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You became a coach to help people — but no one told you how to build the business behind it.
Coach as Entrepreneur is the show for coaches who want to go beyond referrals and create a real business that supports both their clients and their family. Each episode explores the systems, strategies, and stories that help coaches simplify marketing, attract the right clients, and grow sustainably, without burning out.
Whether you’re just starting or looking to scale, this is your roadmap to running your coaching practice like a business… and doing it with heart.
Build the system. Serve your clients. Support your family.
Ep13 _ JimRoom recording - Jul 14, 2025
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David Chung-1: [00:00:00] Welcome to Coach As Entrepreneur, the show for coaches building real businesses with systems, strategy and heart. Build the systems, serve your clients, and support your family. Today's guest is Jim Fielding a brand builder, [00:00:15] experience architect and executive coach whose career has spanned Disney, Dreamworks, and the LA Clippers.
With over 30 years of leadership at the intersection of culture and commerce, Jim now helps leaders embrace authenticity, lead with heart, [00:00:30] and navigate change with purpose. Jim, thanks for joining me today.
Uh, I gotta say, this is really exciting for me. Um, I have been a, a fan of [00:00:45] Dreamworks and Disney for a really long time, you know, and so I imagine some of the things you've worked on have influenced not only my life, but also the lives of I. Hundreds of thousands, if not [00:01:00] millions. Yeah.
[00:01:15] [00:01:30] [00:01:45] [00:02:00] That's, well, since you kind of opened that door, let's, let's talk a little bit about that. Like how, how has your [00:02:15] history and your previous career influenced what you're doing now as a coach?
Right.
[00:03:00] Mm-hmm.
[00:03:15] [00:03:30] [00:03:45] Mm-hmm.
Okay.
[00:04:00] Yeah.
[00:04:15] Uh, yeah.
[00:04:30] Mm-hmm. So, okay, so you went through Emory, so I haven't really spoken to a lot of coaches who have gone through an actual, like university. How, how was that experience for you?
[00:04:45] [00:05:00] [00:05:15] Mm-hmm.
Yeah,
I see.
[00:05:30] [00:05:45] Yeah, that's perfect. Right. And I know a lot of coaches wanna get the ICF certification because ICF is probably what the biggest coaching federation, right? Yeah. And it,
[00:06:00] yeah. And in a space where you could be a coach or you can call yourself a coach, like, you know, right now without any credentials, it's really helpful having a system of, you know, if you got your degree [00:06:15] with, uh, a credential through like Emory plus your ICF credentials, it really helps to like verify and validate you actually know what you're doing and you're not just somebody who's just calling themselves.[00:06:30]
Yeah.
[00:06:45] Mm-hmm.
[00:07:00] Yeah.
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
[00:07:15] [00:07:30] Yeah, and I think that's probably one of the good things about ICF is it they force you to do the practical [00:07:45] stuff or else you're kind of, or else you're, you can, you've got the knowledge, but then you're the first couple of clients you have, you're kind of just, you're kind of bumbling your way through it a little bit.
[00:08:00] Mm-hmm. Yeah.
[00:08:15] Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
[00:08:30] Mm-hmm. Yeah. Well, what was like, what did you feel were some of the challenges for you as you're transitioning from your [00:08:45] professional to coaching career? What, what were some of those challenges that you were facing?
Yeah.
[00:09:30] Mm-hmm.
[00:09:45] Yeah.
Yeah.
[00:10:00] Yeah,
yeah,
[00:10:15] yeah.
Yeah.
[00:10:30] Yeah. We were talking about systems for you and how, you know, you going from corporate, having a team behind you
Jim Fielding -3: Team, [00:10:45] exactly.
David Chung-1: and then just having to figure out how to do everything on your own with, you know, just running invoices.
It's, it's a lot to go from like, where you're just like, all you have to do is think about what you want and you can just delegate it. Now you [00:11:00] have to,
Jim Fielding -3: Yeah.
David Chung-1: now you have to do it on your own.
Jim Fielding -3: And my management style
and leadership style is very much, two heads are better than one. And I, you [00:11:15] know, I always believed in collaboration and communication and teamwork and, but when you're a solopreneur and entrepreneur, it's you. Right? And so I. I, it was a lot of trial and error,
to find [00:11:30] my tools than I literally trained myself on.
And by trained myself on it meant forcing myself to do them every day. Watching, quite honestly, YouTube videos, um,
[00:11:45] how to do Intuit QuickBooks and how to use Canva, and how to use notion
finding, Finding platforms, finding tools like my calendar, my calendar tool. For example, [00:12:00] I, excuse me, I tried two or three different calendar tools.
I, I love my calendar tool and once I learned how to set up all my different meeting types like.
life changing. And I, and I'm [00:12:15] sorry, I didn't need an executive assistant to manage my calendar then,
I have this tool now. But it's, it's that, um, trial and error and finding what you're comfortable with.
Because by the way, and as you know this, David, [00:12:30] because you are an entrepreneur, everybody has an opinion, right? Everybody's like, no, no, my tool is the best tool, or this tool is the best tool. And like everybody was trying to tell me, oh no, Jim, you need to be using X or you need to be using y. And. I found that the only way I could do it [00:12:45] was, and, and for all of your viewers and listeners, everybody does like a 14 day free trial, right?
Like every
and I, I signed up for a lot of 14 day free trials, and then I'd make myself a note to make sure I canceled. So I didn't get charged. [00:13:00] but I, that I'm a, um, I'm a very tactile learner and so I have to actually be doing it like. I can watch a YouTube video or you know, like some kind of a tutorial, but I need to actually practice [00:13:15] and, and, um, and so now, you know, I guess what am I, you know, over a year now doing this. I know my tools, right? And I'm very, and I'm very loyal to my tools. Like, [00:13:30] I'm very dependent on them, probably. 'cause I, I, I've learned them now and I, I'm proud of myself because. Canva is a great example. I do a lot of my own graphics
presentations and my coaching now and for my [00:13:45] LinkedIn.
of
[00:14:00] Totally what
comfortable with. Exactly.
[00:14:15] [00:14:30] [00:14:45] Absolutely no, you're a hundred percent right. And, and I found that with some tools where I'm like, this is just too much. Like I am, I am stressed out using the tool, right? Like
be stressed. It's supposed to be making me more efficient and more [00:15:00] effective. And, um, again, that's where I think the 14 day, you know, or one week free trials are so important because. That and using those free trials and
wait a minute, I'm gonna try this one. And I, [00:15:15] I had to kind of chunk it, David, right?
now let's focus on calendar tool. Like, I got in QuickBook, I knew that was gonna be my accounting software. So that was pretty easy. But then, know, there's, there's different versions of graphic design ai, [00:15:30] right?
Um,
I, I ended up really liking Canva. Um. Even, I mean, just you, just AI tools in general,
AI tools for research, AI tools to help me. [00:15:45] really have AI tools, write any of my writing because I'm a writer,
absolutely.
Like, um, so I played with different research AI tools
and I would ask people I respected, you know, [00:16:00] I would. would ask, you know, I would DM people in LinkedIn or I'd send people emails and say, Hey, what do you use for research? You know, what AI tool do you use for research? I do like my own little polls.
Um, and then I, then I would try [00:16:15] them and, um, oh, my newsletter when I launched a newsletter, like figuring out which newsletter platform I was gonna use.
There's so many. And everybody had a, there's so many, right? And everybody had a different opinion. Um,
[00:16:30] and I was like, okay, but let's go on and play and see. And,
it's funny what you were saying. I think the newsletter platform I chose, I found the most intuitive, like I understood. to navigate almost immediately.
[00:16:45] and it was, and it was at the time, it was a newer tool. It was not one of the, like if you googled what newsletter platform to use, it wasn't even in the top three
Uh, but I found this kind of startup newsletter tool [00:17:00] and, um, through recommendations and, and I found it to be the most intuitive for my brain.
To your point,
brain worked, I was like, okay, I can do a newsletter.
here. I get, [00:17:15] It totally.
[00:17:30] Yeah. And, I think so much of the entrepreneurial journey, and I love this podcast you're [00:17:45] doing, is being humble enough. It's a lot about humility, and I'm saying help. I wanna ask you questions. How, how did
it's not copying, but [00:18:00] it's best practices
in corporate. We were always talking about best practices, right? You were always saying, oh, look at what Nike did, or look at what Warner Brothers did, or look
Universal did. You were always talking about best [00:18:15] practices. I think as an entrepreneur, it's the same thing.
If you, subscribe to somebody's newsletter and you love their newsletter and you love the format, ask 'em what
platform it's on, right?
or sometimes it says right in the newsletter, at the bottom of the newsletter, it'll [00:18:30] say what platform it was created on.
If you love, if you love their graphics on LinkedIn,
do you, you know, ask them, do you do your own graphics? Do you hire someone to do your graphics? Like so much of this is, um, that the humility and [00:18:45] the, um, to be like, I need help.
I, my graphics aren't good. How can I make better graphics?
Um. So, yeah, and I, and I've loved that process. [00:19:00] So yeah. If I look at myself now the beginning of the journey, you know, I, I'd give myself, if I was grading myself, I'm probably minus, like I'm, I haven't been perfect by any means, but [00:19:15] I'm so much better than I was at the beginning.
So much better.
[00:19:30] Yeah.
enjoying and are you enjoying the process? Right?
[00:19:45] are you learning, I mean, that's a big thing we talk about in coaching is the growth mindset.
feeling that you're moving forward,
I mean, one of the things I always say in my head is I try not to make the same mistake [00:20:00] twice, right?
So if I make a mistake, I try. I try does not mean I don't, I of course made the same mistake twice in my life, but, um, I try to learn and say, okay, what did we learn from that situation? And let's not do that again. I [00:20:15] don't get mad at myself for making the mistake. I
mistake as part of a, a natural process,
I try to say to myself, okay, let's not do that again.
and I, believe me, I have signed up. For and courses [00:20:30] and paid money for stuff
a hundred percent.
like, well, that was, that was money out the window.
Um, but then there's other ones that have far exceeded my expectations. So
it, it, again, that's part of the [00:20:45] journey. It's
trial and error.
[00:21:00] absolutely. I mean, that's the best part about going through the cohort at Emory
a group of [00:21:15] people now. Who I'm in consistent communication with,
virtually and in real life
who are along on the journey. And, and I always say to people, uh, and I've done, you know, other [00:21:30] training classes and stuff, and I always say I'm a coach, but I'm coachable as well.
Right. And, I, it's the same way, you know, the way I say it, David, I was saying this to somebody the other day, I was at a cocktail party. It's a cocktail party chatter, but [00:21:45] You go to a dentist, you go to a doctor, you have a lawyer, you have um, you have a person fix your car because they're an expert in that.
Right? And so for me, like I've worked with people on my LinkedIn, for [00:22:00] example, I did a LinkedIn class, right,
week LinkedIn class because there's people out there who are really, really good at LinkedIn and
and. I, it was a hard class and I worked hard in it and
lot. And there was [00:22:15] days I was like, oh my gosh, what am I doing?
But I have a system for LinkedIn,
I didn't have that when I started.
And, the newsletter, I've spent a lot of time with other people who are really good at newsletters to [00:22:30] say, how often should I be doing the newsletter? What's the right length of a newsletter? What's how much content? Right?
um. Yeah, people who, that's all they do. There's people who are like literally newsletter gurus.
[00:22:45] Um. And I, that's the thing I personally love about LinkedIn is there are really good search tools on there, and if you're willing to use the direct messaging, if you're willing to use, um, [00:23:00] the connection and the follow and, and ask questions, you can really find some fascinating people and globally, I mean,
you and I, I'm in, you're in Korea, I'm in Atlanta, Georgia.
Right?
we connected over LinkedIn, so. I've [00:23:15] met many fascinating people around the world
are focused on certain aspects of entrepreneurship,
that I've lo, that I've learned from.
[00:23:30] Yeah,
through,
[00:23:45] Well, you could, you should be a coach, David. 'cause to me that's, I mean, my first two or three sessions, or one or two sessions with a person they wanna be coached by me, first sessions are really about self-awareness and doing a, an [00:24:00] inventory, like a personal inventory of what are you good at,
you not good at?
What do you like to do,
do you don't like to do? Like what really gives you a spark, a passion, energy, and. A lot of people just wanna get right into [00:24:15] coaching, right? They're like, oh, I want you, you know, let's just get into the coaching. And I'm like, no, no, no, let's step back
and do and do some personal, inventory,
And, um, and I use a variety of different, like [00:24:30] personality tools and stuff to, um, to do some personal assessments to get. client
look at themselves first. You
of 'em just wanna be like, I need my team to be more productive, right? I need my team to be more [00:24:45] effective. It's like, okay, wait a minute. In order for your team to be more effective, you need to be more effective first.
and I, I think to me, that's entrepreneurship the same thing. Like
I had to get my [00:25:00] systems in order.
And my process is in order so that I was effective and, and I, I think LinkedIn is such a great example, David. 'cause I gotta tell you, at the beginning of that class, I was probably spending four hours a day on LinkedIn
pulling my hair [00:25:15] out.
now I'm spending 25 to 30 minutes a
day And,
loving it. Like
forward to it. I'm like, I can't wait to get in there and see who's commenting and,
you know, what they think of the content and what they're [00:25:30] learning and what kind of content should I be doing. It's a completely different energy.
It's such an energy shift. It was like a. Drudge before, and I was like, oh my God, you suck at this. I was so mad at myself like, you're so bad at this. And now I'm like, okay, you're [00:25:45] pretty good at this. Like,
but embrace the process.
[00:26:00] and, again, we've, we talk about this humility. Many people who are moving into this world have come from pretty high positions in corporate where [00:26:15] they knew what they were doing.
you basically, it's kind of like going from graduate school back to like preschool. Right. And you're. You. You're like, wait a minute. I, why did I do this? Like I had this corporate career where I was respected and I [00:26:30] knew what to do, and I had these great teams. Okay. I chose to go this route. I. For a variety of reasons. Okay. But now I'm in, I'm dumb. Like I, I'm, I'm just, I'm a kid again. I'm learning how to tie my shoes.
I'm learning how to do the [00:26:45] ABCs.
Um, and, but I've loved that. I think
refreshing. I think it's super refreshing. Not everybody loves it, Yeah.
[00:27:00] [00:27:15] [00:27:30] Yeah.
[00:27:45] it's uh, and [00:28:00] that's hard. I mean, that's one of those buckets to your point, like. And there's a lot of tools out there again. But, um, and there's a lot of people, I mean, the other thing that happens, you know, this David on LinkedIn, is [00:28:15] you start to get random emails and dms from everybody who says, I can triple your business tomorrow.
Right? Or I can 10 times your business. I have this system, right? I have the, and, and like, literally I'm like, [00:28:30] and at the beginning, you know, gullible gym, I was like, okay, I'll meet with you,
And then I'd be like, you know, 10 minutes into the meeting and I'd be like, oh my God, what are you doing?
Like,
a waste of time. And so now I'm so much more selective about, [00:28:45] again, doing the research.
but business development is one of those buckets you have to do, like when you're a corporate person working for Disney, people were calling you,
I, I wasn't.
Dreamworks, Fox, I worked for some of the [00:29:00] world's leading brands in media, entertainment, retail.
calling us,
Business development was very relationship oriented to your point. And it was more about, Hey, we have this new movie, we have this new TV show. Who wants to play with [00:29:15] us
now? Um. You know, you do a lot of business development calls that never turn into an engagement. and it's another system or process that [00:29:30] you
use to track,
a minute, did I talk to that person?
Wait, is this per, you know, like a, a contact journal? Like, again, there's
for it, but,
um, it's, another bucket of being an entrepreneur that you have [00:29:45] to build.
Is business development.
[00:30:00] just are like, they wanna just coach,
I just wanna coach.[00:30:15]
oh yeah, but how are you getting those people to your point?
so, and yeah, there is some organic, natural when you first start just your network,
it does dry up for sure. Were
it does. It's gross. [00:31:00] It's, and to be honest, it's the, if I have to look at all the different buckets, it's the bucket I like the least. It's not. It's not my natural, to your point, I'm
I wasn't from the sales funnel. Like I grew up in the creative [00:31:15] funnel and the people funnel and um, I always had incredible salespeople, like I always had great VPs of sales or head of sales who were. Natural salespeople, but I totally get the used car salesman where
like them. And you start to [00:31:30] feel a little spammy, right? Like
you're, DMing people and you're basically saying, Hey, can I talk to you about my coaching services or my, my speaking services? And you start to feel a little spammy. Um, um, and so [00:31:45] again, through trial and error, you figure out like, how do I get my message right?
To, uh, and what tools can I use to find, again, a term I use my ideal client, my ICP,
client profile. That's [00:32:00] not a term
I, I learned that term in the Emory thing.
is my ICP? I didn't know what ICP was. and, uh, that is trial and error. Again, we've said that a couple times in this call, [00:32:15] but it, it definitely is trial and error. I. But I, it, I can be honest. It's the part I like the least.
nice.
[00:32:30] stories. I
Yeah.
no, that's a great, that's a great suggestion. And I, for me, I have to actually [00:32:45] put on my calendar networking time or business development time, like I have
it a, a task.
you're kind of doing it all day long, but I actually have to work my [00:33:00] system and say, okay, I'm gonna take an hour or an hour and a half, and I'm just gonna look at.
Um, I don't do that, I will skip it 'cause it's not my favorite.
[00:33:15] Yeah, for sure.
a year full time. I
I was kind of [00:33:30] part-time for about 18 months before that, but a
full-time. Yeah.
I'd say 20. I think I've had [00:33:45] 20. Yeah. I, I consciously limit my, like, I, I don't coach every day. I've learned that I, my [00:34:00] capacity is about four clients a day
until I start to feel that I'm not doing as good of job. Like I have friends again, people that I was in the cohort with and people I've met in coaching that can coach eight or 10 people a day and I'm like, oh my [00:34:15] gosh.
More power to you. Right? Like, I, I can't do it. Like I, I did one day where I think I did five and. Like I needed a two hour nap afterwards.
because I am, I really do care about my [00:34:30] clients and I
be present. I really wanna be present and I really, really wanna be focused. And so for me, that's a lot of energy.
Um, and so I, I would say at any time I'm coaching [00:34:45] consistently between 10 and 12 people. And that's good for my number because I'm
Writing new books, and I'm doing
and I'm doing trainings, so I'm, while I say I'm a full-time coach,
[00:35:00] I, I do other things besides coach.
um, I'm, yeah, I, I kind of probably hold
10 to 15 people
[00:35:15] I
do, yeah. I usually do hour sessions, like 50, you know, 50 minutes of [00:35:30] coaching and then like 10 minutes of before and after.
And prepare preparation. You know, you don't just turn on, you don't just turn on the Zoom camera and start coaching.
[00:35:45] and there's post-work
um, yeah. So I would say any engagement, you're with the client an hour, you're probably spending another 60 to 90 minutes outside of that engagement, getting ready and, and post. [00:36:00] So, you know, if I do ton of those a week,
know, that's 25 hours of coaching.
plenty for me.
I'm, happy with that, [00:36:15] Yeah. Yeah.
[00:36:30] [00:36:45] for sure. I mean, I think one of my favorite. Engagement so far, and I like them all. So if any of my clients are listening, I love all of you. But, um, [00:37:00] but I had one client who reached out to me who had recently been promoted to be the president of a, of a media and experience company. So he had been promoted, not necessarily [00:37:15] promoted, they've been hired, even brought in, into this role, but he needed. wanted personal coaching and as we got into his personal coaching and working on his skillset, he said. I think [00:37:30] I actually want you to come and spend time with my team. And so it turned into, I started to do quarterly coaching, basically like offsites.
then, and then he said, I also think [00:37:45] I should offer coaching to people on my team who want individual coaching.
And so what, what I love about that arc is it started out with me coaching him one-on-one,
kept coaching him one-on-one. I always maintain confidentiality in the [00:38:00] walls. by the end of that engagement, and there was an end to it, it lasted about, um, nine months. Um, the, uh, I was, I had been to their offices [00:38:15] two or three times meet with them in person and do like a, an offsite, and then I was probably coaching for. Of his direct reports, he had eight direct reports. Four of them wanted individual coaching.
[00:38:30] optional.
but I think, I think I was good for the team because even though I was re uh, respecting confidentiality and respecting the walls between them, I was able to really understand some team [00:38:45] dynamics and, I think I was more effective for him
the leader and more effective for the people on his team.
I, and I saw culture change. I
[00:39:00] behaviors change on the team.
him. Become more effective. I really did. Like
um, and, um, so I think, I think that's good.
[00:39:15] [00:39:30] [00:39:45] made me feel, it made me feel more like my corporate past, I would pull, you know, so if it was him, when we would meet, there'd be, it was him, his executive assistant, and his eight direct reports. There'd be 10 people in the [00:40:00] room plus me.
um, and each time we got together, I felt like I put together a better agenda to your
I, I really was identifying [00:40:15] what the team. Um, needed, um, whether it was, you know, communication styles or how to collaborate, how to be better project managers.
This particular team had a lot [00:40:30] of idea people,
a lot of project managers, right? They kind of fell down a little bit on implementation. And so we talked about that. We talked about which people on the team were more implementers that [00:40:45] could take some of these incredible ideas that they were formulating, but actually, you know, uh, commercialize them
and, put the, and put them into work. Um. I, yeah, I loved, I loved that engagement.
I like [00:41:00] working with teams.
[00:41:15] Mm-hmm.
[00:41:30] Yeah.
and I think so much of my natural leadership and management style, like I said earlier, is two heads are [00:41:45] better than one. Like I've always believed in the. The kind of one plus one equals three,
this bringing superpowers together to your point,
or the Chicago Bulls and the Michael Jordan [00:42:00] era, right?
Like
Michael Jordan was only successful because he had Scottie Pippen and other people around him, right? It's, it's, there's five guys on the floor at all times. There's 10 people sitting on the bench ready to come in and play their role, [00:42:15] and I. I think, um. You know, I was, I was a swimmer and a tennis player, so I was on teams my whole life.
Um, and both swimming and tennis are interesting 'cause they're individual sports, but [00:42:30] they're also like relays and teams and your points count towards the team. And so I think, I think that spilled over into my corporate life where I like And, and I think you, you and I talked about it. I mean, I think the hardest thing for me as an entrepreneur is that you [00:42:45] spend a lot of time alone.
used to, I'm used to being in environments where I'm part of a team and, and building a culture where the team feels like we're all kind of going in the same direction. Um, which is probably why [00:43:00] I gravitate towards team coaching.
Makes [00:43:15] [00:43:30] sense.
Mm-hmm.
it's [00:43:45] still new. I mean, I
I would say I'm probably like, when we go back to the business development conversation, I would say I'm probably looking for what would be called more [00:44:00] corporate engagements,
a coach.
basically is hired by a, a company or a corporation or a founder or like the chief people officer. I think because my background is [00:44:15] corporate and I've worked in big multinational global brands,
I think my natural skillset is more that
corporate dynamics and learning how to manage in a matrix and organizational [00:44:30] structure and all that kind of stuff. more so like I never really saw myself as building 30 individual clients, to your point, right.
I
I think there's other people who are, [00:44:45] very focused on, I want 30 clients, or I want 40 individual clients.
of my friends in the industry are really good at that, and I think that's the other thing that starts happening and I'm sure you've found this with the other guests. The other thing that starts happening when you're in the coaching [00:45:00] world, you know, coaches who are. Better at things than you are, right? And so if someone contacts me and says, I'm a senior director of finance and I wanna become a CFO, that's not what I'm good at,[00:45:15]
That's more of a technical coach. But by the way, I know three coaches who are really good in finance and accounting
and I'll refer and I, and I think that's what starts to happen in both of these. Organized groups and these kind of unorganized [00:45:30] communities,
to say, oh, you, you wanna be about health and wellness? I know the person you
talk to. not saying that a good coach, we should be able to coach anything,
and coach in [00:45:45] any industry. But I also think I get referrals from retail and media and entertainment because that's my background.
Um, I'm sorry. So. I think that's great about our [00:46:00] industry
is you don't end up being all things to all people.
I mean, yeah, I mean my whole thing is I wanna add value,
I mean, coaching is an investment, whether it's a financial investment or a time investment.
I want people to feel that I'm adding [00:46:45] value and I am, um, and they renew and you know, they extend, then that's kind of like getting your report card. It's different.
[00:47:00] mostly, [00:47:15] feels like I'm spending a lot of time, oddly in academia, which we've talked about, I, academia, media, entertainment.
Primarily when I think of my list,
[00:47:30] uh, and I'd say more senior leaders, although I do a lot of work. Sometimes it's more my pro bono part of my business, but, you know, with recent college graduates or
who are just starting out in [00:47:45] their career,
and I, and I love that as well.
That's more, I'd say, almost feels like mentoring sometimes than coaching.
um, but I would say primarily [00:48:00] those industries,
you know. Creative industries is probably the easier way to say it. Like, I
you know, managing, so like agencies, creative agencies, advertising agencies, pr, communications,
those [00:48:15] kind of environments.
Um, storytelling. We talked about storytelling. I think, think that's probably the foundation of a lot of the work that I do.
[00:48:30] Um, flexibility and freedom. You know, I think, [00:48:45] uh, I'm in control of my
Uh, it's one of the things I learned, like I coach on Tuesday, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, right? Mondays and Fridays are blocked, you know, in my calendar tool. Again, they're blocked from being able to book [00:49:00] coaching appointments because Mondays and Fridays tend to be like organization days for me or recap days
days where I'm working on my writing or, um.
My speeches and things like that.
I [00:49:15] really, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, are coaching.
Um, so I love the freedom and the flexibility and I love, um, I. Being quote the multihyphenate, right? Like, I've launched my [00:49:30] own podcast now,
I spend time in my own podcast, writing a new book, the LinkedIn process.
Um, I love not being one thing a lot of times in corporate. Even. Even [00:49:45] when you're a president level or an executive level, you're kind of pigeonholed and you're like, you're one thing, right? Like
I was a consumer products and retail person
media. Um. But I didn't always [00:50:00] only wanna be that. Right? I mean,
things I wanna do.
I think what's interesting about being an entrepreneur is you kind of can wake up in the morning and say like, you know what? I feel like writing today. I feel
I don't have a lot of coaching clients today. I'm gonna work on [00:50:15] my writing,
I'm gonna work on, I'm gonna work on my podcast, you know, lining up my next podcast guests.
Or, um, you have a lot of freedom and flexibility.
[00:50:30] Um,
kind of,
but that,
[00:50:45] Yeah. Um, challenges I was expecting, you know, we talked about ra, I knew business development was gonna be challenging and it has been. So it's probably been even harder than I [00:51:00] anticipated. But, um, you know, again, I've learned from that. I think. think the unexpected. I talked about it earlier. This sounds so terrible. I kind of like doing graphic design now, right? Like I think the whole. [00:51:15] Canva and presentations and like my Instagram posts and my LinkedIn posts, like, I kind of like, first I was so intimidated by it and I was like, oh my God, I'm not good at this.
when I go back and [00:51:30] look eight months ago, nine months ago at my, uh, images versus now I'm like,
I wasn't good at it.
um, I actually, I think I've surprised myself how much I enjoy. [00:51:45] Kind of writing first and then saying, okay, what visual image for LinkedIn or Instagram would go good with this.
um, I've surprised myself on that, how much I like it. I also use outside resources. I[00:52:00]
lie, I can't do it all.
Um, and they're better than I am. So like the hard ones, I definitely am, like, I have a graphic designer who I love and I'm like, this is yours.
But again, that's a system you know,
[00:52:15] like I used, I use, I'll tell your listener.
I use Notion
social content planning is in Notion, and my freelance graphic designer is in my Notion team, and so he'll see. I.
I'm like, on this [00:52:30] post, you know, we usually work in like two to three week cycles and I'll be like, these are your 10 posts that I need help with. I've got these handled over here.
again, that's a, a system I had to [00:52:45] build.
mm-hmm.
writing
giving him the writing, like
giving him what I think the, the written part of the post will [00:53:00] be. And then I'll say notion is a great tool. I should
by notion for this now. But, um, is, I'll say. I think it should be a photograph.
It should be a cheat sheet. It should be a poster. It should be a carousel, [00:53:15] it
a quote.
and then I give him, I mean, part of why I like him is he's creative, right? And so I'll say, and we do this, all we do. He is, he is internationally based. He's based in [00:53:30] India actually. And um, so we'll talk on WhatsApp,
on WhatsApp or sometimes we'll do a, a video call. but we do a lot just back and forth in notion where he'll be like, what do you think of this? Right. And obviously he's working 12 hours ahead [00:53:45] of me.
So sometimes I'll wake up in the morning and I'll have like five or six inbox, you know, messages and he'll say, what do you think of this? I like this.
And
be like, oh, I like that color. I don't like that color. Like, it's a very iterative
[00:54:00] And, and now that we've been doing it, how long has he been with me? Like four months I think.
We're get, we're getting better all
because he understands how my mind works he looks holistically at the two or three week [00:54:15] period we're working on and says. I think we have too much carousel or we, you
here, or you need a photo here. again, I, I really, I like that process,
I post, I post seven days a week on LinkedIn, so, [00:54:30] um, that's a lot of content. I mean, that's a lot of writing, it's a lot of visuals.
and there's good ones and there's bad ones, so, um, he's, he's a great.[00:54:45]
I hate, don't wanna call him an asset. That sounds terrible. Resource. He's an
Well,
[00:55:00] David, [00:55:15] I tell people, you'll get this. It's like dating. I told people it's like dating, right? It you literally, you have to kiss a lot of frogs to find your prince or princess,
And, I, met with a lot of [00:55:30] graphic
were talented but could not get sensibility or my.
this, this, and again, how does it happen? [00:55:45] Went to somebody on LinkedIn and said, I love your graphics. Who does 'em?
Do you do that? No, no, no. It's this person. I'd be happy to introduce you to him. He works with multiple people. I don't know if he has space right[00:56:00]
Here's his email. Here's his WhatsApp.
literally was. Kind of how you and I met and
interviewed, um, each other. Basically, he sent me some samples of his work. [00:56:15] I sent him my book. I sent him samples of my recent LinkedIn posts and clicked.
I probably met or eight people before I met him
that it didn't click.
[00:56:30] and now it's like I need to keep him happy. He, [00:56:45] not gonna share his name 'cause I don't wanna get any more client. No, I'm kidding. That's mean. But I literally, I, I need to keep him happy now. I wanna make sure that I'm paying him well and I'm
well and stuff because I do think he's a really important part of my process now.
[00:57:00] and I need to keep him happy.
[00:57:15] Totally. And the way that my team is now, I have, I. India Pakistan.
a while with [00:57:30] someone who was based in, um, and then I worked with US people too. So
I worked with somebody based in Germany.
I love that about
[00:57:45] virtualness of this world. [00:58:00] [00:58:15] I It doesn't, like I said, I wake up now and my graphic designer has put seven new designs in my inbox,
he's been working [00:58:30] 12 hours ahead of me, and then by the way, I comment and then I have to wait.
asleep, right? Or out to dinner or whatever.
is a delay in that. But then he gets seven answers,
[00:58:45] And, we've, and then if we're confused, that's where we'll say, okay, let's schedule a WhatsApp call.
a video call. If you're not, if we're not understanding each other or we're not
to where we need to get, sometimes you need like [00:59:00] this, right? And you need to say, okay, wait a minute.
Let's jump on a call together. And. Honestly, in 15 minutes you can solve something that probably would've taken three or four days back and forth
figure out, um. I've, I love that about
[00:59:15] people. Which, which, I mean, it does mean even though I'm working globally, let's be honest, I need people with really good English skills
I work in English and
write in English.
And so, you know, places like [00:59:30] Asia and India and Pakistan and, and certain parts of Africa and Europe work because they have good English skills. Like I need, like I, I wish I was pual, but I'm not. So, I need people who are [00:59:45] comfortable reading and writing and understanding in English.
[01:00:00] Yes,
Queen's English, like I always say, the Queen's [01:00:15] English versus, or now I guess the
The king's English versus American,
And even the way we spell some words,
organizing is a word, like where we use Z's and they use s's, right? And um, [01:00:30] so yes, there's, but I actually love that, like,
glocal, right?
Like the, the mixing of global with local cultures and local. Customs and
And, um, I, [01:00:45] when I came back, I, I did a two week trip for my birthday to Japan and I, I love Japanese culture and I love Japanese and food. I love a lot of stuff about Japan and I kind of did this series on. Words [01:01:00] like Kaizen and Ikigai, like
concepts from Japan. And my Indian based graphic designer completely nailed the visuals. Like he, like, I think he understood the concepts better than I did[01:01:15]
and he would say, this is very sim similar to something we have in.
Indian philosophy and, and, um, Indian culture and those posts did unbelievable because I, I think my writing was fine, but his visuals were [01:01:30] and
better than I would've ever done.
But I think that's where I. The cultural influence and the geography and, and
and he said to me, he said, I love this series. We did a series of five.
[01:01:45] sent me a note on the side. He said, I love this series. Like, this is so cool. And they all worked together. And, um, it was fun. I liked, I liked doing
fun.[01:02:00]
I love it. I love it. I mean. [01:02:15] I, I would have two. One is the controllable, but leave space for the possible. Right? So organize and systemize what you can
and play with those tools. We've talked a lot [01:02:30] about it, like.
create your system.
while you're doing that, is to just leave space for the possible to be open to where this is gonna go.
I don't, I don't think any of us in this coaching journey can 1000% it's gonna go [01:02:45] like this.
And you have to, you have to stay open. And the second one is a mantra. Um, that I've had really since I was in high school. And in fact in my high school graduation, I gave a speech and it was the [01:03:00] theme.
And that is, may we leave our corner of the world a little better than we found it.
that's how I think about coaching engagements
I mentioned it before, can am I adding value to this client's? [01:03:15] Work to this client's life, to this client's productivity.
and, and it's, when you listen to the mantra, it's a little better than we found it, right?
I think it's about small, incremental, positive
and not [01:03:30] feeling like you have to have these huge breakthroughs and these huge, like aha moment insights. Um, small incremental changes can make a big difference in people's lives
[01:03:45] Yeah.
would be my two.
Yes.
Ah, I love it. Um, [01:04:00] well, I'm really excited about some of the book.
I'm working on two different books, which is weird to be working on two books simultaneously, but they're, they're similar, yet different. I think they're both. Tools that are gonna [01:04:15] show up in my coaching practice. I think their, um, their insights that I've had maybe from doing the coaching, maybe from just my career.
And, um, I'm really excited kind of get them out in the world and I'm starting to test [01:04:30] some of the concepts in like my social media posts and in some of the speeches I'm giving
excited about them. So I think, I think it's about, um. Just some new insights. I think the world is really hard.
We've talked [01:04:45] about it. I think it's, I think 2025. It is very, very hard to be a leader or a manager of human beings right now. Um, the economies are weird. Societies are weird. Governments are weird. There's a lot of things that are [01:05:00] outside your control.
and I think it's requiring us to have some new. Insights and some new tools. So I hope, I hope I can bring some out in the world.
[01:05:15] I of course, David, for sure. I'm,
thank
[01:05:30] know, I know. It's been amazing. No, I appreciate it so much. I, like I said, I love you first contacted me. I love the topic of this. I think it's so helpful. I think you are making, you're making somebody's life better by [01:05:45] doing these podcasts and, um, I, I think we need that. So I really appreciate you.
no, I feel it.
it. [01:06:00] Yeah, for sure. right. Have a great day. thank Thanks.