Brett Baughman on Coaching, Leadership, and Creating Lasting Impact

In this episode of Success Leaves Clues Podcast, host Pedro sits down with Brett Baughman, a transformational coach, entrepreneur, and peak performance expert who helps high-performing executives, entrepreneurs, founders, athletes, and creatives break through the invisible barriers holding them back from their next level of success.

Brett shares his journey from sales and business leadership into the world of coaching, revealing how a passion for human potential transformed his career and purpose. The conversation explores the challenges many coaches and entrepreneurs face, including finding the right niche, building a sustainable business, pricing services with confidence, avoiding burnout, and creating meaningful impact beyond financial success.

Pedro and Brett also discuss the importance of personal growth, emotional intelligence, accountability, relationships, and aligning business success with fulfillment. Brett offers practical insights into coaching, leadership, AI-powered productivity, and the mindset shifts required to build a life and business that create lasting impact.



Connect with

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brettbaughman/overlay/contact-info/
Website: https://www.brettbaughman.com/

Transcript

Brett Baughman 0:00

If you're a new coach, you got to test your skills, right? Like I said for me, like you're finding out who your clients are. Maybe go out and take five different avatars: a real estate person, person with a restaurant, single mom, relationship coaching, somebody with addiction, and go, which one of those things did I enjoy? And so, like that for you is research. You're like, oh, I really like these two, and I didn't do so well in those. That's worth it. Otherwise, you're going to spend money marketing and losing money. But like, that's as long as you're gaining value, that's the important thing. You're both growing through the process and helping each other make progress. Okay.

Davis Nguyen 0:29

Welcome to Success Leaves Clues, the podcast where we interview business owners on how they built their businesses and the hard lessons they learned along the way. My name is David Twain, and I'm a business coach and a founder of Purple Circle, where we help business owners achieve their first six-figure, seven figure, and eight-figure year. All about quality of life. Before becoming a business coach and before founding purple circle, I started several seven eight-figure coaches. In every episode of the podcast, you're going to learn a lesson hard year to learn. You'll be able to learn that. No matter if you're a new business owner or an established business owner, every episode is going to give you the clues in order to elevate your business.

Pedro 1:13

Welcome to Success Leaves Clues Podcast. I'm Pedro, and today I'm joined by Brad Bauman, who works with high-performing executives, entrepreneurs, founders, athletes, and creatives dealing with one of three universal challenges. Feeling stuck despite past success, losing inspiration, and fulfillment despite growing results. Or feeling overwhelmed as business demands consume every corner of life. Brett's approach goes far beyond motivation. Combining executive strategy, peak performance psychology, emotional intelligence, breath work, and transformational coaching to create measurable shifts in how people think, lead, and operate. As creator of the ideal you, Action Mastery, and Breath House, Brett has built a comprehensive ecosystem for human optimization that addresses both the internal and operational ceilings, keeping high performance from their next level. His work helps leaders reconnect with purpose, fulfillment, and peace of mind while eliminating the hidden performance patterns that quietly limit growth, even in the most successful people. Welcome to the show, Brad. Wow, Pedro.

Brett Baughman 2:31

Thank you, my friend. That was incredible. I receive all that. Thank you so much, man. That made me feel good. Like, who's the guy? Wait, where's that guy? I watched that show.

Pedro 2:37

Exactly. Brad, you're the one to blame. Okay, I'll put it simply like that. You built that. You're on yourself. Don't, don't, don't throw at me. I just read through it. Okay. Thank you, my friend. Great to have you, man. And I am kind of a comic book nerd myself. Okay. So I love the first edition, the origin story. So let's rewind a bit, man, because 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?

Brett Baughman 3:03

Yeah, you know, uh, I luckily got started early in my life. I'll kind of shorten the long story at the beginning. My parents are my foundation, they're incredible. I'm so blessed with such a great mother and father. Like my whole life, they always gave me a voice. Every time something happened in life, they said, Let's sit down, let's talk about it. They challenged me to try things. So I was always a person who was exploring it. I was given a lot of confidence young. I was given a voice very young. I have a gift for advanced communication. I've always been able to hear people and understand their stories and just someone talks about something and I can just see like a map, what's going on. And so I started out really quick going into business, like doing sales, doing call centers, doing waiting tables, managing restaurants, things like this. And I thought sales, sales, sales. And uh what happened very quickly was I started realizing when I was in places working that I would go in and we'd get amazing results as soon as I would leave, I would see a dip in the performance. I was like, what's going on? What's happening? So I started researching how can I duplicate myself? Because like, what do I how can I duplicate what I know? Like I don't understand how to take what I'm doing and and and give it to somebody else. I know how to do it with them, but I can't leave it with them. And uh I found NLP, Neurolinguistic Programming. And I went to this training out here in Las Vegas, where I'm at with Tad James, who became one of my greatest mentors. And I went in the first day of this practitioner, like, man, I can't wait to be the best sales trainer in the world. And by the end of the first day, I was like, oh my God, my mind literally blew open. I was like, I'm not here about sales. This is about the human person. This is about the connection of what we're doing, the potential we have. And it shifted from my mind and my heart. And I started seeing everything different. I was like, I'm not, we're not selling anymore. It's the experience and it's how somebody shows up and makes an impact in their world. And so that to me was where things really changed, and I started to see the world differently. And I started to understand my skills as a set and like, oh, this is what I'm here to do, not just something I can do.

Pedro 4:46

Interesting. Call centers, right? So I had I had my fair share, okay? Uh a while ago, that's more than five years ago. I I was doing 800 calls a day, right? So I get where you're coming from. And I started my first client uh in the US market. So that's very interesting. I love that. I I I actually I really like to enter a market or join something from scratch, right? Clean slate. Let's let's understand everything. So that was mine. So we got that in common. Now, I want to understand one thing. There eventually happens what we call a shift, which is from I'm helping people in the coaching space, or this even feels like a calling or an advice giving to building a real business around coaching, right? Sometimes it's the first paying client, sometimes it's the first invoice. But when you feel yourself like, oh, this is legit, you know. So how did that look like for you? I mean, what was the aha moment? Uh, even if it there was one, you know, can you walk us through how did that look like?

Brett Baughman 5:49

Yeah, you know, well, when you start your coaching business at the beginning, I think we all talk about this is funny. You know, at the beginning, you take every client, right? You're like, oh, somebody wants to pay me, you know, and they're gonna pay me more than the last person. You know, I doubled my my fee from $50 to $100, and it's like, oh my God. And I remember going through that process, but I remember taking on everyone. I was very blessed that I got a lot of clients at the end. There was all friends were coming to me, clients, people referring people, and I had a ton of business, and I thought, I'm not enjoying this anymore at all. I was like, I'm so busy. I started one thing I teach my clients now is like, don't create services in your business and don't offer to do things you don't want to be doing. Because I offered a bunch of stuff I didn't want to do and it became everything I was doing. I had three months book solid of clients with services I did not want to do. I was like, oh, oops. I tried to make sure I could get people. So I offered to do, I can wash floors as a coach and you know they hired you to wash floors. So I started realizing I have to dial back. This is not about trying to take everybody. This is about understanding how am I supposed to serve? Where am I good at? What makes me successful as a coach and makes me happy? So I think the biggest thing that I can impart to other coaches and for myself the shift was instead of being scared and seeking the money, I was like, what kind of lifestyle do I want to build? What kind of coach do I want to be? And what's the foundation of who I am? So I started seeking what are environments that stretch me and inspire me. So if I do the work, I want to show up. Cause like you said, I'm so excited to start from the beginning here. I love going to a company that's been growing and they hit a static point and they start to fall apart or things aren't growing. I can go in and like rework it, make a couple little changes, and it just explodes. So I started looking for like those inspire me. I will show up every day for those opportunities. And it should be, it's more important about choosing the right people than choosing everyone. So that was a really big shift for me at the beginning. And then understanding that then my value is higher because I could make more dynamic results because I was bought into it. I had the time. And, you know, again, when you're taking everybody, you're so busy you have no time for anything. You don't really show up as the best version of yourself. You just barely show up. I was like, I'm gonna give fully. So I work with a client, I'm gonna take less people, I'm gonna be available, I'm gonna engage at a higher level. That was the big shift was don't take so many people you can talk to once a week. Take a handful of people that you can talk to four or five times a week, where you're a team, where you're texting and calling and showing up and meeting, and you're like, no, we're working like we're a family. And it's like when you need me, I'm there so much that you're like, hey, back off. I need some space to get some work done.

Pedro 8:06

Do you feel like you had to go through that to realize uh what you just explained to me? Because the reason I say this and ask this is because there's a lot of coaches out there in the early days, right? And they were like, okay, Brad, but then you got your pipeline filled, and then you can actually understand where your zone of of genius is, right? Oh, I'm good, I like this, I try this. Do you feel like you had to go through that to understand from your perspective what you really want to do in the coaching space or not at all?

Brett Baughman 8:37

No, absolutely, you absolutely do, because it's like anything in life. You know, if you have an experience and you don't know what works and what doesn't work, I was lucky to have so many opportunities with so many different people across different ranges. I mean, I had single moms, I had startup entrepreneurs, I had high-level executives, I had relationship coaching, drug addiction, everything. I was kind of like, I'm not happy when I'm doing these things. These things are overwhelming me. I can't turn this off at night, or I can't wait to get back to this thing and do this. So I started looking at, all right, what are the patterns myself? And I was like, these are the people I'm excited about. These are the people that are having dynamic results. And they're not also the ones I worked at that I really enjoyed, they started referring me more business. Hey, you're coaching me now, come in and coach my team. Now coach my friend's team. Here's this other person like, okay, this is exploding. I obviously have something here because um these people are wanting to reach out and wanting me to grow what I'm doing, versus me having to go and like scrap for people. And I just realized, you know, I did a lot of work for a long time with people with like addictions, like alcoholism and drug addiction. And I have such a heart for it, but it was tough. It's not my zone of genius. I'm really good at it, but it wore me down. I carried it so much in my heart, I couldn't turn it off. And they struggle so much with uh rebound and going back. And I just, man, it was like I didn't feel like I was getting anywhere. Uh, even though we were, it just weighed on me. And I was like, you know what? Taking one client like that with like 10 clients that I was working on that was building something. I was like, I I don't want to step away and say somebody shouldn't do it. For me, this is not, I'm not working my best in this space. So I gotta find where I can exponentially grow where my impact rip uh has a ribble effect, not a dulling effect to me.

Pedro 10:08

Interesting. That's why you so it feels like you had to go through it. That's interesting. Yeah. Now let me ask you this because as we already established, and I did that myself as a coach, and a lot of coaches do that. It's like we're trying to help the entire world, right? Put it simply like that, in the early days. But eventually you niche down, right? So who are the people that kept showing up today? The ones you realize, okay, this is my tribe.

Brett Baughman 10:32

Yeah. So I I I say high performers, but a lot of people could fit in that, but it's people who are ready to step up to the plate and they're willing to do whatever it takes to exceed. That can be somebody that's starting a business, it could be somebody that's scaling a $10 million business. It's anybody that says, look, I'm willing to do whatever it takes to grow, and they're willing to shift their perspective on life. Because at the beginning I took a lot of like high-performing executives and entrepreneurs, but they it was all about money. Money, money, money. And the thing was they never got fulfillment. We'd have incredible results. We'd taken from making $7,000 a month and making $70,000 a month, and they weren't satisfied. They're still complaining, there's still problems. And I'm like, I didn't enjoy working with them. And I saw the thing was they wouldn't continue working because there's no end for them. So the people that kept showing up that I really enjoyed, the ones that understand that it's all about impact. It's like, who am I becoming as a person? What legacy am I leave leaving? How is what I'm doing with my business affecting my relationship? And how am I pouring that down and cascading into my children? What they're learning is lessons for me. How am I building in my community? So people that started saying, it doesn't have to be a certain way. I just want to see progress. I want to see improvement. I'm gonna look back at myself every day and say, I'm proud of the work I've done and I'm proud of the person I'm becoming.

Pedro 11:42

Not just a bottom line. It sounds like we have to have a certain type of mission, the impact. We wanna, you know, build a legacy, something like that, not just numbers, right? Sounds like it, something like that. Okay. Exactly. Now, let's pretend I'm your ICP, right? I'm one of those high performers. I have a growth mindset. Okay. So, first of all, marketing-wise, how would I be able to find you, Brad?

Brett Baughman 12:05

So most people, I'm lucky that most of my clients come to me through referrals now for a long time. Like I'd say 60, 70% of my client base is referral, which is great because they're coming to me already proven concept, and also they're similar to the people I'm working with. I work with a lot of wealth managers, so they'll work for me another wealth manager. So there's an understanding to begin. But I use LinkedIn, I use uh people find me through Google, and a lot of it, I'll tell you, is relationship building, honestly. Even though I use it's about relationships. I'm not in there just blasting automated email campaigns. Everything I do is about nurturing. Like I tell people my strategy is add value and then add value and then add more value and then add more value. Like at the beginning, like we talked about earlier, when I first started my career, I created all this stuff. I had these SOPs, I had training modules, I had books, all this stuff I made. I was so afraid to share it. Everybody's like, you know, have the breadcrumb. You're like, oh, here's my free PDF. I'm like, I can't give you that. You gotta pay me to get this information. I cannot give you a tip because if you do, you know, you're never gonna hire me. And I realized that number one, you can give somebody the answer to every problem in the world, and 90% of the people won't do anything with it. Like they need somebody to guide them to coach them, make them take action and hold them accountable. So the thing is, I give and I give and I give. So every day I look for ways to serve. I say, what are the ships I can put out there? The things are gonna provide value and make a difference. And I look at it as uh when I when I'm feeling bad or have my biggest problems, I go, who can I help today? And I reach out, doesn't matter if it's a fellow coach, a consultant, who it is, I just keep giving. And you build relationships. I want to be the guy that everybody says, you know what? I like that guy in my corner. Every time that guy's around, he's providing value. He shows up, he's authentic, he has integrity, he has wisdom, and he's never afraid to answer my call or to share something. And then you become the guy that's like, dude, you can count on that guy. That guy knows what he's doing. At least he's somebody that'll either know it or I make sure I always have one step resource to whatever somebody needs. Like I want to have that next step available, not let me go search forever. It's like, oh, you need an attorney? Great, I got three, let me send that to you right now. Want to talk to a doctor? Got that. You know, wealth manager, got it. Like I either have it or I'm able to provide the resource immediately. And then I become the guy that people come to and things start to filter through you. And the relationship is the most important thing.

Pedro 14:11

Okay. Now I'm still that guy, right? I'm still your out your ideal client profile in the scenario. So let's say I watched your uh LinkedIn content through or even through Google, I found you, or I was referred to you, right? Someone told me, Hey, you gotta Matt Bet Brett. You know, you gotta you gotta know him. His awesome. And eventually I reach out, okay? And we went through the sales process. However, that looks like, let's speed up that a little. Let's say there's alignment, okay? You can help me. I I know you guys can help me and all that. Now, how does it look like to work with you? Okay, a little peek behind curtain. And uh what are the outcomes I can expect out of it?

Brett Baughman 14:50

Wonderful. Well, the first thing is we build a relationship. Like I tell people when we start, we do a free consultation. I say, look, we're gonna talk and get to know each other. I don't know right now whether we're the ideal fit or not. And I'll tell you that by the time you leave this call, I'm gonna give you information that's gonna help you on your path, whether you hire me or not. You're not gonna leave this call without understanding what the next steps are. And if I feel I'm not the person, I'm gonna help you find that person. Because my job as a serve, it's not to sell you and it's not to get you as a client. It is to align with the people that I can help in life on both ends, you and I both. So we have a conversation. We start to talk about things. And I don't go into like just the normal. I'm like, let's get real. Let's, what are you afraid to talk to about with people? What's scaring you? Because we got to if we're gonna be a team, I gotta be your best friend. I gotta be the voice you filter everything through and you trust. If you're an alcoholic and I have a lot of executives that deal with alcoholism, they're like, I you gotta feel comfortable enough to hit me at 10 o'clock at night in a text and say, man, I'm right there on the edge. I'm like, I got you. So we have to build a trust at the beginning first and understand what's your life like, not the scaling, not the numbers. Who are you in your heart, and what do you desire that your blind spots that you're not aware of? Because that's where we're gonna grow, right? My my clients don't need another strategy. They don't need another tool. What they need is someone that's gonna hold them accountable, that's gonna push them, and somebody that's gonna inspire them to think outside of the traps they're in right now, the patterns. So we go through that process first. And then I have a process called the IDOU I created. And basically we go through six areas of life from your career to your relationships, your health and fitness, your personal growth, your spirituality, and your hobbies. I'm like, look, I don't care what any of them are, but you have to have an answer in all of them. Otherwise, that empty hole will become somewhere along the line, a pitfall that will pull down the momentum or break the process. So it's like, if you make a decision in your business, it's got to help your relationships because you grow like $10 million in your business, and guess what? Your wife wants to leave, you have no relationship with your kids anymore, or your health is going down. You've got to look at his entire snapshot. So we start building out that vision. And I say, I'm one of the best puzzle solvers in the world, but I have to have the pieces. So let's talk about the pieces and let's look where you have gaps where you don't see that picture yourself. Let's start to figure out what those are supposed to be. And then can we put that puzzle together ourselves, or who's the right person to help you fill in those gaps?

Pedro 16:53

I'm getting I'm I'm still the ICP here. I'm getting more questions in my head. Okay. So here's the thing. I reach out because I want to grow my business, and now you're telling me that we have six areas that I need to cover. So I'm asking you now, Brad. You know, I want to double my business, but I'm working, let's say, 50, 60 hours a week, okay? And I'm like, I don't have a lot of time with my kids, with my wife. So that side is hobby? Oh me, oh man, that's that's a fantasy right now. Okay. So how do we keep on you keep me on track? I want to double my business. That's still maybe that's surface level, but let's say I started with this. How are we going to organize this? How even if we're talking about maybe working less, you know what I mean? How, how, how are you gonna help me?

Brett Baughman 17:38

Great, great question. So, one of the things that makes me really good at what I do that I love is I'm great at what I do, but I don't tell people what to do. I'm gonna help you understand yourself better than you've ever understood yourself. That's a part of this process of the ideal you. The first thing we do is we discover your passions and not like, oh, I'd love to play the guitar. It's like, what is the guitar an expression of? What are you actually executing? Is it that you want to touch people with music? And if you do, why? So what I help people do first is understand what's driving them at an unconscious level. Most of the decisions I found people make, especially when they come to me, are decisions out of fear or limitation, right? I'm like, we don't want to do that. We don't want to solve problems, we want to follow passions and we want to build, we want to achieve goals, accomplishments. So we start defining what's driving you. That way when you bring me a decision, when you bring me a problem, we go, where's this coming from? Is it coming from a fear and limitation, or is this coming from an opportunity that we can take on that challenge and grow in? So my point in saying that is if you want to scale your business, awesome. But why? Is it because you're afraid that you don't have enough money to step away and have time with your kids? Is it because you're not growing the way you want? Is it because you feel like you're losing market reach? What is the thing we're understanding? Because we don't want to grow from there. We want to grow from the passion and the opportunity. Then when we do that, we're able to line up the opportunities that are correct for you because number one, they're gonna build momentum. Number two, they're gonna bring up the challenges you're really supposed to face. When you bring a problem to me, anybody can probably find a ton of problems, right? You don't necessarily know if that's the problem to be working on. It's just the problem that's giving you pain right now because you're focused on it. But if you can tell me your ideal dream, what your business is, your relationship, your goal, we can get clear on that. And we start building it. Once you hit a wall and that limitation, that fear, that past pattern comes up, that is worth working on because you see what's on the other side. You're like, oh my God, this is stopping me. I'll do anything to break through it because I know what's over there. But if it's just like, oh man, I'm not really motivated right now, I'm not focused, I'm gonna distract, I feel overwhelmed. Okay, why does that matter? If you say, because if I get over this wall, I'll improve my relationship with my wife, I can help my kids grow into better, I can be a better parent than I ever was, and I'll be able to reach $10 million in my company where I can impact thousands of lives. Now, there's no way you're not gonna break through that wall. And I can continue to use that as an accountability, as a trigger, as a motivator to help you move. So we have to understand deeper what's building you as a person so that every decision you make, when you make that decision business, it's gonna cascade and it's gonna improve your relationship, it's gonna improve your health. And we also know what's the right one to make because if you don't, it's bringing down the health. Now you're off, you're sick, and you can't focus on the job, now you're stressed out, now your mind's off. So it's just this kind of harmonizing and making sure everything is working together as one big picture.

Pedro 20:05

Okay, interesting. We're going really deep here. Okay. Now I have uh a question for sort of a curved ball here, uh, Brad, which is something I usually do because I see a lot of coaches out there advocating against burnout, right? And your work seems pretty hands-on and pretty customized to an extent. Yeah. So a lot of coaches out there wearing all the hats. They're a sales guy, they're the marketer, they're doing the operations, they're doing the coaching and all that business development. So, how do you think about capacity? So you don't stretch yourself too thin, you know, keep yourself in check.

Brett Baughman 20:38

Yep. Well, currently, you know, in the in the in the uh climate we're in right now, it's a little different than it was 10 years ago. Like the past three years with the development of AI, we've got a lot of different things that are helping us assist now. And these are one of the things I'm really good at. I get brought into a lot of companies, take a position for a period of time, like as a COO or interim CEO to help with operations. And so I do the same thing for myself. So basically, number one is uh I go back to my own passions, like we talked about a minute ago. I want to show up as the best version of myself. I got to give you 100%. I can't give you the version of breath that I wouldn't hire to do the work for me, right? So that means I have to understand what is my lifestyle look like? What is my balance? How much time can I give to something? And I have to stay in that formula. You got to stay true to that. When you operate in that formula and it works well, you can understand where you can stretch and scale. But it can't be pushed just because you want to make more money. The challenge I face personally, everybody wants to work with me. So if I try to bring another coach of the people underneath me, there's only so much bandwidth I have, right? People want me, and there's only so much time I have, and there's only so much time that allows me to be in that ideal spot for myself. So the things I've done is learn how I can duplicate my process or augment my process through things I can delegate. I have a full time assistant, she's incredible. Um, I believe that every coach should get an assistant that works with you at whatever level, maybe it's a couple hours a week. Take away the task. And listen, if you're a coach, you're gonna not, you're like, oh, I'm at the beginning, I'm making making money, you're gonna be so afraid of this. But I'm telling you, I've done it, we all do it. You'll spend five. Or 10 years and you'll finally do it and go, oh my God, I should have done this five or 10 years ago. Find some of the works even two or three hours for your week and does the things you are the absolute worst at that you do not enjoy doing. Like for me, going in and answering DMs or going in and making connections, that's not the best use of my time. Filling out certain paperwork things that don't require me that I need to let go of. So I found somebody that said, take off the administrative things for me. If that's 10 hours a week, that's 10 hours I can pour into my clients or I can get a new client and build. So you got to get real with what are the things you should not be doing. I guarantee there's 10 to 20% that you can afford to get rid of because right now, not only is it taking the actual real time from you, it's taking the bandwidth and cause you to be frustrated. So when you show up, you're never your best. You're spending two to three times more a week than you should. That's number one. And the second is learning how to augment with AI right now. I mean, I've been training in AI and Chat GPT I call Scarlet for three years. I spend 10 to 12 hours a day with her. She knows everything about me, my life, my clients. So I don't have her replace me for anything. People again want me, but she augments. So like if I write content, I'll give her the content that I have for a week and say, hey, here's the two or three pieces I'm doing. Here's a video and here's two posts I'm doing. Is there anything I'm missing? Is there any statistics I should add? Is this keeping a flow based on what we did last week? I'll pull have her pull analytics from LinkedIn and say, who's responding? Does this fit into what people are looking at? So she's giving a response and saying, yeah, you're on target. This is what people are asking for. She doesn't write the content, but she's like a marketing advisor, a publicist that says, hey, you're on track, your data's right. And these are little things you can start to build. I've automated my onboarding process with AI. So somebody comes in and handles everything. It goes all the way through. Those things are big. You don't realize it, but they polish your business so you show up more professional and they give you a sense of pride and a lot more time back.

Pedro 23:44

Okay. Okay. Now let me ask you this. I want to shift gears for a second. We were talking about the early days, right? And you're trying to help everyone, and that's a classic. Now, one thing I see a lot of coaches out there struggling is about a topic, kind of a hot one, which is pricing. But we don't have to talk about hard numbers here. It's more about the mindset behind it, right? Because it's a very self-worth path. I've seen coaches burning themselves out with the topic specifically while trying to do pro bono, right? They're offering their services for free, and people are not taking it, people are not doing it, and they're like thinking, hey, if they're not doing it for free, would eventually anyone pay for it? Right. And in my opinion, that's kind of backwards because people, when they sometimes look at things that are for free, they have this perception of worthless. Yeah. You know? But I want to hear from you. How do you think about that that topic, specifically pricing? Were there any lessons along the way that shaped how you landed where you are right now?

Brett Baughman 24:41

Excellent. Love that. I think this is really valuable for people. I share this a lot with coaches. So, number one, if you're starting out as a coach, I think it is okay to take maybe three to five people for pro bono. But if you don't just go go coach them for free, what you do is you have to sign an agreement and you say, here's what you're giving me in return. You give me a testimonial, like on paper, on Google, you're gonna give me a video testimonial, and you're gonna give me three people that you're gonna introduce me to directly. You have to and you have to hold them accountable that. As a coach, it's really easy to say, I'll coach you for free, just give me a testimonial, and then they don't, and you just let it go. And you're not building your business. Now I'm talking early stages. This is the first three months of your business. Then you gotta get out of it. In the first three months, you should have five people you worked with, five testimonials, five video testimonials, and 15 to 20 people they referred you to. Just giving you warm-up practice. After that, that's over. After that, you've got to start charging. People will see you for the value you charge. And here's the thing people get so scared. Like I'm a premium, I'm a premium coach. My I'm on the higher end. But the thing is, people come into me, and if sometime I want to, if I want to drop it and work with somebody, I may. I may be really passionate about what they bring me. And I've had some guys or veterans have come to me, and man, they're going through stuff, they're heroes. I'm like, you know what? What's your budget? And I figure something out and I change my program. I'll say, you know, maybe you're getting weekly coaching calls with me, like we're doing a couple touches a week and all this stuff. And I'll say, you know what? For you, I'll do this every other week. Let's cut it in half. Let's find a way to make it work for you because I want to choose to do that. But I still charge the premium of what I want and I start the conversation there. 90% of my people have no problem with that. You've got to understand that the what you what you ask for represents your value. And it also represents the avatar, the type of client you're trying to bring in. So you need to be charging. And the thing is, it's exponential. Man, I used to charge people $500, like maybe 12 years ago, something like that, $500 a month. And I had a couple people I worked with, I took from $7,000 to $50,000 to $70,000 over a month or two with their business. And guess what? I didn't make any more. I wasn't getting anything of it. Now I also take a back end. If I'm working with somebody, I'm helping consult their company, I'm taking a half a percent or a percent of the growth that we can determine that I did. So you're paying me monthly and I'm getting a percentage of the growth. Because it's like I'm a part of that process. And you can't be afraid to do that. It makes people respect you. And if someone was working with you on the other end, you'd want the same thing. But unconsciously, if you don't, if you devalue yourself, you don't set yourself up like a business, people are not going to take you serious. And at some point they're going to drop off and they don't believe you're a part of what the process is. If you clarify and say, here's my fee, because I know I'm going to present this to you and create this, and here's what I want if I help you grow. They go, okay, this guy's serious. If I don't, we don't get there, you won't get there. But if we do, I was a part of it. So what you can expect out of me as a deliverable, number one, is I guarantee within the first week or two, you're going to clearly say to me, I am looking at life differently. I have a different mindset. I'm feeling more motivated. I'm feeling healthier. I'm more aware of the things that I was doing, my patterns. So whether I'm improving them right now or not, I'm aware of every pattern. I'm catching it when it's coming up. Ooh, I'm doing that thing again. Here's where I'm making the mistakes. So we can clearly say, okay, I can tell you, Brett, I am doing these things. This is what's costing me. That's absolutely in the first couple of weeks. Within four to six weeks, you're gonna have a totally different perspective on how you balance your life and what your priorities are. Because most people's priorities are jacked up. Like they, you know, what they're going for is not the most important thing. They're facing fears, they're facing limitations, they're making that the priority. They just want it to be external and be money. And the thing is, there's never an end goal when you feel like you don't have enough. But when you start going, man, I'm actually, I'm actually doing, I'm further along than I thought I was. Let me build from a place of gratitude. Let me look at all the resources I have and say, maybe if I just reorganize my life, I'll have joy again. And then we build and it's all gold bricks. It's not, you know, trying to break down a wall that seems like it's never ending. Okay.

Pedro 28:21

I well, a couple of reminders. I love that, man. I mean, first of all, the whenever I you're you're a business owner and you have that crossroad of having different, and you're an early day of business owner, you're like, oh, I'm not being fair to my clients because I'm charging them different, you know, prices. Dude, that's it's your business. Don't forget about that. Exactly. You know, you can do whatever you feel like it. If you want to charge a person one dollar and another ten thousand dollars, there is nothing wrong with it. It's what you're giving them, right?

Brett Baughman 28:52

If I help a guy that has a $10 million a month company and we make a shift, so no joke, I have clients where I work with them recently where we're talking about we're doing mergers with their companies. They're making five or $10 million a year. We're working on mergers to make $50 to $100 million mergers. So yeah, my fee may be higher for them, but they're gonna make $50 million this year. So if I charge somebody half of that or a quarter of that, that person's not making $50 million. They might be going from like five to $10,000. You know, it's like, so like you, it's like it's also the amount of time. So it's it's the impact you're making. It's not about the fee you're charging. And like if somebody is right now can barely feed themselves or their family and they're stressed out and they feel suicidal, and I can get them inspired by life and stable and making money and starting to start a new business. That impact is unbelievable. And that impact lasts for a lifetime. It's not just the moment that's gonna last for a lifetime. So you can't look at it like this fee determines everything. The fee is what we agree on to show up right now. The difference I make, the impact you make, you'll never be able to measure.

Pedro 29:50

It's about a transformation, right?

Brett Baughman 29:52

Mm-hmm. It's evergreen information. What you get for me, you're gonna use. I have I had a guy that called me a week and a half ago. We worked together like 12 years ago, 11, 12 years ago. He's like, man, I want to let you know I'm using everything you gave me every day still. He's like, My kids are now doing the NLP and the affirmations, all the things you taught me. These kids are in high school, they're top of their class because they're using the tools I taught him 12 years ago. So how do you measure that? Right.

Pedro 30:12

Okay. And also, I I really love the the pro bono talk we had. You're just changing the exchange, right? You're changing from currency to a different thing for testimonials, you know, for referrals. And they're they have value. And on top of that, I would also add sometimes I saw a coaches doing it, is piloting something. Like you're not a hundred percent sure. You can pilot that offer with a test with a pro bono client.

Brett Baughman 30:42

So there's a new coach, you gotta test your skills, right? Like I said for me, like you're finding out who your clients are. Maybe go out and take five different avatars: a real estate person, person with a restaurant, single mom, relationship coaching, somebody with addiction, and go, which one of those things did I enjoy? And so, like that for you is research. You're like, oh, I really like these two, and I didn't do so well on those. That's worth it. Otherwise, you're gonna spend money marketing and losing money, but like that's as long as you're gaining value, that's the important thing. You're both growing through the process and helping each other make progress. Okay.

Pedro 31:12

Now, let's shift gears for a second, real quick. Okay, because I'm curious where are you taking all this, Brad. 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?

Brett Baughman 31:23

Yeah, a lot, a lot. I gotta pump the brakes on my excitement on growth. The two things I'm really working on right now is uh number one, I'm opening starting a podcast on my own soon, which I'm really excited about. We'll be launching in the next like three months. I'm doing a bunch of podcasts like this. I'm also building up a library of people that I'm interviewing that I've worked with in the past. So the podcast can be called What Were You Thinking? And the nice part is I'm taking all these people that worked with me and came in. What were you thinking when you started? What were you thinking when you came to me and asked that you want to scale your business to here and what difference did it make? Or what were you thinking when you started that nonprofit or that charity? And so people that are making an impact and understanding again, what we're talking about here is how do you shift your mind away from monetary into impact and legacy. So I'm really excited about that because one, it's something exciting to do, but also it's amplifying the work I've done, but more importantly, it's amplifying the work they're doing in the world. So it brings awareness to all the things that they're doing. Um, it helps shed light on their causes and their missions. And then the other part that parlays into that is I have a nonprofit called the Bridge Foundation, which I there are these two things are going hand in hand. The Bridge Foundation is about bringing in other nonprofits and charities and helping them grow. So I'm working with different groups like Wounded Warriors, um, St. Jude, and stuff like that. So, like bringing awareness, because a lot of people start a nonprofit or a charity or have some mission, and it says it's such a great, great mission that they have to help people, but they don't know how to run a business. So maybe they're doing events and trying to do things and nobody's even aware of it. And they're putting all these incredible events and making a difference, but it's small. So I understand how to grow a business. So I'm like, look, let me bring in your nonprofit, let me help you understand how to shed light on this, let me bring awareness to it, let me bring more people that maybe want to be behind your cause but didn't even know you exist. So everything I'm doing right now is about bringing more light to service, starting conversations where people can start to talk about impact, legacy, their faith, how they want to show up in the world, health and wellness. And so we spread out what we're doing, and it creates a society of people that harmonize together and work together to really make a difference.

Pedro 33:14

Okay. Exciting. Okay. I can see the spark in your eyes. I get excited too. I gotta hold myself back. Let me ask you this one last question. Okay. Let's say we had a time machine in front of us, and you could step in and go back 25, 27 years back, right? When you started your business, you have one piece of business advice you can give yourself about the coaching journey specifically. What would that be?

Brett Baughman 33:36

That's beautiful. That's such a great question. Trust yourself. Just trust yourself. You know, the thing was at the beginning, there's two things I did that I don't do now. Number one was I was really competitive. Like I felt like I had to. It's one of the things that it edged that made me successful at first. I was always the top salesperson of places. And I, so I took that out and I was like always trying to be the best, the best call center, the best mortgage guy, the best sales guy. And so, like I said, I would hold back information, feeling like I can't give this to you because if you do, you're gonna steal it, or I can't give it to anybody. Like, I I can't give them a PDF or a free book or a tip because you got to pay me for it. And I realized that that was not the right strategy at the beginning. It cost me years of understanding and going, just serve, give, give, give. My thing now is just add value all the time. That was the first thing. And the second thing I would say is to remember that nobody's journey is gonna be like your journey. You can learn from other people, but you need to look more at how they did something rather than what they did. What was their attitude? Like, oh, you'll hear people all the time when they say, like, when I really broke successes, I believed in myself. I started doing what I wanted to do. I let go of this stress. And so the thing is, is learn from the wisdom of others, but you're gonna build your own path. That's what makes you successful. I'm not like anybody else. My business is not like anyone else's. And that's why people come to me, is because they hear my voice and go, oh, that guy knows something I don't know. I can understand that he understands my world. Not because I'm trying to be a Tony Robbins or a whoever else, it's I'm being me. And so at the beginning, I was trying to be other people, I was trying to compete with everybody else. And I would just let go, enjoy the process, and find out how to serve. Just serve. And the more you give, man, the more you give in this world, the more you give back for sure. Just give, give, give, give, give.

Pedro 35:13

Okay, I love that, man. Great reminder. Now, if someone listening wants to connect with your follow your work, Brett, and we're gonna have all the links in the description, but what's the best way to find you and connect with you?

Brett Baughman 35:24

I would say go to my website. It's easy, just my name.com. So Brett Ballman.com. Everything is there. Uh, if you search my name, you're gonna find me every place. But that's a good one. I think we've done a really good job on my website too to explain the story of who I am and what we do with work and how I can help you and the different things I offer. So I think it answers a lot of questions, and we've also done a good job of providing a lot of value in there. I want people to go there and also be able to say, you know what? Just look at your website. I got some answers. I I can go do something today without hiring the guy. I already can get help. So I think that's the best way.

Pedro 35:52

Okay, so let me spell that back for our audience who are listening. It's B-R-E-T-T-B-A-U-G-H-M-A-N, Brad Bauman.com. And Brad, there were a few moments from this chat today that I feel the urge to highlight. Okay. First of all, let's go back to the origin story. When you realize we're you're not selling anymore, you want to be of service, right? So, in a way, it's shifting because I went through that. I was in sales too. And it that happened to me when you shift the scarcity mindset to the abundance mindset, which is like, dude, I'm going to this cool place. If you want to hop on, hop on, be my guest, but I'm going either way, right? It's like I'm gonna help you anyway. I never lose a sale, I'm gonna be of service for you, and you're gonna realize that there's something off with me because people they sometimes they're like, What's what's up with this guy? Like, he's not trying to push me or sell me. No, no, no, no, it doesn't work like that, at least on my end. Okay, so I love the reminder. Also, second, when you were like talking about your early days and you were like, Hey, I was trying to help everyone, right? And eventually you realized you were looking for people that wanted to create impact because that energizes you. You know, I really, really, really like that because we're here at Purple Circle, all about impact too. So you got that going on. And the the last but not least, I would say it's we know when we're talking about free stuff, and I'm gonna hold back some stuff so people are not gonna try to do on their own and a lot of that. So that's kind of a scarcity mindset. But I would say people don't realize that first, whenever they buy you, even if you add value, they're buying you, they're buying your energy. That's irreplaceable. Even if you have a lot of PDFs or videos out there, sometimes they just want to talk with you, man. You know how it goes, right? They're like, this guy's so cool, man. I should give him back something, you know, because he helped me so much already. Now that's one. The other one, and I think I think that this is helpful for other coaches listening, is because usually there's a missing piece of the puzzle that they don't really know how to connect with their own situation. And it just so happens you're that guy, right? You can you already, you know, been there, done that. They they present you with like, okay, I've seen your stuff. How do I add to my own? You know, how do I I connect with my own problems? And you can navigate that easily. Now, Brad, this is just my long-widded way of saying that. I appreciate what you do, man. And I appreciate being here and sharing so openly today, okay? It was great having you on. Pedro, thank you, man. This is great.

Brett Baughman 38:24

I really I really enjoy your style of questions and your questions. And uh, you know, it's like I do a lot of podcasts, do a lot of these things, and you can tell that you're actually here and listening. You're really part of this, and we're having a conversation. That's one of the things I love, but one of the things I think that makes me good as a coach is like I said, is like, I'm not selling, but I'm showing up. I'm like, let's have a relationship. I'm not trying, I have no expectation, no agenda. My only agenda is like, how can I make a connection with this person and understand where we're supposed to go on this journey? I think you do an excellent job of doing this on all of your podcast interviews here. So I uh I commend you for that. And thank you, man. It's a joy today.

Pedro 38:55

I appreciate you, man.

Davis Nguyen 38:56

That's it for this episode. This episode, as well as this podcast, was brought to you by Purple Circle, where we help business owners elevate their business to six, seven, and eight figure years, all without burning out. If you're looking to grow your business as well as get the time freedom that you are looking for, visit us at join purple circle.com and see what we can do to help you.