From $300K Executive to Purpose-Driven Coach: Kyle Van Ruitenburg’s Reinvention

In this deeply honest episode of Career Coaching Secrets, Pedro sits down with executive coach Kyle Van Ruitenburg to unpack how confronting your core beliefs can radically transform your leadership, marriage, faith, and business.

While serving as a global VP helping grow a company from $9M to $55M in revenue, Kyle realized he was pursuing the CEO title for status—not purpose. Through a 10-week journal-based coaching process, he uncovered painful misalignments between what he claimed to value and how he was actually living. That awakening forced him to confront infidelity, rebuild trust in his marriage, process childhood trauma, and redefine success from the inside out.

Now, Kyle works with high-performing Christian business owners to uncover the beliefs driving their decisions, eliminate shame-based leadership, and build lives aligned with integrity. He explains why premium pricing creates real commitment, why every coach needs a coach, and why self-care isn’t selfish—it’s foundational.

If you’re a coach or entrepreneur feeling burnout, pressure, or misalignment, this conversation will challenge you to stop living by “shoulds” and start leading from truth.



Connect with

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-van-ruitenburg-7751592a/
Website: https://www.furiouslycurious.co/

Transcript

Kyle Van Ruitenburg 0:00

Do what you want. Stop trying to make the people around you happy. It's not, maybe say not, do what you want, but take care of yourself first. You know, if you get onto a plane and fly somewhere to do a safety demonstration and then they say when the masks come down and you have a little kid beside you, whose mask do they ask tell you to put on first? A lot of times we're always say we're giving, giving, giving, giving, and we lose ourselves in the process or we don't take care of ourselves. Well then we actually do start doing a crappier job of helping the people around us become empty and we burn out or we do all the other things, right? It's self-care is very important. You are uh a coach and you don't have a coach yourself, that's a red flag, right? Like you need to be working on yourself and pushing and grinding.

Davis Nguyen 0:38

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 Wynn 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 1:09

Welcome to Career Coaching Secrets Podcast. I'm Pedro and today's guest is Kyle Van Rutenberg, who leads furiously curious company working with Christian business owners and executives carrying the real weight of growth and constant pressure. Through executive coaching, he helps leaders realign success with faith, family, and personal integrity. Using a focused, 10-week journal-based process, he helps uncover the beliefs driving decisions, sharpen leadership, and build clarity that impacts every area of life. Alongside coaching, his company supports strategic recruiting for growing teams and hosts honest conversations about leadership, faith, and culture through the furiously curious show. Welcome to the show, Kyle. Thanks having me, Pedro. Happy to be here. Yeah, it's great to have you. All right. And I like to line a bit, you know, get back to the origin story because every coach has a moment where they look at their life and say, yeah, I guess this is what I'm doing now. Right. So when was that for you, man?

Kyle Van Ruitenburg 2:20

Yeah, so that would have been um, well, I so I got coached myself uh in 2021. I was working uh 2020, yeah, I was working for a firearms company, MDT Sporting Goods. Um, and I was uh vice president of business development um globally, and so super cool job. Um it was all the sales and marketing, um, customer sport, uh those aspects of the business is what I focused on and uh building relationships outside of um the walls of the company. And so I was gone about two out of every four weeks to somewhere in the world, selling these products, accessories for firearms to big manufacturers, to dealers, militaries, and police departments. And uh it was awesome. I the business grew a lot from in my time there. I think it was at $9 million in sales when I started there and left when it was $55 million in sales over seven years. And so uh it was it was a lot of fun. And uh, but I got bored quickly and and so I wanted to be CEO of the company. I thought that would be uh the next step. And uh so I went to the CEO and told him that. And uh he said, well, I'll help you get coached first to see if that's actually something you want to do or not. And uh so he connected me with uh Kim Addis, who's my coach, uh frame of mind coaching in uh out of Toronto, and uh it was it was awesome getting connected with her, uh even though she was very different than me. Uh, but he said I should talk to her, and so she took me uh through a 10-week journal-based coaching program. And as you said in the introduction, that's the same program I'm trained on and take my guys through. So how it worked was I needed to log on to an online journaling software every day and a journal, um, and she could read my journals, kind of like a Facebook thread. And so every time I journaled, she got a notification, a journal, then she could ask a question on the journal and leave a comment and ask a follow-up question. And so I would do that every day for 10 weeks. And I would write not just on anything, but on a specific journal prompt that she provided that changed every week for 10 weeks. So week one was monitor your mood, week two was your beliefs, week three was your relationships, and I just kept going and on a specific um narrative uh that she was trying to gather all the information about me. And so, in addition to that, there was a phone call once a week that was recorded, and I had to listen back to it, and that's really where the coaching happened. But those 10 weeks radically changed my life, which is really ironic because Kim actually, my coach, who I love dearly, is very different than me in so many ways. Uh, she's uh older, uh quite a bit older than me, I think about 20, 25 years older than me. And she's uh liberal, I'm a conservative. Uh, she was anti-anti-gun. Uh, I sold uh firearms accessories, you know, she was Jewish, I was Christian. You know, there was like there were so many differences. But the cool thing, and I believe in an effective coaching is you you rarely give your own opinion. As the saying goes, consultants of all the answers, coaches of all the questions. And so she really focused on her strategy and what I believe as well is to focus on the beliefs that drive our behaviors. And when you really get to know someone through journaling and calls, you really see what people's beliefs are. And so I wasn't really aware of what my own beliefs were. I thought I knew, but until when she started really pressing me, it showed there was a lot that wasn't there. And so she asked me, Why do you want to be CEO? I said, I don't know. I want to move up. She goes, Well, why do you want to move up? I said, uh, I don't know, that's just what you do. She said, according to who? What do you like, what do you base that on? I'm like, uh, I don't know. And she said, Are you gonna enjoy the work more? I said, No, probably not. She said, Are you gonna uh get paid more? I said, No, probably not. And she says, So why are you doing this? And uh it came down to status. I wanted it for status. Like, you know, it was just that that's what it was. And she's like, is that really why you're gonna, you know, pursue this opportunity? And I'm like, yeah, probably not. She's like, so this doesn't actually seem like you want something you want to do at all. I saw I started to see more clearly that I was actually, you know, pursuing affirmation more than I was actually pursuing my own desires of what I what I actually wanted. I wanted acceptance more. And so that came to the table. And so I was like, well, where does this come from? So you start to uh deal with that. In week two, she said to me, What's most important to you? I said, God and then family and then work. She said, okay. And uh again, it doesn't matter to her what what I believe or don't believe. Um she's just trying to see what I say and then also see how I live and see if there's misalignments. And so in week six, she goes, Kyle, I think I think it's bullshit. I think work's most important to you. I'm like, no, it's not. I was a good Christian boy, you know, it's God first, of course. And uh I says I said, no, that's God's first. And she goes, well, all you do is work. Your actions show what you believe, not your words. And I'm like, that's that's that's brutal. But it was true. And she goes, I I don't care. Like, I don't care what you put for first. Just don't bullshit yourself. If it's work, just say it's work, just own it. And so all of a sudden I started seeing there were so many misalignments in my life. Things I was saying because it was the right thing to say, there was the right answer, versus what I was actually doing. And so I wasn't actually living according to my beliefs. And when our actions are not aligned with our beliefs, we don't have peace. And so though those things started coming to the table. Uh, and one of the biggest things that came to the table, she asked me about my marriage. And because as much as it was business coaching, our personal lives are very much affected by the business and vice versa. And so she asked, How's your marriage? I said, That's oh, it's it's okay. It's pretty good, whatever. And she said, Does Nicole, your wife, know everything about you? And she goes, I'm like, No. She wasn't she know what doesn't she know? And uh, I told her that I'd be unfaithful uh in my marriage, and uh and so she's like, Okay, and what are you gonna do about it? And I was like, I don't know. She goes, Do you think you can have an epic marriage if, you know, it's this stays secret for the rest of your life? And I said, No, probably not. So I ended up telling my wife and uh it um, you know, kind of broke everything, but it actually allowed me to be actually real with who I actually was because I was putting on a a lot of my life, I was putting on a face, a facade of of who I was, and I wasn't allowing myself to actually be real and and and live authentically. And so that set me on a journey of um of just radical change. And so so much has changed in my life since since that time. I was almost 300 pounds, you know. I I'm under 220 now. I was able to deal with um a lot of the trauma that happened to me as a kid. I was at the psych ward when I was nine years old already and had a really rough childhood. I'd never talked about that stuff, I'd never dealt with it. I was causing a lot of problems. Still married uh to the same to to Nicole, still married. Uh, we have another kid now. Um, able to process the death of my child that we had in 2019. Oh, and so there was just a whole bunch of things, but co coaching radically just helped me with those things. And so uh I got all the coaching training myself just to be a better uh leader at the company I was working at. I I didn't plan to be a coach, I just really loved the process, especially of trying to investigate someone's beliefs to get and and pointing that out rather than telling people what to do. It's like, well, what do you want to do? You say this and you're doing that, or do you actually want to do that? And helping people get aligned themselves with what they want. And I think that's the most powerful process to help people see what they want. You know, even something as practical as eating, she would say to me, Stop saying at 10 o'clock when you go for lunch today, you're not gonna eat a burger. When you go for lunch and have a and you have the menu in front of you, think about how do you want to feel in two hours. Like, don't do it as a resistance thing, think up thinking about it as like I need to resist this, but more as like, how do I, what do I want to feel in a couple hours? And that so just things like that just really helped me in that in that process. And and so then um in 2023, someone tried to hire me uh from a different company out of Alberta uh to do business develop business development for them. And after talking with them for a while, I realized I was like, I don't think, I don't think you need me at all. I I think you're the business development guy. I think you need a manager, but I think you do need coaching. So how about I coach you? And so uh I said, you can just pay me at the end whatever it's worth. I don't care. So I took him to the 10-week journal-based coaching program, and at the end of 10 weeks, he said this this changed my life, and he gave me 10 grand. Um, and uh and so uh another guy asked me and uh I was like, took a sabbatical from the company I was working at. I had to stop traveling, I I couldn't travel anymore, just uh keeping my family together. And so I was like, oh, I'm just gonna do this full time. So I ended up quitting, which is a very high-paying job. I was making over 300 grand a year, and uh basically went to nothing. Uh, I had to had to sell my house, uh, had to start renting and stuff like that. But I was able to keep my family together and and do what I love doing and and help guys on um do the same thing themselves. So there are a lot of business owners. Um yeah, I I I can I can get to that. But yeah, that's that's kind of how I got in uh got into uh uh the coaching I do.

Pedro 10:26

First of all, we're talking about Georgine's story, the CEO telling you to get coaching. I mean, that's wild car and also an awesome one, you know. I didn't see that coming. I'm not sure if that's often or if that happens a lot, but that is actually helping you. And I was thinking he was trying to get rid of you because most people do that. It's like this guy's trying to get my job, you know, he wants to be the CEO. I'm already the CEO. So I think he's a very I mean, he does have a lot of integrity, and I did like the way he introduced you to coaching, and then we got to the true coach that stepped in your way, which I also love. The fact that I would say it's just uh not having all the answers and start peeling off your own true self with the right questions. I love that. That's just true coaching. And um, on top of it, sorry about your loss about uh the kid you had a parry. So I I can't even fathom that. I have two boys. So moving forward, we're talking about the business, such a a different way to step in, yeah, and and such a unique way. You in a way you're using the same stuff you you went through, right? The journal coaching, which I think it's awesome. Sounds like a great idea, and then it started kind of organically, like you're offering that, and hey, you pay me whatever, and then hey, here's 10 grand, because that really landed, that really helped me. So that brings me to my follow-up question is when did it shift from I'm helping people? Because that's the space coaches. A lot of coaches, they they lose themselves, like, hey, I'm gonna help people to I'm building a real business around this. When do you see that shift happening?

Kyle Van Ruitenburg 12:06

Okay, so the question is when did I switch from just coaching to actually building a business?

Pedro 12:11

Exactly.

Kyle Van Ruitenburg 12:11

Uh, when I quit and I had bills to pay. You know, like I knew that this was my only re revenue stream, which ironically kind of I struggled with initially when I was still at MDT and I was co started coaching already. It was quite easy for me to sign clients because I didn't need the money. I was I was making good money already. And so there wasn't this like need and that didn't come through. And when I quit, all of a sudden I needed the money. And that really came through as well. And so I actually started to struggle after that because I didn't know uh I felt guilty calling someone up and saying, hey, how are you? Because before, if I did that as a buddy and it wasn't a firearms company, they knew I didn't have an ulterior motive. I was actually asking, How are you? And now every time I was talking to people, they were like, Is he trying to coach me? You know, or at least that was the narrative that I was telling myself and I needed the money, and so you start having this weird pressure. And so I actually started pulling away and I was also working on myself still. And so I I actually um struggled initially quite hard for that reason, and it's a lot harder to sell yourself than it is to sell, you know, a product or something else. But I did a someone mentioned it to me and said, if you had the cure to cancer, would it be moral for you to withhold that from somebody? And the obvious answer is no, right? Right. And so if you believe in what you're offering, is that is it moral for you to withhold that from people? If you believe it's actually going to help them, do you believe in your product? And the obvious just no. And so instead of that really helped my mind switch from thinking of like I'm I'm taking versus I'm actually still helping, and I'm, you know, this is a business and I and I needn need to make a profit. And so I just took that approach more. It was a lot easier for me to uh create sales that way and and understand, hey, what value am I offering and trying to articulate that to that to the clients? And then it just started to keep going. I just didn't give up. So I I uh had a podcast and I started advertising on the podcast, and that helped. Um, I hired a coach to work for me. Uh, was a mentor of mine. He was in the U.S. Marines as a colonel, flew F-18s, is was in the special forces, uh, but he's an older guy, later 50s, and and so uh he coaches for me now, and and so I can get clients for him, and then offering recruiting services as well. And so it's more just been, I think the reason it worked is because I didn't give up. I just didn't like you just when you it's kind of like the burn the ships method, right? I think there's that famous example of this these guys trying to uh conquer this island, and and every time a new new group of guys comes conquer the island, they can't beat them and they go back on their ships and they take off again until one guy came and said, as soon as they landed, he told us guys burn the ships. They're like, what? Burn the ships? We're not we're if we're leaving, we're leaving on their ships. We're not and it just cuts off the possibility of quitting. Um and I think, especially with coaching, people getting into it and stuff like that, is that you are are kind of dipping your toe in the water, you know, you're like or you have a backup plan and stuff like that. You gotta you gotta be all in. You gotta just yeah.

Pedro 15:10

Yeah, like there's no plan B. I I think I remember uh I think it's a story in the art of war of Sun Tzu. It's like he tend to to have his army at the back of a cliff or a mountain, so they had like no plan B, right? It it's all in, it's all in or nothing. So yeah, I think it's somewhat to extend something like that. Now, after you got rolling, right, Kyle, who are the people that kept showing up, you know? The ones you realize, okay, these are my people.

Kyle Van Ruitenburg 15:40

Yeah. Yeah, so it's very much my so I grew up a Dutch reformed. It's like uh Christian, it's just Christian, um, but it's it's uh people that immigrated from Holland in the 50s and and built communities all over um North America. And so I how how I grew up, and and there's just very specific cultural things that uh are nuanced that I understood. And so those are the the kind of guys that keep showing up. Um and it's not just restricted to that, but it's people that are grew up um with faith somehow, like in a Christian church, um, and uh care about family values, you know, want to go do the right thing, be an honorable guy, be a good family dad, and and love business, want to make money and and and make something out of it. And one of the things that I noticed in that demographic is it's like 20 guys from 25 to 45 years old is that they're actually quite lonely and isolated. And there's four common things that I see in these guys. And the first is that they they don't trust the government. They think the people used to trust the government to a certain degree, but there's very little trust in the government. They don't have much hope for the future. They think the world's going to shit. So no matter how hard I work, like what's the actual point? They don't trust the church. You know, they grew up Christian, they probably go to church, but they uh they don't trust the church. They think 80 or 90 percent of what they grew up with in church is bullshit. They would never talk to a pastor or an elder about what they're struggling with. Um they don't, you know, they feel like they have to be perfect around those guys. And then the fourth thing is that they had absentee dads, so dads that might have been physically around, but not emotionally present for them. And so there's no connection at all. And so now you're 35 years old and you feel like you should have your shit together, but you but you don't. So you feel shame, so you isolate more. But in the one area that you do know you can seek get value is in your job, right? In your business. So if I work really hard, you can see the results of it and you get something out of it. And so that's where a lot of guys spend their time. It's like, why do guys like moan the lawn? Because you can see the result, right? Like you can you can see the difference, and and that feels good. But they don't actually know how to show up for their family. They don't actually really know what it means to be a good dad. They don't know how to deal with conflict. So they're often conflict avoiders or people pleasers, and it causes a lot of a lot of problems for them. And so um, once you can start peeling things back and realize one thing to add to that, they don't actually believe in themselves that much either, because their dads never believed in them. And so they don't they're not really confident confident people. And because these four things that I mentioned the government, the the future, the church, and um their dads is those are things that give you security in life, right? They're pillars. And so now you're kind of floating, but you don't really know what you believe yourself either. And beliefs drive behaviors. So if you're really sure about a belief, it's really easy to behave a certain way. If you were taught your whole life, new uh John Deere tractors are the best tractors in the world, and then it gets hammered into you. Well, when you're 25 and you're a farmer, there's not a lot of stress in deciding what tractor you're gonna buy, right? Because you know. But if you've been told that none of them are really good and you're not really sure, then when you're 25, you have to figure out what you believe so you can make your choice on what tractor to buy, right? So beliefs, strong beliefs make it easier to decide on how to show up and how to behave. And so what the coaching really does is it helps guys figure out what they actually believe. And and because a lot of guys are just doing what other people say they should believe when it comes to the business. You should do this in your business and and that in your business. And they're kind of like, oh, what do I do? You know, or in your family or this or that. And so what the coaching pulls back the layers of, hey, well, I'm not really sure what I believe about a whole bunch of things. I actually have no beliefs. I just, you know, and then they you allow them to start, you know, solidifying what these beliefs are. And so, you know, it it it's it's it's super powerful. And, you know, it was interesting. My coach challenged me really hard to get divorced. I separated five times over three years, and she's like, Why don't you get divorced? Why are you in this marriage and stuff like that? And so I'm really happy she did that because it solidified my belief. I want it to stay. Um, and it m it made it more concrete. So that's usually when we challenge a belief, that's what happens. We realize it's not true, and we have to switch our beliefs or realize realize it's more true than we initially realized, and that belief gets more solid, and then it's a lot easier to then show up differently. And so that's really what the coaching focuses on. And so these guys sort of wake up and be the man that you know they've always always were, but was just covered with many layers of should, should, you know, instead of like things that they actually wanted.

Pedro 20:03

Interesting. Sounds like they're following someone else's playbook, you know. They they didn't even write themselves, but they're like, hey, it sounds like this is the next thing to do, right? Like you mentioned in your own career. So yeah, and when you start peeling that off, it shows true intention. What are you aligned with or not aligned with to keep building your own path? Now, okay. Now we're talking about twenty forty-five-year-old guys that uh do have some faith background, but I want to understand the marketing aspect to it, okay? Now a little bit into the business side. So how do those guys usually find you?

Kyle Van Ruitenburg 20:42

Yeah, so it's mainly through my podcast. So in 2019, I started a podcast called The Furiously Curious Show, way before I started coaching. And I just um I've always been a pretty curious guy, and so I want to know why people believe what they believe. So when I see someone with pink hair, you know, an average conservative guy might be like, You're you're nuts, you know, like you're crazy. But I want to know how they got there. Like genuinely. I'm curious. Like, what were the chain of events in your life that made you get to that spot and like show up the way you do now? I'm just a curious person. And I think it's really important to be able to have conversations and learn that way too, is to, you know, get other people's viewpoints. And so I started a podcast to do that just to share those beliefs. And then so when I quit MDT, I needed to do marketing for my for my coaching to grow it. And I didn't want to talk into a camera just blindly and answer and give coaching tips or this or that. It just seemed inauthentic to me. And so I started an additional show to the Furiously Curious show called The Briefcase in the Barn, which is me and my uh buddy Gary, who's a business farmer guy. And and uh I said, we're just gonna talk every week for a half hour about whatever we want to talk about. No rules. I'm not gonna care at all who listens and who likes it. But I know if I do that, whoever does listen will be the most like me because otherwise they wouldn't listen, right? Like we're we're we we we're And we get closer and attract the people that are the most like us. And so I know if those people listen, those are also the people I want to coach the most. And so I just started doing a weekly show, and literally that was my rule. I I was not going to chase views or likes or anything else like that. And so now I have about 750 um downloads every week on specifically that talk show. And that's an opportunity to build trust with the audience because I'm very open about my own failures and wins and everything else like that, everything I believe. And so as you build trust with the audience, you also have an opportunity to talk about your coaching then and the services you offer. And so that's basically that exclusively the way I market my coaching and uh and and recruiting.

Pedro 22:38

Interesting. All right. Now let's talk business for a second. People find you, right, through your podcast, for example, like you told me, and they resonate with your work. And eventually they want to know what working with you actually looks like. And everyone builds their own coaching business a bit differently. So when someone actually becomes a client, right, what does that experience look like right now?

Kyle Van Ruitenburg 22:59

Yeah. So first we have a discovery call to see if, you know, why they're there, why why they're interested. And in the discovery call, you just ask a ton of questions again, like what's going on in their world and and what's helping them win and what what are the struggles? And you try to add value in that call right away and see how you can help them. And in that call, I often share a little bit of my own story and why I do what I do. And then I ask if they want to move forward. So I charge for my program $15,000 for 10 weeks. And uh if they want to go ahead with that, then they pay pay up front. I I ask for full money up front because I want these guys to be all in. I don't want to piss around. Um I I I want to go to go hard at this. And so if they commit to that, then uh I do an intake call, which is just asking about 20 questions about all the different like more detailed things of their life, like what kind of family they came from, you know, how many siblings, uh, relationships, faith, whatever that are important to them, what they hope to get out of the coaching experience. And then we just pick uh explain the software to them, show them the software, how it works, and then uh we just pick a Monday to start and uh we just give her. So they just start journaling, I start responding, have our a call every week, and then it just goes on for 10 weeks.

Pedro 24:08

Interesting.

Kyle Van Ruitenburg 24:09

You know, a lot of times after 10 weeks they stake, stay on one call a month or two calls a month. But yeah, it's those 10 weeks that really give you extreme awareness, really. That's what I would summarize people get out of it is extreme awareness. What do you actually want, you know, and where do you actually want to go um and what do you actually believe? Because you need a foundation to start off of to move forward. You know, like one of the things I did to rebuild my marriage after I was unfaithful is do polygraphs. My counselor told me to do polygraphs, lie detector tests, um, to prove that I wasn't bullshitting and I was telling the truth. Well, why is that important? Because my wife wanted a foundation to work from. She wanted to know what the bottom was. You know, once you know once you have a foundation, once you know the truth, you can go up. But until you know what you're working with, it's really hard to know what like how to go up because you don't you don't know what you're building on. And so that's what the 10 weeks really does is it gives you those, it gives you that foundation. It's like gives you the truth of like, okay, now you actually know what you want. So now you can build up from this and where you actually want to go. Because usually what we say we want is not what we actually want.

Pedro 25:08

Okay. Now, your work seems pretty hands-on, Kyle. We're talking about the the journal, we're talking about the coaching sessions, right? So, how do you think about capacity? So you don't stretch yourself too thin.

Kyle Van Ruitenburg 25:22

I don't really think about it too much. Uh yeah, I mean, I I would say I would coach I'm coaching right now set six guys uh um in maintenance. I I have no one in the 10-week program right now. Um my coach Trey has a couple guys that he's working with. I have a lot of things, other things going on. I record a couple podcasts a week. I do recruiting. Yeah, I mean, capacity, probably the hardest thing sometimes is just the mental side of things. Uh um, but yeah, I'm not sure if I think about capacity too much. I just want to wanna keep going and growing.

Pedro 25:52

So okay. And um I want to tap into your experience a little bit because every coach wrestles with at some point is pricing, right? And how to package their work, especially in the early days, like am I charging too much? Am I not charging enough? You know, that type of mentality. So how do you think it about it today? And were there any lessons along the way that shaped how you landed where you're at right now?

Kyle Van Ruitenburg 26:16

Yeah, I mean, people pricing is very funny, you know. Like I remember in 2018 I had to sell some kittens that were born at our house. And so I went on Craigslist and I looked at the most expensive kittens you could find were $100. So I listed mine for 200. And I sold sold them right away. Because the peop people want some people just want the best stuff, right? And so I I wanted to, I knew I wanted to work with the top level guys. I want to work with executives, I want to work with A players. I want to work with guys that are already successful, you know. I want to know work with guys that know everything already. Um and are and are, you know, like it that's my character and stuff like that. So I know I needed to price according to that. And then the second thing was um I have a lot of experience, you know. I've I've traveled the world for five, six, seven years. Um, and then I had a few other jobs before that in purchasing and operations and shipping and receiving, and so a lot of experience seeing a ton of businesses and and and building a business. And so an average executive makes, you know, 250 grand a year. Um, and so if you then say to a business owner, hey, you get to have an executive level person on your team, you know, in your corner for a few weeks uh or longer, you know, six months, whatever else like this, and and that only costs you the price of you know, small amount, you know, a tenth of that even, you know, it's it's very comparable, right? If you're gonna go hire an executive level person, 250, you know, a year, or you can get coaching for, you know, let's say it's the 10-week program, and then you know, some maintenance coaching is 30 grand, you know, it's it's actually relatively cheap. And so it's just being able to communicate um that value that way. So that's that's kind of how I how I look at it. But it it's uh it's hard. It's it's uh it like the price I I I charge $15,000 a US. I did that from day one um after I got my first um um guy to just say, hey, I'll I'll pay you whatever it's worth at the end. And uh it does give people uh a sticker shock um uh and in initially. But I yeah, I mean that's I don't want to really work for less. And I know the value I give them at the end as well, right? When you start understanding, oh, you've radically changed someone's life, or your the coaching program and the coaching has radically changed someone's life for the better, and now they have a much better marriage, you know, now they have much better relationship with their kids, they're taking care of their health, you know, their employees actually know what's wrong versus like him avoiding dealing with the issues. So he's actually making more better strategic decisions when it comes to sales or cost savings, whatever else like that. It's it's it's monumental. So it's way worth way more than than just uh you know uh a small amount of money. And and one of the most powerful examples uh um that I talk to people about when it comes to this is if you see a Lamborghini on the side of the road that's for sale, or a Ferrari or a nice car and it's listed for $15,000, you see a big sign that says $15,000 or $10,000, you're probably not gonna stop. The engine's probably missing or something. Something's wrong. Something's wrong. But if you see $250,000, $250,000, you're gonna stop, not because you're gonna buy, because you wanna see it. You wanna see this awesome car, right? And and so a lot of people price themselves like a $10,000 Ferrari.

Pedro 29:28

Okay. Now let me ask you this. Considering you're you have a unique way of coaching, right? We're talking about a daily, almost daily journal coaching that you reply to them, follow-up questions, and all of that, and then we have the one-on-ones. So do you do you think the pricing point helps you with the accountability aspect? Like if this was too low, people were like, you know, I'm not gonna respond to that daily. They don't have I'm not, I don't have enough skin in the game, you know, or this is too much, this is too much work. Do you think the 15K brings them, grounds them up to, hey, let's really do this? Do you think that's a factor?

Kyle Van Ruitenburg 30:05

It's huge. Yeah, it's very big. I I've coached a few people for free through my program just because it worked out that way. I I wanted to get some practice. There was a few people I was like, oh, this makes sense to do this. And it is way different than someone who pays. Way different because they're not coming, they have nothing on the table, right? Like they have nothing to lose. You need to have something to lose for things to be effective. And so uh yeah, it makes a very big difference versus not having anything on the table.

Pedro 30:30

Interesting. Now, Kyle, I'm curious about where you're taking all this, right? 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?

Kyle Van Ruitenburg 30:41

Yeah, I'm starting to do some live events. That's that's kind of exciting. Uh, I want to hire a few more coaches and uh get people to um coach for me more on the frame of mind coaching methodology, but there's not specific revenue goals I have necessarily. I I love what I do. It's I want to change people's lives. If I could have a number of guys necessarily I want to change, you know, some people say I want to change, you know, thousand people a year. I don't I don't have yet any of that. Um I just you know keep trying to communicate what I do now and the value I offer. And uh yeah, I mean I did I did uh 300k last year, uh my third year of coaching. Uh I think it's probably possible I get two a million dollars in sales in the next uh three to four years, but yeah, who who who knows? It's a crazy world up there.

Pedro 31:24

So yeah. And of course, whenever we're aiming towards the next chapter, always something we're refining in the present. So what are you currently trying to improve or tighten up in your business right now?

Kyle Van Ruitenburg 31:34

Yeah, I think my biggest weak point weak point is administration and it's the back the back end of things. It's the emails, it's the the follow-ups, it's like the you know, when I worked at MDT, I had an accounting team, I had a marketing team, you know, you had an assistant, you have all this stuff. When you go work for yourself, it doesn't matter. Like you gotta pay the phone bill, you gotta talk to the tax man, you gotta figure out how to do your finances, you gotta do all of it. And so there's a few areas like that that I just don't like doing and so um and struggle with. So it's probably getting uh an administration person just to help on the back the back end more, and then maybe getting a specific salesperson to do outbound to find more coaching clients.

Pedro 32:12

Okay, yeah. The structure behind uh corporate America sometimes it helps a lot. And when you're a solopreneur that reeks that you actually sometimes need help. So that makes sense. Now, I want to tap into your experience for a second, you know, because people listening can really benefit from this. You're so open to sharing, so you've been in the game long enough to hear all kinds of business advice, you know. Some that stick, some of that really doesn't. So, what's one piece of business advice you hear all the time that you think is so rated or misunderstood?

Kyle Van Ruitenburg 32:46

You need to always be growing, otherwise you're dying. Or never say no to work. There's always work you need to say no to. There's people I do not want to coach, and even if they paid me a lot of money, I would say no. You need to know what you do and why you do it and and not just be driven by your your customer. Uh innovation is important, but it's more, you know, a lot of people say if I if I'm not growing and getting more businesses and saying yes to things, well then I'm then then I'm dying. That's just not true. You know, I think it comes from people that are just stagnant in what they're offering people and not, you know, trying to continue to offer value, and that then you're gonna go backwards. You need to be, you know, continuing to offer value in and in a in a clear way. Your business and your work should not run your life. You run your life. And so a lot of people allow their business to run their life. And so um it should be the other way around.

Pedro 33:41

Yeah, the business should serve you and not the other way around, right?

Kyle Van Ruitenburg 33:45

That's right, yeah.

Pedro 33:46

Okay. And on the flip side, what's a piece of advice you wish more people actually took seriously?

Kyle Van Ruitenburg 33:52

Do what you want. Stop trying to make the people around you happy. It's not, you know, ultimately if maybe say not do what you want, but take take care of yourself first. You know, if you get onto a plane and fly somewhere to do a safety demonstration, and then they say when the masks come down and you have a little kid beside you, whose mask do they ask tell you to put on first? Not the kid's mask. They tell you to put your own mask on first, right? And it and it's a little bit counterintuitive and like, well, aren't we supposed to help the kids first? Well, if you do it that way, you're gonna be passed out by trying to put the kids' mask on. So we all have to be healthy ourselves for us to help the people around us well. And so a lot of times we're always saying we're giving, giving, giving, giving, and we lose ourselves in the process and we don't take care of ourselves. Well, then we actually do start doing a crappier job of helping the people around us. And so we have to put on our own mask first, take care of our own stuff first, practice what we preach. And I think that's probably the most powerful piece of advice because otherwise we just become empty and we burn out or we do all the other things, right? It's self-care is very important. I think if you are uh a coach and you don't have a coach yourself, that's a red flag. Right? Like you need to be working on yourself and and pushing and grinding.

Pedro 35:04

I love that. And if someone listening wants to connect with you or follow your work, Kyle, where can people find you and connect with you?

Kyle Van Ruitenburg 35:11

Yeah, so my website is furiouslycurious.co. Um, and you can uh contact me there on my social media uh as well. Furiously Curious uh CO is my social media handles and my inst my personal pages are on there as well. Or you can email me, Kyle, at furiouslycurious.co, and uh connect with me that way. I'd be happy to hop on a call. I do free discovery calls for for an hour for people that want them.

Pedro 35:34

So okay, you know, there were a few things you share today that really stay with me. I would say that quote consultants having all the answers and coaches have all the questions. I think we had a lot of people that move out from consultancy to coaching, and uh sometimes that's a hard hat to get rid of, you know, and being able to stop giving answers and start asking the right questions. So I think that's a very powerful reminder. So, like you said, in a way, like behavior is a language, right? It's not just about telling X, Y, and Z, it's about acting like it, you know. So I think that's also a very important uh reminder. Overall, just being super vulnerable. I mean, it sounds like you brush through things that are like heart traumas for most people, like, oh, I wasn't faithful, oh I lost the kid. I was doing stuff that really didn't resonate who I am, and you browse through it like it's nothing, so it it tells me you own it and you kept moving forward, which I think is a key asset for a coach, you know, is have that skin in the game, not just talk about hardship, but live through it, you know. I would say also, you know, one thing you mentioned about the curing cancer, right? What would would you would you stop yourself if you knew you what you had as something really precious? It always brings back me to sometimes an analogy I have. It's like, oh, I'm reaching out, and sometimes we see a lot of coaches reaching out, and they're like, Oh, I'm annoying this person. Oh, should I call them or should I do you know a reach out through email? But at the same time, I think of a like a family that has a kid that is addicted, and they won't reach out for the family to help them, but you need to know you have something special and you can help that person. And sometimes it's not the first, the second, but if you can actually help them and you believe that, you're gonna you you're potentially saving a life, right? So that's a great reminder. And uh take care of your own stuff first, you know. I always like I had people I met that were not great parents at home, but they was always they were always looking to serve the community. But hey, look at your own households first, right? If your kid is being getting the attention he needs, you know, and that don't try to be a superhero if you're not one at home, I think, at the end of the day. Now, I appreciate what you do, Kyle, and I appreciate you being here and sharing so openly today, you know. It was great having you on.

Kyle Van Ruitenburg 38:07

Yeah, thanks for having me, Pedro. It's uh cool to uh see what you do and share light on coaches, so thanks for doing what you do.

Davis Nguyen 38:13

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 joinpurplecircle.com.