If You Can’t Explain It Simply, You Don’t Know Your Subject 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 with John Clenden. Hello, John.

Hey, Larry. Long time, buddy. I miss you.

Yes, sir, I miss you too. See you in a couple of months.

We've had a lot of good times together. I know that.

You know, John is a member of the Ski hall of Fame. And John is a legend and in many ways in the ski industry, he's been. He won, he started off in 73 through 75. He won the world freestyle ballet competitions, which was the biggest thing in the industry, the ski industry at that time. Four first place titles. He went on from 65 on. He appeared, produced and or starred in 20 plus promotional films for the ski industry. And he's got three professional ski instructor certifications. He's been teaching skiing since 1977. And what he did, what makes John unique is he came up, he did so much skiing, he was so good at it. It came to him how to simplify something as complex and weird as skiing, where you're got, you know, your first get on the skis, you're trying to balance and stand up and then gravity takes over and you're going out of control. And he got a, he figured out that they, that this was kind of goes in a cycle. You know, the, you know, skiing is turns and from one turn to another. And he brought it down to four words, drift, center, touch and tip. And we don't, we won't get into that today because he's got stuff on his website. But ultimately you need to let yourself go skiing and go skiing with John Clinton out in Aspen.

So, John, now, Larry, how am I supposed to add to that? I mean, I think you've just said it all. We can just end this right there. I mean, that's fine. You did a good job. You know, you reminded me of my whole life and I just appreciate that. I'm ready to sign up. Where do I sign up?

John. There's articles about John in all the ski magazines. Everybody in the ski world knows John and it's because, not just because he's such a likable, fun guy, but because he is a pros pro. And he's been doing it on and on. And he built a business, he Founded the Ski Method and the Ski Doctors. And so he's still teaching. He's still teaching not only beginners, elite things. And I'll tell you, John, the thing about when I started skiing after, you know, in my mid-30s, I said, I'm going to start taking time off and go skiing because I like to ski. You know, my plan, John, I don't know if I told you this, was. I went for years and we went. You know, the goal was to ski as many different places as possible. And I go and always get lessons. And I thought that was the way to go. But then I got to Aspen and got into one of your camps, and that was it for me. I said, from now on, I'm skiing in Aspen. You know, I used to read all the magazines in the first of the year and find out the best boots and the best skis and the best this, you know, because you always want the best equipment and tried to look for the best instruction. But when I found John, it was like, okay, forget the magazines. I'm just going to go to Aspen, ski in Aspen with John every year, and I'm going to get the boots, he tells me, the poles, he tells me, the skis, he tells me. And then I'm going to ski in his camps. And so it just, you know.

You know, Larry, I just want to tell you, the audience this. The last time I saw you ski, I was actually riding the lift on Chair, Chair 3, they call it in Aspen. And I was going up the lift, and there you were skiing down below the lift, and I spotted you. I mean, you could have been a mile away, and I could tell it was you. And I just want to tell everybody. I don't have. If everybody was as good a client as you, you know, my world would look beautiful because you were skiing so gracefully down underneath the lift. And again, I could spot it a mile away. Because as you know, one of the things we. You know, one of the byproducts of the method, I call it the method now, the Clendenin method, is that you ski pretty.

Yeah.

It'S just so. It was so gratifying to watch you that. That day. And I didn't run into you later. I was looking for you, but I think. I don't know, I was busy and I hadn't seen you in a while. But it was, again, just to be able to spot you from a mile away. And I wanted to add just a couple things that you kind of stirred up in me as you're talking. And by the way. Thank you so much. It's such a nice introduction. I hope you have a. I hope we have a copy of that that I can use, because that was as good an introduction as I had. But. And thank you for that. But a couple of motivating things where this quote by Einstein, he said, if you can't explain it simply, then you don't know your subject. And that quote was. It's like something that I, you know, I have in front of me a lot. And the other quote I use a lot is, if it's not what you say that's important, it's what's heard, meaning you just, you know, to be a good coach, especially coach, you have to have a sense of what the other person is hearing. So if they don't understand it, it's not their fault, it's your fault. You know, you have to make sure that you stick with it until it's clear. And that's one of the motivating factors in the method, I think, because, you know, we have to put the client or the student, their perception is what's important, you know, and what they get is what's important. And you just have to find a way to get it to them. And if it's not simple, you haven't thought it through. And that's why I came up with the drift center, touch, tip. That's really all it is. I have never met anybody yet who didn't remember those four words, who didn't get better just by knowing those four words and giving it some thought and embodying those words. They got better. And it made my job a lot simpler. Now, one of the things I thought maybe you might be interested in. I don't even know if I shared this with you, is where the method came from.

No, let's go ahead. Well, we've talked about where you were out on the mountain in Tahoe skiing, you know, lap after lap after lap. Just slow, very slow figure.

Exactly. That's exactly it. And that was when I. When I saw this very famous racer who was winning the pro racing circuit at the time. He kind of befriended a few of us freestylers because we were doing an exhibition at this pro race. And he skied down to us the morning of the event, the morning of the race, and he skied down to where we were building our jumps. And I watched him ski down, and it was like he. He was barely moving. I mean, he was just making these pristine turns at zero miles an hour, right? I mean, one or two miles an hour. Just barely turned, and the turns were just perfectly rounded and shaped and everything. And when he got up to us, I said, what are you doing, Amar? What are you doing? And he said, ah, I didn't sleep with my skis last night. I have to get to know them in the morning. And that's what I do. That's what I do on race day. I don't see how fast I can skis ski. I see how slow I can ski. And the memory of that is what I took to Tahoe with me when I got invited to come and compete in this Legends of Freestyle event. I said, God, if I'm going to go compete, I want to really get back into it. And I started skiing by doing that, by seeing how slow I can ski. And you discover at those slow speeds, you can't get away with anything. Speed can disguise stuff, as you well know. And I thought about every, you know, the way the body moves and the way the balance moves across the feet when you make a perfect turn. And that's where I came up. And then I moved to Aspen, and I said, if I'm going to live here, I should probably get a niche. And so that's when I started the ski doctors in the Clendenin method. And I based it on what I learned by seeing how slow I could ski, not how fast I could ski. Which is interesting, you know, I mean, again, so much of the activity out there in the ski world is people just buzzing down and seeing how fast they can go. But, yeah, and I think, as you well know, you don't get better by doing the same thing over and over again. Right. You know, and that's what happens when most people are up there skiing. They just keep doing the same thing over and over again. And especially if you're off piste or off the groomed terrain, I mean, it wears you out pretty quick. And, you know, it's a shame, but a lot of people, you know, quit skiing because they've tried to ski bumps and tried to ski moguls and stuff and ski off piste, and it. It hurts them. When you ski bad, it actually hurts. It can hurt your knees and it hurts your back.

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, has 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 whiteellumwinning.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.

You know, it is a step. Anytime you're learning something new, it is a step by step because things flow from one thing into another into another, and you got to do the repetitions to learn them. But if you don't understand what you're doing and have a correct understanding.

You'Re.

Just going to be drilling in, spending time practicing your mistakes.

You know, that's exactly right. And I think that's why, by the way, just to share a couple things with you, we've been through this hard pandemic period that was tough on everybody, but my programs were sold out last year.

Congratulations. Congratulations.

Thank you, sir. It's like the snowball is finally rolling on its own, you know, and it's. It's literally my two camps coming up in December are oversold now.

Wow.

Already? I've never sold out this early. I've never had people I'm talking about, money's in the bank. They're. They're starting to. It's really starting to snowball, and it's been a long time coming. And, you know, you were around, you know, especially near in the beginning when we were working so hard, you know, and, and cultivating our clientele and everything, and. But the word of mouth has taken off. It's, you know, I'm not doing any national television shows or. This is about the biggest thing I've done in a long time. But it's just really neat to see that something you put your heart and soul into is taken off, you know, it's finally taken off.

Yeah. And how many years have you been in Aspen?

Well, you hit it on the nose. You hit the date. Well, I came in 96, really is when I came and moved here, 1996. And I was just, you know, I had the indoor simulator over at the Aspen Club and Spa, and I was just, you know, cultivating one customer at a time. I might have had only probably that first year. I might only had six or seven customers, but I hung on. And then that's when I decided that I needed to get it, you know, I should get a niche for myself. I needed to get some sort of program that was. That might be unique, that I could use to, because I knew the technique worked right. And so I kind of guised everything I'm doing as teaching moguls because I was A former mogul champion.

Right.

Freestyle champion. And I thought, you know, that would be a sort of a marriage I could promote.

It was awfully attractive. Like, I think one of the phrases early on was, and I guess it was 97 when I started going out.

There.

Was that you could ski the other 70% of the mountain. You didn't have to just stay in the groomed.

Well, and frankly, those groomed highways are getting pretty crowded. And that's where 90% of your accidents happen. You know, a lot of it is just people running into each other, but a lot of it is that's because there's just so many people skiing so fast on those groomed highways. It's actually safer when you get to that other 70% of the mountain. Right. There really is a lower. Much lower percentage of problems and injuries and stuff up there in the all mountain areas.

Yeah. And that's why. That's another one of about 50 reasons why it's worth it to learn, to take the time to learn it, especially if you can learn from John and go through a program, because a program allows you to. To learn a lot in a short period of time. You've got the book, you do the video. You know, they get the video of themselves up there. They have conversations with the instructors, you know, at the breaks and things like that. But really, in a short, compact period of time, you can really make breakthroughs.

I know.

That's what happened to me.

Yeah, I really believe in that. You know, and you and I are both golfers and. And, you know, that, you know, golf is really a challenging thing to get better at. But in skiing, I honestly believe if people can adapt just a few things, and we do use the groomed terrain to teach these, you know, we find a place where we can work quietly on groomed terrain because it's just learning a few new sensations that give you the breakthrough. And I really believe that someone should get significantly better after their first lesson. And they do, because we break down some instinctive habits that people have, these survival habits that don't promote the idea of releasing to gravity. And, you know, that's a big thing. I talk about learning how to let go with gravity rather than do a bracing, defensive move to gravity. And most of the basic moves in skiing are all protective and defensive. Even when people get good enough to not be afraid anymore, they still have those. That movement pattern. And frankly, it does not work. On the other 70% of the mountain, that technique does not work. They can look good and groomed, but they look like Frogs in the bumps, you know.

Yeah. One turn. Yeah. And so, John, real quick, the website, they can go to get information. What's the quickest way they can go and get information? And you've got so much great material on there, too. A little short and then short things. Videos. They can get a taste, a real Claire taste. And plus also they can get instruction on your website.

Well, if anybody can put these two words together, they can get on my website. Ski method. One word S K I M E T H O d dot com Ski method dot com gets you to my site, and that's the easiest, simplest way. You know, it's also listed with my last name. I can't even spell my last name. Clendennonmethod.com you can write all that in if you want, but ski method.com gets you there.

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.