Motivational speaker Kerwin Rae's sudden death leaves followers grief-stricken — and still paying

News.com.au

16 hours ago

When Peter Remfrey first came across a video of Kerwin Rae on social media in 2020, he remembers being immediately inspired by the Aussie motivational speaker and entrepreneur, who had amassed millions of followers for his 'no bullsh*t' business advice and inspiring life story.
'He was just a down-to-earth businessman trying to do good,' said Mr Remfrey, 49.
Since paying his first $100 to attend one of Mr Rae's 'Fast Growth Summits', the recruitment and labour hire professional has forked out close to $250,000 — after the first seminar he bought a $500 VIP ticket for a 'Success Resources' event, and from there he twice paid around $5000 to attend the three-day 'Nail It & Scale It' conference.
In 2021, he signed up for Mr Rae's $50,000-a-year membership club known as K2 Elite Business Accelerator.
'It was basically a three-day business conference on steroids,' he says of his first 'K2 Mastermind' event in July that year.
Mr Remfrey stresses that he got value for money from his membership, saying Mr Rae gave advice on 'business structure, foundational stuff, a lot of HR stuff — really how to structure a business and how the business can succeed'.
'[I liked] the way he presented the content, the way he lived the content, the passion behind the content,' he said.
But in October, tragedy struck, with news of the 50-year-old Bryon Bay father-of-two's sudden death at age 50. No cause of death was given.
Announcing his death on social media, Mr Rae's family described their 'unimaginable sense of loss'.
'Kerwin was a force of nature, there are countless stories to be told and so many words that could describe the epic human he was, but right now we are too overwhelmed to express them,' the family wrote.
'To everyone who had the privilege of knowing him — whether as a friend, mate, mentor, or family member — please keep this extraordinary soul in your thoughts and hearts.'
Mr Remfrey still gets emotional when speaking of Mr Rae's death.
'Disbelief,' he said. 'Very emotional. It took a long time, I had to speak to a lot of people to process the grief, because quite frankly I see Kerwin a mentor of mine and someone to look up to.
'I saw him as a good friend — even though he probably might not have thought the same because there was limited one-on-one time [at the events].'
He added that fact was 'a bit of a hard pill to swallow' given the cost of the K2 Elite membership, but 'then again I can certainly understand, there's one man to be spread across 200, 250, 300 people'.
As the shock faded, Mr Remfrey informed Mr Rae's company Business Mastery in November that 'with a heavy heart' he had decided to move on and asked to terminate his annual membership with three months' notice.
But the company refused his request for 'leniency' on the remaining fees.
In April, he received a letter insisting he pay out nearly $23,000 or face debt collection action.
'I'm like, 'Well, hasn't Kerwin passed away?' There was no conversation piece around that,' he said.
'I went through the whole grief process of legacy and honouring his memory, but then it came to a point where, you know what, I'm not personally getting any value out of it.'
He attributes part of the decision to part ways with K2 Elite to difficulties with progressing in the tight-knit community, in which members vie for advancement through the ranks from 'foundation, acceleration then leadership'.
'My membership didn't go past acceleration because I wasn't helpful enough or present enough in the community,' he said.
'To earn your stripes in the community you've got to do this, this and this. I got passed over for leadership twice. The first one was that they hadn't seen enough of me as an individual. The second time around was that I had to work on my leadership. If you got upset [they say] that's your ego coming out.'
Mr Rae's website indicates that his legacy will be carried forward by the 'K-Team'.
'Kerwin Rae was Australia's leading business strategist and high performance specialist who dedicated his life to helping people succeed,' it says.
'His revolutionary, no bullsh*t approach to business growth and personal transformation has helped over 10,000 businesses across 150 industries worldwide and he has touched the lives of millions with his educational content. The K-Team are dedicated to honouring his mission of helping people unlock their potential and create long-lasting success.'
But Mr Remfrey wants no further part of it.
He is being represented by Adam Glezer from Consumer Champion, who is critical of K2's decision to hold Mr Remfrey's money when the person he'd paid to see has passed away.
'For those who paid for a single event to see Kerwin Rae or a membership that entitles you to a year's worth of events, the fact remains the same — Kerwin Rae was the face and was 100 per cent the main attraction.'
Mr Glezer said his understanding was 'they are telling people that you don't pay for the person, you pay for the course … [and to] keep his legacy going'.
'I believe they pitch a sense of family and we're all on the same journey,' he said. 'I certainly wouldn't treat my family in this way.'