Grow Your Business Really Big With Coaching

It puts life in perspective. And so, you know, for me, it was, it was all about, okay, I need to be fulfilled in everything that I do and whether. And I'm not going to stay in a career if I'm not fulfilled. And I'm going to do what makes me happy every single day. I'm not saying that my life is perfect. It's pretty great. I'm not. I mean, I have an amazing wife, I have two phenomenal kids, great friends, great family, and. But it forces you to kind of work on yourself from the inside out when something like that happens. And more than going through that, when I was 30 years old with testicular cancer, you have really a five year window before you're in full remission. But I was good. After five years, you may be a.

Business owner, you may be stuck yet. You want to grow your business big. And we mean very big. And we are honored to be joined today by John Dwoskin, a business coach who does just that. He will help you get unstuck and grow your business very big. Now, John had provided us with really just an incredible bio. And this is a gentleman that you're going to want to connect with and that you're going to want to get to know. And so we're going to include a link to John's bio in the show notes. There is an abundance of information about John and how he brings value to the world and how he serves people through his business. And so, John, welcome to the show. I'm also joined today by our amazing co host, Richard Canfield, who hails from Chilliwack, British Columbia, otherwise known as the wac, but also literally under incredible emergency flood conditions right now. So our hearts go to that. All the families, all the businesses, everyone in that area of British Columbia who are being impacted, our hearts go out to you and we've reached out to Rich to see if there's anything that we can do to be of service and to help. And so. But without further ado, gentlemen, welcome to the show. John, it's so good to have you.

It's great to be here, guys. I appreciate you having me. Thanks so much.

Let's dive right in. John, so you mentioned that you're a business coach and you and I got acquainted. I actually was honored to be a guest on your show, your podcast, which we will also link to in the show notes. We would encourage our listeners and viewers subscribe, connect with John. You'll be glad you did. So, John, lead us through what inspired you to do what you do to.

Well, first guys, it's great to be on your show, so I appreciate it. Thanks so much. You know, I'm 49 today as we record this. And when I was 18 years old, my dad gave me a set of tape sets by Brian Tracy called the Psychology of Success. And he said to me, jonathan, I think you'll be more successful listening to people like this than you will college. This is right before I went to college. He said, if you get anything other than a three point, I'm going to pull you out of college. But I think you'll still learn more from these people. And he was right. I, I, I, I put it on my ears and it, it felt like, I felt like, okay, this is what I want to do with my life. I want to be, I want to coach people, I want to write books, I want to inspire people. I just wanted to have a business that did what I had been listening to Brian Tracy do. And I became obsessed almost with, you know, listening to those tapes and reading books, going to seminars, I mean nonstop. I don't think there's been a day since I, since that day that I, that I've stopped. And so it was always my end goal to, to do what I'm doing right now. The path which I don't believe for any business person is a straight line. I graduated college in May of 95. I started an Internet company in June of 95 with my brother and a buddy and my par basement. We sold that business two years later to the largest Internet professional service firm in the world. And then I was a partner in that company. I then was thinking, should I do my own business? But I really was drawn to commercial real estate which my grandfather was in, and I really wanted to do that. So I sold apartments for six years, was the top apartment guy in my office. And then I was getting bored, wanted to start my own business and got the opportunity to take over my office, which I did in, in August 4th of a wait. And then the market crashed about six weeks later. And then I grew that office to 45 agents and one of the most profitable offices in the entire company because I could kind of do my business coaching thing right. It was about recruiting and training, retaining, influencing, inspiring people to reach their highest potential. I had a lot of autonomy and freedom to do what I want because my, my office was doing well and making a lot of money. And after six years of that, I just was getting restless in the, in the corporate box that I was in. I wanted to do more that was, you know, that was more of what I wanted to ultimately do. And so I decided, yeah, so I decided to leave. And then as I was getting ready to leave, I had the opportunity to, to take, to help restructure a 50 year old company. And then, and I did that for one year and then I started my business and it's been six and a half years and I love everything I do. I work with solopreneurs to Fortune 100 companies, every type of company size in between. I work with C level execs, I work with leaders, I work with managers, and I work with salespeople and I love all of it.

Wow, that's incredible. And you know, where do you see business owners getting stuck most often? Do you see a pattern based on all of the folks that you've been, you know, coach, coaching and helping throughout these past number of years? Is there a pattern in terms of where they get stuck?

Yeah, there's a pattern for each kind of type person that I, that I coach. The C level type of exec slash owner has lost their influence, lost their culture and, and, and, and doesn't communicate effectively and doesn't have a clear cut vision. So they, their messaging is all just, you know, inconsistent and, and they, and they just don't know sometimes where to plan or they don't have anybody to talk to or strategize with. And, and, and because it's, it is the, you know, the, the whole saying it's lonely at the top. It is because you can't even talk to your business partners, you can't talk to your most. Like your spouse typically doesn't care as much as like you think they do about your business. You know, so you need a coach and I'm a business coach that has, you know, started and sold, built other businesses, restructured. So I am, I am strategic ear to help them. When it comes to leadership teams. It's about leading. And most people ironically have a hard time figuring out how to really lead because a drop of blood can ruin a bucket of water. And so it's, it's, it's, and especially right now there's very new time. So learning how to lead people and manage them and grow them, you know, whether you're a leader or a manager of people, most people do not know how to manage and grow people. They were because they became a manager or a leader because they were good at their job. But then they don't know how to really grow someone. And then for salespeople where they get stuck is ironically with prospecting time Management courage, the ask, you know how to grow. So, you know, I work with all of them on each of those. I work with successful people who are stuck and get them unstuck. And then my clients typically work with me on a consistent basis. We do like a three to five hour deep dive and then we do either 15 minutes a week, 30 minutes a week, or 30 minutes every other week or some type of variation. Because the shelf life only for depending on who you are, is about a week or two before you start to lose the momentum and the accelerated everything. So my clients come to me and when they work with me, I'm typing out notes, we're recording our sessions, I'm giving them tools, we're brainstorming actionable items that they can implement into their day immediately. I guarantee everything I do. I do no contracts and I don't want anyone feeling stuck with me. So I guarantee everything that I do.

I really love that.

And it does require, you know, repetitive contact and keeping that momentum going because there's more than just one person involved in what you're coaching and what the outcome is that you're, you're coaching students and you know, their teams, their leaders, their managers. And so can you think of an example, maybe something recent, where there was a, you know, a great turnaround story that you're really proud of?

I mean, I was talking to a client of mine the other day who a year ago, this was a salesperson, had a multiple I could point to multiple whose pipelines were zero and they'll each make over a million dollars this year. And I'm not crediting only my coaching, but my coaching helped them stay consistent, stay focused. And I can point to companies that were in complete disarray. The leadership team, ownership team, absolutely could not get along. I went in there and turned them around and now they're getting along. And people understand their roles, responsibilities, and managers. I can point to multiple that I've worked with and work with recently that basically didn't know how to manage or communicate to people. They work with me. All of a sudden, their influence, their credibility, their culture begins to, you know, go up significantly as well as everybody's bottom line.

That's awesome not to talk about yourself.

I mean, I'm not really one step by myself. But you, I'm just telling you through the client's perspective.

And if everybody's bottom line is going up, well, that usually means a trickle, trickle effect, you know, so it's, you know, our mentor, Arnelso Nash, he would say that, you know, A lot of times you can't solve problems from top down and you need a, sometimes you need a bottom up solution when it comes to societal rated things. But you know, if you've got a hierarchy of a company, every company is designed around some kind of a hierarchy. There's, there's problems that exist at all levels of that hierarchy. Really what you're coming in is you're helping identify where those bottlenecks are and you're just helping to kind of throw some grease in there, get things moving properly and give the right ideas. All it takes is this sort of, you know, one idea and then implementation. Nothing happens with just an idea alone. You got to put that idea into action.

Yeah, correct.

And in terms of, I would imagine, you know, through, through your journey in coaching up to this point that you develop a sense of, you know, who you most love to work with and also a sense of who is just not a good fit for you and for your coaching style. And so if you could describe, I guess, the optimum mindsets of the people that you most love to work with, what comes to mind for you? What, what are those?

Very, it's very easy. I work with people who are open minded and want to grow and do the work and, and if you're close minded, it's not going to work. Right. So I, I can point to one client who hired me and you know, they were open minded and I said, okay, this is what I want to do and I started doing it and then they tried to tell me what I needed to do and tried to kind of bully me to what I should be thinking and saying to other people. And that's not how I work. I called the client, I said, you know what, I'm done. I'm not doing it your way, I'm doing it my way or no way. And if you want to do it your way, that's fine, just don't pay me and I'm done. They said, no, no, no, no, come back, come back, come back. So I did it, I finished and now I'm at the state. I then I got at the stage where I did kind of phase one, but then phase two, which I knew was in their best interest. They, they were like, they, they were too controlling and close minded. Right. So it's fine, you know, I, about 10, you know, 5, 10% of clients will kind of pretend they're open minded and then really be closed minded. But my ideal client is someone who, my typical client works with me. Once they start working with me, they don't typically stop. And so, so my client is somebody who's open minded, who is successful, who is stuck and wants to stay unstuck and understands that they actually have to do the work, surrender to what they think and be open to the nuanced guidance of what they can do and how they can grow. I just got off the phone. I have a client I've been working with forever and I'm working with two new people within the company. And I was talking to the owner and he wanted to be working with these two new people, these salespeople. And I gave, I said, oh yeah, tell me how you've been, you know, what you've been saying the last four or five months. They said, this is what we've been saying, but it's not working. They're making, you know, close to a hundred calls a day and getting no conversions. I said, all right, well let me hear what you're saying. They told me, I said, all right. I would say it like this is, oh my God, I can't believe we haven't been saying it like that the whole time because now what a major difference it would have made. And so I go in and I hear what's not being heard, I see what's not being seen. And my intuitiveness picks up on things that the clients can't see that to me are hidden in plain sight. And so that's why I prefer I will work with somebody who's closed minded, knowing I'm going in in a very kind of like tactical way. Right. That's, that's not going to be a long term client. But my ideal client, which are 80 to 90% of my clients, are people who are open minded, who really want to grow, understand that it's the consistency of coaching even on the days when they don't want to be coached because they know like going to a shrink, those, when you have nothing to talk about, those are the best sessions.

Amen. Amen. And I would say to anyone who's listening, anyone who's watching, you need a coach. If you think of your favorite athlete, your, for example, you know, I'm a, I'm a die hard NHL, you know, hockey fan and one of my favorite Edmonton Oilers of all time is Mark Messier. And Mark Messier actually just released a book titled no One Wins Alone. And part of what he describes is the importance of coaching. And the better you, the more progress you make, the more coaching you need. And you think of any pro athlete, the best athletes of our generation, not one of them would sit down with you and say, yeah, you know, actually I got coached up until I made my first million and then I thought, hey, I've arrived, I've learned everything there is to know.

You need like supported coaching, correct? Absolutely. I mean and, and what's interesting is, is, is most people, you know, as you raise your consciousness, that level of consciousness that got you to where you are, can't get you to where you want to be. So as you continually raise your level of consciousness, you raise your frequency, you raise your vibration. Well then you need somebody to take you from there to your, from, from your new base on. So if you're complacent and if you get sucked in by being close minded then you kind of get there and then you're, you're complacent and you're fine. Right. And so then you revert back to your closed mindedness. I'll work with clients like that but I prefer open minded, always rate, always evolving their level of consciousness. And I, and one of the things I found out is I do not like working with assholes. I just, and bullies. Like when somebody tells me, you know, you need to say this to this person and you need to say this to this person and it's like go fuck yourself.

Yeah, good, goodbye.

I know what to do and say. And you're in this problem because you talk like that to people. I don't talk like that to people. And you can't short circuit certain things. Like some people, I go into companies and they say, well you need to tell person this. Well no, you've been telling them that for, or her for X amount of years. I'm going to get them to get to it on their own and that's going to take maybe four to five months because I need to raise somebody's awareness with certain things that they can't see instead of just laser it to them. Right. So leadership today. Leadership is about raising somebody's awareness. I can go into, I go to eight hour meetings sometimes where I know exactly what the solution is the, within the first five minutes of the meeting. But getting the entire group there may take eight hours.

Well I, I was dealing with, you know, someone recently and you know, the person had said to me, well you know, I, I don't need, I don't need the coaching, I don't need the, I don't need the motivation. Oh, okay, well you've, you've arrived at your destination then, right? Well good, good luck to you. I, I see more potential but if.

You don't need any.

Any coaching then, right?

Wow.

I want.

Yeah, same thing. I want people who want to get to their highest potential, and that doesn't mean that they need to run 150 miles an hour. It's about doing the small things consistently that get to your big. I remember early in my career, so, you know, this is. I'm six and a half years into this business, and in the beginning, like, within the first, like, year, this guy wanted to meet with me. So I met with him, and he brought somebody who was just like this cranky, cranky guy. And he looks at me, goes, well, I don't. What if I don't want to think big? I said, all right, well, then, then don't. Like, you know, that's. That's. I'm not here to influence you to think big. Like, I, you know, to me, thinking big is doing small things on a consistent basis. And he started getting so mad at me. He was like, well, I don't. I just. I don't want to think big. I say, I. And I kept on saying, well, then, then don't, you know, like, that's. That's your prerogative. You do you. Do you like. And it was like the most odd interactions, and it was just bizarre. I was like, listen, you know, I mean, do what you want to do. I. This is what I do for a living. You know, you, I guess you were. You attract and repel certain people. No matter what you do. I always took it aside as I must be doing something right, because I don't repel a lot of people, I don't think. But this guy was so repelled by, like, the fact that I was helping people grow. So. But it was so bizarre. Yeah.

Well, I'll tell you from firsthand experience and, Rich, I'll share with you, too. The one thing that this part of our conversation, which is awesome, by the way, reminds me of what Nelson used to say, that the more you see, the more you'll see you didn't see. And when I'm. When I think about if someone was to ask me, okay, what do you think it really takes to be an effective coach? Well, from my perspective, only speaking for me personally, my own perspective is that it all begins with loving your players.

Yeah. If.

If you.

If you don't love, truly love your players, then how the hell are you going to coach the best out of them?

Correct.

And that to. That, to me, is where it all begins. And I. That's like, oh, my God, man, I got goosebumps.

Right now.

Like, I fascinates me and energizes me because I love my players.

Yeah, no, I, I hear you. It's also, you know, a line I recently heard, which I loved, is what we. What we have been through and what we are going through, no one has been through. Yeah, right. I love that line. It's a guy.

He.

He wrote a book called the Opioid Epidemic. His name is Scott H. Silverman, and he's. He's really on this mission as a. As a former. You know, he's been clean for 35, 40 years, whatever it is, and now he's trying to make this major shift in and change and help people with this opioid epidemic. And he wrote a great book. And. But that's when he talks to people, it's like, hey, this. And so he said that line. I thought it was so, like, like yours. The more, the more you see, the more you'll see what you didn't see. You know, it's kind of like, wait, say that again. Yeah, yeah, but it's, It's a, It's a great perspective, especially as we move into this decade of, of. Of disruption and the ability to pivot and the ability to adapt like we've never been before or had to before.

Absolutely.

And. And every element of everything. Yeah.

And the value of coaching goes so much deeper than any one area. And we were talking about business coaching and businesses primarily. A lot of. That's a lot of our listener base for our podcast, as I'm sure it is for yours, you know, and you're attracting people who are in business because that's. That's your target and that's who you love to serve. But you need coaching in many areas. You. You can. Sometimes we need a relationship coach, maybe with our spouse, or we need coaching with, you know, our. Our health in different categories. It's not just limited to, like, having a personal trainer. It's like, hey, maybe I need a nutritionist. Maybe I need this. So coaching shows up in so many areas of our life. We just don't necessarily think of people that. That's the role that they're playing. But the reality is you're seeking some kind of an input from another. You want to be able to soundboard ideas and, and get some, you know, check in and validate what you're doing and get some direction. It might not be like, hey, here's the action I need you to go take. But what action do you think you need to go take? And just having someone ask you. That question externally can be enough for your brain to suddenly, like, yeah, I've been trying to tell you this for, like, six months. You just haven't been listening. But now it gets a chance to pierce through the veil of the internal mental blockage that's been stonewalling that idea to come through.

Well, and the, you know, one that everybody has listened to, your point, Richard, is, you know, when the student is ready, the teacher arrives. So however you hear it from whomever you hear it, it's like, you know, it's like taxi cab syndrome. Like, you know, somebody tells you something 500 times, you get into a taxi in New York or Chicago, and the taxi cab says something that you didn't even realize you've heard 400 times, and yet it changes your life. Right? Yeah. Right. Yeah. Because you're. It's when you're the most, like, maybe relaxed or in a meditative state or you can. You're able to disconnect from all the, you know, the craziness of things. Why didn't anybody ever tell me that, you know, the more you see, the more you'll see what you didn't see. Well, hello, I'm, you know, Jason's over there. Like, I've actually told you that 400 times. Right.

I like how you pinpointed the getting into a taxi cab. And I just pictured a taxi cab in New York City, downtown New York, as like a relaxing Zen state of mind position to be. And I'm like, I don't know. Well, it is.

I mean, think about it. I mean, you know, before Uber, this and the other, like when you went to a city where there was a taxi, I know they may drive fast and this and the other, but it's like, you know, somebody's driving you around. I mean, there's something relaxing to somebody driving you around. You know, it may not look like a limousine, which is a very 80s thing to say, or a Metro car, whatever, but, you know, it's still somebody where you can just kind of do what you need to do while absolutely driving you. Right. It's really kind of a beautiful luxury, you know, that we take for granted, I think, with. With Uber now.

Well, and again, for all of our viewers and listeners, so we're.

We're just.

Just honored to be joined today by John Dwoskin. And if you just want to ease on, over to johndwoskin.com that's j o n d w o s k dash I n johndwoskin.Com again, that's johndwoskin.COM there is literally a treasure trove of resources on the website and content galore. And so John, you know, for somebody who's visiting the website for the first time, what would be a good kind of, you know, start on the yellow brick road if you will. Where, where would be a good place for folks to begin their journey in exploring and researching your content?

Download my book for free. I, I wrote a book. I give it away for the think Big movement. I also have a hundred page ebook which is great and then go. I have close to 1200 podcasts. If you go to my podcast and it'll link you to all the podcast platforms. I have close to if not over 500 video tips. I don't remember how many are there and just tons of blogs and Forbes blogs and my own blogs and you know, just, you know, just sit back and learn, you know. So it's like what I tell people is, you know, you could, there's three ways people can actually then work with me, right? You can go to my website and you can get everything for free. You can join depending if you have a smaller budget. I have a coaching group that meets every Monday at 4:30 to 5:30 live. I do live coaching. You know, maybe 30% of the people show up live. Everything's on demand. You can watch. If somebody joined today, they get the past years of, of, of all classes that they could dive in and watch. And there's a whole back end that's every Monday minus holidays or this and the other, but 4:30 to 5:30 Eastern. That's $100 a month. Or you can work with me custom, which is a bit more of a high end element of things but, but it is, you know, full access to me whenever you need me, you know, consistent coaching. And I return every call, text, email, same day. So it's not like my clients, you know, they, I want my clients to meet when they need me in between our coaching sessions. They call, text, email me and I get back to them same day. So I'm kind of that real time person. If you join the Facebook page then I'm accessible only really on, on, on Mondays from 4:30 to 5:30.

Excellent. Thank you for sharing that. And I can only imagine with you know, all of these different businesses and business owners and teams that you interact with, there's likely been opportunity along the way where you know, someone tapped you on the shoulder and said listen, like we not only want you as a coach, we want you to, you know.

Be a part of this deal.

We want you to, you know, own a piece of this thing and, you know, consult with us, maybe take a seat on the board or be a part of this next chapter in our journey. Has that sort of.

Yeah, I get. I get offered great opportunities to do some pretty great things. When it comes to that level of something, I'm pretty selective. But, yeah, and there's also cases where I'll go in and I'll be kind of an interim CEO for a company, because I work with so many different groups within a company that I can go in and do that as well. And it's nice, because keynotes are also coming back in group trainings and live trainings. I was just in Arizona for a couple days. I was just in Denver for a couple days. I was just in Miami, Arizona, you know, doing stuff. You know, so keynotes, trainings, YPO retreats. I mean, it's. It's been great. Love it.

Now, I'm curious. The Think Big podcast, and really, that's Think business. Think business. But. But the core of it is a lot of it is about thinking bigger. That's really been the theme of what you've shared with us today. And what I'm wondering is, is this something that's always been there, you know, that you always thought this way, trying to think bigger about things, and you just really, really learned how to cultivate that? Or was there an awareness point that showed up for you, John, where you realized, wow, like, I really have a gift of being able to help people understand how they can think bigger.

You know, I really believe that the universe kind of hands things your way. Right. If you're really. If you surrender and you're open, the universe will give it to you. And so when I started my business, my. My business was called the John Dwatzkin Experience, because I thought, I know that I can give people an experience that will help them grow their business. So my tagline was grow your business big. And so I was sharing it. My wife and I had a couple over, and we were. I was sharing my tagline with them, and I said, I'm starting my own company. The Johns Watson Experience. Grow your business big. Very. And then so. And then my buddy goes really big, so. Oh, that's. That's kind of clever. So the word really, I thought. I didn't love the word really, so I changed it to very. So grow your business big. Very big kind of came up from that conversation. And what I always appreciated about that conversation is I'm not one to kind of share with people about stuff like that. I never want to sound braggadocious. I never want to kind of like, put my. I never want to just. I don't know, I'm not one to talk about myself. So I was even hesitant to tell people, you know, like, hey, here I am starting my own business. But I was so glad. So it was like, such a sign of just, like, the importance of just being, you know, open and sharing and this and the other. And so when I started my business, my tagline was nothing big. My tagline was. I was like, all right, I need a tagline. So when I can, like, you know, as. As like a salutation. So I put Aim High. And so I had. I. I had a bunch of people email me and call me locally and say, hey, there's a school in.

In.

In, you know, Southfield, Michigan, that's called Aim High. And I think. And I had never heard of it, and they had said, you know, it's. It's. It's geared towards special needs children. And, you know, I think it was. And they almost. They basically told me that my aim high was maybe offensive, that it was like, you know, referencing the school. I was like, I didn't even know the school existed. But all right, I'll. I'll get rid of Aim High. So I was like, all right, well, what am I. What am I going to do? Like, I've always. So I was like, all right, so John Dwaskin experience. Grow your business. Big. Very big. I meditated it on it for a while. And I was like, all right, I'll just tell people to be. I'll be consistent. I'll just tell people to think big. So I really was. I really. And so, I mean, I guess I always do think big. I mean, I started in an Internet company. I sold it. I've always been tenacious and driven and, you know, kind of been able to kind of do things, but I never articulated it that way. So I was like, all right, think big. So I'm. I'm big into. I've always studied marketing, so I tried to keep it consistent. And I started doing these videos every day when I started my business. And so I would do a video, I would just do video tips, right? I would say, hey, this is John, you know, hey, this is John Dwaskin. Welcome back. Here's a quick business tip of the day, you know, and then I would give a quick tip. And then I was always, because of marketing, thinking, all right, I would always say, okay, have an amazing day and always think Big. And so I just started getting a lot of feedback. Like my father in law went to his cardiologist and he says to my father in law, hey, Jeff, think big. So people like just started enjoying and I started getting great feedback from think big. But that was, that's the story about how I got to think big. Wow. And then I just said, all right, it's kind of like consistent, consistent, consistent. And so the way I kind of balance it is because I don't want to, I don't want it to seem so, so aggressive. Right. So that's why. So, because to me, thinking big is all about compounding the small things every single day to get to your big, to get to your purpose, to get to your goal, whether it's business or personal. But that's kind of how it is. So do I think big in general? Yeah, I do. But, but my business kind of like almost like the universe kind of gave me that one.

Wow, that's, that's remarkable. Yeah, truly really good and rich. So you were, you were chatting with John, you know, prior to us, you know, hitting the record button and getting this episode underway. And there was a particular item that you, that resonated with you when you were reading through, you know, John's bio. And I thought now would be a good time, you know, for you to, to bring that up.

Well, you know, on our show, we've had a number of client, we interview our clients, we interview other business experts, lots of coaches, people who are experts in their field, and we've had a number of people who have been touched in some way by, by cancer. And so one of the things that really spoke to me when I was reading through your bio, John, is that you've had your own personal battle with that. Thankfully, that's well behind you. 20 years behind you, in fact. But what was really interesting is that it sounds like that's an area that you also do some coaching or you're, you're, you're willing to kind of go out and help people, you know, who've, who've experienced that and, and try to help them maneuver through that, what they're going through. So I thought that'd be something it'd be really good for you to touch on for our audience because you never know who's got something going on. And if we can add some extra value to them today with our conversation, I, I, I would love to be.

Able to do that.

Yeah, no, I, I appreciate that. I am involved in a, an organization called Immerman Angels, the website is immerman angels.org and I'm a mentor when they need me. And, and, and, and, and I've coached a bunch of guys who have gone through what I'm going through. And, and what Immerman Angels does is they, they pair you up. So if you get diagnosed with any type of cancer anywhere in the world, you reach out to Imerman Angels dad. Org and then they connect you with someone who has already been through what you are going through and can help mentor you through the process. It's absolutely free. And, and then they will even match up spouses to talk to spouses. It's a pretty amazing organization. The guy who founded it, Johnny Immerman was actually my Immerman angel when I was going through it because he had already gone through it and then, and he, he started the business. So him, and his, him, he's a great friend of mine, his brother's a great friend of mine, they're from Detroit and, and Johnny now lives in New York. But the, the, the nonprofit is a phenomenal organization. And yeah, you know, you know, I, I'm one of the lucky ones. I had a stage one testicular cancer. I had, it's funny, I was trying to remember this. I don't remember If I had 12 or 17 treatments of radiation and, and you know, and then, and it just puts life in perspective, right? It puts life in perspective. And so, you know, for me it was, it was all about okay, I, I need to be fulfilled in everything that I do and whether, and I'm not going to stay in a career if I'm not fulfilled. And, and I'm gonna do what makes me happy every single day. I'm not saying that my life is perfect. It's pretty great. I'm not. I mean I have an amazing wife, I have two phenomenal kids, great friends, great family and, but it forces you to kind of work on yourself from the inside out when something like that happens. And more than, than, than going through that. When I was 30 years old, when I, the, when I, with testicular cancer you have really a five year window before you're in full remission. But I was good after five years and actually kept on going to my doctor for five more years. I wanted a kind of a, a 10 year clean bill of health and my 10 year voluntarily voluntary checkup. I was driving to Chicago. Long story short, I got my blood taken. And then you kind of go back, you know, two days later I got my blood taken, I'm driving to Chicago for a meeting and My doctor calls me and says, you got to come to my office right away. You have cancer riddled through your entire body. Basically. Like, we've never seen a case so bad you're going to die. I don't even know how I got home. I pulled off to the side of the road. I called my wife, I called my therapist. It was like, we, we. I picked up my wife, went right to his office, and he said, you know, I don't know what to tell you. I haven't seen a case this bad. You have cancer riddled through your body. And I said, I. You know, when I was 30, I found the cancer through meditation. I knew through meditating that I had testicular cancer. I can't explain it. I went to the doctor, they said I was fine. And then 30 days later, when I went back for a checkup, they said, you have testicular cancer. I just could sense it in my body through my meditations. And this time I couldn't sense it. And so I said to him, I just, I don't think you're right. Like, retake all my tests. And he was like, there's no way I'm wrong. The odds of me being wrong are one in a million. You gotta started on chemo. You got to start this. We got to operate. I said, no, I want an emergency ultrasound, CAT scan, and new blood taken. And I had to fight pretty hard for it. And the reason I talk about this right now is because everybody, everybody needs to be their own doctor. I was going to a renowned doctor, somebody that most people would have put their complete faith at, and you have to be your own doctor. I just intuitively knew. Now, that being said, he basically told me I was dying. So for a day and a half, I thought I was dying. And I have young babies, I have a wife. So I get my blood retaken, I get an emergency CAT scan, I get an emergency ultrasound. A day and a half later, my wife and I are at Starbucks. He calls me on my cell phone and says to me, you were right. They botched your blood. You're absolutely right. Perfect.

Oh, boy.

Wow. So the po. I would say I had kind of like post traumatic stress disorder for about two, two and a half months. My wife, for about a year. Not like severe, but I mean, just the stress, the. The. The lingering of that stress. And, and it was. That was pretty devastating. But I will say this. My fear of death, 99.98% went away because I really thought, as much as I couldn't sense it, I thought I must be dying. But everybody, if the message I can send along is you have to be your own doctor and you have to be. And you have to have your voice. You know, I called the doctor afterwards and I said, hey, because I had done a lot of growth on myself and I didn't want to hold on to any anger to the doctor. And so I said, hey, I just want to tell you I'm not angry. Things happen. I just, I just want you to know that, you know, I know this happened. You know, I forgive everybody in the process, but I am going to ask that you pay for all my medical bills, because this wasn't, it was like $3,500 in deductibles, and he refused to. And, and I basically kind of, you know, let him have it. And then he ultimately did. But my point for bringing that up is I think stuff like that happens and you have to let it go because the anger and the stress can eat you alive. And I wasn't, I didn't want that to, you know, life brings enough stresses as is. I didn't want an accident to do that. So I just, you know, be your own doctor, Forgive, do the inner work and evolve.

And you wanted and needed to let it go for you, not for him.

I needed to let it go for me. I, I didn't, I know, I mean, no offense, I didn't really care about, I didn't really care about letting to go for him. That's his own journey. Right. You know, we, we left on not so great terms because I forced the issue for him to pay for my bills, my medical bills, because he made the mistake. And so I said, just own your mistake. And you know, he, that was his, that then, that was his journey. I could completely disconnect from that. Right. I had my own stuff. I had my own family, my to take care of and my own wellbeing. I, I, frankly, until you just said that, I never even thought about him, to even think about him back then because that was his journey. My journey was let it go. And his journey, if he was holding on to anything, that's his journey, to let it go. Right, Great point.

And this is a sharp example of John's coaching. John coached all of us today and we, we thank you for that sincerely. And again, for all of our viewers and listeners, you need to ease on over to JohnDowoskin.com that's J-O-N-W-O S K-I N JohnDewoskin.com again, that's JohnDwaskin.com and when you get there, there's just an abundance of resources. John was kind enough to share where he thought would be a great starting point for you on your journey of learning. Listen, everybody needs a coach. And in particular, if you're a, a business owner, if you're C level, if you're an entrepreneur, if you're a manager of people, if you simply are engaged in business and you want to get better and you want to realize your potential and get unstuck, and for the business owners in particular, if you want to grow your business big, very big, as John has now supplanted into our subconscious, and we appreciate that very much, then you definitely want to be connected to John. Rich, any, any remarks that you want to share with our audience before we bring it home?

Well, I just want to be very appreciative, John, for your time and your, your, your rapid fire way to share what's, what's, what's true for you and how it shows up for the way that you impact other people and so on. On the topic of impacting other people, you may not think of yourself as a superhero, but every time that you show up for the people that you coach and mentor, the people that you have helped through their cancer, experience all the things that you've done to give people the ability to think big, to help unlock something within them and that potentially give them the ability to have a bigger and better vision of their own life, their own future. You're showing up as a hero and so not, not all heroes wear capes, but that's what you're doing. And we would really like to know who most would you like to be a hero to?

You know, you know, I really only care about being a hero to my kids. I'm not, you know, I'm not. I, I don't, I, I do my work because it's, it's within the purpose of what I do, right? I want to, I want to be able to coach over a billion people, get them thinking big by getting unstuck and staying consistent and being fulfilled. But I don't need to be, I'm a guide. I want to be a guide to them. Right? I'm not looking to be a hero or a superhero to them, just a guide to get them to reach their highest potential and in some way get them to think that anything I taught them was their idea. So it'll have almost a bigger impact, but from a superhero. And I, not that I even want my kids thinking of me and putting me on a pedestal, but if I had to answer the question, it would just be them. Yeah.

John, thank you. Thank you sincerely for being our guest. We'd love to have you back. And what an amazing, amazing conversation. We know that our viewers and listeners are going to just get an abundance of value. And for those of you who are watching on the YouTubes, you're going to see a playlist that has just magically appeared. John made that happen. It is there. And we would encourage you to continue your journey of learning. And because, as our late mentor, our Nelson Nash, used to often say, there's no such thing as having arrived in knowledge. There's always something new to learn. And if you feel that you've arrived, it's all downhill from here.

Yeah.

So be receptive, learn something new, and for heaven's sakes, be coachable. So, gentlemen, thank you both sincerely and to all our viewers and listeners. Make the rest of your week. Great, guys. This was phenomenal. Thanks again. We'll talk to you soon, guys.

Thanks. I appreciate it.