#33: Overcoming Adversity with Global Leader, Nelson Beltijar

It is possible to overcome adversity. Will it be easy? Absolutely not, but it is possible. I promised myself because I weathered the storm and came out victorious battling this illness, I said to myself that there is no way I am going to let that illness be in vain.

Hey, Coach, my name is Lindsey and I am here to help heart-centered women like you build the money-making coaching business of their dreams. I have been coaching since 2019 and this pod is about so so much more than building your business. It is about using your gifts to build a life and business you are 100% obsessed with. I went from working 50+ hours a week as a first grade teacher to building a sustainable business that replaced my job, salary, and gave me back 30+ hours a week of my time. Tune in to join the ride and learn from other Coaches and experts along the way. All right. Welcome on, everyone, to the Alive Coach podcast. Welcome to the Align Coach Podcast. Today's interview is already going to be so good. I can already tell. I have a guest here. His name is Nelson Baltazar. He's the owner of The Positive Drip. He is— his alias is Ice Cream Truck Driver. However, I'm just kidding. But I'm so excited to have you on today, Nelson. Welcome to the Align Coach Podcast.

Wow, Lindsay. Lindsay, thank you so much. It's great to be here. And you know what, a good morning, good afternoon, good evening to your viewers, and let's have a great time. It's, it's going to be exciting, and I can't wait. Let's have a great time.

Yeah, yeah, let's do it. I'm looking at the shirts that are in your background, and I think those are so awesome. So one says "Chase Your Best" and "You Matter," and those are awesome. I think that those are just great words of encouragement for me to be like looking at while we're having this interview. So that's great. Thank you for that.

I was ready for you.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So I would love for you, Nelson, just to take the mic and introduce yourself, kind of tell us a little bit about your journey, how it is that you got here, what it is that you do. I know that you're an empowerment Coach, that you really help people, you know, just help people. Honestly, we, I think that's our job as Coaches is to make the world a better place. So I would love for you to open up and share a little bit about you.

Oh, wow, Lindsay. Lindsay, thank you. Thank you for the mic. And to your audience, I just want to say that chances are there's nothing new that you're going to hear me say today. But maybe, just maybe, Lindsay and I will have a conversation that will tickle your ears. And I just want to say that, Lindsay, if I may, I just want to let you and your viewers know that I'm an imperfect soldier for Christ. And since you're going to let me stay a little bit longer, I just want the world to know that I'm a proud son of a loving, brave mom and dad who took a chance on themselves to chase a dream. And leave their home in the Philippines to come to Toronto, Canada for a better life for themselves and their unborn children, myself and my sister. And because they were brave enough to take a chance, I get to live out my goals and dreams, hang out with you for a few minutes and share time with your audience.

Oh, I love that. That's amazing. What a beautiful immigration journey. Yeah, yeah, that's awesome. Thank you for sharing that.

My pleasure. Thank you for asking.

Yeah, yeah, definitely. Okay, so tell us what the positive drip is. What does that mean?

Well, Can I just start with a story before I answer that question, Lindsey?

Please do.

Well, you know, there's this word in the English language called adversity. And adversity will attack you anytime it wants, regardless of your age, gender, status, religion. And I'll never forget this. I'm one of those guys that knows what it's like to climb that mountain of ambition and success, get to the top, enjoy the view for a while, only to come crashing down, crashing down, spiraling down, losing everything I'd ever worked for in the blink of an eye. You know, I built a thriving physical therapy practice And in 2006, we were on the second floor of my studio loft celebrating, my staff and I, because we had reached a monumental goal. You know, we were celebrating, clanging those champagne glasses, which were secretly filled with Diet Coke and ginger ale because we were at work. The reason we were celebrating is we reached a monumental goal. But 168 hours after that specific joyous moment in time, I was shockingly diagnosed with cancer.

Wow.

And I was forced to live in the hospital immediately for supervision, evaluation, treatment, and chemotherapy treatments. And to add salt to the wound, I became a prisoner of a wheelchair for the next 3 years and lost my ability to walk. And the reason why I share this story is to let you know where I'm coming from and what angle. We all know that adversity will attack you, but when adversity does attack, there's only 2 outcomes. Either you find a way to conquer it or you crumble beneath it. And for all the coaches out there, for all the human beings out there, for everyone out there. We all know adversity is coming. And the reason why I got into this is because I got sick, but I found a way to win. And between you and I, let's fast forward to September 2018. They told me I'm cancer-free and I just had to learn how to walk all over again. And as of January 3rd, 2021, I'm now walking on my feet. And the reason I share this story is to tell anybody out there that it's possible to overcome adversity. Will it be easy? Absolutely not, but it's possible. And I promised myself, because I weathered the storm and came out victorious battling this illness, I said to myself that there is no way I'm going to let that illness be in vain. And I'm going to share the rest of my days sharing my story of struggle, vulnerability, challenge, and victory. So that way, why? So people out there can hopefully, hopefully maybe use my story to climb out of whatever hole they're currently in. And by accident, I have evolved into a Coach and that is what I am doing with the rest of my days. It is funny how life unfolds, Lindsey, and here I am today to share time with you.

Oh, wow. Oh, my goodness. Thank you for sharing that with us. Yeah, that is, and we condense that story into like 3 minutes, but like we know from 2006, you said, was whenever you got your diagnosis?

2016.

Oh, 2016. I am sorry. So, that was a long 2 years. Yeah, 2016 to 2018. I can only imagine. What happened in between those 2 years. And I'm sure you didn't just wake up the next day after your diagnosis like, yep, it's gonna be fine, it's good, it's fine, right? Like, I'm— yeah, I can only imagine.

Yes, yes. And you know what, you're a Coach yourself, and I know you know the power of a positive attitude and a positive mindset. And the one thing that I could control, the only thing I could control, regardless of my Doctors telling me that I was terminal and I was going to die. I refused to listen to the story, and I convinced my brain that, you know, it's possible to win. And I would protect my attitude. I would read from positive mental attitude books, maybe 15 minutes, 20 minutes a day. Why? So I could read stories of people who have, who have dealt with struggle and adversity and found a way to win. And because if they could win, I believed I could also. And there were some days I just didn't want to read. And you know what? For those of you out there who hate opening a book, I get it. I totally get it. I would plug into an audio podcast or a video or a show that could uplift and esteem me, make me feel worthy of success. And 3, I would surround myself with people that truly wanted to see me win, and I would stay away from those who said no, don't, won't, can't. You can't, who do you think you are? You know, Lindsey, you know and I know we have friends and family members and coworkers and family members and friends that we hang out with and family members, hint, hint, family members. You know, I had—

Say it one more time.

And family members, you know, I had family members that were telling me, you know what, you're done. You better put your affairs in order. And I said, look, you know what? I love you, we're family, we're related. Yes, it's January 1st, 2018. But I'm trying to beat cancer. And you know what? Let's not see each other till maybe January 30th, 2050.

See you never.

See you never. You know, but I think they got the message. But you know what I'm saying? Surround yourself with people that want to see you win or at your ambition level or above. And lastly, we know adversity is coming, ladies and gentlemen, and it's up to us to accept it. It came, sure. But it's up to us. It's up to us to take responsibility of what we're going to do with our remaining days. We have the pen in our hand to write the story of our remaining days, and that's what we can control regardless of what's happened in the past. And I want you and your viewers to realize, if you never see me again, you're in charge of tomorrow. Write your story. Write your story.

That's so good. Thank you, Nelson. Thank you. I feel like I should give you like an applause for that. Yeah, you are so right. I think that we are, we are all in control of what happens from here on out, right? Like, I mean, of course, there are things that happen to us and for us, right? But it is in our control how we react to it and the decisions that we make, right? So, I like what you said, like we know that adversity is inevitable. Like we have all faced it, especially if we are Coaches and if we are people, we share our story, we speak from that, we speak we speak from our stories of adversity usually, right? And it's not like it's one and done. It's not like we wake up one day and it's gone. Oh, well, I'm done with that. Done with adversity. Free fall from here, right? Like, it's still— I mean, even as a business owner, like, building a business is like a whole new ballgame, right? As far as adversity and challenges and facing limiting beliefs and things. So I think it's important to remember that, like, we are in control of our decisions. And it's like, you just keep going. Yeah. And tune out the naysayers and See you in 2050.

Feel free to take my line, sister. Feel free to take it and run with it.

I love it. No, because it's like a sad truth though, that sometimes it's our family members that are like the hardest on us, you know, or, and I think it's because they feel so free to like express their opinion, I guess. I don't know. I don't know why that is.

What do you think? Yes, you're absolutely right because you know what, Lindsey, we all know what it's like to start from zero. We all know what it's like to not have a client. We all know what it's like to be in there and these people that are so close to us, they remember us when, you know, we might have been in diapers and we might have had booger and snot hanging from our nose, you know, and they're thinking there's no chance she's going to become Mr., Ms. Successful or he's going to become Mr. Successful. He's building a business. A coach, come on, get a job, right? We probably had these conversations. Exactly, right? But you know what, we are in charge of talking to people, hearing where they're at, listening where they want to get to, finding out what their past obstacles have been, and then sitting down with them. Hey, you know what, saying, you know what, this is where you are, this is the one you want to get to, this is what's gotten in the way in the past. You know what, if I could help you get there, would you be willing to sit down with me? What are they going to say? No.

Yeah, no thanks, I'm good.

No thanks, yeah, I'm good. And then, and then when you start to build your business like you have, all of a sudden these people that were chirping in your ear, they're not asking you, how's that business going, Lindsay? How's that business going? How's your online sales? What's happening? Because they know what's happening. And then all of a sudden the chirping stops. And then when you want to talk about how things are going, no one's asking you the question, how's that thing going? And whenever you do want to start talking about it, isn't it a coincidence how the subject suddenly starts to change?

Yeah, I think, and I think that you also get to a point to where you don't even hear the chirp anymore. The chirp is probably still going on, but we're not paying any attention to it, right?

Yes, yes, that's right. And you know, and we are in charge of picking up that phone, sending out that email, talking to somebody new, and we can give ourselves a raise tomorrow if we want, just by talking to people, reaching out to someone, and using our two ears to listen.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. You're so right. So what would you say has been like the biggest, I don't know, like what's been like your biggest aha moment since coming into business and really taking this this place, coming from this place of like, hey, like I overcame cancer, like I did this, like I can do this. What do you— let me reframe this question. What, why in the world did you want to turn it into a business? Like, how did you just say, okay, I'm going to be a Coach? Like, how did that start out for you?

Well, Lindsey, I may not look it, but I might be a little older than you. And I started this whole coaching thing in 1997 by accident.

Really?

You know, Yeah, you know, we all had jobs. We've all had jobs in our lives. I know you're a teacher and, you know, you had to pivot because of the pandemic. In my earlier career growing up, I was a sports and activity camp coordinator and a leadership program coordinator. And then I went out on my own. I developed my own sport and leisure camp and leadership program on my own. And then I transferred myself into a physical therapist. You know, you're dealing with patients. You're taking their history, you're taking their aims of treatment, you're helping them get to where they want to get to so they can go back to life. And then all of a sudden I evolved into a life and executive business coach for youth and young adults, entertainingly, hopefully entertainingly, sharing information that traditional school forgot to teach us, you know, information school forgot to teach us. And then on the flip side of that, I became a, a business coach for health, wellness, and life coaches. I help them fill their calendar with qualified appointments. Why? So they can generate professional income and then hopefully buy their life and gain their free time back serving their global brothers and sisters in a professional kind of way. And if you take all the titles out of the way, just throw them out the window, they don't even matter. Yeah, I'm just a coach. I honestly believe that the coaching profession was doing laps around the planet and eventually got tired and it needed a place to rest. And it landed on my shoulder. By default, they said, you know what, Nelson Baltazar, I am going to turn you into a Coach. I am tired of doing laps around the planet, and here I am today.

I love that. It just, it just came to you, right? Yeah, yeah, I love that, and like especially coming from the medical profession as a physical therapist especially, you are already coaching. Like you were already asking questions, probing questions, assessing, Giving plans, right? Giving treatment plans, yeah, and then sending the clients on their way to go and implement, right? Assessing their, their progress. Yeah, you were already doing what a Coach does. So, yeah, those are transferable.

That's the best word. Oh my gosh, Lindsay, that's the word, the million-dollar word. These skills were transferable, and as Coaches, where it's up to us to pull the greatness out of our Clients. Their unique greatness and show them how they can transfer that across the planet and make a living, hopefully doing it and fulfilling their vocation. And if they can do that, they're happy. And if we can help enough people get what they want out of life, I think we'll be okay.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I just had a conversation this morning with, with a private client actually, and we were talking about the place of business that she was in where she feels like she's relinquishing some of the control that she has over her business and over her clients. And it really ties into what you just said about, you know, we give our clients this and then we hope that they go and implement, right? And we give them the tools, but it's really on to them, right? And I think that that's a huge part of it. To know, yeah, to know that and to know that it's okay that we can't take responsibility for all of it, right? We give them the tools and we help them, but ultimately it's, it's their decision. It's their decision, right? It's their series of micro decisions that, that make that change in their life.

Yes, yes, I totally agree. You know, I had a grade 3 teacher, she told me, she goes, Nelson, the best teachers in the world are the ones who point you in the direction where to look, but they don't tell you what to see. Yeah. And it's been a while since I've been in grade 3, and I still remember that sentence. I haven't forgotten it.

Yeah, that's really good. Yeah, that's good. Teach a man to fish, right? He can eat for the rest of his life. Yeah, that saying, don't, don't just give him a fish. Yeah.

Yes.

Yeah, that's good. That's so good. So Nelson, you are in Toronto, right? How has— and this is just— and I'm just like, totally, I told you, these conversations are very like free-flowing here. So how has it been with like the lockdown and stuff there, like with mental health and just like staying sane and, you know, and just staying in this place of like, of just, I don't know, it has been hard for us. What do you think?

Absolutely, Lindsey. The world has turned upside down.

Yeah.

And people don't know whether to go right or go left or go up. Some people are even sinking in their conditions like you just mentioned. And we all know this. You know, we said that word adversity. It will strike any time it wants. But I'm a firm believer that if we can protect the information that goes into our brains, because whenever we look at something, we analyze the situation, and then we have thoughts on the situation. They could be positive or negative, and then the positive or negative feelings will determine our behavior. Then our behavior ends up reinforcing the way we think. So I've purposely turned off the TV. I don't read the newspaper. I try not to listen to what's going on, and people tease me. They go, man, How can you do that? You live under a rock. I said, you know what, guys, if anything important is happening, I'm sure you'll tell me because I know you're plugged into the TV. Until then, I'll keep my head buried in these books, audios, videos, and hanging out with people that can help me win. And to these people that are out there who are currently have a dark cloud hanging over their head, believe me, I know what that feels like. I know what it's like to feel lost, scared, alone, unsure. And all I did was I tried to protect my attitude, prevented anything catastrophic or negative to destroy my environment to win.

Yeah.

And that's the best thing I could say because you know and I know the TV is on 24/7 in the background even if you're not watching. And there's that constant drip, that constant negative drip bombarding your thoughts and subconscious. And change the channel. Change the channel. Listen to your favorite song, dance for a while, plug into your book, listen to your podcast to uplift and esteem them. And you know what? Let the chips fall where they may. And you know, everybody who is plugged in to all the negativity, they'll eventually tell you. Then it's up to you to either listen to it or just say, you know what, that's great, have a great life, see you 2050.

2050, there it is. We're gonna have a lot of people coming back to us in 2050. There are going to be a lot of knocks at the door then.

OK. All right. I can't wait.

I know, right? Oh, wow. Yeah, you're so right. I'm just going to live under this rock, this happy little rock I have over here. I'm Zen. I'm in my zone. Like, just, just holler if it gets real bad out there, right?

Yes.

That's good advice. That's golden advice. Yeah. And, you know, and I think also just to kind of add on to that, I think that sometimes we also get to a place to even the like the self-help and the self-development and the business development, like it's okay to also like take a step back from that sometimes, right? And to turn on the music and just dance, right? Or to, you know, turn it all off and take a quiet walk and to really be with yourself sometimes. I remember like during the pandemic especially, we were all at home and I'm like, yeah, like let me just dive into all these books I wanna read and all these things I wanna listen to and learn and these courses I wanted to take. And I remember just like a few months in, I was like, oh wow, like I just need like some quiet time too, you know, to just like process everything. And that's okay also, like that is, that's part of the integration of all those things that you're consuming. So just to add that in there.

Absolutely, yes. You know, if people visit my website, thepositivedrip.com, you'll see there are 3 words that I have written there, integrity, empathy, Resilience. And there's a fourth word that I stand on, and it's called play. You know, integrity is always doing the right thing, especially when no one's watching. Empathy is being able to try and see the world from somebody else's point of view so you can understand the person in front of you. Three, be resilient. You know, like we said, adversity is coming. Bounce back. You fall down 3 times, stand back up 4. Or just be willing to bend but not break. And once that's all done, find some time to go out and play and play and play and play. It could be shooting hoops with your nephew, it could be going for a walk, it could be quiet time, it could be meditating, it could be doing yoga, but you know, find some time to play because you know what? It's not always our head buried in the sand. Find some time to play and just enjoy time.

Yeah, yeah, I love that. That's awesome. Ah, so good. Play, yeah, that's good. Okay, cool. Nelson, well, this has been really, really awesome. I've loved this conversation. I know you You said thepositivedrip.com is where people can go to find your website. Are you on social media? Where do you hang out the most?

You can find me at my website, www.thepositivedrip.com. You can also find me on YouTube. My YouTube channel is The Positive Drip. And you know what, if you end up on any of those two platforms, it'll lead me— it'll lead you to anywhere else. But you know what, start there if you want to hang out with me. And you know what, let's have a good time. And if I do, if I do find a way to cross paths with you down the road, It'd be my pleasure to help you conquer your mountain of perceived can'ts and impossibilities.

Oh, I love it. Yes, thank you for coming on, Nelson. This has been great.

Wait, but before I go, Lindsey, I just want to say to you, I applaud you on what you're doing with your precious time out of your life because you could be doing a million other things, and I admire you for choosing to make a difference, and I want to thank you for letting me be on your podcast and being a part of your life's mission.

Yes, yes. Thank you. I appreciate that. Yeah, I think that we all have a choice, right? We have a choice of where we could be and we choose to serve and to try to leave a lasting imprint on the world and to do something greater than money or the things, you know, the 9 to 5 job, right? We all, we all want something a little bit greater. That's why we're here. So thank you for that. That means a lot to me. Awesome. All right, everyone. Well, we will see you in the next episode of the Aligned Coach Podcast. Y'all go hang out with Nelson over on YouTube. Say hello on his website. And we'll see y'all next time. Bye.