The Greater Journey: Stories of Transformation with Gregory Rutledge

From Chaos to Clarity: How Coach Will Smith Found His Purpose

• Gregory Rutledge • Season 1 • Episode 9

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 In this raw and powerful episode of The Greater Journey, host Gregory Rutledge sits down with Coach Will Smith, founder of Lifestyle Coaching Academy and creator of the New Me Initiative — a 90-day, no-excuses, results-driven transformation program.

Will’s story takes us from foster care, addiction, and self-destruction to fatherhood, redemption, and purpose. He reveals how a single wake-up call changed everything and why he believes in accountability over excuses.

🎧 What you’ll learn:

  • The truth about “overnight success” (it’s a 10–20-year night)
  • How to stop blaming and start becoming
  • The mindset shift from victim to victor
  • Why peace beats “crazy busy” every time
  • How resilience is built through fire, not comfort
  • The daily habits that keep him grounded and focused
  • Why empowering your network starts with owning your story

“It’s easy to be comfortable. It’s hard to be great. And just two more letters to be GREATER.”


#TheGreaterJourney #FromWaiterToGreater #CoachWillSmith #LifestyleCoachingAcademy #NoExcuses #MindsetShift #Resilience #Accountability #PurposeDriven #NewMeInitiative #EntrepreneurMindset #FaithAndFocus #GreaterFramework #MenWhoLead #FromFireToFocus

Welcome to the greater journey. Again, I'm your host Gregory Rutled, author from waiter to greater, creator of the greater framework. On this show, we're not celebrating the highlight reels. We dive into the trenches, the doubts, the detours, the lessons, and the breakthroughs that shape who we are um or who we become. And each conversation follows the greater framework, which if you want to know more about, pick up the book, From Waiter to Greater: How Anyone Can Level Up from Where They Are. But my goal here is to uncover those moments that made my guest greater, so you can find the courage to step boldly into your journey. Let's jump in.

Today's episode, we have Will Smith. Not the Will Smith you're thinking of, but founder and life coach at Lifestyle Coaching Academy, which is a no excuse, no BS life coaching that is focused on results, not your feelings. What I heard was f your feelings. Lifestylecoachingacademy.com and we'll get into how you can find them. But before we get there, I need you to introduce yourself cuz I don't feel like I did you justice, Will. Um, from where you were to where you are, we're talking about that messy middle of your entrepreneurship journey. So, we can encourage those entrepreneurs that have that are being misled by all of the social media BS that's out there.

Oh, a lot of people are misled. That's for sure. That's for sure. Uh, I'm Coach Will, uh, founder and life coach at Lifestyle Coaching Academy, the creator of the New Me Initiative, which is a 90-day no BS action uh, results uh, focused uh, coaching program that takes you from the life you have to the life you want in a again, no BS type of way.

I love that, man. So what's the story of where you started that most people don't know?

Well, I'm very open about my journey. I'm very open about my struggles. Uh because I am a strong believer that when you are transparent like that, people understand you more. But not only that, there are so many people as you mentioned on social media that make it seem like that uh becoming that new you, living that great life is so simple and it's not. Um, you know, I I started my program, I started my company due to the trials that I went through and it was through fire really. Through fire, through darkness, you know, I know that's kind of an oxymoron there, right? Fire brings light. But hey, I mean it was a dark dark time finding myself physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, all of the above.

And I know you you had mentioned like what that journey was. Um, was there ever a moment that you had felt overlooked or underestimated?

Oh, geez. Uh, my whole life really. And you know, I know a lot of people can say that, but uh you know, it's uh we we've all seen that picture and heard the story of the guys trying to push that heavy boulder up the hill, sliding back down and sliding back down. You know, that that's is an image that I can relate with and relate to to the fullest. you know, I you know, was born into a home of uh single mother with two older siblings. You know, it's we were privy bound um welfare kids. My father was incarcerated when I was 2 years old and he's been there ever since. So, I never had that father figure to really show me how to be a man. And you know I had a mother and two sisters. I was from the youngest age possible the man of the house. You know it was you know so it from there you know my mom she was you know I love my mother you know she's a great woman. Uh I believe that she did her best until she snapped herself. And when she did that she w got selfish and focused on herself. abandoned us a few times, you know, ward of the state throughout the young childhood um till in and out of foster care until I was emancipated at the age of 17.

Wow, man. Uh that's that's a lot deeper than what I knew. Yeah. Um you know, some of the most beautiful and I can I can relate partially with the not having a father raised with women. Um pushing that boulder uphill. I'm sure a lot of listeners can right now. And you know, it's it's more common than we realize. Like the story of beautiful people with beautiful hearts to serve that are born from something that you wouldn't believe would turn into this. Um, were there were there any limiting beliefs that you had to overcome or like a story you had to stop telling yourself in order to move forward in spite of this this story that you've just told me?

Yeah. You know, on top of that story, you know, I I'm dyslexic. Um, I have ADHD. So, you know, the biggest thing is you're never going to amount to anything. You're going to be just like your father. You're dumb. you're never going to make something of yourself, you know, and and that I was told as far back as I can remember of about 9 years old, you know, I was that's what I was made to believe. So growing up and even when, you know, in my late teen years before I was emancipated, it was a a struggle mentally to overcome that. And it really wasn't until I had my son, or at least when I found out that my ex was pregnant with my son. And when I found that out, I said, you know what? I may have never had a role model to show me how to be a good parent, to show me how to be the man I'm supposed to be, but I sure as heck had a lot of people to show me what not to do. And if there's one thing that I'm going to make a promise to is I will always be there for my children no matter what.

Amen, man. And that's beautiful. Again, it's relatable, bro. Um, you know, trying to father as a fatherless man with no guidance, no role models, like um it's it's a challenge, but you know, not a lot of people accept it. Not a lot of people like lean into that. So, I guess the next question I would have is like, who or what taught you the biggest lesson on this journey? um to becoming

I would have to say it's my eldest son, you know, and it's I've had a lot of figures throughout my life, but it was when I first held him, when I first saw him and seeing him grow. Um I wasn't the I wasn't the best father to him. is 17 now. I wasn't the best father, but I didn't know how to be. But he taught me how to become the father and the man I am today. You know, it it was every step of the way, every action with that. You know, there wasn't really a big uh role model I had growing up. And I had a few people that taught me hard work and work ethic, which was great. Uh you know, I was doing construction when I was in my teens, make some side money. Um, but it was really my eldest son, you know, after he was born and just raising him. Um, and I didn't see him for a few years in his young years, uh, due to conflict that his mother and I had. And then when he was 6 years old, I ended up getting uh, custody of him. And I was the primary caregiver, the custodia parent. And up until about a month and a half ago, he just moved back in with his mother cuz as a young man, you know, he he wanted that decision. And instead of having resentment for me, I said, you know, I'd rather you learn lessons now while you're still young and learn them when you get older. And you know, it's if you're a young man now, you know, in the in the eyes of law, you do something, you know, shady, you're going to be charged as an adult, right? So, who am I to you're not you're not hurting yourself in an aspect that's going to be detrimental for your the rest of your life. At least I don't believe so. So, why not let you go and learn those lessons?

Sounds like you you naturally transitioned into that coaching as a parent of a teenager.

Yeah. Yeah, you know, it's um that definitely helped, you know, with the you know, three years ago, I wasn't I yelled at him a lot, especially growing up. I'd say the thing that really has me look back to becoming the person I am today. And what hurts the most, honestly, what breaks my heart more than anything is I would yell at him when I was younger. when he was younger, 23, 24, 25 years old, I I didn't know any better. I knew what I was taught. And although I didn't like it, I still fell in the same footsteps as I was in. And I still to this day I can see his face as clear as day when he was just this young seven-year-old kid and I would raise my voice and the look and the scared on his face. It's it's a pain that I feel to this day that I never want anybody else to feel. I never want him to feel again. And that look haunts haunts me.

I get that, man. I was 17. 16 when I met my ex-wife. 17 when we you know she got pregnant and just we decided to get married. So many things happened between 16 and 19. Then it was like whoa. Um you know I had two kids. Uh my f my son was born like 11 days after my 18th birthday. I'd graduated 911 happened. Like all this stuff back to back had started college and just was not ready. Was not ready. I didn't Yeah. It was it was wild, man. But I can totally get that like when you're like my son came to me. I want to say he was 16 or 18, maybe 19, one of those teen years, and said, "Hey man, I just want to say like kudos to you for having two of us by now." And like really like holding it down, working, all these things you did. Like I didn't realize like how much you actually did because he can barely do what he's supposed to be doing at 19. I It was 19 and here I had two kids and I was working and married and all these things that just I didn't even think about it till he said it. Yeah, I guess I did better than I thought I did, but still those times where like you lose your cool or you lose your your apartment and your whole family has to go through it with you because you weren't prepared and like you're forced to grow up. Um, you know, it it is the best teacher, but it's not fair, right? It's not fair to bring people through a lesson that you probably should have learned when you were single.

Yeah. Amen to that. Yeah. So, what what do you say what would you say was like the first small action that created momentum towards a different life?

Um I'm a stubborn man. Um so it wasn't a small action. Uh it was it was definitely a life changing action. And um that was, you know, me being real drunk. I was I don't remember a family vacation. And I left the day early cuz I was just disgusted with myself. You know, I woke up that next day like, how did I even get to bed? Like, wait a minute. And I I was just so devastated, honestly. Yeah. You know, I we went to an indoor water park in Ohio. Um it was myself, my wife, my son, and um my in-laws. And I I can't tell you the day before I left. I can't tell you really what happened. I don't know. I I I just a lot of whiskey is what I do know. Um but remembering not so much. And that was really when I woke up that next morning was really that spark that hit me. And I was so devastated by that, you know, I left early. I said, I need to I just need to leave. I didn't tell my wife what was going on. I didn't mention it to anybody. Um it was about three and a half hour drive home. The whole time I'm just kind of having a conversation with myself like, dude, what is wrong with you? This is not who you want to be. You've seen this when you were younger. This is not who you want. This is not the role model you want to be. Um when I got home, you know, my phone went off. It was like shortly before I got home. But I don't look at messages while I drive. Mhm. And I after I got home, I looked at this message um of a an acquaintance, a business associate that or a business acquaintance that I um just saying, you know, hey, along the lines of, hey, um luckily I have tough skin. Not a lot of people do. You really need to put yourself in check. what you said to me is not okay. And it was a little bit more stern than that, but that's the premise of it. And I'm like, what the what? I'm already upset from the night before, the whole day before. So, I go and I look in the messages and I realize that wow, I uh I sent a really nasty uncalled for a message multiple paragraphs long kind of being a being a big a-hole and being degrading to an extent. um something that I I would not have have done, you know, I wasn't it wasn't my character deep down inside, right? And so it was like I got a front hand with the vacation and then a backhand with that message. It was just that front hand, back hand, boom, boom. And I I cried in my chair. I sat down in my recliner and I cried. I I didn't know what to do. And I just knew that I was lost. I knew that I had to do something. Um, and that was real. That was the catalyst that really had me change. You know, it's I should have seen it sooner, but as I said, I'm a stubborn man, and it took something of that severity to really smack me in the face and say, "Wake up, Will."

That kind of covers both the the action and the transition. Like there was that that moment that changed it all for you is the front hand backhand. I like that.

Yeah. Life will do that to you a lot. Um so you knew it was time to leave the hole behind when you got the front hand backhand. Now on the other side of that, what's a daily habit or system that helps you to keep moving?

Now, I would say that the biggest one that helps me keep my peace, um, I don't raise my voice every day anymore. I hardly raise my voice at all. And I would say the thing that helps me on a daily basis would be my prayer meditation. I I think that that there that's my daily practice that really keeps me grounded. And of course, we're all humans. You know, there are some days that are better than others. Um but yeah, that's that right there is what really keeps me centered and and grounded is my prayer and meditation. Having that moment of peace spiritually. Um, you know, some days I just need to zen, other days I I'm speaking with God. And between those two things really is helps me keep my peace.

Yeah, peace is so underrated, man. Uh, a lot of people are trying to move from this place of chaos and like constantly being busy and doing and getting. And I I watched a TED talk last night about um, stop saying you're crazy busy. Um, and then prioritize your life like ER doctors do or ER people in ER do. They have, you know, code black where there's nothing you can do about it. and it's sad, but you know there's nothing you can do. That person is either deceased or you know they're not going to make it. And you have red, which is it's an emergency and it's life-threatening. You have yellow, which it's it's an emergency, but it's not life-threatening. Then you have green. You know, they're just noisy, but there there's nothing wrong. They're just not comfortable. And the way we operate is everything is code red. Everything takes precedence and priority. and we're crazy busy, but nothing's getting done. And the peace, if you can move from a place of peace, everything just kind of works itself out.

So, um, it's beautiful that you mentioned that and I'm noticing like the main differences between the people that are successful and the people that aren't is successful people have some kind of grounding in some kind of spiritual principles, some kind of deity that they believe in, a higher power, right? Um and and since you're mentioning the Bible, um it says it is not good for man to be alone. So we need community. And that takes us to the next I didn't mention the letters of the greater framework before this, but the second E is empowering. Community like um empower your network. So two a two-sided question. So who empowered you when you couldn't see it in yourself? And then how do you empower others now?

Uh, the one that empowered me was and and I'm going to name drop her. Um, the the the girl that's that business acquaintance that sent me that message of, "Hey, not cool what you're doing." Um, her her name on social media says Red Roina and Wow. Yeah. And um she was the big turn point, you know, outside of me seeing myself, seeing what I sent her, it was the way that she responded. And I I do even to this day, I give her credit. I tell her at least once a year, uh you know, hey, thank you. Thank you for that because I don't know where I would be without that response. And she didn't have to give me the respect that she did, right? You know, it was how she responded to me. How she responded to that situation really tossed me back. And so I I would have to give her uh the credit for shining the light on me and and and what I needed to do.

And in the second part to that question, I'm sorry, I've got uh I don't remember two parts there. Um and how do you empower others now? like how do you take that respect that was you know she didn't match the same energy you gave her how do you take that and empower others now?

I teach them by showing them through action and I am open about what I've gone through I am open about the horrible person I once was and I show them through action through accountability selfac accountability and that bit of determination of wanting to change on how it's possible. But I also I'm not just oh get it done drill sergeant. Yeah. I mean that's that's me. But I also understand what it's like to slip and fall because it wasn't an overnight change for me, right? I had to break those old ways and learn new ways to replace those with to get to where I am today. You know, it's not an overnight success. If that was the case, we would all be successful, right?

Overnight success is funny. It seems like overnight success, but people don't realize it was like a anywhere from a 10 to a 20 year night. Oh, yeah. Um, and that's beautiful. So, um, where where do you do that at? I know you have this lifestyle coaching academy. Is that where you empower your people?

Yeah. Um, as well as on social media. Um, all everything that I teach, I put out there for free. It's with my content that I put on YouTube to the posts that I put on Facebook to the reals that I share on Instagram. You know, it's all of the above. And practicing what I'm preaching, sharing the trials that I'm going through even to this day. Yeah. Um that's how I empower people. And then when people people that want to take that action and that need that guidance, I would say, you know, reach out and ask how they can do more. And I have a private community that I host where, um, as a community, we help one another out. Um, and that's where we really dig in deep. It's no longer just kind of this is what's happening, this is what I'm going through, this is how you should help yourself. These are the habits you should have. It's how do we implement those habits? How do we really break free from that old version of ourselves to become that new version to find that peace in our life to successfully move forward?

Sounds amazing, man. um a lot it's a lot easier to grow in community than it is to grow in silos. Yeah. So, good on you for actually creating a space like that um for people to, you know, not everyone can handle the the drill sergeant, but there are those people that need it. And so, thank you for being you.

Thank you. Yeah, I've had to and I don't know if I've had to. I think I've allowed myself to just kind of water myself down. I used to be the drill sergeant. I can still do that, but I've leaned more heavily into the empathy. And I think it's killing me in business. Uh because there's no room for feelings when money is involved. It's weird. It that's what it feels like. It might be, but you know, there's this thin line between a paying client and someone who has basically been put in the friend zone and just expects something, right? Um, I I think you said it best right there. I really do. You know, there's once you put somebody in that friend category almost every single time, and I'm not going to say it's with everybody, but the high majority of people like, "Oh, we're friends. you can't just do that for me. Oh, you're friend. You can't just do that for me. But what people don't realize is if you're my friend and you want to support me, then I wouldn't be giving you a discount. I wouldn't be handing you stuff out for free. That's not support. That's not supporting me. That's not helping me grow my business.

And it doesn't help them. No. I I have hard drives full of stuff I've downloaded for free and things I've gotten for free. You think I've ever looked back at it? Hardly ever. Is every lead magnet I pick up, I just give my email, they give me the lead magnet. I never go look at it. Or I go look at it and it's a wall of text that looks like it came from Chad GBT and I close it and then after like three or four emails in the next two or three days, I unsubscribe because I'm like, what are we doing here? Yeah. So if you don't pay, you don't pay attention. You got to have some skin in the game.

Yeah. Um what is it? The there where your treasure is, there your heart will be. Also, we're not charging people because we need money. I mean, it's nice. It helps us keep going, but really I need your heart in it. And I can't tell you how many people I've helped for free that have done nothing with it. And you know when when there are the people that do something with it, they get some kind of success and then they'll shout out the people they paid and it's like, okay, well, um, I'm not doing anything for free anymore. Or they won't shout out, you know, they they won't shout anyone out or they'll get paid and they won't they won't pass on, you know, and that's probably my fault. I should have had something in writing, but it's just kind of discouraging. Um, we think that people are going to be as generous and as helping and as loving as we will. And we we we believe that because that's what we would do if we were in that position.

And most people aren't like the uniqueness of our individuality. most people aren't going to do the same, you know, and it hurts and it digs at us so much again because we would have treated the situation different and that's where the true bother comes. Yeah. Yeah. But this is kind of coming into that last letter of the greater framework which is resilience. Um, you know, there you've got to have resilience in the face of setbacks. And every setback is going to teach you something. It's it's almost like you you need the setbacks to to get that thicker skin and be resilient because this is just the beginning, right? We're we're just getting started on this journey. It only gets it only gets different from here. I'm not going to say it's better or worse. Just gets different. uh more challenging, you know, different level, different devil. Uh with with that being said, man, what um how do you think resilience has shaped the way you lead today?

Um well, at first, anytime I had a setback, anytime there was a failure, and I put failure in quotes because I don't believe in failure anymore. Um I I would say, well, there it is. Why am I doing this? Why am I doing this? I'm just going to give up. I was so fast to give up on everything. Anytime there was an issue, I was just so quick to say, "Forget this. I'm done." And it was a change of mindset, it was realizing that each time I had a setback or a failure, it was just a stepping stone in the right direction. And it's something that I I teach my son is, you know, if you learn something from that process or from that failure, it is not a failure. If you learn something, if you can know how to make it different next time, so you do not make that same mistake. The only time it's a failure is when we're repeating the same mistake over and over and over and over. That's the only time that we're failing because obviously we're not learning from that situation.

Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. And fail is um an acronym for first attempt in learning. I learned that from Stephanie. Right. Or she reminded me of it. I've heard it before, but you know, you remember the most recent. So yeah, it's like you said, if you didn't learn anything from it, which you always will learn something, there's always a lesson to be learned in anything that happens. It's either a lesson of what to do more of, what not to do, or what to do differently, right? Um, man, thank you for sharing that. So, to wrap up, I got these last three questions. Um, what because we've gone through the whole greater framework and I mean, it's all contained in the story, right? Your story is your greater, but I want to ask you, what is your definition of greater?

My definition of greater is being able to look back six months, a year and say, "Wow, I've grown. I've progressed." And to me, that's greater. It's It's not staying stagnant. It's so good to look back and say, "Wow, I've grown. I'm not stagnant."

And that's beautiful. And if someone watching this or listening to this feels stuck right now, what is one step they can take today or one word of advice you would give them?

Look in the mirror. We're the only ones holding ourselves back and we have every ounce of energy and power in our bodies to change any circumstance or predicament we're in. And I go a little deeper on this. If we look at the negative that we have going on, if we look at the things that are holding us back, if we look at the problems and issues that we're having in life and we follow that breadcrumb trail all the way back, it all started with something that we did. So no matter if it's positive or if it's negative, we are the only ones that we can hold accountable for our life.

Amen. Once I become the once I become the problem, I'm also the solution. Or once I can accept that I am the problem, I also become the solution. But until if if something on the outside, a people, place or thing, person, place, or thing needs to change in order for me to change, I'm powerless. So looking in the mirror and accepting that we're the reason ultimately, no matter how far that breadcrumb trails back, we made a decision or we took an action on a thought or feeling we had and we caused that. That's beautiful, man.

Yeah. So, I do I I mentioned that my father's been incarcerated since ' 92 my whole life for 33 years. Wow. Um I do have a distant relationship with him, but I was around I was about 14 or 15 years old and he left me with one piece of advice that I will never forget. And I was telling him how ever the situations I was in. Oh, it's so and so's fault. It's this person's fault. I rose my voice because that person. I did this because this person. He said, "Stop." He said, "Look, how did he put it?"

He said that Oh man, now I'm losing it. I'm brain farting there.

You'll recall it right when you need to.

Oh yeah, it was there and then it wasn't. Okay. He said that um he goes, "But what?" This is what he said. He said, "But what did you do?" Yeah. And either I yelled or I got into a fight, whatever it was. And he said, "But if you didn't do that, but if you didn't do that, the situation would have been different. It's so simple. It hurts." And and that's that's a piece that that has stuck with me. You know, it's stop looking his exact words were stop looking at what somebody else did and only focus on what you did. Stop being the victim and start being the victor.

Oh man, somebody just got saved today. If they'll accept it.

If they'll accept it. Because there's a lot of people I know um you know, it's it's never their fault. They never did anything. It's always someone else is the reason why they're where they're at. and they either don't have anyone or everyone's against them or someone there's always something to blame. You know, I heard something when I was in um in this program and it was uh all all an addict needs is food, water, and someone to blame. And it's it's funny looking back because I didn't realize that that's what I was doing until I saw it in other people. And the only way we can see something in someone else is if we we can only recognize what we are. So to see it in someone else and oh that's disgusting and then look in the mirror and be like yeah you do that too. Yeah. Or have your you know one of your mentors point out you know it's kind of funny. Um, it's like the pot call in the kettle black and you're like, "Ouch."

Oh, yeah. And I know that because I was there. Same. Yeah, I was there.

So, where can people connect with you and your work, man?

Um, well, you can, uh, head over to lifestylecoachingacademy.com. Uh, that'll give you a little backstory on myself. It will, uh, let you know a little bit more about the program. on my contact email there. Um you can look up uh on uh link on linkree linkree lifestyle coaching academy. Um that there will take you to the community that'll give you links to the website that'll give you links to the Macallenly as well as all my social media platforms.

So it's lifestyle coaching academy and not coach Will or Will Smith.

Yep. It's something that I want to leave after I'm gone.

Yeah, that's good. It's hard to leave my name other than to my kids.

Yeah. Thought about that.

Yeah. It's, you know, my my whole goal with the movement that I'm trying to make is in 50 100 years from now, Lifestyle Coaching Academy is still alive and is known as the leader of the industry.

It's a mighty aspiration, Will, but I believe you can do it because you believe you could do it.

Yeah, man. This is good. Um, is there any any last words? Any any other topics you you think we should we should address before we close it out, man?

Yeah. I I I'll leave one statement. I I'll leave one little bit of wisdom. No matter how you're raised or where you come from, you can always do better. Just because you were brought up XYZ way doesn't mean you have to live that way the rest of your life. The decision and the choice is up to you. And most importantly, if you're willing to put the work in to do it, it's easy to be comfortable. It's hard to be great. And just two more letters to be greater.

Well, thank you everybody for tuning into this wonderful episode of the greater journey. Please go follow Will at the Lifestyle Coaching Academy on all platforms, lifestyle coachingacademy.com. Don't forget to share this episode with someone who you think it can help and we will see you in the next episode. Thank you for tuning in.