 Welcome to the build my sports biz show where we talk about how to create build and scale your own local sports training business It's time to get started with your host Ben neighbors. The show starts right now Hey, what's up? Welcome back to the show today? We're gonna be doing something a little bit different and This is a new series that I'm gonna be doing probably once every four to six weeks Basically, I'm just going to be going through the DMS that I've received on Twitter and Instagram and if you're not following me there just type in my name. It's Ben neighbors same way it's spelled on our YouTube channel and Go follow me there. You can connect with me. Shoot me a DM. I'm just picking the I would say the the best questions I'm gonna use those questions here on the podcast and go into depth And I think these are all questions that I chose today that coaches at one point of their career They're gonna end up going through And so I hope this helps you out. So we're just gonna dig straight in so the first question and I chose this as the first one because I think this has been one that I've really experienced and a lot of coaches ask me this all the time which is Ben when you started your business, did you have people telling you to get a job instead and I think if you sat down and talked to any Person who tries to start a business There's always going to be People in their life who tell them not to do it The thing that I've realized and this is like a golden rule that I've followed over the last I think Seven years. I've really stuck to this is when I have a business question or if I have something I need to do within my business. I'm never going to seek advice from someone who hasn't run a business before and This is a great analogy, but if I have To get brain surgery, right? I'm not gonna go to the grocery store and Ask someone to give me advice on you know what I should do. I'm gonna go to a brain surgeon I'm going to go to a specialist and I think too many coaches out there. They like to Talk to their buddies about it that have normal jobs. They like to talk to their parents about it that Probably don't want you to get into business and what you need to do though is Surround yourself with those who have done what you want to do and Personally, that's why I started the inner circle mastermind So I could create that community for coaches who need that help who need that guidance and who need that accountability And to answer the question. Yes, there was only four people for the first four or sorry Probably two or three years. There was four people in my corner who actually supported my idea and they wanted me to do it and Everyone else didn't they thought I wasn't capable of doing it. They thought I should just go get a normal job I mean, I heard that so many times like from old friends who would be like, you know, Ben Like why don't you just get a normal job? Like you're gonna be able to make way more money And that was the thing like every single one of my friends back then Didn't have a business and so I never felt like I could actually talk to them about What I was doing or what I was going through and I would constantly surround myself with those Who wanted me to just get a normal job and again, this goes back to my golden rule You know, I wasn't talking to anyone really That in my social circle, I'm talking about like my friends That had a business everyone had a job and so they thought it was weird at the time that I was wanting to do my own thing and they didn't get it and You know, the four people who actually like supported my idea. It was my mom my dad They're not even married, but I would get counsel from them and then my two brothers and that was it And what I realized though and this happened, you know, this took me a while to figure out But I started to realize that some of my friends were very toxic with the way that, you know I thought about myself and I had to make a decision. I think this is in 2011 where you know, my buddies would text me on Friday night and they'd want to go out and drink or do whatever and It got to a point where I was like, you know what I Can't do this bull crap anymore. Like I need to hone in and I need to find a mission and I need to stick to my mission and I'm not gonna, you know, hang out with people and be distracted just because like I want them to be friends with me and And I remember like a couple of my close friends back then used to get really pissed off at me because like I wouldn't go Hang out with them and I had to tell them straight up I was like look like I'm gonna do this and You're either gonna be cool with it. You're gonna support it or you're not and if you're not like I'm chilling I'm gonna just go do my own thing regardless with or without you and not everyone could understand that and For me personally, I mean, I've shared this on other podcasts before but with stuff like this I'm I can cut ties very quickly With people who aren't loyal to me Because I'm a very loyal person that that's just how I am. I'm very loyal to those who are loyal to me and I'm very unloyal to those who who actually don't They have my best interest and I think life is too short to spend time with those Who don't want to build up your mission and if you don't have a mission you need to get one. Okay, and What I did and I've told this to a couple of clients But I seriously had one weekend where I was like, you know at this like I'm I'm just gonna create a new identity and I went to T-Mobile I got a new phone number and Anyone who was not in line with my mission at that time like seriously. I haven't talked to them I haven't talked to them since then So I have a new phone number if they want to find me they'll find me out at the field Or like I don't know but I had to make a decision to where I was like, you know what I'm only gonna surround myself With those who do build me up and during that time is when I found my first business mentor And after that that really opened my eyes to like man like what have I been doing these last couple years? Like I've just been hanging out with with people who didn't build me up I always thought negative about myself and Once I surrounded myself around someone who actually believed in me and could give me great advice That's when my mindset completely changed. And so yes, most people I would say 95% of people Told me just to get a normal job now those people like I mean like I said I'm not friends with anyone like that and I won't be friends or surround myself with people who are like that even to this day Because most people know what I do now and like they're not gonna question it But you know at the beginning of your business, everyone's gonna doubt you that that's just that's just how it goes and I think you can use that to fuel Your business and use that to be like, you know what like I don't need to prove them wrong I just need to prove myself right and That's the way I look at it, but I don't care who it is a It could be me or anyone who's starting any type of business there's always going to be those who doubt you and tell you to get a job and You know luckily I persisted and and I had to create a new identity and that to me was is something I would advise you if you're listening to this if you have people who are telling you like hell Don't do that like you should just get a normal job like or you won't make money. That's the most common one I heard was you'll never make money training kids and Now like I mean I teach coaches how to make money It's pretty ironic how that works We have coaches who make you know well over a hundred thousand dollars a year that we help and so That hopefully Hopefully that answers the question there All right, let's go to the second question This is also a good question If you follow me on instagram, you probably notice this but the question is why do you wake up so early? and I think the the real question to ask is why do I go to sleep so early? Because if I was up to like two in the morning and I wake up at Five every day Then you know, I'm not going to be able to function as a human being so personally for me. I have a sleep schedule I have an alarm on my phone That goes off every single day at the same time and that alarm prompts me to like relax get ready to go to sleep and I like going to bed at nine o'clock and that's not for everyone like I'm not going to tell you to go to bed at nine o'clock Um, I'm not going to go to your house or your apartment and turn the lights out at nine and say hey You need to go to bed now But for me I like going to bed early And I like waking up early. I wake up typically like the latest now would probably be at five I like waking up probably between four and five And um, I don't have an alarm that goes off. I just wake up and I start my day But the reason why I wake up so early is because I don't like to wake up late And and feel like I have to catch up with my day and that's the way I feel now You know waking up early allows me to crank out the number one most difficult thing I needed to do that day I get it done Like within 30 minutes of me waking up during the day I have more obligations in the morning When no one is awake. No one's bothering me. No one's talking to me. I'm not looking at my email I'm not checking instagram. I'm not looking at social media Like I can focus on the number one most difficult business related activity And without having any distractions like zero distractions when I wake up And that's why I like doing it though. And I also have this mindset This is something I've shared on the podcast a while back, but I have this mentality that You know when I wake up in the morning, I always envision That there's another coach out there in my city who's trying to steal all of my clients away from me They're trying to create a better program than me And I have to wake up with the mindset of being like now at that like this is going to be You know My thing that I dominate with and there's not going to be another coach that will outwork me And that's how I like to operate my day and that allows me to operate with a sense of urgency Versus being like, oh, I'm going to wake up at eight Because if I wake up at eight if there's another guy working harder than me, he's going to wake up at five or six So I know just mentally Waking up earlier. It just gives me the edge It just gives me more confidence And I would recommend, you know, if you want to do that, you have to change your lifestyle Like you can't watch netflix at midnight or watch espn at two in the morning and then expect to wake up at five That's just not going to work. So you have to be willing to cut out a lot of things um, and for me personally I I wish I could sleep in I wish I could eat doritos all day and watch netflix at night But that's not going to build a successful business and So you have to really make decisions based on what's best for you And and where you want to go, all right, but waking up early is huge and that's one thing like if you're in our inner circle mastermind program Like I talk about that quite often. I talk about like exactly what I do when I wake up and coaches that Have been in that program that are starting to make like Massive changes with their business. I've noticed one thing in common They all are starting to wake up earlier and they also know what they're doing every second of the day Which is like a completely different topic um All right, here we go. So question number three Should I start a podcast? So kids and parents Can consume my content and the answer is yes Um, and there's a couple coaches this year Uh who took my advice on that and they have their own podcast um and If I'm you Like of course I would do that because if you think about it The kids that train with you Are only going to see you once or twice a week If you have something in addition to share with them that they can listen to on the way to school Or on the way to soccer practice or on the way to their soccer game or their basketball game or whatever sport you coach That is going to position you more as the authority and more as the mentor And it doesn't mean you need to have you know one hour episodes It means like having something that's like five or ten minutes That they can consume and trust me. They're gonna be in the car Like they're all all those kids and the parents are gonna be in the car And so I would create something That goes out like once a week and just stick to it for the rest of the year And say, you know what I'm gonna do this and it's gonna be fun That you don't put pressure on yourself and just use it for the kids that that you train and um I would 100 do that ASAP And how do you do that? Well, I mean there's a lot of different ways to start a podcast I would just go to google and and say how do I start a podcast? um, because I could create a completely new episode on You know exactly how to do that um But yes, I would start a podcast It's going to add more value to the clients that you train and then ultimately if you are consistent enough with it You'll be able to create digital products From your podcast and you can drive those who listen to it to your website where they can go buy something Very similar to what I do on this podcast Okay, the next question is how Can I take more time away? From my training sessions, and I'm assuming the coach who sent me this is feeling burnt out They feel like they just don't have any time away. They don't have any time off And I know that feeling that feeling really sucks And I'm going to show you a strategy that I personally use and I hope this helps you and This will allow you to take more time away from training. So really step one is If you don't have any time away from training that means that you're working every day Which is something that I used to do and um I remember my oldest brother he'd always be like dude. You have to take at least a day off And I always thought in my head just No, I just I need to train every day and I felt like It was something that I needed to do And I was obligated to train every day But the reality is like if you do that, you don't You don't have any free time Um, and you don't have any time where you can relax And if you're a coach if you're training kids, you're always on your feet. You're always moving around And when you're young you can get away with that like when you're in your like early 20s Like when I was doing that. Yeah, you can do that. But at the same time you should Have scheduled time away from Your training business and what I do now is radically different than what I used to do Um, and the way I have it set up now is I have a contract The parents sign so when they train with me they sign the contract And on the contract It states that every 90 days I am gone for a week. So like I won't be there On a week For an entire week like I take an entire week away from training And I do that every quarter And the reason why I do that though is so I can actually have scheduled time away from training And my schedule now is way different than how it was like two or three years ago I only train on Right now I train three days a week and it's three days in a row And then, you know, I don't train on the weekends I started to really guard my time and spend my time differently But the best thing you can do if you want to have more time away you need to make that Within your terms when parents sign up for your program. So they understand, you know what you're gonna be gone You're gonna take time away and if you don't do that, then you're always gonna be Stuck at the field or the court wherever you train So I hope that answers your question And feel free send me more questions guys at twitter or instagram just find my name ben neighbors And I'll make sure to do more podcasts like this if you guys like it. They need some feedback and love to do this again Hey coach, thanks for listening to our show today If you enjoyed the content, I'd really appreciate it if you would leave us a five star review here on itunes If you want to attract more committed clients Generate more income and create more freedom in your life You'll want to check out our inner circle mastermind This exclusive group is reserved for coaches who want to build and scale A dominant sports training business To learn more about the inner circle program Simply head over to our website at www.buildmysportsbiz.com Thanks again for listening. I'll catch you later