Coaching with Richmond Dinh - EP62 - The Business Growth Show with Athin Cassiotis

Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of the Business Growth show where we talk about all components of business and how to utilize them for exponential growth. My name is Nathan Casiotes. I'm a serial entrepreneur, international speaker, result strategist, business coach, mentor and consultant. Today I have an awesome guest. He's an entrepreneur, author, speaker, business coach for coaches and a mentor. He helps coaches, consultants, experts and speakers who are stuck on how to get more clients and want to confidently grow a six figure coaching business without ads, fancy funnels and even if you are just starting out and nobody knows who you are. Welcome Richard Dinh and thank you for being on my show.

Hey, Ethan, man, thank you for having me, dude. Really, really. Thank you for the intro. Great intro and I'm excited.

Yeah, awesome, man. So awesome to have you here. I love doing the intros and I'm sure it's going to be an amazing show for everyone watching and listening today. So you're a very successful entrepreneur. So for those people who don't know who you are.

Yeah.

Please introduce yourself by telling us about you and your journey.

I think you did a great job. I really. You said it all. I basically help coaches get to six figures online using Facebook, starting out from scratch and we got a ton of great results for our clients and, and that's what it's all about. So if you're a coach or consultant and you want to grow an online coaching business, that's what we do. That's who we help. Yeah.

Love it. Let's go back because I know you obviously quite well and your story in that, I think it's great to hear a little bit. Let's go back to what your profession was and then how you sort of got into coaching a little bit. Just so you know, because everyone just doesn't sort of become a coach right initially as what they start off. So maybe just share a little bit about that for everyone.

Yeah, I think this is going to be valuable for all of your listeners here, regardless of where they are in life and even if they're not a coach because it's a story that starts off when my, my parents. It's not, it's not a unique story by any means. My parents came here from Vietnam and you know, we live in Australia, which prominently predominantly built up from a migrant nation. Like, you know, a lot of people migrated here from other countries and they taught us that, you know, when we grow up in order for us to be successful, you guys know the story. Study hard, get a good job, go to university, get Good grades, get a good degree, get a white collar job so you can get a healthy six figure income. That's what they regard success. Become a doctor, dentist, optometrist, and that's kind of the society we're brought up in. Go to school, go to uni, get a job 9 to 5 and live a respectable life, buy a home by the time you're 30, get married, settled out. And that was the life that was given to me. And the reason why I feel like this is going to be relevant for everyone here is because most people are living the life towards the expectations of someone else. And most people are living the life pleasing someone else and living someone else's dream in fear of judgment, in fear of failing, in fear of just not feeling loved or feeling good enough. And so that was my life until it got to the point where I had an epiphany because, you know, I wanted to, I, I wanted to do something in my life, but I didn't want to get there and regret it. And being an optometrist for 10 years, this, this was probably the best thing that ever happened, is because the industry is so regulated, which means that every single year you need to get registered. And when you register with the board, optometry board, like the ARPA board, the health professional board, they ask you every year as a survey, how much longer do you want to be an optometrist for? There's a box for one year, five years, 10 years, and you'd have to tick it. That was the best tick box I've ever done because it gave me a rain check when I ticked the box. I said I wanted to be like, I didn't want to be on Tom for more than 10 years. I knew that. And every year I ticked less than 10 years, less than 10 years, less than ten years, I'll be out. Less than 10 years, I'll be out. And I ticked that box for 10 years.

And I was coming out to 11th year of ticking that box and I realized I can't be ticking this box for another 10 years. And it kind of gave me this deadline to ask myself what I really wanted to do, my life. And I didn't know because most of my life was doing what my parents wanted me to do. And so I started seeking personal development and started seeking for the world of Tony Robbins and finding out your purpose and your dream and what do you really want. I got life coaching as well. And through doing that for two years, I fell in love with the whole industry and I wanted to help people with personal development. And I decided after two years that I wanted to start a life coaching business. And I did with.

A lot of fear for a couple of years before I decided to do it. But it was the best decision I made was, fast forward today. We're doing really, really well now. I made over half a million dollars in my life coaching business the first two years. And then every other coach started coming to me saying, how did I do it? How did I do it? How did I do it? My videos went viral, and that's how I transitioned to becoming a business coach for other coaches wanting to do the same.

I think the lesson here is very simple for everyone watching is that.

If you continue to live a life pleasing others, then it's a paradox, because the only person that you'll never please is yourself. And the only person that you'll never please is, in actual fact, you won't even please the people you're trying to please because they see you unhappy. People just want to see you happy. And when you go out there and try to please others, it actually makes it worse for them and makes it worse for you because they know secretly inside that you're not happy. And so if you're watching this, I would encourage every single one of you that the only way to make other people happy is to first please yourself, because that's when their true happiness comes for other people as well. And that's a bit about my story.

Yeah, awesome story. And thank you for sharing, Richmond, because I know that a lot of people would have got a lot from that. And, you know, I'll just add about, like, judgment, right? Like, we all get judged, right? So, you know, what's the point of worrying about if people are going to judge us? Because they're going to judge it anyway. So we may as well do what we want to do, right? Don't worry about if our parents or our friends or anybody else judges us, is work out what that is and don't live by other people's expectations. And, you know, use the word epiphany, right? I think at some point in your life, whether it's a Tony Roberts event, a personal development thing or something, something happens and then you're like, okay, maybe I don't want to do this. And then you got to make that choice and that commitment. So that's really awesome. Thank you for sharing. And then, like, obviously now, you know, you've got lovely wife and children and things like that, right? And here's some stories about and see some things online about you being a great dad and some fun stuff that you get up to. So obviously, obviously it's a challenge. Obviously everyone's got different priorities with business and family and things like that. But I want to go a little bit more about children, right, Because I know that our beliefs and everything happen in the first six or seven years, right. With kids, it's a very interesting time. So do you want to maybe share a little bit about what you do with your children to help them to get the best possible start they can in their life as well?

Yes. I. I love, I love this topic and, and I love. I love being a dad first and foremost, more than anything in the world.

It's a very rewarding job. And. And parenting is the most underrated job on the planet. If you're a mum, like, you know, am I allowed to swear? I just did. Anyway, if you're a mom. If you're a mom, you are the most undervalued person in the world. And being a mum is the most underrated job in the world too. So it's hard because you're raising human beings, raising little ones, and, and they are a reflection of you. And when you see your kids acting great, you know, you feel really proud. When you see your kids behaving in a certain way that you're not so happy about it, it always comes back to you. So they're a great mirror, they're a great source of growth for you as a person, but equally very, very rewarding. So to answer your question about, you know, beliefs being formed, how do I parent? I parent very much. You know, I set some boundaries and guidelines on very much on how I coach my clients, really, you know, we have a few things that we're never allowed to say at home. Like, I can't. That's taboo. We're never allowed to say, I give up. That is taboo. And we always need to use our words when we communicate, like, that's a must. There's no violence or anything like that. So those are kind of the rules that we set at home. And it's worked really, really well and it's caused them to become great human beings. Very resourceful and really, really independent kids.

Yeah, I love that. Really awesome. I love those things. I don't have kids yet. Going to be married next year for me, but I do plan on having them. So I'll definitely be taking a little bit out of that and borrowing a few of those things that, you know, I'm sure will. Will help everybody, right. Whether, you know, Whether it's your own kids, whether it's like your nieces and nephews, right. If you don't have kids and like that, you can help anybody, you know, with, with little ones or even just having that in your house is amazing. So love that Richmond. Very cool. So if, you know, let's go back into like, I guess, the life coaching and the belief area, right? Like, it's a big thing now. And, you know, Tony Robbins says, you know, success is 80% psychology and 20%, you know, the strategy and mechanics and everything like that.

Right.

So it's, it's a lot to do with mindset. You've done life coaching for so long and you're very good at it, obviously with your success. And now you're obviously coaching other coaches and around life coaches or people that work on mindset and things like that. So you would have seen a lot of limiting beliefs, right, that are pop up for people and it's sort of, I guess, to an extent, constant. So what are some of the common, I guess, limiting beliefs that you see in people like that? So people, I guess, can have a bit of awareness maybe about what may be holding them back.

Yeah, great question too. Look, apart from the most common living belief, which is I'm not good enough, you know, or a flavor of I'm not good enough, the most, the most prevalent one that turns out for, particularly for startup coaches is the whole identity crisis or imposter syndrome that creeps up because for most of their life they call themselves a mum or a dad or a physio or an optometrist or.

A teacher or whatever it is, and then they move into the coaching space and they suddenly have to call themselves a coach or an expert and they feel like an imposter. They feel like, who am I to be calling myself that? Because for such. Such a long time they've attached a false identity to themselves, meaning that they're a mum, they're a dad, they're a baker, they're optometrist, and now they're trying to force into a new identity. And so they're having the identity crisis. And so the limiting belief is that they believe that they're going into a new identity when they've forgotten that the problem was they attached an identity that didn't serve them in the first place. What do I mean by this? I mean, like, you are not your job, you know, you are not your profession, you are not a baker, you're not an optometrist, you're not a physio. You're not an engineer. You are who you are as your core. And that what does it mean? Are you a loving person, caring person, being gruent person?

Are you an authentic person? You're a funny person, that's who you are. And so you need to remember that the traits of that character is defining of who you are. When you remember that, then you will never have an identity crisis because a label to your profession is just your label, but it's not who you are. And so that's step number one when it comes to moving to the coaching space. Is the whole idealization or the whole limiting belief around. I feel like an imposter because they've attached an incorrect identity to themselves. That's the first thing. Other limiting beliefs will creep up would be like, I need to have this done before I start. Like I need a certification or I need the skill set or I need a program before I start, before I launch. Which again is false as well. Because we all know that action precedes clarity. Action precedes clarity. And that means you just got to do the work first and then find the clarity after. And so many people procrastinate because they have this idea that they need to have the program out there before they can launch. Which is probably the worst thing you can do in business is create a program and then try to sell it. You need to find out what the market wants, sell it and then create the program once you've sold a few units. That's just how it works. You need to find out there's demand first and then create a program to demand, not the other way around.

Yeah, I love that. So awesome. And yeah, you see a lot of people doing that and wondering. They can be like certification junkies or you know that they want to sort of do a lot of these things and they think they have to wait. I have to do a three year course before I could become a coach or things like that. But I know one thing that, you know, I've heard from you is you only have to be like one chapter ahead, right of the person. As long as you've got the result in your life or in your business or whatever that is, then you can, you know, help others to get that result right.

Which is really awesome. And so, you know, if people are like trying to start and you know, actually there's another great, great line that I heard from you as well that I think is going to serve everybody here is commit first and believe later.

That is huge. I'm glad you remember that. One. That. That. That's. That's a big sentence. Yeah, definitely.

Because I know that, like. Like, with everyone. Like, I've done the research Right. As well, is that if you don't have someone to keep you accountable, the chance of you getting that done right is a lot less.

Right.

And this is, I guess, one of the big things of having a coach. Right. And a mentor to help keep you accountable. But when you've got someone, they're just saying, hey, this is when you're going to do it, commit to it. Then, you know, us humans, we make it happen. So, yeah. Do you want to maybe share about some things about, you know, people committing and making things happen and maybe about how we. How we focus on, you know, getting things done or something in those ways as well?

Totally. This is a classic example of committing first and believing later, or committing first and finding out the how later, or committing first and then finding out the way later. Whatever you want to call it. Classic example is having kids. Like, I don't know a single person who goes out there and studies 10 parenting books or goes to, like, a parenting school for a year or two and then goes, I'm ready to have kids. Now, every single parent does not do that. And also, I don't know a single parent out there who says, you know what? I'm gonna. I'm gonna work my way to freeing up 30 hours my week so I can get ready for kids. Every parent doesn't free up 30 hours a week to have their first child or second or third. They commit to having the child. Nine months later, the child's born, and like, oh, shit, now I'm going to find the 30 hours and it happens. Or nine months later. Then they got. Then they're like, oh, no, now I have to learn how to parent. And it just happens. And so that's a classic example of how human beings always find a way. Now, I'm not saying everyone should be a parent. I think some people shouldn't be parents. Right. But it's a classic example of how humans have just led the human race by committing first to having children, finding out the how later. And it always amazes me on how parents can have multiple kids. You know, when I had a first one, we're like, how do we look back on how do you even have the time to have one kid? And then we decided to have a second one, and, like, how do we even think about having a second kid and fitting in the time for the second kid? And when the third one came, we even Smashed that limiting belief again about having the time to have a third child.

And many parents out there have five, six, seven, eight children. My grandmother had eight children. So human beings are just incredible at finding out a way. But the first thing you must do is just commit. So if you're in business, if you're going out there and you want to go crush your goals, just got to commit to it like having a child and then find the belief later because once you commit, you have no choice but to believe you have no choice. So that's, it's a great mind, man. I appreciate you for bringing that up.

Yeah, well good. And love that story as well. It's so true.

Right.

With yeah, just, just, just going all in, right. And, and having. If you got somebody there. And I think, I think like the coaching industry now and I think everybody should really have a coach, right. Like even if it's a life coach, right, because that's, you know, just to help you with your mindset in your life and things like that. But obviously especially if you're in business, right, because you know, you don't know what you don't know and you're not going to be able to create like unlikely, put it that way, very unlikely that you'll be able to create like a million dollar business or something quite decent or even a decent six figure business potentially without some help, right. With some, someone that's done it before. Otherwise it could take you 10 years instead of like one to three years or something like that, you know, to get to that point. And time is obviously one of the most precious resources. So.

When you've got your coaches and that.

Let's boil it down to one thing, if we can, right. To make it really simple is what do you think is the most important trait to have as a coach that will put the coach on the path to success? If you were going to say like.

One trait, this is easy. This is a one trait for every entrepreneur really. It's hunger. It is hunger. It always comes down to how hungry someone is, how badly they want it. That determines on what they're willing to sacrifice, how much they're willing to grow, how much they're willing to invest, how much they're willing to ask for help, how much they're willing to get out of their own way, how much they're willing to just do whatever it takes over deliver for their clients. It always comes down to hunger. And the enemy to hunger is lack of motivation. So many coaches say I'm just, just don't feel like, doing it. Just not motivated doing it, or I don't enjoy that part of the business.

You know, because they just. They're just not hungry enough. When you're hungry in a literal context, you eat anything. You eat anything. I just give me food. I just need some calories. And we've all been there where we're starving and we would eat anything. We need anything. I don't care if it's got calories in it, I'll eat it. I don't care if the bread style. I'll eat it. Give me the bread. I'll just eat it, right? And you get so hungry, sometimes you're tempted to eat the skin of the banana peel. Like, that's, that's how hungry you are. And you need to have that hunger when you're. When you're a coach or when you're an entrepreneur, because you'll do anything, you do anything to fulfill that hunger. That. That is the secret sauce. Banana.

Yeah. I love that. So true. And that's what. Especially at the start of your business, right, because that's where it's the most hardest, right? Where you've got to get over that heel. Like, once you start to gain some momentum in business, it gets a little bit easier, you know, as you build that up. But that, I think that's why most businesses fail, is because people, they get challenges in business. Like, you would know, Richmond. It goes up and down business, right? You know, especially towards the start. It's. It's, you know, and I think most people just, you know, think that it's too challenging. They're like, oh, it's not worth it, or whatever like that. And. And they quit, right? And, you know, this doesn't. That doesn't help us to. To live the life that we want to live, right? Especially if we're doing, you know, becoming a coach or something like that.

It's.

It's. It's crazy. The, the, you know, the stats and everything about what that is there. So, yeah, really powerful.

It is powerful. Yeah. Yeah, totally. I don't know if you've ever been on.

Or, you know, your friends or anyone. You know, when you're younger, you go out on a late night with mates, and you might be out drinking in the city and all that, and at the end of the night, you get a bit hungry, you got the munchies, and every food place is closed, but because you're. You're hungry, like, in a literal sense as well, and you just go out there, just try to find a place that can give you some food at the end, midnight, when every other place is closed, close. But you keep on searching. You overcome all the boundaries, all the hurdles, all the challenges just to find that meal. And that's the same for your business as well.

Yeah, definitely love that. And it might be Maccas at that time of night, whether you like it or not.

You know, no biases whether you like it or not. But sometimes, you know, you do what you got to do if you're hungry.

So I got kids, so. So, you know, the Macca's words does get thrown around a lot.

Did they? They still have the Happy Meals with the toys and everything there.

They do. You know, it's an irresistible offer.

And they got the. They got. The Maccas have got the marketing. You got to give them credit for their marketing. They've just. They just nailed the marketing. When it comes to marketing to kids, it's just incredible. It's just incredible how clever they are. You got to give them credit credit for that, definitely.

And they got the. There's the smell as well, right. They use there where they, you know, when you walk in, you can just smell it even if you're close by as well.

That's it. That's it now. Yeah. If you could model. If you could model that experience for your clients and your coaching business, then you do really, really well.

Definitely. How we can, who knows, maybe at some point we'll get 4D or something, get some smell through Zoom or something like that. Clients going out so they can smell the experience.

That's it.

That'd be interesting.

So.

So let's. Let's get back onto the business sense now. So.

You know, there's a lot of people out there. I don't want to say the gurus or whatever it is, right. That, you know, a lot of them are saying, oh, you got to run ads.

Right.

I think ads are how you get leads. Right. And however, you know, we can also get leads organically.

Right.

And you know, so as you do, you know, this is what, you know, you focus on and that. So you want to maybe just share, you know, on maybe just in terms of a timing thing, right. Like to people, so they're aware, right. In their business, especially in like a coaching business, about when we should focus on getting leads organically compared to when we should start to pay for ads, you know, in the business.

Totally, 100%. Most people get impatient, they get greedy, and they start to run ads straight away, which is suicide because the ad game is just another game altogether. And it's not as simple as just putting out an ad out there and expecting clients to come through the door. Because right now, especially in the coaching space, it's such a skeptical market. You need to have a very, very clear strategy when you're running ads, especially going to put money behind it. You have to have a, a very clear strategy and also deep pockets as well because your ROI doesn't happen straight away. That's the first thing. The second mistake with running ads first is if you've never proven success organically, then you don't know if your product is viable. You don't know if your product is actually going to be good for getting results. You don't know what marketing sticks. You don't know your messaging is on point. And so it's going to be costly mistake. And so it's always a good idea to get success organically first. I get to, in my opinion, I believe you need to get to a million dollars first before you start running ads and then you can scale through ads. That was a big mistake I made. I ran ads way too early in my career because I got too hungry. And when, sometimes when you're too hungry, then you lose intelligence. And so I wasn't intelligent and I just became impatient. I ran ads when my program wasn't probably the best program in the world back then. My marketing wasn't on point. And so I just scout shit marketing and I scout shit program. And so I got shitty results and wasted a lot of money. And so you need to make sure that your program is rock solid, gets great results for your clients. Your marketing message is on point and once you got that, then you can scale through ads.

Yeah, love that. So true. So thank you for sharing. And you know, I know, and I know other people say this, that you know you're one of the best organic marketers right, in the industry because you know that that's the way you focus and you know where others are doing different strategies. So do you want to maybe just give everyone a couple of tips or something like that about, you know, organic marketing for the people that are, that are watching and listening today?

Totally, totally. So when it comes to organic marketing, number one is you need to understand the platform. You need to understand what platform you're working on, whether it's TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, clubhouse. Understand the platform. When I say understand a platform, understand what that platform is designed to do and what, what kind of reach that platform wants to give to its audience. And so, for example, Facebook, you got to understand Facebook. People don't go on Facebook to see ads, people don't go on Facebook to buy. People go on Facebook because they're bored and they're looking for entertainment. Whereas YouTube is a different platform. People go on YouTube because they want to watch long form videos and get information how to. Right. LinkedIn is different because people go on LinkedIn because they wanted to go on LinkedIn for connections and business. And so you need to understand that psychology. And so when you post content, you need to flavor your content around what that platform wants to show its viewers. And so if you post content on Facebook around ad style content which is like, buy my stuff, buy my stuff. Facebook doesn't like that. The algorithm doesn't like that. The user doesn't like that because they don't go in for that reason. And so that kind of content won't get reached.

You can do the opposite for LinkedIn. You can do like how to product services, type LinkedIn, type posts on LinkedIn and that will get better reach because LinkedIn is more flavored for that style of content. So you need to understand the platform and what it's used for and how do we create our value proposition within the boundaries of that, of that platform. And it's the same for, it's the same for TikTok, it's the same for all other platforms. Understand what that platform wants to give its user. And you need to give the user that.

Yeah, I love that. Awesome points there. Very powerful. You know, it's, it's like, like in the NLP terms, right? It's sort of like the chunking up, right? You go at the higher level and you're like, okay, well what, what is the, the overall thing here? And then, you know, create the strategy from there as well.

Yep, 100% love it.

So like the coaching industry, I think it's, I don't know what the stats are now. I don't know if it's the second biggest booming industry right in the world. It's starting to gain a lot of traction.

Right.

More recently. So it's starting to become more saturated, is probably, you know, a word right.

With people.

So how, you know, if, you know, people listening today and they're a coach or something like that and you know, they're wanting to do something different. What's something that you think that, you know, you know, we can do to stand out a little bit from I guess all the coaches out there?

Yeah, this is, this is, this is why it's important also to get rid of that pleaser mentality and overcome your fear of judgment and putting yourself out there. And so my guess is if you're a coach, you probably face a lot of judgment from your parents, from your loved ones, maybe your spouse, brothers, sisters, friends, thinking what? What the hell are they doing? They're drinking the Kool Aid, they're addicted, they're in a cult. Right. That you've overcome some form of judgment. Like that's the first level of judgment you have to overcome immediate circle. Second level you have to overcome is like your acquaintances, like people in the workforce, all that kind of stuff. Third level is people who don't know you. So when you overcome all those three levels, that's when you can create marketing that really cuts through the noise. What does that mean? You got to look at what everyone else is doing constantly. Constantly. Not just a one, one stop show, but you've got to constantly look at what everyone else is doing and ask yourself, what can I do to be different? What can I do to be different? By just constantly asking that question, you'll come with ideas. And a great way to be different, I believe, is to be funny if you're funny. And if you're not funny, I would encourage you to tap into your funny side. Because people, people just love funny. Like, like some of the best ads in the world, like the most memorable ads, the highest converting ads are just really entertaining funny ads. They're really, really funny ads. We've all seen the funny, the funny bee ads, the funny shaver ads, the funny vacuum cleaner ads. We've all seen those really, really funny ads. And so if you want to cut through the noise, be entertaining whilst being valuable at the same time.

Yeah, love that, that's awesome. You know, and, and just to like tip on that as well is like, yeah, be funny and then probably put a bit of a twist of your authenticity in there as well. Right. Because I think, you know, we don't want to necessarily try and be somebody else. It's like, oh, I want to be Tony Robbins or I want to be whoever. Right. You know, in the world, it's like you don't necessarily want to be that person.

Right?

Yes. You may model certain traits of people, but you know, have a flavor of funny, but have a flavor of you. Like, who are you as the person that you can emit as an energy? Because that's what people connect with in the end. Right?

And definitely. Right, yeah, yep, agree, agree. Definitely don't try to be anybody else because there's only one you and that's. That's you. So you can't. You. You can't have anyone steal that from you if you want to be different.

Yeah, definitely. And.

Let'S go a little bit more into the coaching stuff. And, you know, I know that, you know, you're really good at putting things together. Right. Like, I think you're one of the best that I know of anyway, that is great at, you know, seeing things. What are patterns and coming up with, like, models and systems and things like that. Right. And I know that as humans, we learn better this way.

Right.

When we can see things, you know, in a certain way instead of just, you know, writing or whatever like that. Right. Where we can. We can create new things. So do you want to maybe just share with people maybe is this. Is it? Do you have any. A tip or anything like that about how we can think like this or get better at this, about, you know, so that we can make more of an impact, you know, to people as well?

Totally. So this is. This is a great question about what also kind of relates to your other question about how do we compete in a saturated market is just make our marketing authentic, make it funny if you're funny, but also be great, a great communicator, great teacher. There's one thing about, you know, having the results in your own life and then going out there to coach others on getting the same result. But there's a big difference on how you transfer that information to get them the result. And so there are a lot of congruent coaches out there. They've got the result in their own life, but where they found is how to communicate that, how to. On how they did it in a systematic form so someone else can do it too. Because they've probably been doing it with unconscious competence, like they're just in flow. And when you ask them, how did you do that? Like, I'm not sure. I think I just. I think I just did it like this. But they don't really know. They don't know how to unpack it in their mind. And so.

That'S number one. That's number one. If you're shopping around for a coach, know that just because they can grow it and have the result, they may not have the ability to get you a result because they don't know how to unpack what's going on in here. They don't know how to unpack. And you've all experienced it. You probably remember a teacher in primary school or high school, fantastic teacher. You'll never forget it. Everything they said, you just Learned it so well. Like you just understood everything they said. And then somewhere along the line, the teacher gets changed and a new teacher comes in, teaches the same curriculum, but just a terrible teacher. You know, we all had great teachers and terrible, terrible teachers teaching the same curriculum because they just teach it better. And so the way I teach and the way I communicate, and thank you for pointing that out too, is I always like to break things down into bite sized pieces. And so what does it mean for everything that, for everything that I do or someone else does? I always ask myself, okay, what are the three, four or five things that are most critical to that? Like what's the most critical? And you break it down into five steps or three steps or four steps. You always chunk things down and then that's how you deliver it. And then you order it in a sequential way. And when you deliver it, you might draw some diagrams, triangles, squares, all those kind of things to make it easier for people to understand. But you always got to ask yourself, what are the, what are three, four or five things that I did that contributed to that result? And deliver like that. So two mistakes people make is not asking that question to chunk it down in their mind or they deliver 35 steps to get there, and it's just overwhelming. People can't learn in 35 steps. They can only learn in three, four or five steps. So those are two little things that I would encourage any coach or facilitator to do so they can get better results for their clients.

Yeah, I love that. Awesome advice there. And yeah, it's very powerful. I can definitely confirm that when you've got those things there, because we've all got different types of learnings as well. Right. You know, there's visual, auditory, kinesthetic and the audio digital people. And. But just that visual element, whether you're visual or not, just helps, you know, and then how you put that together as well. So that's awesome. Um, so let's, let's, let's switch it up a little bit here, Richmond. Um, I'm, I'm intrigued because, you know, you've, you've had a lot of success, right? Like you, you've done the hard yards initially, you've built a business and you're doing very well. Right. Um, so you're not like, you don't have 51 on 1 clients anymore, right? Do you know what I mean? Like your, your time is, you know, I know you probably were close to that at one point from memory, you know, when you were starting off in the crazy Times and everything like that. Um, but now the model has changed. So now that you know what you're doing, can you maybe just elaborate on, in a general, maybe higher chunked up sense about how you manage your time or what you focus on is probably a good thing in your week so that, you know, as a business person, it's not just doing the coaching. Right. You know, like that you have to be focusing on other things as well.

Yeah. So what I focus on now is very different from what I focused on a year ago and two years ago and when I started four and a half years ago.

And what I focus on next year will be very different too. So as I answer this, it's important to understand that, you know, this is for where I'm at. And certainly if you focus on these things and you're an infant in your coaching business, then you. It's suicide. Like, I would not encourage you to do what I'm doing now to try to grow yourself to your first six figures. Like, that's suicide. Because if you want to become a top chef, at some point you got to clean the dishes, you know what I mean? At some point you got to peel the potatoes, at some point you're peeling the carrots and you're doing all that work before you can get to become a top chef, get your mission start and then become a business owner. And now you hire chefs underneath you to produce the same result. So you must go through that journey as an entrepreneur, as a successful coach. You got to do that. You got to get in and do all the hard work. And so I've done all of that in the first couple of years. And so right now.

I do have a lot more flexibility with my hours when it comes to my calendar, in the sense that at the start, it's like your clients controlling your calendar. As you grow, you control your calendar and your clients fit in when you want them to fit in because it's your business, you've got the brand, right? So what do I focus on? Mostly 80% of the time right now, it's mostly about innovation and creation. And that means how do I innovate my marketing and how do I consistently create a better program for my clients? And so I'm just constantly doing those two things. I'm not so much bogged down into operations of the business like sending invoices.

Or doing admin work or checking emails or anything like that. And from a program delivery perspective, I don't do much one on one anymore. And it's only a couple of group calls a week, and that's kind of it. So it's mostly just moving the business forward from a business owner perspective rather than a business operator perspective. So that's a high chunk. But again, if you're starting out, go do the dishes, go peel the potatoes. Just go do it.

Yeah, definitely. Now, that's awesome. Really awesome to hear. And, you know, I had that, like, a lot of people don't think that innovation, you know, is very key in a business, right? Especially if you want to create a sustainable business. Because you hear the old saying, like the fish and chip shop guy or the way, oh, yeah, I've done this for 30 years and whatever, then eventually, like, you know, who go out of business because, you know, another one will open up next door and it doesn't change, right? Like, you know, you need to be constantly changing in your business because, you know, the market gets more saturated or, you know, different. You know, you have to continuously be different. So that's amazing. And you might not, as you said, spend 80% of your time like Richmond does now, because he's got to that point. But, you know, you've got to think about that. But then at the start, like, I've done, like Richman's done, getting into code, you got to do the one on ones. You got to get, you know, learn your craft, right?

100% you got to do. And you got to take on the clients that you probably wouldn't take on normally, but you just take them on anyway. It's just. It's just how it is. And then as you grow, grow, grow, then you can be a bit more picky with the clients you take on a thousand percent.

Definitely love it.

Now, you know, you've done very well. You've been successful. But I think what's good for people to, you know, to hear is about something that didn't go right for you. Right? So you want to talk about a big business failure, whether it's this business, whether it's something else, you know, up to you what you want to do it on. But I think it's. It's good to hear that, you know. You know, people have failed, right, quite a lot and bounced back. So do you want to maybe share about that and how you overcame it as well?

I've never failed before.

Everything's always gone my way. Everything I touch turns to go, come on.

In front of the cameras anyway, right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's it. Where do you start with failure?

You know.

Redefining failure was huge for me. It Was huge when I started this journey. You know, failure or feedback or lessons, they're one of the same thing. They're one of the same things. So it's important when you're, when you're a coach is just to reframe what failure is. You know, there's no such thing as failure if you learn, if you grow, if you evolve, if you innovate, if you get the lesson. So that was step number one. So my biggest lesson, I'd say, or biggest failure would be.

I'll probably share a personal failure and also a business failure because I feel like they're interconnected. Right, they're interconnected. So from a business point of view.

Early. Early on, I would. Oh, no, I wouldn't say early on. I'll give you a fairly. When I, When I started, for example, when I started Point one.

When I started point one, Point one is about two and a half years old in the first six months of its inception, you know, I was suffering a lot of churn, which means that, you know, a lot of clients were not. Were not happy and they wanted to leave. Like, that was the reality of point one when we started because it was a new program. But the failure in my part was because I was obsessed with my program and not obsessed with the client. It was a huge distinction I had to make after the pain of having a lot of churn. And so I made the mistake that most business people make is they fall in love with their product and they don't fall in love with their client.

And it was a huge lesson for me when I started focusing on the client more than what my product was. Then that's when everything shifted. Because when you become obsessed with your client, you start to become obsessed with what they need, what they telling you, what they're crying out for, what the desires are, what their fears are, what their frustrations are. And you build everything around them.

Everything is built around them and built around satisfying what they remarketing changes your client results. Changes. Everything changes. That's how we got to where we are right now. And so that would. See, that would be one of my most recent mistakes. Obviously, when I started, I made business cards, I got a website, I did all the dumb things that new people do.

So, you know, I didn't understand Facebook's algorithm, all that kind of stuff. Right. But the one that happened about two and a half years ago when I started Point one, was falling in love with my product and not my clients. And that was a big mistake.

Yeah, I love that very powerful Very powerful realization, though, I'm sure. Hopefully everyone's writing that down and, and focusing on that because, yeah, that's, that's really what it is, right? It's like when you do market research at the start of a business, right, like, you know, or, you know, when you put your product out there, what, what are your clients or maybe even the people that are not buying from you, what are they telling you, right? Like, what do they actually want and what do they need type of thing like that. That's, that's really the gold information. Whether you're at the start of your journey or further down the line, it's still, you've got to focus around that because they're, they're going to be the greatest lessons and, you know, your focus areas. So, yeah, I love that. Really powerful.

And obviously, you know, you're coaching coaches, everything like that now, but.

I think this is a great question to ask, of course, is how important is coaching, mentoring, you know, been for you? Right, and, and to help, you know, of what you've had to achieve as well.

It's interesting. You don't know until you get it and then you become addicted. It's like.

It'S like, it's like most things in life, you know, I, I think once you, it becomes a standard, like, you know, we. I don't think there's anywhere anyone in the Western world that can live without a kettle. But there was probably a point in time where, you know, you could live without a kettle, right. Once you get a kettle, it's like, well, now I need the best kettle. Like, you go kettle shopping, you buy the best kettle. I know. It's a funny, funny example. It's like that with coaching. You don't know what you're missing out on until you get it, and then it's a game changer. So.

Coaching'S a must. I'm not saying that because I'm a coach and I sell coaching and all that, but it's a, it's just a must for, for your life. Like, it's like a paying rent. Like you got to pay rent and pay electricity. And for me, I've made it a standard to always have a coach or be paying for a coach in my life.

Because it just compresses time and money and energy and stress.

It's everything. It's everything. And as we speak, I'm looking to make my biggest investment yet in a coach over the next couple of months. I've never invested over six figures in a coach in a year. I'VE invested hundreds of thousand dollars in a coach, but I'm about to make a huge investment and drop over six figures on a single coach in 12 month period. So that's how much I believe in it because it's, it's changed everything with my life.

Love that. Yes, I, I completely agree. You know, it's next level, right? So, you know, it definitely helped me. And, and you know, and it depends on where you are, right, in your life. Sometimes you have multiple coaches at the same time. Some might, you know, you might have one and then you move to another coach. It just, you know, I think just follow your intuition or your gut feeling, whatever you call it, on what's right for you and, you know, get, you know, that person, whether it's life or business or whatever, that's going to help you, you know, to move forward. I think that's the biggest thing, you know, with coaching. So love that. And maybe as we start to wrap this up, Richmond, maybe what one key piece of advice would you give to all of the entrepreneurs listening today?

The advice that I believe is probably the most important advice that.

Anyone can listen. Whether you're an entrepreneur or you're just a mom, or you're just a family person, or you're just working in a corporate, or you're an electrician, it doesn't really matter, right? And you know, this is the eighth wonder. It's eighth wonder. So what's the eighth wonder? Everything in your life, your results, your happiness, your, your health, your wealth is dictated on the people you spend time with. You can't deny this invisible force because the 8th wonder, you're always the average of your top five. Your income's always the average of your top 5. Your network is your net worth. Your net worth is your network.

It's just the truth like gravity is the truth. It's the truth like the universal laws. How do we know this is true? Well, we all know it because when, when you grew up, your parents always told you, don't hang out with the wrong crowd. Don't hang out with that person. Don't date Timmy, don't do that. He's not a good person. Stay away from that person. Every kid on the planet has been told because we all know that you spend time with the wrong people. Your life is quote unquote effed, right? And we all know that story of that person. It may have been you or someone that you are very close to. Might be a brother or cousin that grew up in a good family, strong family, great values, you Know, middle income, good grades. Year seven, doing great. Year eight, doing great. Year nine, doing great. Somewhere along the line, year 10, 11 and 12, something happened. They started doing drugs, they started getting to fights, the grades started going down.

You weren't the same person anymore every single time. You can guarantee it's because that Johnny or Mary or Timmy just started out hanging out with the wrong crowd.

And it doesn't matter how good you are, it doesn't matter how well of a great family you grew up in or what kind of values you grew up in, if you put a kid in the wrong crowd after a year or two or three, eventually they're going to be in trouble. It's guaranteed. It's guaranteed. And so it leads to the question, if that's a guarantee that you put a kid in the wrong crowd, they'll be in trouble, Then what happens? If you put a kid in the right crowd.

It'S guaranteed they're going to be successful.

It's everything in life. It is everything. This is the eighth wonder. But most people know that if they spend time with the wrong crowd, they'll be in trouble. They know that and so they spend time with people like them and so they stay the same.

But they don't realize or ask the question, if I spend time with the wrong people, I'll get in trouble. What if I spend time with the right people deliberately and level up my peer group every single year? Where will I be in 12 months time or 2 years time or 24 months time?

They'd be in a far better position.

Because of just that decision. So that would be my final advice for anyone watching this, even if you're an entrepreneur or not an entrepreneur, is if you're stuck in life right now, the quickest way to change it is to spend time with better people.

Yeah, love that. So powerful. You know, who you spend time with is who you become. So thank you Richmond. Amazing, amazing. End of that. So, yeah, we connected through our networks when I learned about your awesome journey from being an optometrist to becoming a life coach and now, you know, coaching other coaches on how to build successful businesses. You've built a multiple seven figure business and have continuously innovated throughout your journey as well. You have a mindset first focus which ensures your cutting edge business strategies are absorbed and can help your clients to make a massive impact in the world. You know, you're an awesome guy and I'm sure you continue to grow and change the coaching industry for the better, you know, which is well needed and you know, I'm very grateful that we connected that I've been able to learn from you and I look forward to work with you in the future as well. So yeah, how can people find you, get in contact with you?

Easy. They can look me up. Richmonddin.com richmonddin.com it's just my website there and and that's where people can find me on there. They'll find links to other areas like my Facebook page and all that kind of stuff too, but that would be the easiest way. Richmondin.com awesome.

Love it.

So thank you everyone for watching. Listen to this show where we talk about everything on business growth.

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