You Winning Life Podcast w/Jason Wasser, LMFT Ep. 8-Coach Michael Burt: Be a Monster Producer

So today's guest is a former NCAA championship basketball coach, serial entrepreneur, author of 9+ books including The Person of Interest, Inside the Mind of a Munster, This Ain't No Practice Life, and Everybody Needs a Coach in Life. He is a super coach to entrepreneurs and their businesses, their families, creator of the Munster Producer Program. He's inspired thousands of people around the world, including at Grant Cardone's 10X Conference in Las Vegas as a speaker. He's a leading authority in the entrepreneur and coaching circles and one of my personal mentors. Coach Michael Burt, welcome to the You Winning Life podcast.

Thank you, man. What a great concept. Uh, you know, I love you as a person and appreciate your, uh, everything you're doing. So from the moment we met, I've been a big fan of yours.

Thank you, means so much to me. So first of all, let's start with this idea. What is a Munster Producer and how did that come about? And what are you doing with that?

Several years ago, I had an employee that we were riding down the road one day, and this was probably 4 to 5 years into my business, coaching business. And I said, what do you think we do around here? And he said, are you sure you want to know the answer to that question? I said, absolutely. He said, I think you are a freaking monster. He's like, I've never worked with someone who has the drive, ambition, intensity that you do. And what I think we really do are produce other monsters. And he said, I found a definition in the dictionary that a monster producer is a legendary creature that combines multiple skills to dominate a market. And I knew at that moment. That needs to be the name of our coaching program.

That's amazing. And now I know one of the things you're, you're tacking into is working with children, and that's one of the newest projects.

Yeah, Monster Kids here, because I was a high school basketball coach for a decade, and we taught the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and the principles of Good to Great, 5 Dysfunctions of Teams. What we really were doing was inner engineering those kids to thrive in a modern and competitive world. So I've gone back to my early days. I've created content, online programming, live events, camps that we're rolling out for children so I could teach kids the same things I'm teaching the adults, but also what I taught those kids for a decade as a championship basketball coach.

Yeah. So as you know, as a, as a husband, as a dad, as someone who's very involved in your community, one of the biggest challenges that we face as professionals, right, me as a therapist, is how do we get the families and the children on that path so they can reach their potential, so they can find out who they truly are. What's some of the things that you've used to help bypass all those distractions, to help get people focused, especially children, when it comes to everything else that's going on out there?

I believe in a term called intentional congruence. This is where all parts of your life feed all parts of your life. There is no separation, there's no compartmentalization. So when I go to a speaking engagement, I take my daughter with me, my 6-year-old daughter, my wife with me, and we include everyone in the family and their talents in what we're doing. To me, that's a big piece of the equation. There's not this compartmentalization where the wife is doing something over here and the husband's doing something over here. Then they come together for a period of time. To me, I believe inclusion include everybody's talents in the family, in the business, and in everything we're doing. And let's live an integrated life. Let me speak at Caesars Palace last week and then let's go to the swimming pool and then let's go to California and let's include. To me, that's worked very well for how our family operates.

So when I see families that are going through something like that, right, where their mindset is not intentionally aligned, where they're core values may not be intentionally aligned. What are some of the things that you can, we can do to help suggest that they can move forward in that place?

When you think about core values, I talk about core values differently than some people do. I believe a core value is something you believe at your core. Like, I believe in coming in early and staying late. I believe in over-delivering. I believe that We dress up, we show up, we grow up, and we deliver. We don't whine, we don't complain, we don't make excuses. I'm trying to teach these core values to my 6-year-old daughter. How does she pick up after herself when she doesn't feel like it? How does she make her bed every morning? How does she show up on time? How does she be respectful? How does she fight through her emotions sometimes versus become incredibly emotional? So when I talk about core values, It's what do we believe at our core? What do we believe about education? What do we believe about faith and spirituality? What do we believe about improvement? And then how do we instill those core values in our, in our kids?

Amazing. And if you see them kind of struggling with that journey, right? Like, like you just said about the idea of if she's getting over-emotional versus actually handling it like a kid should, how do you navigate that? How do you determine when that right time is to like, just push them a little bit more versus kind of hanging back and let them experience what they need to experience.

I think that's a fine line. Our daughter gets— is an only child, so she gets incredibly emotional when she doesn't get what she wants. She's used to getting what she wants. She is a lot of my personality, very dominant, very hard driving, very pushing, which is hard for my wife. Who is very compliant, very steady, very follow the rules. So we have to work through when we need to let her experience that and just calm down, and when we, there needs to be a consequence for her behavior, which is something we're learning every day.

Yeah, it's definitely a journey in process, right?

Yes.

Yeah, so let's go back just a few years to coaching as a basketball coach, right? You started off really, really local. I remember one of the things that I read about you and heard from you is that you started off in one of, I believe it was a high school nearby or middle school.

I started off at an elementary school.

Elementary school.

Coaching 5th to 8th grade boys for 2 years. I was fortunate to become recruited by a major high school in Tennessee to be an assistant coach at 19 years old. And I was lucky enough to become the head coach at 20, I think 22 years old. I did— most of my coaching was local, but the high school was one of the top high schools in the country and was certainly one of the top schools in Tennessee. So that's kind of where my coaching career began.

And then as you evolved to taking that next step to go to a college level, an NCAA competitive level, what was that, that step like to go from this one of the top schools in the state to going to a major NCAA program and working I think when you're looking at your life, there's natural progressions.

If you're performing at a local level and you've shown a demonstrated capacity to perform, you get new opportunity. And that opportunity is an advancement. Now in the world, we have levels and designations and things like that. But in my world now, as an entrepreneur, the world determines my value. There, there, no matter how many certifications or things we get, it's, it's the marketplace truly determines your value, which is something we should be teaching people.

So how do we tap more into that, right? I know that there's people out there that think either getting another academic degree is going to be that, that right path that'll finally get them that recognition, whether it's from their family or from themselves or from the world. But how would you say that we can find those inner strengths, right? You knew that this platform was something that you wanted to commit to for the rest of your life. Right. And one of the things that I know you talk about is having that revelation.

Yes.

So what was that revelation like? How can our, how can our listeners know what actually is a revelation versus just distraction so they can really find, like, as our buddy Matt Manero talks about, being in the right vertical for them to be massive success in their life?

Yeah, that's a great question. When you think about revelation, the word revelation means sudden dramatic knowledge or understanding. It is some big aha. That's revelation. I had revelation at 6 years old when my little league baseball coach said, son, when you grow up, you're going to be a great coach. My high school coach called me professor. I had a local dentist in my city that took me under his wing who had a dramatic arts background. He taught me how to speak with a cadence and rhythm. When I was 15. Like I had these big revelations early. Most people do. When you study unique ability or revelations, many times it was being turned on to something by somebody. Bill Clinton, when he met John F. Kennedy and shook his hand, he knew, I want to become President of the United States. That is revelation. And most people, if you pay attention, I take notes on revelation now. Like you may say something during this interview, And on my iPad, boom, boom, boom, that's a note. And I'm like, oh, that's a big revelation right there. Because of that revelation, you should have courage, conviction, confidence. Because of that, you should take action. And you mentioned Matt Manero, our good friend. He talks about the platform. You know, once you find the platform, in my opinion, it is a long obedience in the same direction. Stay focused. Honing, refining, nurturing. That's how you master something.

So given today's society where people really give up too easy, they're looking to make that quick buck, right? Flip that thing on eBay. And what you're saying is so powerful and so profound because I'm finding over and over again, especially with clients, where they're trying multiple resources and then giving up before they get to the finish line. How can we retrain ourselves? How can we reorient ourselves outside of this instant gratification mindset and do that long road with the same rhythm, the same beating? Over the drum.

There is no wealth without work. There is no pleasure without conscience. There is no— when you start thinking about the best people in the world, they have mastered something typically with 10,000 hours of practice with correction, with a coach, deliberate practice. Those are the people who earn the most income. Those are the people who produce at the highest levels. Not cotton candy, quick fix, people that start and quit. It's long obedience in the same direction. Those are the people that produce. And there is no shortcut to mastery. The only thing that can shortcut mastery is who is coaching you. Can speed it up just a little bit, but there is no substitute for the doing it to become great at it.

Yeah. So let's talk a little bit about coaching because right now this is, right, as a therapist, therapist and coaching are very interchangeable, but people seem to have a breakdown between saying, "I need someone outside of myself to help me get to where I want to go. Why would I need that? What's the benefits to it?" Financial investments, time investments. Where do you come in? Where does your program come in? Where do we come in, right? Where we can shape and change and help them refocus. All of those things that they want to tackle, but what are some of the first steps that you would walk them through in order to know that this investment is one of the most worthwhile investments that they can take?

I was doing a podcast earlier with Mikey Taylor, who is a famous skateboarder, and he has almost 600,000 Instagram followers. And I asked him what his personal thoughts were about coaching, and he said something that no one has ever said to me. 42 years of living this way. He said, a good coach takes you to a place that you don't even know that you need to go to. I thought that was good. For you, a good therapist— see, here's the deal. I can't see the picture when I'm inside the frame. Left to my own devices, I contract and retreat to a place of comfort. I repeat the same cycles I had last week until somebody raises my awareness and breaks that cycle for me. So that I can get some new result. Or in Mikey's words, go to a place I didn't even know I needed to go to. That would be my argument for why a person needs a coach in their life. What I try to do is provide structures and momentum and confidence and energy for a person to go produce at a higher level. And many times they do if they do what we're teaching them to do.

So would you say that the fear factor that most people have is because they don't have these systems in place?

I think the fear factor that most people have is natural. It's just how people use fear is different. Big-time performers use fear as fuel. They're still scared. Small-time performers use fear to paralyze them. So we all experience fear. It's how we use it to manifest something bigger.

So it sounds very similar to one of the people that you've been collaborating with, Tim Grover's theories, right? The Cleaner and the Closer. So one of the big things that I know that you are a massive fan on is collaborating with other like-minded individuals.

Yes.

So how did you start getting past yourself?

Right.

You have this amazing thing. You have the Munster Producer Program, you have the Greatness Factory. But when did you know it was time to start collaborating with other like-minded individuals and how, has that process led you to greater goals and greater successes?

To me, we live in a world through strategic partnership, we can reach so many more people. When Tim Grover and I come together, we're stronger than we are individually. When Tim Storey and I come together, we're stronger than we are individually. When Matt Manero and I come together, we're stronger. Plus, in today's digital world, it exposes you to hundreds of thousands of new people. So Grover's people don't know me and my people didn't know Grover, vice versa. I was just out on the West Coast doing promotional events with Andy Dan Carter, who had one of the top 5 podcasts in the world, and Albert Preciado and Tim Storey, and was able to meet Sharon Lechter. She and I are going to do something together. She basically wrote Rich Dad Poor Dad. But here's the deal. There's so many people that we could be optimizing and relationships we could be tapping into and new connections. All the money, all the opportunity, all the everything you're looking for, it's all out there. It's just a matter of you connecting the dots and removing that fear, consideration, hesitation to ask, how can we partner with each other? What can we do together? How can we serve you? Like, like you need to remove the considerations you got, which are internal hesitations that prohibit you from taking an action.

So what about for some of those people that we can define as more of an introvert versus an extrovert, right? So I naturally, until I was in high school and I actually had a platform where I was on a board for my synagogue's youth group, that gave me a different identity than just being Jason, right? And then I became Jason the therapist and Jason the practitioner, whatever it may be. And I can use my identity to leverage some of my fear and some of my insecurities. What about the people that are just naturally introverts who are not You know, who keep stuck in that and they want a partner, they want to network, they want to leverage, they want to create something bigger, but just have that stuckness.

When you're low on confidence, you need to borrow some from somebody that's got some. Here's what I would tell you. In certain situations, I'm introverted. In certain situations, I'm extroverted. Intro, push in. Extro, push out. I still think introverted people have to work and get around someone. Like if you're introverted, shy, didn't like people, I had a person on my team. I think a good coach can help bring that out of you. I think I saw you in Miami at the 10X event. You were down there, right? In the box with us. Mm-hmm. We took a person on my team that was scared to death to talk to people, never been to a personal growth conference. She watched the conference. She met new people. She came home a new woman. She was introverted. All of a sudden, get her out at somewhere in Miami, she's extroverted. What's the name of that place we went to in Miami? The Clevelander. There's nothing in the world that a night at the Clevelander can't solve for you.

Amazing. Amazing. So then leveraging these resources, right? So I know people talk about budget all the time. They talk about affordability, they talk about, right, especially young entrepreneurs who are just getting started, college students, that emerging adult. Where can we guide them to know how important this is, right? That the dollar amount is no substitution for value, which I know is something that you talk about a lot.

We spend so much money on things that are liabilities. The number one thing you should be investing in is you. The better you are, the more money you're gonna earn, the more connections you're gonna have, the more opportunity you're gonna make. Listen, it's truth. Okay? So it's never an expense to invest in you. Listen, I've spent thousands, hundreds of thousands of dollars on coaching for me. I've spent $12,000 to $25,000 on a 1 to 2 day experience to learn something. So it goes back to when I was 25 years old. I borrowed $2,500 from my mother to go to a 7 Habits of Highly Effective People certification. I didn't have the money. I borrowed it. I found the money. Those 7 habits, Jason Wasser, changed my life. I've made millions of dollars as a result of knowing those 7 habits. So you tell me, I could have used the excuse, I don't have the money. But what I had was ambition. And drive and curiosity. If you got those things, you can find the money. Jim Rohn says it this way: sometimes you have to live out of your sacrifice before you live out of your surplus.

Love it. And, and some of those things that you've invested have now come back and bore— bear fruits, and they're sitting in front of you on the desk.

Yeah, the books I've written, the people I'm able to coach, the products we've created. All as a result of being turned on to personal development. All because of a belief that a good coach can change your life. All because of pursuing my own potential. That's, that's my testimony to other people.

So where would they start if they wanted to connect with you? If they wanted to start learning and mastering some of these things, what's the first thing that someone can do?

You know, a lot of people go to my YouTube channel. I put out hundreds of hours of content that gives them the ability to watch me, see if they resonate with my coaching style, see if they have an affinity with me. They can go to coachburt.com. They can follow me on Instagram @michaelburt. I do spell it E-A-L, M-I-C-H-E-A-L. Or they could go to my website and follow me there, pick up any of the books, come see me speak live. I'm a live person. I do enjoy the live experience, but I have online academies. Products is from everything from free to hundreds of thousands of dollars. So, so we want to help people produce at a higher level.

Well, I know that's one of the most beautiful things about your specific program in the community you've built is that it's really about the relationships. And, and I know that in this entrepreneurial world, a lot of people are just trying to sell you a product so they can make the money and then they move on to the next thing. Yeah, one of the things that has attracted me to your community and and to the people in that community is that there has been a longstanding relationship even before I even bought in too, right? We met briefly at 10X, and then I know we were interacting via social media. And it wasn't until last year that we actually really, really, this past year that we started to connect on a deeper level. The idea of relationships when it comes to entrepreneur dynamics, right? This is a big thing. Everybody and their mother is now an entrepreneur. Everybody is selling something. But can you talk a little bit more about this, like just the idea that you have and that you're creating of a community?

Well, to me, I really have a desire to help a person like you get to another level. It's not transactional with me. So I'm not trying to sell you something. I'm trying to solve a problem for you. Money changes hands when problems are solved. So what I'm trying to do, you know, someone like you, you want to speak, coach, train, lead, sell products at a high level, then I create Million Dollar Coaching Summit. I think that's the best fit for you. Now I may talk to 10 other people today and I may say, you need to be a monster producer. You need to go through this 1-day workshop with me. You know, it's kind of like you, when people come to you as a therapist, you're pivoting to what they need. Because I've got so many products, I can do that. For some people, I say you need to go to YouTube, start there, it's free. You need to, you need to follow me on Instagram, it's free. And then once you've seen enough, then we can help you. But I can't help you until you commit to something. And once you commit, I'm not gonna let you fail.

So the commitment is the execution of gathering and receiving all this wonderful data and then making a final decision.

Yes. And sometimes People vacillate because they don't believe in themselves. I've tried it and it won't work. What if I spend the money and it doesn't turn into money? These are really considerations they're having. So I got to show a person a relationship with me is not a game changer, it's a life changer. And I believe that.

Yeah. So the last question before we go is, is this concept I have of on one foot, and I know as someone who studies the Bible, you know this, right? Teach me. You know, on one foot. So if you had the most specific advice or insight that you can give someone, if you only had 2 minutes to spend with them and were never able to talk to them again, what would that be?

The best thing we can do is for you to find your voice in life at the intersection of talent, passion, conscience, and need in the world. Once we help you find that You're going to have confidence, energy, vitality, enthusiasm, vim and vigor the Bible talks about. You're going to have these things. Most people have not found their voice. So they're lost, confused, and they live in a state of randomness in motion with no purpose. In 2 minutes, I'd say we got to help you get on a path to finding this.

Awesome. And it's a lot easier than people think, right?

It's, it's been mystified. I like to demystify it. Like, it's not that complicated. I wrote a book on this called This Ain't No Practice Life. That book helps you find your voice. If you're serious about it, there are books, programs to help you find it. Most people are not serious about it. So they just go to occupations versus vocations.

Amazing, amazing. So for all the listeners out there, if you're interested in any of the specific programs that Coach Michael Burt has, please please make sure you check out the links on our podcast information page. You can visit him on his website, coachmichaelburt.com, coachburt.com. And on Instagram, they can follow you. Facebook, I know you put out motivations and little tidbits throughout the week. So there's a lot of good stuff that you're really giving out an abundance of free value.

That's right. Listen, I give, give, give. Every now and then I'll ask for something, but for the most part, I just give, man. Just keep on pumping that content out.

Awesome. Well, I want to thank you for giving to me and to our listeners and our viewers today. And I'm very much looking forward. I'm actually going to see you this week at our buddy Evan Stewart's event. And Evan was also on about 2 weeks ago. He was one of the first people I got. So looking forward to that dropping live. And, um, thank you so much for giving us all this incredible, incredible insight.

Thank you. Thank you, Doc. I appreciate you, man. You're a good man.

Thanks. We'll talk soon.

All right, bye-bye.