Ep.#120: Coach Mark Fuller, Life Coach

Susannah sits down with Coach Mark Fuller to talk about his path from baseball coaching to life coaching and why discipline, failure, and resilience translate directly into everyday life. We dig into the myths around life coaching, the pressure entrepreneurs carry, and what it looks like to help people find their true identity.

• Mark’s transition from athletics coaching to life coaching and public speaking 
• Why baseball is a “failure sport” that teaches resilience 
• The biggest misconception about life coaching and who it serves 
• Why CEOs and high performers still need a safe place to talk 
• How coaching helps break unhelpful thought patterns and bring clarity 
• Family life, rest, and resetting outdoors 
• Getting fired from a dream job and rebuilding over time 
• The reality of entrepreneurship, pressure, and staying focused on your gifts 
• “People matter” as the foundation and helping clients find true identity 

CoachMarkFuller.com

334-559-4575

Transcript

Welcome And Guest Introduction

SPEAKER_01 0:00

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Suzanne Hodges.

SPEAKER_00 0:13

Welcome. And with me today is Coach Mark Fuller. Coach Mark is an athletic coach as well as a life coach. So welcome, Mark.

From Baseball To Life Coaching

SPEAKER_02 0:23

Thank you, Susanna. Glad to be with you.

SPEAKER_00 0:25

So tell me a little bit about your business, your specifically your life coach business.

SPEAKER_02 0:31

Well, it all kind of transitioned. It's been going for 20 years. I've been a baseball player and then became a baseball coach and then became a facility baseball softball trainer to kids and then a personal trainer in the weight room. And then about a year ago, I had a buddy kind of affirm me that he was doing some life coaching in Atlanta and he had found his purpose. And he was pouring into people. And Suzanne, I've been meeting with men, a few women here and there, mostly men, for 25 years. But last year, when he said that, I really kind of affirmed what God had spoken to him about where I could should be headed maybe with my purpose. We started doing Coach Mark Fuller as a business and life coaching, public speaking, even have a book that we wrote. So that's kind of the backstory of how I got here. But I guess I've been coached for about 30 years now throughout baseball and uh what I do day in, day out in my facility.

SPEAKER_00 1:20

Okay. That sounds good. So how so you you you touched on it a little bit how you kind of got into it. I think I think it it really is a natural uh transition from being in sports coaching to life coaching. Uh tell me if I'm wrong, but it's a lot about they they really are similar because you have to you have to have the discipline and sports just kind of really does teach you how to do life. Is that right?

Who Benefits From A Life Coach

SPEAKER_02 1:48

Absolutely, especially baseball. I mean, I didn't play a lot of other sports. I'm sure that folks feel the same way that played other sports, but for me, baseball is such a failure sport. It's like life. I mean, you you get beat up day in and day out, you work hard and you don't always get the reward for your hard work, and that's okay. But eventually good days come and you you you enjoy those days and get ready for the ones that aren't so good. But yeah, I think the discipline of it, I think me as a coach, my job as a baseball coach has been to challenge teenagers and college kids to be better, to get stronger. And as a life coach, I I don't I don't want to fix people. I don't think they need to be fixed. I think people just need somebody to challenge them, encourage them, and come alongside. And I've been doing that for years, so it's a good fit for me.

SPEAKER_00 2:28

So you've been doing this a long time. What are some of the misconceptions you've run across from people um concerning, you know, getting a life coach or the life coach industry in general? What are some of those things that you've uh you've come across that you know you'd like to clear up?

SPEAKER_02 2:45

I think the biggest thing is I don't need a life coach. You know, and there are some people, Suzanne, that probably don't. But I think all of us, I've had I've had a handful of corporate CEOs, men and women who are at the very top. And by the way, if I meet with a man, I try to meet face to face if I can, if it's local. If it's a woman, we always meet on Zoom. There's no face-to-face to protect everybody. Um, but I just feel like that people that are are at the top of the ladder, they're CEOs, they don't have a lot of folks they can talk to. It's not about, you know, somebody that may be in a bad spot, some people are. And I've had a great privilege and blessing to help people who are in tough situations, bad spots, have lost their purpose. But I've also worked with some folks who are they're not, they're doing just fine. They just need a place they can sit and talk. And people that have climbed the ladder and their corporate CEOs or their entrepreneurs, and they don't have folks they can really open up to. I found that very rewarding. So I would say number one is that we we do need somebody to come alongside. You know, biblically speaking, iron sharpens iron. Um, so I think that that's one of the misconceptions is I'm good, I don't need one. All of us go through moments of worry, fear, anxiety, depression. Every human being that's ever walked on the face of the earth, I don't care how tough you are, has those moments. And it's just good to have somebody there to come alongside and maybe help you get the goggles cleaned off and see clearly and maybe work through some things or talk through a business deal or talk through a contract, whatever it is somebody needs. I think that's what a life coach is uh really geared to do.

SPEAKER_00 4:13

Sounds good. And and you're so right. People do sometimes you just need uh somebody to give you a little clarity on in because you get in these thought patterns that that that maybe you need to get out of, right?

SPEAKER_02 4:26

Absolutely, yes, ma'am, no doubt.

SPEAKER_00 4:28

So let's uh turn and talk about you for a minute. What do you and your family like to do for fun when you guys aren't working?

Losing A Dream Job And Rebuilding

SPEAKER_02 4:34

The boys and I love to hunt and fish. You know, we love to be in the woods. I've always I I just love God's creation. Um, my wife and I love to go to, we we have a place at Lake Martin. We we love to go to the lake and be on the water. We love to watch sunsets and turn on good music and just have time to ourselves. So I, you know, I we probably both work too much, like a lot of people that might be listening to your podcast. We we can be accused of workaholics. So it's nice just to do some things where you don't work. You can relax your mind. For me, it really is those sunrises on the lake in the woods with my boys. They're grown now, but we still have a lot of time together. So probably that's that's probably the mix for us is the water and the woods, the outdoors.

SPEAKER_00 5:10

I love it. So I part of the reason I do this podcast is to encourage people to follow their, you know, thoughts of entrepreneurship. And that's definitely something your family has done. But along the way, when you're trying to do that, you have to overcome challenges, whether it's personal or business. What are some of the things that you've overcome that's made you as a person stronger or your business stronger?

SPEAKER_02 5:35

I would say one of the biggest hurdles was my dream job was the pitching coach at Auburn University. Baseball I played at Auburn and and I got fired. And that was that was a tough one.

SPEAKER_00 5:45

But now I that is a challenge, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:47

I mean, it was alma mater and places my mom and dad met. My wife and I met at Auburn. And so, Susanna, we haven't had tragedy, so to speak, but that was a tough one because I lost my job, lost my paycheck, lost a dream. But 23 years later, it's really shaped up into uh not only owning the baseball softball facility and pouring in the kids, but now as a life coach, I think that story, that hardship, working through it, finding out that I'm gonna be okay and I will recover, those have been good things to help me shape me, transform me into the man that I am, which I think allows me to be, you know, a life coach that can impact people because I have a story, and we all have a story. Uh so that would be the biggest one for me is just overcoming that. But as an entrepreneur, it's all on you. And there were days where I couldn't pay myself. Uh, my wife didn't know that, but um, there were days where I made sure my staff got paid because getting a business started is very hard. I like working for myself, but it's a challenge. And so you just have to have a lot of prayer. Uh, you got to hang in there, do what you're good at. I think a lot of people try to do too many things, and that gets them into trouble, they get spread too thin. I had mentors tell me, do what you're gifted to do and stay on that course. And we have, and so here we are, we've hung in it for 23 years, but it's the day in, day out. That's probably been the toughest.

People Matter And Finding Identity

SPEAKER_00 7:04

Right, right. Well, what's one thing you wish people knew about your life coach business that they may not realize?

SPEAKER_02 7:10

That people matter. That I come from a life coach perspective that every single person that's ever put foot on this earth matter. God created them, he made them, they matter to him, they matter to me. And so I really that's kind of a mantra, if you will, is that people matter. And so my life coaching business is sitting around that that I don't care if it's a person who's at the bottom end of the corporate ladder trying to work their way up, or somebody's at the top, or at-home mom, or whatever the role may be, people matter. And we all have a skill set that is our DNA only, and nobody else can do what we do. And so to me, it's just so vital to help people find the true version of themselves, get away, get rid of false narratives, lies, things that may have been spoken over us that are not true, help them find their true identity. When a person lives in in who they truly are, Susanna, it's neat to watch. And I get so much I have a gentleman coming today, and we've met three or four times, and he is truly for the first time, maybe in 55 years, living out his true identity. And it's been so cool to watch his marriage get better, watch his work get better, he feels better. And all we did was just talk about and who are you? Let's go find out who you are, because he kind of lost that.

SPEAKER_00 8:22

Well, I have really enjoyed talking to you. How can people get in touch with you? Uh, and where do they find you online?

SPEAKER_02 8:29

Online, it's my website is coachmarkfuller.com. Uh, that's the best way. Um, and I and I have a little inquire button if somebody wants to connect. Um, Suzanne, I'm not ashamed or shy to give my phone number out. My phone number is 334-559-4575. Um, I'm not so important if somebody can't call me or text me. Either way, um, but I'm here to help and I'm here to, you know, public speaking with corporations. If some whatever somebody has a need to do, they want to impact employees, people, that's where I can I think can be viaduct. I can be an asset. That's the word I use a lot. I can be a link in a chain if somebody has a need that I can fill.

SPEAKER_00 9:10

Well, thank you so much for talking with me today. I really enjoyed getting to know you.

SPEAKER_02 9:14

You have a great day and a great weekend.

SPEAKER_01 9:15

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 9:16

You too.

SPEAKER_01 9:17

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast Auburn. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpauburn.com. That's gnpauburn.com. Or call 334 429 7404.