How Colin MacDonald Fixes Teen Screen Addiction Without Forcing It

In this powerful episode of Career Coaching Secrets, host Pedro sits down with life coach Colin MacDonald to unpack a fresh and practical approach to one of today’s biggest challenges—teen screen addiction and lack of direction.

Colin shares how excessive phone use isn’t the real problem—it’s a symptom of something deeper: lack of structure, purpose, and real-life experiences. Instead of forcing change, he explains how helping young people set meaningful goals—like getting a job, improving fitness, or building independence—naturally reduces screen time and builds confidence.

Drawing from his own struggles with mental health and transformation, Colin reveals how lived-experience coaching creates real connection with teens, helping them take action, rebuild trust with their parents, and design a life they’re excited about.

If you’re a parent, coach, or someone looking to understand the modern challenges facing young people today, this episode delivers simple yet powerful insights that actually work.


Connect with

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colinmac93/?skipRedirect=true
Website: https://www.nottherapy.me/

Transcript

Colin MacDonald 0:00

A lot of kids that use their phones a lot is because they don't have structure. Maybe they go to school and then school there's a no phones rule. So then when you're seeing them at home, it's like six hours at the end of the day and they haven't been using their phones all day. So what we really try and do is just create structure. We find that structure helps with like sleeping and eating and screen time. And with that structure though, it's more of like Alaska 18-year-old, what do you want? I want money. Okay, let's help you find a job. You get a job that's automatically going to bring your screen time down, right? Or I want to lose weight. So then it's like, okay, you want to make money and lose weight. Let's have you get a job four days a week. And then on the days you're not going to your job, you're working out, right? So it's not like we're going to solve screen time, but we're going to limit screen time by making them experience more in their life based on the goals that they have.

Davis Nguyen 0:48

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 1:19

Welcome to Career Coaching Secrets Podcast. I'm Pedro, and here's someone whose story proves that our biggest struggles can become our greatest strengths. Colin McDonald is a certified life coach with a bachelor's degree in communication from Eastern Washington University. His impressive background spans professional sports and nurturing high-performance sales teams in the tech industry. But his real expertise comes from a deeply personal journey of transformation. As a teenager, Colling battled depression, anxiety, and substance abuse, spending time in multiple treatment facilities starting at the age of 15. His pivotal transformation unfolded during a two-year period that included wilderness therapy and therapeutic boarding schools, experiences that now fuel his mission to guide others facing similar struggles. Welcome to the show, Colin.

Colin MacDonald 2:22

Thank you so much, Pedro. I've been looking forward to this ever since we first connected, and uh yeah, I'm just stoked to be here and I appreciate the warm introduction as well.

Pedro 2:30

Well, I'm pumped to have you here, you know, and I love right off the bat the vulnerability, the origin story, just in the intro, you know, and that's the one of the main things I love to do is like get back to the moment when, you know, coaching was more than just an idea, you know, because every moment, every coach has that 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?

Colin MacDonald 2:58

Yeah. Um, you know, for me, I think you were explaining a little bit about the story. I don't know if we'll get into the origin story because I do think it's important. But just for me, when the coaching part really connected was, you know, I started getting life coaching and I started going to personal development retreats and just kind of been something I'd been looking for, but I didn't know what I was looking for. And that once I started putting myself in those rooms and also seeing people that had become successful through getting coached, and you know, you told a little bit about my story at the beginning, and it's a unique story that it always made me feel like I'm a little bit different than others. And so I remember when I kind of I left tech and I had about a year where I was trying to figure out and I didn't want to go back to a nine to five. I just kept having this thought, like, I think I want to be a life coach, but that sounds silly to me. And when I finally like looked at my life and I thought, what makes me unique? And I had had these little glimpses throughout my life where people would say, I wish I would have done what you have done, or like you make a huge impact in my life. And then being able to connect those dots and then meeting my co-founder Haley and just being like, I think this is what my purpose is. And really, I just view coaching as like I'm helping a younger version of myself all the time, and this is what I needed. And so I'm showing up for that version of myself, and that's really where it clicked.

Pedro 4:17

Interesting. Now, what I want to understand is, and and you can add your partner to the mix here, right? It's like, when did it shift from because you know, in the early days of coaching, people are trying to help everyone, right? They're like testing waters, trial and error. But I want to understand when did it shift from I'm helping people to you know what? I'm building a real business around this, you know?

Colin MacDonald 4:39

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So the one of the biggest shifts, and it was like a four-year or four-month period right before I started out therapy, is I got connected with a guy who ran a gap year program for what our demographic is, which is like 18, 19-year-olds. And so I went to Spain and lived with what I thought the niche would be. You know, these 18-year-olds who were taking a year off of school, and I lived in an apartment with them for multiple months, and I was essentially getting like my expenses were covered, but I was just like living with these 18-year-olds and I was just with them 24 or seven, trying what I thought would be successful as a as a coach, right? And the results I got with from the feedback from the parents and my clients, where they kept saying, This is the best thing I've ever seen for my kid out of therapy and programs and all of that. And so I knew that I could do the coaching. But then also the other piece was I'm a big Alex Ramosy fan, and I was reading his book, Hundred Million Dollar Offer. And he talks about like going niche, like you got to really go niche if you want to be a successful coach. And so for me, I really was like, okay, I think this is my niche. And then when I met my uh co-founder, you know, I have a a huge background in sales, and I met her and she had already started a startup uh for mental health. And she was like, I know how to like do operations, but I don't know how to do sales. And so when we put our heads together, I was like, okay, she has the strengths I don't have, and I have the strengths she doesn't have. And so then when we kind of had this made a website and we actually went to a like a therapy conference when we launched the company, and just like being able to say to like therapists and programs, like, yeah, we have this coaching company, and then them saying, like, that's a good idea. Like, we should be sending you guys clients. That's when it really sunk in. I'm like, okay, this is like a big thing. And I remember on the but a little before that, I got my first coaching client where I just told someone I want to be a coach and they said, I would love for you to coach me. And I was making like $500 a month coaching. And I really thought to myself, like, well, I'm I'm a life coach now. Like, I'm in this, and it obviously wasn't a living, but it still was like someone was trusting me to kind of guide them in their journey, and that was a big moment as well.

Pedro 6:54

You feel validated, right? When the money is flowing, you're like, oh my God, people actually pay me for this. I live. Exactly. Yeah. You know, and this is so interesting. It's like whenever we're talking about the idea client, the ideal client profile, right? The niche and all of that, and we see all these gurus, they're talking like, you gotta know them, you gotta know their problems. So calling, you actually lived with your ICP, right? That's wild. Yeah, yeah. So you're too you're taking it to another level, right?

Colin MacDonald 7:22

Yeah, exactly. It was, and it was, you know, I I was 30 and I was living with five 18-year-olds. And, you know, so it's also like you kind of have to roll with the punches with you know, them speaking in another language, it seems like, with Gen Z talk and like, but still it was really kind of being an older brother, a mentor to them. And also, I was just doing things that I knew would have helped me and that currently helped me, and just doing them with them, like in person. And I think that also really kind of landed with them of like I always thought when I got into personal development, like breath work and cold plunging and you know, the things that we maybe think as adults are like, oh, this is what I adults do. But then I was like, what if I did this with an 18-year-old and seeing how they reacted to it made me realize that it wasn't a huge gap between what personal development looks like for me and what personal development looks like for our ICP?

Pedro 8:15

That's so interesting. Now, I I gotta ask something, right? Considering you're you're in your 30s and you're connecting with your 18-year-old, which is your ICP. So, where do you see like the bridge, the connection? Like, obviously, we're talking about an age gap here, but not that great. My a my question to you, and and this could help other parents, right? Yeah. Listening, is like, how do you build that connection with a person that is from a different generation from you?

Colin MacDonald 8:45

Absolutely. So our model in general is lived experience coaching mentorship. So we match our clients with someone that has gone through the same experience as them, but they're on the other side of things, right? So, like a mentor is someone that you want to learn from that has a life experience that you're either going through or haven't gone through yet, that you're saying they know how to navigate these waters that I'm about to test. And so for us, it's really about when we're meeting with our clients, we actually go see them in person at first and we ask our coaches, and this is how Haley and I started, we're just super vulnerable about what we've already been through. And then we want our clients to say, I see some of myself in Colin, even though he's older than me. Right. So we're connecting over a similar lived experience, even though we're on the other side of it, but they're wanting to get on the other side of it, right? So we're gonna teach them, we call them the cheat codes to kind of get there quicker than we could have, but it's because we've already gone through the trials and errors and we're trying to help them make those trials and errors a little less difficult for them.

Pedro 9:50

Okay. Interesting. And usually I tend to ask about the niche, right? But you already got there. So you're a step ahead of me. Now, my question to you is, and I know that's a tricky part. It's like you have your client, the 18-year-olds, but sometimes they don't have the money, right? So we need to consider the parents in the play here in the in in the mo in the in in the sales call. I'm not sure about the process, but what I'm asking you is how do you, you know, connect with the parents, the messaging, and convince your actual client, you know? That yeah, that's always tricky, I imagine.

Colin MacDonald 10:27

Totally. Yeah, and and you're right, Pedro, where the parents are the customers and their kids are the clients, right? And so for us, it's really about when we're marketing and we don't, you know, do Facebook ads or any ads of any kind. It's really about, and it's kind of the same thing where we want the our client to see a little bit of us in them. We want the parents to see something in us that they see in their kids, where most of the parents that are coming to us, their kids are really struggling and the parents are kind of at their wit's end. But then I can come in, and usually the way we do it is we're speaking to a lot of parents and I'm telling my life story and then talking about how I overcame it. And then they're like, I want that for my kid. And so that's really how the connection is built. And then with the clients, right, is we also say in the sales call, we don't work with anyone that doesn't want to work with us. And the company's called not therapy because oftentimes therapy is something that a parent is asking their kid to do. And so we'll tell the parent and then the kid, if they don't, if the kid doesn't want to do it, they don't have to do it. And so we don't like lose a ton of deals to that, but a lot of times the parents are like, this is great. But then the kid's like, I don't need help. I don't want to do that. And we're not gonna make them work with a coach uh on our team if it's something that they don't think is helpful. Usually our method is really like we want to advocate for the kid to be the best version of themselves and really live a life that they're excited about. And so that really resonates with them because it's one of the first times where the we're telling them it's like it's actually your choice. Like, yeah, your parents found us, but it's your choice whether you want to work with us or not.

Pedro 12:01

I love that, man. You you're you're setting up expectations that, you know, ground zero. It's like, okay, this is how we roll, this is how we do. And if if you want to go with us, great. If not, all good either way. It's like we're trying to help you, you know, but we don't want to force you. Because I can understand coming from your background and the therapy you mentioned, sometimes it doesn't sound it doesn't respect, you know, the individual. It's something like the parents figure out, and we're gonna push into this new stuff, so you respect that. It sounds like you have skin in the game, right?

Colin MacDonald 12:34

Absolutely. And that's like the most important thing is we need the kids buy-in more than anything, especially like we start with three months, but usually we were working with them for a year. So it's about maintaining a relationship with our client for a year because eventually we kind of take the parents out of it. And we need one to build trust with the parents at the beginning, but then continuing to build a relationship with the client and continuing to hit milestones where they are seeing their self-confidence be built. One of the biggest things I always tell our parents and our clients is the way that you rebuild self-confidence in a 16 to 25 year old is by them following through with the things that they tell themselves they're gonna do. A lot of their anxiety is around they don't know how to attack the future. And so we're just there on a day-to-day basis helping them build that self-confidence because there's always gonna be new hurdles, and that's why our model is successful, because it's not once-a-week therapy where you're just sitting there talking. It's really in your life coaching.

Pedro 13:26

Okay. Now that's the coaching side, and I want to talk about something you kind of browse through it, which is marketing, right? So I want to understand how do people usually find you, right? The parents or even your clients, the the kids, right?

Colin MacDonald 13:39

Yeah, yeah. So I I'll be honest, like the parents usually are always the one that finds us. Like the to be frank, it the clients couldn't afford the coaching, right? And so we primarily market towards parents. And the way we do that is, for example, in the fall, we hosted a free webinar with a parent coach that we really like. And it was all about the difference between enabling and supporting your kid. And we just gave it out for free. It was like a four-week series, and we had 200 parents sign up and it was free value. We didn't have an expectation of signing clients from it. We're just trying to provide as much value to parents as possible. And I think we bring a really unique perspective where we're talking from their kids' point of view and not the parents' point of view. And so anytime a parent's finding us, I'm usually on a podcast that's about parenting or parenting a kid in rehab, but to saying like it's always like what I wish my parents would have done differently, right? Another thing is, you know, going onto webinars, we are in a lot of like Facebook communities that are for parenting of struggling teenagers or something like that. And we're able to kind of be, you know, the thought leader in terms of the experience their kid is in, not the experience that they're in. We always say we're not parents, like we're not trying to parent your kid. We're trying to help your kid and advocate for them. And so, really, you know, we've had a couple of partnerships with like huge parent communities where all we'll do is like come talk in their groups for free. And, you know, we'll now we have a team of 10 and all of our coaches have lived experience. So we'll do like a panel with all of our coaches and we're all telling our unique stories, but then we can then talk about how we overcame them and then how our clients have overcame them. So really we're just trying to get in front of as many parents as possible. Obviously, we have some connections with like boarding schools or like alternative schools where that's where our ICP is living in the real world. And so we're just trying to get in front of as many parents as possible. And because it's a niche, like we're not trying to get every parent on board. It's really like the specific type of parent that we're looking for is who we're trying to find.

Pedro 15:41

Very interesting. Okay. Now I want to talk business for a second, right? So people find you those parents, right, and they resonate with your message. Okay. And eventually they want to know what working with you actually looks like. So yeah, everyone builds their coaching business a bit differently. That's normal. So when someone actually becomes a client, right, what does that experience look like right now?

Colin MacDonald 16:05

Yeah. So we have coaches all over the country, and so we have clients all over the country. And in today's day and age, like we don't really believe in the model of you need a mentor that is meeting up with you once a week, right? And so what we do at the beginning is we fly a coach out to meet with our client and they spend one or two days together, and they're really just spending time doing whatever the client wants to do. But during that time is when they're really building their connection, right? And so the coach is telling their story of what they overcame, and then that allows the kid to feel comfortable with their story because if you've gone through what I've gone through, it makes you feel isolated, it makes you feel different. And so we're trying to break down those barriers. And then we're also getting aligned with the parents a little bit about what milestones would you like to see your kid hitting so that you feel like your kid's moving in a really pop uh positive direction. And then we start with three months always. And in the first month, it's a seven-day-a-week model. So the kid can text their coach, call their coach as many times as they want. There's maybe one or two like hour-long sessions. But we're really trying to get with the kid and say, what is it that you want to try and accomplish? So I use the example like if a kid wants to become an astronaut, we're gonna encourage them to try and become an astronaut. But obviously, it takes a lot of work to become an astronaut. But we'd rather them be pursuing a goal and rebuilding that self-confidence. So it might be, hey, if you want to be an astronaut, you got to get physically fit. Let's this week focus on going to the gym two or three times. And then you should probably learn about the solar system. Let's find a course at your local community college where you're like actually learning about things that astronauts need to learn, right? I know that's a broad goal, but it's really then they're going on the journey of pursuing a massive goal, which most 18, 19, 20-year-olds have never experienced. And so in the first month, we offer that to both the parents and the kids. So the parents can reach out to the coach. What we do is we partner the kid with a coach, and then we have like a family manager that's working with the parents. And so we're like collaborating all together. But then, like let's say there's a conflict in the house, the parent can reach out to the coach and say, Man, my kid just blew up on me. I don't know what to do. And then the coach can reach out to the kid and talk them through it. So we're doing in your life coaching where we would rather see our clients talk to us in the moment when they're really stressed out, compared to therapy, where, you know, something you go to therapy on Monday and there's so much that can happen before your next session the next Monday, right? And so in the first month, it's kind of all hands on deck. And then what we do is uh in month two and month three, we try and tear down. So then it goes to just the kid and the coach working together for two months. And then at the end, and this is where it kind of like we see with our clients of being for a year, it tears down significantly. So maybe it's the kid still texts the coach whenever he wants, but they have two calls a month, right? So then it's about maintaining the relationship. So it, you know, it starts really expensive in the first month, but then it tears down each month. So it's not it's a big investment up front, but it's all hands on deck. And then as we continue through the process, it kind of tears down, tears down. And then once you get to the point where it's in our lowest package, it's about the price of going to therapy twice a week.

Pedro 19:13

Very interesting that you fly the coach over there, right? At their at their homeland. I mean, just thinking about it, it's so easy to I was thinking about the no shows, right? I was like, if you're setting up everything online with this kid, is he going to show up? But so you create the connection right at this right at the start. I think that's one of the reasons you do that. So that's very, very interesting. I really like that. Now, I mean, your work seems pretty hands-on, but you do have a team that supports you. I can you already told me that. But in the coaching space, I tend to ask this, right? Because coaches tend to wear all the hats sometimes. So how do you think about capacity? You know, so don't stretch yourself too thin.

Colin MacDonald 19:56

Well, so in the first year, Haley and I were doing everything, managing the parents, the I was doing all the sales, doing all the coaching. We were coaching like eight kids at a time, seven days a week, right? So we were kind of working all the time. But then as we grew, we just kind of realized okay, there's like two things or yeah, two main areas that we really need to take off of our plates. And I call it like that doesn't allow us to be in our zone of genius of like what her and I are really good at. And we realized that one of those things was like marketing and brand. Like Haley is pretty good at that type of stuff. But so then what we do for hiring is we actually have a unique hiring process where we run a fellowship where it's like an internship for a month, and then at the end of that month, we pick coaches. So we did that last July and we found three coaches. And so then, you know, they're taking some of the coaching off of our plate, and then Haley and I are kind of really getting defined in these areas of brand as well and marketing as well as like the parent interaction. Cause honestly, sometimes the parents have more needs than their kid does, right? So then with those coaches, they're living in the coaching experience and understanding how to coach. But then now we've brought them on full time of like, okay, you understand how this works. And now the marketing and a brand person understands the voice of our clients, the voice of our parents, what really works, what resonates. She's been on some of these panels and stuff. So then she can take that and has a good understanding of like what the day-to-day looks like. Because that's what Haley and I did to learn is like we just coached a bunch and then we figured it out. And then with our family managers, what I would start doing is like bringing them onto my parent calls. And they would, and then I what it's now turned into is really relinquishing control and trusting that we've got a good team around us. That I'm like, hey, I want you to run this call. I'll be on here to support you. So we're essentially just allowing them to do more and more while they're still coaching at the same time. But now we're at this point now, actually, this month, where they're moving into their full time roles as two family managers and a head of a brand in marketing. And But they've been coaches with us, right? And then now we have five new coaches that just went through a similar thing. So we kind of have this system where Haley and I were so in the weeds, we figured out these are the things that are kind of taking up a lot of our time. Let's teach three people how to do them. And then now we are obviously know how to do the coaching aspect. And so we just need more coaches to fill that in. So we went from when we started, it was just her and I, and now our organization is 10 employees total.

Pedro 22:27

Okay. I need to dive into that because that's very interesting. And I see a lot of coaches that struggle with scaling. First of all, they're like, I'm gonna lose my personal touch, right? And the second point that I would like to talk with you, it's like about the handoff. Because sometimes you see like you're going to a panel or whatever, and a parent's like, I like calling, right? So calling, I want to hire you. I don't want your your coach that you're sending me. Do you know that that shift, that transition, the handoff is so important. So were any there any obstacles that you felt like in the start when you're doing that? So can you expand a little bit on that? Walk me through it.

Colin MacDonald 23:04

Absolutely. I mean, you are 100% right. In the first year, all of our testimonials were like, Colin is the best coach ever. Haley has changed our family's life. And we had parents that were willing to talk to them and tell us, tell them that was a good product. And then they'd be like, Well, we're gonna work with this coach. And then they're like, Well, we've only worked with Colin, he's the best. And so what I really had to do is make it more of like a framework, right? Where the type of coaching we do is not the similar. Like I have a life coach and she helps me with somatic and trauma stuff and all of that. But ours is really just about being a mentor, being a friend to show up for the kid on a daily basis. And we're helping them with tangible goals. Wake up on time on a daily basis, go to the gym three times a week. You know, we're kind of helping them move the needle forward on a day-to-day basis. And it's so it's not like some super transformational coaching style. And so for me, now in the sales call, I say, hey, I know you probably listened to this podcast I was on, and I'm sure that you would have it maybe reach out because you want to work with me. But realistically, like I've created these frameworks, and in order to make a big impact, I can't coach everyone. So I oversee our entire team and I'm involved in each family. And so they're communicating with me and like getting my feedback on everything. But you know, I will also explain the hiring process. We pay for all of our coaches to get certified life coach coaching, and really what their parents are looking for is the lived experience. And so we tell them every coach we hire has a similar story to your kid, and that's what really worked when I was coaching and I don't coach anymore. I just tell them like I don't coach anymore. But the concept is so unique that there's not really any other organizations that do this. And so, you know, we also have when I'm not involved with the kid at all, so it's never the kid is like I want to work with Colin, it's the parents. And so then I'll jump on a call at first with the parent and the new coach, and I'm kind of like running the conversation, letting them meet the coach, but then with the kid themselves, I'm never even talking to the kid. They're talking to the coach. And so then when the kid is being asked, like, what do you think of their coach? They're just talking about what they experience with the coach that they're gonna work with, not me, right? So it's just kind of overcoming with the parents of what we do is transformation. It's not like I'm not Tony Robbins. They're not paying to work with me. It's more of like we're a mental health company trying to help your kid with their mental health. And as long as they have someone showing up for them and every day, and now we have lots of testimonials from not just me, then it's gonna work, right?

Pedro 25:38

You know what? I'm just thinking out a lot. I can see past clients turning coaches, right? Because they've been there and done that. So that that in the future could be something. I'm just thinking out loud. Now, I'm curious where you're taking all this, right? I mean, two years in, you already have 10 coaches under you. Like that's exponential growth. So looking ahead, where do you see the business going, Colin? Are you thinking about scaling, hiring, or is there a next step you're excited about?

Colin MacDonald 26:05

Yeah, I mean, we're in a phase right now where we've been scaling our team pretty significantly. And one of the biggest things is like, in order to do that, how do we get more leads? So that's like kind of my big focus working with our new brand of marketing and teaching her what I've built to make it sustainable for five people. But now how do we make it sustainable for 10? So I'm teaching her everything that I've learned and then allowing her to kind of put her own spin on it, but I'm still very much in the process. So I'm trying to help our full-time employees master certain processes so that then I can go back into my zone of genius, which is talking about the business, doing things like this, and really representing not therapy. But then when you ask about kind of our big goal, is you know, one-on-one coaching is what we're doubling down on right now because it's been profitable for us. We've been able to make a big impact. But it's also our big goal is in three years to have impacted 10,000 families. We just crossed a hundred families in about two years. And so, in order to do that, you know, once we can kind of make a model where some of the coaching is streamlined, a lot of coaching is about helping someone come up with an idea, but then holding them accountable to the idea. And so maybe it's like some type of accountability app that's built out where we're still able to manage more clients at once. But then on top of that, you know, right now our niche is, you know, a pretty expensive product and it can't serve everyone. So I think once we kind of get to the point where the coaching runs itself to some extent, I think what we would like to do is maybe get government grants and put mentorship models into underprivileged schools or, you know, create some type of conference. We host a little bit of retreats, but it's like a mental health conference for people that have gone to treatment centers. And so that's kind of the next level where that's how you really make an impact. But we want the business to be able to kind of run itself. And you know, we we're bootstrapped, we've never raised money, so the business has been profitable since day one, but we want to be able to make bigger impact while still keeping profitability.

Pedro 28:03

Okay, that's interesting and exciting also, you know, big dreams when 10,000 families, that's impressive. Now, I feel like I gotta ask you something, considering that this is such a unique conversation, and you have a unique ICP, right? Your ideal client profile, which is have you ever been approached by a parent and they're like, you know what, Colin? How did you create that connection? You know, I would love to to have that connection with my kid, my son, and it starts moving, shifting from coaching the kid to sometimes giving advice to even the parent and how to build that connection, build the relationship. Because I'm a parent, also, right? Uh one is three, the other is seven, right? But two boys. But sometimes I'm not sure if you have ever felt that. Yeah. Experience that people asking you about, I'm just curious about that.

Colin MacDonald 28:56

Yeah, absolutely. And a big part of it too, Pedro, is the first month we're also working with the parents, right? But we're not giving them parenting advice. And because, you know, none of our besides one of our coaches, none of us have kids, right? So we tell them we're not parents. But what we can go back on is like what our parents did well when we were in their kids' situation and what our parents didn't do well, right? So a lot of the stuff we're doing with parents is like, for example, like a big one with our clientele is parents are feeling like their kids are ungrateful, but it's because they're giving them an allowance and they're not doing anything to earn it. And then the kid keeps asking them for money. So it's like simple stuff of like, okay, well, don't give them allowance until they earn it, right? And then it's teaching the kid work ethic. And so I think a lot of things that we see in today's day and age, and I kind of mentioned this in that webinar, is at some point when your kid turns like 16, you're the director of their life. You're telling them what to do, you're allowing them, you're you're like guiding them because they don't know what to do. But once they kind of cross 17, 18, 19, it's about being a guide to their life. And so a lot of it is just managing parents' anxieties to say, like, hey, you want what's best for your kid. Your kid is not you, right? You can't want something more than your kid wants it. So let's figure out where your anxieties live. Maybe it's screen time, maybe it's, you know, money, maybe it's that they're stealing your car and like stop those behaviors because then it's gonna open up the relationship where you're not frustrated with your kid as much that you're trusting your kid. And I feel like that's really what it comes down to with parents. And so I'm not like telling them this is, I don't, I'm not gonna write a book on like parenting 101, but it's more of just like how do you stop enabling them and start helping them create behaviors that are supporting them and rebuild that trust, right? And I think that's the other thing where with our parents, the trust has probably been broken between the kid and the parents, where the parents sent them away, they are feel really the kid feels really betrayed because they got sent away. And so I'm always saying that's why we're advocating for the kid, because I'm like, the kid wants to earn trust back, and but you need to be willing to give trust. And so it's little things like that. I always say it's not rocket science, but you're just trying to connect to the human behavior and also remind the parents that they love their kid. And also it's okay to hold a firm boundary with them if it's in the betterment of your relationship and where your kid's trying to go.

Pedro 31:18

Interesting. You know, well, first of all, allowance is commission based in this household.

Colin MacDonald 31:24

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Pedro 31:26

Okay, okay. I'm just gonna throw it out there. So commission based. So I'm getting that right. And the second thing, which I think you you hit an important piece, it's like don't project on your kid your own stuff. Like, even if it's pop culture, right? He needs to love Star Wars, he needs to love blah blah blah. No, man, that's just a person that may need, may like what you'd like, which is usually happens, but not necessarily, right?

Colin MacDonald 31:51

Yeah, and I would say also, Pedro, with that is like it's more powerful for parents to take an interest in their kids' interests, right? Like it's like they should be, if their kid is super into something, your relationship's gonna grow stronger if you end up taking part in their interests. And then if you have that relationship built, you could say, Hey son, like I'm a huge baseball guy. I'm like, hey, yeah, I would love to watch your show with you, and then I would also like to show you something I love. Like, would you be down to watch the baseball game with me too? So then you're like building bonds over mutual interests.

Pedro 32:22

Now you mentioned something that I feel like I also need to ask, which is the screen time, right? This is like the big boss in 2026. So how do you handle that? Like video games, Netflix, whatever, you know, because sometimes I imagine you're like got into situations like the onboarding and the first contact, they're like, this kid doesn't drop his cell phone. He's like all the time, his like, what do we do? You know?

Colin MacDonald 32:48

Yeah. Yeah. I would say it's like consume less and experience more. One of our coaches made a brand around it. And a lot of kids that use their phones a lot is because they don't have structure. Maybe they go to school and then school, there's a no phones rule. So then when you're seeing them at home, it's like six hours at the end of the day, and they haven't been using their phones all day. So what we really try and do is just create structure. We find that structure helps with like sleeping and eating and screen time. And with that structure, though, it's more of like, I'll ask an 18-year-old, what do you want? I want money. Okay, let's help you find a job. You get a job that's automatically gonna bring your screen time down, right? Or I want to lose weight. So then it's like, okay, you want to make money and lose weight. Let's have you get a job four days a week, and then on the days you're not going to your job, you're working out, right? So it's not like we're gonna solve screen time, but we're gonna limit screen time by making them experience more in their life based on the goals that they have.

Pedro 33:44

It's like changing the source for dopamine, right? It's like you're gonna hit the gym. It's like when you're you have too much free time and it's an easy fix, you just grab the phone and you're like reels and whatever. But if you're busy, you're not gonna have time to deal with that, right?

Colin MacDonald 34:01

Exactly. Exactly. And like I said, it's not rocket science by any means, but it makes sense, right? What I'm explaining to you. It's and I think that's what's been made our company successful, is we're not trying to not get reasonable outcomes, right? It's like you can say, I want my kid to graduate high school and go to college and work part-time. So we're that's what we're helping them with, right? It's not like we're trying to have some massive breakthrough, like no 16 to 25 year old is looking for a massive breakthrough that I looked for when I go to retreats or through life coaching, because they're still just trying to figure it out. And so we're just demystifying what their goals are and helping them take action on them on a daily basis, because that's gonna be more productive than 90% of 18-year-olds in today's society.

Pedro 34:44

I love the fact that you mentioned it's not rocket science. And I always use this analogy because uh it's simple doesn't mean easy, right? It's like losing weight. I mean, it it's pretty simple, right? Yeah, everyone knows what you gotta do. You gotta eat healthy, you gotta exercise. So why is not everyone uh, you know.

Colin MacDonald 35:01

There's no accountability.

Pedro 35:03

Exactly. And and there's the piece that it's not easy that you have to do every day, right? Or at least three times a week you have to take care of what you eat, you know. So I think there's a big difference. It doesn't have to be rocket science to be hard. I mean, that's what exactly that's what I'm trying to say.

Colin MacDonald 35:21

Yeah, absolutely. But I think that's why our model is successful because it's seven days a week, right? It's not but it's not an hour every day. It's like you might have a 15-minute call to start the day and then an hour call on Tuesday. You're just texting on Wednesday. So we're following up on their commitments and making sure they don't happen. I mean, that they do happen, but we're not judging them if they don't happen, right? We're just like, hey, let's get back on the saddle and try again tomorrow. So we're constantly not allowing them to give up on their goals. But if they are giving up, we're gonna say, hey, let's find a goal that feels more aligned for you. So we're just trying to put the uh puzzle pieces together so then they have a lane and a path that that's easy for them to follow that makes them feel better about themselves. And then if they're doing that and a parent sees that and they see a change, the parents are gonna be happy with like they're like, wow, my kid's actually like being more productive and happier and we're fighting less. Because we also see if a kid's being more productive and pursuing their goals, they're actually not getting as upset with their parents because it doesn't feel like their parents are nagging them, and they're actually more likely to want to share their wins with their parents, and that's gonna help the relationship.

Pedro 36:27

And let me ask it this have you ever experienced parents that were having that outsourcing mentality, like I cannot handle with this kid anymore. Try to just solve this and I don't want to get no one to be involved. Have you ever felt like that?

Colin MacDonald 36:40

I've had parents tell us that, right? But I will just tell you that we will say the same thing that their parents have been saying to them for five years, but because it's coming from like a cooler, older guy who they know has the same experience as them, like how many times does a kid say, like, you don't just don't understand me, mom? But it's like we actually do understand them because all of our coaches have lived the same experience as them, right?

Pedro 37:02

Right.

Colin MacDonald 37:03

So it it works and it is somewhat outsourcing it, you know.

Pedro 37:07

I love that. Okay. Now, if someone listening wants to connect with you, Colin, or follow your work, you know, where can people find you and connect with you?

Colin MacDonald 37:16

Yeah, it's uh not therapycoaching uh com is our website, and you know, we have our podcasts, our testimonials, a way to reach out and book calls with me. Obviously, if you look up uh me on LinkedIn, it's just call McDonald, not therapy coaching. But yeah, I would say those are the main things. Uh, you know, most it's not like we haven't even really got into content. Like I have some content on there, but that's another head of branded marketing thing this year. So really it's just through our website is the best way to get in contact with us, and we're pretty responsive because we're still a small team.

Pedro 37:46

So you know, I feel like I I need to highlight some stuff that we talked today. You know, I would say the first thing is like in when we're talking about the origin story, you're like, it sounded silly to you to be a life coach, but when I look at your background, it sounds silly that you're questioning yourself about being a life coach because it makes so much sense, right? Yeah, but I get it, you know, it's the imposter syndrome, it's like you've been through a lot, right? Your background shows it, and so it's so easy to lose yourself into that mentality. And it was great that you were able to overcome that, you know. I would say also I love the fact that you're you respect their decision, you know, when you're in that first call, you're like, if this doesn't work for you, we shouldn't be doing it, you know, because at the end of the day we see so many parents imposing what they want, what they project on the kid, but not necessarily having their buy-in, you know. So it it really sounds like a grounded conversation from someone who's been there, done that, and was like, hey mom, do I really need that? Hey dad, do I really need this? It's like it's like leveling the playing field. It's like, hey man, if this is something that you're happy where at right now, I mean, go for it. Doesn't sound like a great idea, you know, great plan, but yeah, if you're eventually wanna, you know, hit the gas and try something different, we're here for you. So yeah, I feel like that's super cool, you know. And I would highlight like also the the webinars. So you're you're coming from a position of providing value, you know, the workshops, the four-week workshop that you've made with the parents. It's like I didn't came I didn't went there expecting like landing clients and all that. It just happened because whenever you're coming from a serving position, you're trying to add value to people. I think it's it makes so much easier because you're not stressed, you're not like, oh, I gotta close X, Y, and Z. I need to do that, I need to, you know, try to to to monetize it. So I think that's that's very important. I I would say, and overall, you know, being honest, like we are not parents, we're not coaching you from the point of view of parents. We're kind we're we're coaching your kid. I like that, you know. It's like knowing your boundaries, you know. It's being honest, getting back to the roots and what you just told me in the past, you know, 40 minutes. So, Colin, this is my long-winded way of saying that I appreciate what you do. I appreciate you being here and sharing so openly today, man. It was great having you on.

Colin MacDonald 40:22

Yeah, thank you, Pedro. It was fantastic. One of the best podcasts I've done. So a really great job with the interview as well.

Davis Nguyen 40:28

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