Earlier today, I announced the launch of Strong Life Coach as my new business venture. Often times, when people see a major life change like this, it’s common for people to ask for an explanation. After all, it is one matter to stop working at Nationwide; it is another matter entirely to stop working in the corporate world altogether. If not Nationwide, why not work at another company in a similar leadership position? Why not seek a similar functioning, similar paying role elsewhere? Believe me: This was not a decision made on a whim, but with much deliberation and strategy. For years, I have had a vision of speaking for a living and writing books. However, I allowed fear, worry, doubt, and comfortability to be the primary reasons that kept me anchored in my corporate career. Below, you will find five reasons that helped me choose to take this leap of faith.
1. Emotional, Spiritual, Vocal, Support of My Wife
As a person, I am constantly thinking about the future – dreaming, imagining, envisioning. One powerful exercise coaches use with their clients is helping them to develop their ideal future. My favorite question in this regard: “If you knew that you would succeed in whatever you did, what would you do with your life?” I ask myself this question frequently. This leads to plans for my future. However, as a married person, virtually every decision I make affects my wife. During a party at my house in July of last year, I had a conversation with a friend and prior mentor of mine, Herve. Excitedly, I shared a vision of mine to do more traveling and speaking, also asking him to be a vocal sponsor to those in his circle of influence. Never will I forget his response. “You do have outstanding talent and skill as a speaker and teacher. There is no question about that. But I will only endorse you once you have your wife’s support 1000%.” 1000%?! Ultimately, I knew he was striving to help me cultivate consideration and promote unity in my marriage. When my wife and I discussed changing careers to start a speaking and coaching business, she was 30% more on board than I! Shocking! At the time, I was teetering between 50% staying in the corporate world and 50% starting a speaking and coaching business; Lita was 20% stay, 80% go start the business! Her support means everything; I never want to pursue a dream that she hasn’t endorsed.
2. Financial Stability
My friend, Adam Nagle, is the first person who explained the idea of Lifestyle Inflation to me. To summarize the insight, people inflate their expenses of their lifestyle when they make more money; if you have more money from raises/promotions/bonuses, you spend more money. Lita and I decided against lifestyle inflation early on in our marriage. Dave Ramsey says: “Act your wage.” While I like this principle, I like the concept of this better: “Act under your wage.” Simply put: Live below your means. For us, adopting this principle meant that we have never used a credit card; we have never had a car payment; we paid off our student loans in the first year of our marriage. Without a doubt, we thank God for His help in this area. As bonus money, raises, and promotions arrived, we opted to live as though our wages hadn’t changed. Doing this early on empowered us and prepared us to take this leap to start a business without fear of financial difficulties.
3. Responding to a Personal Life Calling
Not one person has ever asked me to sing at their wedding; not one person has ever asked me to tutor their child in chemistry; not one person has ever asked me for tips on decorating the inside of their home. Why? To start, I’m a terrible singer; I’m horrific in chemistry; and I’m unskilled in decorating. I do not have a calling in those areas! My favorite quote on purpose affirms: “The two most important days in a person’s life are the day they were born and the day they found out why.” Each person has a unique calling; each individual has a distinct contribution that only they can make. Before the official launch of my speaking business, I have officiated wedding ceremonies; I have spoken at funerals; I have spoken to college students, high school students, and middle school students; I have facilitated trainings for leadership develop programs in the corporate world; I have spoken to professional women’s groups focused on development, networking, and mentoring; I have spoken to inmates in the Texas prison system; I have spoken to churches in Dallas, Austin, Killeen, San Antonio, and Tulsa, Oklahoma. People have requested that I speak on a variety of topics ranging from relationships, effective networking, attitude, generosity, interpersonal communication, personal growth, leadership, public speaking, and spirituality. I have discovered my purpose: speaking in an uplifting, insightful, captivating manner to create positive change in people’s personal growth, relationships, and influence. Starting a speaking and coaching business empowers me to embrace my life’s calling.
4. Staying in My Strength Zone
On a professional football team, you have a kicker who specializes in kicking, linemen who block, a quarterback who leads the offense, receivers who catch, and others who train/perform in a specified role. An unfortunate reality in the corporate world is the expectation of excellence in many tasks and responsibilities; many responsibilities are outside of a person’s specific strengths. It can be like being trained as the kicker AND the lineman AND the quarterback AND the running back AND the cornerback AND the safety. While this may enable learning in a powerful manner, it is often least rewarding and not fulfilling. In my prior role, I imagine I spent about 5-10% of my time within my specific areas of strength. The book Strengthfinders 2.0 designates my top five strengths as the following: communication, positivity, focusing, achieving, and maximizing. “The only thing in life that is universal is mediocrity.” I am mediocre in many components in life, but only outstanding in a select few. My business encourages me to stay laser focused on my areas of strength.
5. Finite Amount of Time and Energy
About two years ago, my wife bought me a gift to celebrate another year: a glass jar with glass marbles on the inside. While it may seem cheesy (or even morbid) to some, the gift was based off of the Spanish phrase: “Hazme saber el limite de mis dias”, which literally means make me know the limit of my days. In other words, help me remember that my time is finite. I tallied up the number of marbles for each month of my life if I were to live until the age of 80. The jar sits on my desk in my office and each month I remove a marble (sometimes I forget). It helps me see the limited amount of marbles left in the jar. What will I do with each month that I have left to live? How can I make the most of my time to serve and help the most amount of people in my lifetime? What actions will best provide benefit for future generations? Also, if my best energy goes to tasks that I have no talent, my actual gifts only get the leftover energy. Recently, I heard a story that said every person is given a divine song to provide to the world. Yet, many people die with the song inside of them – never shared with others. I want to sing my song to the world! My business, God willing, will expand my reach and maximize my time AND energy to have the utmost impact for this generation and the next.
Upon reviewing my motivations for starting this business, I included below a few application questions as you think about your own life. After all, I want to create positive change in your own growth, in your relationships, and in your influence.
Application questions:
- Unity in the Home: How do you promote unity while making decisions for the family? How do you show support for your partner’s dreams and goals?
- Shared Thinking: How do you involve others in advising you through decision making?
- Financial: What changes do you need to make to take care of your financial wellbeing? What steps would lead to a more confident financial future?
- Purpose: Why were you were born? Have you discovered your purpose? If not, what steps are you taking to uncover your purpose?
- Strengths: What are your top 5 strengths? How do you use them to serve others? How else can you use your strengths?
- Energy: Who and what gets your best energy? What shifts can you make to give your best energy to who and what are most important?