The longer answer is that I’m wired for it and I’ve always felt called to it, though not in a traditional sense. I had no real aspirations to become a teacher so I could coach and never had a strong enough pull to a sport to make it my vocation.
In my business career, I’ve always enjoyed workshops and trainings. They give me energy. Something about a room full of like-minded people yearning to better themselves.
As a young sales rep in the steel industry we attended Sandler Training with Tom Scully for years. Our company had him on retainer and the scripts and systems we used followed Sandler to the letter. And it worked. How good does it feel to use a script in real time and close a deal on the spot? It’s addicting.
Once I joined the promotional industry and began to attend events like PPAI, SkuCon, SkuCamp, and even more localized client-summits, I saw that there’s an entire ecosystem – no, a community built around the events. They begin to have their own language and personality.
And yet, I used to have an intense fear of speaking.
Cue the classic Seinfeld joke:
“According to most studies, people’s number one fear is public speaking.
Number two is death.
This means to the average person, if they have to go to a funeral, they’d rather be in the casket than doing the eulogy.”
To combat this, during my time at UTees, I found every chance I could to stand up and speak and to get comfortable in front of ownership. I led trainings, spoke to students at our sales conferences, led sessions on leadership, kicked-off Quarterly Business Reviews with state-of-the-business sections.
The nerves never go away but it’s crazy how much more comfortable I feel speaking in front of a group, especially when I feel passionate about the content.
Enter my sweet spot for coaching: Operating Systems for businesses and for productivity.
Having an operating system is one of those things where you don’t know you need it until you see it. And then you can’t unsee it. I’ll be writing much more about the systems I use in future posts.
Looking back, I realize I wasn’t just drawn to the spotlight, I was drawn to clarity. I’ve always gotten a high from stimulating conversation – and from that buzz in the room when something useful clicks.
That’s why I write. Because even if my writing helps just one person, it was worth it.
And that’s why I coach.
I know that installing systems and structure – whether in a business or a daily routine – changes everything.
Because it works.
And once you see it, like I said, you can’t unsee it.