The Uncommon Leader Podcast
Are you ready to break free from mediocrity and lead an extraordinary life? Join us on The Uncommon Leadership Podcast as we explore the power of intentionality in personal and professional growth. Our podcast features insightful interviews with inspiring leaders from all walks of life, sharing their stories of overcoming challenges and achieving greatness.
Discover practical strategies to:
- Think positively and cultivate a growth mindset
- Live a healthy and balanced lifestyle
- Build your faith and find inner strength
- Read more and expand your knowledge
- Stay strong in the face of adversity
- Work hard with purpose and passion
- Network effectively to build meaningful relationships
- Worry less and focus on what matters
- Love always and make a positive impact
In each episode, we'll dive into relevant leadership topics, share inspiring stories, and provide actionable steps you can take to elevate your life. Whether you're a seasoned leader or just starting your journey, The Uncommon Leadership Podcast offers valuable insights and practical guidance to help you achieve your goals and live your best life.
The Uncommon Leader Podcast
What it really takes to be a COACH: The unseen lessons from John Gallagher
💬 “Coaching isn’t about telling people what to do. It’s about helping them discover who they are.”
I joined Chris Welton on his One Hand at a Time podcast to share my journey, my philosophy, and the lessons that shaped me.
💡 Watch the full episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mvs845WfMwA&list=PLSZaf6sCskkYPNTSxWxLMot7IkXiSyNCp&index=5
✅ Want the full story? Watch now and start building the mindset of an Uncommon Leader.
🔗 Chris Welton: https://chriswelton.live/
🔗 John Gallagher: https://coachjohngallagher.com/
#LeadershipPodcast #CoachingWisdom #JohnGallagher #ChrisWelton #UncommonLeader
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Did you know that many of the things that I discuss on the Uncommon Leader Podcast are subjects that I coach other leaders and organizations ? If you would be interested in having me discuss 1:1 or group coaching with you, or know someone who is looking to move from Underperforming to Uncommon in their business or life, I would love to chat with you. Click this link to set up a FREE CALL to discuss how coaching might benefit you and your team)
Until next time, Go and Grow Champions!!
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CEOs that are generally promoted to CEO position are not ready to be CEOs. They've been the best physician, they've been the best manager and oftentimes they're promoted into position they're just not ready for, and so one of the things that you're talking about with regards to that gap, frankly, one of the gaps is their leadership lid that they have on themselves.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the One Hand at a Time podcast. I'm your host, chris Welton. I've got a special guest for you today. I have coach John Gallagher. I cannot wait for him to get into his story behind coaching, what he's super passionate about and just the state of the coaching industry right now. I feel like everybody has the title coach on their business card and on LinkedIn and everywhere else. Here I'm a guy who just jumped out of my big corporate job to go coaching full-time, so I guess that we can deconstruct that. As my wife would say, let's just go deep here, john. Welcome to the show, chris.
Speaker 1:I appreciate you having me on the show. Let me start out by saying it's a great opportunity and I appreciate you investing the time with me. Some of the things you've got going on, as I've read, you've got a book coming out. Obviously, the One Hand at a Time podcast is making a difference. Some of the guests that you have on there really make a difference in the effort and discipline you're putting in to make this happen. It's pretty powerful. I know you're making an impact, so that's really cool and thanks for letting me be a small part of it.
Speaker 1:You mentioned that about coaching. I think it's so funny, just as a story, to go along with that. So I was looking for johngallaghercom and when I went to buy that domain about three years ago, when I decided to go into this thing on my own after leaving the corporate world myself, is that there was a DJ in Pittsburgh, pennsylvania, and he didn't have any desire to sell his domain to me. So I had exactly what I wanted to do. I didn't know if I wanted to be the John Gallagher and I ended up settling on Coach John Gallagher. And then I go and do the Google search and there is a Coach John Gallagher in college basketball as well, so I still can't get on the first page of the tour, but coaching can be something that's fun to talk about. It's very rewarding and it's something that you're exactly right, I am pretty passionate about. So I'm looking forward to our conversation today.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, it's like I said in the intro. There is that the term coaching has just become something that I feel a lot of people are jumping into, maybe for the wrong reasons, I don't know. I mean, I'll kind of break down my decision to go and then we can kind of figure out what yours was. To leave that job and for me, I had felt I reached the most people I could impact on that scale was in the company I was at. And to continue impacting more lives, which is what I really thrive on, I had to leave. I had to move on from that position where I was at for seven and a half years and go chase my dream to do something different.
Speaker 2:And then and it's so funny because then I see an article from Renee Rodriguez, who's a personal friend of mine he was talking about how be careful. There's so many people out there that call themselves coach and they really don't know what they're doing and they're not specialized in certain areas. So the first thing I thought was did Renee write that for me? You know, because that's just how your brain works, right? I know that's the the case. I've talked to this multiple times, but I was like Renee, are you trying to tell me something, but what's your take on that? I mean, what took you from corporate America to coach? And then what do you feel the state of the coaching industry is right now?
Speaker 1:Sure, well, you think about my journey and I'd love to say that it was that I just had wanting to impact more and decided to jump In this case. For me, it was something that was a push and it's something that I've learned over time. So, covid, I worked for a large company for a time, did coaching and consulting so again, you want to start getting in a conversation the difference between coach, consultant and mentor and all those things but I was doing coaching at a large, a big 10 company as going forward. We were a face-to-face consulting company and I found myself doing coaching, if you will, on the side. Coaching to me was ultimately taking people to a place from a leadership standpoint in my space that they weren't really willing to go to on their own. We've got a podcast called the Uncommon Leader Podcast, so it was that uncommon component of they were a good coach today, but to be a great leader, they really needed to challenge themselves and go forward.
Speaker 1:Well, once our business was face-to-face for so long, covid hit back in 2020. I was consulting in the healthcare space and we couldn't go face-to-face anymore. We couldn't get into hospitals, we couldn't get into clinics, and so our organization rode that out for a little while. It got to the point where I'd been sitting at home for four or five months and those big companies are not going to employ you if you're not generating revenue. And so they gave me a runway. And the idea behind coaching interestingly enough, in the model that I use is that you start off with a dream, and I had a dream I shared with a couple of bosses about 10 years prior to that and said I'd really like to use this model in terms of coaching to impact others, to listen to people, to develop their soft skills, to go along with what was really important from a business standpoint, to go forward. And at that time that boss said, hey, that's probably a good thing, but it's probably not going to work here. And I got sucked into big company security. I was nervous. I didn't want to jump and lose that health insurance and lose that regular salary that was there and all those different components Until, frankly, I was given the boot and had to make a decision whether or not I wanted to get back into corporate America in a different side or really trust what my dream was and make a decision to go forward.
Speaker 1:That was something I had to do. I had a long discussion with my wife and said we're going to go try this out. I felt like I had enough relationships in the space that you're working in. I think that's a great big part of what happens with regards to being successful at coaching is what are those relationships that you already built? Who's going to be able to introduce you to others that are going to help you to make a difference, chris, and I think that's the power of what's happening.
Speaker 1:I think I've seen many guests on your show and you and I follow the same influencers for the most part, and you get to call a few of those guys friends where I'm just getting to know them the John Gordons and the Ben Newmans and the Ed Myles of the world. Those are the folks that really talk about the power of one more and having confidence and attacking the process, all those different components that it took an influence like that and really say I was ready to try that out on my own, to have support for my wife as well, to get that going, and we made that happen. That's been three years and I got to tell you I appreciate it more on that entrepreneurial side than I ever thought I would in terms of being out on my own, the freedom that is, the ability to set your own schedule and to work with the people that you want to work with. It's been really cool. Now, again, I don't know if I've specifically answered your question about coaching, but ultimately that's how I ended up going through it.
Speaker 2:Well, you definitely answered the question, but gave me more opportunities to come up with more questions as my brain works. That's just how my brain works, right?
Speaker 1:That's how these conversations work really well, absolutely.
Speaker 2:So that's the great thing about my show is I literally have no questions written down. I don't look at that stuff and if somebody doesn't like it they can always disconnect and we can move on to the next show. So I'm not a controversial guy, so I'm not going to ask you political parties or anything like that. I do want to get into the importance of the decisions that are made because of your spouse, right Like. So my wife and when I came to her a year ago and I said you know, I think I want to leave my job and become a full-time coach and I want to speak and I want to run my podcast and she has been the one who's like on board the whole time, the whole time literally said to me, if we had to live under a bridge to make this work, that's what I would do. So without that, if someone's looking on this, listening to this call, and they're thinking about leaving their cushy type of corporate job or whatever, make sure you've got a support system. If your spouse is not on board, you might want to rethink those things through, because that could be a catalyst for something somewhere. And my wife's like look, everything that you really put your heart into Chris. You've been able to succeed at some level. So what's this look like? And we spelled it out. We looked at it. We weren't sure what the right time was going to be.
Speaker 2:And as I was meeting with a group of guys in Las Vegas recently, we're sitting at a table and I'm talking about the stuff I was able to accomplish doing this 20% of the time. And when I got back from Las Vegas I said, babe, I'm going to resign tomorrow and there we go. So here we are right. So I'm out here doing this now and I'm fresh out on the market full time. But I want to get back to the corporate America piece. John, it's like you and I both worked in that area and in good jobs. That's not like we were in the mailroom nothing wrong with the mailroom but it's not like we were in a mailroom position. We had nice, successful careers. But how powerful is it now that you can say you can't, like nobody tells me what I'm worth. I can figure out what I'm worth now. Can you break for me how that feels?
Speaker 1:Chris. I love that. It even goes into a meme that I had a friend that shared with me just two days ago, I believe, and it was funny as he shared through. It was like most corporations today are not necessarily interested, if you will, in you building your personal brand and having a personal impact. Okay, so they talk about things like share what you learn, share what you're an expert at, and things like that, but ultimately what that really means is share their latest post on LinkedIn so that folks know you work for that company.
Speaker 1:I just finished reading a book called the Authority Advantages Forbes book written by a couple of guys from Forbes who talked about that that people have confidence in more of a name today in terms of the industry and what's happening inside of that industry than they do in a company, and I think again, that comes back to that relationship piece that I'm talking about. The story that I had. I had a podcast when I was with this company before I had another guy, a doctor, that I interviewed with and we did a segment. We were purchased by a large company that said, yeah, you can keep doing the podcast, but we need to review everything you say first before you can go and be in there, and so you're exactly right. It's not about talking politics or faith, which is very important to me as well, but it is having that freedom to really share your story and get to work with the individuals that you want to work with.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. When I look at the opportunity that presents itself in the coaching arena right the impact I can have on people's lives and not thinking about the money portion of I'm not chasing dollars, that's not what I'm interested in doing, but I also know what my value is now. My value will continue to increase based off of my results. So the more people's lives I change, the more results are driven and therefore that you can monetize that to a higher level. So I'm curious do you do just one-on-one coaching? Are you doing group coaching? What does that look like?
Speaker 1:The primary business model that I have is one-on-one coaching, but what I really thrive around is working with an organization on deploying their strategic plan, with the initiative. So when I think about the problem I solve whether it's with the organizations that I'm consulting with, advising them on the work that they're doing, or individuals that I'm one-on-one coaching ultimately it's underperformance, that they're not quite getting out of their business, whether they're an entrepreneur or their life. Frankly, in terms of the different types of individuals that I coach, it's not agnostic that they would if they had someone that would challenge them, that would hold them accountable, that would get them to think differently about who they are today. And I think when I look at that one-on-one coaching model, that's really what it's about for me. You mentioned impact. You mentioned not being about the money. The money will take care of itself and we can talk about that and you'll get paid for the value they provide when you change lives.
Speaker 1:I listened to a guy who actually one of the very first times I got introduced to Ed Mylett on a podcast, I was listening to Rory Vaden and you've heard Ed say this, but Rory said hey, you're most powerfully positioned to help the person that you used to be, and when you can stay focused on those individuals that you used to be in your journey from a leadership standpoint, you're going to get more, and the most powerful referral that you can get is a changed life that someone starts to talk about.
Speaker 1:Last thing I'll say on that topic I call my coaching model the greatest story ever told, whether it's business or whether it's an individual. And that greatest story ever told to me the way I think about it from an impact standpoint is when someone is asked in the future to write down the name of five people who've had a positive impact on your life, that someone writes your name on their list as someone who's made a difference in their life and you don't even know about it as their coach. You don't need to know about it. All you need to know is that that's the greatest story ever told, when someone writes your name on their list.
Speaker 2:That's so good. I absolutely love that, and I'm doing some work with a guy named Taki Moore, and I don't know if you know who Taki Moore is or not, but anybody that's on here that's in the coaching industry should look him up. He helps coaches grow their business and their platforms on the group coaching level, which is something I'm really starting to focus more on because it's more scalable to impact more lives. That's the direction I'm going. But let's go back to what you're talking about working inside corporations or companies that bring people in like us.
Speaker 2:The biggest gap there is and I call this gap coaching is the gap between leadership in most companies and their performers. They think that they're on the same page, but they're not, and I know this because I just left this type of role. I was the intermediary between the two leaders in the company. I was a leader, but I was with all the salespeople, right, so I spoke their language more on a daily basis than the owners of the company did. That's just how it worked. I was just there. More hands on more than they were. Nothing against them, but that's just how it works. So that just made me think.
Speaker 2:Also, it's like John. There's so many companies out there that need somebody like us to come in and close that gap right, build a bridge, accountability just different things. And what I know for sure is is when you help these grow with their sales, they'll pay you whatever it takes. I used to do consulting in some different special events in the car industry and they would pay me astronomical amounts of money to be there for five days because I would change the mindset of everything that they're doing. What is your take on that? As far as that gap, when you go into these companies and it's so simple to me because it's such a breakdown in communication but are you feeling the same way when you go into these companies to help out?
Speaker 1:I think, chris, there's no doubt about it, Whether it's in the healthcare industry, which I've worked at for a while, and the CEOs that are generally promoted to CEO position are not ready to be CEOs. They've been the best physician, they've been the best manager, and oftentimes they're promoted into position they're just not ready for. And so one of the things that you're talking about with regards to that gap, frankly one of the gaps is their leadership lid that they have on themselves. They've worked really hard to get where they are. They've performed, they've been the top performers, but they haven't had to be a leader and develop others to be successful in the business. And so one of the things that I identify for them really quickly is that this business, it's the hit by the bus rule. If you get hit by the bus tomorrow, what's going to happen to this business? And if it's going to fail, then you're not leading this company, you're not developing the people that need to be led.
Speaker 1:So how I end up working with the teams not necessarily as team coaching, although I do have some module coaching on different tools, but I'll coach the top leader of the organization on where their gaps are and then I'll coach their leaders as well, and so that there's a to your point, a bridge between the two that they understand. There's confidentiality in all the coaching that's done, but there's a consistency in the approach that's being taught. So it's not one leader learning in a silo, it's a leadership team learning a set of tools together to be successful. Look, you're exactly right what got us here won't get us there.
Speaker 1:Many times we work with smaller organizations, especially when we're a smaller coach getting started out. We're probably not going to coach the top 50 companies in the organization. We might coach one of their individuals because of relationship, but we're coaching people who have built a company over us. They might be a second generation or a third generation owner that have absolutely worked their tails off to make things happen and they're looking to retire, but they can't leave okay, because they haven't developed the people that are ready to run the business. So I spend a significant amount of time working with leaders to get out of working so much in the business and work on the business and developing their people so that those others can make that happen and they can go out if they want to and buy a yacht or whatever they want to do, or play golf whatever they want to and not worry about whether or not the business is going to be right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm a big fan of working on the business and not in it. Today I spent about four hours working on my coaching business and not in it. Today. I spent about four hours working on my coaching business and not in it. I had zero clients today to meet with, so I literally spent multiple hours mapping out some strategies that I'm working on. So I love that.
Speaker 2:I like to use the analogy when I'm talking to corporations and companies that are looking at me in when they bring in somebody new into a CEO role or whatever. It's just like in football. I'm a huge football fan, right. So they bring in a head coach. What does a head coach need? Head coach needs an offensive coordinator, defense coordinator, special teams linebacker, coach, wide receiver, like all these other coaches underneath him.
Speaker 2:A head coach is not normally the people person to the players. He's not, and I think that's where it's lost in companies. I'm the CEO, listen to me. Well, they want they're more related or feel more relatable to the guy who's just once or twice removed from the CEO, right? And then you get CEOs who have that problem of well, I don't want to coach up this guy, this guy too much, because he may take my job or he may leave. It's the most absurd thing in the world is why wouldn't you overtrain everybody? And if they leave, they leave. I'm not going to keep anybody around who doesn't want to be part of that growth and that training. So I love that. When I have a conversation with somebody who's an owner of a company or a high-level individual, let's talk about the breakdown in communication, and most people are football fans so I can have that conversation with them. I'm sure as I expand, they're not going to be football fans. They have to understand you know football, oh, football right yeah.
Speaker 2:But it's still the same. It's still a coaching tree, right. It's still supporting people and understanding that I can't be the end-all, be-all as a CEO of a company, and I think that's where most CEOs fail, because they want to be friends and do this with everybody. But you're not relatable to the guy who's making $50,000 a year. You're not relatable to him as much as you want to try, you're not, so you have to have those other people in there. Do you see the same thing when you deal with? You've got to try to help that growth pattern or come up with a coaching tree internally to do that.
Speaker 1:I absolutely do, chris. I mean you know, to stay along that football analogy, lou Holtz would say I mean you got to have, there's no doubt about it, the leader has got to be really strong. But he's not going to be a very good leader very long if he doesn't have good players and good coaches. Okay, good coaches can kind of win a couple games, but great coaches Look at the tree you mentioned Nick Saban's tree in terms of the coaches that continue to get promoted out of there.
Speaker 1:Now, I do believe you have to be able to connect with the people at all levels and be able to, in essence, manage by walking around and let them know, take care and be able to communicate your vision at multiple levels in the organization.
Speaker 1:Having said that, I don't think there's any way you can possibly do that on your own. If you don't have a team that you set objectives with, give them targets, measurable targets that they can hit on a regular basis, and give them, in essence, the freedom to make that happen, but hold them accountable when they're not as well, then you're not going to be successful as a CEO, and I think that's a gap that I actually see, you know. The other thing you mentioned was the word friends. Okay, you get in those small businesses and those CEOs promote their friends to positions. Then they can't hold them accountable anymore because they feel like they would break a friendship. That person is dragging the organization down where they promoted their best friend to the VP of sales and he's not performing. How do you make that change as an organization? So I'm not saying you can't work with friends. All I'm saying is you got to draw a line between can I hold somebody accountable to the-. And.
Speaker 1:Comma leaders, hope you're enjoying the episode. So far, I believe in doing business with people you like and trust, and not just a company name. That's why a strong personal brand is essential, whether you're an entrepreneur or a leader within a company. Brand Builders Group, the folks who have been helping me refine my own personal brand are offering a free consultation call with one of their expert brand strategists. They'll help you identify your uniqueness, craft a compelling story and develop a step-by-step plan to elevate your impact. So head on over to CoachJohnGallaghercom slash BBG, as in Brand Builders Group, to schedule your free call and take the first step toward building a personal brand that gets you noticed for all the right reasons. That's coachjohngallaghercom slash BBG. Now let's get back to the episodes and you've got to have results and the proper behaviors. You've got to set a core values that you live to as an organization, because people will see right through that as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that's another term that's used so loosely these days core values, it's some words on the wall and when it really comes down to behind the closed doors and leadership, that's a bunch of BS. So I agree, and the thing is people see that in the organization, they see it, they feel it, they know that what you're spewing is not exactly what's happening there. Like, I love the Ben Newman's over feelings and I think we have to have a standard of what we do. Standards are right and I'm coaching a super high level realtor right now and we're talking about this team he's putting together and how he has to create a standard of how many phone calls a day his new realtors have to make to the leads he buys. We have to have a standard and it's not they're going to call from nine to 10. No, we're going to have 60 touches a day or whatever that number is, and that's the standard we lead to.
Speaker 2:Now what I have found is dealing with people that have teams or in organizations that have never had the standard. Unfortunately, when you put the standard in place, you may have to get rid of some people because they're so used to not having the standard. Now I have to come in and say, okay, look, this is how it's going to work, this is what we're going to do and they're going to buck it a little bit. Not about you, but I've been in situations where I go in and I run some things for a company and then all of a sudden you see one of the guys slide through behind you in the back door and he ends up with a CEO and he's in there, you know, pouting like he's a three-year-old.
Speaker 2:So I think it comes down to the daily standards we create for our salespeople, for sure, and the accountability portion of that. But how did you navigate that? When you're in a small company and it is friends, it is whoever and every time I've got one or two guys that are going to fight me and they're going to not you know, you don't know this, and they're going to go in there and run that. Has that happened to you, john?
Speaker 1:Well, holy Chris, on a regular basis and you know you're going to go into those organizations on your own and you're going to consult with them or you're going to go in there and say, look what you measure acceptable. You have to make a change. As a leader, you have to make a decision. I was listening to a study last night. We had our home group at the house and one of the things Rick Warren says everybody's got a dream. They want to be this great company. I mean, everybody really does have a dream. They want to be this great individual, this great leader. But nine out of 10 of those individuals are not willing to make the choice that they're going to make.
Speaker 1:The disciplines and you know this thing from disciplines you do 75 hard. You've instilled some incredible disciplines to make changes in your life and there aren't many people that are willing to do what you've done the law of sacrifice. I want to do what that company did, yeah, but are you willing to do what they've done? To do what they do? And you have to get ready to, and that's for me, that really makes my uniqueness is the intentionality. I don't let up. You got to be a dove on a bone, Okay, when you say something like you need 60 touches a day and they do 40 touches a day, are you going to accept that or are you going to address that as an individual and try to get them to change their?
Speaker 2:behaviors. Let me jump on that. I don't normally cut, but it reminds me of a conversation I have with Ben Newman, and those of you listening, if you don't know who Ben Newman is, find out who Ben Newman is. He is continued fight on Instagram, but I'm on a first call ever with Ben. It's December 26th of last year. He's he messaged me and said yeah, I'll do a call with you at 12 on December 26th. I'm like man, I'm off the whole week after Christmas, but I'll get on with Ben Newman, right. So we're talking and he said hold on. I want you to understand something.
Speaker 2:When you're given something you need to get done in business. It's the same thing. Would you walk in to the Florida Gator locker room when you're playing football at Florida and the strengths coach says we're going to do 10 sets of 10 bench today, chris, you're not going to tell him that you're going to do four sets of five, right, like I mean, you're not going to do that. So why do you do that in your personal, in your business life? Why do we do that? Why do we put up with that? I'm glad people do, because that gives us more opportunities to coach them First of all.
Speaker 1:That's right, Exactly right. That's what makes this industry and you said it at the very start there's such a need, because there's such a gap between where they are today and where they need to go.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I find it really frustrating in this way, because I've always been somebody who puts forth a ton of effort and I've been in leadership and running car dealerships from the time I was 19 years old. I just expect everybody else to do what I do and I thought that was normal, but the older I got I realized that most people are just okay with doing nothing. So the call I was on today was talking about John, and this is a question for you on the coaching side how do you address a client that probably just isn't a good fit for you? I mean, I'm sure you fired clients. I've fired clients. I'm just curious what does that look like and how do you make a decision? If they're a good fit for the best story told, how do you decide that?
Speaker 1:No, it's a great question, chris, and it's one that, while I've been on the journey early enough, I've probably not had the ability to make all those choices at the start. We don't get to choose all of the players that we want to, but I really try to line it up right on the front end in terms of what the expectation is. You know, when you set up a system like we're going to do two coaching calls a month and you don't get to change those calls, you know you might be nice enough to change especially when they're CEOs, they're going to have some challenge, but are they willing to hit that discipline really early? And then we do formal quarterly reviews reflecting what's going well and what isn't going well, what could be going better. With regards to going through that with the client and asking them what do I need to do different as a coach? We've got to write in the paperwork you can make a change, you can stop it whenever you want to. There's no hard feelings, there's nothing. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work.
Speaker 1:Having said that, I've had about a 95% renewal rate with regards to that and the only ones that have changed so far, and this is not about me. I think it is about the process that they go through is that they're retiring and they just decide they're not using that as business coaching and they don't have that investment for them anymore. But I think that's important on the front end, to outline, almost sliding that paper across the table and says are you willing to do the things that are in this checklist? Are you willing to meet with me for an hour twice a month on phone calls and then an hour or two of homework, and do the action plans that are really waiting to be done? Because if you're not willing to do that, you're wasting both of our time. You're wasting your money and your time and you're wasting my time as well to be able to work with someone who can create that story. Now it might be that I've been fortunate enough to have the relationships that allow me to not to have to do that very much so far, but I know that time's coming. I know that time's coming where I'm going to have to fire a client In the days of the big company world. Absolutely, we have to do that when folks want to change it Because they're looking to us for ROI. They're going to come to us the first time that it is struggling just a little bit and say where's the return on my investment?
Speaker 1:I have a story. There's an organization prior to starting on my own, but they asked us. They said are you willing to guarantee your coaching results for our organization? While I didn't say it, my partner said as we were standing, I said absolutely I'll guarantee it. I'll guarantee we'll get you results. And my partner said are you willing to let us run your business? Then he's like no, I'm not. That I said well, then I can't guarantee your business, because there's going to be a time when you say, just like your exercise analogy in the Florida locker room, you're going to tell me you're not going to do something that I told you you need to do. That's going to come the time to say I don't know that I can help you anymore.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that's powerful to be able to back that up and understand.
Speaker 2:I did have one client. I've only had one client ever asked me what's your guarantee? I'm like my guarantee is I'm going to show up on every coaching call and be ready to bring you something of value. And if you don't think it's a value, then we'll reevaluate and maybe move on to something else. And he's become one of my best clients.
Speaker 2:So you know, it's so funny when people start asking guarantees. And here's my whole process behind that. It's the same thing in the mortgage industry when they ask you, john, what's your rate? You know why they ask you that, because they don't know what else to ask you. Okay, so I don't take offense to someone saying now, I love something that I learned from Rene Rodriguez. When people ask you what's your price, and he always responds your price to hire me or to not hire me. And that's a powerful statement, right, like. So my price is a price, but if you don't hire me, you're going to continue getting the results that drove you to get on this phone call with me right now, right.
Speaker 2:So I think that coaching is super important. I'm coached. I have a personal coach, business coach. He takes care of me. That's Adam Roach. I also do a bunch of one-on-one stuff with Ben Newman and then I do some group stuff with Ben. I think you and I were on the same call recently with Ben, but Ben and I have been able to do some really cool one-on-one things and actually I'm going to spend some time with him next week. He's coming to Orlando and he's become a mentor for me, right.
Speaker 2:And now I've got Taki Moore, who I'm doing some stuff with, who's super high level and I share that with people because I'm not trying to impress them or anything else, but I'm letting you know that as a coach, I'm coached, right, I believe in what it is, and I'm on a group coaching call the other day with a bunch of other coaches and some of them were new to the industry and I said, okay, well, how many of you are coached? And about 60% of them were and I said here's my opinion If you're not coached, you need to get off the call right now. And some of them got offended. I'm like, how can you ask someone to commit to you if you're not getting advice as well? Are you the end, all be all? Do you know everything there is to know about the world? Because if you are, then I want to know but what's your take on that as far as coaching and a coach being coached and everything else?
Speaker 1:and a coach being coached and everything else. Chris, I think it's spot on. So I have two coaches. Well, I have a coach and a mentor. I have a coach that I work with on a monthly basis on the branding side of the business and working on the strategy going forward, and I have a mentor who's ultimately there, and I see the difference in the mentor and the coach mostly being experience. That mentor is someone who's experienced many of the things that I'm doing, who's experienced many of the things that I'm doing, and he also makes a great coach because he challenges me, he inspires me, he encourages me. A lot of stories with him, and I believe that and it's about the business, by the way, the story for me was back in 2017, when I had tried so hard to really work my own fitness journey and to make that work, chris, and it wasn't happening. I said I think I need a coach, I need a trainer to help me get better in this space, that I need someone to teach me what I need to do from an exercise and nutrition standpoint, and it was January 11, 2017. I walked into that gym and Margo was there, and I ended up about three years later in Men's Health Magazine with regards to that transformation. That was there, but I had a full-time trainer basically for three years to help me on my fitness journey.
Speaker 1:If you're looking to grow yourself from a spiritual standpoint, you need a mentor or coach to grow your faith. I absolutely agree with you, 100%, that if you are going to be a coach of some sort or any type of leader that you need a coach. I mean Jim Rohn talks about you're the average of the five people that you're so closely associated with. If you're the smartest person in the room, you need to get a new room right. I mean, there's a lot of different cliches that go along with that, but we need to continuously grow. It's a lifelong learning journey and if we're going to preach that to others, you're absolutely right. Why wouldn't we live that on our own? I would want to know, when I'm interviewing a coach, who coaches you. It's a great question to ask, right? It's like Renee's question.
Speaker 2:I talk a lot about that. I go to a lot of events. I invest in myself. I get in rooms that Chris Welton probably didn't belong in at some point, right, and you know the story behind the Jordan, and I've been able to use the Jordan to leverage that to get in these rooms with people or get on phone calls with people that people dream about connecting with right. But the difference for me there is is I don't look at it as one phone call Like I've got these. I got some numbers in my phone, john, that I could probably sell for a lot of money on the internet Would never do that but I can text certain people and they respond to me like high level individuals and they like that right. Like I've become really good friends with a guy named Damon West. I don't know if you know who Damon West is or not, but Damon's in Orlando right now.
Speaker 2:Coffee bean.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and we were on the phone last night chatting because we were trying to get together while he was in town and we just weren't able to make it work. Like I had something come up this morning where we couldn't meet. But I sent him one, jordan John. That's how I met him, and then we in November last year and we've just become friends ever since, right. So I share that with people because I want you to understand that a lot of people that you want to connect with are available and they will talk to you and have conversations with you.
Speaker 2:David Meltzer is another guy, and if anybody doesn't know who David is, look him up Super high-level individual. If you've seen the movie Jerry Maguire, okay, that's about yeah, so, but he's very easy to get in touch with. I won Jordan Tim as well and then met him in Las Vegas in person. But the thing is is that figure out who you want to be in this space and then find as many people as you can that are doing the little things that you want to do. So I just pull a little bit from this guy. A little bit from this guy, because I'm not going to be Rene Rodriguez, I'm not going to be John Gordon. I'm not going to be John Gallagher. I'm Chris Welton, and people know me as one hand at a time. That's who I am. But if I can take a little bit from this guy, a little bit from that guy, and it makes me a better person and I can impact, let's do it, dude, let's do it.
Speaker 1:So, chris, I love the creativity that you have in making that happen and I love again those individuals aren't replying back. If you're not changing as a result of what they talk to you about as well, okay, you're making an investment in them on the front end, but what they really want to know is that they're changing a life and they're changing your life, and they can see that you're improving. They can see that they're having an impact. So they are going to get back with you. Those are the ones that you get back with. The ones that aren't going to do, they just want to take. They just want to hear from me. They just want to take. They're not going to get back in touch with you. So they see that you give. They see that you're giving back to others what you're learning as well. So I think you should absolutely be For me. You see them behind me.
Speaker 1:I'm a gracious reader when it comes to call him after I'm done and say, hey, would you be on the podcast or would you chat with me? Jeff Henderson, who wrote the book what to Do Next. He put in the back of his book his cell phone number. He says get in touch with me. So I did. I mean I gave him a call and we've been. I don't want to say you know. Again I'll stop short of saying friends, but he's been on the podcast.
