Blaze Your Own Trail - S2:E17- Awakening the Greatness Within with Clifford Starks

Episode Date: July 23, 2020

About Clifford: I graduated in Kinesiology in 2005 and became a personal trainer. I also became a professional fighter in 2009-2017. It has always been more than just transforming the body though, the mind and spirit play key factors to ones success. Which I definitely learned through my journey as a fighter and a coach. I have been honored to be given the opportunity to work with many clients on their mind, body, and spirit. Helping other’s live happier more fulfilled lives. I realized just how important the mind was in the process of accomplishing any real success. I became extremely fascinated with psychology also had my personal life experience to pull from as well. I am always learning and growing. I love the saying if knowledge was all it took everyone would have 6 packs and be Millionaires. Knowledge is good to have, but applied knowledge is better, so I continue to take action. To grow as a person and a leader is the same as health, you never stop. In this episode we discuss: Clifford's upbringing Why he wanted to start his physical fitness journey What sports he played Where he went to school His journey to the UFC What he's up to now Connect with Clifford: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cliffordstarks1/?hl=en Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/clifford-starks-07a0777a/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cliffordstarks4/ Website: https://cliffordstarks.com/ Thanks for listening!! Enjoy the show? Come join our Facebook community for live interviews, training and more! https://www.facebook.com/groups/blazeyourowntrailmastermind/ If you haven't already, be sure to rate/review the show on iTunes! Installing strategic sales systems & processes will stop the constant revenue rollercoaster you might be facing which is attainable through our 6 Week Blazing Business Revenue Coaching ProgramBook a discovery call with Jordan now to learn more! Are you an entrepreneur?Join my FREE Group Coaching Community where we have live calls, Q&A and more! Our Trailblazer Ecosystem also enables you to network with other entrepreneurs and creator hub eliminates multiple subscriptions and logins creating a one stop shop to take action!Use code: FOUNDING100 for 12 months access FREE and Founding pricing for life! (While Supplies Last)Join now! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, everybody. I hope you are doing well. In this episode, you're going to learn about the journey of Clifford Starks. He is a former UFC fighter turned coach and personal trainer. Such a great guy, such a cool journey to hear how quickly he was able to get to the UFC. So I hope you enjoy the episode and I will chat with you right after. Hello everyone and welcome to the Blaze Your Own Trail podcast. I'm your host, Jordan Mendoza. And I've got a very special guest with me today. His name is Clifford Starks. And I'm going to give him just a second to give us a quick intro about who he is and what he does. Hey, what's up? Thanks for having me, Jordan. So yeah, Clifford Starks, I've lived a lot of life because living life is fun. I'm all about creating insight and inspiring others to do the same thing for. themselves. So I've been a professional fighter, a personal trainer, transformational coach, and the sky's the limit. You know, the further I go in my life, the more I'm realizing how much life I have left to live, how much learning I still have to do, how much growing I have to continue to do, and how much giving back I also have to do as well. It's kind of a give and take, you know? They say with great power comes great responsibility. I'm a big believer

in that. And so I just want to keep, keep learning, keep growing, and keep impacting other people. I love that. Appreciate the info. And a great introduction, absolutely. So let's think about when you were a kid, right, right? I want to give the audience some context. So where did you grow up? Like, what part of the country? And what kind of kid were you? Were you always athletic? Or did you have a high academic side as well? So I was a fat kid who I had an interesting childhood for sure. You know, I went from, lived in California for several years. I actually lived in Chicago and the reason I'm kind of bouncing back and forth because I was so young at that time. But we lived in Chicago for a little bit. My parents ended up getting divorced and me and my mom moved to California. He drove away and

I never saw him again except for I actually just saw him April or let's talk to him, April 25th, and we can have that conversation later on if you'd like. But he called me on my birthday. And the last time I saw him, I was around four years old. So I'm now 39. Wow. Yeah. But yeah, you know, I was a kid trying to figure it out, just like any other kid. I always had a very kind, loving heart. I love people.

Always have, always will. And when kids are cruel, it would mess with me. You know, it doesn't be like, I just want to get along with everyone and I'm getting picked on. But it really calloused me up. It got me stronger. it made me better and it helped me on my journey to take on challenges I didn't know I was going to be taking on. You know, you get really, really, you get in a position and you can take that and be beat up by it. You can take it and be completely hardened by it too.

So when I say callous, I don't mean callous in an abrasive, angry way. But I mean callous as I'm toughened up, you know, the world's going to throw whatever the world's going to throw. And it's up to you to either choose to get stronger or to lay down and take it. That's great. That's great. Appreciate you sharing that. And so how was high school? How was high school for you?

Was it still a lot of the same experiences you had in elementary school? Or, you know, was there a point? Was there a shift, right? Body-wise where maybe, you know, whether it was for the girls or whether it was, you know, just from the, from the, pure sense of being an athlete. Was there a shift there where you decided to take some action and make some changes? Yeah. So there was a major, major shift, actually.

When I was around 14, I was looking in the mirror and we're at a hotel. And you know where they have like the mirror in the front and the mirror in the back where you could just like see yourself in all angles? So that's what I got to see. And I got to see my love handles. I'm like, man, I'm a 14-year-old kid. I got love handles. And that's when I was like, you know what?

I'm doing something about this. Like, I'm done. And I changed up my eating. I started exercising regularly. I started putting it together. And I got really, really strong. You know, I got really, really strong. And my cardio went up.

Everything got better. And in high school, things, it was a major shift because I got into sports. And so when I got into sports, what's so funny is we're always learning lessons. We're always learning something, and everyone's on a different journey. So I never forget, I did a wrestling camp, and in wrestling camp, they didn't have any conditioning. Like, it was just learning techniques. Well, anyway, so after the camp was over and we really started doing wrestling training,

our coach is killing us. after our dread day of training it, I'm like, what the hell was that? And one of the guys goes, Cliff, you haven't heard of conditioning? I'm like, that's what they, I go, this is something we're going to be doing regularly. He's like, yeah, we got to get in shape for the season. I'm like, oh, God. So I took it in stride, but it's one of those things you don't know what you don't know. You know, you just, you don't know what you don't know.

And as you go on your journey, as you go on your path, you do the best that you can. and you live as much life as you can, and then you start growing and adding and becoming and getting more skill sets. And your mind sometimes tells you like, you probably don't want to do that because I didn't want a condition. That stuff sucks.

And I don't think anyone in their right mind would actually love that. It's like you train yourself to love it. Yeah, that's interesting you brought up wrestling. So when I was in high school, I grew up in Portland, Oregon, and there's a bunch of mountains and bewed, and you know it's a lot of nature out there and there was a wrestling academy down the streets called the it

was called the organ athletic club and my neighbor was actually a you know state champion wrestler you know I think he went to the Olympics I mean super super strong and so I looked up to this guy so the wrestlers would come running by my house right I lived on a flat road they'd come running by and I would run out the door and run with them up the mountain you know and it was it was probably three or four miles but I remember doing it and then getting done and being like, yeah, there's no way I'm doing that every day. There's no way. And I had to like push myself to not stop because I didn't want to look bad with all the other

wrestlers. You know, I was like, no, there's no way I'm doing this. I get that, you know, because yeah, conditioning sucks. Anything meaningful, though, you've got to put in energy and effort, right? Oh, yeah. It doesn't matter what it is. Like I remember being a kid if I wanted to get better at Mario Kart. Like I got to play more Mario Kart.

You know, I'm not just going to wake up and be better the next day. Yeah. And that's the thing. Like, as I went through it, I ended up placing my sophomore year. I placed six. I placed third my junior year. And I was a state champion, my senior year. And I was also a state champion in the shot put.

And I was an All-American in football. So when people say like, because we get this misnomer that some people are born a certain way, that's bull crap. Like that's the biggest bull crap I've ever heard. Because anyone can be, if they want it bad enough, just off of what you said, you got to want it bad enough. If you want a bad enough, you're going to get what you need to get. Absolutely. And so did, so what happened after high school, right? You had some accolades, right?

Every year it sounds like you just got. better, right, which is great. You know, you want that upward ability. So was there aspirations to go collegiately or did you, did you go to college? You get any scholarship offers? What did that next step look like? Yeah, so I was at Mesa Community College and I did get scholarship to play football and do track and field there. I didn't have a, they didn't have a wrestling program or I would have joined that as well. I was fun doing that and then my upgrade to the that was going to ASU. And I went to ASU for kinesiology. What was so funny with that is I got my butt handed to me in the ASU wrestling room. Holy crap. I'll never forget the first time

I got like tossed in my head basically. And I'm like, man, I was a state champion. And the guy looks at me and he goes, we're all state champions here. I'm like, okay. All right. And it was it was such a learning lesson because I had already built in the mindset anyway to just like, I'm just going to keep coming until I get better because you know there's just, there's going to be a breaking point where you get to where you need to go. And it's usually it takes between three or six months, depending on how much work and effort you're willing to put into it. And so I put a lot of work and effort into it.

And in three months, I was hanging with everybody in that room. I don't know. Do you ever watch MMA? I do. Yeah. Do you know Kane Velasquez? Yes, I do. Yeah.

Yeah. So I was his training partner. Okay. And it got to the point. No one would go with him. It was me and him. And it wasn't fun. It was a love-hate relationship, to say the least.

Because going with him makes you better. Like going with an animal like that is going to make you better every single day you go. but your mind doesn't really want to deal with that punishment. Like it's like, are we really? Yeah, we're doing this again. But what's so cool about that is I ended up getting a scholarship for doing that. Because I was like, I told my coach, I'm like, coach, I need to make money. And so I have to quit the team.

He goes, well, no one else will go with Cain. I was like, I get that, but I got to leave. I need to make money. I got bills I got to pay. he goes, I'll put you on a scholarship. And so that was a lesson that I did know. You can literally create your destiny. Even when you don't know you're creating it, if you just show up.

Life is just about showing up. And the more you do it, things will just somehow, someway, work out. Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, you literally created the reality. And you did it not from the sense that, that wasn't the goal, right? The goal was to get better. But by showing up and by being that person that set the tone because no one else wanted to do it, yeah, the coach naturally is like,

well, if we can either let you go, right, because you need money to pay for things or we give you the scholarship and then money seems a lot less of a hurdle, right? Exactly. That's awesome. So would you say that, that coach at ASU is someone that's been very impactful for you? Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. I still stay in touch with him too. His name was Tom Ortiz.

That's awesome. So what happened after ASU? So what was the next step? So it sounds like you definitely were competing at a high level in wrestling. So you mentioned MMA. So is that kind of the next route that you went? No. So I actually focused on personal training.

You know, I wanted, I wanted people to feel what I felt when I ended up getting my weight off. Because it was, it was a major confidence boost. I felt amazing. It feels great to be able to have the cardio to do things other people just can't do. Like, just off of what you were saying, you used to run with the team. That's a good feeling to be able to do that all the time. Like it's a, it's just like, yeah, nothing can stop me. I can't be beat.

And so when I went through that process, ultimately I missed it. You know, it's something that you will miss. And as a personal trainer, I learned a lot of lessons going through that, but I wanted to compete again. And I wanted to see what I could do and how far I could do. What? My son's asking for juice. So as I went through that process and really saw, I'm like, you know what, I'm going to fight.

I'm going to give it a try. I'm going to see if I'm any good at this sport. And it's funny because people make it, people make the story sound like it's an easy, easy story. It wasn't. Specifically, I had a lot of people who didn't want me to fight. I had a lot of people telling me that it's not something that I should do. I had a lot of people saying, sit on your sideline, do this instead. You know, the world's going to tell you what to do.

They can't help themselves. They mean it for the best. They want the best for you. But only you know what the best for you is. No one else knows what the best for you is. And sometimes that terrifies people, you know? Like even as a coach, when I coach people through stuff, It's like, are you doing this because you want to do it?

Are you doing it because everyone's telling you what you should be doing? And that's the one thing that I will remind everybody is to go live out your dream. Don't live out other people's dream. They have their own. And if they messed up on living theirs, that's on them. You know, you wish them the best and you keep doing what you need to do. And so that's why I took that step and that leap. And I'm glad that I did it.

Awesome, man. So what was that experience like? Because, you know, you have a wrestling background. So had you done much, you know, boxing or grappling or Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu or any of the other avenues while you were wrestling? No. No, I got my ass kick. I learned how much I sucked as a boxer. I looked how much I sucked as a grappler.

I just knew I knew wrestling. I could take you down and then I could get myself submitted. I could get punched of the face and punch air. So I sucked all around. That's good. So you started from the bottom, right? And so which one did you focus on first, right? Because from everything that I've learned, you're the type of guy that you're going full in and you want to get it down.

And then you're going to move to the next one and you're going to get that down. So which one, like what was the order that you went in just to start learning all these new techniques? Yeah, so I focused on the stand-up mostly. And it was funny that you say that because I ended up getting into the UFC. I was with Trevor Lally from Arizona Combat Sports. And I told him I would have be in the UFC in less than a year. And he's like, you lost your damn mind. Like people who know what they're doing don't get in the UFC in a year.

And so I'm like, all right, well, I just want to try. I respect what you're saying. I completely understand, but let's see what happens. And I ended up making it in 10 months, got there 10 months. And it was just off of what you were saying. You know, you got to get those techniques as sharp as possible and then move on to the next thing. Learn the basics and then go from there. That's awesome.

And so I want you to think about when you found out you got in, right? Like from zero to 10 months, like that's a, that's. That's a very fast time. And I think part of it was the fact that he said that you probably couldn't do it. It was a big push for you. You're like, all right, challenge accepted. Let's do this. So you get the call.

Who is it from that let you know that you were in? And who was that first opponent that you fought in the UFC? It was actually from my agent at the time. He called Trevor. And then Trevor told me. that I was in, and my first opponent was Dustin Jacoby. Okay. So what was that first fight like?

You know, how was camp, like, how was that preparation time? I'm sure the endorphins are going crazy. The energy level was up. You know, this is your first, first fight right, in the UFC. So what was that experience like? And then I'd love to know the outcome as well. And the lessons that you learned. So this was a very,

unique camp all around for several reasons. I was actually on the verge of potentially filing bankruptcy from a deal gone bad. And my fight from it was I fought on shark fights a week before I fought in the UFC. So luckily enough, I didn't get hurt and his opponent ended up getting her. And so they needed a replacement. And so they called me to see if I would be a replacement. And I happened to be ready and injury free. So I'm like, yeah, I absolutely be a replacement. So I honestly didn't have time to really prepare because I was basically, I had just done a camp. And luckily, it was a payment back to back, which helped me pay off that those bills, So I did have to file bankruptcy.

Wow. Wow. You want to talk about serendipity, right? Like, I mean, a planet's literally had to align because you could have got injured in the other fight, right? Wow, that's crazy. So how did the fight go? And what was something that you learned from the first fight to maybe, you know, the last one that you fought? So I was still not completely a developed fighter by any means.

I learned that I could walk on the big stage and perform. Because they always talk about how when you get on the big stage, it's different and everything feels different. And it is, you know, it is. But you're always preparing yourself for that moment. So when we're talking about serendipity and you're so right about that, but sometimes you don't know what's going to happen and that's why you just have to show up every day like every day you wake up just show up and grow and do as much as you can that's awesome very very cool

so how is the rest of the journey are you are you well just for the audience and i don't actually know the answer but are you still fighting or are you focused more on personal training or or the coaching side of what you do? Yeah, so I'm more focused on the coaching side. I actually retired from fighting after I had my kid. So I had to make a decision from there. And that's when I chose to walk away from the sport. I was still in my prime. I felt good, you know. And the cool thing I got going for me, though, is the principles that I get to walk away and use those principles for other people to help them find their success. And I ended up getting certified as a life coach in 2018. We're so crazy about that is like, oh crap, I've been coaching all this time because I've had

coaches all my life. And so you know the difference between the good coaches and the not so good coaches. You know what works and what doesn't work. And you know ultimately there's people who are just they can, the very best coaches can work with just about anyone. Because all it is is about getting the best out of that individual. It's not about making everyone a superstar. It's about understanding what are their wants, what are their needs, what are their desires, where do they want to go, and how do you get them there in the quickest way possible? I love that. I love that. And I know you went to ASU, so this may not make you too happy. I'm going to, but, you know, I'm a big Oregon fan, right? The University of Oregon, they had jerseys, and all their jerseys are nice. I mean,

you've got to admit that even being an ASU guy. They are. The ducks have some jerseys. We've had them for a while. But they printed this one set of uniforms and the statement that was in the back where your tag size is, it said, you versus yesterday. I like that. That's how I think about, you know, like when I do coaching, that's what I think about

for my client is you just want to be better than you were yesterday. You're not worried about tomorrow. You're not, you know what I'm saying? You're worried about being better than a better. version today than you were yesterday. And when you can teach people how to have that, you know, incremental growth, right? We don't need, we don't need everything to happen at once, but we need to see progress every day. And I tell people this all the time. I tell them, listen, action creates momentum. Momentum creates consistency and that consistency is what creates results, right? You have to,

you have to take action first. And you said it earlier, you've got to show up. I don't care if you're coaching, you know, people in sports or business or mindset or, you know, how to be the best juggler. Like, you got to take action in anything you're doing. Absolutely. I 100% agree with that. And what's so funny, too, because I had, I had, she wasn't my client, but she ended up getting coaching. She knows how powerful it is. And she said her entire life changed when she got coaching.

And at the same time, I agree and disagree. and this is why you still have to have the experiences and have experiences to give people that feeling, that emotional feeling that they get behind it. You know, like, if she didn't have those, I'm in a rut, I'm struggling around, I'm doing the same crap and nothing's happening. I have no traction.

Without those experiences, she wouldn't have respected the coach the way she needed to respect the coach to really get out of her own damn way. Yeah. Yeah. And what I find too a lot with coaching is it's not so much that you've given someone all these amazing, brilliant answers. Good coaches are just really good at asking questions that get the answers out of people,

right? They actually end up solving their own problems through contextual conversations around how they're feeling. Mm-hmm. 100%. Well, hey man, go ahead. Oh, I'm sorry. So you're asking about fighting.

And one of the most powerful, powerful lessons I got from it, it's one of the scariest, can I cuss? Go ahead, yeah. Scariest fucking things you can do. It's terrifying because you're getting into a position where you know you can get hurt. And not only do you know you can get hurt, you know you can get hurt, you know you can get hurt in front of friends, family members, and strangers. watching you. And it's it's so empowering to be able to go in there and say, I did that because I chose to. I just want to remind people to do the same damn thing for them for themselves.

Go do, go live out your dream. No, that's definitely a great message, my friend. And, you know, I know there's going to be a lot of people that listen to this episode and they say, wow, you know, a definitely an unorthodox journey to the UFC, right? But, you know, like, that journey alone and the stories that you can tell, especially the client you're working with, right there, I mean, that story is everything because it showed the journey, it showed the process, it showed the desire, it showed the perseverance, right? And all those things are what you need. I don't care what type of business you want to do. Those are some ingredients that you need to get yourself to that next level. So I would love for you to share, you know, what are the

best places to reach out to you, whether it's, you know, social media or your website. And then, you know, what are some things that you're up to? Okay, absolutely. So I have a Facebook group. It's called Awakening the Greatness Within. And you can join that group. The cool thing about that group, I'm coming up with a course. So when I come up with any new material, I posted onto that.

I also, you can get a hold of me on info at Cliffordstarks.com. So that's, I-N-F-O at Clifford-S-E-L-I-F-F-O-R-D-S-T-A-R-K-S-T-R-K-S dot com. Ultimately, what I'm up to is meeting great people like yourself, to be honest. I like having conversations and getting to know their story and letting them and being able to share my story and take those experiences and move people forward. Awesome. Well, I'm going to make sure that all of your info is down in the show notes so people can definitely get in touch with you. And listen, I really appreciate you taking the time for coming on. It's been great getting to hear about your journey and hear about how you're empowering others to be the best versions of themselves. Thank you. I appreciate you having me on. Thank you. Hey, everyone. I hope you got value out of that episode with Clifford Starks. What a cool story, you know, from being kind of picked on to getting himself.

in shape to, you know, learning, wrestling and then getting his butt kicked a little bit and then, you know, making it to the UFC. And now he's helping empower people on their fitness journey and their mindset journey and really awakening the greatness within others. So make sure you go and connect with Cliff. All of his info will be down in the show notes. Also, if you haven't subscribed yet, make sure you subscribe so that we can reach and impact more people, hop on the iTunes, hit that five stars if you enjoyed the conversation, write us a nice review as well.

That would mean so much to me. I would really, really appreciate it. And of course, we do have our Facebook community with former guests of the show and listeners. And I try to add a lot of value there by offering trainings, whether that's bringing on people live and just sharing the insights that I've actually used that have helped me with my show.

So I hope you have an amazing rest of your day wherever you are, and I'll talk to you on the next episode.