Tell me about your vision as a life coach and and where it all started
Great question. So the vision was honestly family trauma
Both my parents grew up very poor and they were the oldest of multiple siblings and they've been working since they were 13 or 14 years old
So they got right into the work field. Their mothers were working several jobs. My father's African-american
He's a farm boy and then he got into the army and then into the business and my mother's German
So she's been a kindergarten teacher for about I want to say 50 years now Montessori along with public schools
So with that upbringing the structure was always there the teacher mother the drill sergeant father
The home structure was there but because they went all in on career
Yeah, they were never able to fully get over their childhood trauma teenage trauma and other things and I'm the youngest of multiple
So I have two older sisters and so I realized that
Around the age of 11 to 12. There was a shift where I realized that both parents were drinking a lot more
But it never affected their career. Nobody ever knew there always life the party your parents is so cool
Your family's so awesome beautiful house in Florida from the outside look great. Yeah, but once the crowd left after the barbecue
That's when something from their past would take over
the last bottle was finished and then physical mental emotional all the stuff would happen and
so from the age of 11 to 13 I was dealing with that and it was just like a culture shock because I
Wasn't by no means a perfect kid, but I never got arrested never had a referral. It's just that quite skinny insecure kid
I was just always scared and I just said enough is enough because I was getting bullied in school and at home and
So fitness became my step one in personal development
So I elevated my physique and then I got into my faith and I was able to realize that I was confident myself
I got rid of fear and I just showed up differently
So then by the age of 15, I became a certified personal trainer and started helping people do the same and I'm 34 now
So I've been training people for most of my life and in college when I was 23
that's when I got deep into life coaching and I was also a
US Army master fitness trainer
So essentially I would get male and female soldiers mission-ready mentally and physically prepared
So I'll prep them with that. So my whole approach nowadays I take the military I take natural modalities that I did to overcome my own traumas and
Also faith-based and I teach people different ways to meet them where they're at to get them to the next level
So honestly healing my inner child to then help you others so they can thrive and grow and have a positive ripple effect
Well, how did you get started? I understand the story. I understand you putting it all together
How did you get started and choosing to go this route and making this your career now?
Great question. So before I was in the US Army, I grew up as a skinny kid
People didn't know what I was bullied insecure out of really bad stuttering issue
I was a complete opposite and I said, you know what? I want to teach people how to do what I did
Yes, but in a professional way outside of just fitness and nutrition and I knew that I had to face my own fears first
So out of fear of heights, I had some other fears. I faced all that in the army for a decade
And once I overcame those things really quick. I was like, wow, I feel like a new person. I faced all these things
I'm still alive. Awesome. I can do anything now. So from there, I also like to help people face their fears
With whatever it is. It's usually public speaking
It's usually asking for that raise
Going on that first date that first first date in five years since their divorce
It's usually those small subtle things. It's not just hey, I'm gonna tell her to go skydiving
It's not it doesn't have to be extreme. It's usually the subtle things. But what got me into it was honestly
Working with so many different people as an athlete in the army in college
Also as a child, I grew up in Germany. So just living on military bases
You're around a plethora of different ethnicities genders and all that and I just got really good at reading people's patterns
Because my lunch table in college and in school was just like the most random people but we all connected
Played sports, but I didn't hang out with the jocks
I was an RTC, but I didn't really hang out with RTC kids is just
I just had was around a plethora of different people and I just like people that were passionate about what they're doing
Yes, so with my experience
Being around different people and their thought process really helped me to find their patterns
Because it honestly all stemmed from that kid
Who would drive his parents to all the parties before he had a license and he would just people watch and he's like
This is like a reality show
Because I just learned so much about psychology by just watching my own family
And realizing what the patterns were and then I took that into career. So having the gift of discernment
Yeah, because I truly believe that everybody's trauma gave them a gift
And just being that quiet kid. I could just read the room even though I didn't really didn't say much
But I could just sense everything in the room
Even though I didn't really didn't say much but I could just sense everything in the order I got I was like, huh?
I always tend to be the dad of all my friend groups or in the army or when we're out. They're like, hey, is Derek here?
All right, we can have fun because he could read the room. He's a little crazy, but he knows what's going on
I'm like, hey, I got you
So you you were the one that that corrected people
Yeah, exactly or like if we'd be out
In public I say hey we need to leave because in 10 minutes that dude in the red shirt
He's probably gonna do something. They're like, what are you talking about? 10 minutes later?
He starts fighting somebody at this nice restaurant or at the bar and they're like, how'd you don't ask Jilla?
Let's just go somewhere else. We're here to have fun and enjoy ourselves. But
it's interesting the people that are
Usually the father of the mother of their friend groups or at work
They usually work through a lot and they have to grow up quick
so it's always interesting of why he or she's good at that thing once you learn their backstory because
Too many times people see the final product or the final version. They're like, oh, it's it's easy for her
It's easy for him. He's an athlete or oh, yeah, you know, you know
Um african-american african-americans, they don't have to train hard. They're always athletic. You're gifted
And then they see a picture of you as a kid or like that's you
That was that was you back then you stuttered like crazy. You had bad posture. I'm like, yeah exactly
To get to where you are. So tell me how do leaders lean into funding their vision?
That's a great question. So with my approach is
I was army so I use a lot of my scholarships to get certifications and schooling
So I didn't actually have to pay for my licenses certifications things of that nature because of that and obviously that's not everybody
But take advantage of where you work currently if you're
About to get out of the said nine to five or the career to go full time in your business
And see what incentives there are and also based off your ethnicity. There's so many
There's so many college funds grants business grants. There's so much stuff that people don't realize are out there basically free money
And that is out there that people are unaware of so I would just really sit down take
Two hours on the weekend to see what funding is out there
And that's outside of taking out a business loan or anything
Like there's a lot of information out there
And on top of that is also a huge thing that I learned from my mentor is just a quote that stands out is skills pay the bills
skills pay the bills
And he's like if you suck at sales focus on sales if you suck at speaking focus focus focus on speaking
He's like if you suck at closing focus on that and we just keep it very straightforward because business is linear
And he was like people read like level 12
Business books and all this and they don't help them right now
And so my other recommendation would be to ask yourself. What is the most important skill that you need to work on right now?
Maybe it's content. Maybe it's public speaking
But with that being said is that that skill is going to move you forward faster than most things
Because some people they can within one month crank out sales and provide amazing value
But they were just about to take another course on something that's totally different that they don't need right now
So I would really assess what resources are out there. What skill do I need to elevate and three?
I don't necessarily have a business partner, but if you do really vet your people
Yeah, it's not it doesn't mean that getting into business with family is bad. It's 50 50. Yeah with your best friend is bad 50 50
So personally, I like to do it solo. I'd rather work with a stranger
There's no history. There's nothing else. It's just the way that I
Work somebody I was in the army with and I haven't seen them in eight years. All right. Here's the vision
here's what we're gonna do, but as a whole it's all depending on the person but
Definitely the best thing is to look at the resources
And your skills and don't feel that you need need to have said capital
Because another perspective is some people they get the capital but they don't have the skills and they're like, oh shoot now what?
Yes, yes, they got the loc. They got the office. They got the things and it's like, all right
You had eight calls. We didn't close anybody
So the capital is irrelevant and so I just go back to the skills because skills pay the bills because
If you have sales skills closing and speaking, yeah
You can create anything out of thin air as long as you have a good service product, but just my perspective and experience is that
My younger version in business, I would read every business book
Yes, and I realized that I was at level zero or level one in business and I was learning this high level stuff and I was like
Oh, yeah, I got all this information
But I don't use any of it until nowadays and I was like seven years ago
Makes sense and I realized that I was that motivational dopamine hit person where I was learning
but I
Wasn't able to apply any of it because I wasn't even at that level
So I had a lot of useless information that I couldn't really take action on
So nowadays I don't read anything unless I need to use it
That makes sense
Like I rarely read so there's a lot of books behind me, but let's just say that I like gran cardone
Mentality or sales my all right. Let me open up that or get into his course
All right, got the golden nugget now. I don't look at it again for a couple months and I'll take action
And then I get the result for myself or a client. Yeah, and then everything starts to go up rather than
Going to old-school route because nowadays you can find information that you need
Of what is most important? So it's a different approach, but I think it's more effective nowadays because everything's going quick
Thank you for being here today. I'm really happy that you tuned in to vision pros live
I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions as these episodes continue to move forward
This is going to get more and more fun. We'll have more and more engagement as well
We'll invite people to participate in the show and thank you for giving us your time and attention
Have an excellent time building out your vision and becoming a vision for yourself