Activate Your Unique "Prey Drive" For Success with Coach Michael Burt | E5

Summary

Podcast Summary: Miracle Mentality with Tim Storey – “Activate Your Unique 'Prey Drive' For Success with Coach Michael Burt” (E5, September 22, 2025)

---

Overview

In this energizing episode of Miracle Mentality, Tim Storey sits down with Coach Michael Burt, a renowned life and business coach known for his dynamic “prey drive” philosophy and for building the innovative “Greatness Factory” in Nashville. The discussion centers on how untapped human potential can be activated into extraordinary success, the value of developing your unique skillset, and making bold “big table” moves. Drawing from Burt’s new book, Million Dollar Days, the conversation offers practical and motivational insights for anyone seeking to shift from the ordinary to the miraculous.

---

Key Discussion Points and Insights

The Making and Vision of the Greatness Factory

• Building the Dream: Burt shares the journey of creating the Greatness Factory, a three-level, members-only entrepreneurial hub in downtown Nashville. It took eight years and $8 million, with multiple setbacks (including getting “kicked out for having too much energy” — 03:25), reinforcing the power of persistence and vision.
  • “God gave me a vision: Build a greatness factory for adults. You can manufacture their greatness.” (03:16, Coach Burt)
• Environment as Activation: The space intentionally cultivates greatness. “Environments activate potential. Competition can activate potential. Exposure can activate potential.” (06:57, Burt)

Understanding and Activating Potential

• Potential Defined: “An idea of kinetic energy that is stored until activated…birthday gifts that haven’t been opened.” (05:44, Burt)
• Importance of coaching: “Who's coaching your kids is more important than who the President of the United States is.” (06:34, Burt)

Managing Emotions as a Coach

• Staying Calm: Early in his career, Burt struggled with frustration when coaching, echoing Magic Johnson’s NBA coaching challenges. “They need you to be calm.” (08:28, Burt’s mentor)
• Focus on “want to” factor: Only work deeply with those who are eager to be activated. “I’m only looking for people that are looking for me. I don't get emotional. I stay calm, and I go, okay, these are the people I’m looking for.” (08:57, Burt)
  • “I'm only looking for those people that want to be Navy SEALS, not baby seals.” (09:12, Burt)

The Climb to the "Big Table"

• Long-Term Obedience: Burt describes his career journey as a “long obedience in the same direction.” (10:26)
• Building world-class skills over decades, not overnight.
• Lessons from speaking on giant stages: “I learned I could hold my own with those people. It’s not that they were better than me. They were more famous than me. I need to learn how to market myself.” (11:22, Burt)

Intentional Congruence and Scaling Up

• Burt’s approach: “The coaching business is the primary business. Then one day, I woke up and go, what if we could activate a person…what if we could activate the business…what if we could activate their wealth?” (13:10–13:54, Burt)
• Strategic Partnerships: Success in partnership (“My partner’s raised over a billion dollars… 50 private companies.” (14:19, Burt))
• The “baking soda” analogy: “It’s the same product used in a different way.” (15:04, Burt)

The “Million Dollar Days” Mindset

• Leveraging Skills for Exponential Gain: Shift from linear earning to activating opportunities (contracts, equity, capital) that multiply value.
  • “I made more in an hour than I earned in a month. …I woke up and I had stock…it was worth $3 million. It was a million dollar day.” (16:45–17:19, Burt)
• “If you get into the right vehicle… you could experience a million dollar day.” (18:33, Burt)

The “Big Table” Concept

• Inspired by mergers & acquisitions: “It’s the biggest game in business.” (19:06, quoting Price Pritchett)
• Focused on enabling people to earn a seat at the “big table” with next-level financial and business moves.

Skills, Vehicles, and Finding Your Lane

• Skill Formula: “The skill you have, that needs to be world class. The problem you solve and the vehicle you distribute.” (21:35–21:41, Burt)
• Finding Your Skill: Most people can’t articulate their primary skill. “I have a skill of activation. One word. I can activate things ... at first I thought it wasn't sexy, until I raised $30 million with that skill.” (23:16–23:40, Burt)
• Confidence vs. Arrogance: “Arrogance is when your self-appraisal is much higher than your market value.” (27:05, Burt)

Locating and Switching Vehicles

• Warning Against Wrong Vehicles: “What if you spent your whole life in the wrong vehicle?” (31:17, Burt)
• “There’s three things you can do: you can tweak the vehicle, torch it, or utilize it.” (33:49, Burt)
• Strategic Pivoting: “I do this to do that. I coach people because it attracts some of the best people in the world to me.” (34:31–34:39, Burt)

The Power of Association and Skill Recognition

• “Skill gravitates towards skill. Like gravitates toward like. Association breeds assimilation.” (29:49–29:59, Burt)
• “No matter who I have in here, I typically know them, and they know me.” (30:30–30:34, Burt)

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Who's coaching your kids is more important than who the President of the United States is.” (06:34, Burt)
• “I'm only looking for those people that want to be Navy SEALS, not baby seals.” (09:12, Burt)
• “You should go to coaches who are doing what they're telling you to do.” (13:10, Burt)
• “If you get into the right vehicle…you could experience a million dollar day.” (18:33, Burt)
• “Arrogance is when your self-appraisal is much higher than your market value.” (27:05, Burt)
• “There’s three things you can do: you can tweak, you can torch, or you can utilize (the vehicle).” (33:49, Burt)

Memorable Story:
Coach Burt recalls being caught “red handed” sneaking out of his school day job to go speak elsewhere, which pushed him to fully transition into his calling:
“He said, so I tell you this, but you’re going to have to pick. And I said, I’m out of here.” (36:25, Burt)

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Greatness Factory origin & vision: 01:11–05:07
• Defining & activating potential: 05:16–07:24
• Managing emotions as a coach, Magic Johnson story: 07:24–09:12
• Career progression & stage skills: 09:25–12:00
• Intentional congruence & expanding influence: 12:42–14:55
• The “Million Dollar Days” mindset: 15:13–18:44
• Making “Big Table” moves: 18:54–20:25
• Skill mastery and confidence: 22:12–28:07
• Vehicles for success & pivoting: 31:13–37:48
• How to coach with Burt & membership overview: 38:38–39:41

---

Episode Takeaways

• Miracle mindsets require activation—not just potential.
• Environment, exposure, and coaching are crucial catalysts.
• Find and refine your unique skill until you’re “the one” known for it.
• Choose your vehicle wisely: growing your income and impact is as much about the right opportunities as the right abilities.
• Be willing to tweak, torch, or utilize your current path to maximize your calling.
• Boldness plus preparation yields “Million Dollar Days”.

---

How to Connect with Coach Michael Burt

Visit coachburt.com for coaching, Greatness Factory membership, and more.

---

This episode is a must-listen for anyone feeling stuck in an ordinary rut or seeking to play at a higher level—packed with real stories, practical frameworks, and the contagious energy of two masters of activation and comeback.

Transcript

[A]

Hello, my name is Tim Storey. Welcome to Miracle Mentality.

[B]

Remember, rooftops drawing spaceships on the ground.

[A]

It's for the dreamers, the doers, the believers in something greater. In each episode, I'll invite you to rise above the mundane, to push past the messy and learn to live boldly in the miraculous. Every episode will have practical wisdom, spiritual insight, and my guests will explore what it takes to activate your miracle mindset. Remember to subscribe, follow and light. Welcome to Miracle Mentality. My name is Tim Story. I have with me today one of my best friends in the world, Coach Michael Burt. Hello, Coach.

[B]

Hello. Good to see you.

[A]

Everybody needs a coach.

[B]

I believe that.

[A]

And you are coaching people all over the world in all walks of life. And you didn't say it about yourself. I said it. You are the best.

[B]

Thank you, Coach.

[A]

We have in the world. And you help to elevate people, solve problems, help people to scale. And you're still enjoying yourself, right?

[B]

I am, yes. I think if you took coaching away from me, I would be miserable. I think it's was hardwired into me early in life. Right. Even. You know, we were talking earlier, you and I, about. I remember my high school coach called me professor. I was on a baseball field hearing from coaches. You're going to be a great coach when you grow up. I didn't. I didn't see that in myself. But as tough as the coaching business can be, it. I think if you said you can't coach anymore, I would be miserable because that's who I am.

[A]

Yes. So we're sitting in this amazing place called the Greatness Factory.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And what I love is when you started to speak that vision years ago that you were going to do it, and even we were talking when you were looking for properties of where it would be. So we're in downtown Nashville, one of the nicest areas of all of Nashville, right down the street from the football stadium. And how does it feel to walk through this building that you saw in your mind at one point?

[B]

Proud moms and dads would bring their kids to me at 14 years old and when I was a basketball coach, and they would say, my daughter's got a lot of potential. She just needs. And then they would say whatever she needed. Confidence, discipline, focus, accountability. And I started to say, thank you for bringing your daughter to the Greatness Factory where we are going to manufacture her greatness.

[A]

Incredible.

[B]

And those moms and dads would go, where do we sign up?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Because I couldn't recruit when I was a high school basketball Coach. But nobody said I couldn't attract.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So I had the nicest locker rooms. We had the best assistant coaches.

[A]

I love.

[B]

We had the nicest uniforms. And I had to raise the money to do that. We didn't have the money to do it. We had to wash cars on Saturdays and sell M&MS. And whatever you do to make money. And. And so that, that phrase of taking going somewhere and manufacturing your greatness stuck with me. 2016. God gave me a vision. Build a greatness factory for adults. You can manufacture their greatness. So I started playing around with it. And I always tell people it took me eight years and 8 million bucks to build this place. I failed four times. A lot of people don't know that I started and failed. I got kicked out of a building for having too much energy. I did one event and the landlord kicked me out of the building I was renting. And I kept going. I need to own this. I need to take my destiny back in my hands. And. And when I called Tony Giratana, who's easily with the top developer in Nashville, he built all these high rises.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And I said, man, I got an idea. Do you have a space for it? And he said, I got a space in the 505. And I go, are you kidding me? Because I have a place in the 505. And he sits right downstairs. He said, I've been. I've been trying to sell it to a restaurant, but in Nashville, there's not three level restaurants. You go to New York City, you go to Chicago. He was going to New York City, coming back, and there's three level restaurants in New York City. It's not very common in Nashville. So he really built this almost for a restaurant, three levels, but he couldn't sell it to a restaurant. And I came in and swooped it.

[A]

Up, which is amazing. So, yeah, three levels of greatness here and so much going on with seminars, conventions. You rent space out. Talk to us about that.

[B]

Yeah. So think of this as a place that people work, learn, grow, connect. So it's a. It's a member only, private club. People pay membership fees.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Some people have their own private offices. You got to spend some time with our members. Yes, we do events, but all of level three that you see up here, including the podcast studio, the 109 person state of the art theater, the Money Lab, the Dream Foundry, is all rentable space. So a lot of companies come in and rent this space and it's totally different than a hotel. Yeah, it's totally unique.

[A]

There's something about the atmosphere here.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And even for me, I've been stirred up lately by a lot of good things happening in my life, but I'm ultra stirred up.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah.

[A]

Okay. I'm going to dive into some good things because we know each other so well. This word potential. Let's play with this for a minute. Okay. So there's a lot of parents that are watching right now, and their son or their daughter has potential, but it looks like they're not doing what they should be doing with that potential.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

What should a parent be trying to help that child with who the potential seems to be lying dormant?

[B]

Well, I think let's give potential a definition. It is an idea of kinetic energy that is stored until activated. It is also could be defined as an idea of embryonic growth that will be better today than we were yesterday. We'll be better tomorrow than we are today. I believe potential is there, but as you said, latent and undeveloped. There's birthday gifts that haven't been open. There's muscles that haven't been activated. So to me, who's coaching your kids, if we're talking about kids, is more important than who the President of the United States is incredible. So I have a daughter. I have three kids. I have a daughter's got a lot of potential in gymnastics. She's got a gymnastic body. She. She wants to go when I take her for. I took her on Saturday for private lessons, private coaching. And this coach, I'm watching him. She's like, daddy, watch me. You know, watch me do this. He's pushing her. Try a new move. Do this right. And she's responding. She's trying a new move. He's activating her potential. He's coaching her. So you and I are coaches. I define coaching as engaging people in a set of systematic behaviors that allows them to do something tomorrow they cannot do today. Right.

[A]

So good.

[B]

So potential has to be activated. Environments activate potential. Competition can activate potential. Right. Exposure can activate potential. Like coming to the Greatness Factory. It's like, I should be doing something bigger. Right.

[A]

Love it.

[B]

Okay. So. So that is what I think about potential. It is as dormant and latent and undeveloped until it is activated by something. And that something is typically a coach or an event or an activation point.

[A]

So interesting story. Magic Johnson said he had a hard time coaching in the NBA because he was so frustrated with the players.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Because he knew how. He trained. Larry Bird trained, Michael Jordan trained, Isaiah Thomas trained. And we would see these guys loafing around. He Just got frustrated. He said it in many interviews. As a coach, how do you stay out of your emotions of being so easy for you to be frustrated and stay frustrated because you play at a high level as well?

[B]

Well, I. I think early in my coaching career, I. I was in my emotions a lot, and kicking and screaming and cussing and throwing things and. And one night during a timeout, one of my closest friends was my assistant coach, Letitia Hayes, and she looked at me and she said, you got to calm down. She said, these kids are looking to you for guidance, and you're so up in your emotions.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

You can't give them any guy. You're not calm.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

They need you to be calm and that, you know, I was the head coach. I'm like, you know, I mean, I'm the head coach. You know, you're talking to me, but, man, I needed to hear that. I needed to be calm. Now, in today's world, it's kind of like Price Preacher says. I don't try to convince a person to experience a quantum leap unless they really want it. That want to factor has got to be there. Right. So in today's world, I'm really only looking for people that are looking for me.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

So I don't get all worked up about, well, this person, you know, don't want it, or this person. Right. I. I'm kind of like, hey, I'm. I'm only looking for people that are looking for me. And I don't get emotional. I don't get in my emotions. I stay calm, and I go, okay, this is the people I'm looking for. And I know how to win.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

At a very high level. And the people who want to win are going to step up and take an action, and the people who don't are going to stay over there on the sidelines. And I'm only looking for those people that want to be Navy SEALs, not baby seals. Oof.

[A]

I love that. Okay, let's talk about your personal career.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Because you. You started off like many, many people. It's almost like a baseball player that has to go up in certain divisions, certain rankings.

[B]

Right.

[A]

So you. You were coaching people certain levels, speaking to companies, certain levels. And then you find yourself on these mega stages, like 10x. When you spoke at 10x, you were so good that somebody was trying to talk to me at the same time while you were speaking. And it was somebody that's kind of well known. And I literally told him, can you hold on for a minute? This guy's on fire.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Okay, so tell me about working your way up almost from a certain league.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And moving up on how that prepared you for bigger stages that you are now ruling and reigning on.

[B]

Well, I believe in a long obedience in the same direction.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

And that's a book titled by Eugene Peterson, who was a pastor. And I didn't. You know, it's not like these things manifest. It just. Just happened to happen. I mean, to me, it's like winning a championship in sports. I didn't know when I was going to win, when I just knew I was going to win one.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

And then you wake up one day and you're in the middle of a court and there's 10,000 people cheering, and you go, I'm a champion. 10x was kind of the same way. Some of the big stages, it's just working the muscle, getting better and better and better and working a skill. And then one day you wake up and you're on a stage in front of 10,000 people. And people said, did you. You know, what did you learn? And I said, I learned that I had a skill that was good enough to be on that stage. I learned that I could hold my own with those people.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

And I said, it's not that they were better than me. They were more famous than me. Right. I need to learn how to market myself. I need to become a better marketer.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Okay. So. So. But the stages are speaking for free. You got to remember, I had 13 years of speaking to a team in a locker room.

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[B]

Testing ideas. That was like a little laboratory. I knew the kids like this, and they didn't like this, and they love this, and. And, like. Right. And it was writing books because I was on book, you know, 18 or 19 by the time I spoke at 10x. And so it's like writing a book, seeing what they like, trying speaking for free, then going up a little bit more, then getting a little bit better. And then, like I said, over a cycle of a decade to 15 years or 20 years, then it. You'd really do have a skill that. That's strong enough to be on a stage like that.

[A]

So it's an interesting thing because, like, let's. Let's take the game of basketball. So Coach Bird, as we talked about before, coaching high school basketball, but for. For women and winning many, many championships, but you're an unusual player where you can play all five positions because I'm watching you. You coach people, you create companies, you create establishments like the Greatness Factory. You write books there's so many things that you're doing. How do you. How do you keep things in order in the midst of all that you're doing?

[B]

Well, I do believe in intentional congruence. Okay. The coaching business is the primary business. I still coach and mentor people, a lot of people, and I enjoy it. I speak, I coach, I train, I lead. But I'm really a practitioner of what I speak on. And so I got this concept called the big table. And it's like, that's kind of what we promise in here, is it? Is that we're going to help you get a seat at the big table. And I believe that you should go to coaches who are doing what they're telling you to do.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

So I'm telling you to get a seat at a bigger table, while simultaneously I'm getting a seat at a bigger table. And to me, the coaching business is the primary business. Then one day I woke up and I go, okay, what if we could activate a person? That's the personal development side. And I've got all this literature that I've written on that. Oh, yeah, flip the switch A to B, person of interest, habits of the top 1%. Then what if we could activate the business? Because they need the business. They need to get in the right vehicle to really take this thing to the next level.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

But then I said, there's a third dimension to my coaching about activating their wealth. And what if I started to create? And I've always wanted. When I do my A to B exercise and I'm writing my things out, I'm like, man, I'm raising capital. I'm doing bigger deals. I have my own private equity fund. Right?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And by being around some of the top people in the world, what I noticed was they just had a proclivity toward action. So good, they just took it. They're like, hey, I want to start a private equity fund now. Where I've gotten better as I've gotten older, is partnering with people. So on one private equity fund we have called Pitch Equity, my partner's raised over a billion dollars in his lifetime. He's taken 50 private companies.

[A]

Over a billion.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

And he came to me and he said, I like. I like you.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I like your energy. Why don't we partner on this? 50. 50. And I go, okay. Right in our blue marlin capital. It's like, hey, these guys came to me and said, hey, would you like to be involved in this? We want you to be a partner. And I said, yes. Now here's the interesting part. I'm using the same skill.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

The skill of activation that I used as a championship coach, that I used to speak around the world, that I used to write books that I use. Right. I call that baking soda. Remember the old days? I use baking soda.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

When you were growing up, how did they use baking soda? You remember? Did they bake with it? Maybe people brush their teeth with it, Whatever.

[A]

A lot of things.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So. So baking soda today is used to deodorize. It's the same product used in a different way.

[A]

Okay. So powerful.

[B]

What if I could use the same skill activation to activate a company for equity, to activate a brand that's dormant, to activate a space, to activate capital. What if I use the same skill in a different way? And that's really what the book Million Dollar Days is about, how you experience a million dollar day by using the same skill in a different way.

[A]

So let's get into the book Million Dollar Days, Bigger financial possibilities and big table moves. So we recently had lunch and you blew me away. And we are really good friends. But you have stepped into something that's at the next level.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And as you know, and most people that are watching know, I get to talk to people that have done well in life. But what you've stepped into is really. And let me use a biblical verse.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

It's something that is exceedingly, abundantly above what you have now stepped into. So you, you briefly mentioned what you're doing with this equity fund.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

Can you explain a little more?

[B]

Well, when I wrote the book Million Dollar Days, I wrote that because it occurred to me that when I was a high school basketball Coach, I worked 320 hours a month.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

80 hours a week. At my peak, I was earning $55,000. Okay.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

I took the same skill over to the business world and I began speaking and I made more in an hour, earned more in an hour than I earned in a month. Then I started signing contracts.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Where they would pay me a certain amount of money and I was earning more in these contracts than I would earn. Right. And it just kept evolving to. One day I woke up and I had stock in a company I'm on the board of directors of. And the stock went up like 20 times in a day. And so it was worth, you know, $3 million.

[A]

It's a lot of money.

[B]

It was a. It was $1 million day. And then we started raising capital for Blue Marlin Capital, which is investing in data centers, racks of data. And we Were literally raising it at $1 million a day.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Okay. And then I went back to our experience at 10x and I said, that day was worth several million dollars to me. That day.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

And what if we could get our mind around having a million dollar day? Right.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

And so when I got into these funds, I go, I'm watching Cardone raise capital. I'm watching these people raise capital. And I go, I spent 20 years building reputational capital. People trust me, I do what I say I'm going to do.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

I show up over a long cycle of time. There's a consistency to me. If I'm going to be involved in it, it's going to have to be world class.

[A]

Yes. Always.

[B]

And so I go, you know, people started coming to me saying, well, if we could raise capital. So we started, you know, private equity fund and that. Invest in real estate and businesses.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So we can buy businesses and we can invest in real estate. Blue Marlin capital. Invest in data centers. Racks of data. And so. So that's really where the idea of the book came from, is that if you get into the right vehicle.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

The vehicle being the work you do and you have the skill and you have the problem.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

And you have the right vehicle. You could experience a million dollar day.

[A]

Yeah. So here's the book. Million dollar days, Bigger Financial possibilities and big table moves. So when you talk about big table moves, tell me a little bit what you mean by that.

[B]

I'm watching Price Pritchett be interviewed by Lewis House. Great interview.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

And Pritchett is one of my mentors. And Lewis Hows ask him, why did you get into mergers and acquisitions?

[A]

Yes.

[B]

You're a psychologist. And he said, mergers and acquisition is the big table. It's the biggest game in business.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

And when he said that, Tim, I go, because, you know, my brain. Oh, yeah, Concepts. I'm attracted to concepts. And when he said the big table, I go, okay, it's the biggest game in business. And I watched that interview, I bet a hundred times, and I started asking myself, what is the big table for me? And then I had the revelation of, this is what I'm doing for people. People come to me and, and, and the, the common denominator is they all increase.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

They all expand. They come to the greatness factor and they walk out thinking they do. Okay. So I go, I'm in the business of helping people get a seat at a bigger table. I had written Flip the Switch, which became a Wall Street Journal bestseller. I had given the talk on Prey drive hundreds and hundreds of times. And just like you, I was looking for my next concept. And so I go, that's it. The Big table is my next concept. So as I write a major published book, which will be the Big Table, I'm writing these small books. But all the small books lead to the big table.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Million Dollar Days is a little prelude to the Big Table.

[A]

And I love it. You have a podcast now called, called the Big Table. The Big Table. Okay. Chapter one, Eight Figure Skills, Stuck in Six Figure Vehicles. Help me with that. Sounds very Southern.

[B]

Well, it's like that was another book that I wrote and before this one. And it's like when I was a high school basketball coach, I had a big engine. I had a commercial instinct. I had studied business for 10 years while I was a basketball coach. It's kind of, it's kind of uncommon for a PE teacher to be studying business and going back to get his degrees in business. But I was, and I felt like, hey, man, I'm playing small. I got this big engine and a commercial instinct and I need to run.

[A]

I love this.

[B]

And so I felt like I was an eight figure person stuck in. I felt like I was a seven figure person stuck in a five figure vehicle. And then as I got out there, I would meet all these talented people. I'm sure there's like you and I go, dude, what's up, man? You're so talented, but you're in the wrong vehicle.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Like you're, you're a real estate agent and you're selling 50 houses a year. And it. And your best year, you're not going to get to this. Right. So I started breaking it down to a formula. The skill you have.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

That needs to be world class. The problem you solve and the vehicle you distribute.

[A]

So good.

[B]

And, and, and I started coaching people on this formula. Most of the people I coach today go, I can't get there in this vehicle. You and I talk a lot about the vehicles we're in. Which ones can get us here, which ones can't. And you got to be in the right vehicle. That's what, that's what that's about.

[A]

Yeah. Okay. We're not going to go through every chapter. I'm going to go to chapter six. You talk about skill. Yeah, because I love that word, skill. What does skill mean to you?

[B]

Could be like unique ability. That's a Sullivan term, you know, in the Bible. The parable. The talents.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Each person got X number of talents, which is a sum of money based on Their ability. I think about skill as ability. Like a birthday gift. You were given this ability, and then you open it like a birthday gift, and you refine it, and you work it, and you. You get better at it. And. And typically, the most skilled people have the most opportunities.

[A]

How do you find that people can discover their skill? How do they discover their.

[B]

I think they got to get that first. They got to be curious. If we had 100 people in the theater and we said, what's your primary skill? Not a secondary skill.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

98 couldn't tell us. They would say very vague things. I'm a good person. I work hard. I got a big engine. A lot of people say connection. I got. I'm good at connection. What they can't tell me is this. Is these. Like, I have a skill of activation. One word.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

See how clear I am? I can activate things.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

I can activate prey drive and boldness and imagination and excitement and energy, which I have found. At first, when I thought about this word, I go, well, that's not very sexy. Activation. It's kind of boring. And then I went out and raised $30 million with that skill. And I go, it's amazing. That's sexy.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I'm like, this is a damn good skill.

[A]

That's a skill.

[B]

If this is right now, now people come to me. I had a guy the other day, sold his company for 200 million bucks, and he came to me, and he said, I want you to activate my brand, and we're willing to give you this equity. And I go, now, this skill is valuable. So the more valuable the skill, the bigger the problem, the bigger the payout. Okay. So, you know, when I went through a lot of stuff with Vaden when I wrote the book Flip the Switch, and he has this concept of she hands wall. And on one hand, on one side of Sheehan's wall, you're unknown.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

You're obscure. On the other side, you're known. Right. And what. What breaks you through the wall is being known for something. You're known as the comeback coach.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Okay. So that broke you through the wall from being unknown to known. And what a lot of people do is they look at somebody, they go, tim stories doing this. I need to be doing it. What they really should be doing is looking at the skill they have, refining that skill and solving a problem. And then people start saying, that's the dude you call for that.

[A]

I'm loving what you're saying.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So as we've. We've talked about before in conversation The Bible says you see a person skilled.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

At their work, it will be ushered into the presence of the great. Yeah. And so going to the Malcolm gladwell of the 10,000 hours. But I love that you add to that. They have to be coached in the right way in that 10.

[B]

Yeah. You could pay. I could play 10,000 hours of golf and still suck at golf. If one. One thing that gets underplayed in that is two things. One, with. With correction and feedback.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Is what those people had. People don't talk about that. New studies have come out that said you don't have to go 10,000 hours. You could actually master something in four years. Okay. If you had intense practice in an area and strong correction and feedback. So it's not just a person practices an hour, it's a person who practices four hours. But they got correction and they got feedback and they got coaching and they're not afraid to fail. Which is why you would see people like skateboarders, people that break bones, not afraid of anything. They master things faster because they're not afraid of failing.

[A]

So let me tell you an observation with a story. An observation of you is the confidence that you are walking in. From the minute I met you, I saw the confidence, the swag that I really liked about you. The way you dress, the way you carry yourself. But I feel like the confidence is growing without you becoming a person of just walking in ego or pride. But it's just a confidence in God and a confidence in what he's called you to do.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Okay. Fair enough.

[B]

Fair enough. Yeah.

[A]

So you, you have that skill set and that confidence. Talk to me about how your confidence has grown in this skill that you have.

[B]

Yeah. I think confidence could be defined as a memory of success. It's an internal knowing that you can create or manifest something.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I think my confidence has grown because I do think there's a. There's a fine line between confidence and arrogance. Arrogance, I like to say, is when your self appraisal is much higher than your market value.

[A]

So good. Come on.

[B]

It's like real estate. You have appraised yourself much higher than you were. So good. Right. And I don't ever want to go there.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

My confidence has jumped, Tim. Because of me. Really uncovering my skill.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

I tell people I can't cook, geographically illiterate. I'm not a very good driver. There's so many things I'm bad at. But when it comes to activating something, I can, I can play with the best.

[A]

No doubt about it.

[B]

Why 34 years, man. I started coaching at 15. See, a lot of people, you know, they. They. I mean, I was a head coach at 22 years old. I was a kid.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Just like you started. 18, 19 years old. So for 34 years, it's long obedience. It's been one skill. Working that muscle. Yeah, working that muscle. But then I. Then I had this revelation of. This is it. It's one word.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Activation. Once you know that skill, now you start going, I can take the skill here and here.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Here and here. And you walk in knowing, hey, ain't nobody in this room got that skill.

[A]

Which I'm loving as your friend, to watch you do this, because I've been able to watch Magic Johnson do that. To go from playing for the Lakers.

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

To owning things and then owning more things. More things. And then becoming over a billionaire. But it started with a basketball skill. But he had a coach.

[B]

That's right.

[A]

And he had. He had his. His. His basketball coach, but he also had a mentor in the area business named Jerry Buss, who was the owner of the Lakers.

[B]

That's right.

[A]

So I said I had a question and a story.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So this quick story is having to do with me walking into a party, and I knew nobody.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

So I walked into this Hollywood type party. This was a group I didn't know. And so I went there because this guy asked me to go. But my friend that asked me to go spoke to one of his friends and said, watch how within an hour, this guy has a whole group around him. Okay. Because he knows my skill set.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

So I went and sat in a couch way at the end, and these people were being kind of Hollywood on me, and I just was not in the mood. So I was hiding, talking to one person, then another person came up, then another person came up, then another person. I'm telling you, I was surrounded by like eight people all walking through life coaching. And as you know, that skill drew people without me trying to draw people. I was not trying to be the life coach that day. It just kind of came out of me.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

All right, so let's go to another chapter.

[B]

And skill. Skill gravitates towards skill. Ah, okay. So just like, like gravitate toward, like, association breeds assimilation.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

When people ask me, how did you get on tour with Tim's story? How did you get on stage at 10x? How are you doing these events with all these people? I mean, you were a basketball coach. I say one thing. They have a skill, and they can recognize that I have a Skill. Okay. No different than you. I remember at church that day out in California, you said that Sharon Lecter.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

She wrote Rich Dad, Poor dad with Kiyosaki in the first 10 books. You all need to know each other. And what I find is, no matter who I have in here.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I typically know them, and they know.

[A]

Me so, so good.

[B]

And they'll go, hey, I've seen your stuff, man.

[A]

I like what you just said because I was speaking at church and Sharon was there. Sharon Lecter. The great Sharon Lecter.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

And the amazing Coach Burt. And I went, oh, my goodness. Or in the same spot.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Right.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

And what was awesome is how you two got together.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And then all three of us went on tour together. Yeah.

[B]

The comeback tour.

[A]

And changed a lot of lives.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Okay, so watch this other chapter. Locating the right vehicle. But you do write all capital letters.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Locating the right vehicle. How do we do that?

[B]

What if you spent your whole life and you got to the end of your life, and you said, what if my whole life was wrong? Right. I remember Dyer used to say that you could spend your whole life in the wrong vehicle. My dad worked in a factory. He. He was very likable. He could talk to anybody. That's where I got that skill from. Right. Although I didn't grow up with my dad, I still got that skill from him.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Right. If you talk to him, he's the nicest guy in the world. He's going to talk to you. You're going to like him, immediate buy into him. And one day I said to him in the morning, he would get on the thing and give the announcements to all the workers in the factory. And he said, son, you know, I do kind of what you do. I'm in the motivation business. But he got up and went to a job that he hated for 30 years.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And he couldn't retire. He couldn't wait to retire. And I think about that, because the vehicle that you choose, it could be very hard.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

See, nobody set me down 17 years ago and said, okay, you're going to go into this coaching business. But it's going to be hard. You're going to travel 200 dates a year. You're going to be away from your family. It's going to give you a great life. And I didn't even think about this. I just thought, this vehicle's better than that one, Right?

[A]

Yep.

[B]

And then one day I wake up and I go, gosh, man, I'm away from my kids, and there's got to be a better way to do this with my skill set. So I started going, what if I own the buildings that I coached in? What if people came to me versus me? Go there. What if. And then I started going, okay, how do I distribute my talent here to get a maximum output? And then once I found my skill, I started finding different vehicles, raising capital, equity, and companies. It became bigger place, I think.

[A]

So many people watching right now, coach, they feel like they are in the wrong vehicle. If you know you're in the wrong vehicle, let's say it's, it's. It's a job. As you know, you can't always just. Just quit that job right now. So what would you say to somebody that has been at the wrong company, let's say for 10 years, and they don't want to sign another 10 year contract? How do you suddenly get out of that? Or how do you abruptly get out of it? What should you do?

[B]

Well, if you're, if you're in a vehicle that can't get you where you want to go, I say there's three things you can do. You can tweak the vehicle, restructure it, shift it a little bit like I've done with my coaching business. Shift it.

[A]

This is good.

[B]

You can torch it.

[A]

Gosh. See this? This is where you can be. Yeah.

[B]

You can walk in and go, I'm out.

[A]

Listen, I'm a good coach, but you're blowing me away right now. I'm glad. It's like we were playing. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You, you'd be 18, right?

[B]

Well, you coach me and I coach you.

[A]

Okay. So number one, T was the first one.

[B]

You can tweak, tweak it. You could maybe torch it, or you can utilize it.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Okay. Let me tell you what I mean.

[A]

Ttu.

[B]

What if the coaching business is a great business for me to pour into people, but it also feeds the other businesses.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So sometimes you'll hear me say, I do this to do that. I do this to do that. I coach people because it attracts some of the best people in the world to me.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

What if I told you the private equity fund and the Blue Marlin Capital, who are some of my most successful students, the coaching brought those people to me.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Then after I observe them for a cycle of time, I go, you guys show up, you do what you say you're going to do. I'll partner with you on this.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Right. I have a skill and you have a skill. So I utilize the coaching business and the greatness factory. Listen, we've done. There's been over $200 million worth of deals sourced in this building.

[A]

In.

[B]

In the building.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Just like you sitting down on level two today, going back and forth. Okay. So. So to me, I am strategically pivoting the business while I'm also utilizing the business. And if you could think like that, I do this to do this. I get a lot of joy out of doing this, coaching people. Right. But all the big money, the big, big money that I'll make will be in these other things.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Okay. So if a person's out there. I didn't quit coaching. When I started speaking, I spoke on the side. I wrote books on the side. Remember? I stayed as a head coach for six more years after I wrote that book. So a lot of people think, well, you're just going to jump over here and let me tell you what got me in trouble. You'll appreciate this is I was speaking. And I would speak any day. I had a day off, but then I started leaving school and speaking.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah.

[B]

And what the other schools in our district wanted me to come down and speak to their people. And I went down at lunch. I left my school and went down to another school, spoke. And I looked up and the superintendent of schools was there. He came over to me. He said, now you teach at one of the other schools, don't you?

[A]

That's too.

[B]

He said, I want you to come see me tomorrow.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And I went the next day. And he was a former football coach. He said, boy, you sure are a good speaker. And I love that you have this talent.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

But I can't let you leave the school you're supposed to be teaching and.

[A]

Go around the world. That's too great.

[B]

And coach.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And speak. He said, so I tell you this, but you're going to have to pick you. And I said, I'm out of here.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I said, you know, they're. They're paying me this much to go over here. And he said, I don't blame you one bit.

[A]

I'm loving this because I've never heard that story, but you can't be a.

[B]

PE teacher at that school. And I went down here and he called me red handed right in the middle of school day.

[A]

The old. Sneaking out the side door.

[B]

Yeah. And I'd go to, I'd go speak at, you know, pharmacy or go speak somewhere during the middle of the day. And I think I even taught a college class for one semester. And I don't even know if people should know all these Things.

[A]

But.

[B]

But, you know, I mean, I just had this desire and this, this instinct to go do it, but I didn't resign. So. So it's not like some people want to walk in and see this and they go, man, I'm quitting now. You could do that. You could burn the ships.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

If you're in a vehicle that can't get you there, how long do you stay there? You don't want to get to the end of your life and say, man, I spent 30 or 40 years. You and I are in vocations.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

That is voice or calling in life. Occupation means that which occupies your time in which you receive a paycheck for. I couldn't get up and go be in an occupation the way I'm wired. Neither could you. No, I could if we didn't think this was our calling.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And there's no better compliment to me when I speak than for somebody to come up and go, you're doing exactly what God called you to do.

[A]

I'm still laughing at you leaving the school.

[B]

I don't think I've ever told that.

[A]

No, I have not heard it around you a lot. Yeah. Million dollar days, bigger financial possibilities and big table moves. Right. So, coach, if people know four people who do want to coach with you, there's some of you that are watching. You need to coach with him. How do they get a hold of you?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And then tell us a couple ways they can coach with you.

[B]

Yeah. I go. I go to coachbird.com the way I coach people is in a cadence and a rhythm. I really want them to become members of our coaching and the Greatness Factory. I send a message to their phone every morning. I cut a message every morning five days a week. Go straight to their phone.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Every day to every one of my clients. I train in the online academy. We want them training in my online academy. Daily military trains every day. Olympians train every day. And then I typically coach two to four days a month. Right. Just like a pastor. And. And they can come in person to the greatness factor, which is deep benefit for. Or they can go virtually.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

And we call that the Greatness Factory membership. The promise is we're going to help them get a seat at a bigger table.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And then obviously I do one off coaching coach companies, teams, executive teams. And I do do some one to one coaching with people who really want to go to another level.

[A]

And you're so good that I've sent my friends to you.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Because no one can do it like you. So, coach, thank you for being.

[B]

Thank you.

[A]

On the podcast today.

[B]

Absolutely.

[A]

And life is good.

[B]

My pleasure.

[A]

Thank you for sharing space with me on this episode of Miracle Mentality with Tim Story. If today sparked your courage or helped you understand why you're created for success, I invite you to carry that miracle mentality forward. Visit me at timstory. Com that story with an ey on the end. Until next time, walk by faith, embrace possibility, and create your own comeback Story.