Managing Change & Finding Purpose with Ronald M Allen

In this episode of Career Coaching Secrets our guest is Ronald M. Allen renowned business and life coach, CEO of Managing Change, LLC, and an author and educator who has helped countless individuals and organizations transform their careers and lives through powerful communication, mindset shifts, and actionable strategies for personal and professional growth. We dive deep into his journey from interior design and mortgage banking to founding Managing Change, explore his unique “Mapping the Mind for Success” methodology, and discuss how to navigate major life and career transitions with confidence.

You can find him on:

Google business: 6092472799

Email: Ronald@managinglifechanges.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronaldmallen/

https://www.instagram.com/managinglifeschange/#

https://x.com/managingchange_

Transcript

SPEAKER_03: 0:00

The best way for me to answer that is one, you have to have a look at my Google My Business Reviews because those are people that have received what they anticipated, what they wanted, what they what they were attracted to to come to me, what was the work experience, and their desired outcomes. It's not a goal. A goal is I want a car, I want a house, I want a certificate, whatever, education, what have you. I want a girlfriend, a boyfriend, whatever, a dog. An outcome is what it does for you.

Davis Nguyen : 0:34

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 Wayne, and I'm the founder of Purple Circle, where we help career coaches scout our 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 Ronald Allen, founder of Managing Change, Communication and Change Management Expert, who has spent the last 18 years helping project managers and senior leaders improve collaboration, deliver stronger results. He works with teams across healthcare, human services, financial services, and education, focusing on how people communicate with themselves, themselves, and with each other to move projects forward with clarity and alignment. Ronald's mission is to help leaders understand their style, build real connections inside their organizations, and create environments where teams work together instead of working around each other. Welcome to the show, Ronald.

SPEAKER_03: 1:54

Good morning, Pedro. Thank you for your invitation.

Pedro: 2:00

All right, so let's rewind a bit. You know, every coach has that moment where they look at their life and say, Yeah, I guess this is what I'm doing now. When was that for you?

SPEAKER_03: 2:13

At my age, I've had a few. Um, but but dealing with the life coaching and our counseling, it was the 2007-2008 financial meltdown in the real estate industry. I had been in the mortgage banking industry for about 20 years, and I had a few clients, one lady and her children, the husband committed suicide. Um we've had a lot of cliches such as generation gap uh or generation gaps between parents and children, again, primarily because when they bought a home, they thought they were aligned with the interest, and of course, uh children have their thoughts and parents have theirs. We identified that uh it's not a generation gap, it's an interest gap. And the quickest way for me to uh explain that is if you look at sports, if you look at gamification games, you'll see young people four, five, six, eight years old, playing and conversing and engaging with people who are much older. Uh, so it's an interest. So, what I found was that this was an area that I really uh took well because I was doing the corporate training, and also I wanted to be more independent. So, I would say around 2007, 2008, it really started to come together, and I have been seeking the best material, the most appropriate material, and learning myself all the way.

Pedro: 3:52

I mean, it's really cool that you were able to turn uh something that looked bad, right, into an opportunity. So the mortgage meltdown at the end of the day was something that puts you exactly where you are, where you are right now, and that that that's really you know inspiring. So I think what I I'm curious about is when did when did it shift you know from I'm helping people to I'm building a real business around this in the corporate training world?

SPEAKER_03: 4:27

The big players always dumb down, as John Taylor Gatto, 25-year veteran education in New York, uh taught me. They always try to dumb down the provider of the services. So, as you as a trainer, they'll say, Well, we're gonna pay you say$500 a day. The only problem is they then tell you, oh, by the way, you have to be in the office at seven in the morning, and you can't leave until five in the evening. So when you think you're making eighty, ninety dollars an hour, you're actually making about 30, 35. The change came when I started recognizing more and more opportunities were not opportunities. I was right back to being an employee. So again, 2007-2008 made the shift. I would say another four years before I really said I want to break away from the corporate churn of going out to get contracts, and I worked on some great contracts. One contract to your question really made a difference. And my wife and I were very pleased. I secured a contract with Mackenzie and Company, one of the global consulting companies in the world. It was a short contract, six months. It said I have the ability to attract, deliver, and create outcomes that these providers were looking for. And so I kept building from there. I had to find, stumble, scratch, you know, bump your knee, bump your nose up against all kinds of adversity, and yet it was the desired outcome that we were looking for. I say we because I don't know too many other coaches that constantly bring in their partners as a significant player in their success. And I think that's what differentiates us because even when we go out to meetings and sessions, we don't see the partners or the partner is very silent, um, which may or may not be a good thing. But yeah, that's we secured that contract. Um, I secured some others at TSA when we had the 9-11 um uh attack in New York, Washington, um Virginia. And uh we've been slowly building from there. There are some other things that helped us develop, but I'll hold that for a little later question. I'll work that into a little later question.

Pedro: 7:09

Yeah, okay. So it's interesting the fact that McKenzie was that actually shed that light, right? That you're you're capable of doing this, you can go for it, and then you turn into a business. So after you got rolling, who were, I mean, despite McKenzie, who are the people that kept showing up? The ones you realized, okay, these are my people.

SPEAKER_03: 7:31

Right. I have to say, one, it was my educational background. I really do. I was put my parents put me into a school where the kids came from literally all around the world. The first time I met, for example, uh Kaizda, he was a Polish guy, young kid, we were like nine, ten years old. Crypark College, still in existence in Bath in England. Uh, Shula Musakania, his mother ran a bank in Nigeria. Chris Anura, father was a big businessman in Kenya. Um, Anderson from Singapore, right? 40 years, Singapore rebuilt its whole economy. Today it's a burgeoning opportunity for many. So I would say that was a catalyst that still serves me today. I prefer to be around an international group of people. That led me, I would say, or has guided me to look for those types of opportunities. And that's why I'm starting to focus on immigrants, immigrant families, corporate 40% of American CEOs are immigrants. Top I'm talking Fortune 1000. Um franchise owners, 30% are immigrants and they're successful. Women are going at 60% successful. So I was looking, I've always already been embedded in a group of people that if I didn't recognize it, I'd have missed the opportunity. So I'd say to some coaches, go after your passion, go after what, as I say, you are naturally drawn to. Because if you can just get one basically 1% of the market, you're doing fantastic. I think a lot of people get it confused when they see you know Facebook and Google managing or control uh whole operations. But all you really need is a five percent of a market, 10% of a market if you're a solepreneur and you live very well. Um there were some other opportunities where people had asked me to do some training, and I span off into our first aid services because it's a natural fit. It was a natural fit. So uh yeah, it go after what you naturally are drawn to, be passionate about it, use that international. Now we definitely have an international menu, if you will, of successful companies, businesses, and individuals. Um, one comes to mind there's a lady in Vietnam after the Vietnamese War. She turned her small bottling business into the size that Coca-Cola approached her to buy a share. And she said, No, I don't want, I don't want to be part of that. So that that's another right, you think, oh, I want to sell my business to a big conglomerate. Absolutely not. It's a passion, man. It's it's uh it's your legacy. It's not just I think to a great extent, and it's not just in the West, it's global. People think they want to be a gazillionaire and play in the big market, and that's not always the sweet spot.

Pedro: 10:53

I mean, that's that sounds very cool. I mean, the fact that you're so open-minded, you know, about reaching out to international, that's that's that's really struck a chord. That's interesting. And I mean, that's the coaching side, right? Now, let's talk about the part nobody escapes marketing. How do people usually find you?

SPEAKER_03: 11:15

You know, I love it, I love it. I know nothing, and this is this is kind of my whole mindset of constantly learning. I'll say to people, I know nothing of marketing, and yet today, and remember, I'm at an age where I didn't even have computers until I got to college. Right, I didn't have a computer till I got to college. Yet, kids today they're born holding a Mac or a tablet, right? They're born with it, right? Um, but I'm using Go High Level. I've got an AI bot, I have my workflows, I have my snippets, I have my scheduler, I have a prospecting tool, I have my listing, which serves my SEO. Um, I have the widgets, I love the stuff. I have a cell, I have an Apple, I'm speaking to you on a Mac. We have two Windows systems. My web is about to buy me three screen projector, you know, those three screens uh you can plug your computer to. We're gonna be the Mac Daddy of the old folks.

SPEAKER_04: 12:24

I love it.

Pedro: 12:27

I mean, really. It sounds like you're being a little too humble, you know. Nothing from getting go high level, you know, that's not nothing. That's not nothing, Ronald.

SPEAKER_03: 12:39

It's because we had been building on WordPress, Site Ground, GoDaddy. I've used all right, let's put it in perspective. Does anyone remember a software called Access by Windows? No, I do, I do okay, okay, and you know you had to build out your own workflows, right? Yep, you had to build out your own. It was um what are those? I've forgotten the term, but you run simulations on Excel spreadsheet, uh which you'd have to build the code on access.

Pedro: 13:17

I used to do that. I think it's the macros, but I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_03: 13:21

Macros, yes, the macros.

Pedro: 13:22

Oh, yeah, though, right? Right. Nerd alert.

SPEAKER_03: 13:29

Yet, yet it's understanding the limitations that we had that now we embrace the technology that allows us 24-7 to engage with people. And I'll give you a really sweet spot, a quick story, and then a sweet spot. The story is fast. So when my parents, my mother came to America in 68, 69, her sister, who was in America, said, You gotta come to America, this is where the money is. I asked my dad, we didn't have a phone, and we're talking rotary phone, right? Like wait five seconds, wait five seconds.

Pedro: 14:14

I'm also aware of those.

SPEAKER_03: 14:16

Oh my god, you're older than I thought then. Okay, that's cool. That's cool. At least we could get there is no generation gap. See, I told you exactly. So my dad looks at me and says, Why do we need a phone? I said, Well, dad, you know, we're going off to boarding school, we're gonna be private, we're gonna be you know, three, four months at a time. I'd like to speak and call and speak to you. His response was, I know where you are. I know where you are, we don't have to talk.

Pedro: 14:54

So when parents trying to just trying to avoid the conversation, right? And you're like, hey, let's talk.

SPEAKER_03: 15:00

Let's talk, right? So when parents may say they can't communicate with their kids, I just laugh. I just laugh, they don't want to communicate with you. So anyway, um now I've forgotten the second part of the whole story.

Pedro: 15:16

No, actually, you went you went in into the the the part that I was gonna follow up, you know. It's what did you end up trying as you figure out how to reach people, you know? That's basically what you're telling me.

SPEAKER_03: 15:27

Yeah, with the technology today, it's like critical thinking, which has always been an important skill set in school. Critical thinking. If you think of the Ivy League colleges and universities, they always say validate your assumptions. So if I'm if I'm a coach and I'm working with immigrant corporate executives and their families, I have to validate that there is a need. I told you the statistics 40% of corporate 1000 corporations are run by immigrants. Uh, some of the most successful franchises, 30-35 percent, run by immigrants. Many of our senior administrators across all industries and vertical and horizontal, uh, administrative functions are overseen by immigrant first and second generation naturalized citizens. Okay, if we look at the high sciences STEM once again. So you have to say to yourself, one, is this a passion of mine? Is this really an interest? I'm not just doing it because it's a fad. I'm not just doing it. Here's another issue. Stop talking about the AI system and talk about the outcome that you derived from it. It's the same thing with a resume. Stop listing, it's not a grocery list. Gemini, by the way, is a fantastic tool. I hate it, I hate grocery lists. Gemini, I I created an Excel spreadsheet, I put all my groceries onto it, I took pictures of all my groceries, and I told Gemini, run a spreadsheet that would adjust based on the five main supermarkets we go to and the price point. And now we go in with a tablet. People are looking at us like, what are you old folks doing with a tablet? One lady came up to us and I showed them. She said, Wow, that's fantastic. You've got the picture of the doc of the item. Let's say it's um uh Chutney. I love Chutney, I love marmalade, real marmalade. And then you have the price, you have the you have the the item, the description, the price, and maybe four or five places you buy it from. The system Gemini AI is constantly picking up the different prices. Now we call Grubhub or Dash DoorDash and say, deliver it. We don't even leave the house. So again, it comes back to using the technology to get the desired outcome. I'm not just using it because it's a it's a cool thing, uh, because I want to be lazy. Now you know, I I can spend more time with my dogs, I can spend more time reading and studying my material because it's the technology doing the heavy doing the heavy lifting doing the heavy lifting.

Pedro: 18:28

You know, yeah, you know, when you mentioned this uh the business side, you know, we we've seen a lot of technology. I've seen at least being born and dying, you know. Uh, for example, the CDs, you know, the DVDs, and that brings back to my my my my question, which is, you know, I want to talk business for for a second because you mentioned the outcome, and that doesn't change, you know, that's just another tool. Uh the AI, the even coaching, it's a tool, right? It's a coat, it's a tool to reach uh uh a specific outcome, but it's a tool. So people find you, they resonate with your work, and eventually they want to know what working with you actually looks like, you know. So everyone builds their coaching business a bit differently. So when someone actually becomes a client, what does that experience look like right now?

SPEAKER_03: 19:31

The best way for me to answer that is one, you have to have a look at my Google My Business Reviews because those are people that have received what they anticipated, what they wanted, what they what they were attracted to to come to me, what was the work experience, and their desired outcomes. It's not a goal. A goal is I want a car, I want a house, I want a certificate, whatever, education, what have you. I want a girlfriend, a boyfriend, whatever. A dog, an outcome is what it does for you. So I'll give you in terms of business, when someone says, and in fact, a church has 67 congregations up and down the eastern seaboard. They brought us in because they saw us on Google. We had a conversation and I connected with them because of those relationships I had in Prior Park College with an international base of people, a perspective, a broad eclectic perspective. If you're narrowly focused, you can't speak about these things. You don't understand the relationships America had with Russia right after the Second World War, while America was saying the West was saying Russia's communist, communist, communist, yet they're trading wheat, rice, and barley. Same thing with Lee Coco in the 90s, fast forward to the 90s. Japanese, bad, bad, bad. He was going to Japan and negotiated steel prices for Chrysler. So when you think of business, you have to say to yourself, okay, what am I trying to deliver? Who is my client? How am I going to engage with them? And I was able to get this church because I spoke their language. Show us how to do it. You walk nuts and bolts. And they looked at each other like, no, we just tell you the schematic. We're just telling you that if you want the holographic image of what will come out. No, you have to be able to connect with people where they are. And that's what's so beautiful about solution-focused brief therapy, by the way, which is a tool that I gravitated to immediately. Because once again, when you're speaking with people and you're trying to offer your services, you must understand the land they come from, the country they come from, the need that they desire. And it's it's through a conversation. You're not trying verbal judo, you're not trying to trip them up, you're not trying to close it. I can't stand the word deal. When someone says, I'm gonna give you a deal, I'll be polite, I'll be polite, you know.

Pedro: 22:34

Right. So do do you custom all the experience, or do you do more like I think my question is more about the structure? Like, is it one-on-one? Is it group coaching? Is it a course that's more towards like how do you frame it, or is it customized for every single individual?

SPEAKER_03: 22:51

It has to be customized, it has to be customized. Yes, you have I have four online courses. Okay, fine. I still have to customize them for each customer. Right. So here's an example. When I said how uh faith-based church, you did not ask me from what denomination or what culture, because they're all slightly different. Even if you take the Roman Catholic Church, it has like a thousand different subsets, right? You know, Catholicism, right? Um, uh Judaism, same thing, right? Uh Confucianism, same thing. But I have friends who come from those different backgrounds, and because when I engage with them, I ask them, well, what is it that you like or drew you to that? What was your desired outcome? Um, what were some of the limitations? What did you feel that you were anticipating that wasn't delivered? It's a conversation, and I think most people don't know what a conversation is. We look at social media, we just blab blab blab at each other. We don't use silence as a mean to give as a means to give the other person a chance to absorb what we've what they have heard. So, for example, back with that church group, I asked them, I said, Well, what was it about my profile that attracted you to me? They said, Well, you've come from a very diverse background, and I see you know people from Nigeria. Now, someone might say, Well, what if I don't know anyone from Nigeria? Well, you have to find something else. You have to find something else. Maybe it's just the fact that you are you have a diverse background. Maybe you speak two or three different languages, and that's what's beautiful. So here's one thing I always say to people from other countries, because I know they know two or three languages, they always do. I say, I'm sorry, I am limited with just the colonial English language, and they just burst out laughing. They burn because that's exactly what they're thinking. That's what they're thinking, but but the average Western, I say westerner, but I can't use that phrase anymore because it's global, right? The average person in European countries think they're so much more superior because of the image, not the reality. Not the reality, and and you you you felt it as soon as I said, Oh, I'm from a colonial English background, I only speak one language. Yeah, I had this we had this argument all the time in school. I'd say, well, wait a minute, Kaizda is from Poland, he speaks Polish, and there's another dialect, and he speaks English. We had Chris Sanjura, he spoke his language and English. You only speak Cockney English, so shut up. You don't even speak Queen's English, you bloody idiot. On your bike.

Pedro: 25:48

Yeah. I mean, I love that your work is super customized, you know. Um, and it seems like it's pretty hands-on. How do you think about capacity so you don't stretch yourself too thin?

SPEAKER_03: 26:05

You may have heard of a gentleman called Alan Weiss. 40 years in the past, he's the purveyor, uh, the catalyst behind value-based pricing. And that says instead of going out for dollars for hours, you look for the value. Again, in the conversation with people, you ask them what is the value of you acquiring or being or realizing the desired outcome? What is what is the value of it? Of course, you're gonna st establish objectives, establish goals, you're gonna establish the measures by which you acknowledge that you've achieved them. By the way, that's a critical part of the conversation. And then you say, What is the value? Well, we'll save$500,000, four or five million dollars. I'll save my child from going to detention or being uh taken away by the state if I do counseling with the municipalities, then what is that worth to you? I've taken them away from dollars for hours and I've made it more emotional, and they now say, you know what? Two, three, four hundred dollars an hour is nothing, four, five, ten percent is nothing, because you I am not costing them anything, I'm not costing them. See, that's the problem with a capitalistic system and the concept of I'll give you a good deal, is that it's temporary. Whereas if you think of value, I can now take that thinking and I can apply it to something else. And a classic is this the other day. We did this in our own home, excuse me. So I mentioned to you I have five dogs, so we're burning through 150 a week, easy. So now it's Christmas. There are I won't mention the company names, but there are three companies that offer 40 and 35% discounts if you use an automatic payment system. In other words, uh, it's called force continuity. Every month they charge you, they send you the product, they charge you, they send you the product. So I said to my wife, I said, wait a minute, you've got three companies here. That means we could have six months of heavily discounted product pricing, and we will just cancel as we go, as we rotate. It's the thinking behind it, it's not just it's it's recognizing those opportunities, executing on them, and then getting the desired outcome. That's that's where again back to critical thinking, right? And if you take it in business, um, Walmart is the worst, they'll have four or five vendors in a room, all selling them pretty much the same product, and this is going back 20 years, guys. This is not something new, and they'll force something haggle right in front of them. Dell doesn't own anything until the product is all assembled, and then they put place it in what call a World Trade Center, which is all around America, all 50 odd states, Puerto Rico, Alaska, they all have these world trade centers, not just New York, where again they don't pay any taxes. So it's a thinking, you have to you have to use these thinking skills across all your life, not just a business, your family, your children, husbands and wives. My wife has this beautiful sign here love, honor, and negotiate. She gave it to me many years ago. She hates it because I negotiate everything. But you have fun with it, but you have fun with that. That's this is not you know hardcore, oh no, it's you know, you want to take the dog out, you take the garbage out. Right, but that's it's it's you know, yeah, it's a skill that you use across all areas of your life. You use business skills in family, family skills in business, and it works, it works.

Pedro: 30:22

I mean, that's a solid look into how you approach pricing structure. I like the fact that you mentioned value-based, you know, and the fact that it's customized. So that's a plus. Like to hear that. So now I'm curious about where you're taking all this, you know, 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?

SPEAKER_03: 30:48

The scaling will be the life coaching. We'll drop off the uh first aid because we have to physically go out to these locations. Um, once again, I'm at an age where fortunately I have great health, I've got good bone structure, even though I've got a little rheumatoid arthritis happening. Um, nothing that 650 milligrams of uh arthritis pain tablets can't deal with. Um the life coaching is where, and this is where to come back to technology, all right. Here's the big rub. Pedro, you'll love this. Coming to college, we didn't have computers today. Because of technology, because of the bots and the AI capabilities, and it's just getting more and more dynamic. In my older age, and because of my life experience and my ability to connect with people, I can connect with people that I don't even know their language. I will never learn Cantonese, I will never learn Ebola, I will never learn the different Spanish dialects, I will never learn Portuguese or Russian or Polish, the multiple languages in Russian. Most people think Russian, Russian. No, there's multiple dialects because of technology. I can connect with those people. Now, someone might say, well, what why? Why are you because one, I'm alive, I love life, two, I'm always learning. It's a it's a it's a rush, it's it's an adrenaline rush for me. And three, up in New York, uh Ithaca, New York, there's a school called many of the international students enough that they had to put cages over the falls because they were committing suicide. In Japan, there is a forest that people who are socially disengaged walk into the forest. You talk about propaganda and mind control. They literally walk, there was a documentary in on NHK, they walk into the forest to commit suicide. We know suicide in America is at an all-time high, at a lower and lower age group, so they're disenfranchised. Unfortunately, and perhaps unwittingly, I have had family members, in extended family members, commit suicide for many reasons. For many reasons. Parents are not giving them a chance to grow, to develop their own interests. Society expects more from them than they want to give. I have a good friend, he runs a bunch of different hotel motels up and down the eastern seaboard. His two sons, one was supposed to be a lawyer, one was supposed to be a doctor. Neither one made it. So again, my scaling is not about I want to be Anthony Robbins or Zig Zigler. No, I want to slowly close off the first aid because I don't want to carry mannequins up and down the eastern side. On the other hand, I love a rich conversation about what someone would like rather than what they have. That's the difference with solution therapy. It focuses on the future, and all the studies, the meta uh analysis, all the social studies say those that survive wicked change, war, sex abuse, forms of slavery, including working at Amazon. Um, you know, because your body can't keep up that pace. All of those people that survive look to the future. So my future is we get a farm anywhere in the world, again, totally mobile. We use the technology, we've cultivated those relationships, and people from around the world can engage with us. And I can learn as much as they can learn. I tell them right up the bat, it's a it's a um what is that term on um venom? Symbiotic, some symbiosis, it's a symbiosis, but you have to think that you see you have to think many coaches, many psychiatrists, clinicians think you have to come across the social barrier of acceptance, then you'll be okay. But that's never been healthy, that's never been a good working model. Freud was wrong, Freud was wrong. Number one, he's a white male at a time where not even women had a voice. So you're gonna tell me that model works? It never did. It never did, and certainly based in colonialism, right? We talk about ethics, solution-focused booth therapy. These two gentlemen I'm studying under, Elliot Connie and Dr. Adam Frower. They talk about ethics in psychology. Well, if you come from the side of the world that says everybody else is primitive, bad, negative, then how on earth can you help them? Perhaps the idea is not to help them, but rather relegate them to secondary roles. And this is the bigger picture. Now you're talking about the real meat and potato of what I do. Right? You have to have self-efficacy. When you come to a business, um, another quick point, if I may.

SPEAKER_04: 36:28

Of course.

SPEAKER_03: 36:29

There's an organization called SBA, Small Business Administration in America. It's huge. We have in this country more regulatory agencies and more support for businesses than any other country in the world. Yet most businesses will not succeed 10 years. The banks only lend you for maybe a two or three year period of time. The average business needs seven to ten years of funding. I don't care what you could sell any lemonade on the corner, you still need that money because cycles and calendar ups and downs and uh economic challenges. So again, you have to understand the environment, you have to understand your clients' desired outcomes, and then you have to educate yourself and be willing to be open to what you don't know, what you haven't thought about. And I happen to be good at that, and I'm looking to continue to build it. That's my one of my biggest, I say challenges because no, I'm not at the revenue that I want to get. Because we want that farm. Um, I joke with people, you'll find us being eaten by our dogs or ducks or goats, our wills in our hands that they're all sell all the property, and the animals will go to a no-kill shelter.

SPEAKER_05: 37:56

That's it.

SPEAKER_03: 37:58

But but until I get there, I'm gonna have fun, I'm gonna learn, I'm gonna embrace. Um, and in order to do that, for me as a coach, a life coach, it's about learning the client's needs, learning the technology that allows me to reach out and for people to reach me in their time, in their language, and technology can do it. Technology can do it, and it's net that's never been available before. Never. So I my lifetime. I'll close with this in this section. Think of the first 20 years of your life. You think you're invincible, you're naive, you've got the energy of a of a um Belgian malanoir, which is like a German ship, but we have one downstairs, and he is insane. He's got energy for everything. Um, you you you feel invincible. So when you hit your 50s, 60s, and 70s, what if you took those 20 years from the beginning of your life? If they were pleasant, not everyone's life is pleasant, let's be honest, and you said, let me use that youthful arrogance and and bravado and that that desire to discover and navigate new opportunities, instead of saying, Well, I'm gonna go sit on a toadstool, I'm gonna go and play bingo, I'm gonna go to the casino, you know, I'm gonna relegate myself to the back office, you know, Chateau d'If in uh uh the Count of Monte Cristo, you know, Chateau d'If go into the basement and die. No, you should be doing the reverse because you know what life is about, you know the challenges, you've been hit, you've been knocked down. So get up and do what you like, get up and do what you are naturally drawn to because this is it. I have never had anyone come back and say, you know, I was a cow in a previous life and it was fantastic. That's really I know I know it's business, uh Pedro, but it's just that the real value of your business is in is it in achieving the desired accounts so that you can pass on that legacy. Right. That's the real value. It's not in systems, it's not in million-dollar portfolios. Corporate executives that that are passing on, they'll all tell you, I wish I'd spent more time with my children or my grandchildren or the wife or doing things I really loved.

Pedro: 40:36

But we're so interested, no scaling life coaching by the looks of it, and you can correct me here if I'm wrong. It sounds like we're talking about impact, impact over revenue, you know, by by the looks of where it sounds like a means to an end, right? So, of course, whenever we're aiming toward the next chapter, there's always something we're refining in the present. So I understand the fact that you mentioned it's not about systems and it's not about uh the next fancy tool, right? It's about the outcome. But I want to understand from your perspective what are you currently trying to improve or tighten up in your business that so you can get that outcome, which is getting outcome for your clients, right?

SPEAKER_03: 41:26

Absolutely, it is utilizing Go high levels, I'll say infrastructure so it is a smoother transition, it is a smoother engagement, so that I spend less time worrying about all the nuts and bolts. Yes, you're absolutely right. You have to have a smooth system in place. Um, and but you know, go read any white paper on any corporation. There's no such thing as a smooth system because there's too many dynamic things changing. So I look at the ability to manage my state on a literally hour-to-hour basis in some cases. Some days I wake up in the morning, I'm feeling great, and within the next hour, something has come into uh my my view, and I have to I'm panicking, and then I have to manage my state. But so, yes, you have to have a system, you have to be able to understand that system, work that system so that at the end of I say breakfast, lunch, tea, and supper, you are more consistently managing the flow to achieve your desired outcomes, and really to that point, my design outcome for that each and every hour, each and every day, is to be more stable, to be more consistent, to be more able to deal with the uncertainties. Because there's always going to be uncertainties, there's always going to be uncertainties.

Pedro: 42:55

Um, right, it's a balance, right? It's it's between don't don't get lost in systems, don't don't forget the the main uh the main goal here, which is the outcome, right? I mean, it's a it's a fine balance.

SPEAKER_03: 43:09

It is a balance, it's a mental balance, it's really a mental balance. You're gonna have ebbs and flows. Uh, you know, in change management, we call it wicked change. You're going to have that, it's how you handle it. Uh, here's a classic Tylenol. Remember, I think it was like five or ten years ago, it had the contamination, and the CEO jumped on it all over, whereas BP with the oil spill ran away for a week. So, again, it's how you manage it. Right. You can have a catastrophe. Look at people who have physical disabilities. There are some that bitch and complain, why is it me? Oh Lord, etc. etc. And then there are others that get on with their life. There was a great video the other day, I think it was on Facebook, and the guy had no arms, and he's shoveling stones, not just dirt or hay, stones into a bucket. And the caption read, and tell me why you don't have a job. You see, so so that's where the management of yourself then is poured into your business. And instead of saying, Okay, there's all this technology, I'm confused, and I'm intimidated, take bite-sized pieces. Go back to your proverbs, bite-sized pieces. Did did you know in college? Did you know in high school what you know in college? No. Did you know in your 20s and 30s what you knew in college? No. And if you keep going on like that, you'll rather it's a it's a process, it's a process. So your business I want to sell widgets, okay. Do you have the machinery? Do you have the capital to invest in the machinery? Do you have the skilled tradesman to have in your business? I've also partnered with Temple University for four years with their interns, and some of them are fantastic, and others I wouldn't throw a sticker, but I keep going, I keep going. You know, I don't have a phone, so I'll send you a letter from my dad, right? If my phone is down, if my computers crash, all my computers crashed one time. We went to the library, free library, free uh computers. Then we found out they even lend free laptops. Hello, so it's resourcefulness. It's not one or the other, it's not A or B or what is better than it's what do I need to get that desired outcome for that client, and the client will recognize it. Um, the jet we had a gentleman the other day, he is uh in transportation. This is the first aid business service. He's in transportation. The Department of Uman Services, because they oversee his business, requires him to have an administering emergency oxygen certification through the American Red Cross. He called, he told me he called six different vendors, all of them American Red Cross and American Heart Association. None of them did it. I took two weeks, two weeks, not paid. I found out he I found out what he had to do. I checked with American Red Cross, I checked with the Department of Labor, I checked with the Department of Human Services and Transportation, because those are the three that impacted his business. And um I found out yes, I'm already certified to do that service. I had to invest in an oxygen tank and a valve, pretty expensive. And then I said to him, look, can you put four people together? You know, he bought 10, he bought 10 people, two separate sets of classes because I worked with him, because he saw I wasn't just a seller of a service, I was someone that was trying to help his business. And then in the class, I told him these are the ways you can generate more business with your clients. And one was call up your insurance company, tell them if you negotiate better pricing because you have these certifications. And they he called them right there in the class. I didn't realize by the end of the class, we were there four hours. They said they were going to come out, speak to him, and see if they can work with his other businesses to give them a better deal. Got him for life. So the coaching is not just to your point before, it's not just one-off, it's not just unique, it's not just customized, it's recognizing what that customer really what is their business, what is how do we sustain their business? Because he brought his employees to be certified, he paid for them, all of them. Four hours made some very nice money on that. It's about resources, right?

Pedro: 48:18

It's about resources and how to be resourceful.

SPEAKER_03: 48:21

Yeah, it's yes, it's knowing what what does what does a priest with a congregation of 400 people need? We did some workshops, and I said, I want to do your volunteers. She said, Well, why volunteers? I said, Because they're the backbone, those are your spiders in the communities. And when I brought them in, instead of me telling them what to do, I said, I want you guys to get break into groups of five, I think it was, or six. I said, I want you to identify something that you feel will contribute to the health, health, not well-being, health of your church. She walked away with 20 new initiatives in three hours. It it it they feed themselves, it's not me. When I leave, you have to be self-contained. That's the problem, by the way, with our educational system. It's been based on a pedagogy, which is I will tell I will tell you, I'll instruct you, and I'll test you to say that you know what you're doing. But in reality, it should be how do you apply what you've learned given the constraint or the dynamics of the environment you you live and and and work in. And we find we so-called third world countries, we find that people um are incredibly resourceful because it's life and death, right? You've heard that you know when you're at the age, you either make it or you don't, right? And that's why I call them nature's best animals. There is no yes and no, there's no ombudsman or or or legislative committee setting up funding, yeah, right? It's so yeah, it's it's it's much I mean I yeah.

Pedro: 50:01

I mean, I I love that, you know, um, it's like they already have the resources, it's just by uh about making the right questions and they will get there. That's what sounds like what real coaching is.

SPEAKER_03: 50:12

Critical thinking, getting getting them to recognize solution focused therapy has an incredible platform, it's called Diamond Approach. And it says, What resources did you use in the past to get through all your pain and suffering and frustration? And then it'll say, historically, how have you managed? And then if someone says it's crapped, I still want to commit suicide, you say, Well, what is it that up until today you have not? Because now it's drawing on their strength, it's drawing on their resources. Same thing with businesses, you know. Oh, so and so is a problem, or we don't, you know, um, the big issue right now with Amazon is the unions, right? Well, you have to seek life elsewhere sometime, and that's even with the first aid. We I start off my class and I say, Do you know what percentage of time of the time when first aid is used that you're successful? And most people think it's 60, 70, 80 percent, it's only 25. But think again, the top producers in any sports only score 33 percent of the time. So, what am I saying? I'm saying the reality of life is that most of the time, which is also Buddhism, is that you will have difficulty, you will struggle. But we're we're in this fallacy, we're in this this la la land. I call it Mary Poppins Peter Pan, or I should say Mary, Mary Pan Peter Poppins. It's a fallacy, and so when you when you're programmed to believe a fallacy, when reality hits you in the face, you do a Karen. You could do a Karen, or you know, you you do uh um what is it? Um, we need timeout in a corner, so it'd be you know, yeah, yeah.

Pedro: 52:11

I mean that's pretty impactful, and I I I love the fact that you compare it with the the the sports analogy because people tend to see the success and and think it's all about success. There's no you know, there's no suffering in between, but there is, and there's a lot. And uh Ronald, and if someone listening wants to connect with you or follow your work, where can people find you and connect with you?

SPEAKER_03: 52:37

Um, I was gonna be facetious and say no, they can't.

Pedro: 52:43

They need to hop on right here, or right here, right now, Daddy Gummit.

SPEAKER_03: 52:51

Um uh managing lifeschanges.com is our main website, managing life's changes. And of course, to connect um myself, I can put that out there. It's on my Google business 609-247-2799, and of course, email Ronald at managing lifestchanges.com.

Pedro: 53:20

Okay. I mean, there were a few things you you shared today that really stuck with me, you know. Um turning the mortgage meltdown into an opportunity. That's that's you know, that's really impactful for for listeners, I believe. So also the fact that you're so open-minded about the international aspect of coaching, you know, you don't see it as a challenge, you don't see it um like something that could be even a competitor, you know. Oh, maybe there's a coach in Vietnam, or maybe that no, you're looking at it at a as an opportunity, so that's also very packful. And the last point that really struck me was that you're so value-based, you know, you're you're a grounded guy, you know, it's like focused on impact, old school style. I really like that, and I believe our listeners will also love that. So, Ronald, I appreciate what you do, and I appreciate you being here and sharing so openly today. Okay, it was great having you on.

SPEAKER_02: 54:24

Okay. Thank you for your time and this opportunity. Really appreciate it.

Davis Nguyen : 54:29

That's it for this episode of Career Coaching Secrets. If you enjoyed this conversation, you can subscribe to YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you're listening to this episode to catch future episodes. This conversation was brought to you by Purple Circle, where we help career coaches scale their business to seven and eight figures without burning out. To learn more about Purple Circle, our community, and how we can help you grow your business, visit joinpurplecircle.com.