The Art of Career Growth with Steve Thornton

In this episode of Career Coaching Secrets, our guest is Steve Thornton, an expert career coach with years of experience in helping professionals navigate their career growth. Steve shares valuable insights on career development, overcoming obstacles, and maximizing opportunities for success. Whether you're looking to level up in your current job or make a major career change, Steve's proven strategies will guide you towards your goals.

You can find him on:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevethornton1/
https://expectsuccessglobal.com/
https://www.facebook.com/p/Steve-Thornton-61573499922144/
https://successtek.com/
Email: steve@expectsuccessglobal.com

Transcript

Steve Thornton 0:00

But here's the great thing, before he doubled even last year, his business because we set it up so much on autopilot, and this is no exaggeration. Now he did only work this amount of time, but he had it to where he honestly only needed like five hours a week, personal time, to keep his mid six-figure income, and that was it. But now he's like, but he that's not where he's satisfied with. He wanted more, so he doesn't overwork. But the point is, you know, you can do that. So it depends on what someone's vision is for their life, their goals, and all that. Then you have to work your way backwards and figure out what do I have to do to get there?

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 Wayne, 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 Stein 1:09

Welcome to Career Coaching Secrets Podcast. I'm Pedro, and today's guest is Steve Thornton, a lifelong entrepreneur, coach, and consultant who has experienced both major business wins and tough failures, and built his philosophy from the lessons in both. With more than 10,000 coaching, consulting, and training sessions under his belt, Steve has dedicated his career to helping entrepreneurs and business owners grow with the right people, principles, and strategies around them. In addition to private coaching, Steve developed Success Tech to make business growth tools accessible at every budget level. He also brings deep expertise in digital and internet marketing, investing years mastering what works in an ever-changing landscape while staying anchored in timeless success principles. Welcome to the show, Steve.

Steve Thornton 2:15

Well, it is my pleasure to be here, Pedro. I'm looking forward to our conversation today. So thank you.

Pedro Stein 2:21

Yeah, it's great to have you, you know. And I always like to rewind a bit. We were talking pre-podcast, 25 years in in coaching world, right? In the coaching space. So every coach has the moment where they look at their life and say, Yeah, I guess this is what I'm doing now, right? So, Steve, when was that for you?

Steve Thornton 2:43

You know, it was interesting. And is it all right if I expand a little bit and tell you how I got there?

Pedro Stein 2:49

Absolutely.

Steve Thornton 2:50

Well, it's kind of interesting. I started as a coaching recipient, joining another coaching program, my first one in 1992. And so it's been a moment. But whenever I did that, it was um basically in one year. And it was only because of the coach I had and the program, quite frankly, but we it was real estate investing, but we ended up doing our own seminars to seasoned investor groups. We ended up getting the largest property management company in the state of Arizona on our team. We ended up getting a buyer's broker that had so much experience and designations behind her name, all the letters. I don't even know what they all mean to this day. She had so much, it was crazy. But and then we got a general contractor as a partner, and within one year, we were doing these seminars to all these groups. And I tell you this, Pedro, because it blew me away as I look back at it. I came from the construction industry, I was a journeyman lineman, and I knew nothing about business. And so when I joined that coaching program, and when I say nothing, I mean I had a full beard, longer hair, mustache, all of that, but I didn't look at all like a business guy. Not that any of that matters, but at the time I didn't even own a tie. I mean, it was construction wear all day long. But in one year, everything changed, and without that coach and coaching program, it wouldn't have happened. And then fast forward, I left that. We had a family member, had some health issues and all that. So I went into business helping them. And I didn't have a coach, I didn't have the right training, the right mentors after all this success. And quite frankly, I lost all my money. I ended up going a million dollars in debt. I ended up owning a hundred and forty creditors, I was past due at that time with every one of them. And it was like we were getting ready to crash and burn. It got so bad, I ended up having to sleep in my car and take a job just to put food on the table. Uh, and that was like two-hour drive one way, and then in the middle of the summer in Phoenix, uh, where it's 90 degrees as a low, so it got really hot, but sleeping in my car, going, How am I gonna support my family? But then I would go to a health club because it was really cheap, and I could work out in the morning and act like I was a normal person, and then take a shower before I go to work on that job I took. And all the principles that took me from that place of losing it all to where we are now is what we teach and train. But that's what motivates me to this day is with the right coaching, the right training, the right people in your corner, you can do anything. So it was like with coaching, without coaching, and and it really didn't even start there. It was a few years later, and I'll make this really quick too, but we bought a distributorship and we were just blessed. We we were blessed and did about 80 to 90 percent of the entire national volume. And so we're like, wow, this is great. Well, we had all these other distributors that paid the thousands like we paid, and they said, What are you doing? So I'm a very open guy, and I would just tell them here's exactly what we're doing. But there were so many calls we decided we wanted to do a training. And so we invited them all to a training, and the response was so great, and this is again after that failure, but they went and they went to the company, unbeknownst to me, and they said, These people, because it wasn't just me, it was me and my team that did the training, but they said they need to do all of our training, they just know what they're doing, and they wrote all these letters saying their life would change. I was super excited. I'm like, this is my life's patch passion is helping training people. And back then there was no coaching industry, there wasn't certification of coaching, there wasn't any of that. I mean, it was long before the coaching federation, they were just trying to come up with that many years later. But here's the point I followed up with these folks, all that attended myself, three or four months later after our training. And almost all of them were in the same position they were before the training, even though every one of them thought their life was gonna change. And it didn't. So I was like, what is going on here? We gave them everything. I mean, we didn't hold anything back. It's like paint by numbers. And so that's when it clicked in me. It's more than just information or training or going to a great seminar. It's like you have to apply it, you have to get that information to work for you. And so a few years later, I went into coaching and uh saw the results that I was getting personally before we even had a company. It was you know, just me doing all the coaching back then, and it was like, this is it, this is what I need to do. The feedback and the help, there was nothing better than helping people. So that's a long way to get to answer your question of how I got here and knew it was the time. It's like this is it, I'm gonna do this the rest of my life.

Pedro Stein 7:51

Oh wow, what a roller coaster. From being exposed through a program like in coaching, right? Uh, that actually ignited and started that spark hole inside you. Like, hey, this is cool, right? From slipping in a car, getting one million in debt. Oh my god, you you that's a true entrepreneur's journey, I would say, from top to bottom. I really like it. And and it's so inspiring, also. Now, Steve, I want to understand one thing, and you might have to backtrack a little bit. It's when did it shift, you know, from I'm helping people to I'm building a real business around this? Because and and I want to uh even if you if you want to make a uh you know uh distinction between training and coaching, because I see a lot of people that sometimes, oh, training is one thing and coaching is another. So I want to understand when did you felt like, okay, this is really a coaching business, and you sense that shift, you know?

Steve Thornton 8:53

Yeah, great question. My goodness. Um it's kind of interesting because we had already been doing this for quite some time, and I went to a coaching training where they were just trying to distinguish what coaching really was because it was brand new. And they said it's not therapy, it's not consulting, it's not, they had all the not and said, Here's what coaching is. And just being really transparent, I went to that and I said, if I did what they're saying here, I'd lose every client. So it was like that that doesn't work. Just coaching, people need training and they need coaching and they need consulting, they need people that know what to do. So even our program to this day combines all three. We say we're a coaching company, but we also say we're consulting and a training company because not everyone's the same. You have to find out what they're lacking. Some people don't have the skills and they need training. Other people don't really, they need accountability, they need that support and that, you know, uh someone being their cheerleader like coaching, and that's not all coaching is about, but they also need someone that knows how to build systems and funnels and and really it's like they don't know what they don't know. And and we all are like that. I'm not saying they, because I'm still learning and growing, we're growing like crazy, but it's like you meet people where they are, so people try to draw the line, and that's against my personal philosophy and our company's philosophy. No, you you meet people where they are to help them, whatever it takes.

Pedro Stein 10:30

Hmm. So it sounds like more in your experience, like a hybrid model. It's like, yes, we're gonna make the right questions so we can capture the essence, the intention behind where we want to go, but at the same time, we're gonna provide a tool so we can actually get there. Does that make sense?

Steve Thornton 10:47

Oh, that's a perfect recap, yes.

Pedro Stein 10:50

Hmm, interesting. Okay. Now, after you got rolling, who are the people that kept showing up, Steve? You know, the ones you realize this is the guys that can serve best, you know?

Steve Thornton 11:03

You know, it's very interesting. We have been just so blessed, and and I say that it's just kind of almost crazy. We've had a lot of people stay as our clients for five years, 10 years, the longest was 20 years, and it's actually now like 25 years. No, that's not, yeah, it's been 25 years, but after 20 years, I said, you don't have to pay another dime ever. And so it's more like because she retired. I mean, she retired wealthy and healthy and everything else. And but we just had such a connection, we just talked twice a month just to say hi and see what's going on in her life. But it's like who, and to answer your question, who are they? It's like anyone that is serious about their business and they really are coachable and trainable. What I found is I know because I've been doing it for so long, from one conversation, usually, whether we can help them skyrocket or whether they're going to be a challenge. And I've made those mistakes and I've let, you know, we've we've taken people on that we shouldn't have. And so we don't want people with pride or ego or think they know it all, and and they aren't going to, and we don't think we know it all. We're we're learning from them, but they're learning from us. So that's who our perfect client is, is people that really want to be part of that team environment, and we can do wonders with them.

Pedro Stein 12:26

Interesting. Okay. Now that's the coaching piece, right? Now I want to talk about the part nobody escapes. And I think you, if I'm not mistaken, you do have a marketing agency, okay? But I want to talk about marketing. So, how do people usually find you?

Steve Thornton 12:41

You know, it's very interesting. We've done what another good question. You've got lots of good questions, but um, we've done just about everything over the years. So we put on our own seminars. I've spoken at a lot of other people's programs. Uh we like right now, we're doing a lot of LinkedIn marketing. So we have very specific strategic ways that we do that. We do Facebook marketing right now, we're doing some cold email campaigns. Uh, we we have an affiliate program, so people refer us business, but we start, and and this is for everyone else, not really just how we do it, but I hope this helps people. You can do everything like we're doing now, but you can't do it all at once. You have to start with one thing and really dial it in until you get it going. And it doesn't have to be the same thing that you know someone's trying to sell you. So with our marketing company, we do SEO, we do pay-per-click, we do all the stuff. But the reality is all of it's not right for someone. You have to figure out what's gonna work for them, and they have to figure it out with their personality and where they're at right then and there.

Pedro Stein 13:53

I love that reminder, and I'm gonna tell you the reason I love it. It's because it's so easy to spread yourself too thin when we're talking about social media presence, especially coaches in the early days, you know, they're like, the mentality is I need to be everywhere. But at the same time, if you're everywhere, you you're not really being super intentional and getting to the ins and outs of that specific uh channel, right? So if you are doing that with intention and keeping up uh the track, the the metrics and all of that, and your ICP hands out there, right? They they need to be there. It's a such a powerful reminder to be intentional in just one channel and dialed in and get a master at it, and then you can move to the next one. Does that make sense? Was that something while we're talking about here?

Steve Thornton 14:44

Oh, that's a perfect recap and and a perfect summary. And uh, can you still hear me and see me? I know your screen went a little bit.

Pedro Stein 14:51

No, I can, it's just fine. Yes.

Steve Thornton 14:53

Okay, just want to make sure. No, that was a perfect summary, and and I'll give a couple of examples. We had, and and one person, well, let me let me back up. I'll just tell you how I first started marketing and coaching, and it still works today. That if someone's just starting out, cold calling. And some people, it's like I would hate to cold call, but I didn't have any marketing dollars, I didn't have anything when I first started. But every day I dialed the phone 60 times with my target market, and I set up appointments with people so I could see if we were a good fit. And I only set up a few a day by doing 60 dials, but within six months I had 55 private coaching clients, and then after that, we could expand and do other things, but we have other people, like one client, she likes door knocking. Now, I hate door knocking, and and she likes it for her target audience. It's like knocking on doors really works. But some people are going, I wouldn't do that. Good, don't do it. We have one client right now that is doing everything on Facebook, and and we have her very strategically doing things, and she hasn't even been in coaching for a year, and she got her first few clients within a month or two of working with us, and it just keeps growing. But that's what she likes to do. So I I think again, wherever you're at, you just need to figure out what do I like, what's going to work for me, but don't let someone just sell you on their system or their program because it may or may not be a fit for you.

Pedro Stein 16:30

I would say that even you know, old school tactics uh of reach out, um, I think they're they're coming back in a way because there's so many uh outreach doing bat by AI, you know, and people are sensing it. They're like, I'll tell by my own practice, I'm a career coach also. So uh I in on LinkedIn sometimes I feel like I need to be kind of a a bro, you know, so that I I'm not being so formal, and people understand this is a human being talking and not and not just an automated, even if it is automated, but it's not just an automated message that it feels like a human being wouldn't talk like that. Not sure if you feel like it, because there's also uh today's age it sounds like there's a filter. People are like, is this a robot?

Steve Thornton 17:15

You know, and AI is very powerful, but that's so well said, and it works. But for me, door knocking wouldn't work, and even like networking with intention, I teach trainings on networking, how to really get massive results from networking. But you know what? I don't like the drive time to get to a networking event back and forth, and some people we've helped them you know quadruple their business in a year by doing nothing but networking. So it's like, what is it for them?

Pedro Stein 17:50

Yeah, a hundred percent. And I can understand why you don't like spend so much time in your car, okay? Considering the origin story. I get it, no worries. Now, let's talk business for a second, Steve. Okay, so people find you, right, your clients, uh, through LinkedIn, Facebook, code email reach. Well, you you you tried it all, right? Except door knocking. And they resonate with your work. And eventually they want to know what working with you actually looks like. So everyone builds their coaching business a bit differently. So when someone actually becomes a client, Steve, what does that experience look like right now?

Steve Thornton 18:26

Well, it's very interesting. Again, it started out when I first started, it was all private coaching, and that was it, and they work directly with me. Now it's like there's private coaching, which some people can't afford because it's just not in their budget at where they're at right now. So we have small group coaching, and then we just spent two years, and you mentioned in the intro, Success Tech. Well, we spent two years developing that platform because there's a big segment of people that are being left behind because they can't even afford group coaching, and yet I want to help them, I don't want to serve them. So we spent for us Buku Bucks, a whole lot of money, and we developed a platform. It wasn't an app, now it's on an app, you can do it all on one app. But the point is it's like we have everything from $14.95 a month on that up to the you know, $99 a month, or group coaching at three or four hundred, a few hundred dollars a month, up to our private, all the way up to a hundred thousand dollars for a year if someone wants to work with me. So it's like, where are you and what do they need? So our big deal is not selling people, our big deal is hearing and listening and finding out what is going to help them the most with their entire situation. But we were only serving a certain amount of people in the beginning, and that was all great, but we wanted to serve more. So we've taken a lot of time to develop a lot of different ways to help people.

Pedro Stein 19:55

Okay. I mean, your work seems pretty hands-on. You have multiple businesses, right? You're still have some clients in the coaching practice, and you're managing success tax, especially in the scaling phase. That's how that's how how it sounds like. So, how do you think about capacity? So don't stretch yourself too thin, Steve.

Steve Thornton 20:17

Very good question. Is we're always interviewing and hiring the right people, and you said it so well, Pedro. And it's just the way I say it. People will either make a company or break a company. And so I am again, I'm just so fortunate. I have, I think, the best people in the world surrounding me. And uh, I'm just, and I mean that, I don't just feel that, but three of them, three of our owners are my family. And it's like in my adult son in his 30s, my daughter in her 30s, we couldn't do what we're doing without them. But then we have a lot of other people that are overseeing sales or overseeing certain parts of marketing, but it has to be the right people, and and we've watched our our clients like one example is a gentleman that I started working with. He just a few years ago, and he's not there now, praise God, he's not, but but he was in a lawsuit with a company as a financial advisor, and he made a mistake, and so it was a big deal for him going, I could lose everything. Well, long story short, got out of that. He started, decided I'm gonna start my own thing, so there will be no problems. So he started his own financial advising firm. He's in the mid-six figures, and and it was didn't start, but just in a few years, went through all of that in the mid six figures, and even again last year, he doubled. So it's like, oh my goodness, it's crazy. But here's the great thing before he doubled even last year, his business because we set it up so much on autopilot, and this is no exaggeration. Now he didn't only work this amount of time, but he had it to where he honestly only needed like five hours. Hours a week, personal time to keep his mid six-figure income, and that was it. But now he's like, but he that's not where he's satisfied with. He wanted more, so he doesn't overwork. But the point is, you know, you can do that. So it depends on what someone's vision is for their life, their goals, and all that. Then you have to work your way backwards and figure out what do I have to do to get there step by step, and then you build it.

Pedro Stein 22:28

Yeah. Yeah, I get I get what you're telling me. Interesting. Now I want to backtrack a little. I I sense I have to highlight a little bit of your your experience, you know, and tap into that so we we can benefit the audience. Because we had a lot of early day coaches out there listening, especially, and there's a hot topic that I like to talk about, which is pricing, right? Especially coming from someone like you, you know, you you were in a moment uh in your life that you were code calling, you were building the business from scratch, right? And and and through a tough situation. So we're not talking about hard numbers, but what I want to understand is like the mentality behind pricing. When it's like all service-based industries to an extent, they're like a self-worth path. Like it's my time, you know. Should am I charging enough? Am I not charging enough? So, how do you think about it today? You know, because the bills are knocking on the door. Sometimes people are undercutting themselves, like, oh, I I'm I shouldn't be charging X, Y, and Z. I'm just want to pay this next bill. And and were there any lessons along the way that shape how you landed where you are specifically about pricing?

Steve Thornton 23:47

Yeah, specifically about pricing. I would say for every person right now, just starting out, price reasonable. Don't overprice. Once you get more experience, you have results, you have all of that, then you can raise your rates. And when I say this, I'll just give you very specifically, and you didn't ask for it, but I'll just tell you how we transitioned. We started, I started at $395 a month, and yet it was always a year's agreement. And I shouldn't say always because we tested that, but every time we did a year with someone, every single time, they had massive results. If someone said, I want to try this and I just want to get in, and they go, I'm gonna do it a month, a month, or a few months, we ended up going, we'll try it somewhere else. We we only want people that are committed because we knew that it would work every time. So that's what we do is even to this day on private coaching, it's all a year's agreement, but we went from $395, then several years later to $595 a month, and then several years later to a thousand and fifteen hundred. And and then that's really what our pricing is right now. And we'll probably keep it there and uh for the private coaching because we don't is I guess we we uh how to say it, we interview so many people to find the right coaches to represent us. And we may get a hundred applications and then we interview 35 of them, and we might end up with one or two that we go, they have the experience of both consulting, training, and coaching. And so it's like they they are and we we don't do one interview, we do making sure that we get to know who they are, but we have to pay them well. So we have to look at profit margins too by the time we're paying other people and paying for the marketing to get them there. So in business, you have to know your numbers. If someone's just starting out and it's just you doing everything and you're not having to pay all that out, it's your own labor. Well, you know what? It's almost all profit other than your time. So you want to not price yourself out of it until you get enough and you're paying the bills. All right, I can take a breath. I'm paying the bills now. You can either deal with volume or you can raise your prices. Now, I'll say something else, Pedro. We are so loyal to clients, and I probably shouldn't say it, but I'm gonna say it anyway. I'm very transparent, as I said. But I have people paying things that are prices from 10, 15 years ago that I personally am coaching with, I've never raised their rates. Because they're loyal to us, we're loyal to them. Even though our rates have gone up, that's for new clients. But the clients that are sticking with us and growing, like, no, you stick with us, we stick with you. We have this team partnership mentality. So, but but that's how we grew. We started and we kept slowly increasing. Now, someone can go, no, I'm worth more than that. That's great. If you target the right people, like you can't get someone to pay $1,500 a month if they're going, that's more than I make in a year. You know, you you can't say I'm gonna pay $18,000 when I'm making $30,000, but I pay all my expenses, I'd be going in the hole. So you don't target those people, but you may have to charge a couple hundred bucks a month.

Pedro Stein 27:18

I love how you you you give back also, you know, about the loyalty. I think that's so clear to me. It's not just about the revenue, it's about impact and and keeping that relationship right now. I'm curious where you're taking all this, you know. Looking ahead, where do you see the business going, Steve? Are you thinking about scaling, hiring, or is there a next step you're excited about?

Steve Thornton 27:43

You know, all of that that you're saying is exactly what we're doing. It's um we are well with Success Tech. We it took us two years to develop the platform, and that wasn't just like, oh, it took two years now, intense years of building, breaking, building, fixing, changing, designing. It was an idea when we started, but we completely did that. And then another year before we were ready to go to market with it, so we're just going to market with that, and so that is gonna be a big deal for us to help people. We we added so much value in that, but that's gonna be a big part of our scaling right now. But on the other side, with private coaching, we are in the mode of hiring and training and finding those right folks as we have them, then because it's that combination, you have to have the right people before you go out and get the clients for them. Because we aren't just gonna get clients and go, oh, we're scrambling to get a good coach and not find one. So we are our our plans in the next few years are to probably 10x even the private portion of what we're doing. We've invested a lot of time and money and and just effort to put all that scaling in place before we went there because it's an old saying in business you can starve, which means you don't have enough clients, or you can choke, but either one, the the end result's the same, you're gonna die. So if you starve to death, or if you choke because you have too much business coming in and you can't stay on top of it, that's not good either. So we chose to put, and and this is not smart for a lot of people, and it wouldn't be as smart for me when I first started, but with where we're at to really scale, we took the path of putting all of our processes in place before we really did the marketing because we're very confident we can bring in the clients, but if we couldn't keep up with it, then then it's just we have a terrible reputation, and that is very important to me that people will never say, Hey, I don't get massive value out of working with your company, but it could happen very easily. So that's where we're at. We're we're 10xing private, we'll probably because we're just starting with success tech, and and the real goal is big, and I'm not even gonna say because some people go, That's crazy. How are you gonna get there? And sometimes I think that.

Pedro Stein 30:08

Well, dreaming big and dreaming small cost the same, right? So I love it, I love that, yeah, and you know, of course, whenever we're aiming towards the next chapter, Steve, always something we're refining in the present. So, what are you currently trying to improve or tighten up in your business right now?

Steve Thornton 30:28

You know, right now we are definitely tightening up our, and I won't say operating procedures, but kind of operating procedures, but we're also cross-training the people within our organization because there's certain areas that if we lost a key person there, then it would be devastating to the business. And of course we know that because we help people do this all the time, but we're right now documenting every process, we're cross-training because you don't ever know what's going to happen, and you have to have things in place to where if you you know something breaks, then quite frankly it's well, let's say if if someone gets hurt, they they're get hit by a bus, then it doesn't shut you down or slow you down too much. So we are really right now focused on tightening up all of our internal systems.

Pedro Stein 31:20

Yeah, so peas, yeah, that's a big part of it, definitely. And you know, I I want to tap into your experience once again for a second, because people listening can really benefit from this. And you've been in the game, you know, long enough to hear all kinds of business advice. Some are good, some are bad, Steve. Now, what's one piece of business advice you hear all the time that you think that's overrated or misunderstood?

Steve Thornton 31:49

You know, wow, that's a good question. I never really even thought about that. Um you know, there's a lot of things. I think some people, and we teach visions, goals, and action items is one part, and we have lots of other things, but too many times people talk just about visions, and they get, man, I have this great vision. And it's even why we we formally uh changed the name of our business to expect success many years ago, but here's why. Uh, we knew internally, if people didn't expect success, they wouldn't be there. But when I talk to people about it, and I say, Well, where do you expect to be in let's say two years from now, five years from now? What's your dream? What's your vision? A lot of people can tell me their dream or their vision, then I say, All right, awesome, I love that. And do you have that in writing? And some people have it in writing, and I go, Good. Do you have your goals and plans on how you're gonna get there in writing? Are you making progress day to day on that? And that's where a lot of people drop it, that they have the picture of what they want. But I kind of say it like this if someone, well, let's say someone wants to coach you, and they're an awesome person, but they want to coach you on raising their kids, and then you look at you know their own life or or let's say the coach's life, and and they have problems with their kids and their family. You probably don't want them to coach you, so you probably want someone with that experience to do that. But when I ask people this, they don't have everything not only mapped out, but they're not taking actions. So it's, I guess a lot is just visions. I hear a lot about dreaming and visions, and by the way, we teach that. We even have in our entire platform, and like I say, it's an animal, it's not uh just an app, but we have vision board, uh digital vision boards that have never been done the way we do it, that is very powerful at helping you change that internal belief. But if someone only does that and they're not doing the actions associated with it or not learning or growing, they really aren't expecting success. They're really just hoping for it, they want it. It's like me going, I want to hit the lottery. Yeah, but do you expect to? The answer is usually, well, no, because people can't game the system. So that's what I would say is if you're really saying, I expect this, is it really just a want or desire? Or why do you expect it? Now, when I talk with people and they go, Yeah, I expect it because I have this in place, this in place, I've been learning, I've been growing, we have, and here's some of our roadblocks. Yeah, they can expect it. So I think someone has to really look at the whole picture, and if we can look at that, then we go, yeah, it's either an internal roadblock we have to deal with, or it's a marketing funnel, or it's um maybe they're having a problem closing the deals, or whatever it might be. But we we have to really get to the core of it. But that's what I hear a lot is people just they think it's gonna happen if they just get a clear vision, and I don't think that's true.

Pedro Stein 35:00

Okay, that makes sense. Now, uh on the flip side, what's a piece of advice you wish more people actually took seriously?

Steve Thornton 35:10

You know, for everyone growing a company, and this is your coaching practice, I don't care what it is, but whatever you're growing, there's two major things you have to improve on. There's a lot of things you have to get your skills in a lot of areas, of course. And being an entrepreneur is probably one of the most challenging things anyone will ever do. I know it has been for me. Uh so there's a lot, but these two things are critical sales and marketing. If someone doesn't know how to bring leads in and they haven't dialed that in to where they have qualified people that they're talking to on a consistent basis, then they're probably not gonna be successful long term. Second thing is maybe they have the leads, but they don't know how to enroll them, how to what they say in sales, close them. But it's really, I don't like that term because like it wants to be closed, but you want to be enrolled, you want to basically do something that's gonna help you. But if someone doesn't know how to do you know the enrolling or the selling portion, which by the way, selling is serving, it's not like what a lot of people think, like a used car salesperson, they're trying to take advantage of you. It should be anything but that. So I and if someone really knows how to sell, really their their top level, then they're not trying to do anything that will harm that person. They're really trying to find out, you know, what do they need and help them fulfill that need. And if it's not with their company, then you point them in the right direction and say, here's what I think you should do. But people have to master those two things. And too many people get into coaching or whatever business they they think, you know, that whatever they're in, it doesn't matter. And when they don't master that, they really aren't going to go anywhere. So there's so many other things like finances, and we could go on, but those are two of the major things.

Pedro Stein 37:07

Wow, that's a lesson for those listening because even even though you're kind of you know been doing this for a while, because that's old school tactics, right? At least in my book, for the ABCD always be closing, we're you know, and pushing people into tactics. And I think that's one of the main reasons coaches themselves they they try to distance themselves for the sales aspect. Oh, I don't like selling. It's because they don't have the right framework, which is serving, it's not about selling, you never law, you never lose a sale, you didn't have it for the at all. You're just talking and connecting with a human being and trying to help them. And if you cannot serve them through your company, it's exactly like you said, you're gonna point them into the next best direction. So I appreciate uh that reminder and I love that. Okay. And Steve, if someone listening wants to connect with you or follow your work, where can people find you and connect with you?

Steve Thornton 38:03

Well, uh, if someone wants to talk to me personally, I'll tell you where you can find out more information. But if you want to talk to me personally, now I say this, Pedro, please, everyone listening, I will return every one of your emails uh and I will get back with you personally. Now, maybe not that same day, depending on on what my workload is, but very quickly, I'm pretty efficient at it. But please don't put me on one of your email lists. Don't go because I'm putting it out there in the internet space. But uh, I would say email me and it's Steve at expectsglobal.com, and that would be the best way. That'll give you an overview, it'll tell you about success tech, take you a link over there, or you can go to SuccessTech if you want to check that out directly, and that's successtech te k dot com. And or you can go to expectsuccess.com, uh, which points right to expectsuccessglobal.com. So we've we've got a lot of things intertwined, but if you go to expectsuccess.com or email me would probably be the best, or you could check out SuccessTech uh directly on its own website.

Pedro Stein 39:10

Okay, Steve, um there were a few things you shared today that really stay with me. I'm gonna point that out right now and highlight them. Okay, the first one is the one million in debt, you know, and you're sharing that so openly. I love I love when I I talk with entrepreneurs and they're like, Yeah, I had my fair share of failures, right? And they're not trying to play an act, they're vulnerable, they were like, Yeah, that happened to me, and I learned and I kept moving forward. So that was a roller coaster of emotions, that origin story, you know, and and having to cold call and all of that. So yeah, that's very interesting. Also, I would pinpoint the fact that you have like uh I would call it legacy clients, you know, when they're they're reaching the past 20-year mark, and you're like, nah, you're you we're just gonna hang out, you're free, you don't have to pay for it. We're we're just you were so loyal to us, you know. Let us uh do the favor and be loyal to you. So I I would highlight that. That's awesome for you to doing that. I like the fact that you also mentioned like that you want some commitment, right? A year plan, uh, a one-year uh plan. So you can you can actually uh deliver the outcome they're expecting because keyword commitment, right? So yeah, that's also interesting. The starve or choke business, the outcome is the same, right? You're gonna die in uh anyway. So you gotta pick your your poison. So either you start getting leads or start, you know, um, I wouldn't say close, but getting more clients and rolling more clients at the door, that's an a must. Um the cemetery of ideas, right? Instead of taking action, I see a lot of people there in that advice that you gave about the vision, and and that is that that truly aligns with what you told me at the start, right? When instead of trying to figure, oh, uh how should I approach my clients? Should I code call? Should I dark? Should I ask myself and reading all the metrics when a week goes by and you could just pick up the phone and take action, you know, which you did. So I commend you in doing that. Um basically, Steve, I appreciate what you do, and I appreciate you being here and sharing so openly today. It was great having you on.

Steve Thornton 41:28

Well, thank you, Pedro, and you are a pleasure to talk with. And it's obvious, quite frankly, I because I deal with so many people that you have a plethora of experience yourself, and it just I know that instantly by when we even first connected. So uh thank you for taking the time as well.

Pedro Stein 41:45

I appreciate you.

Davis Nguyen 41:46

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.