know a bit more about his journey as an entrepreneur.
Q. Tell us a little more about your journey as an entrepreneur – how did you get started? What inspired you?
Braeden: ‘Determine your own future’.
This was the motto of the primary school I attended. Some would argue that I took this incredibly literally, challenging the status quo and the conventions of society when it comes to securing that one degree or that one dream job, but I do not agree.
This one statement inspired me to do things my way, create my own path and lead by example, never following the crowd to stand confidently in myself, independently.
If you told me twelve years ago that I would be the CEO and Founder of several multi-million-dollar boutique marketing, business growth and digital public relations agencies, be celebrated as an acclaimed award-winning Australian entrepreneur with over 5,000 clients worldwide as well alongside this success, shine as Australia’s Best Live Singing Drag Queen touring drag circus cabaret shows around the world, I would have told you that you were completely insane.
However, this is my reality and I would not change a thing.
I always wanted to be the man in charge.
I always wanted to solve problems in the world.
I always wanted to express my creativity and showcase my talents.
The opportunity to meet many Millionaire Business Owners throughout my career has helped empower me and strengthen my mindset to create businesses and brands of my own, challenge the status quo and never be scared of making mistakes. The value I see in these relationships and the people who openly supported me without judgement are elements that have motivated me to succeed and continue doing what I love.
Q. What’s one thing in your routine that you do consistently that has made a huge difference in your personal or business life?
Braeden: Before I preach, let me just state that my earlier days were not without many struggles, challenging life lessons and many near-death experiences.
When I share my stories of struggle in business, personal identity, discovering my sexuality and embracing who I am abreast of my own survival stories through trauma, assault, abuse and near-death experiences – people say I should be dead.
I am a big believer in the transference of energy and that surrounding yourself with positive influence and maintaining a healthy, active and stimulated mind always finding the positive in everything that you do, increases your success rate and for me in many circumstances, guaranteed my survival rate.
If there is one thing readers take away from my answer to this question it should be that in order to be successful you must learn how to identify positive and worthy relationships, invest time and energy into people that support you without trying to push their agenda or change you and always invest in life long learning.
Every day give thanks for being alive and set a goal for the day.
Q. Who are your mentors and inspiration? and what knowledge or insight did they give to you that was valuable?
Braeden: Life experience has been my greatest mentor.
There was a time in my life when I felt my sexuality would destroy my life. I threw myself into religion and thought if I prayed hard enough and devoted myself to the word of God, I would be normal.
Until one day, after many years of struggle, a deep feeling of loneliness and isolation and denying my identity I stumbled across a wise and successful creative businessman and glamorous drag queen who quite eloquently said ‘If you don’t love yourself, how in the hell you gonna love somebody else? and another highly successful business coach ‘listen to your inner voice’.
From that very moment, I turned my focus to who I wanted to be, not what the world wanted me to be or those around me. I tore myself away from a religion that was suppressing my life and embraced my passions, my talents and sexuality.
The freedom I felt, released me to be who I wanted to be.
Q. What has been your most satisfying moment in business?
Braeden: Challenging the status quo.
Being innovative and creative, thinking outside the box and willing to try things and experiment, make mistakes and learn from these to grow the brands I have today.
Embracing ‘life-long learning’ is something that has truly added value to my life and my career, being able to care about my goals and aspirations and empowering myself to be able to achieve anything and everything I set my mind to.
It has also been incredibly humbling to see the success of my brands and my business inspiring my clients to make positive changes in their industries that have a positive impact on the lives, well-being and careers of people worldwide.
Alongside this it is always great to be recognised for my contribution to the world and the industries I work with globally, furthering my desire and passion to continue doing what I love as a marketer, publicist, entertainer and business growth expert.
Q. How do you market your business, and which tactics have been most successful?
Braeden: I believe in what I do.
I empower others to belief in themselves.
Being able to share my passions and help others succeed as I have in both my professional and personal life, is why I do what I do.
I believe the most effective and successful marketing strategies are based on generosity, creativity, honesty and most of all transparency.
Reach Clients through Care and Understanding.
Operating in diverse industries and providing services to many different businesses and entrepreneurs at different stages means I have had to develop a robust customer-centric marketing strategy focussed on their pains, concerns and frustrations.
Articulating my understanding of their troubles with creating their own success story and their emotions has helped me position myself and my brands as intuitive and innovative, committed to helping others create success stories for themselves.
Connected through Positive Relationships.
Being accessible by phone, email and sms has allowed my customers and clients around the world to feel respected, heard and connected to the support resources and overall build a unified relationship with me where we are both accountable to each other and always focussed on the most important business growth or marketing objective.
Visibility through Generosity.
Sharing success stories of clients in the media and giving generously of my time to share advice, resources and guidance publicly without expectation has resulted in myself and my brands worldwide being respected as an ‘industry expert and international thought leader on diverse industries and specialisations’.
Challenge The Status Quo.
Never follow the crowd and always strive to stand out for the right reasons but in creative ways that challenge convention and empower people to reach out because what you have to offer is unique and nobody else has the passion or motivation to do.
Q. What has been your biggest failures or challenges?
Braeden: Operating in the shadow of My Past.
I stated earlier in this interview that my journey to success was not paved with sugar and spice, but rather filled with chaos and near-death challenges.
Throughout my earlier career my leadership style has adapted and changed, as I have matured so is the way I approach business opportunities, less aggressively and with more compassion and understanding.
Thus, the inbuilt expectations of those who had working relationships with me in the past were a challenge I had to overcome in order to regain trust and strengthen commercial relationships that would support my business growth journey.
Being able to shift my mindset, visualise myself where I want to be and consciously move forward with positive relationships and judgement-free environments is what supported my career and growth, overcoming the challenge of my shadow.
Embracing my Sexuality and Personal Identity.
As an only child, I have been fortunate to have the support of my parents through every challenge and every life experience I have faced, unconditionally.
The decision to leave religion was one I made myself after denying and suppressing my personal identity and sexuality out of fear of disappointing my family and failing in life.
Immersing myself in my sexuality and embracing my limited understanding of who I was without religion opened up many challenging experiences that have developed my ability to persevere, become more resilient and take charge of my life confidently.
As a result of embracing my true self, I have developed a successful company and brand of my own, sustained a successful career that is always evolving, established myself as an award-winning, innovative marketing and business growth expert as well as diversified my creativity as Australia’s Premier Live Singing Drag Queen.
To keep up to date with Braeden and his journey, connect with him on LinkedIn and their website.
