A Great Team Will Carry You When Life Throws You Major Challenges with Ski Legend, John Clendenin

Welcome to this episode of the Million Dollar Mastermind. I'm Larry Weddell, and before we get started, if you want to know exactly how to win again and again, go to Wydell on winning.com webinar now to watch something I've put together for you. Now let's get going into this episode.

Of Million Dollar Mastermind. I'm here having a ball, talking with my good buddy John Clendenin and member of the Skiing hall of Fame. There's not a lot of members in the Skiing hall of Fame, but he's in there and he's got his own. He's been skiing and teaching skiing since 77, would you say? Is that right?

Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

And you know, folks, when you teach it that long, you learn some stuff. And came up with his method in the late 90s, and he's been refining it, teaching it over and over to not just skiers, but to instructors. You know, instructors go to Johnny. You know, professionals go to Johnny. World cup skiers go to Johnny for refinement and conversation. You know, because everybody's like, you know, golfers talk golfing, and so they know when they talk to John, they're going to learn something. And so congratulations, John, on all of your success in skiing. And, you know, the thing is, John, you got people listening, and they're in their world and hopefully doing something they enjoy and something they have some passion about. But when you're in the glass, the glamour doesn't seem to be there on a daily basis, does it?

Well, I don't know. I get. I. You know, I still. I think my primary gratification in what I'm doing really does. I mean. I mean this. And from my heart of hearts, I get. I get so excited when I see someone get it, but because they've had a breakthrough and they realize it, and they can now go some places that they weren't able to go before, you know, one of the. Probably one of the nicest things I heard lately was this older gentleman. I'm an older guy, too, but he's older than I am. I think he was, like, 77 and 70. He came up to me, he said, john, damn, man. I'll tell you, this thing you're doing, you know, I mean, there's nothing else in my life I'm doing that I'm getting better at. This is it. And that. That really does inspire me, Larry, because I've been there, you know, I've. I've gone down mogul fields in competition where they had big Speakers on each side. We had helicopters up above us shooting. Shooting the event. We had 10,000 people on the. At the event, watching it, and they're all screaming and yelling. And when, you know, I'm going down having one of the best mogul runs of my life, I almost bit my tongue off during the event. And I'm just saying, you know, that kind of thrill and that kind of excitement isn't something that happens every day. You know, it's not something that's available for you to go experience. So. But it's almost like when someone pops off to this other level in their ability and they're. Skiing is so exciting for them. It reminds me of that day of mine, you know, that was, you know, with the helicopters and all the people and stuff, because they just are so excited, you know, this run used to just scare me to death, and now it's nothing. It feels easy to do. When I hear that, it just. It's very stimulating. That's what I could. That's where my gratification comes from these days.

Now, let me ask you this. Like all of us, when we're in a business a long time, we have the opportunities to get out, do something different. And I know you went through that a couple of years ago wondering, you know, should I keep on going? Should I kind of cash in my chips and move on and do something else? And you hung in there. You stayed with it, and you're now, you know, your camps are selling out, and the momentum, the success. But along the way, you broke your darn ankle in the. Slipping in the ice out there. And I've had, what, four or five surgeries.

Oh, boy. I tell you what, I think that, you know, to be honest with you, that, you know, I wasn't really a trampoline or a diver. I didn't have that in my background. In freestyle, there's three events. There's ballet skiing, and there's aerials, and there's moguls. Right? There's three events, and the big prize went to whoever did had the lowest points in all three events combined. That's where the car was. And I won more cars than anybody in those two years. But the thing was, in the aerials, in order for me to place high in the aerials, I had to either jump higher and go further than these guys that were doing the twists and the flips. Right.

Right.

To compete with them. So I out jumped several of the landings in my career. And I've literally been knocked out twice with perfect landings where I didn't even fall. I kept going even though I was unconscious. I would. No, it happened twice. I actually broke a jaw on my knee and came back up. And I'm standing there. And then they gave me a perfect landing score, right? And then I fall over because I'm unconscious. And because of that, I think I blew some cartilage in my right ankle, mainly.

Okay.

And it just devastated. And so that's been an issue for me. And, you know, I teach thumpless skiing. That's my word, right? And I really believe in that, that there's only two places you can thump when you're scan, and that's going into a bump or coming out of the bump. And if it happens in either place, you did not manage your speed. Right. You did not manage your speed correctly. So it's kind of ironic that here I am teaching about smoothness and ski snow contact all the time, and I've gotten pretty good at it. But this darn right ankle, you know, I had it. I had an operation scheduled, and they went in and they said, john, we got rid of some bone spurs and stuff, but, buddy, you got nothing there to grow. There's nothing there we can work with. And so then I had to go in and have a replacement. Yeah. So it's been a real interesting time period for me. And the thing is, my left foot, my left ankle still feels great. I hope that stays there. But I'm pretty sure it was my competitive career that kind of caught up to me, you know?

And how did you. What did you. How did you evaluate going through that and dealing with it and keep yourself moving forward because, you know, you kept the business going like gangbusters.

Well, luckily, it didn't come. The major effects of what. What's been going on in this. In this particular foot didn't. Didn't come to fruition until these last couple of years. But I could still ski. You know, I mean, I actually skied last year. You know, I can ski on one leg. You know, I can. I can do that without any problem. But the bad foot, you know, is still functional. I was still able to go into the bumps. You know, if you learn how to handle the bumps right, you absorb all the pressures and the prep, you know, the absorption move actually makes the turn easier when people really get it. It's easier to ski down the bumps than it is to ski down the groomed terrain, you know, when you really, really get it. So I was able to keep going. You know, psychologically, it was a. It's a tough issue. To deal with because I'm not able to, you know, to be as fluid as I. I can imagine. I've actually visualized it being more fluid than it is. It's. But I have a good team, you know, I mean, my team is. My team of coaches have really backed me up, and they embody the method really nice. You know, I. I pick coaches by how I see their skiing change. It's like when I see their skiing change, I know they're getting it and they're really adopting it, and it's meaningful. So all my coaches are skiing better than they've ever skied in their life, and they're carrying the business in a lot of ways. I don't know how else to explain it. Luckily, it kind of held off until I crossed that bridge of it being a challenge, whether it was going to work or not for me, I got across to the good side.

Hey, listen, there's a lot of information online, but there aren't a lot of people who have actually done something. In my case, I've actually built a successful business that's accrued over $5 billion.

In assets under management and has done.

Well even during trying times. Now, if you want to know exactly how I've done this, go to Whiteellawinning.com webinar Now, I've compressed a decade of learning into five short weeks. Just for those of you who want to give yourself an incredible advantage and are tired of waiting and watching others move up.

Yeah, and talk about that thing with the. The team, you know, the great team will carry you when, you know, life starts challenging. Yeah, yeah. Starts chopping you down, you know, talk about how that works. And there can be an education there for us, too, because you're forced to delegate things that maybe you wouldn't otherwise have been quite as likely to do. To think only I can do this, you know.

Well. Well, I've got. I've got, like 12 coaches now. I've got guy over, and I've got a guy in Sweden and another guy in Valdez, Air France. And I've got coaches in Beaver Creek now, and I've got.

Oh, you do?

Yeah. And I've got a coach back east now, and I've got six here in Aspen. And every one of them has. Brings a different quality to the program. You know, Susie Bugsy, for instance. This lady is so full of charm, and, I mean, she's like being around a golden retriever, you know, Everything she does makes you feel good, you know? Right. And her skiing, she's. I Would say she might be one of the, if not the best lady female skier in Aspen. She's right up there with them. And her skiing went up another level with the Method. And Mark Broderick, who I think, you know, he's so. He's so devoted to it now, so committed. I had him booked with clients every day of the year. Last year, between the camps and the clients, he was 100% booked. And, you know, I miss being out there, obviously, but seeing the. What the coaches are able to do with. With my program is very rewarding. You know, it's. And, hey, I make them. They not only. Mark has a great face. Mike says, damn it if these coaches don't get it. John, he says, it's all in. In the book. There's enough in that book to keep someone busy teaching every day for months. Yeah, they don't need to go outside the book to teach anything. Yeah, if I catch them doing that, believe me, I let them know. So the point is, they do have to stick to the Method, though.

Yeah, you got. You got. You know, it's not. But it's not a restrictive thing. It's basically principles. I mean, it's just. It's the core stuff. It's like gravity. You know, this is like A follows B. You know, brick falls off a building, it's going to hit the ground. There's no real question about it, you know, because you're. You're dealing with gravity. And so there's some. There are some absolutes, you know, your body, movement, everything. How you make it happen depends on your structure and what your ability.

You.

Know, athletic ability, how well you're trained. But there's no arguing what's going to happen when you get yourself. Throw yourself in with gravity.

Well, I think what's what. One of the things that's great about our program and the fact that the coaches are committed to it is that we have a definite progression, Larry. We do have a progression that we work in. And it's like the basic skills. We call them keys to the kingdom. And there's five of them. And you first learn each one of these five things on groomed terrain. If you can't do it in the groomed terrain, you sure aren't going to be able to do it up there on the steep stuff, you know, or challenging terrain. So we do do it. We do use the groomed terrain to. To introduce the keys to the Kingdom. And each one of these keys is like an onion, you know, it has its real basic element to it. But as you, as you learn more about it and get better at it, you learn the different progressive phases of it. And each one of the, one of these keys, I have a certification program now, by the way, that we put people through where on the three levels of certification, you know, you have the fundamental, the advanced and the ultimate levels of certification. And when someone graduates from the ultimate level, and I've got three people working on that now, four people that are working on that ultimate level of CM certification really could instruct anywhere in the world. When they get through it, they can, they could actually be instructors. Part of that certification is learning how to present the method and how to communicate it. And I'm talking about regular people like you and me who are going through the program and graduating. So it's kind of a self fulfilling thing that I'm working on because it's going to create its own coaches.

What would you say John, the more you understand the program, the more you can or your process, you can simplify it and make it duplicatable? Because the key thing about the skiing, and we're talking about the ski method. Ski method.com we're talking about learning how to ski. But what's unique about John is that he went in as a supremely, and we'll talk about that in a minute, but supremely, uniquely gifted and talented and developed skier. Like he said in the beginning when they started the ski competitions, I mean he's the guy who won all the cars. And you know, that's from three different phases of competition. And he, he, he was guy winning the car every week. And so when that wasn't duplicatable, you know, you couldn't go out there and say, look, here's how you jump that high or do the ballet down the hill or ski bumps. You can't like one lesson, but you took that and turned it into a duplicatable. You unraveled the onion and made it to where not only could you teach people, you could teach people to teach people. And that's where you know you got something. Don't you think?

I really feel that that's, you know, if I'm going to have a legacy, that's where it's going to come from. I've got right now not just my coaches that are my active coaches, but I've got three people who came as intermediate, intermediates. At the best, they were stuck on groomed terrain. They're frustrated. They keep, they, they take, they've been taking lessons and stuff and they hear different stuff from different people all the time, and they haven't been getting any better, and they hadn't been able to get off the groomed highway. I've got four of those people right now who probably ski as well as any as the top 10 instructors in this country.

Wow.

I mean, it. They took it real serious. Like you, Larry. I mean, you. Technically, the last time we skied together, you were skiing on a level, and you know it. You were skiing on a level that looked as good as anybody out there, including the instructors. Yeah. Thank you, John. You did. You became an incredible advocate and example of what I'm talking about. Now. I've had people who even have taken it a step further than maybe you did, you know, and hopefully we'll get together again and I'll be able to explain that, because part of the process is not just being able to do it, being able to communicate it. Right. We're able to relate it. And that's where the longevity of my program is going to come from.

I think if you enjoyed what you've heard and are dead serious about finding out for yourself exactly how this works.

In the real world.

I've taken the most valuable business lessons I've learned over 40 years and put them into something for you to watch. Go to whiteellawinning.com webinar now in order to move up as fast as possible, I'm Larry Wydell, and I run the Million Dollar Mastermind. Go, go, go.