What's going on, everybody? Welcome to the Be Battle Ready podcast. I'm your host, Anthony Campo, and I created this podcast to give you insights, strategies, and tactics to help you build a multiple six-figure battle-ready business. And it's not just this podcast.
If you head over to battlereadybusiness.com, you can learn more about my coaching. The framework of this podcast, each week, we'll cover a different topic. Week one, we'll cover leadership. Week two, we'll cover marketing.
Week three, we'll cover sales. And week four, we'll cover lifestyle and personal development. We do this by having deep dive conversations with leaders, influencers, movers, and shakers in their respective areas of expertise. So sit back, relax, and enjoy today's show.
Cool, man. So I just want to welcome everybody to episode number five of the Be Battle Ready show. This week, we are talking with Dustin Davis on the topic of leadership. He's a head football coach.
What's the school again? Arrowhead Christian Academy. Awesome. And he also has his own podcast, The Odd Front.
So like I did last week, I just let you do justice in introducing yourself and give us a little background. Yeah. So I got into coaching in 2006. I was finishing up college at Sonoma State, and I'd gotten into fitness.
At the time, I was a personal trainer at 24-hour, and actually, you were kind of the one that kind of got me interested in it. What? I said, that's not what I can do. I can do it?
Yeah, no. When we were at Coast or whatever, like in between, like after we had all kind of left Orange Coast, and you were a trainer, and I came down and visited, and I was like, man, that's exactly what I want to do. So I did that for a couple years, and I just come back from the college I was playing at in West Virginia, so I volunteered with, like, and I've done this before. I volunteered to help out my stepdad coach on a youth team.
It was fun. I had a good time. At the end of the second year, I was like, no, I think I'm just going to go help out at high school, maybe just be a strength coach and volunteer. Didn't know anything about, like, didn't plan on coaching.
I was just going to do a strength coach, and one thing led to another, and they're like, hey, do you want to coach? And so I did. I was at Windsor High School. I was a JV assistant coach my first year, and then took over to the JV program for three years, and was also a varsity assistant a couple of those years.
Did have a lot of success there. I had great staff, great kids, and then I was the varsity coach. I got promoted to the varsity head coach in 2010. At this whole time, I was working offside, so I wasn't on campus, and I had moved to management, so I was working at a large private health club up in Sonoma County, and it allowed me to coach.
And anyways, long story short, I actually had to step away from Windsor because I got hired to be in law enforcement, and I was going to go through the academy, wouldn't be able to coach, and I knew I wouldn't be able to coach afterwards. So I did that for a super short time. Just there was something missing from that. I mean, you know, the pay was going to be great.
I'm sure the camaraderie would be great, and there's something missing. So I left it. I went back into coaching. I got on right away at a really successful program up in that area, Cardinal Newman High School, spent a year there, and then one day while I was there, the head coach was like, hey, I got an email about this job.
You should look at it, and it was St. Joseph High School down in Santa Maria. So I got hired there, and I spent five years there, and this past spring, about a year ago now, this opportunity came open, and a friend of mine, a colleague of mine said, hey, are you interested in this? And I did, and one thing led to another, and here we are from Santa Maria to Redlands, and that's kind of my, that's like real short snapshot of coaching.
So this will be, 2018 will be my, I think my eighth year as head coach. Yeah, eighth year as head coach, and I think, and then coaching since 06. So, yeah, so it's been fun. I get to work with young people, which is great.
I love that. I get to teach a great game and really get to impart life lessons to young people. So it's definitely rewarding and challenging and fun. Yeah, awesome, man.
Thanks for the introduction. You know, I'm really excited to talk to you because, A, we're talking about leadership. B, like, you becoming a head football coach is very interesting to me because we have that connection because we go all the way back to high school. I remember you transferring in.
We played, were you there, junior, senior year? Senior year, yeah. Yeah, just senior year? Yeah.
Awesome, yeah. I don't know. I checked out my junior year. I took 20 to CL, so, yeah, that's another discussion when football players don't have football.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I'm super pumped. The first thing I want to, like, go back to is something in your introduction, right? You know, this resonates with people I coach, right?
Because, you know, in a small, like, kind of value proposition or what it is, is that I help aspiring entrepreneurs, you know, create a battle-ready business in their sales marketing systems. So those people might currently have a job and they want to have, like, a little coin term, stage your side hustle, your main hustle. But really, the first part of what I work with them on is that something missing, right? Right.
And it's interesting that you bring that up, and I didn't know you were bringing that up, right? And I didn't know that story. So kind of deep down and let me know. Like, let's talk about that, right?
Because, you know, A, there's a couple things here. I want to hear your story about what you felt, what it sounded like in that point where something wasn't right. Right. Yeah.
Well, I mean, it's one of those things. So in the coaching community, especially, like, there's kind of a term that's like you catch the coaching bug, right? And then it becomes, I mean, for a lot of people, and definitely for me, it becomes like this relentless pursuit of perfection, right? And I understand that I'm not going to be perfect.
And I understand that my players aren't going to be perfect. But a team, a group, that's the only place in life other than, you know, if you believe in God, which I do, there's only one other place that things can be perfect. And that's in a team setting, right? So whether that's business or sports.
And I was super fortunate. And, I mean, honestly, like, looking back now from where I've been, so my first three years as a head coach, I was a JD head coach, right? I had a staff that was as committed as most varsity staffs. I had, I want to say I had eight coaches, which, I mean, these days is crazy.
Like, when you and I played, you know, we had a good group of coaches, and it was a little bit different than... It was a normal program, though. Yeah, it was a normal program. You can get the experience, like, walking into freshman year and having, like, Coach Eiman and his team and how that was.
Like, I mean, he was, like, side topic. He was the cornerstone, like, of development through that, right? He set this off the first year, so... Yeah.
So, I mean, I just, I was unbelievably blessed with these guys. Like, so it's just kind of this random thing. Like, a couple years I volunteered as a youth coach, I had worked with one of the dads of the team. And he was just, he was totally, totally unassuming, but he didn't, he's like, I don't really know anything about football, but I'll help.
And he helped me for a year, like, last year at youth. And then when I got hired, I was like, hey, why don't you come over and help me out, just on defense? And then he did. And then the next year, he actually came and was my receivers coach and special teams coach.
So this guy was, I mean, this is crazy. So that whole staff, these are JV coaches, mind you, most of them are walk-on volunteers. We went to clinics together. We were doing meetings together.
We had kids watching film. You know, just literally, I literally took what we learned, what I learned at modern day and what I learned at playing college ball and just did it at the JV level. And we ended the game in three years. So I mean, it was just, I just get that bug like that.
It's just, it's fun. I mean, you know, not, not just the winning part, but like seeing kids succeed, you know, seeing kids change from like when you, when you take over to when they graduate and seeing them go from, you know, like always being ineligible to be a graduate going on to college or, you know, whatever. They're moving on and have several kids winning the military out of high school and they're doing well, you know, in their life. So, you know, I think young coaches will get into coaching for the excitement, you know, that kind of thing.
But after a few years, like if you don't really love it, it becomes, it'll wear, it'll wear on you. It's got to be more about the kids. And so, anyway, so I've done that for, let's see, I've been coaching for four years. So I just finished my first year of varsity as a varsity head coach.
I've been, and I wanted to do it for a while. I had been in management for three years. And basically, you know, as a personal trainer, you're essentially running your own business. I did that successfully for three years.
And then I got hired into law enforcement and I'm getting told that I'm a POS every day and, you know, how horrible I am. And I understood it. I realized it was just a mental game, but I was like, wait a minute, I'm 30 years old. I just got married.
I've led a football team. I've led a football program and I've led a department of people. And I'm like, this is, it was just, it was kind of, it was very, it was almost depressing. And I just, I missed that.
Like thinking, thinking long-term, like I got restarted in April in the academy and thinking long-term like, hey, like next fall, this is going to be the first fall in like 27 years. Well, not 27 years, that one, but like since I was 13 or 10, since I was 10, where I wasn't going to be doing something related to football. I was like, man, this is depressing. And I just, I missed, I missed that working with kids and, you know, the idea of like, okay, like I'm going to be doing something good, but I think I'd much rather, you know, build young men of character so they don't end up in jail rather than keep them or put them in jail.
So, so I just, it was one of those things, like it was one, it was honestly one of those, there was a moment in the academy where I was just like, you know what, this, this isn't me. It's just not me. And yeah, I mean, it was just, I think it was, there was one particular event that one of the RTOs said something to me and I was like, I mean, it didn't faze me, but I was just like, nah, I'm good, I'm good, man. I don't respect the hell out of you guys, but I'm, I'm better off.
I need to be on the sidelines. Like, I guess for like an entrepreneur, it's like, if you're not, if you're not in the minutia of building a business or running a business, you feel like you can't breathe or it's just not you. And that was it for me. Like, I just wasn't being true to who I was, you know, I just wasn't being true to myself.
And I knew, I knew I would be miserable. That's really, that's really what it comes down to is I knew that I would be, you know, the money would be good. I knew my family's financial future would be secure in law enforcement, but I, you know, I just, I knew that I would not be fulfilled is what it came down to. Yeah.
I mean, it comes down to these values that you, that you hold deep or anybody holds deep. And, you know, when, when you're not aligned, you're actually not aligned with those values, right? If you, if you have this deep value of making a difference, if you have just love for something, you know, then you've just got to do it. Right.
Right. And so many times people are like the money, the money, the, the, the, that's not worth it. But like, you don't know, like, you don't know what's going to happen. You might follow that.
Right. One head coach job, another head coach job. You don't know what's going to happen. I mean, like, yeah, you're absolutely right.
You know, you might, you know, a different, you know, some other job might pop up. I'm not saying that, you know, or this might turn into a, you know, a crazy program. Who knows? At the end of the day, like going into something, doing something you don't hate to do.
Yeah. Like one of the things I have, like I talk to people is like, you know, I ask them, are you stuck in a job you hate? Right. Right.
Like you're not going to be, you're not going to be fulfilled. And here's the worst part. You kind of enjoy what you're doing. Right.
And it's still not what you like could be doing. Right. Or you really want to be doing. That's, that's even, that's it.
Worst track. Cause it's like, you're so comfortable. Yeah. I think, I think probably, especially in your, in your arena, I think it's probably been more so that comfortable.
Right. Like you work with people who are very successful. Right. I'm sure.
You know, you work with people who are super successful. Right. They may pee down. They just hate what they do.
Like, you know, it doesn't really matter what it is. Like, you know, I think, I think there's people who, uh, you know, they make a ton of money and they're miserable, but then there's also the people who make not very much money, you know, whatever, you know, whatever that, that amount, that amount is, um, and are extremely happy. Like you can be happy making 50 grand and, and, you know, the world sees that that is not very much, or you can make, you know, 500 grand and be miserable, but the world thinks you're successful. So, I mean, yeah.
The issue is really when people connect that, right. Right. I have to, to be truly happy, like, you know, right. Right.
The money doesn't mean whatever. But you know what, the one thing I want to do is, um, because one of your thoughts, right. I mean, cause really you got to lead yourself in that. Since we're talking about leadership, right.
And you're a coach, you're leading kids, but you know, like you and yourself have to lead yourself. Right. No one was there to like say, Hey, you need to get out of here. You need to do whatever.
Like that's, that ultimately being real with yourself is the ultimate form, you know, where leadership starts. Right. Right. Absolutely.
Um, yeah. I mean, when you're, when you're a football coach now, I don't care if you're coaching in a town of 500 people or a town of, you know, 500,000, whatever size program you're at, you're essentially a CEO. Right. I mean, you are, you are, everything that's wrong in your program is your fault.
Right. I mean, you're, that's, that's, that's the way you have to, you have to run it. Like you have to be involved with everything. You have to be on 24, seven, 365.
Yeah. You get breaks, but you know, even in breaks, you're answering emails, you know, from, from parents, from kids, from colleges, you know, from everybody who has, you know, want something from you or, you know, whatever, you know, um, it's, it's a year round. And then people say, Oh, well, it's a year round sport. Well, no, maybe not for the kids, but for the coach.
I mean, I might argue that, you know, high school coaches, maybe probably college coaches are busier, not in season because in the season, they're really, I mean, at the high school level, you're worried about the season in the next week or that week or whatever you're doing. Whereas in off season, you've got to plan for workouts. You've got to plan for summer, you've got to plan for whatever camps you're going to do. You know, a lot of places got to fundraise.
So I mean, I just, I said, there's, you're, you're more administratively busy, um, in off season. So, um, yeah, you absolutely have to be, you know, you have to lead yourself. And I think, um, you know, one of the things, you know, we can kind of maybe keep going, like, as we progress in the talk with is, um, I think for, for anybody in business, the people you work with, or even coaches is that you better have a foundation, right? That you better have some sort of platform or foundation built.
So you, so everything comes from that point, that starting point in your leadership, because if you don't, you're going to be, um, you kind of ship without a sail, you know what I mean? So you don't have anything for your leadership. And I'm not talking about success. I or vision statement type thing, where you just, everything goes back to that.
Um, and that's, you know, that's one thing that took a long time for, for me to develop. But now that I have it, it's, it really permeates every part of my program and everything that I do. Um, yeah. It's great to bring that out with the, um, you know, cause I know that you established that in your first episode of your podcast.
Right. So let's like, let's dig into that. Like, you know, like what, what, what was the first thing you established? You came out with some points, it's been like a month or two.
You know, um, you, you came up with a philosophy, a way, like, let's talk about that. Yeah. So, um, I mean, I, we can, I'm happy to dive into mine, but I just, I think, um, my thing was, is for, for a high school coach, I think everything's got to point back to development of the people we coach. So like, if I'm the CEO of my program, those are my employees, those are my assets.
I mean, you know, kind of not my livelihood, not, not where I'm at, but, um, you know, our, our success is, is tied to the performance of, you know, 15 to 18 year old teenagers, you know, like, that's a difficult thing. Um, so I think it's got to go beyond just kind of like the football. It's got to be, you got to show that you care about them and, um, all those things are important. So my, my whole thing was like, we have to develop these young men, right?
Especially really, really like when my daughter was born is when it really kind of hit home. They're like, okay, I need to be a part of these guys lives. So they become people that I would allow to date my daughter, or they're going to be great husbands or great leaders in the community or great they're going to be great. great CEOs or great in the military or law enforcement like I need to be part of that process so I really think that's hard um so we just I just came up with a thing like hey um it was really it's really organic the way it came up was just in like a pre-game or like after a team dinner to talk like you know telling the guys like hey I'm not asking you to be you have to get instantly better you know you know between now and our game I just want you to get one percent better and so I started you know started looking into that and kind of well did you pick that up like yeah you read personal development books or anything like that that was yeah yeah I mean there's a number of people like I uh a buddy of a buddy just came out with a book called one percent rule yeah and then you know I read the uh uh the slide edge that book um so I don't know where did you where what wave was that well I mean it literally came out of a talking with like so we at St.
Joe's we would have a team dinner every Thursday night and then we go back to my classroom and the coaches it was just coaches and players we just talk about the game and um you know talk about I let the kids stand up and talk or say something the coaches would say something and um I believe it's so my first year at St. Joe's we were talking about how far they had come um the year before I took over they were I think two and eight or three and seven and we were going into a game um I don't even know if it's the last game or what but essentially we were we were we win this game and we have a league championship so I said look guys think about where you've been where you were at this point last year like you've just like you know this one last year you've lost five games straight or something like that anyways we were talking about development like think about how far you come and um I said I said it wasn't all at once thing like you didn't I didn't show up and you guys were better because of it like right away like we've been developing you're getting a little bit better a little bit better so what I'm asking for tomorrow is to improve every play you're not gonna be you might not be successful every play but you can learn over the course of the game so I'm like you know just get one percent better through the course of the game and at the end of the game you're gonna be playing better than when you started and we kind of just talked a little bit more we said that one percent um thing and then it kind of took off from there just kind of natural um really honed in on it the next year um but I never I had never read it's funny like two years after um two years after I started using that um I saw that I think there's a podcast called the one percent better podcast I never listened to it I don't know what it's about but I'm pretty sure there's one or at least there was out there but um yeah as far as reading um I mean like yeah I read I mean usually every off season I read a couple if I read a couple books you know from all things not just coaching um you know like lots of different stuff but um I developed kind of the the meat and potatoes of what one percent better is I kind of took from like guys like Pete Carroll John Wooden um as far as how do we define what it means to get one percent better or how we get one percent better um yeah absolutely those things I've taken from other coaches and kind of reworded or made my own but um yeah I hadn't heard I've never heard any other coach use it until I was using it so um and I'm not saying I coined the phrase or anything but um I think I mean if you think about it like all you're talking about is just improving right like you're improving every day and that doesn't mean you're gonna you're gonna win every time that doesn't mean every business deal every every thing you do every person you hire is gonna be a home run it just means that you're still gonna improve so if you come from that if that's your platform you're jumping off point like you're always gonna win in the long run because everything's gonna be about improvement everything's gonna be about you developing as a person a leader um you know being in more uh getting more and more expertise in your field um you know so for like the people you work with like if they got if they improve like how many people do you work with would say from like if you ask them right now hey in 365 days if your business was 365 percent better like sales how many wouldn't take that oh absolutely that's the thing is that like I uh actually was talking with my clients last weekend the first module that part of the membership course is all about purpose and lifestyle right and she's like oh my gosh this whole new possibility for me things that I didn't see when I got to the one page battle plan module it like it scared the shit out of me and uh and I explained it in like this it's like of course yeah this is what happened right like two things here side note your intuition or your subconscious knew that right and we as we have so much that within us that we do not need to go out again right we have a lot of answers we have a lot of what and why it's the how to that sometimes we lack right so I explained she's like she just got stuck and it came down to the kind of back to this one percent is that she's here and she wants to go here and there's a huge gap between where she's at and where she wants to go and internally her subconscious knows she's not the person she needs to be to do this right and we think that we just need to make this big jump right back from here and there's two ways to go about this right and there's you can go through the valley right and go through that paper you can have somebody help you bridge me down right and I obviously told I go this is where the scripture as I walk through the valley of shadow of death I should fear you just need to take that first step right right you are everything you need to be right now to take that first step yeah I mean once you take that first step you are everything you need to know to take that second step and it just continually walks upon itself and it relates to all the working on that stuff that compounds upon that right right so I think I think um I mean I don't have any I can't think of anything offhand to like back up but I mean that my philosophy for how I run my program is essentially backed up I mean you could I could back try to back it up with anything I mean you know there's from like what's the what's the quote about a every a million mile journey starts with a single step right I mean um I mean even you even just brought up scripture like I mean really the bible will tell you like God has provided you with everything you need plain and simple like okay so we've got like a quote and I don't know where that quote came from and then you've got the bible like maybe those things are two things that are not um not similar right like maybe maybe the million mile journey quote is from Confucius or something and and you've got you've got you've got examples of this throughout every aspect of life through history that like can back up like yeah it's it comes down to you know yeah you gotta take a leap but you know you don't there's not some big jump there's not some magic that's gonna happen like you know you can go find you can seek knowledge you can go to people like yourself that have had expertise that can help you to get there um you know you can you know you can do it on your own um and learn and you know and go through the hardships which is not a bad thing um you know but uh yeah so I just you know and really honestly for for um for the people for my the people that I'm working with you know teenage teenage uh men um you know a lot of times even even more I mean even though I've been working in private schools where there's a lot of parent involvement and uh kids come from you know for the most part they come from good homes you know there's there's still a lot of times things missing in their lives that they need from and they get from coaches not just me just you know from other coaches and um you know we definitely need uh I think we were meant to do life um we're meant to do life alone you know so we need that we need that camaraderie we need people helping raise young people not just one person or one parent or two parents like it takes it really takes that village to raise them so um I think when they know that like I'm trying to build them to be better the best version of themselves so they know where I'm coming from that gives me kind of the equity the social equity um the relationship equity to really hold them accountable um so I think for people in your um in your arena um you know when when when your employees or the people you work with really know that you care about them like then it allows you give you more freedom to to you know hey I'm gonna hold you accountable because I see I may see more than you see in yourself or you know I see your vision and you're real close and you need to do these steps to get you there so um it just honestly man it just works with everything you know like hey we just want you to I'm not asking for some monumental change I'm asking for you to be a better student I'm asking you to you know get one percent better in your academics and your faith life in athletics you know I you know we're just coming out of our off-season training you know I don't expect a kid from one week to the next to jump some crazy amount of weight in the weight room but I want to see improvement I want to see improvement in every aspect and um I don't know I think I think it helps build confidence in the kids um which I think would relate to you know employees um and I just think it creates the right environment for success you know for kind of for sustained long-term success it's funny that you talk about that right so I was part of the mastermind group uh beginning 2010 so mid to late 2013 and we had a lot of success with that it was a great environment and it became I also became a little bit of a toxic environment because though we had competition a lot of the success that was created there was nothing really sustainable there was no system there was no like you know there's a lot of folks on big jumps but there was no sustainable system right or backing behind that and a lot of emphasis and the praise was put on like the big leaps right and you know we did we did really well in growth and all that but we didn't have as big of leaps as with that you know as other people they were just like these huge leaps but what I came to see after the time was certain team members they burnt out everybody burnt out yeah right and and in that like you know at the time I didn't know like we were just kind of we were like consistent showed up did our stuff whatever it was and um but the value was I was conflicted in that personally because I wanted to like you know I wanted to go do that like take down the line right and go conquer whatever you want to do so how do you how do you write because it's easy right in the way we're like you know it's a microcosm of how that is like right how do you manage you know that culture right of of like sustainable growth sustainable like you know I know it starts from top I know we can kind of say that but you know yeah um you know like the weight room is a great is it's kind of um it's a great area because everything in there is quantifiable right so I can see progress through you know technique I can see progress like quantifiable like I can see like guys doing things correctly so like one of my biggest challenges when I got here was the quality of movement right so I'd reset pretty much everything back and like tell guys to strip down weights and like hey you're not you know when you're squatting you've got like six inches left before you get to parallel I'm like uh that doesn't count and they look at me like what do you mean like you know they just have they didn't have they don't have that frame of reference um so I think you know the weight room is a great place to test things and coaching because um and I don't know that any other I don't know where else in kind of maybe in business you have this but um the best thing about the weight room is that you are trying to see where kids fail right like you want them to fail in January through May or even through summer um so they can succeed afterwards so they can succeed on the field so you know you want them pushing themselves not every day I'm not talking about they have to max how some kids want to max every single day or every week on bench you know you gotta rein that in but um yeah I mean you know I probably do the same thing you know like everybody comes in on Monday and it's like hey because why aren't we benching on Monday I'm like well because we don't we're only gonna bench once a week well why because squat's more important oh okay you know they just they don't they don't have that context um but uh that's the best thing about the weight room is I want you to learn how to fail right I want you to push yourself to that point so you can deal with it later in life you can deal with on the field you can deal with it in your classroom you can deal with it at home you can deal with it when you go out to uh out to the real world you know after college um and I think you know a lot of sports that's the lesson that most sports are helping kids with is like to be a good teammate and those kinds of things and learn how to be successful and push through adversity all that stuff but the weight room is a great place to teach you failure you know well yeah I mean pushing through adversity is learning how to fail right you know and I think like this is the biggest thing right if we talk about business like there's a lot of people who don't want to fail right they don't want to mess something up and trust me like I beat myself up sometimes because I'm more of like when I'm not being too risk averse like I'll just start what I call shipping stuff like it's not perfect and I was having a conversation with a client about this is just just don't break it right this is just business like it's not like you're gonna be under a 500 pound basketball and you break and you really break or you go into a football game and you make a long move and get like lit up and you really break you're not really gonna hurt too much right like um so especially early on when you're when you're like a smaller business and you're not really there's not a lot of dependent on it and then if you do have a job that's the time to I mean especially if it's like a side gig for when your clients like why are you not like that's the time to take the risk you have you know you have skin in the game but you have your you have your regular job or you have your other job that's really you're making your money so you can afford to to take risk I mean I mean I like I love listening to podcasts and I know you and I have kind of talked a little bit about um about uh Gary Vaynerchuk and his books and his podcast and I mean um but even even like before I even listen to him like there's always you always see things on the internet like motivational things on the internet and you know like the people who failed so many times but have been successful like um I know there's always a video going around but um like uh the same yeah Sam Walton's creates Walmart and it's like what is 50s 60s or something like that 40s I mean he's only he's into his life I mean he's at midpoint essentially in his life and he creates now what's one of big now we can we can talk all day about how Walmart's probably going to fail here in the next 10 20 years because because that's the way the world's going but he created a massive business at 40 50 whatever uh you know Walt Disney you know failed a bazillion times before he was like in his 50s with what he succeeded with uh creating Mickey Mouse and cartoons and stuff so um you know and there's tons of other I mean there's tons of other examples I mean really we could probably you could probably pick your favorite uh musical artist your favorite actor and like we all know him as you know the A-list person but what we didn't see was the fact that they were broke you know they were working as a waiter for 10 years while they while they took risks you know um so I think you know there's people always I mean people are always talking about how there's no time to do this or no time to do that but what's the alternative when we go back to kind of go back to what we talked about uh in the beginning with being um being happy with what you do um you know what what what to me there's not to me there's not as much risk when you go from something you know you don't like to something you love they're like there's no risk so you know when you when you're dealing with your clients like I'm sure that you guys come up and you probably do some sort of like you know I'm sure you do spreadsheets and stuff like cost analysis and what sales are going to be and all that stuff but at the end of the day like why not do you want to take a risk like do you love what you're doing do you love this new side hustle that you're doing or this new job because you do there's really no risk like it's just learning it's just it's just your development yeah I mean I'm like I like to keep things as simple as possible right yeah big spreadsheet guy doesn't mean I don't use them like you know like my thing about what I'm helping people create are these one page documents right your one page like here's what your life your general overall framework of your life is going to fit what your goals are and how do you want to get everything to fit on one page right your business overall you Yeah, let's keep it simple and just go enjoy yourself. Like there's no reason to make complexity around it. Let's take it back to leadership a little bit because you know, you talk about philosophy and you know, a plan.
So we're talking about planning, right? And we had this unique experience of every year we had like a theme, right? Like it was that, that's the gear campaign, right? That was the yearly war, the yearly battle.
That's, that was the campaign, right? Like, how do you take in, what do you do when you come into, like we're at this time right here, right? So now I'm assuming, right, you're getting ready to focus on the next season, 2018, 2019, whatever that, how they're doing that. So what does that look like for you?
Like, what is that, what I call a battle line, right? What does that look like going into the next season? Yeah, I mean, for us, I mean, it really starts right after the season. So I mean, we start, you know, we start looking at, you know, well, I'll tell you what, the technology that we have in coaching now is pretty unbelievable.
I mean, you know, when we were in high school, like the film room, the coach is obviously in that huge wall of cabinets that had videotape in it. Well, yeah, all that videotape can fit, you know, pretty much in your phone now because it's all web-based. So we start doing like self-scout, you know, and we actually can outsource that to a company that will do a lot of the data entry for us. And then we can start going through and seeing, you know, what worked, what didn't work.
So we do that. And then, you know, it's really, it's like taking that information and then where do we need to get better? You know, so part of it was really implementing my program because I didn't move here until June. I was here for spring ball, for part of spring ball the year before, but I didn't have that time to meet with kids in the off season, to have team meetings, to develop those, you know, relationships.
So we really had to hit the ground running in June. And I'll tell you what, when I talked about this, I talked about this, I talked about many people, but I think I talked about it in one of my episodes, my podcast, one of the regrets I had was that when I got here, I should have, I should have, even though we're short on time, I should have gone, it should have started at the beginning rather than, hey, we don't have a lot of time, we gotta get things going, we have to do this, this, and this. It should have started with, you know, developing relationships, which I mean, it does, it does happen, but you can't force those things. But giving kids an idea of where I come from and kind of the philosophy like that, that should have been my day one.
So that was definitely, definitely a miscalculation on my part, but just like, it was just, we run to the gun. And that's definitely something I look back as kind of a learning lesson. But as far as, as far as developing a game plan for the year, it's, I mean, it's probably not unsimilar to what you do as a business, like planning out a 12-month calendar, planning out what you're doing over the summer, your times, you know, all that stuff is super important to get out, give that information to the parents, players, et cetera. So, you know, that takes a lot of time.
And then really, you're talking about meeting as coaches the year before, my first year here, I'm sorry, especially if this is crazy, but we didn't meet one time, it's like, we never were able to meet as a staff. And I only had four coaches, which is insane. Like, you know, at St. Joe's, we'd start meeting in January and I had two levels of coaches, you know, Jay Froshoff and Varsity.
I had 10, probably 10, eight, 10 coaches on both staff. And we would literally start meeting once, pretty much once a week from mid-January till we got to Spring Bowl. And all those meetings were about was, you know, updating on administrative things, but then they were, you know, going over our drills and, you know, the practices and how we were, how we're going to schedule that stuff. So it's really kind of that minutiae of, you know, what's going to set you up for success in May for Spring Bowl and then for summer and then for the season.
That's, that's all done, you know, in January through May. So for you guys, for your, for your people you work with, you know, it comes back to you, you know, what you said, like building, building your battle ready business. It's, it's really just coming up with that comprehensive plan that encapsulates everything, you know, goals, expected outcomes, you know, what is sales, whatever it is, marketing. I think, I think people try to do things right at the last minute or like maybe they expect people to understand where they're coming from and, you know, I don't think it works.
So that's, that's what we have been in the process. And we're just finishing up Spring, Spring practices. So we're kind of, we're kind of out of a little bit of a lull while the kids are in finals, but we will be regrouping over before we start in this next week. And like, okay, we came out of Spring.
What are we, you know, what are we confident in? What are we not confident in? And then we're going to work on those things. You know, we're going to work on those weaknesses and still work on what we're good at.
So I think it's, I think it's really just in the development of a comprehensive plan. And it's simple, like you talked about being simple as I think is, is much, it's definitely the right route. And so I think, I think that kind of, I think that kind of, there's a lot of, I think there's a lot of ties between business and football because. Absolutely.
I mean, I was just going to let, you know, when you were talking, you know, cause I see this, right? And you're the head coach, right? And not only are you leading your football, your coaching staff, but you as a leader have to lead the kids on your varsity team. And you have the sub-staff that's like your development on your pipeline of your future generation of football players.
Right. And the layers of that. And like I mentioned earlier, like, you know, we, we very fortunate about the program that we got to play under. And going back a few steps about what you said, like you taught them how to squat.
They taught us how to run. Like they said, forget, literally, we walk into a freshman area, right? Freshman camp. And they basically said this, forget about everything you've learned in the past.
Forget about it. You're going to do it our way. We're going to reteach you everything you're going to do. So that sets the tone, right?
From the, from the top down to, you know, to everybody in the program. And, you know, that, that's that cultural, like, you know, high, like that high level, like this is our code. This is how we do stuff. And it's very important for entrepreneurs or any business owner to really recognize that tech, right?
Because that was one thing that I strived to do, especially at gyms. Like, how do we do it? Right. And it's not that it doesn't look like other places or it doesn't model that.
Like I take it back down to like our class, how our classes run, right? And I was talking about a local affiliate owner. And he was, I substituted for him a few times. He was like, hey, they like how you've been in class.
I said, yeah, that's good. You know, like you want me to teach you, right? I mean, I'll tell you what we got out of it is our clients knew what to do when to do it. Right.
And like, they started doing stuff on their own without us prompting them. So that's when you know you have a successful system is when, you know, you may change without initiating that. But I want to pull it back into this organizational structure because, and this whole, this whole thing, how do you speak upon, like, because a lot of business owners think that they need to do it all, right? That, that like they're, it's so hard for them to let go, right?
And I think like, you can speak to this because you, there's no way, like, it would be so hard for you to do everything in your program, right? Like, and act like a solo owner. Like, and how, how, I want you to talk a little about like, leaning out that structure and how to like manage the delegation and manage like how to get things done through other people. Because, you know, I know I got it with going back and forth.
I was surrounded and influenced by people that were like, they did everything themselves. And I was like, it's so conflicting to me. I'm probably way over here. I'm like, okay, that's because I know football.
And like, football is like this, this beautiful microcosm of like, if you want to get shit done, I don't care if it's a business, if it's like, just no pills. Like football shows you like, from an architecture standpoint, what you need, right? Yeah, I just got you. A little bit about like how you manage that team or getting, we're getting people to like work with you and go one direction.
Right, so I mean, think CEO, coach, doesn't matter. You have to set, I mean, first and foremost, you have to set the vision, right? You have to set kind of like, set the course. Again, kind of going back to creating philosophy, but more than just creating that philosophy.
So that's like a jumping off point, right? So you set that, but then you've got to set the course of how you want, like what it's going to look like and how you want to get there. You know, for people who are like maybe coming up in business or trying to get into coaching or anything where there's some established people, I think taking, like going and working for, volunteering for the best business in your area, just to learn all that person, like if you could volunteer or get an internship, those are great ways to kind of learn, right? But once you get to that level, you've got to set the vision with philosophy and then the plan to get there, right?
So having a business plan or vision statement for you guys, probably is how that works. But then for me specifically, like you've got to try to go out and surround yourself with the best teachers that you can find. And I'm obviously talking specifically to teaching a specific part of football, whether that's quarterbacks, you know, coaching calling plays, offensive line, defensive line, so surrounding yourself with the best you can find and then also the ones that are going to buy into your vision and be able to help articulate that vision to those that coach. So my program, it's small.
We don't have, it's not a big school. It's not a big program yet. So I'm in the day-to-day all the time, right? So I'm not kind of, I'm not pulled back and just being a CEO coach right now.
Yes, I'm still, I handle the operations of everything, but I'm not, you know, like when we were in high school, you know, our coach was essentially a CEO head coach. Like he had a position group, but we had two coordinators or three coordinators that did. Oh, there's so many people supporting. We had like 12 coaches and we had a couple on-campus guys.
A lot of the managers, everything was like. Yeah, and so once that culture gets established, you know, it's not easy to maintain, but it's definitely easier than establishing it. So we're still, I'm still in that process with this, you know, this place. We were well on our way at St.
Joe's for getting that, for being that way, but we're still, we're still in that process. So, you know, I have to go out and find the best coaches I can find, the best teacher. And what I'm looking for is, you know, people who A, will fit the vision of the school. So I have parameters that I kind of not have to follow, but, you know, certain things I'm looking for.
And then, you know, are they, you know, are they going to be loyal to what the vision is? So that starts with, you know, when I'm interviewing them or once I've hired them and talking to them, like, hey guys, this is our vision. So what I want to see out of you is that your position group, your players that you are in charge of, that they are improving on a daily basis, you know, and I understand, but it's not going to happen every day. Like, you know, teenage males are not going to stay the course of things that you want every single day, but they can over the long term fit that, what you're looking for.
You know, a lot of times it's like, a lot of times you feel like you're a cat herder, you know, with some of these guys. So, and then the other thing too, like, is those assistant coaches, once you kind of establish this program, you know, and once I've, I honestly, I'm still relatively young. I still love the actual coaching. So I don't know that I could ever be pulled away, removed that much that I, you know, I'd want a position group or something to do.
But essentially those guys are going to be working tight knit with your other groups. So, you know, like for you, for your business, for your clients or your people you work with, like they've got moving parts in their organization. So you've got your CEO and then you've got HR and you've got sales and you've got marketing. Like those are your, those are your coordinators, right?
Those are like, you know, those are your big, you know, important coordinators. But if they're not articulating the vision downward to the employees and they're not buying in, that disconnects, you know, it's, at some point it's going to, it's going to, it's going to not work, which is probably what you ran into with your, with your group, you know, that you were with, you know, from like 2010 to 2013, like somewhere there was a disconnect. There was a misarticulation of the vision or what the goals were. So, and you have to, I think you have to reset that stuff kind of every year.
And honestly, when I first became a head coach, I reached out to our head coach. I still, I still will email him. He's a hard guy to get ahold of these days because he's so, he's so dang big time with how they've been last year. But, you know, I reached out to him back in 2010 and I just said, you know what, you know, kind of, I'm just going to pick your brain.
And he said, look, every year I pull out my philosophy and I look at it and I, you know, I rewrite it or I retool it. And, but then I'm always working from, I always have it, like it always goes back to that. And, you know, you make tweaks here and there, but then, but then you've got to articulate that out to your coaches or your team members or whatever. So I think, so I think, you know, every year, like we have a meeting especially with kids these days, like if they know why they're doing something, why it's important, why they need to do it, they're going to, it's a better chance they're going to do it and they're going to be able to do it because that's just the world we live in.
They're so used to having everything at their fingertips. They're so used to getting information so quickly that if you just say, hey, do this and don't tell them why, they might do it, but they're not going to do it over the long term. They're not going to put as much effort into it. You know, it's just different.
I mean, it's not a bad thing. Well, it's a shift in, you know, you know, it came from this very, you have to go do this stuff, right? I think more people are like self-actualizing in the sense of like, you know, finding purpose behind things, right? Instead of just doing what they're told, right?
You know, it's very, everybody has an opinion now, right? Which is people bitch about it, but it's like, what would you rather have? What would you rather have like, just people shut up and just not do you, right? Yeah, but I mean, if you think about this, like we're talking about, we're talking about kind of the nuts and bolts behind leadership, right?
Like, I mean, think about like any of your, any of your people you work with or any of the people who are watching, like they've probably read leadership books. They've probably read, you know, business leadership, all sorts of leadership, you know, like motivation, all that stuff. Like one way of leadership does not work for everyone, right? So I also think when you're surrounding yourself with people in your organization, like I don't want a bunch of people who are just like me, you know, even though I think I do things the correct way and that, you know, things like things we coach and things we teach are sound, like I want different styles.
As long as those styles are still meet the vision, like the overall kind of the umbrella vision of the organization, like you want that individuality. Like I don't want my, I don't want every coach to be, you know, a yeller and a screamer, but I also don't want every coach to like be a friend. You know, like you have to have, you gotta have those different personalities, you know, that those different personalities really created, I think probably create a better culture, you know, within your organization. And, you know, they kind of bring back the different styles of leadership, right?
There's, you know, like there's certain leaders, there's leading by following, you know, like vocal leaders, you know, people who just lead by example, like you kind of have to have that whole mix, right? You need that good employee, that number, you know, that number 10 that literally just puts their head down and does what you want to do and does a great job. it and never says anything you need like you need those people right but you also need that person that's going to challenge you as a leader not disrespectfully but they're going to challenge you like hey you're my you're our boss you're our cao um this is what's going on and this is you know like here's some of the pitfalls that we could be facing you know whatever um you know like vocal leadership i don't i don't know um i don't know you don't really need a raw guy maybe in the office but i don't know maybe you do i mean you need somebody that's going to keep things upbeat right like you know because the ceo is going to be dealing with fires and you know dealing with things that like other people you know don't need to know about but that's going to take some of their energy away so you do need that person that's going to like pick people up right um and in the same in the same vein you need that person that's going to keep people focused right that person's going to be more like the logical person that's just going to keep people like hey look yeah this is great you want to be creative but we got to laser in on finishing at this deadline or finishing this project or coming in under budget or whatever whatever it is for your business so yeah i think you know you get really uh intimate if uh i mean any leader has to wear different hats like you know and they're really good leaders know how to be the robot guy but also come down with somebody and like really flip and kind of have multiple personalities in some ways right uh just you got to be fluid there's like a fluidity that you need right like you have to you like you're just saying you have to adjust to the situation right yep absolutely you know you said something earlier about like uh be having the best teachers right because i think that you know a lot of people that are trying to start their own business or want to go to the other day they think they need to do the best at what they do they need to be the best graphic designer the best xyz call name it to actually go and be the best leader in that field right or in that that field and you know like if you i love football because football itself exposes this this theory and debunks this theory this this false belief because you know i mean you're not the best quarterback but i mean you're you're developed through you and your organization you develop products right so like you know talk a little bit about that right i mean you said that's teaching i mean you're right i mean the game um you know it's kind of funny it's kind of funny one of the things that just popped into my head when you said like the game exposes it is that um you know two things one like we live in this world like right now you know we're live on facebook right and we're totally exposed to the world right so it's definitely um you know like it's um we're not there's no hiding anymore right like you can't hide you can't hide you can't hide deficiencies you can't hide uh inequities like you can't hide like you're just but you gotta own it like this i think gives us a platform to just own it and like if you don't like what we have to say if you know if someone doesn't like what you have to say or i have to say they're just like oh well like that's it is what it is like this is just like we've we've gone through we're talking about our personal experiences what worked for us so um but i think you know what you said about football exposing things like i just i think about this like we did have a super super unique experience at high school right but think about think about just like i kind of think about this way is that our year compared to like what they just did this past year in 2017 right multiple d1 guys and they got more guys signing that this year's class like it's insane like it's on another it's just it's on another level right and but it wasn't really like that for us like every year there was a couple i mean we had a couple guys you know usc and oregon uh you know obviously uh matt very good came a year after us but i mean think about this nobody else i mean you played you played we played together at jc um i played a couple years after jc um but i didn't play some big name school and you know not many other people did so what was the difference you know did we face teams are more talented than us yeah there was probably several i mean you know well we probably had four or five kids that were you know would have been starters for our team the difference was is that we weren't afraid to fail right like we were we felt unstoppable we weren't afraid to fail that was definitely leadership from the coaches right i mean i think i always have that i mean yeah it started from i mean when he he made us like a tribe right but then he also had this this thing of like you know like how he i still remember like you know the whole like talking to us as like you guys are warriors warriors going to battle when warriors face adversity they they rise in the face of adversity right like the freaking speech is like still like i i think about that time you mentioned a few words when i still get chills like i always use the chills the thing is it's that fearlessness right like i mean i'll tell you this here right i had a choice this is kind of like off topic but like i remember someone like there was a friend of my mom was like you gotta go right you gotta go over there and i was i really wasn't that great of a football player or whatever like you know i found something my eighth grade year of like i just want to play outside the box and i figured out how to fucking do what i was doing uh which ended up always coming back but you know um but like i wouldn't have like i hadn't gone there i would have to edison no it's edison i don't think i would have to go way back to the end of our conversation about like the effect like the fact that leadership and that instilled upon me like i don't know dude i don't think i would be sitting here i don't think i would try the things that i've done like yeah on the other hand it's provided interesting an interesting dynamic within my because that idea of being fearless like and like just fucking like i mean like i think it just pulled it out of me but like i mean i literally like gave myself concussions my first fucking week of pads in freshman year because just because it was like be fearless like you know what i mean like and just platform and the dynamic going into life like dude like running into like just being willing to run into shit like full on um i think i think it's i think it's a it's a very uh it's a good skill to have and i think you know as we as we grow and mature like we learn to like temper it a little bit to like be a little bit more useful and not just be like you know running through that wall um but it's it's the i think it's like that ability that ability to do more than you thought you were capable of and that to me is why um guys like coach arlington or or just i mean some of these amazing ceos and leaders you know in the business community that we have like the reason they're that good is because they get people to do and go farther than they thought they could themselves right so and it's kind of a it's kind of a thing that's within like sports like coaches are trying to get more out of you because we see we we see like we see like the the million mile view you know that 30,000 foot view rather than you're on the ground so we kind of see that vision um and so that goes back to the articulation of the vision like if you can get kids to pull back and see like grand scheme of their they're not they're not the four years that they're in high school but the 40 years the next four years or or you know the course of the season rather than just right in and there to me that's what a good leader does so they're like they're they're bringing about that vision but they're also they're also getting people uh you know they're their employees to kind of rise above um what they are capable of especially like in more it's probably more evident in the entrepreneurial world where you know you're building something rather than you're just maybe at a cubicle you know but even even then i mean even at these big you know big companies like you know these were like a list type companies the googles to apples to amazons like like those people are like my guess is those people are like somewhat free to like like push the envelope right but their that their ability to do so or their willingness to do so comes from the people behind them giving them that autonomy and the authority like really push the envelope and um so i think like from from the people you work with i think like that's probably a lot um like your role is getting them getting them to really take a look at things so they can push through those barriers right so like and that's what that's what made and everything you said about about speeches and different things for controls and like i've totally i mean i totally you know i can like literally right now if i start reciting what he said before our last game i would get goosebumps because it would make you feel like you could go run through a wall i mean you talk about that this we're getting but we're not you know we're still it still makes us feel that way like that is that is a i mean i'm not saying that like rollinson can solve world hunger but man talk about his ability to lead and i mean there's there's tons of i mean there's people in business there's people in coaching there's people probably in the military and all different places that have that ability right to really just pull everything out of the people that i mean you know to pull everything out of the people that they have underneath them and make them better than they are right like again we were not world leaders necessarily in high school we succeeded because we believed we could um we were well taught right so we were we were pushed the vision bought into the vision we were receptive to the teaching and then we executed right so tell me that's not how every business successful business is not run vision you know teaching execution wait in the code like there's code in that right here's your macro and here's your like like code like you know like there's not that just wouldn't fly right there's no quitting there's not you know all that stuff but in that like the thing is i think it's you know talking about you know as coaches because like yeah like i mean you saw your football right now like i mean i think one of the other things i've ever done in my life was coach football you know i haven't touched football since you know my sophomore year at coast uh but they're still in a thing but at the end of the day it comes down to having that ability right to see more in other people than they see in themselves absolutely and and get them to to go to peers right through them to understand like like you know you gotta like to be able to just see that first step yep yeah that's what i would tell anybody like you know like i don't know i want to say it's in everybody right but there might be a little bit in everybody i think if anybody's going to lead an organization like you know they're going to go from their own business and start having people on their team is that their primary focus besides the macro vision when it comes down to the execution is stepping into that person's space and go look you know like hey this is where we're going to go i'm going to be you know like really caring about that person right in this lovey fluffy way i'm really trying to get them to be better than they were yesterday yeah yeah 100 um caring about somebody like i care about my players i love my players but that doesn't mean everything sunshine rainbows right i mean you can care about your employees to where you're you know woven into the fabric of their their life if they allow it if that's the type of organization you work in right um but you better build up that relational equity to to be able to come down on them right i mean you know um i think you know i don't think uh you know some coaches aren't some coaches are um you know ceos aren't touchy-feely or you know um but they can still show they can show that they care right there's ways for them to show that they care on the flip side there's people who are that way and they show they care all the time but they also need to be able to for their employees to know that like look when i when we make a decision or when i make a decision you know that's what we're going with so there's definitely a there's definitely a fine line but i think i think kind of what you're talking about too is um is uh self-awareness right like um not everybody not everybody has the stomach to be a head football coach not everybody has the stomach to be a head football coach and really try to build a program up um you know and not everybody in business is really meant to be that ceo right and i think you know they may have the idea and they may start that but if i think the ones who are going to be successful are the ones who are going to be self-aware enough to know like okay i've got this great idea for a business or an app or a business service okay and i can articulate that vision but i don't know the i don't know how to start the foundation of the business i don't know how to do uh marketing or whatever and then they go they go and find those people right so i think that's also a piece of a ceo and leadership puzzle is that you know being self-aware like i know what i'm good at and i know i know that i'm trying to constantly improve because i have to be living um living by the philosophy that i'm trying to promote in my program so you know i'm constantly and i read books every off season i go to clinics and i go to different things and um you know even since i left like the fitness game i've gotten a couple certifications um since and i'm actually going to be doing a another one um uh within this next kind of this next year um i'm going to i'm going to go for my cscs and um you know because i want to get one person better every day i want if we talk in a year from now i want to be first of all hopefully i'll have finished my master's and i'll be you know have be a cscs so strength and conditioning specialist um because i have to be living that i have to be living that too right so if i'm not setting the example um then it's just worth right like it's just well it's part of your craft i mean you you know you gotta understand right what it takes you get stronger faster you know i mean you're not gonna do it yeah you gotta understand like you might not be able to code but you need to understand it you need to be able to call bullshit when someone's trying to tell you bullshit right right i mean you know that whole thing like um that whole thing like you can be a master uh rosa be a jack of all trades but a master of none like i don't look like that's yes to me like why not you got you got 86 000 seconds in a day like why can't you like you're truly mastering too right like your craft is i mean this is very very narrow focus right and there's uh narrowing your craft and learning your craft like not not good that's all good right you might you're not gonna be a master of strength division program design you know what i mean right and i'll tell you a little story like you know uh 2012 like i was like i'm going after some stuff right so like i hired um it was all because my macro vision was like look i want to build this business and i don't want to like i look at other businesses and i said well other businesses like mine they did business really well and they're programming and they're all the other stuff and i would actually go and talk to them like i had the owners and stuff like you don't know about this like training philosophy or this this thing or anything like that so i set up this thing to do both right it's a whole space in both uh so i hired a coach to program for me to go this whole journey working out and i started his programs what happened was i thought i need to come this whole perspective shifted after a while that i need to become a really good i lost my vision right and i lost my purpose and i lost all that stuff so i really started focusing on just business for a while and then just training you know back and forth instead of understanding everything and then having somebody fill in the gaps and actually go through and execute that so just you know so that was my own like looking back that was my own like shortcoming and false right where i thought i need to become the best at that right because i was it was influenced by other people right i was being coached by coach and educated by one of the best in the game right well i need to do that right instead of understanding and keeping my truth and my where i was going with it right right so i mean to me like that's like that's kind of like your journey of self-awareness right like you you like that's kind of like your journey of self-awareness right like you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know you know basically, again, you got to be, you had to be fluid, right? Like you saw, maybe you saw a weakness or something just you wanted to improve on, right?
So you went about it, but then you get into it, you're like, okay, well, I lost sight of things. So to me, like, that's your, that's part of your learning process. And that's gonna be a learning process for anybody, anybody, any type of leadership, like, is that, you know, just because, you know, like, I have, I have my philosophy, you have your philosophy, like, I may go about trying to achieve or, or promote that philosophy, and it may not work. But that doesn't mean, that doesn't mean I'm not, you know, shit can the philosophy, like, it's still, it's still true.
So I think being able to, I think, I think self-awareness is something that has to kind of constantly be evolving, you know, it has to evolve to certain scenarios, situations, it has to get evolved to the people you're working with. So it is, I think there's a lot of challenges from, that to me is the challenge of leadership, because, you know, even with my kids, like, from year to year, like, yeah, I see them, I see them almost, you know, not every day, but I see them, you know, pretty much Monday through Friday. I spend time with them all year. And, you know, they change, right?
Like, they, from when they come to this freshman to when they leave the seniors, like, you know, they've matured, hopefully, and they've changed a lot over the course of that four years. And, you know, obviously, we hope it's for the better. But my challenge as a leadership role with those kids or even with my coaches is to challenge, you know, to be able to challenge them and get them, I guess not keep them excited, because I think that's more self-motivation on their part. But, you know, keep that vision fresh, right?
So I think self-awareness is kind of one of those evolving traits of the leader. Like, it has to be fluid. It has to be something that, you know, it's just, you know, think about the leaders of some of these businesses have failed over the last maybe decade or so. So, like, Forza Rest just went out of business, Blockbuster, you know.
How many times, like, when we were going up, like, that was the jam on Friday night. Like, we'll go grab a Blockbuster and hang out with, you know, hang out with your girlfriend or whatever, you know, whatever it may be. And, you know, that was a good company for a long time. But they didn't, they weren't, they weren't evolving.
They just said, oh, we're too big. You know, like, we're too big. It's kind of, like, the audacity that they have to, like, oh, we won't fail. Our plan is too good.
Like, no, everybody's always coming for you. You have to be evolving. Like, you're not challenging your employees. You're not doing all these things.
So I think, I think that self-awareness is, you know, really, you know, and I think we've all had those, we've all had those moments. Like, even for me, you know, there's been times where I've questioned, like, do I still want to be a head coach? Like, do I want to, you know, like, is this, is this the right path? Like, the struggle of, you know, having a job that, you know, because I mean, you know, teachers for the most part, you know, they're not, you're not necessarily gonna get rich from, from, from teaching or coaching high school sports.
But, you know, there's definitely, there's always gonna come to a time where it's like, you know, is this really, is this what I was designed to do? But to me, it's like, you always have to take like a self-assessment, right? Like, take it back and like, okay, think about like, have you done more good than, than bad? Or have you done, you know, or do you, like, do you love this?
And like, however that, however that looks out, like, you know, in your world, I think, you know, I think you're, I think you find that real quick. Like, I think you said earlier, like, one of the first things you ask is like, do you love this? Like, if they can't answer that question in about two seconds, they don't, right? So I think that for you guys, it can be, you know, you should be able to find out real quick, like, is this, is this the real deal?
Because if you fake it, it's only gonna last, it's only gonna last a short time. And then you're gonna be more miserable than you were before, right? Yeah, you'll just do more instruction yourself and all that. So yeah.
Well, cool, man. I appreciate you taking the time. Yeah, it's awesome. I love getting out to you to talk and do these.
These are fun. I love what comes out of them. So I appreciate it. Um, and we'll catch up soon.
And then, uh, to the rest of you, if you're an aspiring entrepreneur or current business owner and you are stuck, you're just stuck and you don't know how to get out of where being stuck is. And, uh, you want to take your business, either make your side hustle, your main hustle, or take your business to the next level. Go over to aboutreadybusiness.com, fill out my application page. We'd get you in, uh, to a complimentary strategy session.
Just want to see, uh, I want to help you out. Um, and then yeah, give you an opportunity to work with you. So, uh, until next time, we'll see you next week, uh, on the topic of marketing. As the show is, we start off with week one, which is this week, week two, week one, leadership, week two, two, marketing, week three, sales.
And then week four is lifestyle and personal development. And, uh, next week we have on Najla Kayyem of Kayyem marketing, uh, a mentor of mine, uh, ex-boss of mine, ex-peer of mine, uh, a beast when it comes to marketing. And I want to, and we'll be my first woman guest. So, uh, I'm really proud of that and, uh, really honored to have her on and we'll see you next week.
Talk to you later. All right. That wraps this week's episode of the Be Battle Ready podcast brought to you by Battle Ready Business. If you're an aspiring entrepreneur or current business owner, and you'd like to take your business to the next level, go over to battlereadybusiness.com to apply for a complimentary one-on-one battle ready strategy session.
During this session, we'll take a deep-eyed look into where you want to go and come up with the fastest path for you to build a multi-six figure battle ready business. So go to battlereadybusiness.com to apply for that strategy session. And I look forward to supporting you.