WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.359 Tell me about your vision. Well, Harry, it's 00:00:02.359 --> 00:00:04.900 great to be here. Pretty much I've started out 00:00:04.900 --> 00:00:07.459 my business with one goal in mind, and that is 00:00:07.459 --> 00:00:10.339 to add value to other people. And as I've kind 00:00:10.339 --> 00:00:12.259 of grown in my business and I've been doing this 00:00:12.259 --> 00:00:14.539 for about two decades, I really like to help 00:00:14.539 --> 00:00:18.179 people be more effective communicators to increase 00:00:18.179 --> 00:00:20.579 their results, build deeper relationships, and 00:00:20.579 --> 00:00:23.480 of course, add value to their business. So that's 00:00:23.480 --> 00:00:26.640 kind of my vision in a nutshell. I really like 00:00:26.640 --> 00:00:28.239 helping others and helping them get results. 00:00:29.009 --> 00:00:32.609 That's amazing. I think being able to add value 00:00:32.609 --> 00:00:35.990 to someone is a very powerful tool to be leveraged. 00:00:36.070 --> 00:00:38.009 So tell me more about that. What exactly do you 00:00:38.009 --> 00:00:40.689 mean by adding value to someone or a business? 00:00:41.450 --> 00:00:44.289 Well, when I started out as an entrepreneur, 00:00:44.429 --> 00:00:46.409 I started out doing a lot of training. And then 00:00:46.409 --> 00:00:49.090 over the years, I've kind of fine -tuned what 00:00:49.090 --> 00:00:51.649 I really do. And mostly what I do now is I'm 00:00:51.649 --> 00:00:54.859 a communication strategist. So I help my clients 00:00:54.859 --> 00:00:57.340 who are mostly leaders become more effective 00:00:57.340 --> 00:01:00.520 communicators to lead more effectively, to communicate 00:01:00.520 --> 00:01:03.020 more effectively, to present more powerfully. 00:01:03.100 --> 00:01:05.120 And even if they're on a podcast, how to make 00:01:05.120 --> 00:01:06.680 sure they get their message across, right? So 00:01:06.680 --> 00:01:09.079 communication is something that we spend a lot 00:01:09.079 --> 00:01:11.260 of our time doing. In fact, some studies say 00:01:11.260 --> 00:01:13.819 you spend about 80 % of your waking day. in some 00:01:13.819 --> 00:01:16.400 form of communication. So what I've developed 00:01:16.400 --> 00:01:19.060 is what I call the six step impact process. And 00:01:19.060 --> 00:01:21.480 I kind of teach people this methodology that 00:01:21.480 --> 00:01:24.019 they can use to craft and deliver more powerful 00:01:24.019 --> 00:01:26.340 communication, whether it's face to face or in 00:01:26.340 --> 00:01:28.900 writing or in front of a group or, you know, 00:01:28.900 --> 00:01:32.920 on camera. That's awesome. And how long have 00:01:32.920 --> 00:01:35.560 you been doing that? Like when did you start 00:01:35.560 --> 00:01:38.120 doing all this? Yeah, I started my business back 00:01:38.120 --> 00:01:42.560 in. You know, so it's a bit over. I'm just going 00:01:42.560 --> 00:01:44.219 to say over two decades because it's been a little 00:01:44.219 --> 00:01:46.659 bit longer than that. But, you know, I started 00:01:46.659 --> 00:01:48.579 doing this when it really wasn't popular to have 00:01:48.579 --> 00:01:51.439 a home office. Right. People were like you'd 00:01:51.439 --> 00:01:53.459 like to pretend that you didn't have a home office. 00:01:53.500 --> 00:01:55.439 So you didn't want people to know, you know, 00:01:55.439 --> 00:01:56.980 you worked out of your home. But now, of course, 00:01:57.060 --> 00:01:59.560 it's almost a daily routine for a lot of folks. 00:02:00.019 --> 00:02:02.359 Yeah, that's awesome. That's awesome. Thank you 00:02:02.359 --> 00:02:08.139 for sharing that. So tell me more, Patrick. How 00:02:08.139 --> 00:02:11.639 did you get started into this path 20 years ago? 00:02:11.719 --> 00:02:14.259 I would say coaching, speaking 20 years ago. 00:02:15.500 --> 00:02:19.699 I can't imagine it being that big. A lot of people 00:02:19.699 --> 00:02:22.800 will be doing that. So how did you get started 00:02:22.800 --> 00:02:27.120 on that? And where did this all come from? Well, 00:02:27.840 --> 00:02:29.639 my undergrad degree is in radio and television. 00:02:30.250 --> 00:02:33.569 And I went back and got my master's. And so right 00:02:33.569 --> 00:02:36.050 before I started my business, I was an executive 00:02:36.050 --> 00:02:39.449 director for a state association. So I was out 00:02:39.449 --> 00:02:42.469 there running an association, leading other leaders 00:02:42.469 --> 00:02:44.650 on how to be more effective in their particular 00:02:44.650 --> 00:02:47.469 specialty. And when I started my business, I 00:02:47.469 --> 00:02:50.069 really started out wanting to do mostly speaking 00:02:50.069 --> 00:02:52.610 and training. So as a director, right, I was 00:02:52.610 --> 00:02:55.379 hiring speakers to come. and speak at our conferences 00:02:55.379 --> 00:02:58.379 and i was saying to myself you know i can do 00:02:58.379 --> 00:03:01.099 that you know not knowing you know you have to 00:03:01.099 --> 00:03:02.460 have more than a good speech you have to know 00:03:02.460 --> 00:03:04.560 a lot about the business side but that's really 00:03:04.560 --> 00:03:07.139 how i got started i quit my job i started my 00:03:07.139 --> 00:03:10.080 speaking business and of course um i do a lot 00:03:10.080 --> 00:03:11.680 of work with people who want to be speakers today 00:03:11.680 --> 00:03:13.699 we have an organization called the national speakers 00:03:13.699 --> 00:03:16.580 association and we have local chapters there's 00:03:16.580 --> 00:03:18.580 actually a chapter right there in austin texas 00:03:18.580 --> 00:03:21.610 so One of the things that I try to help people 00:03:21.610 --> 00:03:23.129 do if they want to be in the speaking business, 00:03:23.289 --> 00:03:25.569 and that's not my normal niche, but it's one 00:03:25.569 --> 00:03:28.289 of the things that I do, is I tell them don't 00:03:28.289 --> 00:03:30.169 do what I did, which was just to quit my job. 00:03:30.270 --> 00:03:33.069 You know, so I just quit my job, Harry. It really 00:03:33.069 --> 00:03:35.349 wasn't the smartest thing to do, but I really 00:03:35.349 --> 00:03:37.349 wasn't happy at work. I didn't want to get up 00:03:37.349 --> 00:03:38.810 and go to work anymore. I'd save a little bit 00:03:38.810 --> 00:03:42.129 of money. And so I put out my shield and started 00:03:42.129 --> 00:03:44.430 doing speaking and training. Now, when I started, 00:03:44.530 --> 00:03:46.949 you know, speaking has been around. It's a lot 00:03:46.949 --> 00:03:49.169 more popular today. You know, I belong to the 00:03:49.169 --> 00:03:51.909 National Speakers Association. That organization 00:03:51.909 --> 00:03:56.750 started back in the mid 1980s. And coaching wasn't 00:03:56.750 --> 00:03:59.490 even on the radar when I started my business. 00:03:59.729 --> 00:04:02.169 So I hadn't done any coaching when I started. 00:04:02.270 --> 00:04:04.610 Eventually, I learned more about coaching and 00:04:04.610 --> 00:04:06.830 I added coaching to my speaking business. So 00:04:06.830 --> 00:04:10.750 now I spend probably, you know, maybe 50 % of 00:04:10.750 --> 00:04:13.830 my time speaking and training. and maybe 50 % 00:04:13.830 --> 00:04:16.329 of my time doing one -on -one coaching. It fluctuates. 00:04:16.350 --> 00:04:21.149 It could be 60 -40, but I do both. That's awesome. 00:04:21.410 --> 00:04:25.610 Thank you for sharing that with us. What would 00:04:25.610 --> 00:04:30.709 you say, Patrick, that the lessons you have learned 00:04:30.709 --> 00:04:37.410 going through 20 plus years of business and 20 00:04:37.410 --> 00:04:41.230 plus years of coaching, what would you say that... 00:04:42.490 --> 00:04:43.949 Some of the things that you'd like to share with 00:04:43.949 --> 00:04:46.110 our audience regarding that. Yeah. Well, I think 00:04:46.110 --> 00:04:48.149 to me, you know, there's one fundamental principle 00:04:48.149 --> 00:04:50.589 that I've always lived by, and that is, you know, 00:04:50.589 --> 00:04:52.990 to build deep relationships. It's all about relationships. 00:04:53.189 --> 00:04:55.230 And right before the call, we were talking about, 00:04:55.350 --> 00:04:57.149 you know, you mentioned people don't care how 00:04:57.149 --> 00:04:59.149 much you know, so they know how much you care. 00:04:59.670 --> 00:05:01.250 Actually, that's a quote, at least that I've 00:05:01.250 --> 00:05:04.370 attributed to Zig Ziglar, who I've actually heard 00:05:04.370 --> 00:05:07.670 speak in person at the speakers conference. And 00:05:07.670 --> 00:05:09.730 I really think to me, if you want to be in business. 00:05:10.279 --> 00:05:12.279 Yes, you have to have a great product. Yes, you 00:05:12.279 --> 00:05:13.920 have to have a good service. Yes, you have to 00:05:13.920 --> 00:05:16.240 understand sales and marketing. But really, I 00:05:16.240 --> 00:05:18.100 think your motto, Harry, is kind of the most 00:05:18.100 --> 00:05:19.699 important model, is you have to let people know 00:05:19.699 --> 00:05:21.819 you care. And people like to work with people 00:05:21.819 --> 00:05:24.160 that they know, like, and trust. So that's a 00:05:24.160 --> 00:05:27.379 very important part of the process. Yeah. I mean, 00:05:27.459 --> 00:05:30.860 one of the biggest organizations on the planet, 00:05:30.959 --> 00:05:34.319 Apple, people think they're in the business of 00:05:34.319 --> 00:05:37.199 selling phones and services. No, they're not. 00:05:37.279 --> 00:05:39.680 They're in the business of selling smiles. Yes. 00:05:40.540 --> 00:05:44.339 Same with McDonald's. It's not a coincidence 00:05:44.339 --> 00:05:46.439 that the biggest, almost the biggest franchise 00:05:46.439 --> 00:05:51.300 in the world for fast food, their mascot is a 00:05:51.300 --> 00:05:57.459 clown. So, yeah, that's absolutely correct. Thank 00:05:57.459 --> 00:05:59.259 you for sharing. You know, Harry, you bring up 00:05:59.259 --> 00:06:00.800 a very important point. And this is something 00:06:00.800 --> 00:06:02.920 I learned years ago when I got my MBA. It was 00:06:02.920 --> 00:06:05.699 a phrase called marketing myopia. Have you ever 00:06:05.699 --> 00:06:08.649 heard of marketing myopia? I have a myopia. I 00:06:08.649 --> 00:06:10.990 have it. I don't have I don't know what is marketing. 00:06:11.029 --> 00:06:13.629 So marketing myopia, you kind of refer to it 00:06:13.629 --> 00:06:15.490 as that people sometimes forget what a business 00:06:15.490 --> 00:06:18.269 to really in. Right. I'm in the speaking business. 00:06:18.430 --> 00:06:20.189 I'm in the coaching business. I'm in the hamburger 00:06:20.189 --> 00:06:23.529 business. I'm in the phone business. And so I 00:06:23.529 --> 00:06:25.069 remember this very clearly when I was taking 00:06:25.069 --> 00:06:27.290 a class and they were talking about the example 00:06:27.290 --> 00:06:30.430 that when airplanes came in, you know, the the 00:06:30.430 --> 00:06:32.370 railroads thought that they're going to run out. 00:06:32.389 --> 00:06:33.870 They're going to be out of business, you know, 00:06:33.870 --> 00:06:36.110 because now there's a new form. of transportation. 00:06:36.470 --> 00:06:39.810 When movies were very popular, then television 00:06:39.810 --> 00:06:41.910 came in, same thing. But they all forgot the 00:06:41.910 --> 00:06:43.709 most important thing is they weren't in the movie 00:06:43.709 --> 00:06:45.889 business. They weren't in the television business. 00:06:46.129 --> 00:06:49.209 They were in the entertainment business. You 00:06:49.209 --> 00:06:50.910 know, they weren't in the railroad business. 00:06:51.149 --> 00:06:53.089 They were in the transportation business. So 00:06:53.089 --> 00:06:54.870 I think what you shared is so important. Like, 00:06:54.870 --> 00:06:57.389 you know, Apple's in the smile business. I'm 00:06:57.389 --> 00:07:00.209 in the education business, right? I'm not a speaker. 00:07:00.410 --> 00:07:02.250 I'm not, I'm really actually, you know, Harry, 00:07:02.290 --> 00:07:04.149 I'm really in the problem solving business. That's 00:07:04.149 --> 00:07:06.899 what business I'm really in. So when you start 00:07:06.899 --> 00:07:08.519 your business and you want to know what your 00:07:08.519 --> 00:07:10.420 vision is, you got to make sure you don't get 00:07:10.420 --> 00:07:12.480 into that marketing myopia, right? You don't 00:07:12.480 --> 00:07:13.699 want to make sure you're thinking of yourself 00:07:13.699 --> 00:07:16.439 as a speaker, trainer, or coach, entrepreneur. 00:07:16.740 --> 00:07:18.720 You really need to know that you're bigger and 00:07:18.720 --> 00:07:22.339 broader than that. So I don't know if you follow 00:07:22.339 --> 00:07:24.839 Alex Hermosi or not, but he's one of those people 00:07:24.839 --> 00:07:28.839 whose ideas and thoughts are very, very precise 00:07:28.839 --> 00:07:31.100 on what you just said and mentioned. He was talking 00:07:31.100 --> 00:07:34.490 about a situation like a lawyer. He said, once 00:07:34.490 --> 00:07:37.730 you go into a business, right, and then you start 00:07:37.730 --> 00:07:39.730 to scale it and then you have issues and problems 00:07:39.730 --> 00:07:41.790 after a certain point, that's when you actually 00:07:41.790 --> 00:07:44.430 figure out what business actually am I in. You're 00:07:44.430 --> 00:07:46.550 not in the lawyer business. You're not in the 00:07:46.550 --> 00:07:48.910 case business when you try to scale a business. 00:07:49.269 --> 00:07:53.430 He said, for a lawyer, that is recruiting business. 00:07:53.930 --> 00:07:56.250 You need to recruit high -level talent so you 00:07:56.250 --> 00:07:58.069 can get your time back. At the end of the day, 00:07:58.110 --> 00:07:59.750 you can get all the secretaries in the world 00:07:59.750 --> 00:08:02.800 and all the paralegals. But if you don't have 00:08:02.800 --> 00:08:06.920 someone by your side, which is as higher or a 00:08:06.920 --> 00:08:09.199 better lawyer than you, you will never be able 00:08:09.199 --> 00:08:12.639 to scale a law firm. And same with other things. 00:08:12.699 --> 00:08:18.259 Like if you go to solar or other door -to -door 00:08:18.259 --> 00:08:22.019 industries, are you in the sales business or 00:08:22.019 --> 00:08:23.959 are you in the product service business? I think 00:08:23.959 --> 00:08:25.459 you have to figure out at this stage when you 00:08:25.459 --> 00:08:27.259 try to scale it and you can't scale it at a point. 00:08:27.540 --> 00:08:29.620 So you're absolutely correct. Most people have 00:08:29.620 --> 00:08:33.139 no idea. what businesses they are in and what 00:08:33.139 --> 00:08:35.639 they need to focus on to actually scale responsibility 00:08:35.639 --> 00:08:41.539 and in the right way. Exactly. And, you know, 00:08:41.559 --> 00:08:44.379 I have a lot of friends into speaking in coaching 00:08:44.379 --> 00:08:46.120 business. I have some, I have a good friend of 00:08:46.120 --> 00:08:48.580 mine who has a big coaching companies. He has, 00:08:48.580 --> 00:08:50.960 you know, 10 other coaches and he does a lot 00:08:50.960 --> 00:08:53.600 of projects. And we actually together, we did 00:08:53.600 --> 00:08:57.220 a seminar for the local coaches chapter. And 00:08:57.220 --> 00:08:59.639 he talked about. you know, being running a coaching 00:08:59.639 --> 00:09:01.539 business. And I talked about being a coaching 00:09:01.539 --> 00:09:04.419 solopreneur. So there's no right or wrong way 00:09:04.419 --> 00:09:06.860 to do it. But if you don't have a clear vision, 00:09:06.919 --> 00:09:08.919 if you don't know exactly what problem you solve, 00:09:09.120 --> 00:09:10.639 you know, then you're not going to be successful. 00:09:11.919 --> 00:09:14.940 I want to push back on a little bit. I want to 00:09:14.940 --> 00:09:19.100 say you mentioned there's no right or wrong way 00:09:19.100 --> 00:09:21.279 of coaching and you're on the solopreneur side. 00:09:22.500 --> 00:09:29.210 I firmly believe that the way to build your business 00:09:29.210 --> 00:09:32.769 and scale is through a team and the right team 00:09:32.769 --> 00:09:36.330 and the right leadership. And you definitely 00:09:36.330 --> 00:09:39.629 don't share that same perspective. I would love 00:09:39.629 --> 00:09:43.090 your thoughts while you disagree or maybe partially 00:09:43.090 --> 00:09:46.529 agree with me. Yeah. Well, I'm not saying it's 00:09:46.529 --> 00:09:49.070 not good or bad. I'm saying that everybody's 00:09:49.070 --> 00:09:50.809 got a different perspective. I have a brother 00:09:50.809 --> 00:09:52.529 who is an architect. He has an architectural 00:09:52.529 --> 00:09:55.350 firm. He wanted to grow a business. He wanted 00:09:55.350 --> 00:09:57.669 to have employees. I just never wanted that. 00:09:57.909 --> 00:10:00.669 And today, more than ever, you can actually run 00:10:00.669 --> 00:10:03.710 a very successful business of being a solopreneur. 00:10:03.730 --> 00:10:05.970 Now, that doesn't mean that I haven't hired contractors 00:10:05.970 --> 00:10:08.549 to help me, you know, but I've never really wanted 00:10:08.549 --> 00:10:11.710 to be a business. And, you know, years ago, I've 00:10:11.710 --> 00:10:13.789 hired marketing and salespeople who were contract 00:10:13.789 --> 00:10:16.509 workers, you know, but now, I mean, literally 00:10:16.509 --> 00:10:19.470 like with AI, you have all the staff you need 00:10:19.470 --> 00:10:22.169 and you can run it pretty. I mean, I've run a 00:10:22.169 --> 00:10:24.850 fairly successful, you know, six figure business 00:10:24.850 --> 00:10:28.029 for many years. And the thing about. When you 00:10:28.029 --> 00:10:29.850 run a business, it's not about gross, it's about 00:10:29.850 --> 00:10:32.870 net. And so I know some folks who have a very 00:10:32.870 --> 00:10:35.090 big, big business company, but yet I net more 00:10:35.090 --> 00:10:37.070 than they do because of their overhead and expenses. 00:10:37.529 --> 00:10:39.889 So I'm not saying there's one way better than 00:10:39.889 --> 00:10:42.269 the other. But I think if you want to be an entrepreneur, 00:10:42.389 --> 00:10:44.610 if you just want to have your own practice, right, 00:10:44.710 --> 00:10:46.409 you can do that. If you want to have a company, 00:10:46.549 --> 00:10:49.970 you can do that as well. So the way I see it 00:10:49.970 --> 00:10:55.259 is if you're in a business, you want to. The 00:10:55.259 --> 00:10:58.419 way I see a successful business is either you 00:10:58.419 --> 00:11:05.019 can sell it in a few years or you can have it 00:11:05.019 --> 00:11:08.919 working with less to no time of your own where 00:11:08.919 --> 00:11:11.600 it's generating income for you. Right. And I 00:11:11.600 --> 00:11:15.720 don't see that as with a solopreneur route, even 00:11:15.720 --> 00:11:19.700 in the contracting world. Because if I want to 00:11:19.700 --> 00:11:22.779 sell my business, no one wants to buy my job. 00:11:23.230 --> 00:11:26.789 They want to buy a business that's producing 00:11:26.789 --> 00:11:29.210 and that's where they'll pay the big buck for 00:11:29.210 --> 00:11:32.870 it. It's just in itself without me being involved 00:11:32.870 --> 00:11:38.090 at all. You're right, Harry. I will not be able 00:11:38.090 --> 00:11:41.399 to sell my business because it's me. However, 00:11:41.559 --> 00:11:44.559 I can sell my methodology. I can sell my program 00:11:44.559 --> 00:11:47.179 because I've created a program called Communicating 00:11:47.179 --> 00:11:50.740 with Impact. So that is a methodology. I have 00:11:50.740 --> 00:11:52.899 a book. I've got a workshops. If I wanted to, 00:11:52.980 --> 00:11:55.600 I could franchise that. I could, you know, license 00:11:55.600 --> 00:11:58.080 it. But I can't sell my business because if when 00:11:58.080 --> 00:11:59.759 you take me out of the equation, there's no business. 00:12:00.159 --> 00:12:02.059 Thank you for being here today. I'm really happy 00:12:02.059 --> 00:12:04.279 that you tuned in to Vision Pros Live. I'm looking 00:12:04.279 --> 00:12:07.539 forward to seeing your reactions as these episodes 00:12:07.539 --> 00:12:09.320 continue to move forward. This is going to get 00:12:09.320 --> 00:12:11.919 more and more fun. We'll have more and more engagement 00:12:11.919 --> 00:12:14.039 as well. We'll invite people to participate in 00:12:14.039 --> 00:12:16.220 the show. And thank you for giving us your time 00:12:16.220 --> 00:12:18.500 and attention. Have an excellent time building 00:12:18.500 --> 00:12:20.840 out your vision and becoming a vision pro yourself.