← The Everyday Millionaire and Mindset Matters Podcast
The Everyday Millionaire and Mindset Matters Podcast
TEDM – Kelly Roach – Designing an Exceptional Business and Life That Truly Serves (Episode 228)
01:03:04
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Hi there and welcome to the Everyday Millionaire Podcast. My name is Patrick Francie and I am your host and I want to begin by saying thank you for listening. On this show I am having conversations with seemingly ordinary individuals who have achieved some amazing and extraordinary results in both their life and business. My intention is to inspire and help you learn and grow by having my guests share their journey of how they face and overcome their challenges, but also how they celebrate their their many wins. And now let's get on with this show and have a conversation with today's guest. Kelly Roach is one of the only female founders to build up an eight figure business in the online space without debt, investors or outside funding. A former NFL CH leader and founder and Fortune 500 executive, Kelly transitioned into entrepreneurship and now empowers thousands to achieve financial and lifestyle freedom than being a keynote speaker. She is a multi international best selling author, top 20 podcast host and philanthropist with features in major media such as ABC, NBC, Fox and many others. Accolades include 287 on the Inc 5000 list, the Stevie Awards, Women of the Year, Titan, CEO of the Year and Inc's Best in Business. Kelly's speaking expertise includes topics such as leading high performance teams, post pandemic, lessons learned from The Navigating the 2008 Recession, how to lead through difficult times, running breakthrough businesses and sales teams in a contracted economy, and how to attract, retain and mentor. On top of that, how about how to retain your highest performing women in corporate leadership and surviving the Great breakup. So many insights, so much wisdom shared by Kelly in this conversation. Let's get this show started. Listen in. Enjoy. Kelly Roach, welcome to the Everyday Millionaire podcast. Thanks so much for joining me.
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I'm so happy to be here. Thanks for having me.
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Now Kelly, I didn't ask you. Post recording. What? Where are you? Where are you located? Where are you based?
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I'm in Delray Beach, Florida.
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Oh, nice. Now that's a bit of a loaded question, I guess, given the virtual way we operate these days. And I'm sure you do as well. So that's more of a detail rather than, I'm sure a requirement, you know, in your world of business. So I just wanted to shine a light on that. So that's kind of cool. Now Kelly, when we look at your bio, I mean certainly it's impressive and there's a lot of things that are there, but my experience with many guests is that the bio is not necessarily up to date because most of my guests are overachievers. So what did we do yesterday? Almost changes Sometimes. So when somebody approaches you and says, you know, Kelly, what do you do? How do you answer that question?
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Well, I'm a business growth strategist, and I help entrepreneurs build seven and eight figure companies without sacrificing the most sacred parts of their life. So my goal is to help entrepreneurs achieve their goals and their dreams while putting their faith and their families first. And one of the new things for me that probably isn't on my bio is that about a year ago, my husband and I started started homeschooling my daughter together, which has been one of the greatest blessings, one of the greatest joys of my entire life. And it really allowed me to live what I teach, right, because I have six companies, large team, global enterprise. And to be able to still continue to lead and grow those organizations, but really lean into, you know, putting the family first and helping Madison, my daughter, grow in her faith life, as well as becoming the young leader that I'm helping her to become, has been really extraordinary.
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You know, that's interesting for me because as a grandfather, my daughter is in fact, homeschooling her children, our grandchildren. And it's been an interesting kind of process to watch and observe and see how they're doing it and the challenges that come with that. And, you know, the way that, you know, as moms and dads as well, I guess, you know, do we do homeschool? What? Why are we homeschooling versus putting them into the traditional system of school? That almost becomes a conversation on its own. I don't know if you want to kind of approach that, but it is interesting that given what you've got on your plate, you chose homeschooling. Is there a reason that you did that in terms of why? Why did you do it? Let's just kind of, I'm just want to help kind of pull on that thread.
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It's a great question and it's an important one, right? Because I believe that legacy is something to be lived, not something to be passed on. And I believe the greatest legacy that you can live is pouring into the people that you love. And for me, as a business growth strategist, I spent my basically entire adult life, from my time in Fortune 500 and then building my own companies, making other people successful, helping people to reach their goals and dreams. And what I found was happening was that I was sending my daughter off to school, she was learning a bunch of things that she's never going to use in her life, and I was hustling, hustling, hustling to Try and wrap up my work so that I could see her when she got home from school. Which means that she never saw experience or got to learn from any of the things that I teach all day, every day. So for me, the big thing there, there were hundred things, right? It's. It would take us the whole hour for me to explain all the reasons why we wanted to. But a huge reason was I wanted to invest what I spent the last 20 years learning about business and sales and marketing and communication and leadership and ownership. And I wanted to give that G to my daughter. And I want to empower her to learn the things that people spend 50, $100,000 to learn from me. Why wouldn't I want to give that gift to my own daughter? And so a lot of it for us was helping her to learn real world skills that she can apply in everyday life. But also, you know, for me, I'm a person of faith. I'm a person of God. My faith is really important to me. And I wanted to be the person that was really focusing on faith formation with my daughter. And I didn't want to outsource how her worldviews were being developed. I wanted to take ownership of creating that in our own home.
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You know, it's such a great kind of segue into an overarching conversation, Kelly, because what I'm hearing in this, and although you didn't say it so I don't want to put words in your mouth, but you know, when we look at our kids and the opportunity that you, somebody like yourself or myself has, my daughter, where we're saying, no, we're going to take responsibility for the quality and the type of education our kids are getting. And that's not to make the system wrong. We could go down that path all day long. But let's just say we're going to take ownership of how our, how we develop our children, the views that they have, and most importantly, I think is helping them and supporting them in creating values. And I'm not just talking about moral values. I'm talking about values, core values. And they may not align with yours, but they're at least going to be in the conversation about live a values driven life, live in alignment with what your values are and even having that conversation. So the reason I kind of give that context, Kelly, is that when you're working with the executives and CEOs or founders that you are in your business world. In my own experience at this age and kind of juncture in my life, I see often where people don't even realize or know what their values are. That often messes them up because they're making decision based on other people's values. So when you're working with CEOs, like I say with founders, whatever that cohort is that you're focused on, does that conversation come up for you? And again, I'm not talking about moral values, I'm talking about individual values that they're living.
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Absolutely. You know, one of the things is, so we live in this like constant juxtaposition of these kind of dueling things in our lifetime, right? On one hand, we have the greatest opportunity in all history. It's never been more convenient and more accessible to become a millionaire. And on the, on the flip side, with the rise of Internet education, online mentorship, coaching, course creation, all of those things, a lot of people have outsourced their power. And to your point about values, I find a lot of people come to me and they have built a business based on someone else's values and they don't like that business because that business is not built around their life design. Right. And so what I say to Madison, my 11 year old daughter all the time, is I say my job is to put you in the position to have power of choice in your life so that you can decide where you go and what you want to do, but you put your yourself in a position of power that gives you choice. And you know, I think entrepreneurs, it's so funny because it's supposed to be the path to freedom, but for a lot of people, they kind of build this, this prison because they've outsourced their power of choice. They've kind of defaulted and delegated decision making to maybe a mentor or a coach or a teacher. And so what I always tell my clients is learn principles, learn constructs, and learn models from people that have built to the level or achieved the things that you want to. But be very careful that you're building based on your core values and your own unique life design. Because if you don't do that, that's where I find a lot of people actually start sabotaging themselves in the business and they don't even realize it because they're actually not growing a business that they want to grow. Like, they don't want to serve more clients, they don't want to have more team, they don't want to have more because more is duplicating a problem that they don't want to grow. And it all comes back to exactly. You nailed it. Not having core values. Be the centerpiece for where all decisions are run through.
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It's interesting over the years in my own businesses, when you start to align your team and have a conversation with the team and help the team create culture, create the environment, actually participate in what we as a business stand for, and so that they can live into that, be proud of it, and actually make decisions from that place. So then there's an alignment between, you know, let's say me as the owner slash CEO of a given business, because like you, I operate businesses where I'm not in the trenches, but that I'm confident in the team. Number one, they've been with me many, many years. The businesses are mature. But secondly, we make decisions. And my general manager, for example, makes decisions based on our core values. So if somebody's applying for a position, he may go, you know something, he's going to be a great sales guy, but, man, he's going to be a wild card. I don't want to work with him. So we make those decisions. And by the way, it's because we've learned lessons the hard way when you're dealing with, you know, your clients. So there's a couple of aspects of business, Kelly, that I'd be interested in hearing your perspective. And that is there's the how to, you know, you as a strategist, you know, to what degree do you find yourself getting into the minutiae of the operations, for example, and. Or do you also kind of consider that in your. In the, in the clients that you're dealing with? This isn't, you know, they're pretty, probably pretty savvy operationally. They may be stepping over some things or they may not be hiring well. But let's get right to the center of the universe, which is you. You are the center of your world. And we need to first look at your operating system, look at your values, look at how you see the world before we can start working on the operational components of it in that context. Now, I'm just kind of framing it a little bit for you, Kelly, to lean into and kind of unpack that a bit. How do you see it and what's your experience been with those who are operationally, they can be very, very good and they're technicians, but they're just so misaligned with their own values and their own health, their own kind of those seven areas of life, and that comes out sideways. So, anyways, that's a long question. Hopefully it gives you enough to kind of speak to.
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Yeah, I mean, I think, listen, I think that's why, like, something like maybe 4% of businesses make it over $10 million, right? Because you have to have an alignment between the inner work and the outer work in order to truly build something to that level and beyond. And I think that, again, a lot of people that come into business, they're looking for the opportunity or they're looking for the way we have. People say all the time, I want to impact people, but then they're not selling in marketing, or they want to grow, but they don't have a business model that supports being able to scale. So the congruence between personal values, the right mindset, like, I believe scale is more mental game than anything else, because a lot of the things that you need to take the business, you know, let's just say from the seven figure to the eight figure mark, you're really repeating a lot of fundamentals, but you have a deeper level, mastery. You're doing it on a larger scale, and you're leading more team and more clients through the process. So it's not that it's so complex, but it requires emotional capacity and requires the mental game in order to do it right. And part of the mental game, quite frankly, is not getting bored and changing what you're doing every 10 minutes. I mean, that, that's a big. It's, it's really interesting because entrepreneurs, they operate in these really short time windows, and that's not how life works. That's not how the real world works. You know, you might need to set goals that take you 5, 10, 15 years, multiple decades. And a lot of people do something for 90 days and they're, they're bored and they're on to the next thing, and then they keep wondering why the business won't grow. Right?
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So do you see where, you know, leaders, business owners, you know, they start a business and they get things going, but they're not good operationally, but they don't know how to delegate, how to hire that person to be put in place. So, you know, there's certainly skill sets that are required to operate a business. And you can be a CEO and you can have a great idea and you can launch a business and get it off the ground, and it could even be sustainable without you at the helm. So, in other words, you know, not everybody is built to be operational or do that heavy lifting. You know, when you look at some of the clients that you've dealt with, what do you see as an oversight? Is my experience and my observation over the years has been, and even with my own kind of realizations over the years is that even as I've gotten older and, you know, I'm 67, so I'm like, already into this phase of my life where I'm looking at it, going this and reflecting and doing all those things. But the point is, is that you have to know yourself and what you're good at and what you're not good at, what you. Where you may be getting in the way. What's your thoughts?
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Yeah. Oh, a thousand percent, actually. It's interesting that you asked that particular question because I came out of corporate, I work for a Fortune 500. I built a team of a hundred from the ground up, and I was managing 17 locations. So my whole world was about hiring, recruiting, training, interviewing, promoting developing people. Like that was how we got results, was building exceptional teams. And when I got into the entrepreneurial world and I said, I want to teach entrepreneurs how to sell, I want to teach entrepreneurs how to grow, I immediately discovered that the vast majority of entrepreneurs are trying to do everything and be everything, and most of the things that they're trying to do and be, they're horrible at. And so the business is never going to grow. So I wrote a book called Bigger Than you, the Entrepreneur's Guide to Building an Unstoppable Team. I did that probably like six, seven years ago. And I. I created that as basically a guidebook to walk entrepreneurs through a lot of the principles that are necessary in a small business setting to recruit, train, hire, and elevate team members effectively so that you can focus on your zone of genius, focus on only the things that you and only you can do, and then have the right people in the right roles. As you mentioned, operationally, that's a huge one that, that you are not going to be able to do well. And I recently just went back in the fourth quarter of last year, created a updated audiobook, expanded it, added seven chapters because I saw that people needed even more and there's really no information or resources in the entrepreneurial world on building effective teams. It's like very rare that it's ever even discussed. And I think that's because if you look at the vast majority of small businesses, maybe they have a couple contractors or they have a handful of people. Most small businesses never get to the point of building legitimate teams, and they don't even know that that's the reason why they can't grow and scale. Right.
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So it's interesting that we look at what you just talked about, the difference between being a business owner and being A technician. You know, back to Robert Kiyosaki's books or. I'm trying to think of Stephen Covey. No, is it Stephen Covey who wrote I've Lost the title of the book, the E. Myth. In the E. Myth, was it Covey? I think it was Covey. The E. Myth and the E. Myth Revisited. Two good books that are really kind of foundational for young entrepreneurs, I think, to kind of shift how they view their world and what they're leaning into or stepping into. And when you consider that you don't want to be a technician, a good friend of mine, very accomplished in business, has done exceptionally well, and his whole philosophy is in all of the businesses that he's started, and some of them he sold. But his philosophy is, the minute I step in as a CEO, owner of a business, I'm always looking at, how do I put myself out of a job? So what is it that I need to do? Who do I need to hire to replace myself? So he's looking at positions. What is the qualifications of the position that is required? And who then can I hire to fill that position? And is. Do you kind of. Do you see that as, you know, kind of maybe a bit of a model that you work with as well?
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Yeah, absolutely. I mean, what. I always break it down like this for my clients and customers. There's five core divisions in the company, and then everything else is kind of a satellite of that. So sales, marketing, service delivery, finance. Right. And. And, and, you know, so on and so forth. And you know what I find is the vast majority of small business owners, they are the sales team and they are the service delivery team.
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Sure. Yeah.
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And we all know that that does not go well. Right? And especially when people are coming to me because they're coming to me because they're like, oh, I want. I want to grow to. To 5 million. I want to grow to 10 million. I want to go to 10, 20 million. And I'm like, and you're the salesperson and you're the service person. Like, this is. This math is not mathing, Right. So breaking it down into these different departments and really looking at each core priority that is going to allow everything in the business to be duplicated, multiplied and replicated and yielding replicable result at scale. And then to your point, doing it without you. Right. And really narrowing your zone of genius into, like one to three things that you and only you can do, and then at least having one other person that can drive forward each of those other core departments.
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So let's go back a little bit, you know, into the conversation about Kelly. So you talk about your corporate history and you know, this was certainly foundational for you to kind of launch. You know, I, I look at, I've only had one job in the 40 plus years I've been in business and that job was a corporate job. It was seven years when I was a young man. And it really laid the groundwork for a lot of my, you know, business knowledge, if you will. And it's what kind of launched me into my own journey of entrepreneurship. So what was it for you? There's a couple questions around it. I'll start with this one. So when you look at your corporate background, what then said, you know, I'm going to do this. I got to take this and take this knowledge that I have, this learning that I have, and start up my own business.
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Yeah, well, I was super blessed. I had an incredible mentor for over 10 years in my corporate job, really taught me everything I know about business. Working my way up. I started in the most entry level job, cold calling and going door to door business to business, and worked my way up to becoming a senior vice president of the company. And so that really informed everything about, you know, how I became a business person and how I have led and built companies and teams and, you know, did that for over a decade. And basically I just got to the point where, you know, I, I knew I had the skill set to keep elevating in the company, but I felt that I needed to use my talent in a more meaningful way that was more in the trenches, helping people directly, like being of service, truly making a difference in the world. And I looked at the people that were above me at that point and I said, do I want the life that they have? And my answer was no. And so I said, if my answer is no, I need to go out and create the life that I want to have. And so, you know, I started my first business and really my goal was how do I take the things that I learned in this corporate experience and translate that into the small business world? Because I saw and I knew that there are so many people entering the small business world that had a great idea, big vision, a lot of passion, desire to help, desire to serve, but not necessarily the business chops to go out and make it happen, which is why still, you know, 85% of businesses fail in the first few years.
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You know, there's in this conversation we brought up or you've mentioned, you know, the desire to serve, you know, a couple of different times. And, you know, whether yourself or some of your clients, when you think about that at some level, it seems that most people get to that realization at some point in their life. Where really mission, purpose, meaning comes from being of service to other, being a contribution to supporting others. Now, not everybody gets to that, you know, but many do. You know, some of the most successful individuals come to realize that money's a byproduct of being able to be that service, but also living into a set of values that says, I want to be a contribution. I want to make a difference in other people's lives. Now, not everybody is wired that way. So when you think about. And if you were to. If somebody said to you, what is your purpose, Kelly, aside from, you know, making money and building businesses, do you. Can you. Do you have a purpose that you can define?
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Well, helping people get to heaven? You know, I am a person of faith. I share my faith in my, my brand quite a bit. It's something I'm really focused on with my daughter. It's one of the reasons why I wanted to homeschool. And, you know, the, the message that I am, I am trying to share with entrepreneurs is, you know, nothing is impossible with God, number one. Number two, work is a gift from God. And our businesses are an extension of taking the gifts that we were given from God and honoring those gifts by utilizing those. Those talents that we've been given in the greatest way possible to be of service in the highest capacity. So I want to help people build really successful businesses, but I also want to help bring people back to the core values of faith and family and really building a rich life. Like, not a one dimensional. Listen, I make millions of dollars. I love money. There's nothing wrong with money. And money does bring happiness in a lot of ways. I mean, you know it, I know it. Like, I'm not going to misrepresent that. But also the thing that I think has been really unique about the way that I built my brand and the way that I built my business, that's different from the vast majority of people that are operating in the world that I operate in, in the online space is that I kept my faith, I kept my family at the forefront every step of the way, and I built a business by design that allowed for that. And so my mission is to help people rediscover faith in whatever capacity that looks like for them, create a positive and meaningful connection with their creator, understand what their higher calling is being here, make their way to heaven, and do some really really cool, exciting, awesome stuff. While, while we're here for the short time that we're here, I like to.
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And one of my curiosities always is when it comes to entrepreneurship, is it nature or is it nurtured? You know, when you go back on your extensive accomplishments and careers, you know, were you brought up by entrepreneurs? Were your parents entrepreneurs? Were they, you know, did they pass on these values of faith to you or, you know, you never had an option like, give me a little bit of background, how did you get on your entrepreneurial journey?
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Yeah, I don't think I was really like a born entrepreneur by any stretch of the means. I actually never even had a dream of being an entrepreneur. You know, I wanted to get a stable corporate job and I wanted to get promoted and I wanted to be financially free and I wanted to be in the boardrooms and you know, feel like I was self actualized and all those things. I more became an entrepreneur out of the necessity to fulfill on purpose more so than the desire to necessarily like be my own boss or build my own company. That just so happened to be the format that it took for me. I don't feel that I got any entrepreneurial mindset or skill set from my family at all. Quite the opposite actually. But I will say absolutely, my faith foundation came from my family. And I think that has informed me many aspects of my life, my business, my relationships, how I make decisions. That has certainly been something that has been a really positive part of my life and how I live and how I raise my daughter and all the things. And hey, I'll be the first person to say, I think that in a lifetime of a business career, you're going to get handed a lot of things that you can't handle on your own. And I think that having that in your back pocket makes a really big difference.
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So talk to me a little bit about the faith and how it kind of drives that supports you. I don't want to say drives you, but supports you. You've got a message that you want to share is your connection to God in just, I don't know, like how do we take your connection to God and present it to somebody who's kind of going, okay, you know, I'm not religious, you know, I'm not a God person, you know, and how do you transition somebody into that conversation or how do you offer that as an option?
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Absolutely. Yeah. And you know, it's interesting because I'll have a lot of people come into my world that, you know, don't have that relationship with God or don't have a faith perspective in their life or don't have a religious, you know, entity that they feel connected to. And, you know, I love the. The principle of a key guy. And, you know, that is really about living a long and purposeful and fulfilled life. And, you know, I think that your faith life is really about connecting with your higher purpose and your higher calling and believing that you're here for a reason, you know, and you don't need a religion or a specific entity or institution to believe that you're made for more to believe that you have a purpose. It's more than one in a billion chance that any of us are here. And so it's that belief that you're here for a reason, you have an assignment, and that that assignment probably has to do with you taking those innate talents that you are given and doing something good with it to help other people. Right? And so for me, like, that's at the most basic, fundamental level of, like a faith life begins with the belief that you are here for a reason and that you were given gifts that are meant to be shared and that there is a purpose to your existence and that the journey of life is figuring out what is it and how do I use it to help other people. And then wherever it goes from there, it goes. Right. But definitely, as entrepreneurs, I think that if we grow a faith life and have a direct connection with our creator and build on that, it certainly gives us fuel, it gives us motivation, it gives us grounding and certainty. It gives us hope in times that maybe feel hopeless. And so, you know, I think a lot of people, especially in this particular era, this age that we live in, there's a lot of people that had a negative experience of faith or religion because of a person that was imperfect, that was representing a faith or a religion. And what I always encourage people to do is start with just having a direct connection with you and your creator and not putting a person between you and your creator, and then see where it goes from there. See. See what opens up for you, you know.
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You know, I think there's a. Interesting that you're certainly experienced and you've been very clear. I use a. You know, we coined a phrase a couple years ago that. That really became part of our own makeup. And I say our, my wife and I, where clarity equals velocity. And as you're speaking, we can sense and hear the clarity in not only what you do, but who you are, your purpose, your mission, your faith. That's a lot of Clarity. Therefore, you have a lot of velocity, and you go to the next level, next level, you get next levels of clarity, because you're able to have a system to gain that clarity. You know, the process, you hit it, you hit something that's going, I don't know what the hell to do. And the next thing you know, you're putting that process in place. Whether that's prayer or reaching out to somebody else, you've got that part handled. But as you're working with entrepreneurs, they're not that clear. They're, you know, if you say them, what do you want? Your. What do you want your life to be about? And they go, I don't know what I want. You know, I'll often say, well, what do you don't want? Let you know, what don't you want? Let's start there. But you see, that is that. That clarity is the muck that many entrepreneurs run around in, because they don't know what they want. They don't know what their purpose, their goal is to make money. And that's kind of the extent of the conversation. How do you handle those situations, Kelly?
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Yeah, I mean, the money's just not enough, right? And I think that this is why I always go back to purpose, and this is why I always go back to faith, because there will be so many times that you want to give up or you want to stop and start over. I think the biggest thing that I see with people today is their attention span and their resilience and their persistence has just shrunk. And, you know, I think that you have to be grounded in something. And to your point, I think a lot of people, when they first start out as entrepreneurs, they almost have more vision and more clarity. And then what happens is they kind of get into it and they get tossed around and the problems come up and the challenges arrive and the obstacles. And I feel like a lot of them lose that connection to the why. And it sounds like that's like a platitude of, like, motivation, but it's not like it's really the truth, because when you're not connected to something bigger than yourself, you're not going to have the motivation, right? You're not going to have the strength, the perseverance, the persistence to keep going when the odds are against you and the cards are down and things aren't looking so great. And so, you know, I always encourage people to go back, like, why are you doing what you're doing? What is the purpose? What is the value that you want to bring to the world. And I always say to people too, the other thing that I think is really holding entrepreneurs back right now is we live in a very me centered world. Me, me, me, me, me. And I really feel like if you as an entrepreneur can put yourself in the position of waking up in the morning and saying, how can I be of service? To me, that is driven by impact and it is growing your impact that is going to drive your income. And so many people want to make more money, but they're not asking themselves the right questions about how they have to show up in the world in order to do that. And when you serve more people, when you impact more people, when you influence more people, then your income will grow, right?
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Yes, 100%. It's interesting that you made the point of me, me, me. And you've been in business long enough to know, and you've been around enough to understand my sense of what's transpired over the past five years, particularly since the dreaded pandemic and lockdowns and all this stuff is there's been some real societal change, there's been political change, there's been global societal change. It seems, you know, certainly more polarizing and more divisive than it's ever been. Is that how you're seeing the kind of the world from your view, given what you're doing?
- [34:55]
A
Oh, every single day. Every single day. And I, I just think that I talk a lot about self leadership and this is a time, this is an era in which you have to be self led. You cannot abdicate your power or outsource your decision making. And so many people, I think are just subconsciously influenced by culture and culture is not what's going to propel you like our culture. I mean, this is another big reason why I pulled my daughter out of school and she was in an extraordinarily expensive, very high end private school. So this is not about the system or this, that or the other. But when I look at culture and when I look at the world and the direction that society has moved, we're not in an era that is called responsibility, ownership, you know, really, you know, being a service, community, connection. There's just a lot of values that have broken down in our culture and in our society. And you have to be able to take a step back and acknowledge and realize where you're kind of being taken down the stream instead of getting in your boat, deciding where you want to paddle and then getting yourself on your way. And I think that's something all of us have to do if we want to live a rich and fulfilling life.
- [36:20]
B
You know, I couldn't agree more with that. And it's also something that I think we're all impacted culturally now. This is where it kind of goes back to where we started the conversation a little bit around values, Kelly, which is that given the impact of social media, the various platforms, and all of the stuff that's out there, it is very easy, I believe, for many to get drawn into cultures that they don't necessarily align with. But because they don't even know their own values, the next thing they're going down this path, not understanding what's out of whack for them and really living a life out of integrity, but without even knowing it because they haven't sat back to go, is this really who I am? And oh, by the way, who I'm being is a choice. I just not aware of that and I share that story because I often share the story about my own. Myself was many years ago, my wife and I have been together 35 years. And when I first met her, she used to lovingly call me her favorite Neanderthal, which is just a statement of my lack of evolution and who I was being as a man, as a boyfriend at the time and, you know, all of those things. And she would, I would respond a certain way and she'd look at me and she'd go, why do you. Why are you that way? Why are you saying that? Like, why do you show up that way? And I go, it's just the way I am. And I don't know, at some point there was a tipping point and she looked at me one day and she said, sweetheart, you realize it's a choice. It was like, you know, whatever. I was 30 some years old and I looked at her go, it was like an epiphany. And going, oh, really? I never thought of it. And it was so blatant that we don't necessarily know that growth mindset, that closed mindset. And it was simple words going, it's a choice that took me on a whole journey, on a lifelong journey of self discovery and being the best version of myself and really being clear on who I wanted to be in business and as a father, as a husband, as a son, all of those things, as a friend, as a leader and that it was really by design. It was a decision that I was making on an ongoing basis. But I look at that, you know, today and I'm going, man, there's so much noise out there. It's Easy to go off on different paths, you know. What's your thoughts on that? I'm just giving you a kind of a framework. Given your experience in working with many of the leaders that you work with, do you see similar journeys or do you see those individuals? I go, you know, this is just the way I am.
- [38:53]
A
Well, no, I mean, I think, I think we're all on an evolutionary path, right? And I think that to your point, a lot of people are influenced by culture and social media in a way that they don't realize and end up in a place that they don't want to be. And you know, that's why I think that to be an entrepreneur at a high level, an elite entrepreneur that has sustainable career growth over a lifetime, which is, and it's funny to even say because no one seems to even think that way anymore. You know, we just saw the Billy Joel documentary came out. I mean he is 57 years into his music career right now, almost six decades. Okay. And, and, and became one of the biggest and most well known musicians in the world. And you know, there's very few entrepreneurs that even think about what they're doing in terms of the life design, the longevity, where they're going, what they're building with their family. They're just going through motions based on influences that they have by scrolling on social media or watching television or in, in pop culture. And so it's really one of those things where you have to like stop and ask yourself, like, what am I doing with my life? Like am I creating my life or am I doing things and going places and taking trips and buying things and, and, and building things? That I'm just being influenced by what I see other people doing, which is what I see a lot. I have a lot of people that I have to help unwind those things and then rebuild in a way that actually is like, no, actually I want to be able to take Fridays off in the summer to be with my family. I don't want to be on a plane every other week traveling around the world like. But they saw a mentor one time that was doing that and they wanted to do what that person was doing. And so they built that business and now they have that business and they're miserable because they never see their family. So it's just, you know, it's. Everything is just an exercise in self leadership and evaluating what, what choice do we may make next. And I always say like every decision that you make should be a decision that gives you more power of choice, not less. And A lot of people make a lot of decisions on a daily basis that actually take their freedom away, that take their power of choice away because they're not truly living that values driven life. To your point where we started the entire conversation today.
- [41:25]
B
So interesting, as we look at the influences that we have and the clarity that we need and the work we need to do to actually stay on point, to actually stay focused. And that's where coaching comes in. You know, you are selling really high end coaching programs and what's the conversation that you're having if you know, you're saying, okay, you know, this program, it's the $50,000 program, I think I heard you say, and they're expensive programs. How do you engage somebody in that conversation without them thinking that this is, you know, a shiny thing over here? Like, I'm not quite clear on the question, but when you start looking at those kind of numbers in any kind of a support coaching program, kind of, what's your thought process around how do you conversation?
- [42:07]
A
Yeah, so I mean, in my high end programs, we're looking for elite performers and entrepreneurs that take what they're doing very seriously at a high level and understand the level of responsibility and execution that's needed to get a return on that investment. Right. So my expectation is if someone's going to spend 50, $60,000 with me, you know, they're going to grow their business potentially by 500,000, a million, you know, multiple millions. Right. And that can only happen if someone is in the mental space and, and the execution, you know, and willingness to be open to the strategy to do that. And you know, it's interesting you, you mentioned about what's happened in culture over the last five years. I used to only sell high ticket. My entry price was $30,000. That was my lowest product for many, many years. Over the last five years, I've seen that people's ability to execute at a really high level has diminished quite a bit. I see a lot of people very distracted, a lot going on at home, a lot of inability to focus long term. And so I started building a lot of other products that were a lighter lift for us and also a lower investment for the public and started making my high end products much more elite and only available to a much higher level person. Because, you know, as a coach, you want the people that spend money with you to get great results, right? You want, you want people to be getting a great return. And in order for people to get a great return, they have to be executing. Right? So it's an interesting time we live in.
- [43:49]
B
It is an interesting time, isn't it? You know, there's a fundamental is that we look at, you know, we. If we use the term coach, you know, we're coaches, not coaxes. And, you know, if we have to coax somebody, then they're not being coachable. In other words, if somebody reaches out to you, there's got to be some filter that you're saying, it's not enough for me to take your money. There has to be results. You have to be coachable. So do you go through a filter system that qualifies those individuals? And the reality of it is, you know, sometimes you're going to walk away from a $30,000 or $50,000 check because you're just setting yourselves both up for heartache, headache and failure.
- [44:29]
A
Yeah, we had to put a pretty stringent application process in place starting a couple years ago because we started seeing that not everyone who wants to spend the money or can spend the money is really ready and willing and able to execute at that level. So, yeah, we do go through an application process. We do have them interview with the team, and we're really looking for people that, like I said, can execute at the level to get a significant return from that investment.
- [45:00]
B
Kelly, when you look at, you know, just going off on a little bit of a tangent here or into another subject matter when you look at your own life and your own business, I often joke is that I've had a number of entrepreneurial accidents. You know, years ago, when I was a young man, I did have a vision for being self employed, being an entrepreneur, being a business owner. When I was 18, you know, I had this vision of corporate, and I worked in that corporate world. And then through economic slowdowns, I had, you know, the economy shut down back in the early 80s and away I was. I was without a job. And then so I had to read, react. But I always, in the back of my mind, had a vision of being an entrepreneur. Now I had my entrepreneurial accident, and it wasn't because I had a vision for this amazing business. I had a vision for being an entrepreneur. A business opportunity showed up, I jumped on it. That business, by the way, just in June of 2025, celebrated its 41st year of being in business.
- [45:58]
A
Wow, that's amazing.
- [46:00]
B
Yeah, I literally haven't had a key to that business since 2005. So, you know, I'm proud of that fact. And it's employed a lot of people, it's become a part of a community. And all the Rest of it. But where am I going with that? Have you had those fork in the road moments? Can you. Do you have a story of around a fork in the road moment where you had to make a decision that was maybe a difficult decision, but you chose, you know, that particular direction? And not everybody has those, but most do. But what about you?
- [46:31]
A
So many. It's so important to recognize that, you know, everyone that's had any high level of success at anything has made more mistakes than most people have even tried, you know, and. And I certainly am not an exception to that. I went into two business partnerships, lost millions of dollars on that. I went into business with people that I never should have. They hadn't built the level of company that I had. And I poured resources and money and time and. And I leveraged my brand to do these things. And both of them, as soon as the businesses started growing, the partner that had never built any substantial business was, like, out. They couldn't handle it. And that was a huge fork in the road for me, because once I had had multimillion dollar success in my business, I was like, okay, this is great. I want to be able to build these other companies. I need an operating partner. I'll be the silent partner. I'll go out, I'll use my brand because I have. I have very substantial brand power online. And, you know, I'll. I'll direct, you know, people to it. And that did not go well. I learned some hard, hard lessons. And I will never go into a partnership again. I've done it three times now. I will never do it again. And, you know, now if I want to start a new project or I want to start a new company or I want to start a new division, I promote someone from within. I take someone that I already trust, someone that's already worked with me for years, someone that's already proven themselves, and I promote them and I give them the opportunity to build and grow with me at the next level. So that was a very interesting fork in the road. But, I mean, I could. I could name so many examples in so many different ways. And, you know, I would just say for everyone listening, that no failure is ever fatal unless you let it be the reason you quit. And, you know, every entrepreneur that's built something really substantial has had those sleepless nights and those moments of, like, is everything that I just built falling apart? What am I going to do? How am I going to get through this? And, you know, the only thing to remember is that it's you against you every Single day. So it's just putting one foot in front of the other and saying, okay, I'm going to try again tomorrow. Let's. Let's keep moving. Not letting it take you out of the game is the key.
- [49:02]
B
That is such a key when you look at. And by the way, as you're talking about partners, it took me a long time, and I certainly have had partners, and it's been very costly. And I came to the conclusion that some time ago, no more partners. The only partner I want in my life is my wife. And both as a wife and as a business partner. And that's where I'm at.
- [49:25]
A
Yes, I am 100% with you on that. I'm like, I wish someone had had that talk with me, like, going into a business, partners, like going into a marriage and, you know, whatever. Like, I already have my wonderful marriage. Like, I'm good. I don't need any more partnerships. But I was late to the gate on that one, so I learned through experience. But that's okay. It's okay.
- [49:48]
B
But we, we. I think there's a, you know, when you think about. I can share my own experiences that it was interesting that with all of my partners and really nice men, they were very astute. They were well seasoned in the world of business. And the breakdown became, and I just have to, you know, say, is that the breakdown became, is we didn't align on values. And it's not that their values were wrong and mine were right because I just didn't like the way they did business, how they handled clients, how they were kind of willing to play a little bit in the gray area. And that was costly. And the realization is that, oh, I'm working my ass off here to make this relationship and this partnership work. And it shouldn't be this hard of work, but the challenge that I was facing on a regular basis was that we just didn't align in our core values and our core values in terms of how we operate our business. The thing about that is that was a realization well into the partnership, because for me, and, and I. And I want your thoughts on it having. Because you've gone through a similar kind of experience or two. The point is, is that it was like, holy crap, I didn't even realize that I was out of integrity, that I was operating in a way that I just didn't align with. And it was eating me, you know, mentally, emotionally, as well as, you know, financially because of the way they operated. What's it. What's your kind of view of that from your experience, Kelly?
- [51:21]
A
Yeah, I mean my experience was that what I learned is that there is a level of work ethic that is needed to build and sustain a multi million dollar company. And it's not just talent or business savvy or acumen or experience that determines whether or not someone will do that. And my experience with two of my partners, the third one were very close friends. There was nothing negative, it was just, it wasn't. The business itself in its form wasn't the right thing for either of us going forward. So that was like amicable, you know, whatever. The other two, what I found was they simply didn't have the work ethic to deliver on the promise for the customers the way that myself and my team were used to doing business. Which I guess goes back to what you just said about core values. I run service based businesses. We over deliver for our customers. We're obsessed with results. We want customers for life. And what I found was that they found that that was just too much work for them. They, they were not bought into the level of service delivery that was necessary to over deliver on that promise. And so it was just out of congruence.
- [52:44]
B
I, I think I have, you know, I know what the answer is ultimately going to be, but how important has your husband been in your business success? Do you operate separately, as in independently? So my wife Stephanie is, you know, she's got her own business. She's also a world and Olympic class, mental performance coach, working with athletes, amongst other things that she does. So she does have her own world that she plays in. But we always come together and support each other and you know, our relationship, you know, 35 years later is pretty solid. You know, she continues to be my best friend, my biggest support, etc. And I have to say that I, and I know she would say the same thing, which is we would not have achieved the level of success or experienced the life the way we do without each other. And we're, we're happy to shine a light on, on that with each other and with others. But for you and your husband, how has that been and kind of where does he fit in on your journey of business?
- [53:44]
A
Yeah, yeah, well, I mean, nothing is possible without the right team, right at home and at work. And you know, for Billy and I, he's been home with Madison since she was born. And that was a big part of our vision for the life that we wanted. We did not want both of us working outside the home. We didn't want our children or child in daycare. And so he has just made it possible for me, like he just clears the way for me to be able to be the leader I need to be, be the CEO that I need to be, travel when I need to travel, be home. He has made it possible and poured everything into Madison so that we can have a really rich home life and a really rich marriage and we kind of keep like business and family separate from that perspective. He helps do risk assessment for me. Like, he's my sounding board. He's my best friend. You know, I bring him into situations where there's like something of concern that I feel like, you know, I, I want to have support on. But he's not active in the day to day of the business at all. And that's just what works for us as a team and as a family. And it's, it's allowed us to create a really low stress home environment, which I think is something that was really important to both of us in our vision for the life that we were building.
- [55:07]
B
I love that and kudos to your husband and to you both in having that kind of clarity in the roles that you would play because it's kind of a non traditional thing, relatively speaking. I myself, I love the fact that Stephanie is so successful, award winning, she's done all these things and I love that. I'm very proud of her and I'm also proud of my ability to support her in achieving that, those kind of goals. And so your husband is doing that in different, different contexts, but he's 100% behind you. He believes in Kelly and he's going to drive that. And I love that aspect. And, and you know, some would say, well, he's given up masculinity. He's, you know, he's not being the provider and I don't agree with that, that level. This is an agreement that you guys have an understanding and it works for your family and it empowers both of you. And I, and I love that whole thought process. So thanks for sharing that. So Kelly, we've been kind of we as we wind down. I mean, it's a fascinating conversation. I mean you bring so much, you know, wisdom for a young business owner to the table. So thank you for sharing your wisdom. The questions I have around some of your history is that when you look at and I, and I know it's, it's part of what you've done and it's all been your experience, but you're a cheerleader in the NFL and how did that shape even your view of Business, your view of people. I mean, that's a. You know, it's a. Yeah, yeah, it's a great question. Competitive, all those things.
- [56:41]
A
Oh. I mean, the standards of excellence which the NFL organizations are run by is beyond anything I've ever seen. And for me, I was the youngest girl on the team. I was 18 years old, and I got that experience while I was still in college. And it absolutely set me up for success when I moved into the corporate world, because I was used to doing public appearances, interacting with CEOs, doing charitable events, speaking in front of people, performing in front of millions of people. Right. And so you're held to these unbelievably high standards. And high standards leads to a great life. High standards leads to a great life. Great work ethic leads to a great life. And so, I mean, it gave me a huge advantage, honestly. And it was a really good experience for me. It was very hard work. Very, very hard work. But I think that that also puts into context a lot of other things that you do for the rest of your life when you have that as one of your early experiences.
- [57:49]
B
Yeah, I love that. So, you know, early on, when we opened up the show, I did the traditional, what do you do? You know, when somebody says, what do you do? You answer that question. And that's always or often opening for many conversations. When you even meet somebody, you know, what do you do? You know, it's often the way it goes. I like to reframe questions a little bit, and as we start to wind down, if I ask you the question, if somebody walked up and said, you know, instead of, what do you do? And ask the question, who are you? Who is Kelly? How would you describe yourself, do you think?
- [58:24]
A
Well, I mean, I think the greatest reward in life is contribution. And so I hope that anyone who interacts with me feels that they leave the situation or left the situation better than when they came. And, you know, my vision is ultimately that whoever I interact with, whoever interacts with my brand, my team, my companies, my products, my services, whatever it is, that they're empowered, they're educated, they're uplifted to make their goals a reality and know that they're capable of anything that they set out to achieve.
- [58:56]
B
Beautiful. I'm such a big proponent and believer that, you know, the business is actually a reflection of the founder of the CEO. And so, you know, it is a statement of who they are as much as it is a statement of the who the business is. And so when I'm looking and, you know, interacting with other businesses, you know, you can almost define who the leader is just by how you're treated, how the business operates, and how it rolls. So I really do appreciate that kind of insight in what you gave there. So we're going to shift into some rapid fire questions as we wind down and as I often and say, general, was that rapid fire? But we're going to get warmed up. You ready for a few fun questions?
- [59:39]
A
I am ready.
- [59:41]
B
Okay. My first one, always just to get warmed up. Apple or Android?
- [59:47]
A
Oh, Apple.
- [59:48]
B
You're all alpha. Okay, good. Not everybody is, by the way. I mean, you know, too bad for them, but.
- [59:54]
A
I know, I know, it is sad.
- [59:56]
B
You have a favorite genre of music, favorite song, favorite band that you like to listen to?
- [60:02]
A
My husband.
- [60:04]
B
Does he play or is it.
- [60:06]
A
Oh, yeah, he sings, he plays piano, he plays guitar. So my. My favorite times are when I come out of my office and I hear him playing at the end of the night.
- [60:18]
B
Oh, gosh. I'm always envious, you know, like, I can barely play a radio. So, you know, putting an instrument doesn't work for me at all. Favorite movie? Favorite movie? Are you a movie watcher?
- [60:30]
A
One of my favorites is the Family Man.
- [60:33]
B
Oh, that's a. That's a great movie.
- [60:35]
A
Yeah.
- [60:36]
B
Yeah. Cool. Sometimes I have parents go, whatever my kids are watching at the time, so it's a good answer. Do you have a favorite swear word?
- [60:45]
A
Swear word? Oh, well, I can't say that here.
- [60:50]
B
Yeah, you can.
- [60:53]
A
I mean, my phone fights with me sometimes by putting ducks in my text messages when I'm messaging with my closest team members about things that we have a lot of energy around. If you can surmise.
- [61:06]
B
Got it. If God exists and in your world, God does exist, what do you want to hear he or she say when you get to the gates?
- [61:14]
A
Ah, I just want him to say, you did good. You did good with what you got.
- [61:20]
B
Good for you. And final question, Kelly, what are you grateful for today?
- [61:26]
A
Oh, my gosh. Well, I'm grateful for the Internet. I'm grateful that we get to build these amazing businesses where we get to serve people around the world from our home offices. I will never, ever take for granted technology. You know, there are pros and cons of it, of course, but I just think it is an incredible, incredible blessing to get to do what we do every single day and touch and reach and serve people from the comfort of our own home. And so I think just remembering that is key.
- [61:55]
B
Fantastic. And I am always grateful for my guests. I am grateful for having had the opportunity to meet you, to speak with you, to gain some lessons that you've shared here today. And I'm always grateful for my wife, my family and the team that I'm surrounded with and I like to give shout outs in that gratitude to them. And Kelly, thank you so much for your time, your energy and the insight you've shared today. It's appreciated.
- [62:25]
A
Thank you for having me. It was a great conversation. Thank you so much.
- [62:30]
B
Ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for listening. If you found value in the podcast, please take the time to rate and review and share with others. Share with your friends as it is my goal to always improve and to provide the highest value for you, the listener. If you have any comments, suggestions or questions you'd like answered, please email me@ceoraincanada.com that's ceorseincanada.com I look forward to hearing from you and until next time, Patrick O.