Cole Tenney On Leaving The Military To Help Veterans Make Millions | SSI#13

What's going on, guys? Welcome back to another student spotlight interview in the Client Ascension program. My name is Andre. I'm your host, and today I'm here with Cole Tenney. What's up, man? Welcome to the show.

What's up, man? I appreciate it.

Yeah, of course. I've been really looking forward to this all week. I know we've talked a lot through Slack, but this is really my first opportunity to talk to you live and dig into your story and how. How you've been having so much success recently. And so for the audience and also for myself, tell us a little bit about yourself and what you're currently working on.

Yeah, man. So I got out of the military in 2019, launched our coaching program, which we still run, Milton Millions, basically helping veterans successfully transition out of the military. And we always were, you know, working with advertising, marketing type stuff. So it kind of just made sense. It was a smooth transition to kind of do an agency full time. So we started doing that probably, I think full time like six months ago. And then we were having a little bit of success. And I just kept seeing, you know, Daniel stuff pop up. And I think I've watched some, like, YouTube videos and everything. And between just like the value and the offer, I was like, man, I feel like this is really something we need to do. Just kind of pour fuel on the fire. So that's kind of how I got here.

That's super interesting. And one of the unique backgrounds for you specifically, out of anyone I've interviewed, at least in the client Ascension program, is you have a military background. Right. And I follow guys like Jocko Willink and some other guys in business that have military experience and they always talk about how so much of those principles apply and help them in the day to day with their businesses. And so do you feel the same way? Like, how is the military and your experience there's. Translate it over to what you do in business?

Yeah, 100%, man. I mean, I think just like going through the daily military grind definitely set. Set me up really well because there's like, you know, there's days where you don't want to get on sales calls. There's days where you don't want to send, you know, emails or whatever. It is like, I think just that consistency and that discipline is probably the biggest, you know, takeaway that really set me up. And there's probably a lot of things also that I learned in the military that I don't even, you know, I don't even notice. Right. Because they've just been so like, ingrained in my mind where they're just kind of like second nature now. But yeah, no, definitely the discipline and just like understanding the power of like, consistency. I think that's like the probably the biggest thing for me.

Yeah. And I've. I feel like in business everything is probably not as hard as what you experience in the military. Right. Like, sometimes people complain about like, calls and complaints from clients, but that can't be that you've seen. And so I bet it also built like a really tough mindset on, you know, what you're able to put up with, which definitely helps.

Yeah, absolutely.

I want to talk more about client ascension. Not specifically about the program, but just how you heard about it and what was like the decision making process for you. And I know you have another business partner who's actually your brother, which we'll talk about more as well. Like, what was the process of like, yeah, we need to join this program? Like, what'd that all look like?

Yeah, no, I really just kept seeing stuff pop up on like Twitter, YouTube, you know what I mean? I'm always just trying to learn and I felt like Daniel is putting out just like so much value. Obviously I found, I found out about you guys through that too, which is really cool. I'm like, man, these guys are, you know, some, some killers, man. They're always putting out good value. So I really appreciated that. And I think between that and like I said, the offer, it was just kind of like, seemed like a no brainer. So I talked to my brother about it and, you know, we're just like, I think we should make a move on it. I think it's kind of something that we've always done for the past two or three years, probably since I've gotten out, like anything that we want to do, we like find people who are killing it doing that and either, you know, reach out to them or, you know, pay to be around them, pay to be mentored by them, you know, whether it's business or like, my brother's been in like fitness programs and stuff like that. And I mean, every time it just like speeds up the whole process, you know what I mean? And you learn so many things that you wouldn't just by doing it on your own, you know what I mean? So I think that's been like a huge thing that we've just learned. So at this point it's pretty much like, you know, anything we want to do, we. That's the first thing we're trying to do is like find people in the space that are like crushing it and get around them as quick as possible because, you know, it's really just paid dividends for us.

That's so cool to hear from your perspective because a lot of people always debate whether you should focus on putting out content or just running ads and sending emails. And I always say it's really a mix of both because if you're blasting emails and running ads, but you don't have any value or any built up reputation with a personal brand, it's going to be really hard to convince people to want to join your program. And it sounds like you, Daniel, and were really convinced to join just through the value that he was putting out to his audience behind. Not even like behind the scenes in client ascension, just out to the timeline on Twitter or wherever he's posting. And so I think like, if people are listening, like, take that and apply it to what you're doing by putting out value. Don't just try to sell and don't just try to market, like actually provide value first. Lead with value. One of the questions I want to ask you as well is like working with your brother, like, when did you guys decide to partner up in business? And then like, what is the split role and responsibilities look like? What do you guys. Do you have different focuses in the business? Are you better at something else? Like, what does that dynamic look like?

Yeah, so I mean, when I started the coaching business when I got out, it was really like I was kind of leading the way and he was probably like, you know, anything that I kind of need from him, I would just ask of him. But I mean, I was in Virginia, he was in California. So you know, time difference, communication, stuff like that. It wasn't super clear. So that's why, that's a big reason why I moved to California was just to like really like partner up and like, hey, this is what we want to do. And he's making a decision to get out of the military as well. So, you know, we need to build something together that's like sustainable for both of us. Getting out, you know, really set him up for success when he's getting out. But really he's taken kind of the lead with the coaching business, like, and really just trying to learn, you know what I mean, trying to learn from client ascension and everything that we have going on. So kind of getting him up to speed with everything. He does a lot of like the design work too, with any stuff that we do. We actually just released like a 52 page ebook kind of lead magnet for our coaching business. And he basically designed that whole thing. So right now, like a lot of creative stuff he definitely takes the lead on. And then he's like getting super familiar with like click funnels and building out funnels and systems like that as well. So typically my role is just like sales, marketing. Like I'm focusing really hard on like the personal branding side as well. So yeah, I think that's kind of how it splits up. Like he's been, he's been kind of taking a lead on more systems and back end stuff and, you know, I'm out on sales calls and trying to, you know, push our message out, if that makes sense 100%.

It's funny, man, because I've talked to a few people on this series and just in life in general and with my own experience in business, there's always a split responsibility between like sales and marketing and then like operations and fulfillment. And it's two completely different types of thought processes, meaning two different types of people or types of people. And so I just think it's cool because I hear every time I hear that it just further validates, like, yeah, like if you're out there and you're having, if you have a business, you really need someone to focus on sales and marketing. And then you need someone to focus on like operations and fulfillment. And operations could also be related to sales and marketing, like building systems that kind of contain it all and track it properly or building out things on click funnels. And so it's cool to hear that you guys are able to work that way. And then I think a lot of the success that you guys are having also is attributed to the actual business model. Right. Like you are helping, you mentioned veterans, right. Or people in the military to go on and actually succeed with business after their military career. And that's something that you personally have done. Right. And so you can speak to it. And when these military people from the military and veterans come to you and like inquire about the program, they see that you actually did it. And so it gives you validation in social proof, right? In itself, I like to kind of refer to this as being your own best case study. So maybe talk about how picking a niche that you're super familiar with and have experienced on your own has helped either facilitate growth or just make these conversations easier to have or more enjoyable even.

Yeah, no, absolutely. I think just putting out what I'm doing every day, you know what I mean? Putting out the, hey, this is what I'm doing the Coaching business is mainly circled around like, veteran benefits and kind of how to like, maximize those. I do kind of help people just like, hey, this is what I've had experience with in business and sales and whatnot as well. But it's really centered around the benefits. And I can speak to that like a ton because I went through it and I, you know, relatively had like, a lot of success with it. And I've been able to turn my benefits into like, a really good source of income and just really opened the doors for me a lot. And essentially all I do with, with, you know, the personal brand is just put out what I'm doing every day, you know, like, hey, this is how I'm using this. Or whether it's my education benefits or, you know, maybe like the, the VA loan to buy real estate, stuff like that. Just again, building that, like, brand and that presence and kind of like, hey, I've done it. So I think that's something we've always like, tried to hang our hat on is like, we don't try to push anything unless we've, like, personally done it. You know what I mean? So. And I think people resonate with that a lot. You know, I know whenever I can definitely sense when people are like, putting out value versus, like, trying to just sell or like, gatekeep information, kind of like how we were talking about with Daniel. So that's why I feel like for me, my strategy for the last few years has just been like, put everything out there. You know what I mean? Everything that I'm doing, just like, post it either. It's, you know, if I feel like it's irrelevant, I just, I still just try to put it out there and it's really surprising what you'll put out and like, what gets a major response versus, like, what you think would get a huge response sometimes, like, doesn't. Nobody really cares. And you put something out that you're like, it's kind of irrelevant. And then like, all of a sudden I'm getting like a bunch of DMS about it and it's like, hey, man, can you teach me how to do this? So, yeah, man. I think just being transparent and just trying to push out as much value as possible. It's kind of been our strategy and it's worked pretty well.

I love that strategy and I love what you said about just putting out content and not really knowing how it's going to perform. A lot of times, like you said, you'll find yourself in a scenario where you put out a post that you think is going to crush and it completely flops. And then you put out a post that you don't really think much about and it blows up. And so I think the overall takeaway from that is just put out more stuff. Because even if the post you put out flops, like that's not a permanent thing. It's just that one post. And you could post a hundred times a day or a hundred times a month, like there's always the next post. And so you really have nothing to lose. Like put stuff out there, see what resonates. And once you see what resonates, ask yourself why and try to create or recreate that experience. And that's kind of like what content posting is all about. So you've, you've crushed it on that avenue. I guess what I'm interested in learning more about for you, it's like when you join a program like Client Ascension, was there a problem that you had or a bottleneck or a roadblock that you guys were dealing with in your business, like that also facilitated you joining a program? Or was it more just like, I know I need to be around these guys and I just want to learn everything to have a T shirt. Was there like a big problem or bottleneck?

Not necessarily, man. I mean like things were going pretty smooth, but we were just like exactly what you said. Like we know and understand the power of like networking and being around, you know, super smart guys. We like to, we like to be the dumbest guys in the room. You know what I mean? I feel like that's paid a huge dividend, so. And it's definitely been like that in Client Ascension with, with all the systems and email stuff. It's all pretty like fairly new to me. So. It's been awesome, man. I mean, I just, it's a learning experience as well as, you know, the networking. I've connected with like five or six guys in the, in the Slack channel already. So, you know, I think that's, it's awesome just being able to. Even if I have a buddy that's like, hey, you know, anybody knows somebody that can do tick tock content or short form content? I'm like, yeah, hold on, I'll have like five guys over to you in like two minutes. You know, it's like I, I really like that. I love the network, man. I think that's amazing.

So yeah, because like you said, you could use it to extend value to other people in your own network and it's just a ripple effect and everyone is getting value at the end of the day, that's actually a super interesting topic because I feel like with these coaching programs, there's all these different benefits to it, right? Like, there's the coaching calls, there's the community, there's the actual content. I think the one people struggle with the most is the community. And I relate to this a lot because I feel like when I was growing up, I was a little more introverted, and people almost had to reach out to me to ask if I needed help. Rather than me being proactive about asking for help or even, like, connecting. Like, I'd wait for someone to connect with me rather than connecting with them. And I think that's like, if you do that, you're going to miss out on so many opportunities by being in a community like Client Ascension. So maybe like, advice for students in Client Ascension right now that don't feel they're getting the value from the community. Like, what are some simple things that they can do to start to get that value?

Yeah, man. I think just even like Daniel said, just, like, exert shit out, man. I think that's like, probably the best advice for new people. And I've even kind of taken taking that personally as well, because I was the same way growing up, man. I was, like, super introverted. I didn't really, you know, go out of my way to talk people. I was kind of just like, you know, I don't know, not. I didn't feel, like, super approachable. I didn't want to approach people. So that's been a big, like, thing since being in business. And I've learned, like, through, like, just. I think social media has been a big help for me. Just putting stuff out there has helped me kind of break that barrier down. Just exerting things out, man. I think that's like, the biggest thing. Like, you just have to put it out there and just, like, forget about it, you know? I mean, don't be worried about what someone's gonna say or what someone's gonna think, because realistically, like, nobody. Nobody actually cares. You know what I mean? Like, someone might look at it, oh, that's stupid. Or look at this guy for, like, two seconds, and then it's like they're moving on, you know? So you're. You have nothing. You have nothing to lose by, like, putting stuff out. You know what I mean? Like, you have everything to gain and nothing to lose. So it's kind of like that's been the big. That's been a break, big breakthrough for me for sure. And within these Communities. I think you're doing yourself a disservice if you don't do that in these communities. Because I think it is, like, if you're gonna pay to be in communities like this and network like this, I mean, I think you're just missing out a ton. If you're not connecting with people like the systems and, you know, the offer, you know, the guarantee, that's great. But I really think that a lot of the value is in the network. Like you said, even if I can just make a connection, that's like, that's me providing value to someone that I otherwise wouldn't have been. Even though it's not like I might not directly make money off of it, but it's like it's building relationship, being like, oh, yeah, that's the guy that connect me to this guy. It's just like, the power of networking is huge. So, yeah.

And I was just listening to a podcast with Or Mosey and Andy Frisella, and they talked a lot about, like, building and compounding goodwill and just being of service and providing value to other people. And like you said, it's not gonna result in money right away or maybe ever, but it always comes back. Right. And I feel like. I don't know, I just feel like having this conversation with you, Cole, is very obvious. Like, you have a big heart, and that's kind of what your leading principle is in business. And I think that's why you do so well. And I just feel like a lot of people are maybe a little more closed off and try to go, you know, more of the solo, the solopreneur route and not want to network and make friends with other people, which really can limit success. And again, I think we both can agree we've been in that spot in our lives and know that the grass is greener on the other side. So if you are in a coaching program or if you're inclined, Ascension, even, like, challenge yourself to reach out to three new people today. And don't try to think too hard about it. Right. You just reach out and say, what's up? And even compliment them on their website or their offer something that they put out in the community or ask them a question. Like, there's all these really simple ways you can kind of spark a conversation. So really nice.

Yeah.

One of my final questions for you is, like, you've obviously had your success in business by mentioning some of the things you mentioned, like joining coaching programs, putting goodwill out into the world, just learning about how other people are having success. Like these are all principles that have helped you to have success in business. If there were someone and you could actually speak to this pretty well, I'm assuming, because your business also helps people start businesses. And so like if someone is out there and they're wondering if they should start an agency business or they just started an agency business, what's maybe a couple gems of advice that you give to them to help them to have success even quicker?

Yeah, absolutely. I think understanding that it's going to be, you know, a long process, like definitely you have to have consistency, you have to be disciplined. I think I even made a post about it the other day, like, do something for like three months straight, minimum. And like, I think you'll get results. You know, that's, that's how it was with our agency when we started. It was like three months in and we had zero clients. And then we got our first one and it was like four more like right after that. So I really just think back to that, like the compounding effort and just consistency, man. Like that's like the biggest thing. I think it's, you know, you could build something like make cash quick or, you know, get rich quick or you could build something to get rich for sure. You know what I mean? If you go. Yeah. I think if you go into things with that mindset, like, if this is a long term game, then I think you're gonna have way more success, really, regardless of what it is. If you're looking for something and like, we gotta get to 10k a month right now. Like, I just, I don't know, it's not, I don't think it's sustainable. So that's probably my biggest advice. That's, that's our biggest mindset shift probably in the past, I think year. Yeah. And I really think it's changed because we were very like, we gotta, we gotta do this quick. We gotta make, you know, make this like, make this money. And like, we just put ourselves in bad positions and now that we've shifted to, you know, hey, what are things? Like we're only going to do things that are sustainable for, you know, five, ten years plus, like something that's going to be like long term that we can, you know, stick with. And I think that's made a huge change and taken honestly, like a lot of like stress off of my brother and I with everything we do because we're not worried about, you know, oh, we didn't make 10k this month. It's like, you know, it's more about Just like fall in love with the process, you know what I mean? And being consistent for a long time. And I feel like you, I feel like it's. Garrett. The. The key to like guaranteed success is just like, you know, consistency.

So I love it, man. You're speaking my language here. I. The way I say it is inputs over outputs. Like, you know what you need to do to get the $10,000 a month result, but you don't know exactly when that's actually going to happen. But so like it's just focused on the inputs. Get excited about the inputs. And what I mean by that is, you know, $10,000 a month is an output of showing up every single day and taking three sales calls or sending 10 cold DMs or sending 10 cold emails. Do that every single day. Eventually you'll reach that output that you desire. It's just a matter of when. And a lot of people, like you said, lack the patience. And I feel like in my entrepreneurial journey as well, earlier on, I made a lot of short term thinking decisions that might have gotten me the result quicker, but it wasn't sustainable. I lost it soon after or I wasn't able to keep it going, or I wasn't able to keep it growing. And so, yeah, I think if you could have that patience, not get too distracted with everyone else that might seem to be growing a lot faster than you are and just keep playing that inner game with yourself, you're gonna have a lot of success. So you shared a lot of wisdom on this. I really appreciate it. The last question I have for you is just where can the listeners find you, follow you and learn more about what you're working on?

Yeah, man. Basically just Cole Tenney on my main platform is probably Instagram. Just got Twitter fired up, been ripping tweets. So I think it's actually Ennicole on Twitter, Oletenney on Instagram. So yeah, that's probably the main things. Tenneymedia.net and mill2millions.com that's our businesses.

Awesome, man. Yeah, I'll link it all in the YouTube description and just want to say keep crushing, man. It's really cool to learn more about your story on this call and I think the audience will get a lot of value just from all the different pieces of advice you have to share today. So thank you.

Absolutely. I appreciate it. Andre.

Sam.