The Business Behind the Brand: Patty Aubery’s Secrets to Scaling Impact

In this episode of Career Coaching Secrets, host Pedro sits down with Patty Aubery — bestselling author, business strategist, and the powerhouse behind the expansion of the Jack Canfield Training Group. Patty shares how she transitioned from publishing 300+ Chicken Soup for the Soul titles to helping experts build scalable, profitable coaching businesses. She opens up about stepping out of the shadows, owning her voice, and guiding thousands of trainers worldwide. Patty unpacks what today’s authors and coaches must know about visibility, messaging, and building a business with intention — not chaos. Whether you're an emerging coach or a seasoned expert, this episode will reshape how you think about your message, your audience, and your business blueprint.




Connect with

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pattyaubery/
Website: https://www.pattyaubery.com/

Transcript

Patty Aubery: 0:00

I am, you know, I belong to an organization that's called the Transformational Leadership Council that I started with Jack about twenty years ago. It's a nonprofit. And we have speakers like Lisa Nichols and Marcy Scheimoff and Roger Hamilton and Yannick Silver and all the people that are in our industry because we didn't have an association. So we created our own. And so we've been doing that for a long time. And now I have about 5,000 trainers that are around the world that I've certified through the Campfield Group and through the Success Principles, which was a book that Jack did. So we have an online version of that and a live version. And he's retired now, so we only have the online version.

Davis Nguyen : 0:35

Welcome to Career Coaching Secrets, the podcast where we talk with successful career coaches on how they built their success and the hard lessons they learned along the way. My name is Davis Wynne, and I'm the founder of Purple Circle, where we help career coaches scale their business to $100,000 years, $100,000 months, and even $100,000 weeks. Before Purple Circle, I've grown several seven and eight figure career coaching businesses myself and have been a consultant at two career coaching businesses that are doing over $100 million each. Whether you're an established coach or building your practice for the first time, you'll discover the secrets to elevating your coaching business.

Pedro: 1:06

Welcome to Career Coaching Secrets Podcast. I'm Pedro and today's guest is Patty Aubery, a seasoned strategist who helps coaches, speakers, and authors turn their expertise into scalable, profitable businesses. A 14-time New York Times best-selling author with decades in publishing, speaking, and brand building, she helped expand the Jack Canfield Training Group and co-created the Trained Program that's now used by thousands of professionals worldwide. Today she guides high-performing experts to grow beyond one-off gigs by strengthening their publishing strategy, expanding their speaking platform, and building revenue models that scale. So she brings a blend of deep industry experience and practical, repeatable systems that help thought leaders turn their message into a sustainable business. Welcome to the show, Patty.

Patty Aubery: 2:03

Thank you. Thanks for having me. Nice to be here.

Pedro: 2:12

So, you know, every coach has that moment where they look at their life and say, you know what? I guess this is what I'm doing now. So when was that for you?

Patty Aubery: 2:21

Oh gosh. Uh well, it's been all kind of on and off through the decades, really. But, you know, I started off in publishing. So I published the Chicken Soup for the Soul Book series and uh did 300 different titles with that over like a 20-year period. So when we sold the company in like 2008, we kind of had to look at, all right, so now what am I doing? You know, I'm no longer that chicken soup lady. And so I looked at, well, how can I take everything I've ever learned in publishing and speaking and building a billion-dollar brand in the nonfiction self-help arena and help other people do the same thing. And so that's kind of when it started. So I started dabbling it then as I started to train other trainers and speakers to do what they were doing and do it better. And um, that was sort of the beginning of this version of me, I guess I would say.

Pedro: 3:10

Okay. In 2008, you did that shift. And and when did it change, you know, from I'm helping people in the coaching space specifically to, you know what, I'm building a real business around this now?

Patty Aubery: 3:22

Well, you know, I was president of the Jack Canville Companies for 38 years. So I started doing kind of my own business on the side just because Jack had a lot to say from stage and there wasn't a lot of time for me. So he was like, why don't you start doing some of your own things? So I just started taking it more seriously about eight, 10 years ago, and really started to focus more on women really than men, although I have a ton of men clients. Um, but I realized that early on I had been a successful author, 14 New York Times bestsellers. I'd sold millions of copies of books, but I didn't really own it. You know, I was always kind of given the credit to, well, you know, I did this with Jack Campfield, I did it with Marfet Johansson. And so it really happened was my mom passed away in 2012 and literally, like on her deathbed, said to me, I did not raise a daughter to be invisible. You need to speak up and show up and be seen. Take credit where credit's due and use your voice. Promise me. I was like, okay, no pressure. And so that was sort of the beginning of me kind of coming out and really owning what I'd always been doing, but sort of doing it behind the scenes with other people and kind of giving my power away on lots of levels. And so that was the beginning of a the journey that was more about me really showing up for myself. And by me showing up for myself, I was being a better role model to show other women what they could do as well. And that's uh the true beginning of like, okay, no more playing small. Even though, you know, 14 New York Times bestsellers is not small, but it was in a way because I wasn't really owning it. I just embarrassed. That sounds kind of crazy, I guess. But, you know, when you're doing something new, it's like, yeah, I'm this. I'm and so to really step up and say, you know, I'm an author, I'm a speaker, and I'm a coach took kind of a lot of guts, actually, if that makes any sense. I don't know if anybody listening can understand that, but it just we're taught our whole lives to not brag about ourselves. You know, don't toot your own hollering, don't do this. And so suddenly now you're you're coaching and it's a business and you have to be able to talk about it and talk about what you're able to do and the results that you have. So it's kind of an awkward moment for a lot of people.

Pedro: 5:33

Yeah, that's uh that exposure, right? That vulnerability. So getting out of the shadows and putting your face out there, I I imagine this is something at least we see with a lot of coaches, you know, that for example, if they have a niche, they're trying to to go on YouTube, they're like, you know, should I do this? How do I feel about it? You do you felt like that? Like am I being judged or am I doing the right things? And with that part of your journey?

Patty Aubery: 5:57

Completely. I mean, you know, and a part of it's like, well, what if I don't have the right answer? And I think too, coaching is kind of a natural, sort of a natural progression when you've been doing something for a long time, and then you wanted to help more people, but maybe you don't have the guts yet to get on a big stage and speak and talk to one to many, but you feel comfortable talking more one to one. It was safer for me to do that. And I think because I grew up in this world of publishing, and when I started, we had no money. We were scraping by, and we nobody wanted to publish the chicken soup for this whole book series. And so we went through every publisher, everybody turned us down. So we had to get really creative. So I think from a very early age, it started to train my brain to like, okay, this is an obstacle. What's the opportunity? And so I'm a crazy lady when it comes to like, you got a problem? Tell me what your problem is, I'll help you solve it, you know. Because I my brain started to learn to get proactive and to get more creative. And so that I think really grew my ability to help other people because when they thought they were in a huge problem or they were at a crossroads, I had probably already been there at some level. And so I could coach them through. And and I just I'm I'm on my feet when it comes to what is the problem and how can I help you create a solution? How do we back into a scalable model that works for you? So um that's kind of what I did. And the more I did it, the more comfortable I got. But in the beginning, it's very uncomfortable. And I think a lot of people think, you know, I'm not ready yet, you know, and and you're you're to get ready, good luck. Because you won't ever be, you know, you just have to start. And the more that you start, the more that you take action, the more that you're in motion. I always say money equals motion, you know, motion equals money. And so just getting in motion, starting to talk about what you're doing, um, identifying who your ideal client is, the more that you say it out loud using your outside voice and not the inside one that's like stuck, you know, in your room or in your office or in your closet, like thinking about what it's gonna look like. The universe does respond, but it takes us to actually say things out loud with our I call it our grown-up voice.

Pedro: 8:03

Patty, I want I need, and not that I want, but I need to tap into your experience a little bit because we see a lot of in the coaching space, you know, people are publishing their books right now, you know, back and forth. And you're coming from a different perspective, an old school perspective. You know, you had to knock on doors, and today it sounds like and I would like you to just give me your experience and on on our audience to see how much that changed, right? How the market is so different that you don't need to depend on, I don't know, an editor or something like that. I'm not sure. I just wanted to your perspective on that, uh, at least on the booking side, book side.

Patty Aubery: 8:40

I think the market's changed, but I think the basic principles are the same. I don't care if you're on TikTok, if you're on Instagram, if you're on Facebook, if you're on LinkedIn, you have to be visible and you have to be showing up consistently. And consistency is the absolute key. It's a lot of people are like, I'm gonna get brave and go do this, and then I'm gonna run back and hide, you know, and so you see someone you don't, you see someone you don't. And it just knocking on doors, whether it's getting on somebody else's stage to present at, you know, at a big conference, whatever it is, you have to create more visibility because with visibility, you're gonna create credibility. And when you have credibility, you end up experiencing profitability. So it's different, yet it's still the same because that person is the key to success.

Pedro: 9:25

Right. I like that. So you mentioned you work with men and women, right? Uh so after you got rolling, who are the people that kept showing up, you know, the ones you realized, okay, these are my people.

Patty Aubery: 9:37

That's a hard one at this age. You know, I think like what, 85% of people want to write a book and don't really know where to start. So that's always a a good audience for me. I think there's so much stuff in the market right now on, you know, sign up here and we'll help you write your book in 30 days or whatever it is, or we'll help you market your message. And unless you really have a clear message and you really steps, you're lots of times you're buying things that you don't know what you're buying, and lots of times you don't get what you thought you were gonna get. So my mission on a lot of levels is to educate people on where are you right now? Like what's the right thing for you to do right now? And my big thing is like if you're not out there speaking to people, you should be. Because today, Instagram is like what the yellow pages or a phone book used to look like in the 80s. You know, it's a needle in a haystack. And so, in order to really get your message out there, I would really kind of insist that you go out and speak to real people. I mean, I see so many people like they leave their house, they go down the street, they get on a bus, they take it to a neighborhood they're not used to, nobody knows who they are, and they're trying to speak on a corner. It's like there's people sitting on your front porch waiting to hear from you. So you don't need to leave where you're already known. You just need to sort of kind of like reinvent who you are to those people. So I have clients that say, you know, I'm tired of working at Cisco or I hate being, you know, at Google. It's like, okay, well, what do you want to do? Well, I really want to be an author. I really want to be a speaker, I really want to be a coach. Well, you know those people in that space so well. You know what the issues are, you know what the struggles are. So, and I know it's the most vulnerable thing because people know you and they could judge you and be like, well, suddenly you're a coach or you're this. But it really is where you're planted. And so I'm always encouraging people don't leave the mortgage industry, don't leave the finance industry, don't leave the tech industry. Just go out, figure out what it is you want to say and do, and go back into that industry as that new version of you.

Pedro: 11:36

That's interesting. Okay. And you mentioned the porch, you know, and and how it is to, you know, um I wouldn't say easy, but it's simple, right? To make yourself hard. Sometimes you just need to speak up, you know, and need to step out of the shadows and needs to speak up. So I want to talk about the part that nobody escapes, you know, which is marketing. So how do how do you usually find you, you know?

Patty Aubery: 11:56

Well, I've been pretty lucky. You know, I actually don't do a lot of marketing because I have a pretty good client base and I have a pretty big email list. So I just let people know what I'm doing. But if I do go out and if I do go speak and do different things, I always get a lot of clients because I'm very intentional about what my message is and who I'm speaking to. And I'm not just going out there to speak. I know that speaking is it's the opportunity to invite people to work with me further. And so a lot of people learn to coach or a lot of people learn to speak, but they don't actually learn how to market themselves. So what is your call to action? Why is it important? How much time have you spent talking about that and actually saying that part out loud? You know, so when somebody says, like, oh, I loved what you said, how do I work with you? And if you don't have your packages put together, if you don't know what that call to action is and you start to fumble, you kind of lose your credibility and it happens every day, all day long. So that CTA, that offer is as important as the message that you're spreading prior to that offer. So figuring out how to say it and how to progress to that and how to make it a very natural transition into the offer is really important because you don't want to get up there and talk about all the things that you do and then suddenly be like, and um, by the way, if you're interested, I mean, not that you have to be, but if you are, I'm available, you know, which is what a lot of people do because they get freaked out, which is understandable, which is why you need to practice.

Pedro: 13:21

Okay. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. So you don't wreak desperation, right? Yeah. And the flow is natural.

Patty Aubery: 13:27

Exactly. And you know, a lot of people are marketing online, which is great, but everybody's marketing online. So where are you marketing? Who are you speaking to exactly? Like, who is that ideal avatar? You know, what are their problems? You know, a lot of people are like, well, I my my this and it's this age group and and this other. But it's like, what are their problems? Because if you want to help someone, you need to speak to the problems. You know, I know at publishing that people end up working with people that don't know what they're doing. They're fly by night publishers, they make all kinds of promises they can't keep. People end up spending $20,000, $30,000, $40,000, don't get what they were expecting. And so I can speak to those things and feel their pain because I've watched so many clients over and over and over again tell me the problems. So if I talk about the emotional side, like what's going on for you around your fears, around being shy, around feeling judged, then I I can gain that trust more quickly with someone because now that person's saying, she gets me. She's already in my head. So I'm gonna gain that trust more quickly. People buy with emotion, they don't buy with logic. And if we get too logical, we lose them. So if you see somebody from stage and they're like, and I, you know, here's my offer, and you're gonna get this and this, and here's all the details, and it's this many hours, and suddenly it's like overwhelming, you lose sale, you know. So really um role-playing that. And and I say, like, go out and market yourself to people and don't care, you know, like high intention, low attachment. Because if we're so worried about it, that vibration shows up in our field, and then it's like a mixed message, you know. We want to come from a place of being grounded and being really centered and confident that I know, like for me, selling is not selling. I want to serve people. And if I don't let people know what I can do, I can't help them. And so if I'm too shy to show up and talk about how I can support them and they end up going out and getting mugged by someone who's marketing them in a bad way, shame on me. You know, when I know help. If somebody got sick and you knew that you had the right doctor, you'd be like, no, trust me. I let me get you into this doctor. I mean, I they're great, this or that. Why don't we act the same way when we want to make sure people go down the right path with the right people?

Pedro: 15:47

Right. Yeah, I love the fact that you're shedding some light into the problem, the pain points, you know, instead of the tool or whatever you're trying to or people are trying to push into other people, right? Into a pitch. So yeah, that makes a lot of sense. So I want to talk about business for a second, you know. So, Patty, people find you, they resonate with your work, right? And eventually they want to know what working with you actually looks like. So everyone builds their coaching business a bit differently. So when someone actually becomes a client, what does that experience look like right now?

Patty Aubery: 16:16

Well, it depends. So I have a couple different packages. People work with me six months, some people work with me a year, some people work with me longer. Um, I also run a couple programs that are one to many. Uh, one of the things I love working with is on how to build your audience. So I called audience builder blueprint. And it's really identifying who you are, what problems you solve, how you solve them, in what manner. Is it coaching? Is it on stage? Is it in a group setting? Is it live at a retreat and looking at what all those things are? What does your branding look like? Does it match your message? But really, I would say to people, like, you would never build a house and just hire a builder and say, you know what, just start with the bathroom. I'll get you the blueprints later. You need, and you go through that blueprint 15 times and you go, crap, the cabinets are gonna get in the way of the oven. I can't open both at the same time. Gotta fix that. And so you want to do the same thing for your business. You want to build it with a blueprint. And so you know that you have everything in place. You want other people to look at it. You want to problem solve, troubleshoot, have somebody shoot holes in it. Take it to somebody that knows more than you know, that's been there and say, what am I missing? And if you can build that out, then you can logically make go in the right direction and purchase the right things that are meant for you in the right time for you to learn in a sequence. So you're not buying into a fifteen thousand dollar, let me help you market your book when you don't even have a book ready to go. And you don't have an audience and you don't have any social posts and you don't have a keynote that you're sharing with other people. You know, it's crazy, but it happens all day long and it's it's not Yeah.

Pedro: 17:54

Well, there are a lot of people that are winging it, right? So that's so true. And I mean your work seems pretty hands-on, and you told me you have different packages, right? Different programs. I'm curious about how do you think about capacity so you don't stretch yourself too thin.

Patty Aubery: 18:07

If if that has Yeah, no, I think about that a lot. I mean, I worked for years where it was just grind it, grind it, grind it. You know, when I was doing chicken soup, I was doing sometimes up to at the end, I was doing 18 books a year. So it was intense. When I sold that copy, I'm like, okay, it's official. The rat is off the wheel. Like I am done doing it this way. So I start with Mondays and Fridays, I don't work. So I know I have, you know, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday. And then Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, I look at what courses am I running, where are those located, and then how many clients do I want to bring on. But I also look at how much money do I need to generate each year or want to generate to make it worth me working. And then I back into that number. So if I have five clients at, you know, $50,000 each, and I have our training, so I do four of those a year, and those, it's $10,000 per person. I only take 10 people, bring them into my home in Nashville, and we teach them how to craft a keynote and how to really show up on stage. I know I'm doing four of those, so I build that dollar amount, and then I pick and choose wisely who I want to work with. Because when we start coaching, sometimes we just take anybody, and then we realize that we're almost selling our soul for the dollar. And then you wake up and you're like, wait a second, I am not walking my talk. If I'm trying to teach people how to live a better life and my life stinks, why would why should work with me? So I I don't I'm too old.

Pedro: 19:29

I mean, we need to practice what we preach, right? That makes a lot of sense. And uh I'm curious, you know, about where you're taking all this. Looking ahead, where do you see the business going? Are you thinking about scaling, hiring, or is there a next step you're excited about?

Patty Aubery: 19:43

I am. You know, I belong to an organization that's called the Transformational Leadership Council that I started with Jack about 20 years ago. It's a nonprofit. And we have speakers like Lisa Nichols and Marcy Scheimoff and Roger Hamilton and Yannick Silver and all the people that are in our industry. industry because we didn't have an association. So we created our own. And so we've been doing that for a long time. And now I have about 5,000 trainers that are around the world that I've certified through the Campfield group and through the Success Principles, which was a book that Jack did. So we have an online version of that and a live version. And he's retired now. So we only have the online version, but I have these trainers all over the world. And so we're starting a transformational leadership council for our trainers. So I'm excited about that. That's new and we're going to be kicking that off in a few months. And the goal really is to support these people that I've helped kind of collect over the years and have a container for them to be in so they can come to me and say, hey, is this the right thing for me? I kind of like of myself as like the good housekeeping seal of approval, you know, kind of like a lynda.com. You know, so it's like do the do that I like aggregate people that I think are doing the work and really delivering well and bring those people in and expose them to my audience so I know that they're taken care of. Yeah I have a motto that says if you get on my train I'll never let you off in a bad neighborhood where you're going to get mugged. If you get off my train, I can't guarantee you're not going to get mugged.

Pedro: 21:10

I love that. You know, exciting plans I mean 5,000 you said licensed coaches around the world. I mean that's that's crazy to manage a lot of moving pieces. So of course whenever we're aiming toward a next chapter there's always something we're refining the present. So what are you currently trying to improve or tighten up in the business, you know, if anything.

Patty Aubery: 21:30

Well I should be doing a podcast and so I'm I'm really looking at more like all right what am I not doing that I should be doing I really should be doing a podcast. I I have to so many people that you know I've worked with over the years that are so interesting and have so much to offer. So that's something that's kind of on my 2026 radar being more visible from a marketing standpoint on YouTube and things like that. I'm old I mean I'm 60. So for me YouTube was like more my kids thing but now I'm finding like everybody's going there. I find that I watch YouTube more than I watch anything. I go there for my news I go there for information I go there for podcasts. So looking at like what how can that be fun and still expose me to more people. But at the same time my oldest son is you know he's having his first child so I'm going to be a grandma and my is big at Kajabi. She's big in the self-help space too which is crazy. I actually introduced some sort of arranged marriage that has worked out so far. So that's also coming in this next chapter. So it's there's a little transition happening for me but I'll never stop helping other people. I love the work and transformation. I love to let people know that if I can do it, so can you I mean I came for nothing I'm not highly educated. It took me seven years to get through four year university. I hated school I was always getting in trouble for you know staring out the window and and dreaming your head's always in the clouds and I joke now I say now I get paid to have my head in the clouds because it was I didn't know what my purpose was, you know and so figuring out like what do you love to do what where you use time doing it. And if you could monetize it, what would it look like? And I've always been a bridge builder I've always been a connector I was always putting people together even at the youngest age that I can remember. So for me it's it was a kind of an innate thing but I was always giving my power away to other people. So when I really realized that that was my gift, I'll never stop doing that. I also have a foundation and so I train women that are in prison to get their PhD instead of their PhD in goal setting which I'm it's called Friends and I I love that. So I've got a bunch of different things going on but really for me getting people on stages having them master their message really own who they are so when they're speaking to people are really clear who you are and what you do. That's that's really for me. So my brain doesn't really shut off to be honest. I don't I'm going anywhere like you'll find me in a nursery with like a flip chart you know like I'll be brainstorming my grandson. Okay when you're 12 this is what you're going to do.

Pedro: 24:04

Oh okay I love the fact that you're arranging you know with your your sons and the plan came to fruition right you're a grandma now so I think the podcast is going to be a piece of cake. Okay. If you got that running oh my God okay so I want to switch gears for a second this something a bit a bit fun. You know not that this was not fun but if you're down for it I got a quick game for you. Okay. We look at this through the lens of business investments. And the reason I'm doing this because I want to tap into your experience okay so things like coaching training marketing team masterminds you name it. So it's simple I'll give you four prompts and you tell me the first thing that comes to mind. If there's a story behind it even better.

Patty Aubery: 24:45

Okay are you sure?

Pedro: 24:47

How how are we rating this I'm sure I go so first business investment you remember making in the coaching space okay I know we're going back a while but I want I'll be specific in $49 for a six week course it was a Buckminster fuller course.

Patty Aubery: 25:02

I was 23 years old I was scared to death I was making $14,000 a year I invested the $249. I spent a weekend where I drove back and forth an hour to get there because I couldn't afford to stay in a hotel. It was the first time I ever set a goal. I didn't even know anything about self-help. I set a goal to make $25,000 a year and uh about three months later I and I went through the paper because we didn't have internet and I thought you know like I I'd love to I school to make $25,000 a year. And I saw this big like thing in the in the paper it said $25,000 a year. And I was like oh my God this is it. And then underneath it said secretary wanted. And I was like I'd never be a secretary. But I thought you know what I set the school I'm going for it. And so I sent in my application and I went to the interview and it was with this guy and his wife in this like 1970s house they're burning incense they had red carpet. It was like shag. It was totally weird and they were teaching self-esteem in the classroom which I didn't even know what that was at the time and turned out to be Jack Campfield. First time I took an action to go for my goal I meet Jack Anfield. He was teaching teachers at the time uh went to the interview didn't get the job he said he wanted somebody with more experience. I had more business experience he wanted somebody that had hotel experience because I did workshops called me back three months later and said I think we're supposed to work together I there's just I can't I keep coming back to you. And I said well it's going to cost you 30 because you didn't pick me the first time and so he said we'll come down and meet with me. I did and that was 39 years ago and together we built a billion dollar brand so set a goal.

Pedro: 26:34

That's awesome. I mean you could have said to Jack hey Jack so the first one didn't work out you know so that's why you're calling me I'm like yeah that's awesome. See I have a lot of jokes about okay so and it I mean you pinpoint it pinpoint it exactly and sometimes I ask this question people are like you know what and they're wondering and they're you're like boom story here you go I mean that's that's so cool you have that in in the pocket you know so okay to the next slide for a living you know yeah I can tell I can tell so what's the most recent one you made the most recent business investment you made in the coaching space obviously the most recent business investment that I've made about $200,000 in the last eight months.

Patty Aubery: 27:17

Yeah I actually why I did that is I brought on someone to work with me and I thought if I invest in this person they know more than I know in certain areas I'm gonna bring these workshops I'm gonna pay out this much money bring him in for his expertise and that was like seven trainings ago so 700,000 I invested 200 it's been profitable and I'm a big believer and surround yourself with people that know more than you try to be the weakest link in the chain if you can being the smartest person in the room does not grow you. And so I'm always looking at who's there that can bring more expertise than I can. Plus not just I get to learn but I get to bring in other people that know like and trust me and I get to have them learn at the same time. It's kind of a win-win for me. Best financial business investment made and why best financial business investment I've made and why probably the $249 that I spent on that first training I mean I I didn't anything about personal growth. I I didn't know what life purpose was I didn't really have a purpose. I knew I wanted to live nicely and I loved nice things. In fact my dad used to say are you sure like we're related like no because my siblings were like yeah settle whatever and I'm like nope I gotta have these pants and this purse. And so I always knew like I was gonna come into something good. I just had no clue how and so by investing that that smaller money which was a large amount remember I was making 1400 bucks a month and so it was a bit it was a huge risk for me an investment and it has paid off like my kids' lives are different my life's different all the people I know because of that one yes and following my gut, you know and really also saying yes to Jack. I mean I had other offers to you know a lot more at the time but something inside said work with this guy and I was like God is kind of looks like howdy duty with like freckles and brown hair. He's like kind of a hippie my parents were upset. My dad was pissed he was like I sent you to business school and you're gonna work for a hippie. I'm like well the hippie went to Harvard worst case dad I'll get a Harvard education for free. You know I had no idea where it would go but something said but and I learning to follow your intuition and get comfortable being uncomfortable is a big deal but follow your gut. You know when you wake up in the morning and you're in the shower and you have that big idea take action on it. You know do it. I always say if I have a big idea at nine in the morning I get out of the shower I get dressed and I make the phone call. If I waited until four that idea would sound totally insane to me and I would chicken out. So follow your gut go for that thing that's pulling at you and say yes to yourself.

Pedro: 29:54

I love that okay yeah that in real estate I love that okay so what's one investment you wish you could get your money back on one investment I wish I could get my money back on.

Patty Aubery: 30:06

Well I was thinking this morning like I I'm in this house in Nashville and I I was thinking I bought it in 2020 and I thought you know if I had taken that 600 grand and bought Bitcoin if I'd really just gone you know all out a lot more it'd be a lot worth a lot more than this house right now. I don't think I've ever really I mean yes there were some investments I made I I invested a lot of money in real estate at a young age I think probably my biggest mistake was not holding on to some of the things that I purchased that was the biggest thing.

Pedro: 30:36

Okay.

Patty Aubery: 30:37

I mean looking at those how has your approach to investing the business changed over the years if if it has changed no I think it's um you know I'm a little bit more jaded you know I think I have a lot more experience you know when you're younger you're just like what do I have to lose I'm young I can rebuild some maybe I'm a little bit more conservative than I was back then but you know I I don't know I I just I still go with my gut. You know if I if I feel like something's right I do it. I'm a big proponent in real estate I think real estate's a great thing. I've always invested heavily in that and you know I just kind of I don't take anything too seriously because here's the thing like stuff we are not stuff and so the one with the most toys doesn't win at the end of the day. I've had mansions and Maui I've had fast cars and crazy things but it didn't make me happier. You know the happiest I am is when I'm really living my passion, when I'm really doing what I love, when I'm showing up for myself so I can show up for others or for my kids. That makes I I love going to restoration hardware and buying my daughter-in-law things that she would never even consider buying you know like that's really kind of makes me happy but yeah it's not the stuff it's it's really who you are because that stuff can go away and if it goes away and we identify with it too much, we have a massive issue with who are we? I have stuff, but I'm not my stuff. And so I think it's really important to really realize that whether you are a coach or you want to work with a coach, yeah, you can strive to have big things and make more money and have that big house or whatever it is. But at the end of the day, the biggest investment is the investments that you make in yourself because nobody can take those away. Nobody can take away your wisdom, your experience, your ups, your downs some of the worst times in my life are the funniest stories I could tell as a stand up comedian today, you know my host.

Pedro: 32:30

Okay. I mean you've been in the game long enough to hear all kinds of business advice you know some that sticks some that really doesn't and so what's one piece of business advice you hear all the time that you think it's overrated or misunderstood? You're like, oh my God, this is bullshit.

Patty Aubery: 32:47

Do your homework. You know don't believe everything you read. Don't give your power away to somebody else who has the guts to market something you don't. Doesn't they know more than you it just means that they're a little bit more gutsy. Especially I think for women, you know they tend to have to be over a hundred percent qualified to go for something. Don't believe everything you hear I'm the kind of person that somebody comes to me and says hey I have this great investment I'll say let me see your tax returns.

Pedro: 33:11

If you can show me that you have a net profit at the end of the year I don't care how much money you made I want to know how much you kept look at I like that because it and that resonates I think with our audience because we we see well I'm not saying you're or you have an academic background you told me yourself you're not a fan you know sitting on the school bench but uh what I'm just saying we have a lot of people with PhD in the in the show you know and I can tell and I do have a brother who is a PhD and a business owner and we see a lot of times uh they're struggling making decisions you know because they're they're used backtrack study two years design a paper publish it and like they have all in the business world they they have all of this options and they don't have time to think or maybe they don't have that strategy thinking you have like give me your you know profit your bottom line give me that so do you see that happening with coaches? Which part? Well the part of sometimes they struggle you know by having that academic background to make decisions in the business world.

Patty Aubery: 34:10

Absolutely I mean I see people that have PhDs and then I coach them and they're they're saying like well I'm thinking maybe I'll go back and get another PhD. I'm like if you do you're fired. Go out there and take action. Do what you want to do learn the hard way get on the street go do it the academic world is pretty jaded. I mean God love the people that can go get the PhDs I I don't have it and made it to go do that. So you got to learn to trust yourself and the advisor doesn't always know more than you and I'm not saying be cocky about it, but like literally like surround yourself with the right people the ones that will remind you that you're actually smart, that you can actually do the things that you want to do. So when your day is hard, when you feel like crap, when you feel like there's no way I'm a loser, I'm this, you have people around you that will remind you that you're amazing because if I leave myself alone with myself long enough, I can talk myself into or out of anything. And so I I want people around me that I can fully trust. And one of the things about business is when you are down in the dumps and your business isn't profitable, you know, you're just kind of floundering. When you get successful all of a sudden everybody shows up. So if you're gonna build a business, I want you to really think about who do you want to have on your, you know, in the dugout with you? Who do you want on your team? Who's your financial advisor? Who are you going to invest with? What are you going to invest? Where are you going to invest? Like plan it out. Act as if you're gonna be successful but all the way through because when it happens when you start getting those checks and I've been there everybody comes out of the woodwork and wants to be your investor and wants to be this and then suddenly you're like oh my God who do I trust so plan ahead and if they can stick with it and with you through the downtimes then they're worth keeping in the good times.

Pedro: 35:52

It's a mix sounds like a mix of gut feeling and getting to know the right people you know and I love that you know that concept itself. So and if someone is listening and wants to connect with you or follow your work where can people find you Patty and how they connect with you.

Patty Aubery: 36:08

You can find me on my website at pattyarbrey.com you can go to Instagram you can go to Facebook you can go to LinkedIn don't go to TikTok. I think there's one post of me with my son in the car making fun of him or something.

Pedro: 36:19

I mean there were a few things you shared today that really stuck with me okay I'm gonna point them like for example the the fact that you stepped out of the shadows you know you didn't felt that there was ownership in the author part of it of your story and then we you went coaching and that really shed a light I think that that resonated with with ours you know so you can have something for your own you know that's that's really inspiring. And I love the fact that you shed light into you know the problem solving idea of your client not just who you are and all of that it's great to you know build your brand but the fact that hey you need to to breathe client's problem and understand it and try to solve it you know at all costs. So that's also very important. And I gotta say I'm not your mom but it sounds like you followed her advice you know I love that the fact that sometimes we need uh you know people so close to us to you know give that little shake yeah so that's important to call us out exactly so I appreciate what you do and I appreciate you being here Patty and sharing so openly today you know it was great having you thanks Pedro it was great to be here.

Davis Nguyen : 37:28

That's it for this episode of Career Coaching Secrets. If you enjoyed this conversation you can subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening to this episode to catch future episodes. This podcast was brought to you by Purple Circle where we help career coaches scale their business to $100,000 years, $100,000 months or even $100,000 weeks all without burning out and making sure that you're making the impact and having the life that you want. To learn more about our community and how we can help you visit join purplecircle.com