Shift Your Mindset and Scale Past 7 Figures with Anthony Trucks

And so what happens? We have this ego, everyone's greatest obstacle, which really is the ego. I'm great. I'm phenomenal. No one can see me. And what really the issue is, it's not that your identity is bad or anything. It's just sometimes your ego's protecting parts of your identity that are not beneficial to your future.

Hi everyone. Welcome to the Scale up method where we teach you to reach the next level in your business. Build your dream team and scale beyond eight figures. Now, there's too many business owners that are stuck trying to do everything themselves and their businesses are suffering as a result. And I don't want you to be one of those people. I'm Alison Maslin and my company, Pinnacle Global Network, has helped thousands of business owners scale their companies using my framework, the scale it method. All business owners face similar challenges when it comes to growth. So on this podcast, we're delivering the tactics you need to finally reach that next level level in your business. Build your dream team and scale beyond eight figures. Now. Today I'm talking to Anthony Trucks, former NFL athlete and founder and CEO of Identity Shift Coaching. He specializes in helping people and businesses navigate major shifts in their life. He's consulted on business development with entrepreneurs in multiple industries and consultant for multi billion dollar corporations for six figure contracts. Anthony is also the best selling author of multiple books and hosts the AW Shift podcast which reveals how successful people make shift happen. Now, I wanted to bring Anthony on the show because he has a wealth of personal experience navigating identity crisis and his own shifts and others as well. He helps individuals and businesses align with their mission and become the best version of themselves. And I'm excited for Anthony to talk about his upbringing and how we can build a stronger sense of identity. So happy to have you here, Anthony.

Happy to be here. Thank you for having me, genuinely.

Yeah. So I'm going to dive right in and start in the beginning here. And you were placed in the foster system, the foster care system, when you were three years old and the success you have created despite very challenging beginnings, you suffered emotional abuse and trauma for a lot of your childhood. And you know, speaking of the foster system, I read a book called Just Mercy, I don't know if you're familiar with it, by civil rights attorney Bryan Stevenson. And he is one that is representing a lot of kids that have gone through the foster system. And he said in his book that one out of three foster kids end up homeless or in jail. And that statistic was so staggering to me and how you've been able to, everything that you've been through, to be able to create so much success in your life is such an incredible inspiration. How, how has being raised in, in the foster system, you know, with the, what you experienced in your childhood, how has that impacted you as an adult?

You know, it impacted me in all the, the right and the wrong ways. You know, I think there's, there's always a connection, a draw point back to the things I did poorly in my business journey and in my life journey that I couldn't say, okay, that was, you know, something that I never dealt with or was, you know, unresolved issues or some I just didn't want to face for a long time. But at the same time as a statement I love and it says a smooth sea makes not a good or skilled sailor. And so the hardships also gave me the ability to navigate pitfalls and drop offs and just overall emotional hardship as an adult in ways that I never probably could if I hadn't gone through that. So where I don't like the things that happen, I have a great deal of appreciation for them, surely, because I was able to face some things before, I faced bigger things later in life. And I kind of came to those things with some skill sets that were, I guess, not by my own intentions, but they were present in my body and in my person at that time.

Yeah. What do you think that you attribute to. Because there's so many kids that go through the foster system and some have, you know, better experiences than other, but some of them have pretty traumatic. Like you did. I know you suffered a lot of abuse.

Yeah.

What do you think it was within you? Like what is the difference where you have someone like you that has created so much amazing success. And I want to talk about all of that and the things that you have going on and others that, that just don't.

Yeah, I think it's a, it's a series of fortunate events, you know, not the, the, the show that's a series of unfortunate events. But mine was a series of fortunate events. And I also think it was my perspective and moments that put me on the right trajectory. Because as a kid, you know, all of us as foster kids were given a lot of just, just hardship. We're faced with it and because of that we built these walls and, and the walls we build, they keep us safe. Right. We keep all these bad things out, but at the same token, the things that are kept out, that are bad are also keeping out the good things, the love, the care. And so we don't allow ourselves to be emotion available. We don't trust people very much. We don't let people love us. And I think for me, one of the first fortunate events was I got to a moment in time where I realized my biological mom is not the person to live with. She's not the person for me. And I finally let my adoptive family love me, which is an interesting thing for someone to hear. Like, what do you mean, let them love you? Where it's like, so, you know, people can love on you, but if you don't receive it, you'll be, you know, you'll be abrasive, you'll still be rude, you'll be standoffish. And that's what I was for a long time and finally realized this thing I've been looking for from one person, one other group of people is trying to give me. So why don't I just try and actually take it from these people? So I took the love, and it was the first of fortunate events for me to actually receive it, open up for the first time and take that in, and it put me down this pathway of being able to possibly have more, right? Just. Just have the opportunity for more. But it's still, you know, it's still life. I'm not. All of a sudden, family loves me and everything's great, right? People have loving families all the time, and life isn't golden. The next thing for me was facing things that were hard, that I wanted to quit, but not quitting. And I. It's interesting because I tried this game of football, right? I'm a former NFL athlete, did this, you know, whole journey and. And when I first started football, I was horrible. I was like one of the worst in the team. And most people don't understand, well, how could you be the worst on a team and play in the professional football league? And I go, well, because when I decided to check out, I had a moment in time. After two years of being horrible, giving up in the game, I had this moment where I was like, I don't want to go down the pathway I'm headed. Like, I actually want to be good at this game. So what does it take to be good at this game? And I found these things that I face. And for all of us, there's something unique and special in business and in life and relationships. Always something for football players. Back at them. 15 is, well, you got to be fast, catch a football, and you had to compete, you know, make plays and do that. But I didn't have the Physical skills or the sense of identity, I could do that. So I didn't see myself in that role. And mostly because I hadn't had any proof from my life's actions. So what I did is I leaned in and did all the most uncomfortable things to myself at the moment. I would run routes. When I wasn't good at running routes, I'd try to catch a football. When I wasn't good at catching a football, I'd lift weights. And I was skinny and thin and I had people make fun of me. I had teammates. What do you do out there? Trucks. Man, you suck. What are you. What are you out here running around, lifting weight? What are you doing? You know? But I had to keep facing it. And so the more you face it, the more you start depositing these little drops of confidence, little by little by little by little. And at first you're, you know, not getting much traction. But seven months later, I had this. After a whole bunch of series of fortunate events, a moment where I got back on the football field and there was this deep seated mentality which was, I've done too much work in the dark for you to take what is mine, the light. It was this guttural thing like this. I'm not going to let you remove from my life what I've already paid for through. Through sweat and tears and your. Your bad words. Right? And so this was something that led me to making actions or taking actions that, that had great outcomes. I'd catch footballs, I'd get touchdowns, I'd tackle people, I'd do well. And that that would lead to the next one of a new opportunity and a new opportunity. And so from there was a series of fortunate events of now I'm making plays and I get moved to a higher level, and then I get a college scholarship offer and, you know, and all the way up the top of the reigns. And so for me, it's like life at one point was me no longer identifying as that lowly, worthless foster kid and going, no, I now deserve more because I have paid the dues by my actions and I've seen the results. I now have proof that I'm worth more.

Wow, that is so incredibly powerful that you had the resilience and the perseverance during that time. And gosh, that saying, I've done so much work in the dark not to let somebody take it away in the light. I've never heard it positioned quite that way. And it's like, gosh, you know, I've invested so much in myself so much pain. And this has been so hard. Like you're not taking it away from me. It sounds like you just were so determined. It's really that determination. And so interesting too that you said that about your adoptive parents too, that hear that love, they were wanting to give it to you and you were, you know, you were, you were not letting it in. You were not letting it in. So, you know, once you did, things began to, began to shift.

They do. Most of the stuff we want is there. I mean, I found that in my life, a lot of the things that I desire most is already kind of floating around me and I'm just not. Either I'm not opening myself to the possibility or I'm letting my ego stand in the way of accepting it. And in business, this happens a lot because a lot of people go, I don't want anyone to see me sweat. I can't have someone on social media see I'm not perfect or I just don't notice the thing. Sometimes you have people that are close to you that have phenomenal insights, but they're too close to you to give you insights. Like, that's just Bob, that's just Bill. No, that person has perspective. They have life. You don't know. And so when I finally opened up, like, okay, these people are here and that the things I need are already in front of me, I just had to let it in. Or even later in life of I'm not the greatest in the world because I played football. Right. Just because I played the NFL does not qualify me for anything but tackling people. Right. So outside of that, like stepping the ego back is a great way for people to open up like I did.

Yeah. And you're able to take that, what you learned into other areas of your life because you, you had an injury when you were in, in the NFL and so that kind of cut things short. Tell me how that impacted you and how you were able to move on from there.

I wasn't at first. It took like, shoot, seven years. I want to say it's a long journey. Anyone that has poured any part of their soul into something for a long period of time and then wake up one day and you can no longer do that, whether by choice or by chance. Right. Because it was for me, by chance I had an injury. So this 13 year journey, that was me, it was my soul I anchored myself to. It was gone. But for some people, it's like, hey, I decided to quit my job and start a business or I'm running a business. And I sold it. There's these moments where you go, what do I do now? Or a kid goes off to college, you leave the military. And these moments, they are very heavy and we don't realize the emotional weight of them until it's on our chest. And for me, I left the NFL on an injury and I just, you know, I aching it to this metaphor I came up with about like a tree, and it's more like fruit. Like what we've done is the fruit of our labor. So when football was in my life, it was this beautiful fruit. And then I got injured and then the fruit fell off the tree, right? And so the fruit lays on the ground and like any piece of fruit, it can lay there for a while, right? You can hang and still feel like, good for a bit, but after a while, the fruit starts to wither and rot and die. And you feel that way, you know? And so for me, it took about two, three years and the fruit just withered and died. And I felt like the fruit. So next thing I know, football's gone, my marriage is gone. I'm not a present father. I'm out of shape, my business is doing horribly. Nothing is running the way it's supposed to, right? And it took me genuinely probably like seven years to get to this point of a realization after divorce and all this craziness going on. And I go, you know what? There's something going on that doesn't make sense. I realize a lot of problems, and when I see it, I'm the common denominator in all of my problems, whether I created it or I've allowed it. And it caused me to look internal and ask some questions that I wasn't really a fan of, which is, who in the world are you, man? Who is Anthony? Because this is not the person your mom raised. Not the person you're supposed to be. You're supposed to be doing way better. I was living in a 500ft studio apartment at one time with my three kids on an air mattress next to my bed. After the NFL, things are not going the way they're supposed to. And it led me to this realization that in life, we all believe when we've lost this thing, that this is the fruit and we're worthless. When the reality is, is we've never been the fruit, we've always been the tree. And when you step in and look at it from that perspective, yeah, you go like, okay, well, if I'm the tree, maybe I can create sweeter and more abundant fruit. If I go and take care of the tree again. Because when you lose sight of the tree, well, you stop tending to it, you stop watering it, you stop pruning it. So all the other fruit dies. So no reason. My, my marriage fell apart, my health fell apart, business wasn't doing all the rest of the fruit was dying because I didn't have a sense of I'm not the fruit of football. So when I went back and redid that, life changed. I started finding out who I was crafting more so intentionally who I wanted to be. After three years, divorce, remarried my ex wife. I have a thriving business. I have present kids that are present with father as well. Like I take care of my body. I have a way different life than I had a decade ago. And it wasn't because I learned some magical trick. It was mostly because what I'd learned, I was applying and I was okay, dropping the ego. To say who I am right now is not who I need to be for the future. Who do I need to be? And then what must I do to become that human?

Wow, that's an incredible turnaround, Anthony. Seriously. And it also sounds like when you realize, okay, I'm the common denominator here, I gotta take responsibility and make different choices. And I really feel like that has to happen for people to start really making changes in their life. Right. Is to say, okay, I'm creating this, what can I do differently?

Because if you don't ask that question, here's the scary part of it. I don't believe that you could have an identity that is below your dream, but get the dream. So if your dream doesn't match the identity, you don't get it. And here's why. There are certain actions for your business that have to be taken. If you don't identify with those actions as a person that does those like fluidly, well then you don't do them. So the actions don't get taken, the outcomes don't come to pass. The result, the achievement isn't in your life, surely because, well, I don't cold call, I don't do live streams, I don't, I don't do emails. I'm, I'm not the kind of person that works on whatever it might be. Right. Well if you don't identify, we're not going to do it. And so it's a sheer clean cut line of like, well then you can't have that because you don't identify as that. That doesn't mean day one you will. But if you don't lean in and take the efforts to do that, you won't. And when I say I am not the person who does X, you don't do X even a little bit. If I say I'm not a smoker, I don't smoke even a little bit. Right. So if you don't have any bit of saying, I'm the person who will give effort towards this or identify as a person that tries things, we're going to fall short every time. And so for me, I think the biggest thing is understanding that when it comes to you trying to have that next tier is you have to say, okay, what is a moment in time in the future where I can look at what I have and then what I have is tied to the actions? What actions will I have to say I identify as the person who does those? Is it forgiveness? Is it communication? Is it. Is it tech support? Is it doing, you know, is it team leadership? Is it just being CEO, not in the trench? What does that look like? Because if you can't identify as that, you won't have it.

Yeah. Wow, that's. That's so powerful to. You really have to see yourself as that person that can do it. You know, even doing just the little steps at a time to build the confidence, you know, like you did in building your NFL career. Now you. You help people create shifts. That's what you do. And shifting their mindset, shifting their focus to reach their potential. And so can you share how you work with people and maybe what are some of the biggest struggles that you see? Yeah, that people have a hard time seeing themselves and in that identity, to be able to be that person, to create that in their lives.

Yeah. Well, the thing is, we sometimes make this too. Too floaty, right? Too soft, too ethereal sometimes because I shift identities. Within your identity, it lives your mindset, lives your perspective, lives your. Your belief systems. It's all part of your sense of self. Right. Your identity, by definition. My definition is who you are when you're not thinking about who you are. The flow state. And when you're in flow and doing things and your flow is a high tick, well, boom, Things happen. You look like a magical person. Like you're the Midas touch, which really. Not that. So for me, it's like, Well, I don't. I know that I can't see myself in a future just yet. This is why I lead by actions. I take it away from the philosophical and make it very tangible and tactical. I call it the shift method. And the biggest thing is I'm not Going through the steps just yet, but it's really taking a step and going, okay, well, if I want to look at something in the future, what are the small actions, micro actions over time, even call them habits that must be done to where over time I've made enough deposits to where I get the dividend of identity. Right. I'm depositing over time, brick by brick, drip by drip. I'm filling the bucket or laying this cathedral wall and a lot of it feels uncomfortable. We have this imposter syndrome language right now of, you know, it's not who I get this imposter syndrome, but why and in my opinion is haven't laid enough bricks. Because if I go, you know what, I have spoken every single day on social media, saying something in a live stream and the idea of getting on a stage and talking about it, if I go like, I've done a thousand of these straight, there's no reason why I can't just do it in front of real people. I've already done in front of real people. Right. It's a smoother transition. I don't have the imposter syndrome as much. And so for me, when I look at how to identify is that it's like, well, no, I just craft that. What identity do I want to identify as later? Do I want to identify as a confident, strong, powerful, clear spoken, cool. That's what I want to identify later. Let's backtrack that. What are some consistent actions that daily. I call it dark work I must do to lead up to where I can shine in the light later on. And all I'm really doing is just crafting my days. It all leads back to the days. But most people are so worried about the achievements or the speed of the pace, whatever it is they lose sight of. Even if you do achieve, you're becoming someone at the same time. And if you aren't mindful of who you become when you do achieve, you might lose it or you won't sustain it. And so the big thing is or you won't like the person you've become. Right? So how about I say, here's what I want, here's what that'll take. And then how do I think about the different traits that I need to build in myself individually to become the person who does those things without question?

Yeah, there's so much that you said there. I would love to unpack it. I think two in the world we live in right now. Now I've been in business this year 40 years. So, you know, I I mean, just, you know, I've done the work over so many years. Right. And so for sure, and. And. And lots of. Lots of downs. Lots and. And lots of ups. Thank goodness, too. But I do notice that, you know, when I was younger, there were not as many young entrepreneurs at the time, especially women. We have a lot of young entrepreneurs out there now, which is great, and I love it, and more women entrepreneurs as well. But I think that there is this idea that it's just something that should be. Should happen fast. And I think patience, you know, how do we build that patience to say, okay, well, you're not there yet, but you just have to do the brick by brick by brick by brick over time, which doesn't sound super romantic and exciting. What do you think is the important message there?

I have this statement that's tied to that because I would fall somewhat under that. You know, the younger entrepreneur that started. I started 25, you know, and I had that window. And there's a sense of urgency that is detrimental, in my opinion, because you make the wrong decisions based on the fact that it's got to happen now. And I realized that I didn't even enjoy my days, like, now. I love my life. I was just hanging on my son in the garage. We have a gym out there, and just hanging. He's like, what are you doing today, dad? I'm like, this man. And then I have a podcast and get your brother and sister from school. Like, this is my life, and I love it, right? And the reality is I learned to fall in love with the day, not just the destination. There's a space where in time, in the past, when I was always focused on, like, what I got to get done, I got to get there. And I was ever happy till I got there. And I was always in this comparison space. And the comparison, which is not setting your own scale, leaves you in this lacking space where you have this whole of, I'm not good enough, and I'm not at that person's level. And so for me, first thing is, I set my own scale. My scale currently is set to Season of Dead. I am home. I coach teams, I train my daughter. I do morning routines of my son. Like, I'm present with my kids, and that's fine for me. That means I'm not doing all the extra work stuff and traveling all day long. That fits for my scale, right? And on top of that, because I love my days, and my days have actions that are moving me forwards. Whenever I get to the destination, it's Beautiful. I love it. It's a cherry on top. Because I find that we will spend vastly more time climbing the mountain than being on the peak. So if you hate the climb, you're going to hate the whole journey. But if you love the climb the top of the mountains, like, cool. I want to get back to climbing mountains and I think that is kind of the space that the young entrepreneurs don't have as much of a draw towards. It's this. I want to be the fastest. And I think that part of that is. I think part of it's necessary. I think sometimes they need that to get kicked in their butt a couple times. Because like you said, 40 years, you wouldn't be where you're at if you didn't have some of those things in the past. And I think some of them need those. But also they need to also step back and go, can I appreciate this moment more than I am? Can I just settle in and just be at peace with what I call the pieces? If you can be at peace with the pieces, which is, I've laid a piece of the foundation and I can step back today and be at peace with that and then go with my wife or my kids and my husband, I can live or my friends if I'm not married. And then tomorrow go put another piece and then walk away and be at peace with the peace as being laid each day. Because when you do that, you find that you actually go down the journey with more optimism. You have more joy as you experience it. And I find that when I approach entrepreneurs who have more peace and have more joy, I want to do more with them, I want to help them more and they succeed faster for momentum because they're approaching it with this rigidity and this stress of I'm not just there yet.

Yeah. And it's so true. Because the journey, you're going to spend a lot more time in the journey. Right. The climb rather than the peak. So you might as well enjoy the climb. Right. Because you know, then you're on to another peak.

You always are. Life, man. It's false collection of false summits.

Yeah. And I love that you, you got back together with your ex wife. I mean, that's. That's amazing. That's a whole story in itself. We should do a whole podcast on that.

So a whole lot that happened there. That is a.

Sure. That's beautiful. Now, you released your best selling book Identity Shift just this last year and so it's brand new and it focuses on the concept of identity. And so let's talk about identity. And then also, what was the inspiration for your book in writing and writing it?

Yeah, well, the book was. Well, inspiration was accidental. It was something where I sat in a room with a whole bunch of amazing minds and men, and they kind of were. I was unpacking what I do. At the time. I had a company called Trust yout Hustle. And one of the guys, I clear it all, I'd lay my heart out. And he goes, I don't like it. And I go, what do you mean, man? This is my dream. You don't like it? He goes, yeah, I don't like it. I go, why? He goes, well, you got to realize in life, there's messages and messengers, and when those two come together powerfully, you create a movement. He says, you're the messenger. You can talk, share, speak. He says, but the message, there's more. He's like, I hear your story of foster kid and meeting your dad and having a kid in college and, you know, going to the pros and getting out of the pros and getting divorced, remarried, all these things, and being, you know, a black kid in all white family growing up. He's like, what I want to know is, how do you navigate all those different places of identity and end up in this room with us? Because that's not supposed to happen for most people. And I go, that's a great question. He goes, that's what I want to know. He says, that's your message. And so I kind of went down this new rabbit hole of unpacking, like, what identity is. Where does it fit? Where does it fit in my own life? And about, I want to say, four years of research, study, trial and error, like, digging into it, unpacking myself, doing a lot of work on me. I started finding, like, a thread, like, this kind of concept I could weave through my life and go, okay, that's where it showed up. That's where it showed up. And so I found, like, there's like, 30 different moments in my life that some people never get past. And so, like, for me, I go, that's where I applied this kind of similar concept. And that led to me really just writing ideas down. Like, if I was to teach someone about identity, what would I tell them? What concepts would lay in place? What frameworks might I teach to understand it? And that was one note section. And another note section was, what are personal stories of mine that tied to identity? The third one was, where's, like, some data and research out in the world on psychology of identity? The Neuroscience of Identity. And I just kind of threw two, three different lists together. And I was talking to a guy about in a podcast, and he goes, is this a book yet? I go, nah, man, I got notes but no book. He goes, I gotta have you talk to my publisher. So I got in touch with this guy's publisher, and a guy goes, you are about to 80% farther ahead than any author I typically work with by simply having those pieces. He's like, it's a book. Just make it a book. So I went back and I wrote the book and the inspiration was more so I think the timing was right. We had this world of people who, what they knew to be their life was uprooted in the pandemic. So they didn't know who they were in this new environment. So it's really scary. And as I kind of approach, that kind of conversation was very powerful and it was transformative for a lot of people. A lot of phenomenal feedback. Companies love when I come in and talk to their people about this new hybrid work situation or we're online or offline, whatever it may be. It's a new environment and new new perspectives on how I am in this environment. And so the inspiration was that. But then as I got it kind of out, I found that I've thoroughly enjoyed the ability to have a conversation about something people knew existed but didn't have an anchored understanding of and to kind of lead the conversation. And that understanding has been beautiful.

Wow. Well, I ordered your book. It didn't get here in time for this interview, but I cannot wait to read it. And congratulations on that.

Thank you. Thank you.

That is, that's a big achievement, so. And will help so many people. And so, you know, what do you feel like, you know, we, this show are generally, it's CEOs and founders that are listening. How does this lack of understanding their identity or an identity crisis or a misalignment of their identity, how does that impact their ability to lead their business successfully?

A lot. There's a lot in ways that most people don't want to actually see. It's not fun to uncover the shift methods where I kind of dive in with this. I've got companies I work with like Amazon and PayPal's and T mobiles, and we go and we talk about these things. And so here's the biggest thing is most of us as leaders, when we're leaders, we never want to see any chinks in our armor. And so what happens is we have this ego. Everyone's Greatest obstacle, which really is the ego. I'm great. I'm phenomenal. No one can see me. And what really the issue is, it's not that your identity is bad or anything. It's just sometimes your ego's protecting parts of your identity that are not beneficial to your future. For example, if I am not a good communicator, when someone comes up, says, hey, you need to communicate better. What are you doing? Get out of here. You know, like, we just. We get abrasive sometimes. And so one of the biggest things that I run into when I work with these people is their inability to pull the ego back and really take a look at the area within them that needs some improvement. Because if you have an inability to be communicative or maybe you don't, you know, maybe you reprimand the wrong way, well, then your team is apprehensive to share things with you or communicate with you. So what could be a great idea never gets brought to you? Or maybe you have this thing where you're just, you know, maybe you're late and you don't realize that you're late all the time and bothers some people. So some individuals just won't want to work with you because you're just late. Like it's something. Could be something simple as that opportunities just bypass you or you don't take care of individuals. And I believe that your business lives and dies in a dark. The conversations had about you that you don't know of. And that is a thing that says someone goes, hey, work with this person or don't work with this person. And you'll never know about those. And that ties to who you are and how you show up. So for me, I'm really big on having a person step back. And part of our process is interviewing individuals in your life privately in ways that. That is anonymous to where they can say what they need to say. And then we then bring it to the person and go, here's what was said about you, and this is what you have to figure out. What do we want to work on? Oh, it sucks. I have. I have people that I usually don't reply to me for 48 hours. They go, why 48? I go, it's gonna take you two days if your emotions come back to normal. And so they do. Because when your emotions high, your intelligence is low. You're not thinking, oh, that's just crazy. Like, we get all emotional. So they then come back to the table and go, so what would happen if we were to fix this and this. Can you imagine? Maybe you could grow your team, grow the staff. You could operate better. Maybe you would maybe hire someone to take over this area that you've been holding onto. But your team saying, you're not the best at all these little areas. And we go, okay, let's work on this. And so we will pull the ego back and embrace change, which really is a small little shift. We'll try to bring somebody in, try to admit this, have a conversation about X, Y or Z. And it opens kind of the door and what it usually is. It's not the big single actions. It's you saying, I'm going to break this habit and build this habit. I'm going to break the habit of doing this in this action, this moment, or whatever it is. I'm going to build a new habit in place of it. And we start doing that. It's those small bricks that get laid to where you have that mentality of, I'm a great communicator now. I've done too much work in the dark as a great communicator for me not to be a great communicator in the light. These little things, they start to become these replacements. And over time, you look back and people go, well, how do you know you made an identity shift and how do I know it's taking place? And I go, it's going to be simple. The day you wake up and you try to put yourself back in the headspace of who you were a year ago and you feel like a stranger, that's the feeling. Because, you know, you're no longer that human.

Yeah, this. So much of this really speaks to me, Anthony, because, you know, we run a team. I've got 50 team members, 50 employees now. And so in our company, Pinnacle Global Network. And so there are a lot of people that we're communicating with and, you know, a lot of the business owners that are listening on here, you know, on your best days, sometimes it's easy to be that great communicator. And then there are those days where, you know what hits the fan, and if things. Something falls apart and you. You. You still need to show up to the plate being that leader. And I think that's for myself. It's the thing that I've worked on the most over the last several years, too, because, you know, it's just like being a parent. You could go to bed at night going, God, I could have handled that better. I could have said that differently. I, you know, why did I need to bring that up or, you know, all. All of the things, right? Because I think it gives us such an opportunity to learn to be better at this as part of our own evolution. And it's. It's not easy.

No, it's not. It's the hardest thing, but the most rewarding. And it's. It's actually when you get to the space. There was years ago I had this. I was in the fitness industry. This guy named Michael Boyle, he first introduced this idea to me, and he says, I'm going to give you the best of who I am today. But a year from now, you might hear something completely opposite of what I'm saying now, simply because I've learned something different or what I've thought was true was not. But I'm okay saying that I was wrong. And so because of that, I'm always gonna be a work in progress. Now. He was talking about fitness and training and science of the body, but I was like, that's a great human skill as a parent, a husband, as a leader in business. Because if I'm okay telling you this is the best, I know right now, I'm gonna do my absolute best. But if I'm given information that shows that I wasn't the best, I'm going to take that in and apply it. You're going to watch me do it. I'm not going to have this ego of feeling bad because I'm changing, right? That's supposed to happen, supposed to grow. When you can embrace that kind of mentality, it's a game changer. Like, people ask Anthony, what do you identify as? And I tell them, I identify with the effort. That's my thing. I identify with the effort. Now, I don't identify as the coach, the speaker, whatever is. I identify with the efforts it takes to be a great coach or a great speaker. And sometimes it may mean I'm wrong or I'm imperfect or I didn't do great right now. I didn't. Wasn't a great dad, maybe, right? But I'm going to give the effort to improve when I know what I can improve upon. Now, I'm not going to be the guy that identifies as knowing it all and never takes insight. Because when I identify with the effort, it's like, yeah, I put that out and someone goes, oh, you butchered it. Yeah, it's cool. I messed it up. But I gave the effort, and I'm going to give effort to do it better next time. So it becomes a consistent role for me, and I identify with that. Therefore, I Meant more peace. I don't have to show up to a room and feel like people like, ah, there's something that guy did. He didn't, you know, he didn't tell anybody about. Or he could be better at this. It's like, yeah, tell me. Okay, cool. I like that. I could actually take that. I believe it came from football, because in football, you're one of the best in the world. But every day you go to practice and every day you watch film, and every day I get yelled at. This was wrong. Trucks or foot over, you're gonna get hit by this guy getting blocked. Hey, get your hands off this guy. He pancaked you, man. Right. But it doesn't mean you're horrible. Just means you got room to improve. I can now see it. So I think that is more of what people should apply to their lives. The football mentality of, like, I do my best, I watch the film, I get the insights. I go apply him at practice tomorrow.

I bet. I was just thinking, as you were saying that I go, I bet this is where he got this from football. And then you said that. So that was, that was interesting, right? Because, you know, you could have a bunch of practices that don't go well, but at least you're in the game. You're. You're practicing, you're working on it, you know, So I think that's for the business owners that are listening, trying not to be hard on yourself as long as you're in the game and you're continuing at least to have the awareness also, too. That's a big piece of what you need to work on, right?

Yeah. And you may, it may mean other people giving it to you. The one thing I told people is like, I always got a coach, even now, because there's a window of time when I didn't. I did poorly in business. And people go, well, you're a coach, you're a high level. Who do you get? I say, you know, it's not really about having someone who's at a higher level than me. My coaches, when I played professional football, those guys had, like, busted knees and bad backs. They couldn't do what I could do. Right. However, when I was in the field, I could see what's right in front of me, but they could see the field. Their viewpoint was in the field. So, like, I was phenomenal here, but if I couldn't see that thing over there that they could see, I wasn't maximizing my potential. So I explained to people, sometimes you need other individuals who you allow to see the field and give you insight.

Yeah, that's. That's incredible. I'm loving this. This interview, and so I hope those of you listening are enjoying it, too. Figuring out. Speaking of identity crisis, figuring out the person you were born to be or figuring out the person that you want to be, what is more important? Or are they the same?

Yeah. So I have two questions that I ask, and one's like a quote. One of the quotes says, the last person I want to meet in my deathbed is the person I could have been. So that moves me in this direction of, like, man, I don't want to have this thing where I have to question if I could have been different or better. And then there's a question I ask at the end of my podcast every time, and I question it. Simple. What promise did God the Creator make to the world when they created you? And so I asked that question because I believe that there are certain things that we. We are called to do, and sometimes our gut knows it, but we don't want to do it. So we do what we want to do. And I think there's a beautiful space when you find that thing that you love doing, the world loves that you do and that you believe you're put here to do. It's a weird little, like, trifect of beauty. And what I have found is you won't find out what you're meant to do unless you chase the things that call to you. It's some of its passion sometimes, some of its curiosity, but I think it puts us on these roads where we're like. We're running down this pathway. And what I think that trifecta is your purpose. Right, Your purpose, we'll call it. But I don't think you have that because you run into it and you chase it. You know exactly what it is. I think it's like a pothole on the ground. You're walking like you're kind of doing your thing, and you're stumbling along and you're learning this thing. This is a new path here. Because I did football, I'm like, I'll be a football player until I'm done. Then I go, that's gone. I'm gonna do a gym. I'll be a gym owner. So I'm doing that, and I go, oh, oh, I'm gonna be consulted now. I'm gonna do consulting. Oh, I'm gonna speak now. I'm gonna coach. And I kept chasing these little weird paths and all of a sudden stumbled into this, like, oh, wow. I'm supposed to talk about identity. That was the pothole. I feel aligned. Like, I love talking about it. I feel like it connects so weirdly, deeply to my life, and people love that I talk about it. That's my purpose. But I stumbled upon it, and I might stumble upon one later on if I get out of this one. Right. I don't know. Who knows? But I think that leads me on this pathway of not feeling like I'm questioning or will question if I became the best person I could at my deathbed.

Yeah, that's so. Yeah. Because it's not like you when you were younger going, oh, I want to coach people on identity shift coaching. Right.

Never.

It is something that has evolved that. I like that pothole metaphor. So tell us about a success story you've seen in working with businesses through your identity shift coaching and maybe a few of the steps you took.

Yeah, there's. There's a couple of people that stick out and the summer, like, we'll call it financial, because people want to hear the financial stuff, and some are just life stuff. Right. One of the ones that I like that stands out financially and was life. The guy named Frank Benedetto, he owns a company called the Honey Badger Project. He lives in Florida now from New Jersey. He lives in some tropical oasis down in Florida. And when I spoke at an event and he reached out after the event, very skeptical of this stuff, and he kind of talked through back and forth, and eventually was like, I'm going to hop on. He was making like 3000 doll a month at the time. The guy was a wealth of knowledge, though. He knows a ton about private practice and physical therapy. Worked with some people in the ufc. He's doing some phenomenal things, but wasn't really getting the traction. And so he kind of put together the structure and applied it, and we put it through strategically in ways that felt aligned to him and his story. But also he. He knew the things to do, but he didn't identify as a person to do them. So we had to do this journey of like, well, why don't you feel this? Come to find he had a business he had sold for a million dollars, but it was so quickly successful that he felt like he didn't deserve it. Like, he. So he felt like he didn't want to feel the pain of having more success and that same emotion connected to it. So he was inadvertently blocking himself. Right. So I go, what person do you think accidentally makes a business and sells it for a million dollars? First of all, Like, I don't. I don't know. That's not an accident you make, right? So there's part of you that did that. It was a phenomenal part. Let's figure out what that is and lean into that, right? So we kind of went on this path when we built some things, and he kind of massaged it over time. And I got a text message. We were done working together, I think, a few months prior. I get a text message out of the blue, and he goes, hey, I want to let you know that, you know, 18 months ago, we started working. I was at like, 3,000amonth. I was pulling from savings. He says, I just looked from that point to now, my business has brought in $1,056,000. And it was this really cool feeling of, like, man, I helped this guy change his entire life and other people's lives. He coaches other people in the same industry. It was nuts. And it was. If you tie it back, it's. Again, he didn't not have the insights. He just had some things in the identity that were kind of blocked up and clogged. And then some strategy things. You put those in place, spins up. There's another guy. His name was Melvin McDowell, and Melvin was working like, a real small closet doing therapy in his church. And he was heavyweight. He might have been over £300. I want to say he was a guy that essentially was just like. He didn't have the sense of confidence. He came to a live event I had put on called Renew University, and he went through some of the things we talked about, and then fast forward. I reached out to him. I didn't really track too much, but he goes, hey, when I went home, I went into this tear, started building some things. I go, did you? He goes, yeah. He says, first off, I went from that closet to my first practice. He says, at this point, I'm now about to open my third practice. I've retired my wife. I have control of my life, and I've lost £150.

Oh, my gosh.

Right? A whole like. And he looks incredible now. Like, he's in better shape than me, probably some days.

What a guy.

Dude's a beast. And it's awesome because now he has the ability to do his thing at such a higher level and feel like he deserves it, because I think that's really what it boils down to. It's not enough to just achieve something, but to feel that you deserve. It's a whole different monster. It's why I think people that win the Lottery. When you win the lottery, you don't feel comfortable with those zeros. It doesn't identify with you. So you find ways to get that bank account back to what feels comfortable for your identity. They lose the money when you've earned that, you ain't let nobody take it from you, you know, like, so that's, that's a day by day, brick by brick process. But we're all living days, we're all laying some kind of bricks. You might as well do it properly. If you do it properly, it'll change your life forever.

Yeah, those are beautiful stories. And you're obviously out there creating amazing transformation. And that's so true about the lottery. And it really ties back to the identity, right, because you may win this money, but you don't have the identity that you're somebody that can attract or hold on to that kind of wealth. And it's so interesting, isn't it? Because a lot of them end up losing more than they even had before. So, yeah, they need you when they win it, they need to call you. That's what. And so let's see, how do people find you, Anthony, if they want to reach out to you and learn more about what you do?

Yeah, best way to go is go to Instagram. It's. It's a place where I've lived in the whole, like, go to this link in there. But I realized, like, if you really, really like me, you'll go there and find the links. They're all right there. You can't miss them. But I prefer people go and find out who I am, follow my social and go. Like, I like this guy and I want him to help me and then take the next step. That is not hard to miss.

Yeah. Well, this has been so great, Anthony, as we wrap up, is there anything else that you want to share with our listeners today that we haven't covered?

You know, there's, it's not gonna be a deep share, but there's this concept I kind of alluded to a couple times that I'm excited to unpack. That's like the next keynote, the next book, the next everything. And it's this concept of what you thought about, you said you liked. Is that dark work. I've done too much work in the dark for anyone to take what's in mind of the light. And I think that if I look to all my life, the identity shifting moments, I had these dark work experiences. Like, I'm sure you could look back to a moment in time where you tucked away from the world, and you went in and you emerged to the light with this thing that the world loved or fell in love with. And I think that those moments are more sacred than people realize and more necessary now more than ever, with so much happening in the light all day that I'm having fun unpacking that conversation, because I think if done proper, dark work's a solution to almost. We'll call most of the problems that people run into nowadays.

Yeah, it's such important work, and everybody has that, that they're caring. And everything that you have been through and what you've been able to do, the turnaround that you've made is truly remarkable and so incredibly inspiring. So thank you so much, Anthony, for being here on the Scale It Method.

Very welcome. I appreciate you having me on. Thank you.

Yeah, absolutely. So thank you all for listening to another episode of the Scale It Method and a quick reminder about our free masterclass. If you want to build a scalable company that can thrive without you and you're ready to get the support you need to do it, sign up for my masterclass today. And during our time together, I will teach you the five critical phases you must know in order to scale to eight figures and beyond. So all you need to do is head over to scalemasterclass.com podcast to secure your seat, and I will see you there. All right, until next time on the Scale It Method. Bye, everybody.