Spring Forward: From Learning Mode to Leadership Mode

Show Notes

Spring is a season of growth — but growth doesn’t happen just because the calendar changes. It happens when you decide to move.

In this episode, Sheldon explores why so many safety professionals stay stuck in “learning mode” and never make the leap into leadership. Backed by behavioral research on the intention–action gap, perfectionism, and productive procrastination

Spring Forward

, he breaks down what’s really holding you back — and how to shift from preparation to execution.

More importantly, this conversation goes beyond hustle. It’s about the freedom that comes with ownership: choosing your clients, controlling your schedule, and building a career that gives you options — not just income.

If you’ve been thinking about launching or growing your consulting business, this is your nudge to stop collecting knowledge and start building momentum.

🌱 Learn more at sheldon.coach

What is The Safety Consultant Podcast?

The Safety Consultant Podcast with Sheldon Primus is your ultimate weekly guide to starting or growing a profitable occupational safety and health consulting business. Are you ready to be your own boss and make a greater impact? Your expertise can help more people create safer workplaces, and your skills deserve a platform where they can truly shine. If you feel limited in your current role and believe your knowledge could serve the broader workforce more effectively, this podcast is for you. Join us as we explore the steps to launch your own safety consulting business, share insights on navigating the industry, and provide strategies to maximize your impact on workplace health and safety. Now is the perfect time to take control of your career and make a difference!

[SPEAKER_02]: Welcome to today's episode of Safety Consultant Podcast.

[SPEAKER_02]: I'm your host Sheldon Primes.

[SPEAKER_02]: Here's the podcast where I teach you the business of being a safety consultant.

[SPEAKER_02]: And...

[SPEAKER_02]: We're getting close to springtime rain.

[SPEAKER_02]: In the U.S. Parts to U.S. We turn the clock's forward, Sunday, March, 8th.

[SPEAKER_02]: And springtime is gonna be the 20th of March.

[SPEAKER_02]: This is the time where we think about growth.

[SPEAKER_02]: This is the time that we think that hey, spring is here.

[SPEAKER_02]: So, okay, dad, question for you.

[SPEAKER_02]: Where do you grow in this year?

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I don't know, but what do you grab?

[SPEAKER_02]: I'm in an RV, we don't grow much, but, you know, growth is actually not just because of the season of changing, it happens because for us personally, our growth is because we decide to move, you know, you want to do something different.

[SPEAKER_02]: You know, we use milestones like season changes or birthdays or the year changing, and those milestones kind of propel us forward, right?

[SPEAKER_02]: Today, I want to talk to you about why so many safety professionals they stuck in learning mode and learning mode, meaning you'll listen to this podcast, you're thinking about become a consultant, you're looking at other things you're talking to a buddy, he took the leap, learning mode.

[SPEAKER_02]: What happens when you finally shift into the leadership mode, and that's our conversation for today, all right?

[SPEAKER_02]: Let's go into the episode.

[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to the Safety Consultant Show with Sheldon primus, where we blend safety sparks with business brilliance and the pitch of Sheldon's signature width, whether you're a safety pro of fresh face consultant, or just safety curious, get ready for a show that'll educate, entertain and elevate your safety game.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's dive into the art of consulting with your safety shirt for himself, Sheldon primus.

[SPEAKER_01]: This episode is powered by Safety FM.

[SPEAKER_02]: Alright, so I got you guys back.

[SPEAKER_02]: So we're gonna be talking about the changes that we're gonna do for spring.

[SPEAKER_02]: Our spring Equinox is coming in.

[SPEAKER_02]: So I just want to get you guys thinking about getting out of the learning mode and getting a teleadership mode.

[SPEAKER_02]: and specifically about starting your consulting business.

[SPEAKER_02]: So that's what I do.

[SPEAKER_02]: I teach you guys business of being a safety consultant.

[SPEAKER_02]: That's the episode today and I teach you guys how to get out of the paralysis that would be about learning and taking some action, right?

[SPEAKER_02]: So that's the deal for today.

[SPEAKER_02]: So let's talk about some research first.

[SPEAKER_02]: So there's some research out there by Peter Sharon, and it's the research that he did research.

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, that word shows that up to 70% of people who intend to make a professional change.

[SPEAKER_02]: Never follow through.

[SPEAKER_02]: That's like crazy.

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, let's see me for percent.

[SPEAKER_02]: You want to make that change and you're like nope Just not gonna follow through and it's probably from one reason or at other you're gonna talk yourself down out of it.

[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, well

[SPEAKER_02]: so let's get you some more.

[SPEAKER_02]: So that's the call it an intention action gap.

[SPEAKER_02]: You have the intention, but you don't have an action as a gap to that.

[SPEAKER_02]: So for us it's a safety-profile professionals.

[SPEAKER_02]: It's kind of like a

[SPEAKER_02]: You do the risk analysis.

[SPEAKER_02]: We're all trained on that, right?

[SPEAKER_02]: We're talking about risk analysis and how to reduce risk and what we do and then if you were to do the analysis without doing the risk reduction Where does that leave you right?

[SPEAKER_02]: So the same thing with your career, right?

[SPEAKER_02]: So you want to make sure you're thinking it through.

[SPEAKER_02]: Yes, absolutely and then take the action that's going to reduce risk But you kind of take the action, right?

[SPEAKER_02]: So we've got to look for like our businesses, we look for what could go wrong, and then we are trained to plan before acting.

[SPEAKER_02]: However, for us, when you're ready to change in your business, that becomes hesitation if you don't take the action and then that hesitation can grow and grow and grow.

[SPEAKER_02]: So there's also another study out there that's the jam study.

[SPEAKER_02]: So what research research is showing that one.

[SPEAKER_02]: My word with research today is when you get people too many options, there are less likely to act.

[SPEAKER_02]: And for us, we're mostly in our business, we're perfectionists because we're trying to make sure that we reduce risk to the degree that no one's going to get hurt and we don't want to just fall in it, right?

[SPEAKER_02]: So for us, we're really trying to get the right exact thing that we're going to do to help them.

[SPEAKER_02]: So the research and perfectionism from Flint and Hewitt.

[SPEAKER_02]: Yes, as perfectionism is truly that point where you could start like hiding basically that's what it is.

[SPEAKER_02]: So perfectionism, which a lot of high performers do, is strongly linked to percrastinism.

[SPEAKER_02]: pre-tastication, that one, pre-tast and I can't even say that pro-carastination, see I need some more coffee this morning, no anyway, so here's another one, I've been looking at a few of these.

[SPEAKER_02]: because I was asking myself why people do not take an action.

[SPEAKER_02]: So here's another one learning feels productive, planning feels responsible, but neither one creates revenue.

[SPEAKER_02]: That's a great one.

[SPEAKER_02]: So what you call that one is a productive procrastination from Adam Grant.

[SPEAKER_02]: You don't want to get into that phase of just truly trying to build that

[SPEAKER_02]: And for myself, I actually did that.

[SPEAKER_02]: I started listening to Pat Flynn, who's a great podcaster, and a person who is known for smart passive income.

[SPEAKER_02]: If you guys look that up, he's an awesome, well, one of the people who got me thinking about getting into podcasting back in the day, or listening to him on the lawn, and stuff like that all the time.

[SPEAKER_02]: So, uh...

[SPEAKER_02]: do just constantly learning, learning, learning, learning.

[SPEAKER_02]: And after a while, I'm like, come up.

[SPEAKER_02]: You're just protected for procrastinating.

[SPEAKER_02]: See, another one of those words.

[SPEAKER_02]: So, yeah, you want to refine things in everything else, but you don't want to have to keep taking other course, getting another bunch of letters in the alphabet suit behind your name after a while.

[SPEAKER_02]: You're just

[SPEAKER_02]: You know, trying to build yourself up for something, but you're not doing it.

[SPEAKER_02]: So you gotta do it, right?

[SPEAKER_02]: So for us, you know, safety pros, you know, you don't usually fail because of your lack of knowledge.

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, you really would be more installing and not taking action.

[SPEAKER_02]: That's usually when we, we have our mishaps.

[SPEAKER_02]: So, what you got to do now is you need that shift right here, your evaluation, I'm sure of it, but you just need a little shift and it's not your shifting from ignorance to knowledge.

[SPEAKER_02]: I understand you got to get some knowledge down, but then now the hesitation is, can I do this myself?

[SPEAKER_02]: So you're looking at the security thing.

[SPEAKER_02]: The security part is where you have told a lot of people on your branching out.

[SPEAKER_02]: You want to do it a little bit of the time on your jays off.

[SPEAKER_02]: Take a couple of clients and we can do some classes where you're actually hosting classes, getting money for doing that.

[SPEAKER_02]: That's going to be when you start dipping into the leadership model.

[SPEAKER_02]: So, let's pivot though from the mentality of, I've got to work, I've got to learn, I've got to do everything perfect.

[SPEAKER_02]: Let's shift your mind, settle little.

[SPEAKER_02]: So, uh...

[SPEAKER_02]: Being your own boss can give you some freedom.

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, that's the key.

[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, you're doing this for a reason, right?

[SPEAKER_02]: So for me, a lot of you know, might be a lot on the full-time RV, or sometimes like last year, or was it probably the last, no, was it last year or year before?

[SPEAKER_02]: My wife and I, we ended up doing five months of Mexico and I did a lot of my work over there.

[SPEAKER_02]: Honestly, it's wonderful to have that freedom when you need it.

[SPEAKER_02]: So, for you, when you're thinking of transition, don't focus on the minutia of the job as much as what can this bring you.

[SPEAKER_02]: What does your family life look like?

[SPEAKER_02]: Are you taking care of a elderly parent?

[SPEAKER_02]: And, which I did during this time period.

[SPEAKER_02]: and she needed us to be there my mother-in-law and it was great to have the opportunity to go ahead and park the RV next to the house and hang out there for as long as we did and truly take care of her.

[SPEAKER_02]: That's freedom.

[SPEAKER_02]: You can't do that if you're working my job in a different state.

[SPEAKER_02]: You'd have to leave your work and then go ahead and get into whoever's

[SPEAKER_02]: elderly parodies, wherever they live, you have to go to them and take your element or their.

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, that's a lot of things that you would be losing income.

[SPEAKER_02]: So if you're following the thread, freedom comes from what you use choose.

[SPEAKER_02]: So you gotta think about the freedom, another thing, the DC and Ryan model for self-determination theory.

[SPEAKER_02]: One of the things that they have is a strong sense of well-being as someone working is going to be that autonomy.

[SPEAKER_02]: You have control over your decisions.

[SPEAKER_02]: That's one of the strongest drivers of job satisfaction.

[SPEAKER_02]: Well, the SDT self-determination theory.

[SPEAKER_02]: So if you have heard that, go back to my episode with Emily Kyle.

[SPEAKER_02]: She's now Emily Kyle, but I think the episode has her name is Elrod before she was married.

[SPEAKER_02]: No, but she explains that to me quite a bit there in that episode as an awesome episode.

[SPEAKER_02]: So, now they're Benson Frey, 2008 study says self-employed personals, professionals, often report higher job satisfaction than employees, not because they work less because they control more.

[SPEAKER_02]: And it's a fallacy to think that you're going to start your own business and you're going to have so much extra time.

[SPEAKER_02]: It varies.

[SPEAKER_02]: Sometimes you do sometimes you don't, but it's not the reason why you go in there.

[SPEAKER_02]: It's how you use your time, because you're still going to have to do classes, you're still going to take client meetings, you're still going to have audits, you're going to do, but then you're scheduling that stuff.

[SPEAKER_02]: So at that point, you're choosing your client, you're choosing a pricing, you're choosing your scheduling, you're choosing your growth ceilings.

[SPEAKER_02]: You're not waiting for that 3%

[SPEAKER_02]: You're an annual bonus that comes in at the end of the year.

[SPEAKER_02]: You're not worried about that email that's going to come out and tell you how this business is restructuring, and now you're wondering if I got a job or not.

[SPEAKER_02]: All that stuff goes out at the window because now you're controlling your life.

[SPEAKER_02]: All right.

[SPEAKER_02]: So, let's spring.

[SPEAKER_02]: that's the conversation right spring is new life it's getting you going the growth is what you're seeing as you're looking around you're seeing these buds that are coming on these trees coming on these bushes coming up and through the ground.

[SPEAKER_02]: Think of that in your own professional life right now what can you do that's going to shift you from being a safety officer to a safety consultant.

[SPEAKER_02]: So, also leading into, I got you.

[SPEAKER_02]: So, if you go to Sheldon.coach, right now, I've got a readiness form to help you figure out where you're at.

[SPEAKER_02]: You can see a structure of a safety coaching program.

[SPEAKER_02]: I told you guys about a few times.

[SPEAKER_02]: And honestly, I've had a drive this year to really help more people.

[SPEAKER_02]: I know I'm helping you with the podcast, which is great and please listen.

[SPEAKER_02]: And statistically, there's more people that listen and hit the subscribe button.

[SPEAKER_02]: So it'd be really, really a nice way for you to help me out is to hit the subscribe button.

[SPEAKER_02]: and follow if that's the terminology on your, on your whatever you're listening to me too, iTunes or Spotify or any other programs.

[SPEAKER_02]: So what that's going to do is just going to help the internet algorithm's find me.

[SPEAKER_02]: If you found me through YouTube, then go ahead and for a few guys who don't know how to do YouTube channel, Sheldon, excuse me, it's YouTube.com forward slash at safety consultant.

[SPEAKER_02]: And you guys could see or actually hear the audio version of this, which will be video pretty soon.

[SPEAKER_02]: But Sheldon.co.

[SPEAKER_02]: When you get there, you're going to see my beta program right now.

[SPEAKER_02]: I'm going to go out and help people.

[SPEAKER_02]: It's going to help you with all that risk that you're thinking about.

[SPEAKER_02]: You're going to help you where you're going to get some templates for proposals.

[SPEAKER_02]: You're going to get some training for me.

[SPEAKER_02]: We're going to meet every two weeks.

[SPEAKER_02]: You're going to have a call.

[SPEAKER_02]: And that call will be one-on-one.

[SPEAKER_02]: 60 minutes to hour and a half depending on what kind of time and what kind of work we got to do.

[SPEAKER_02]: And it's just going to be, I'll just try to figure out what suits you best.

[SPEAKER_02]: Where's your fit in this consulting world?

[SPEAKER_02]: And we're going to work through how to make you get to a position where you can work for yourself full-time with reliable income.

[SPEAKER_02]: I can hold you accountable for some things, because we're going to talk every two weeks.

[SPEAKER_02]: give you some action to do between sessions so that you're able to truly have some help.

[SPEAKER_02]: So this is not for people who want one of those done for you services or you're not willing to implement any action after our phone calls or you're just looking for a brain

[SPEAKER_02]: They had the cough button there.

[SPEAKER_02]: So sheldon.coach, SHL-D-O-N, dot coach, CO-A-C-H, when you get there, go ahead and read the program so you can see all the things that you even show you what the pricing is.

[SPEAKER_02]: There is pricing for this.

[SPEAKER_02]: The reason is is, honestly, the people who have skin in the game, they're going to truly, you know, focus in and you want to take that riddle, ready, yes, audit and that's going to help me to figure out what level do you want to be in.

[SPEAKER_02]: So we've got three different levels, a kick start level, meaning you're generally having to climb to maybe just one and you want to get started.

[SPEAKER_02]: And you're just, you know, learned enough and you want to get going.

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, you're my kickstart people.

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, so that's one pricing and plan.

[SPEAKER_02]: Momentum is those of you that I've been doing this for a little.

[SPEAKER_02]: And you're trying to, you know, get yourself going a little bit more.

[SPEAKER_02]: Get some more of some clients in the consistent basis.

[SPEAKER_02]: Now, you're going to be in the momentum.

[SPEAKER_02]: And those of you that are ready to scale your business, you're in the higher up.

[SPEAKER_02]: We're going to spend a little bit more time together because scaling takes a little bit harder.

[SPEAKER_02]: And for the scaling level, I'm also ready to invest in you as well.

[SPEAKER_02]: So for those of you guys that are ready to scale your business, I'm going to help you guys with hosting some of your webinars

[SPEAKER_02]: you know also share some of my personal resources and then also not money just some of the programs this stuff that I use and then also you're gonna be in a mastermind group with me so we're all gonna learn together during this as well and we'll truly get out of those of you that are ready to scale you've been at this for a while you won't ready to be that professional.

[SPEAKER_02]: You're going to end up being able to grow a little bit quicker because of the scaling module model.

[SPEAKER_02]: So again, Sheldon and that coach look through the three different plans.

[SPEAKER_02]: You'll see the pricing there and everything else take the ridd of this readiness audit.

[SPEAKER_02]: Once you do that, that's going to give me an email.

[SPEAKER_02]: Let me know that someone's completed the audit.

[SPEAKER_02]: I go through it and then I'll choose who will be part of this beta program.

[SPEAKER_02]: Give me the beta program first and I'll work with a few people.

[SPEAKER_02]: We're going to get some results and then we'll launch this again.

[SPEAKER_02]: So right now, springtime is here.

[SPEAKER_02]: We're going to take some action.

[SPEAKER_02]: Now you guys are going to see me on the back end by going to Sheldon.coach.

[SPEAKER_00]: Go Kenno.

[SPEAKER_00]: The views in the opinions expressed on this podcast or broadcast are those of the host in its guest and non-necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the company.

[SPEAKER_00]: Examples of analysis discussed within the past hour only examples.

[SPEAKER_00]: It should not be utilized in the real world as the only solution available, as they are based only on very limited and dated open source information.

[SPEAKER_00]: Assumption made within this analysis are not reflective of the positions of the company.

[SPEAKER_00]: No part of this podcast of broadcast may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means mechanical electronic recording or otherwise without prior written permission of the creator of the podcast or broadcast, Sheldon Primes.

[SPEAKER_01]: This episode has been powered by Safety FM.