Cody Cottle: A Motivational Speaker's Story Of Finding The Best Version Of Himself

Welcome to beyond you'd why Podcast, where we go beyond just talking about your why and actually help you discover and then live your why. You see, we believe that knowing your why, that driving force behind every decision you make and every action you take, is the essential first step to really knowing yourself. It allows you to move forward faster and have a bigger impact. If you're already a fan of the show, then you know that every week we talk about one of the nine whys and then we introduce you to somebody with that why so you can see how their why has played out in their life. This show will be more powerful for you if you've already discovered your why. If you still need to do that, head over to whyinstitute.com and discover your why today. It'll only take you about five minutes. Now let's meet today's guest. Welcome to beyond you'd why Podcast, where we go beyond just talking about your why and actually helping you discover and then live your why. So if you're a regular listener, you know that every week we talk about one of the nine whys and then we bring on somebody with that why so you can see how their why has played out in their life. And so today we are going to be talking about the why of better way. So if this is your why, then you are the ultimate innovator. You constantly seek better ways to do everything from the most mundane tasks of broken brushing your teeth to improving the rocket fuel that powers the space shuttle. You can't stop yourself. You take virtually anything and want to improve it, make it better and share your improvement with the world. You invent things and take what has already been invented and improve that too. You constantly ask yourself the question, what if we tried this differently? What if we did this another way? You contribute to the world with better processes, better systems and operate under the motto often pleased and never Satisfied. You are excellent at associating and taking from one industry or discipline and applying it to another, always with the aim of improving something. You generally operate with a high level of energy because after all, that too is a better way. So today I've got a great guest for you. His name is Cody Cottle. He is a founder of Motivation Everything. He is a renowned motivational speaker, personal branding expert and visionary leader recognized for his transformational work with purpose driven men and women around the world. A mentee of Gary Vanderchuck, Eric Thomas, Nicholas Baylor Lee, among others, Cody has gone on to help thousands of aspiring leaders turn their motivation into momentum with clarity, strategy and Accountability. His life mission is to help 1 million people develop the motivation and accountability they need to achieve their five year goals in 12 months and realize tangible success in all areas of their life. Cody lives in San Diego, California with his son, Siberian husky Zeus, and enjoys surfing, mountain biking, hiking and traveling in his free time. Cody, welcome to the podcast.

Gary.

So honored to be here with you.

This is going to be fun.

It is.

So tell everybody you just moved to San Diego, right?

I did. I've actually been here like, exactly two weeks.

And so where did you move from?

Yeah, Kalamazoo, Michigan.

And is that where you grew up?

It is.

I actually grew up in. We say Kalamazoo, but the small town is actually at Sego.

So give us the quick version of where you started, how you got there, how you got into coaching, how all of this has happened, because you've had a lot of success fast.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So I'll try to sum it up as much as I can for you and your audience. Gary. When I was born, I was born to a single mom with two kids, me and my sister Autumn. My father went to prison three months after I was born, and he's still in prison today. My father was a biker gang leader of a biker gang called the D.C. eagles. And he made some mistakes in his life. So growing up was really tough. I didn't have a dad, and we struggled because of it. Now, my mom, she's an amazing woman. I always say I have my mom's heart and she taught me compassion and empathy and how to love people. But she's not very good with money. And because of that, I remember coming home like three different times in my childhood to eviction notices on the door, living in a car a few times. So growing up, it was tough. And I had a lot of insecurity and a lot of lack of confidence because of that childhood growing up. And I'll never forget, Gary, this one time I was with my sister, my mom, at this little, like, rinkity dink gas station, right? And we're walking in the gas station and you know how they put, like, the candy bars right by the checkout? So my sister and I knew my mom, like, kind of shared things with me that maybe she shouldn't have. That made me grow up fast. I knew we were financially struggling and I knew we were struggling to pay rent and things like that. And my sister grabs a butterfly finger and she looks at my mom and she's like, mommy, can I have this right? And I'll never forget the hesitation on My mom's face, like just the guilt of really, I can't even afford this candy bar for my daughter. And my mom, I don't know how she did it. She's like, sure, Autumn, I guess. And she looks at me and she's like, Cody, do you want one too? I was like, no, mom, I know we can't afford it. So I say that to give some backstory of what my upbringing was actually like. Now at 13 years old, some things began to change for me. I was entrepreneurial, spirited. At a young age, I knew I needed money basically. So I started knocking on neighbors doors at 13, the soonest age, my mom would let me. And I was like, can I mow your yard? Can I weed your garden? Can I pick up sticks, anything to make a few bucks. And the neighbor next to me, his name was Wally. And Wally was like, yeah, sure, come over tomorrow after school and I'll find something for you to do. And I began working for Wally and a few other neighbors. Actually had like six clients that summer.

While I was 13.

And Wally began to do something that.

I had never experienced before.

He began to mentor me. And when I would get done working, he would take time and he would pour into me. And at the time I did not know that he was sowing seeds that would come to fruition later in my life. And that changed my life. Gary but what I didn't know is Wally had multiple myeloma, blood cancer and emphysema. When I met him and his doctors told him he had six months to live, Wally lived three more years. Me and Wally became so close. He became like a father that I never had. I even moved in with him, my next door neighbor. And he ended up passing away when I was 16. But he changed my life forever. And he taught me the value of mentorship, the value of being coached, the value of having someone pour wisdom into you and the transformation that it can create in your life. And because of that, I made it my life mission to be able to be that person for other people in the world. At 18 years old, I made my mind up. I want to be a motivational speaker. I want to make the world a better place. I want to, because I existed, this world is better. And that kind of goes along with the why of a better way, right? Like that's who I am, that's my identity. So I started young and, and obviously I had to make money. So I didn't go to college, I went into different sales careers. But while doing that, I joined Toastmasters I built an MLM business. I learned public speaking, how to build a team, how to talk to people. I began making videos. I could show you videos of me like nine years ago, like, just like, I look young now, you should have seen me then. And it's like with my phone I was like, you can live your dreams. And like just screaming at the top of my lungs. And it was cool. What's crazy is I never gave up. I never gave up on this journey and I just kept after it. Even when setback, after setback, after setback happened. My mom, my family doubted me. Be realistic, Cody. You just need to focus on your job. You have a good career. I broke six figures at 21. I was in real estate and I did some timeshare sales and they're like, you have it made. Quit trying to do this other thing. And I'm like, no, I don't feel fulfilled doing this. I need to do something that makes me feel fulfilled. So, yeah, moving forward, I founded a company called Motivation Everything. It began honestly as a free Facebook community. That's how it started before it was ever a business. And I said, I'm going to build this community of like minded, driven individuals that are coming together to inspire and motivate one another to become the best version of ourselves.

I didn't really know how to monetize it and I ended up getting into different masterminds and coaching myself while building this. And I made a commitment. I'm going to make a video every single day without missing one. Gary. I have not missed a video yet since I started doing that. And I was able to build a following and people began to know, like and trust me, began to see me as an authority figure in the space, began to respect me as a speaker and a motivator. And so I monetized it. I started a mastermind and I was really terrible when I first started and basically, hey guys, this is what I'm doing. If anybody wants to join me, like, yo, come on. And surprisingly, like a dozen people raised their hand and were like, dude, I feel like I owe you money already because of how much value you've given to my life. Wherever you're going, I'm going. And I built that. Then I started doing one on one coaching and it's just evolved and it's gotten faster and faster and faster with the momentum and, and I built a personal brand for myself. So we just launched Maverick Media. We're building personal brands for other coaches, consultants in the space, teaching them how to monetize content and actual paying, high ticket clients. But the ultimate dream is to make the world a better place by inspiring people to step into who God created them to be.

Oh, that is awesome. So you, from age 16 on, you knew this was the path you wanted to be on?

Absolutely.

So what was that? Take us to that moment where you made that decision. How did you make that decision? What happened for you to say, this is what I'm going to do?

That's a really good question. After Wally passed away, I was heartbroken. And I made some mistakes too. You know, in my story, I didn't mention today, shortly after that I started hanging out with the wrong people for a short amount of time. And I found myself in jail at 18 for some small stuff. But it was in that moment in that jail cell, if I'm being honest, there was 183 bricks on the wall. I counted them over and over and over again to keep me from going crazy. And I began thinking about the few years I had with Wally and his mentorship and what it meant to me. And that I had to make a choice in that Kairos moment to step into being the person that he was helping shape me into or to go down a path of just mediocre and average. So I think it was in that moment in that jail cell that it clicked for me that I made my mind up. I think it's more identity. I chose an identity that I wanted to have and I said, I'm not going to stop at anything until I become this person.

I love that. So let's talk about that for a minute. What was your identity before? And then how did you determine what your new identity was going to be? Because there's going to be people listening to this right now that are struggling with that exact same thing. They're trying to figure out, who am I? You know, I just kind of picked up all this stuff along the way and this is what I've become by default. And it's not working for me. Kind of like what you where you were at and then all of a sudden you said, wait a second, this isn't working. I've got to have a different identity. Take us through that if you can.

Yeah.

I think what's most important for the audience to understand is begin asking the right questions. Who are you? You know, one thing I don't think a lot of people realize is that like we were created with intention. Like Gary Sanchez. There will never be another you in the world. Cody Cottle. There will never be another Cody Cottle in The world. And that clicked for me one day in that moment, if I'm being honest, And I said, holy crap, like, there will never be another me. So the gifts, the talents, the passions, the dreams, the ideas that all of you have inside of your mind were gifted to you, were given to you for a reason, for a purpose. So begin asking the questions. Who am I? What am I good at? What do I love doing? What makes me come alive? What is your. Why? Go through that. Figure that out. Write it down on paper, and then figure out, how do I channel all of this? What is my vehicle? What is the pathway for me to put this into? And then this is the best part, Gary. How do I give it away to the world? And I truly think that's our purpose. I think that you might have heard this before. Discover your gifts, master your gifts, and give them away to the world.

I love that. So now you're sitting in that jail, and you're looking, counting the bricks, and you're saying, wait a second, this isn't it. What were the answers that you came up with for yourself to those questions?

Yeah, that's a really, really good question. And kind of taking me back, emotional to that moment, you know, I knew I was good at communication. I knew that I had a passion for public speaking. And it's interesting because I. In my childhood, I was really insecure because the growing up without the dad and some different things that happened. But I loved the art of communication. So I began saying, well, what am I good at? Well, I'm good at communication. I'm good at talking. I have a lot of energy. I've always had this natural ability to. Energy is contagious. Passion is contagious. One thing that anybody could say about me in my childhood is I was always the most passionate guy in the room. And what I realized is that's contagious. So I have this ability of bringing this energy to the table, and it rubs off on people. Okay, so I'm good at communication, and I have great energy. I'm super passionate, and I want to make the world a better place. Okay, that's pretty broad, right? Like, that's where we all start. Like, I want to help people. I want to make the world a better place. So then I had to niche that down, and I started asking questions like, well, what other people in the world do I admire that are doing things that I could see similar to me? And, you know, I followed Eric Thomas. He's from Detroit. I'm from Kalamazoo, Michigan. Before he was Big. When his thank God it's Monday first came out, I followed him before he blew up. I watched him go from nobody to one of the top motivational speakers in the world. Then I met Gary Vaynerchuk and I was just so amazed and inspired by him and what he was doing. And then Tony Robbins and Darren Hardy and all these big people in this space. And honestly, that first seminar I ever went to and seeing a motivational speaker on stage, I knew then Gary, I just knew. I said, that's me. I need to be on that stage and I need to figure out how to get there.

Oh, I love that. That's, you know, that's. Everybody has that dream. Suddenly their dream comes to them and a lot of people just let it slip away. Because going from the audience to the stage is a big step, right? Going from 18 year old kid that had some challenges to, hey, now I got to go and inspire people when I'm sitting here in jail. Those are big steps that a lot of people aren't willing to take. How were you willing to take that?

Yeah, another great question. I think if you want something bad enough, you'll find a way to make it happen. And when the pain of staying where you're at hurts more, pain of change, then we change, then we actually invoke change in our life. And for me, when I got out of that jail cell and I went home, my mom sat me down and looked me in my eyes and she said, into your father and it's breaking my heart. And that was that final nudge that needed to know that I needed to make a big change in my life, that I was created for more. So I think I made my mind up then and there that this is where I'm going, this is who I'm going to be. Nothing is going to stop from getting there. I think you see a common with high achievers in the world when we actually make our mind up, determine it and we own and take ownership of. This is what I do with my life. See this common theme of no matter what is thrown at us, we find a way to make it. And for me, that was what I needed to find that way.

So Cody, what allowed you to go from the audience to the stage? Because many people say that they want to do that, but then they don't do it right, their motivation goes away. What motivated you to make the jump from being in a jail cell to being the leader up on stage?

Powerful question. Well, you know, like I said, I made my mind up that that's what I was gonna do. Now the question is it's, you know, doing something is not actually hard. Figuring out how to do it's the hard part. So for me, it was just getting intentional and, you know, the path is always in the math and figuring out what I needed to do to actually get me on stage in front of people. The quickest avenue for me when I began was network marketing. I was in a company. I built a business.

Rather large, actually. I won't name drop the company, but I built a residual income of about like 60, 70 grand a year in MLM, which is pretty hard to do. That opened doors for me. The reason I was actually in it was the public speaking, it was the conventions and the things that they did. And that opened a door for me to get on stage in front of 2,000 people, which was the best day of my entire life. So I think for somebody that wants to speak on stage, get intentional and figure out the avenue that's going to get you there. So that was my start. That got me in front of people, that got me on stage, that got me practicing. Then you need to join, you know, some type of. You need to get better at what you do. You need to master your craft. The fastest route for me, I never went to college was joining Toastmasters. I learned so much through Toastmasters, let alone the networking I did and the connections I made through there. So that opened a lot of doors as well. But now things have changed over the last decade from where I started to where we are now. It's actually easier to do now than ever because we have social media, because we have the Internet. So if somebody out there wanted to speak on stage or follow a similar passion, to me, Gary, I would say that it starts with the content that they create online and building an audience and influence and getting people to know like and trust them and serving and giving value and in and through that. If you stay consistent, doors will begin to open up and you will get opportunities to speak on stage because you're bringing value to the world through the messages that you're giving.

So you said that you did a video a day. You started your mat, your website or your Facebook group, and then you started just doing a video every single day. So how do you go from zero Facebook in your people in your Facebook group to making it bigger and bigger? What did you do?

Yeah, that's a great question. Well, consistency is the secret, if I'm being honest. So the video every day really drew people to the group. I do. What's called a 30 sec motivation check. So if you want to crack the code on video content, two minute or less video, every single day, consistently now, 99% of you will not make a video every single day. And that's why the 1% that does has a competitive edge on you every single time. And then I think the other part of this is people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. So when you really care and you're passionate and you're bringing messages that are giving value to people, it draws people to you. So my encouragement is to figure out the messages you want to give and over deliver on that and the community will grow. Just stay consistent, trust the process, and through the time it will happen.

So you started with nobody there, you're sitting, putting a video up, and then how did people find out about you? Did they just start sharing it or what happened?

Yeah, so it started obviously before I had the group. I had my personal timeline and I was posting content there and building a following through that. And then I just kind of announced the world.

I came out and said, hey guys.

This is what I'm doing. I'm creating this community. This is what it's all about.

I would like to invite you guys.

To join the community.

If you like the content I've been.

Making for the last several years, you're gonna love what's inside of this community and I'm gonna over deliver and over serve everybody that joins. It's absolutely free. It's just a place that we can come together, get a break on your timeline from all the negativity, all of the politics, actually get some wisdom you can go apply to step into who you were created to be.

Oh, I love that. And so just every single day now, how do you, how the heck do you come up with content every single day? Because I think it sounds great. It sounds like it'd be a lot of fun, at least at first. And then how do you keep up the content and how do you not get tired of it?

Everybody asks me that, so that's a great question. At the end of the day, I think I live by better done than perfect. So don't overthink it. You always have something you can talk about. Even when you think you don't, you do.

Like, for example, I have a Siberian husky.

We go on walks every day. I do a prayer walk in the morning. And this morning we were walking out to the trash can, right, to take the garbage out, and I noticed trash on the side of the driveway. And I looked at this trash and I was like, man, should I pick it up or should I leave it? And immediately then if I had to ask that question, I knew the answer. Because doing what's right is always right and integrity is doing that when nobody's looking.

So like what I can do is.

I'd even walking the trash to the trash can. I can create a story and a narrative that creates a message for the audience. So that's kind of, don't overthink it, be creative. And then I'm gonna give everybody my hack too. So I'm always reading books, always meeting with high level guys like Gary and other people in the world that say very, very wise, intelligent things. And I have notes in my phone and I'm constantly plugging in video ideas based on the conversations I have, the books I read, different content I consume. So I'm never in lack of ideas. If I'm not being creative today, I can go to my phone and find something I've noted before.

What has doing a video a day done for you personally in your own growth?

Mmm, that's good. At the end of the day, I think I make the videos for me first and foremost. So I think the being to express what's on my mind and what I'm feeling and thinking in real time and getting to bring value to others has almost been holistic for me. I don't know how to explain it. I think for me it's helped me on my journey. And then if I'm being completely transparent, I'm big on, you know, if I say something, doing it myself. So there's this level of self accountability when you create a motivational message for others that you then have to take extreme ownership and apply it to your own life and your own identity.

That's really interesting when you think about that. You have trained your brain to look for positive things, look for life lessons, look for ways to grow, look for ways to share. And that has to have ratcheted up the speed with which you've been able to achieve all these things that you've already been able to do because of the way you've trained your brain. You know, the reticular activating system.

Yeah, it's crazy what we can do when we set our mind to it. It's like the compound effect.

I started at a young age and became obsessed if I'm being honest with personal development. And then furthermore, how to apply it in my own life and then even one step further, how do I educate and inspire others to Want to do the same thing. I think for me, Gary, it was the fascination of stepping into the best version of me. I constantly go back to that and I realize how much potential we have. I even feel right now I have only begin to scratch the surface of who I can be.

I love that. And you know, that is a total better way thing. So you are always in search of a better way and when you find it, you catalog it, you use it, you associate it in different other businesses or people's lives so that you can have a bigger impact, so that you can share all these better ways and you have taken it to a level that most people aren't willing to do and it's accelerated things for you. So I'd be curious to see when you coach people, if you suggest to them to make a video a day, how much faster they would progress. What do you think?

Oh, I do it with clients, especially on the personal branding.

A lot of the people in the.

Space that want to be a coach or a public speaker or anything like that, or a consultant, and they want to build their own brand and give value to the world. I tell them they have to do that. Like if you. The fastest way to get there is consistency, actually two graphic design posts a day to their brand and one video every day consistently. And I can tell you within even 30 days of doing that, I challenge your audience. Make a video every day for the next 30 days. Two minutes or less doesn't have to be crazy.

Just do it and post it on Facebook, on all the social medias or where did you find the biggest?

Post it across all of them.

And I will say I recommend use.

TikTok to make it. TikTok's algorithm is phenomenal right now. It's super easy to edit, to overlay music and to make yourself look good and then just share it on all the other platforms.

So you can use TikTok to create the video?

Yeah, absolutely. It's super fast. I make my videos in five minutes.

Oh, I love that. Should give a course on just that. Because, you know, a lot of people I'm sure that are listening to this are thinking, I got to shoot a fricking video every day. I got to get lighting, I got to get sound, I got to, got to get all this stuff and somebody's going to edit it and oh my gosh, how am I ever going to do this? But that's not the type of video that you're doing, right?

No.

And the thing is, now I have.

I have filmmakers that work with Me.

And other guys and we pump great content.

But you brought up a valid point. And I actually have a video that's going to come out soon on this. But the reasons people don't make video, I don't have the right equipment. I don't know what to talk about. I don't like the way I look or what my voice sounds like.

Well, the equipment part, that's a limiting.

Belief in an excuse. When I wanted to go down this journey, I had a mentor that I was out to lunch with and I.

Was like, oh, I want this camera, it's $1700 and I want the perfect microphone and I want the studio lighting. All of these excuses why I wasn't actually making the content I wanted to make. And he like looked at me in his eyes and he said, are you gonna quit making excuses and just do it? He said, do you have a phone? I said, yeah. He said, does it have a camera?

Yeah.

Can it record?

Yeah.

Can you post it online? Hey, yeah. So what's stopping you? Pull your phone out and start talking. And I did. So I actually love. I have guys that will follow me with cameras now, but I love the super authentic, genuine selfie style video.

So what is next for you, Cody? Where are you headed? Who are you looking to work with? People that are listening to this? Which, who would you like to reach out to you?

Yeah.

Well, ultimately I'm heading to be the number one motivational speaker in the world. So I'm always looking for opportunities to share my story and I'm willing to just do it anywhere that I can get the opportunity to help inspire other people to step into their purpose, live an intentional life and be the best version of themselves outside of that. From a business standpoint, our personal branding business is doing incredible things for coaches and consultants and online business owners in the space that want to actually turn organic content and a high ticket paying clients. So always looking for introductions to talk to people in that space as well.

Awesome. Well, Cody, thank you so much for being here today.

I've enjoyed our conversations. I know we've talked a couple of times. Where can people go to connect with you? What is the way that you want them to connect with you?

Yeah, absolutely. Well, first and foremost, I invite you guys to join the motivation everything community. It's on Facebook. Just search motivation everything. It'll pop up, you'll see it, you'll know it and then also you can follow me. Cody Cottle. C o D Y C o T T L E on Facebook and then IG and TikTok. I'm Iamcodycottle. I would love to have you guys there. I'm constantly, like we said today, I put a video out every day. I pump a ton of content and my hope is it just inspires even one of you out there to step into the best version of you and find your way.

Awesome. I love it. Cody, thank you so much for being here. I look forward to following you as you progress to the number one motivational speaker in the world. That's going to be awesome.

Let's go. Gary, thank you so much for having.

Me on for sure. It's time for our new segment which is Guess the why. Right? So we pick famous people and we try to guess their why. And so this famous person so many of you are familiar with, her name is Kim Kardashian. I would love to know what you think her why is.

She'S right now in the process of getting divorced. She's had lots of craziness in her life that she's had to figure out. I'm going to guess that her why is the why of make sense. To make sense of the complex and challenging, she's had to face lots of different challenges from the way she grew up to how she grew up to who she's been hanging out with to who she's married to all the problems that they've had. And so I think she's her why is to make sense of the complex and challenging. She's a great problem solver. She's somebody who makes decisions fast and moves fast. So I'm going to say that her why is make sense. So if any of you out there know her, have her take the why discovery so we can figure it out for sure. Or put in the comment box what you think her why is. So thank you for listening. If you have not yet discovered your why, you can do so@whyinstitute.com you can use the code PODCAST50 to get it for half price. 50% off. If you love the beyond you'd why podcast, please don't forget to subscribe below and leave us a review and a rating on whatever platform you are using. To listen to our podcast. Go out and have a great week. Thank you so much for listening and I will hear. I will see you next week.

I really hope you enjoyed today's episode and that through today's guest you heard how important it is to know your why and how impactful it can be in your life and the lives of those around you. Be sure to head over to whyinstitute.com and discover your why today. Remember, the more you know about yourself, the more you'll know about others. I'm Dr. Gary Sanchez, and I'll see you on the next episode.