Cashflows with Cash Matthews
Financial behavior, entrepreneurship, and the path to success in what we like to call the Good Life!
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Cashflows with Cash Matthews
109. Michelle Hammons on Elevating Your Life and Business with High-Performance Coaching
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Unlock the secrets to elevating your life and business with the guidance of Michelle Hammons, a distinguished high-performance executive coach. Together, we delve into the transformative power of professional coaching across the full spectrum of your world—from personal growth to business acumen. Discover how even the most accomplished individuals can uncover new heights of success with the aid of someone who shines a light on the unseen, and learn about the common myths that may have kept coaching at arm's length for you.
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This episode is a treasure trove of insights for entrepreneurs yearning to master the art of time management and achieve a harmonious balance between their personal life and business ventures. With Michelle's wisdom, we explore how adopting high-performance habits can streamline your daily routine, freeing you up to focus on what genuinely moves the needle. Hear real-life examples of how strategic time blocking and prioritization can transform a hectic schedule into a well-oiled machine, all while ensuring your significant relationships flourish.
Prepare to be inspired as we tackle the role of coaching in navigating the waters of business growth and change. From actionable strategies to leveraging tools like CRMs to the power of envisioning crystal-clear goals, we cover the map. If you're ready to channel your efforts into the three key actions that will propel you forward daily, this conversation is your guiding star. So, tune in and equip yourself with the knowledge to not just set, but surpass your loftiest entrepreneurial dreams.
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Hello, entrepreneurs dreamers, business owners and happy people with high hopes. Welcome to Cash Flows with your host, cash Matthews.
Speaker 1:All right, good morning, welcome to Cash Flows. I'm Cash Matthews, your host, and we're very happy that you're here today. I think this is podcast number 111 that we've done together, or close to that. It's pretty close, something like that, and our guest today is Michelle Hammons and we'll visit with her just in a moment, but I've got a great show planned for the day. Kenneth, how are things in your world before we get going?
Speaker 2:Things are pretty good. The winds are sweeping down the plane, oh yes, yeah, I think that's enjoyable.
Speaker 1:It is Unless you have allergies, or a car that has green stuff all over it.
Speaker 2:That's also true.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay, well, hey, we're glad you're here today. The Cash Flows Podcast is designed for, as the intro says, happy people and entrepreneurs and people moving forward. And you know our method is on the board behind us, but it is fire ready aim, and we love to talk to people about taking the next step in their journey, whether that's personal, family, health, spiritual. But of course, we talk a lot about business because a lot of us are in the business world and this idea was spawned out of a networking group that actually the three of us helped build in the local community. That's grown to 7,600 people the business owners networking group. The bong, for those who find that funny, I had never seen a bong, didn't know what it was. I missed out on that in the seventies, I was busy, and. But I have since learned what a bong is and I've heard all the jokes.
Speaker 1:It's a hit and yeah it's still not that funny, I don't know there's.
Speaker 2:There's several other jokes, jokes too. I was going to say them, but I I can't think. Well, you're what hey?
Speaker 1:you're welcome to throw a joke in there. Michelle you as well but anyway so we're going to fire aim ready today. Our guest today is michelle hammonds, and this is going to be a great conversation.
Speaker 1:Uh, today we get to talk about the world of professional coaching yes we have a lot of armchair quarterbacks oh, I saw this, saw this on YouTube and a lot of Dr Googles out there who self-diagnose man. I am a fan of coaching and I'm a fan of sports and I'm a fan of business. Now that I've been in business over 40 years, I look back and some of those moments for me, michelle, that were the greatest were at the hands of somebody who could see what I cannot see.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 1:At the hands of somebody who could see what I cannot see. Yes, and the value in that for me and my career is just immeasurable. And you know, as I mean, and we all work with entrepreneurs, the thousands of entrepreneurs in the bong and just out in the world and everybody's trying to find the way.
Speaker 3:Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 1:And you know, and it doesn't matter what level of success you've had or are, having man, a coach is a good idea, and I'm a sports nut and I'm a golf nut more importantly, but I've studied many great athletes and that we get to talk about coaching today for me, I am excited about this and if you're listening to this and your life or business or weight or whatever is not where it ought to be, find somebody who can help you. You know all the athletes. So many of the business people will credit a mentor type and I, you know, think a lot of people just getting in business they're worried about the cost of the coach, and I know we're going to talk about that. But, man, you ought to see the cost of not having a coach and it's the difference between where you are and that ultimate dream level, and that's the cost of not coach, and so we're going to talk about the day. So, michelle, thank you for being here with us.
Speaker 3:Well, thank you for being here. I'm excited to see your face.
Speaker 1:I am glad to be here as well, and I don't know, maybe this is what heaven looks like and maybe we're all here.
Speaker 3:Yeah, maybe.
Speaker 1:I could go with that. Well, tell us a little bit. I know we've mentioned this before we met at the bong. Tell us just give us a run up to how you got to this spot in your life and you're a professional coach.
Speaker 3:Yes, I'm a high performance executive coach.
Speaker 1:Okay, we want to hear the words. High performance executive coach yes, okay.
Speaker 3:And I've been doing that full time for the past seven years and working with people all over the world, in the community and in every state almost in the union, and so I have a. I've logged about 5,000 hours of one-on-one conversations in that time, and the depth and breadth of that experience gives you all these new insights. Right, there's one thing to have a coach, but then when you immerse yourself at that level, you get these new distinctions about human behavior and what drives us. And so I got started in coaching from actually a coach. That's one of our long members, aaron.
Speaker 1:Oh, man, one of my favorites.
Speaker 3:Aaron and I have gone. We go back a long way and we I remember this moment. I was sitting in aaron's office I hope she'll be listening to this and she said oh, have you ever thought about being a coach? And this was when I was a corporate leader and I was like, what would I do as a coach? You know there was.
Speaker 3:I didn't know about the industry. That's really, and that's why the basis of our talk today is just to really help people understand what this is and how it helps people. And so it was really that spark right, that blind spot that I'd never heard of. I didn't know. From there I started learning and understanding. And there is a lot of different flavors. We're in springtime, so the different varieties of coaches out there that all do amazing work and it's a billion-dollar industry, right? Or corporate coaching, there's personal development coaching. There's these different kind of flavors that are out there. But I always like to highlight this is no joke. This is a big business. There's a lot of money that's being invested because the value that comes out of it, as you said, it's not the cost of having a coach, it's the cost if you don't have one.
Speaker 1:I agree with that.
Speaker 3:And so really my journey started with having a coach and in that same time of seven years, I've never been without a coach. I've got, I've had the privilege and opportunity to work with some amazing high level coaches.
Speaker 1:Well, if you've worked with Erin Garcia, you've worked with one of the best. Yeah, she's amazing. Yeah, she's tremendous.
Speaker 3:And along with others too, and so I think, though, if I were to take it back earlier, like you were saying, there's that person that unpacks the insight. I really was lucky. So I grew up here in Tulsa and we had, I had amazing teachers, you know, and teachers kind of are like coaches in the big way.
Speaker 3:And I had this incredible coach squad of teachers, is what I would say and so we. We grew up in an elementary school that moved into Wright Junior High, which had an auditorium and our teacher, drama teacher, mrs Jenkins. Every class we would go down to the auditorium and she'd get us on stage. We were on stage every day as part of our class. The gift she gave everyone that crossed her path was this gift of no fear of public speaking.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 3:Which is an incredible gift that we didn't know we were getting. That's had a lifetime impact on me personally, and so we never know that moment and I always had grew up with teachers and coaches that they saw gold, they saw blue, they didn't see anything but being the best excelling for excellence, and so that was really where my coaching got rooted probably is as a kid, and a lot of us we relate to that because we have kids that you know we get a soccer coach or a gymnastic coach or a speech coach, whatever it may be. We gladly pour out to our kids to get that, but as adults we don't often think about that.
Speaker 1:Mrs Jenkins.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You know, I think everybody needs a Mrs Jenkins, and just in my schooling career, you know there were three or four people that just stood out I don't even know if they know it Like what a profound impact they had on my life. I'm 16 years or 14 years old when I get on the debate team and a man stands up and says my goal in this class is not to win championships, although we did. Our goal is to help you think better all the days of your life.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And I'm like whoa big vision. Yeah, and you know, that put me on a path, and so I am so thankful for the people like Mrs Jenkins and Keith Rogers, my debate and speech coach, and Mrs Green, who taught me to read and was always. You know, they're not just coaches, but they're encouragers as well.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and she was pretty astute right. We worked with no notes, we worked with no microphones, we had to project from the stage. She sat in the middle of the theater. Oh my life, it just was such a profound experience.
Speaker 1:Do you think that a coach can help you change your belief pattern, your belief system? Because that's what happened for me. I didn't realize it at the time. But in your world, in coaching, can a coach help that belief system at a very, very impactful level.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So how I think about a coaching session is I'm listening deeply to everything you say, hanging on to every word, and as humans, we throw away a lot of our thoughts. I could never do that. We throw away a lot of our thoughts. I could never do that. That's not something I could ever achieve, right? We have these words, that kind of like, fall out of our vocal cords and we don't realize what we say to ourself. So can a coach change your belief? I think the answer to that is no. Can a coach help you see what your belief is, so you can make the change?
Speaker 2:There you go, absolutely.
Speaker 3:Right see what your belief is so you can make the change Absolutely. Because coaching, different than like consulting or counseling, is about you making the identifying and making the change, and it's it's like this tease out process. We're always teasing out the words. What does that mean? When you say this word, what does that definition for you? Definitions of words are very different for different people?
Speaker 1:Yeah, because of the way we perceive everything.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, and so when we talk about courage or fear, or whatever that word might be, there's different definitions that sit behind it.
Speaker 1:I am never again praying for courage, ever I'm never doing that Whenever I pray for courage. The only place you need courage is when fear is present.
Speaker 3:Right, it only shows up when fear is present.
Speaker 1:Hey God, give me some courage. All right, here's some flying spider monkeys with flaming arrows.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I like. The visual is like here's the fear meter, and only when the fear meter rises can courage rise above it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's no need for courage when your car is parked.
Speaker 3:It's like your inner superhero is how you think about courage.
Speaker 1:Very cool, so talk about the most powerful advice that you've ever received on your end. That maybe changed your perspective on how coaching works and how it affects people.
Speaker 3:So I think it's just this word possibility, right. Possibility is there's really very few things that are impossible.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 3:Right If we start to just look at it in kind of a black and white term, but just this question or idea of what's possible here, what's possible for you, and so having Aaron seed that little mustard seed. All those years ago I worked with a coach that he recently passed away, dan Miller from Franklin, tennessee. He was amazing and he said you know, what does this situation make possible? What's possible here? And whether you're dealing with something negative or positive, there's possibility that can come from that. Sometimes we don't always see it in the moment, so I think it's like, well, if somebody else has done it, then that's possible for me.
Speaker 1:So his question was what is possible?
Speaker 3:Yeah. What does this situation make possible?
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 3:You know, kind of just being in the mix of things. What does this make possible? Right, might make a new relationship possible, a new idea possible, a new connection possible. And there's a relational aspect to what we're talking about that it's important to have community talking about that. It's important to have community.
Speaker 3:It's important to have people around you that are going to cheer you on, share insights, because a coach is going to be your advocate. They're not going to be your spouse or your friend. They're going to love on you and be nice to you, but they're also going to call you out. That's what you're paying for.
Speaker 1:You know, and don't you think that we need? As entrepreneurs, we can be as disconnected as we want to be, and many of us are solo pilots out there trying to fight the world, you know, just on our own.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But I mean a coach. We need people to call us out.
Speaker 3:We do, we do. And it's funny that you bring up a pilot, because on the way here this morning I was thinking it's kind of like a co-pilot, right, the reason why an airplane has a co-pilot is in case something starts to get off track Right. It's going to support the pilot, support the systems, do the checks have a second set of eyes and it's a pretty critical thing when you're on an airplane.
Speaker 2:For sure.
Speaker 3:Right, I've been on occasion to be in a single piloted airplane and it was a different experience. My attention was much more aware that there was no co-pilot, but it is kind of co-piling along and so I think it's that place of possibility. I have a belief, kind of going back to your question about belief systems, if someone else has done it, I can do it.
Speaker 1:Right, if one can, all can.
Speaker 3:Now that doesn't mean that I have these Olympic aspirations in my mind. When I say that, I just mean if someone's proved it out and they've been able to achieve it, that if I do the same things relatively, I should be able to achieve something similar.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So the possibility is there.
Speaker 1:It's kind of like when they broke the four-minute mile the first time.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 1:You know, it took whatever hundreds of years. Nobody thought you could do it and your body would die. And then the fellow did and I apologize, I forgot his name, jim, something or other and he broke the four minute mile within a year. I think three or four more people did as well, and now that's just the standard. Yeah, and belief changes based on your perception of possibility, which you were saying.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and it's this expansion. I'll give you a recent example and I'm not good with athletic names, but I watched the championship ice skater this past week or so and he performed six quads in his routine flawlessly. He set a new bar. That's never been done in this industry and in the skating industry and I watched that performance and I was like now there's new possibility. Right Now every skater that gets on the ice with him in competition knows they got to raise their game or they're going to not have a higher score, because just the technical capability of what he raised the bar on was just, it was astounding, it was amazing. If you haven't seen it Now.
Speaker 1:everybody knows it's possible.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And that's what your mentor said from Franklin Tennessee. What's possible because of this?
Speaker 3:Yeah. What does this make possible? You know, and those if you apply that to your decision-making. So some people feel stuck right, stuck right, and I always say no one's holding you hostage, like there's possibility here. What do you need to explore? And it's that exploration that starts the change.
Speaker 1:Very cool. So I think people have a misconception about what coaching is, what a professional. I like that word, high performance coach. I mean most people think about survival and success, but high performance means getting the most out of your vehicle that you can like, operating within the realm of whatever you're capable of. And I think high performance coach what a great name, high performance coaching. But I think people still have misconceptions about it. They might be afraid to talk to you because I mean, I know there's a lot of reasons they wouldn't cut money, or I don't have the time or I'm not ready for that. I mean, what are the misconceptions about coaching?
Speaker 3:There's a lot of misconceptions, and even I love the word high-performance because that was an orientation I had. But I do think of race car drivers when I think, like I grew up with people in the racing industry, so like it's like fine-tuning the engine right Right.
Speaker 3:So high performance, if you're not in those capacities, kind of has a different definition. That's why definitions are important. But the definition we work with is it's a very clear definition. It's sustained improvement over the long term above standard standard norms, while maintaining your well-being and your relationships. So we're looking at it holistically and that's from the High Performance Institute, which is where my certification comes from, and so that's a really important definition because we're not looking for peak performance. That's not sustainable. We can all go to a peak, but you see that again and again People get to the top of their game but they don't sustain it.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 3:So that's not what we're talking about in everyday ways.
Speaker 1:That's something that you put, things in place that you're building and sustaining on all levels To create a consistent result rather than a one-time grand slam.
Speaker 3:So I think even that is one of the top misconceptions is like I'm going to get in there and kind of go fast and hard at things and make a big difference in a short period of time. That's actually.
Speaker 3:It's kind of the fable right the turtle and the hare the turtle wins because he's consistent, he's pacing, he's, he's taking care of his energy. He's in that story. There's so much power as it relates to coaching, but some of the questions that I often get. I just was in an Uber in California recently and he said why on earth would anybody who's doing well need a coach? I said because they know they want to do better and they know that they're not necessarily in the place to understand and tease out that next level, to really have the clarity that they need or the vision they need or the goals they need or the connections they need to get there. And he was like, oh okay, so I think that's one misconception. And then the other side of that is everything's broken. You're in a rut, your life is going down in a flame, and that is a time that a coach can make a big difference. But that's not generally who I'm working with. Most of the people I'm working with they're working well in their life, but they're wanting to excel and go better.
Speaker 3:Sometimes people will go through a big life change I know that that's happened for you and all of a sudden you get a wake-up call. Life looks very different on the other side of a wake-up call and it's like I know I had that wake-up call when I 32 years old, when my mom passed away, and it just that moment that she, she crossed the finish line. I was like, wow, if I only have 20 years left, because this year I'm 54, this year and my mom is I'm the same age as my mom was when she passed away. So this is like a big kind of anniversary year in my mind, because I'm like did I live my life the last 20 years and play full out Because that was my commitment? In that moment it was like, wow, I'm not waiting until I retire, I'm not waiting on anything Good for you.
Speaker 3:This time of 20 years is going to fly by, which it has.
Speaker 1:Oh, man, in a minute.
Speaker 3:It does, and so every minute counts, and so I like the focus of time, because when we start to appreciate our time, then we start to see how much we can change, and so the misconception, I think, is sometimes something has to be really broken or messed up. Sometimes people go through a divorce, or they go through a loss of someone, or they go through a job loss or change, and, by the way, for those of you out there, anyone that I've worked with that's gone through those things there's always something better on the other side if you take control and drive where you want to go right.
Speaker 1:There's no snooze button on the wake up call.
Speaker 3:No, and I think the other yeah it's like it's time to go.
Speaker 3:I think the other thing is people kind of have this idea of like it's out of reach or it's unaffordable or it's only for people that are doing really well. I, just an everyday person like me, wouldn't benefit from this, and that's just simply untrue. We are all like I love to use our fingerprints because we're uniquely made and we are not meant to be like anyone else. God gave us a purpose on this earth and you may need to continue to work on fulfilling it and figuring out what it is, but you have a unique. You're put here for a reason to connect with other humans and make a difference in your life and others, and so everyone can have an experience with coaching that really helps them.
Speaker 1:Now, so you do one-on-one coaching.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 1:That's primarily how you do it.
Speaker 3:That's primarily how I work is one-on-one.
Speaker 1:High performance, one-on-one coaching. We get busy, high achievers. Do you ever do any group events where people could come to learn to know you Is?
Speaker 3:that something you've ever done? Yes, sometimes I do host a group events. I've gotten with COVID. I always worked one-on-one and that probably isolated me even further because these deep conversations they're quiet and they're intense and they're fun and so I don't do as much group, but sometimes I do get out and do group sessions or I'll host a group event because I want people to understand how much even collaboration with a question can make a difference. You know there's social learning that is important.
Speaker 1:Right, so by the end of our show, I bet there's some things you'd like our listeners to know about coaching. Are there some things like Are there some goals you would have just for this podcast?
Speaker 3:Absolutely One is just the clarity about what coaching is, kind of dispelling the myth. Right, what is this thing that people are calling coaching and how can it help you? Right, that's. The second piece is like, if you're out there listening, where is your blind spot? Where is your struggle? Where do you feel stuck, maybe, where do you feel foggy or unfocused? All of these are kind of those words that go along with it might be time to talk to somebody and see what's out there for you.
Speaker 3:And then where to begin is the piece that I also want to hit on in our session because, I think people don't know where to start, and sometimes it starts with taking our thoughts and just writing them down.
Speaker 1:That's a great idea.
Speaker 3:We'll talk about that. But yeah, those are the three things. Just clarity about what it is, how it can help others and how it can help our listeners. And then where would they begin if, today, they took the first step? What?
Speaker 1:might that first step look like? And what is the first step? Just writing everything down.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so part of it is when I work with people they'll be like I just, you know, I feel overwhelmed, or I've got all these ideas, I'm not sure what to do, I'm not sure which one to start with. So one is, I think, of our mental list, right, if we're not like kind of dumping them out on paper. I think of it like a paint bucket Just dump them out, right, and just dump them out Right, and when you dump those thoughts on paper, something magical starts to happen, where you can see it differently. If we leave them up here, I think of it like a plate of spaghetti that we just keep putting more noodles on and they just kind of slither off and we throw it back on top, maybe a day or two later, maybe never, right, and some of those thoughts are very valuable. So I always encourage someone to start with journaling.
Speaker 3:Just journal your thoughts, journal your ideas. You don't know, I believe those are like downloads that are coming to you Right, especially from a creative perspective. Somebody gets it like I had this idea that came to me, right, it woke me up in the middle of the night. I woke up with this idea. This sounds like a crazy idea. What should I do with it? Just write them down, because all of a sudden it puts a different energy in motion, to see where you can take that idea.
Speaker 1:So do you have them journal? Maybe even the negative things as well, the worries, the fears, the things that we're trying to conquer.
Speaker 3:Yes, often I will work with people that they'll say I'm just not getting any sleep, and I just want to say energy is a core element of coaching, because if you're working from a depleted energy tank, you're not going to go as far and as fast as you can, you're not going to show up for yourself, your friends, your family, those people that are important to you, your clients.
Speaker 3:So we work on energy, but sleep comes up often because it's like, well, when you're overloaded, right, your mind's working overtime and so sometimes people will wake up with those racing thoughts and so journaling, whatever it is, and this is a practice that I love, and it sounds a little corny, but this is just how I do it. It's like sometimes I lose my car keys. I'll use this example and they're misplaced or somewhere, and I'll be like, okay, while I'm resting peacefully, I need you brain to be working on the solution and figuring out where my car keys are.
Speaker 3:You know, that's kind of an example of how I self talk it out. But if you put, if you write those thoughts down, like whatever those fears or worries are, all of a sudden you can start to begin to see different solutions. You know, here's a fear about, maybe, finances, or a fear about a relationship, or a fear of a failure, right, or there's all kinds of fears that we can and fears are real to people.
Speaker 3:So, we want to kind of take that energy away from the fear, and I think when you write them down it kind of just takes the oxygen out of fear a little bit.
Speaker 1:So a good starting point write these things down, good or bad, whether it's an objective or a fear, and just start to evaluate them.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and that's a great self-exercise. Right To begin thinking about what is important to you, Right? And most people don't ever even spend five minutes with their self literally to think about hey, by the end of this year, where do I want to be Right, or what do I not like?
Speaker 1:right now that I want to change, and I think that's an interesting thing Things that you want out of your life, and it might be people, it might be things, it might be behaviors. I mean, what a great thing to do to write it. And I'm that guy, I've written things down forever.
Speaker 3:So I agree with that. I mean almost all personal development that you go back to. Gratitude is a key element. Like to wake up and be grateful for the sun, that you have fresh sheets, that you get to take a hot shower, that we live in America, in an amazing country. Right, we have our problems, but this is still the greatest place on earth to be.
Speaker 1:I think that's maybe that's a great starting point. You know I work in the financial world and I like to talk to people about okay, I know what you don't have. Let's talk about what you do have. Let's talk about these values, this life that you've had, and I think that's such a great starting point.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and with your line of work, like money, mindset comes up in sessions all the time right. Like our beliefs are what our parents and their habits and routines. Maybe somebody gave us a gift of their belief or thinking and we've just kind of carried it along like a little piece of luggage in our life and it's okay to kick it out.
Speaker 1:Like you can get rid of that piece of luggage, yeah we call that junk in the trunk, like is there stuff that we need to remove?
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, good for you coaching it. So there are other coaches out in the world and I know there's lots of kinds of coaches. What separates you? Why are you different?
Speaker 3:I mean.
Speaker 1:I know you're certified. I think that's a great starting point and you've got a great mentor in Aaron and you've been at this quite a while. But let's differentiate from where you are and some of the others, not in a negative way, but in a positive way. What makes you different?
Speaker 3:So one a common question is do I need a certified coach? Am I certified or not certified when you hire a coach? I'll use this example. I had to go get a wedding gift sack and I went to Dollar General and on the door when I walked in was we're hiring part-time cashiers for $22 an hour. So I'm a math person. I'm like okay, they're $22,000 a year. You can get a part-time cashier. Well, the distinction in coaching is your skills, your experience, your certifications. It's a life accumulation that when you're sitting one-on-one with a coach, you're getting the benefit of a lot in that session.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah.
Speaker 3:And so certification like people have business certifications, mine happens to be in high performance. I have several certifications and the distinction in the high performance, which I love, is because we custom tailor it right to you and it meets people where they are. But it was actually science studied Right. So they did the science work to say what makes high performers high performers and what did we learn about those elements of high performers. And they did. They studied, like millions of people and interviewed hundreds of leaders across the world. So it's science basedbased and outcome-driven. That's very different than a lot of other coaching. Sometimes there is coaching that's like well, here's my orientation, so let me share it with you and see how it goes for you. There is that kind of coaching, but this one is very specific. We're outcome-driven, based on what you are saying is important.
Speaker 1:Right, so we're going to take a break here, a commercial break in a second. But before we do, where can we find you on the social world and the internets? Where are you?
Speaker 3:Yes, so you can find me on LinkedIn and Michelle Hammons, and you can also find me on my website, which is creativityplaybookcom, and on that site we'll talk about a couple of tools that can help.
Speaker 1:Okay, we're going to take a quick commercial break. Kenneth, who do you have for us today?
Speaker 2:This episode is sponsored by Kenneth Bauckham Photography. Hi, my name is Kenneth Bauckham and I'm here to help you bring your awesome ideas to life. I specialize in helping businesses explode their online presence through professional photography, video and virtual event production with a rapid turnaround. It's commercial photo and video services with a personal touch. Learn more at KennethBalkhamcom.
Speaker 1:I'm not going to lie. One of our favorite advertisers, that dude is good.
Speaker 2:I don't know if you know him. He's awesome. I've heard him once or twice.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the podcast king. I like it All right. We're here today with Michelle Hammons and we're talking about high performance coaching and I love, I love that word. You can find her at creativity playbookcom. You can find her on LinkedIn and you're on Facebook as well, and we can find your podcast again on I guess we're on YouTube as well and all these other spots, so you're kind of out there.
Speaker 3:Yeah, out there you can Google me.
Speaker 1:You Google pretty well, very, very cool. So we're talking today about high-performance coaching and we're talking about the coaching industry as well, but insights on coaching that the I don't want to say the average person, but the average entrepreneur might not know, but you've worked on this a long time. You've been on the inside of entrepreneurship. The thing I love about coaching and I love repeating this is we all need another set of eyes.
Speaker 3:Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 1:But we have a rearview mirror and a windshield and it just gives us a different visual. I'm a golfer. Favorite golfer in the world is Jack Nicklaus.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 1:And about every year of his career he would go back to his coach, even when he was great, and he would say, hey, I want to learn to play golf. This year and every year in January, they would work on the basics, the stance, the grip, all of it. And if it's good enough for the greatest athletes in the world, then it can be great enough for entrepreneurs trying to climb their own ladder.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, and you know any champion you look at. There's no way they would wake up without a coach.
Speaker 1:No way.
Speaker 3:Yeah, when we think about, I think of like Simone Biles or Tiger Woods or you know just all these amazing people out there.
Speaker 3:They know not only do they need one coach, they might need multiple coaches for their distinctions, for those techniques that they're looking for in their performance, and that works true for entrepreneurs as well. Our performance is we show up with our business community and we're trying to make a difference most of the time and we're trying to have life and work balance and we're trying to have a relationship, sometimes with the spouse that we work with, which can be another whole level when we think about that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you definitely need some coaching on that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and so I think part of what, when we look through that entrepreneurial lens, is a coach is your advocate. It's somebody you can kind of bring your frustrations, to bring your emotions to that it's not going to be pouring it out on the dinner table every night with your spouse or your family, or it's just to help you have that advocacy for yourself. And I work with couples and there's, you know, amazing things that happen when couples work together in coaching or entrepreneurs work as individuals, but there's all these distinctions that they can find that are important to them and so much like, I think, entrepreneurs. As I said earlier, they they're so resilient and they work long hours and they often don't always take the time to take care of their self and then they find their self years later, just maybe feeling burned out or stressed out or maybe not really with a plan, a good exit strategy. Right, we all need an exit strategy. We're all going to retire someday. So these are the things that we work on holistically all the time.
Speaker 1:So well, tell us what is a strategy or an insight that, once people learn it, is game changing for them.
Speaker 3:So for me I go back to this element of time Time is our most finite resource and it's our most precious commodity. You can go make all the money in the world, but you cannot buy not one minute more of time, and so how we spend our time becomes this very important checkbook that we need to pay attention to. I'm like a lot of people pay attention to their finances, and you should, but you should pay attention to your time more, because it's the thing that, depending on what you do with it, is going to create a lot of other results in your life, including relationships, finances, business success, experiences that you want to have in your life. So I always like to break it down and this is one of the tools that I'll share later, but it's just getting clear on your time, right, most of us that work, we're going to work and.
Speaker 3:I'd say entrepreneurs work probably eight to 12 hours a day is the average, somewhere in there. But let's just say it's eight for this example, and maybe let's say we're getting good sleep, so that's eight. So you've knocked off 16 hours out of 24. You've got a finite amount of eight hours, or probably a lot less, to get everything else done in your life Right hours, or probably a lot less, to get everything else done in your life Right your social obligations, your family obligations, your health obligations, your cooking healthy meals or you know all those things that it comes down to this like finite amount of time. So if you're not aiming your focus in a really laser sharp fashion, you're probably going to miss or let time leak or drift. That's going to be unproductive.
Speaker 1:That's a great phrase aiming your focus.
Speaker 3:Yeah, fire aim ready.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh, I love it yeah.
Speaker 3:And so for me, I think it's like for that was my wake up call about time. In that moment I was like, wow, if I only have 20 years left, how am I going to live it?
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 3:Right, I kind of put that mile marker out there on the horizon, and so sometimes I think we think we have a lot of time or we'll, you know, do this stuff when our kids graduate from high school or go to college.
Speaker 1:As soon as.
Speaker 3:We'll do this thing, the next thing that happens.
Speaker 3:As soon as I'm out of debt, the New Year's resolutions, and so you've got to really take control of your time every day, every day, and really own how you want to spend it. And we get caught up in other people's agendas. We get caught up. How much does this mess people's lives up? Oh, the cell phone. So it's such a powerful tool. I'm a technology person, so. But if you're out there, I want you to go into your phone and I know this Apple setting is a settings screen time and I want you to turn it on the average. The average for a kid is eight hours or more a day. Wow. The average for an adult is about four hours a day or more.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 3:So a common thing that I hear is well, I don't have time to work on that.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:Right, we come back to time, because time is our limiting commodity. Well, I love that tool. It's an awareness tool, not a judgment tool. And I say, okay, I want you to really look because it'll tell you minute by minute.
Speaker 2:Are we?
Speaker 3:on texting. Are we on Facebook, are we on YouTube? Are we on TikTok, are we on? And there's no judgment in social media, it's social. So carving out some time if that's something you enjoy is fine, but if you're spending hours on it, one, you're killing your relationships, because, living out of your phone and I hear this answer, but I use it for business and I go okay, let's evaluate that a little deeper, because that may be true, but I bet there's some time you can reclaim. And even 10 minutes a day is 40 hours a year and you can move the needle a lot.
Speaker 1:That's an extra week a year.
Speaker 3:That's an extra week a year. Wow, needle a lot, that's an extra week a year. That's an extra week a year, wow. And so that's why I love to take time up and down the scale, because you might say you don't have time to do something, but if we can start taking back 10 and 15 minutes at a time, that's just drifting into nowhere land. You may not even have a conscious awareness about it and we start applying it to your real dreams. That put fire in your belly and you're like if I could, if this was possible. That's where we bring that possibility back, because you've got to have time to work on things.
Speaker 1:Amen, an extra week a year, there's your extra vacation. Yeah, I mean, a lot can happen in a week. That's when you yeah.
Speaker 3:When you can have concentrated focus. So now we have to change our habits, right, because we may only get to do it 10 or 15 minutes a day, but that over time is compounded and you got to know what you got to do and jump in and jump out, because you've got other priorities too.
Speaker 1:Right, wow, that's a pretty good tip right there. Laser focus, reduce Facebook, get a free vacation. I may have skipped a step in there, but so so what's one mechanism or things, what's something somebody could learn that they could implement right away from you as a coach. If you were just talking to a crowd and you wanted to have one giveaway, what's that one giveaway they could implement and see value pretty quickly taking control of your time is probably the primary.
Speaker 3:You know if you're not working with a calendar and this isn't.
Speaker 3:You know, when we talk about this, I don't want you to plan every minute of your day.
Speaker 3:That's not the goal here, not to have it all sliced and diced in the calendar, but it's like to have these time blocks that represent is this what's important, or what are you doing? Because it's the awareness piece of what are you doing that starts you to, because it's the awareness piece of what are you doing that starts you to, gives you the visibility to see I can move this, I can, I can change this. I don't have to serve on five boards in my community. Maybe I need to pick the top one and gain four hours back a month, right so, and all of those things are important. So it depends on the person, it depends on the priorities, but what I find is, when people really assess their time, that they start start to see. Well, this was because I said yes to this thing and this was because I said yes to that thing, and this was something that my friend asked me to help with and my community asked me to do, and, all of a sudden, this finite amount of time that we had is serving other people's agendas.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and if you give up those you find those other four hours a month. That's another 48 hours a year Exactly Now you got a two week vacation.
Speaker 3:That's right and that is exactly like. That's why I like to blow the math up and down the scale, because it matters. It really does matter.
Speaker 1:You use the word time block just to explain that very briefly for our listeners, because there's brilliance in this, and would you explain time block?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So time blocking would be to give yourself focused time to work on something. And so for people who go into a business like a retail store, probably eight hours of their day, if they're open retail and they're managing the front counter which hopefully, if you're the entrepreneur and owner, you're doing some of that, but you have some other time for other things. So business administration, for example. So business administration, for example, getting the things done that need to be done, paying the bills, doing that stuff that's like non-revenue producing You've got to have very dedicated time to work on those things. You also may have time to do customer relationships, for example, or nurturing new.
Speaker 3:You working on the things that are going to keep your business viable and are you making time for them? Because entrepreneurs they'll say, well, I'm going to do the job that I'm doing during the day and then I'll go home and work on the bills tonight, or I'll work on my email list, or I'll work on whatever those things are they're working on and they don't really put them up in the business day, if that makes sense, and so you take that time block and you lift it this day, if that makes sense and that. So you take that time block and you lift it. But the time block is to establish with clarity what am I going to do for for between nine and 10 this morning and what is my intention in this hour. And then, how am I going to measure where I'm at at the end of it?
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:Right, those are those little things and I love that. When we look at the clock right, you can have a 60 minute block. You can have four blocks of 15. You can have two blocks of 30. You can have three blocks of 20. You can have six blocks of 10. If you start getting more finite about your task list, you can break that time down where it starts to get more efficient.
Speaker 3:Now, most of us are underestimating how long things are going to take and we're overcommitted and you cannot see that. That's a blind spot because you're not writing it down, and so that writing you know, capturing a calendar, whether it's on paper or in a digital format, is important. The second piece of that is, if you don't do what you said you were going to do which happens all the time because this is a life roadmap and life is going to happen to us we're going to get knocked off our schedule. You're going to want to go and give yourself credit for what you did do. It was probably important. It was probably a competing interest to the other things that you didn't think about. That's why writing things down helps.
Speaker 1:So is that where the difficulty, integrating these things are? I mean, integrating change is the challenge, I think. Sometimes, maybe you show us what to change or how to change it, but you know it's got to become a habit though, right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's got to become a habit and, by the way, we have to be a little kinder to ourself. Like we're going to fumble, we're going to stumble, we're going to fall, we're going to knock ourself down, right? We're not looking for perfection.
Speaker 1:Right, but a coach will help you integrate because they can you know if you're meeting once a week or twice a month, or however that works out. The coach can help integrate these changes through, maybe, accountability.
Speaker 3:Yeah, definitely accountability. We check in, celebrate wins, right. We want to see where things are going and hey, where did it not go so well?
Speaker 1:So give me an example. What would you say to somebody like me, you know, if I'm failing to integrate something? What is the verbiage that a coach would use to go hey, Cash, pull your head out, I mean, what would your words be?
Speaker 3:So do you have an example, like a real example of a challenge, maybe?
Speaker 1:Everything's challenging, you know, in business, just trying to juggle all the plates and maybe one of them is just building your CRM better. You know that's something we're working on right now building our database better.
Speaker 3:So CRMs can be very robust tools and they can be like an empty Sam's warehouse when you start right.
Speaker 3:And you got to build it and put every aisle the way you want it. So it's one to define the priorities right. What's most important first right and start working in a priority order. The other thing is you said I have many things to do. So I often hear I talked to someone yesterday, I put many things on my list. I go how many is many? Well, there's probably 25. Well, I can tell you, if you're out there and you're putting 25 things on your list, you're starting with a very unreasonable expectation. Our recommendation is three key needle moving things a day.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 3:In high performance, right, so we're going to focus in on those. It doesn't mean those other little things don't get sprinkled in, but when you get down to that time, we want you to be working on the needle, moving things, not the task mastering. This feels good and I get to check it off my list and I feel some fun endorphins that flow.
Speaker 1:So what is the next step? For our listeners, if they like the idea of coaching, how do they? I mean what? What do they do next with you?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so just like we're sitting here having a conversation and exploring what's going on, you know, what are you what? What are you thinking about, what's on your mind, what are your priorities? It's just a possibility session.
Speaker 1:I go back to that word Possibility session.
Speaker 3:And it's. Someone can book that on my, my calendar, and we just spend 30 minutes saying, okay, where are you at, what's on, what's prompting you to think you might want to have this conversation? Usually there's been a change or something's going on that's stirring that, and so we try to just add as much value in that 30 minutes that we spend together just breaking it down and then evaluating Is this a really, would this be a good thing to take a next step with, or are there other resources or things that might help you? We all start somewhere.
Speaker 1:So are there people that probably shouldn't get a coach? I mean, you meet people and maybe they're not ready. How do you delicately say that to somebody Like I don't think this is right for you? How does that go?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so that's part of the conversation, right? What's? Are you ready to make some changes? Because if there's not a readiness and a growth mindset, then it's a waste of money. Right? I wouldn't recommend someone do it and again, sometimes depending on where we are in our life season and timeline, like I remember way back when I started in personal development, it was starting with books. It was starting with. I'm going to date myself cassette tapes from Nightingale Conant.
Speaker 3:And so when you, so you don't have again going back to the financial investment, the level you invest in as a coach. You're going to get the level back in return for the dreams that you're going to leave on hold if you don't have support. But you can start in other places. So not everybody's in that position. So sometimes it's a resource recommendation hey, I think you need to work on refining your schedule and routine and then we'll come into the practice of coaching. Right, but we can do that as part of it too. It's just sometimes people start at different places.
Speaker 1:Okay, so do you see, is there one common thing that entrepreneurs like that's the most common thing that they need coaching on? I mean, you said some great things writing everything down. I think that's a gem. You know managing your time. Is there one thing that seems to be the most common discussed item? Absolutely, and I'm asking this for a friend.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah. There's two things. One I believe, as a creative, that if in my mind I can't see it as clear as a photograph, I know I won't achieve it Like. That's how clear it has to be for me personally. Now that may not be true for others. So, vision right, the clear vision, but the clarity is the key. If you feel stuck or foggy or fuzzy or not sure what to do next, there is and you need to dig for more clarity.
Speaker 1:OK.
Speaker 3:And clarity has another word that's its best friend, and it's called specificity. So clarity says this year I am going to grow in my business by 20%. Specificity says I'm going to grow my email list by 10,000 people and I'm going to make routine offers to provide my services or whatever those things may be to get me there right.
Speaker 1:That next layer or two or three down in specificity is where entrepreneurs get stuck, got it.
Speaker 3:So is the specificity, how to do the thing on some level. Well, it's the clarity that takes it down from this kind of global thinking down to the roadmap. Okay, right, we're going to land it on the highway, is what I say. Okay, and know where you're driving towards.
Speaker 1:Very cool. So for those people ready to go to the next level with you, I mean, I don't know. I think this is such a beautiful topic and I hope we can revisit this again, because I don't think this is a one-show kind of topic. I think coaching is so valuable Like I don't know man. I mean this transforms lives, right.
Speaker 3:It does, it transforms lives. It literally has saved people in their marriages.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:You know the relational side of it is huge, but it also saves businesses, right? Because if you don't have that insight, that one insight might be the difference of you keeping the doors open or closing them.
Speaker 1:Well, that's a great thing to say. When you say that this saves businesses and marriages, do you feel like this business frustration that many people have has a negative compound effect on their lives and their personal lives?
Speaker 3:Sure when you're under financial stress.
Speaker 3:for example right, I did credit counseling earlier in my career and financial stress will take you down. You know any stress will take you down. There's plenty of medical data that says, hey, the stress has an impact on our health. So if you are feeling those stressors, it's like okay, what can we do about it. And I guarantee you, like there's 8 billion people on this planet. There's other warm, friendly, feeling those stressors. It's like okay, what can we do about it? And I guarantee you, like there's 8 billion people on this planet, there's other warm, friendly, loving people out there that have been there. They've done it just a few steps more than you have and a coach can help you.
Speaker 3:But also, you know, if you're not at that, if you're not ready for that, get a mentor, get a coach, get a counselor. There's distinctions in all of those things.
Speaker 1:I think everybody needs a mentor, and what most people have is a tour mentor, which is their alter ego. Who's sitting there judging?
Speaker 3:them. That's a great yeah, we do it to ourselves right when you think about how hard we are on ourselves as entrepreneurs?
Speaker 1:We are here with Michelle Hammons and the creativityplaybookcom. You can find her all over Facebook and LinkedIn as well. Now, you've given us so much today and thank you so much for your insight. Do you have an extra business nugget for it? This is like nine business nuggets you've already given us. Is one of those the most important?
Speaker 3:Yeah, don't stay stuck. Be humble enough to ask for help. Raise your hand. It's not a sign of weakness. It's not a sign of anything other than we all need help in this world, and if you're brave enough to ask, you're going to take yourself into a new place by doing it. And so don't sit there alone stuck. Ask for help.
Speaker 1:That is great wisdom. The money right there. I like it. That's the money. I think that's great. You know, asking for help is not giving up. Asking for help is refusing to give up. And if you're looking for help to go to the next level, michelle Hammons is somebody you may want to visit with, have a cup of coffee with and find out hey, here's where I am, here's where I want to go. Do you see a different route? Did we get that all?
Speaker 3:right, you got it.
Speaker 1:You got it, michelle thank you for being here today. What a great show this one I'll watch again. So thank you for being here today at Cash Flows. You know we are here to promote each other, to love on one another and to push the needle in business life, entrepreneurship or other endeavors, and we bring in experts in that field, and we hope you've had a great day. Remember today's a great day to forgive somebody. Forgiveness is not about them, it is about you and living a life without all of that pressure of holding onto a grudge. Kenneth, thank you for another great show. Thanks to our listeners and our watchers and to our friends out there in Cashflow's world. I'm Cash Matthews. We're glad you're here today, thank you.
Speaker 2:That's our show for today. Stay tuned for another riveting edition of cash flows.
