Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan - John Walsh Founder of StandoutX on Standing Out to Craft A Meaningful Life Episode 71
Episode Date: September 8, 2020John Walsh, founder of StandoutX, former executive at The Walt Disney Company and The Madison Square Garden Company, and bestselling author, does not seem like the kind of man who started out his life... battling homelessness. But John has turned his adversity into fuel that has catapulted him into success. And this success is not defined by an important job or large salary, but by his own definition—investing in his family and helping those around him. He understands that to craft your life towards a meaningful legacy, you must take risks, put in what you hope to get out, and uplift others. So join the Stand Out Movement and build your own success. About The Guest: John Walsh is an inspirational and successful executive, entrepreneur, author, husband and dad with a passion for impacting the lives of others. John faced many challenges, uncertainty and failures early in his life but he created a purposeful and happy life with a lot of hard work and help from others. Over time, he created a playbook that allowed him to make the journey from homeless in high school to a senior executive with Disney and Madison Square Garden. He is the founder and CEO of StandoutX, whose mission is to inspire and help millions of young adults stand out in their own lives and careers. Finding John Walsh: Website: https://standoutmovement.com/ Buy his book: The Stand Out Experience Instagram: @johnwalsh_standout LinkedIn: John Walsh To inquire about my coaching program opportunity visit https://mentorship.heathermonahan.com/ Review this podcast on Apple Podcast using this LINK and when you DM me the screen shot, I buy you my $299 video course as a thank you! My book Confidence Creator is available now! get it right HERE If you are looking for more tips you can download my free E-book at my website and thank you! https://heathermonahan.com *If you'd like to ask a question and be featured during the wrap up segment of Creating Confidence, contact Heather Monahan directly through her website and don’t forget to subscribe to the mailing list so you don’t skip a beat to all things Confidence Creating!  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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I'm on this journey with me.
Each week when you join me, you're going to chase down our goals.
Overcome adversity and set you up for better tomorrow.
After no sleep, I'm ready for my close time.
Hi, and welcome back.
I'm so glad you're back with me this week.
And for any of you parents that are home,
Zoom School, and your kids, my heart goes out to you.
I'm in it with you.
I am the lunch lady, and I burnt my hand last week,
and it's been a real headache.
I'll tell you, being not only the parent
that gets your kids ready to go off to school in the boarding,
but then trying to work room by room side by side and not disturb the other one and then
make lunch in the middle of the day and then try to regroup and see how classes are going
while you're trying to get your work done.
And then I'm changing my schedule to make sure I'm not doing shows or interviews when he's
in school because there's just no way to manage the noise.
It is total and complete chaos. So if you are in it, wow, I am so feel. I feel for you and empathize with you.
And they say that because someone said to me today, oh, well, you wouldn't know, you know, you have it totally together.
No, I do not. And it is really trying at times. And it's not about our kids.
It's just it's a complete new layer of responsibility
and work in adapting with schedules.
And wow, it is, it's wild.
So I'm with you.
Okay.
So to that point, actually around the coronavirus,
before everything happened, let me just take it back before that. Okay, so my
past life was in corporate America. I was a chief revenue officer. I was named one of the most
influential women in radio, and I got fired unexpectedly when the CEO I worked for for a hundred years
became ill. He elevated his daughter, and she fired me. So I took that opportunity to write and
self-publish my first book, Confidence Creator.
I googled how do you sell books and it said speak.
I had been speaking for years for free, didn't know it was a business.
So I started cold calling companies and pitching myself to speak for free.
And everyone said yes.
And so I was super busy speaking everywhere.
And then finally, someone said, what's your speaker fee?
And then I googled speaker fees.
And then I learned about speaker agencies and bureaus,
and I started pitching myself for them.
And then I got a ton of agents, and then my speaking business took off.
And that became my primary focus.
This goes back to, you don't need to know the how, right?
When I went to work for myself, I didn't know what I was going to do.
And you don't need to know the how today.
Just know that.
Okay, I did not know the how on any of this.
I just kept taking action and getting up and swinging
and going for it and the way just started
becoming more and more clear.
So I was speaking a lot.
I did this huge event in Boston
where I got to interview Sarah Blakely and Jesse Itzler
live on stage.
I headlined for the WNBA in Las Vegas.
I spoke for MGM, because I've been speaking
all over this country, so many amazing events, and it's been so fun, and rewarding, and I've
loved it, and it definitely, I was like, okay, this is what I'm meant to be doing.
Finally, I got it.
This is my business.
I was not even a year into it. Well, maybe
about a year. I mean, it was about a year in. And the pandemic hit, oh, I'd given my TED
X talk. I got promoted to TED, translated to six languages. I was like, okay, things are
finally starting to click momentum. We all need momentum, right? And then the pandemic
hit. And then I jumped on my Peloton and thought, what do people ask me for? That I haven't had the time to deliver for them, that I could charge for now.
And that was mentoring and coaching, executive coaching.
I've been asked for years to do this, and I would just say no.
Here is a huge mistake, don't make this mistake.
When people ask you for things, and you don't have time to do it, create a spreadsheet,
and store their information there, I would have had a lead list of a thousand people
who had reached out to me asking to hire me
that I had told no to previously.
I could have circled back to all of them.
Easy, okay seamless.
So don't make that mistake that I made.
If people are asking you for something now,
take note of it and create a lead stock, okay,
somewhere, I did not do that.
That would be far too easy for me.
So I've tried a million different ways
to spin up pipelines because the goal is to create
automation in your business, ease of your business, efficiency of your business so you can focus
on the one thing you should be doing, which in my case in this instance would be when I'm
on the phone coaching someone, right?
That's no one can replicate that.
That's what they're paying for.
But unfortunately, I wasn't there yet, so I've had to try nine million different ways
and test different concepts and programs and fail
and fail and fail and do okay and then fail and then okay.
And then better, better, better.
It's all over the board when you're a rookie
and you're I'm a rookie in this business.
I just launched it at the end of April.
So this is all going on and all the speaking engagements I had for this year
were canceled.
And then slowly I've been getting inquiries
about virtual speaking and I've done, you know,
probably 10 virtual speeches at this point now
since the pandemic hit, but they don't pay as much.
It's great, but it's, you know,
it's not quite the same of being live on stage
with people being there with you, of course.
So again, I haven't really been putting much focus,
time or energy into that portion of my business
because in my mind, I just thought as another year away
and we'll pick that back up when we get there,
but right now I should focus on the executive coaching,
my podcast and my new book.
And what an, you know, I get an email from my agent saying,
hey, you were supposed to do this event
October 14th in New York City.
We canceled it because everyone canceled.
And now they're looking at transferring this whole huge event
into a huge virtual event.
And they want to know if you're still willing to do it.
So they connected me with the head of the event.
And he was super cool and so nice
and of course they're reducing my pay.
And it's funny because in some instances
and I'll tell people this often,
don't do things for free,
don't allow your pay to be reduced
because of situations outside of you,
your value did not get reduced,
you're still gonna deliver over the top and amazing value.
Why would you shortchange yourself?
And I do believe that.
However, I also believe there are unique instances
and you have to check in with yourself
to know which ones the right ones are.
I'm not saying just to do something to be nice for people,
but evaluate with that longer tail opportunity maybe.
And I understand that can be challenging and hard.
I get it because for a long time,
I was doing everything for free when I first got fired
because I wanted to make a name for myself
in these new arenas I was entering into.
The new arena of author,
the new arena of professional speaker,
the new arena of host, whatever it was.
So I started just, you know, okay, I'll do it,
I'll do it.
And then pretty quickly I saw I was doing so much for free.
I wasn't able to drive revenue.
That's when I started pivoting, started charging, et cetera.
But it is, it's a little ambiguous as to what is the time
to do it for reviews and recommendation.
What does the time to do it to charge?
How do you know what to charge?
That's like this gray space that it's hard
to have someone tell you what to do.
You kind of have to feel it out.
The marketplace will determine what your value and worth is.
And so that's what I sort of started thinking with this event. I thought, you know what, the marketplace will determine what your value and worth is. And so that's what I sort of started thinking with this event.
I thought, you know what, the marketplace will determine.
Obviously, if I sent my pricing too high, as I had been at the live event,
they're saying, now they can't pay what they paid at the live event rate,
which I do understand and has been consistent with everyone that I've worked with.
No one that I had worked with previously is offering me live event fees for virtual.
So I realized the marketplace has changed.
However, I have checked in with a couple of my friends and a couple of them still
landed their live event rate for virtual, which I thought was interesting, but I haven't.
So anyhow, so this is a huge event, great opportunity, and would put me in front of so many
decision makers in one moment, albeit virtual, right?
So I thought, and I just said, you know what?
Something tells me to me, the guy was so cool and such a good guy,
and really felt my pain and shared his pain
around this whole challenging time
and how circumstances were really tough on everyone.
And I just thought, I like doing business with good people
at the end of the day.
And this guy might be able to help me because he's big in the event space
You know, I was really hitting my stride on the speaking side now he's gonna get a chance to work with me
I'll do a great job for him and
Okay, so I said I would take the reduction in fee and work with him and I'll kill it for him and
Wouldn't you know I had no idea, zero idea. He comes out with
a press release the next day, this is last week. And the headline was something crazy, like, you know,
75 amazing speakers, including Damon John, Heather Monahan, and Kevin Harrington, me in between
these two iconic sharks. And then it goes on to say these iconic speakers are key noting the event together.
And it was the way that he explained it, and the proximity he put me in with huge names, and people who are years ahead of me in the speaking business, right?
Because I just got into his business a year ago. Doesn't matter I was speaking for 20 years, forget that because if you're not in the speaker circuit,
you're not known or you're not realized
or you're not seen as valuable,
you have to establish that.
And one of the ways is proximity to other major speakers.
So I have spoken with other major speakers,
but to see this come out of pandemic
and out of this virtual world. I didn't expect it.
I was so excited and it was one of those, you know,
kick me moments of, okay, I'm so glad that I worked with this guy.
I'm so glad he was such a nice guy and willing to support and help me.
And I'm so grateful they picked me to be one of the key notes alongside the two shark tank sharks.
So it was just, again, one of those things. Listen, you can
string together a hundred bad days, but when that one unexpected good day does show up because
you've just been putting the work in, doing the right thing, and showing it up every day,
it is overwhelmingly exciting. And it kind of took me back to real life old days where,
you know, you just never know who you're going to run into the airport or what's going to happen next.
And it seemed less like that since we've been in the pandemic because I don't go out
very much at all.
You know, I try to stay home a lot.
My son's homeschooling with me all day long.
So we're home a lot.
The majority of the time.
That's not like my old life.
So just by coincidence and running into people, you know, things would happen all
the time before. And that's kind of gone now. So it was just a great reminder for me that just because
greatness doesn't seem to be happening in every moment, sometimes it's bubbling up under the ground
and you don't see it, but it's about to smash through. And when it does, it's going to give you such
an amazing surprise. So that's kind of how I'm feeling right now,
which is so grateful.
I'm grateful for all the work I put in
before the pandemic hit, right?
Cause that got me to the spot to get this opportunity
and land that opportunity.
I'm grateful to my agent for even reaching out to me
to say, I don't know what you think about this,
but I wanna talk to you about it.
I think it's a great opportunity, you know, but however,
you're gonna have to hit it on your B and see what you think about that.
And I'm grateful for this man that agreed to partner with me and help me anyway he could.
And in the end, he sure did.
So surround yourself with good people, work with people that you get a good feeling about.
Put in the work, keep showing up even when you don't know if the dots are gonna connect because
it's in the moment you least expect it like being in a pandemic to get a
headlining PR news release like what I got last week it's shocking to me so
didn't see this one coming and I'm excited for you for all the good that's
coming to you when you keep putting the work in because it's coming just keep
going I'll be right back.
Hi and welcome back. I am so excited for you to meet my guest today. John Walsh, thanks for
being here. Hi Heather, it's good to be here. It's good to see you. And by the way, happy belated
birthday. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. All, so let's get to it. When I am pitched
people all the time to come in my show, it's insane. And when I received the pitch, first of all,
even I self-published with the same company, scribed shout out to our boy JT, the amazing company
to work with if you're thinking of self-publishing, definitely scribe media. But when the scribe team reached out to me and pitched me on you, I
said yes immediately, which I never do. And the reason I believe I felt like
that was looking at not only at your success, obviously you're exceptionally
accomplished individual. And if someone has achieved a lot of success, I want to
drop that knowledge for all of our people here.
But even more importantly, you had been homeless and you transitioned from being homeless to
becoming a VP at Disney, a VP at MSG.
I mean, you've now branching out and starting your own company.
I couldn't wait to sit down and have you tell me the story and take me through how did
you make that happen?
First of all, thank you for having me
and I'm glad I get to share the story.
I haven't really shared the story with many people
because it's something that's super private.
I'm not even sure my parents know
that I've shared this story with a few people.
So when they listen to this podcast,
it's gonna be quite interesting.
And I'd like to think that there is this one moment in time,
you know, people have that life-changing event
or whatever else.
Mine just happened over time.
And you know, just through no one's fault but my own,
completely owning my own life, my parents had gone through
a divorce and it wasn't a great home situation at the time.
My parents poor them.
I mean, dealing with three kids and teenagers and all.
But I found myself homeless in high school.
And I grew up outside of Washington, D.C.
in Northern Virginia.
And I had no place to go.
What is a senior in high school going to do?
Like, where do you go?
What do you do?
And I would walk railroad tracks at night to try to stay warm.
I slept in homes that were being built.
You know, when they build homes, they construct the homes.
And then the first thing that goes in is the bathtub, right?
And I would sneak into these construction homes and sleep in bath tubs.
And I remember a family took me in once.
I got fortunate once that a family took me in.
I was there for about two months.
I had some money saved up.
And I remember going to the bank once to pull out money from an ATM.
And it took my card.
And there was nothing there.
The family had grabbed my ATM.
The kid that I was going to school with had kind of looked over my shoulder, caught my
pin coat, and they wiped me clean.
They took all my money. So then I was going to school with had kind of looked over my shoulder, caught my pin coat and they wiped me clean. They took all my money.
So then I was really homeless at that point.
And so I spent probably the better part of a year and a half in and out of, you know,
different homes and finding places to go.
So it was a real challenge back then.
But I think everyone goes through adversity and that just happened to be mine at the time.
Wait a minute.
I feel like you're downplaying this so much because you're a father.
I'm a mother.
I mean, when I hear this story, my heart is breaking.
And it's so interesting to me to see who you are today
and try to imagine and try to put myself in those shoes.
I truly can't imagine how scary that must have been
every single day.
It was scary. My parents, I mean, poor.
They were doing the best
that they could.
I was the rebellious kid.
And I forced their hand, I guess.
And I got to own what happened.
It wasn't their fault.
And just so you and everyone else knows,
I love my parents' to death.
Everything's wonderful now.
But at the time, it was just difficult.
And it was.
I didn't know when I woke up where I was going to be.
And I downplayed a little bit because I just recently left New York City
where I was up there with Madison Square Garden.
And to me, that's true homelessness when you see those people on the streets
and just what they have.
And it's heart-wrenching, you know, it really, really is.
And so, you know, for me, growing outside of Washington, D.C.
with this suburban, I just didn't quite have it.
It is, I just, maybe I'm downplaying it a little bit too much, but it was difficult at that time. It really, really was. But I'll tell you,
I think it's one of the things that drives me. I really do.
For sure, and I agree wholeheartedly, our most difficult moments in our life become our
fuel to success because even when the pandemic hit, I remember saying to myself, okay, I got
through getting fired. I got through O8.09 when the company
we cut a third of our employees.
I got through this, I got through my childhood.
If I got through those things, that is an indication.
I will absolutely come out on top in this one too.
And when you enter into situations with that attitude
and that conviction, there's very few things
that can stop you.
No question about it, no question about it.
And it's definitely something that fuels me.
I'm a very big believer, and I write about it in my book.
I'm a huge believer in your past, your present, and your future.
You can be a victim of your past, like,
I know you like to talk about villain,
and I think a lot of people use their past
as their villain, right?
But I think your past can be fuel.
So I'm a big believer in your past.
I'm a huge believer in mindfulness
and being in the present moment.
And then I'm even a bigger believer
and you gotta have a direction to where to go.
So for me, my past is connecting me
to where I'm going in my future.
And it's what drives me.
So how did you go from homeless to success?
What are some of the key steps
that you took to advance yourself?
I think it's a couple of things. I dabbled in a number of different careers. I was going to be
in the airline industry. I was going to be in the record industry. I was going to be a lawyer,
and I've worked in all these different places, trying to find myself right. And I ended up working
for a law firm for a while, and I was there for probably, I was doing like legal research,
that kind of thing, project management. And I was there for probably eight years.
And I know that you talk a lot about confidence and I just didn't have any confidence that
I was good at school.
I mean, I was not a great student.
I had dabbled in school a little bit and I would sign up for classes but never had
the confidence to kind of go through it.
And at one point, I had 32 credits under my belt and I had a 0.00 GPA because I just I didn't go to class or I just withdrew or
Whatever else until but I don't know I took one class and I know you like to talk about this
You talk about you just have to do it
You just have to start it and then you build confidence and so I took one class and got an A and then I took a second class and got an A
And then I'm like, hey, I might be might be be able to do this, right? And so I was working at the law firm,
going to school, morning and night,
I was coaching AAU Girls Basketball.
And I just got the bug and I started getting
that confidence a little bit that I could do it.
And I ended up walking away from the money I was making,
which at the time was pretty good to go back to school.
And I got into the University of Virginia
and I just worked really, really hard. And I set a goal for myself and lots of goals and everything else and I just never wanted to go backwards.
I always wanted to go forward and so I would use the, hey, I'm 10 years later than like when most kids were going to school, I did that same thing 10 years later. When most kids were doing their internship, I did it 10 years later.
And I always felt like I was catching up
to the self that I was supposed to be.
And so I just did that.
I had help along the way, you know, as we all do,
we all need help along the way.
But I just got the bug and I got a great job
working for Disney as I started at the lowest level.
Imagine going back to school at 30
and starting all over with your career at 30.
I know a lot of people
are like, oh, I'm 25 or I'm 35 and I don't know. I was 30 and like just starting, you know, and so
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So you just reminded me of this episode
that I did a few months back with Trevor Wad.
I don't know if you know who he is,
but I need to connect you to him.
He tells this great story when he came on the show
about, I believe it was a professional athlete
and he always
thought he was stupid and had no confidence in school and that wasn't for him and he, you know,
he wasn't in enough. And so he would have terrible grades and then they were transitioning him
through sports to go to some school and they said, oh, you have to take this test and they said,
well, I'm not going to be able to pass anyhow, they, they gave him the wrong results. By mistake, it was completely fluked. And he got this amazing score sent to him that he did exceptional. And
from that day forward, he was killing it and he was heated so well. And they find out
years later, it wasn't his score. And he realized and reflect back on that was the change moment
of my life is that I thought, I am smart.
And once he agreed to allow himself to think, I am enough.
I can do this.
He never went backwards again.
I do remember that story now.
I love inspirational, motivational videos.
And one of them I love was, and it's a great question.
It's like, if you woke up from a coma today,
and you were told that you were a Navy seal, do you think
you would act differently?
And I think we can tell, yeah, I think, yeah, I mean, like we can tell ourselves these stories.
And I think if you tell yourself the story and you believe it, you can actually do it.
It sounds like that's what he did.
And that's certainly what I was doing.
I was telling myself, I am this person.
I can be this person.
I know Matthew McConnayy talks about this. You know, he hits that person. I can be this person. I know Matthew McMaconah, Hey, talks about this.
You know, it hits that person that he's chasing
himself 10 years from now.
So I always have that 10 year from now person
and I have the 10 year ago person
that pushing and pulling me at the same time.
So good.
I love that.
The 10 years before and the 10 years after.
So are you started Disney at the lowest level possible?
How do you go from the lowest to the highest executive level?
That's a great question.
I get that all the time because I went from an intern to an executive in about nine years
and I just moved very quickly and I really focused on a couple things.
Like I didn't do, I always love to tell people, don't do the table stakes, don't do all
the things like work hard and take on the big projects and all that kind of stuff.
I took a little different approach.
I'm gonna make my boss look really good.
I'm gonna be the smartest guy in the room
about the business itself.
And then I'm going to somehow find skills
that complement each other.
Like I'm not gonna be just a great financial analyst.
I'm gonna be a great financial analyst
that can tell stories and help drive strategy.
And so I was always that one,
that's kind of where standout started to happen for me
as I was always that one thing above.
And I think it really took me to a point in my career
where I got to an executive,
but then the key is you have to continue to do it.
And I became an executive and I stayed there
at that same level for about nine years.
Now imagine here's a kid who is homeless,
he gets with
this great company at Disney. He has this, you know, this nine year career with Disney,
where he's just moving through the ranks. And then you hit it and you plateau. Like, what
do you do? Right? And I had a kind of a forcing event that happened to me. And one of the
things in that forcing event was to read a book. And I read this book and it was, uh, what
got you here won't get you there. And it changed like, oh my goodness, right? And so I went back, I went deep into
personal development, reinventing myself, worked so hard like to say, I've got a different
person coming out and then my career kind of taken off again from there. So it's been
a great ride. I know you love to talk about journey and the journey you're on and your
listeners are all on their own journey.
And that's sort of mine.
I love being on this journey.
I totally relate to that plateau period.
And it's funny.
And I also believe sometimes that's okay, right?
So when you push yourself so hard for a window of time, it's okay.
Sometimes it take a break in a moment in time, a year or two years, whatever that looks
like for you.
For me, that was when I was having my son
and different things going on at home.
So I've learned to take pressure off myself.
However, like you, that window went on way too long
and then I became that horrible, comfortable.
And it was my routine and I didn't really love it
and I wasn't growing at all. And I was getting frustrated.
And this just accelerated and accelerated
to the point where inevitably for me,
I ended up getting fired.
And then that's when I went on my own.
However, when I hear you tell your story, I look back.
And I really, that resonates with me
that I got into that real comfort zone for awhile.
So good for you that you pulled the rip cord and you said,
I'm going to do the work and this has nothing to do with the office or anything else.
This is about me.
That's exactly right.
I mean, you originally asked the question about what got me from one place to the other.
And I think really there's two things I would share.
And one is you just have to take risks in life.
And I took risks.
I went back to school when I was older.
I left Disney when I was, you know, building a wonderful
18-year career there. I've recently left my senior executive job at Madison Square Garden. So I think
you just, you have to take risks in life if you want to kind of go to that next level. And then the
other one is I think what you put into yourself is what you're going to get out of yourself. And so
every time when I look back
in hindsight, I always look back and like the reason I got from one point to the other and these
different points in my journey is because I put something into myself, whether it's going back to
school or really investing in myself from the business perspective or really investing in myself
on a personal growth level. I think those are two really, really powerful things.
And I think the third is surrounding yourself with amazing people. I mean, I know you've
heard it and it's so true, but you're the average of the five people you spend the most
time with. And I think just putting the right people around you is so critical, right?
And I think those three things, if you don't have those, it doesn't mean you can't make it.
But I think that that's just, that's really important. And I think I would say one more thing, which is you have to have a focus on
someone else, like it can't be about you. I was on a podcast earlier today, and
the host was talking about, you know, going through adversity and how do you come, come out of diversity?
And he was talking about his adversity and he talked about, you know, he's proud of himself
because he's got these like diplomas on the wall now.
And he has the, like all these great things.
And I said, if you were to take all those diplomas down
and you were to put up pictures and the success stories
of the people that you impacted,
what would your wall look like?
And he went blank because he is like, I don't know.
And I'm like, so you're like,
it's just like you're proud of yourself
and it's great, you should be,
but like don't do things for yourself.
Do them for, you know, do them for other people, right?
And that's what motivates you to drive you.
And that's one of the reasons why I left Mass and Square
Garden is because I got into my own company
and writing this book because I firmly believe
in helping other people.
I know you do the same thing.
That's what, you know, you know, you know what I'm saying?
So you know what's so funny.
You just like gave me this reflect on my own life real fast.
And when I, when I was an entrepreneur and wrote the book
and was doing speaking engagements,
I didn't get to see a lot.
I mean, I would get messages like, you know,
this book was Sheet My Life first, a note here or there.
However, what's different now during this crappy pandemic
is that now that I'm doing the executive coaching and the mentoring program, I'm a through line in these people's lives now for months.
And so I now have like when you just said could that guy put up, I have the pictures, I have
the stories, like it's crazy to see how in it's cool because before from a stage, you didn't
get to follow through the journey, you hear the feedback in a moment and then you fly away.
And that is one cool thing now that you just made me realize that is I have those things
to put all over every wall in my house and I'm so grateful for those moments.
And that's probably when you walk out in the morning because there's some days I'm sure
you like I don't feel like doing this or whatever else, but you look at that wall and you
look at the success of the people around you, which by the way, is exactly what people are gonna remember.
People are gonna remember my story, maybe they will,
but they're not gonna remember me
because I was an executive at Disney and your role,
you know, and Madison Square, they're not gonna
remember us for that.
They're gonna remember us because that person
changed my life.
I did something because of that person,
and that's what they're gonna talk about.
And that's what fuels me, and I know a lot of the guests that you've had on have talked about that. It is so true.
It's hard to practice, but it's so true. It really is. All right, let's get into standout and
let's get into what you've done since you've made the leap into this whole new world.
Yeah, so I've launched a book. It's called the standout experience. And really what it is is I've
been trying to find a way to kind of codify, if you will, my journey. And really what it is is I've been trying to find a way
to kind of codify, if you will, my journey.
And how did I go from one place to the other?
And at the same time, I'm really focused
on students and young professionals.
I did a lot of recruiting in my career.
And I see students and young professionals coming out
and they're just not ready for life after school.
And there's a lot of confusion about who am I?
What am I gonna do?
I mean, even you don't have to be a student
young professional, you could be in your mid career
and be thinking about the same thing.
And I know there was a lot of challenges.
And then I also know that everything you want to know
about personal development and career success
and all that is out there.
Everything you need to know, you can Google it,
you can take courses, I mean, your courses are fantastic,
by the way, I love your courses and your mentoring program.
There's so much amazing information out there,
but there's no way to like, okay, so I read this book.
I've gone to this class, I've done this.
What does it mean, right?
And so I basically created a playbook.
I looked back on my own life and said,
I know how now I went from point A to point B.
And I know how all this work streams together,
and so I created a playbook.
I created a blueprint, and it just so happens
that forms the acronym of my company, Standout X.
But I think if people walk through that,
I think that there's an opportunity there
for people to stand out, be amazing in their career
and their industry and go on to do great things.
So that's where the book sort of came from
and what Standout's all about. So that's where the book sort of came from and what standouts all about.
So you shared with me that just starting to standing out is that journey.
And I think that's a big one to explain to people because, John, you know,
some people are petrified of standing out.
I get that.
When I go and speaking circuits a lot, I'm like, I asked people, you know,
who wants to stand out?
And some people don't want to because it's like, don't look at me.
Look at me.
Look at me. But I've said it and I tell everybody that I coach
and mentor whatever else.
I said, everybody wants to stand out.
Everybody, at some point, if you're going for that job
or that promotion, there's unaverage 250 applicants
for every one corporate job, right?
And so you're gonna have to be that one selected.
You're gonna have to stand out in order to do that,
whether you want to or not.
There's 8 billion people in the world.
And if you want to find a husband or a wife or whatever else,
then there's that one, right?
There's always that moment in your life
where there's that one, that one time.
And by the way, you're only going to live one life.
And I hope for everyone that it's a standout life.
And so I like to sort of come back up people
and say, you don't want to stand out or do you really, right?
And I think it's about standing out
when it matters most.
Not like always look at me, big celebrity,
big kind of whatever else.
There are moments in your life where you must stand out
if you want to get to where you want to go,
what you want to do.
You just have to.
There's times you just have to be that one.
How do you get people to step into that, to step into that spotlight? Because you almost
want to push them into it because you know they'll be great once they get out there,
but something's got them locked up.
Something's got them locked up. And I think the playbook helps. We talked a little bit
about it. There has to be some kind of fuel to the fire. It's, you know, sometimes we
as coaches and we have to sort of help light that fire sometimes,
but other times there is that fire,
they just don't know how to get there.
And I think that what I, what I hopefully do in this book
is sort of say, okay, if you wanna go from
just starting to standing out,
let's start at the beginning.
And the beginning is taking control of your life and yourself,
you know, really understanding who you are,
what you want and being yourself.
Cause I think a lot of people struggle because they're not really living as
themselves. They're unsure about where they want to go. It's so funny.
Because I talk about when we all want to go on vacation, we do all the research.
You go online, you look for the best fairs, you find the place to go, you find the seats,
you book everything, like what clothes I should bring, everything
else, you pack for it, like you get your son already and all the things that he needs,
you guys go on a trip, you know exactly where you're going, you walk into the airport, but
in the like airport of life, we, it's almost like walking into the airport unpacked and like,
where do I want to go today, right?
And I think people struggle a little bit because they don't know who they are, which is their
point A, and they don't know where they're going, which is their point B. And if we can
help people start there, then we can connect the dots for them. And I think that's what
standing out it's all about.
You make a great point. We don't all know where we're going. I don't know where I'm going.
You know, when this, like we were saying before, when the pandemic hit that change, everything
and you don't know where you're going all over again. One of the things that I'm starting
to learn, gosh, I can't believe it's taking me this
long, is that it's almost okay not to know where you're going.
You just need to start going to figure that out.
Would you agree with that?
I do.
I totally agree with that.
And in my book, I talk about there's four end points, four destinations, if you will,
for people.
I call it the pinpoint.
There are folks that just know exactly what they want to do, right?
I want to be an Olympic swimmer, or I'm going to start this company and you know what?
We applaud them, good for them.
And typically the problem is with that is once they get to that point, they don't know what
happens next.
Right?
Look at Michael Phelps.
Look at the people that get to that point and then where you go from there.
So that's one.
The second one is there are people that are told what they should do and they kind of go
down that path.
They head down there. I call it the mistaken identity.
You get to that very end point and you're like, this isn't what I'm supposed to be and this isn't, this isn't me, right?
The third group or the group that I call the wanderers, they are just like, I don't, I'm just kind of moving through life.
They live one year. I love Robin Sharma is one of my favorites.
He talks about you live the one year 80 times you call it a life, right?
But they're wandering, they're kind of all over the place
and never really reaching a destination.
And then I think the fourth group
is what I call that's the standout group.
And those are the folks that understand who they are,
like what's important to them, their core values,
and they have a general idea.
It's almost like, it's not pinpoint,
but it's least I know generally what I want to do.
Like, I think if we can get people to understand that I want to help people, I don't know, maybe
I'm making it up, but but help people do a certain thing or I want to work outside. I love nature.
I want to help young kids, whatever else it is, there's a general idea and that's what you're
talking about. You're marching towards that general idea, but you've got the flexibility to say, I could
actually solve it a number of different ways, but at least I'm marching towards an idea
of what that is, and I'm not going to vary from that idea.
I don't know exactly where it's going to land.
And by the way, I might change course, but at least I have a notion of where I'm going.
And I think that's what you're talking about is people heading towards a more of a general
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When you described the number two person,
the one that was on a journey and had a destination
in mind and then got there and said,
no, that was definitely me.
I remember the realization one day that I had,
my job and my life is consumed
with making rich people richer.
That doesn't feel great.
And I ended up having to spend a lot of time at nights
and the weekends doing charity work
because I was so disconnected from the mission
in the purpose of what I was doing during the day,
that I was trying to do something that I connected with,
which would take more time away from my son,
which would take more time away from the gym.
It was so disjointed, and I didn't have that realization
that I could maybe merge these two entities
and actually work and get paid
and be living a purpose-driven life.
However, to get from that person to person number four
that you described, which is the path that I'm on now
to say I'm just gonna step into unknown,
I'm gonna keep going, I'm gonna move forward,
I'm gonna change, I'm gonna pivot
and I'm gonna figure it out,
but I'm gonna lead a purpose driven life
where I show up as my best self.
That was hard because I had lived 43 years that other way.
Yeah, I tell the story.
It's that I'll share the story with you that I had that moment too.
And I think a lot of us sort of kind of get there.
And then we have the moment.
I think part of what I'm trying to do is help people identify that
before they take all that time to get there.
And then they have to kind of repivot.
And my story is, especially being this homeless kid,
as I had finally made it, I did everything I was supposed to do.
The senior vice president, finance and strategy for Madison Square Garden, right?
Radio City music hall, forum and LA, like all this great wonderful stuff. I had made it.
The homeless kid had made it.
And my family was living down here in Central Florida.
And my daughter, and I'm divorced and now remarried with my
beautiful wife, and my daughter from a previous marriage had come up to see me in New York. And
it was over spring break. And I took her around. We went and saw Hamilton. We did all this stuff.
It was great. It was the greatest thing. Daddy's the vice, you know, senior vice president. I
got her in backstage. It was just terrific. So I go to take her home, like put her on the plane to go see her mom and I take her to
the gate and of course, you know, they have the agent, you know, sort of take the child
onto the plane and it started to snow.
And I'm sitting there with a window like the proud dad watching her, you know, watching
his daughter get on the plane and go and taking her flight.
It starts to snow so hard, you know, the plane goes over and it starts to deice and then it goes to the end of the
runway and it starts taxing down the runway.
And by this time the snow was so heavy that when the plane took off, it got about 15 feet
in the air and it disappeared.
And I turned around and I was in the middle of JFK, you know, where you're kind of in
the middle and all the gates are around the side.
I don't know what happened.
I physically couldn't stand. I sat down in the middle of the terminal
and I started crying harder than I've ever cried in my life.
And I'll tell you that comparing that moment
to when I was homeless in high school,
that moment was probably 10 times more difficult
than when I was ever homeless.
And I was thinking to myself, and I kept telling myself,
I haven't had a lady come up and say,
sir, are you okay?
Because I'm like shaking and I'm like,
you know, kind of going back and forth.
And I'm like, what am I doing?
Like, what am I doing?
I've got the title and the money and the homeless kid has made it.
But what am I doing?
Putting my daughter on a plane, not being with them all the time.
And it was at that moment where I made the decision that I'm chasing the wrong important thing. And I'm chasing that kind of point in time. That's that's not me. This is me. My book, the programs that I'm trying to do helping young people helping other people find their way before they, you know, go through the same thing. And I made a decision at that moment that I'm changing what's important to me. And I did the same thing that you did. I got to that point. And I said, this just
isn't me. It's just not. And I like, I get Terry just even thinking about that story today.
And it it affected me pretty deeply. How did that change your relationship with your child?
How did those next steps affect your personal life? I didn't let her know, because I'm have to be the strong daddy, right?
And I didn't let her know.
But I had always asked her,
what did she want me to do?
And she said, I want you to come home.
I want you to start stand out, X and B here all the time.
And so when I left my job,
and I remember picking her up from her mom's house,
and we had just gotten a new puppy.
And so the puppy was in, she was all excited. And I said, I got some really good news sweetheart. Daddy is doing standout
X. I am here full time and she, it was the greatest moment of my life. It was amazing.
So I'm here now all the time. I get to see her and I don't care how much money I've given
up and whatever else and I don't care if standout X doesn't make a dime. If I help one person and I'm
here for my family, my definition of success right there. Oh, that is such an amazing story. I mean,
that is just unflippin believable. I'm so proud of you. What a great decision you made. And thank god
you had that breakdown. Thank God she flew into that. It's not like thank God all those things
happen so that it could really hit
you that hard because otherwise it's tough to leave those golden handcuffs. It's so hard. It's so
hard. Now the downside of that is she won't fly on a plane alone anymore because I guess it was a
really bumpy ride as she was leaving. But yeah, it was one of those things where you know sometimes
when you're doing the wrong thing, someone something know, sometimes when you're doing the wrong thing,
someone, something has to tell you you're doing the wrong thing and that's kind of what it was,
I think, for me. Wow, that's a really, really powerful story. Thank you so much for sharing
that with us. I really, that's really impactful. And I hope that it helps everyone to reflect on
their life where they are right now and how committed they are to what their purpose is. Do they feel that passion?
Do they feel connected to the right things and to start noticing the people that matter
to you in your life?
Yeah, I think that's exactly right.
I talk about this a little bit in my book.
I'm a firm believer that we all have this.
I know everyone's chasing their purpose.
Like, what's my purpose and all?
And I make the argument in the book that we all have the same purpose.
And I believe this wholeheartedly, we just have to all find our individual missions to
fulfill that purpose.
But I believe that our purpose is simple, which is be the best that I can be with whatever
I have been given, be a leader to help other people be the best that they can be, and then
make a difference in the world.
And I approach every day, everything I do with that in mind.
And like I look at being at medicine square garden,
I was, I guess being the best I could be
except I wasn't being the best dad.
I was least being the best worker maybe.
I was leading, but I really wasn't making a difference
and things were breaking down there.
So I kind of, that's my model.
And what's interesting about that is that we all expect that.
Think about a spouse.
Think about an employee.
When you hire an employee, what are you looking for?
You're looking for someone who's going to bring the best that they can be for whatever
skill they have, that there are future leaders in the organization, and then they're going
to do something to make a difference in your organization to make it better, right?
Our own lives are that way.
We spend the first part of our lives developing into who we are, then we eventually take on some kind of a leadership role. Maybe it's
a parent or whatever else. And then later in life, we're like, what does it all mean?
And what's my legacy at the end of the day? So I like to chase that sort of purpose and
then just kind of help people find that mission. So I don't know where I went off on that
one, but that's kind of my, But, you know, you just brought up legacy
and I just recently lost someone very special to me
who has been a mentor to me for years.
And what he imparted on me when he passed,
which was a big learning moment for me,
I used to think legacy meant like your book,
leaving this book behind,
like this roadmap behind for others, that's the legacy.
But what he taught me was the legacy
is what he leaves behind in me.
And to carry that purpose and mission and meaning
and goodness to the world on that you can inspire
and develop people through their life and their career
and they are your legacy that live on
when you're no longer here.
100% correct, and I'm sure that person was not just you,
but to probably touch the number of lives
and they're all feeling the same way, right?
And I think that's absolutely right.
That is 100% right.
And so I think that's just what we have to do
is we have to leave that.
Some people make a difference
where they start great companies,
they're very well known and good for them.
And but I don't think you have to always do that.
I know, like I was nervous coming on your show a little bit because I look at the guest list and I look at everyone
on there. I'm like, gosh, I'm just, I'm not there. I don't have a multi billion dollar company
or whatever else. But all the standout experiences, all about having making an impact and making
a difference in people's life. And if I can share my story and it helps one person, I know
you talked about that with your book, you're like, you kind of repositioned it for yourself
and said, if I can get just one person
to think differently or do something different,
you know, that is the standout experience.
And I think that's, I'll share with you just real quickly.
I think we go into everything trying to do three things.
It's three questions.
What do you want people to think?
What do you want people to do?
And how do you want people to feel?
And most times, people go in like, I want you to hire me and start this job or I want you to date me
or whatever else, but we don't focus on the feeling. And I think the standout experience,
the legacy we leave is how we make others feel. Because you're probably carrying that feeling of
that person inside of you. And that's what's's I'm sure the words are there and the advice and everything else but you can tell there's a feeling
inside of you right that that person left in you and it's that feeling that's kind of pushing
you and pulling you along right. Yeah the feeling is the most powerful part of it. That's right.
Everyone's listening right now and they want to be a standout and they don't know how where do they
go? What do they do? I hope they get the book, right?
I think I hope they get the standout experience book.
But I think it's a lot of self-reflection.
And one, and we talked about this before,
is I don't want to stand out.
It's like, I think you do.
There's a reason.
And by the way, people around you are begging you to stand out.
It could be your kid, it could be your spouse,
it could be whatever.
People are begging, so the minute you say, I don't want to stand out, you've lost.
And I think if the minute we say, I do want to stand out for other people, I think that
starts the journey.
And then it's what we talked about before, point A to point B. Okay, who am I now and
where am I going and how do I get there?
And I think if we chase this standout version of ourselves and we do
it with the intent of helping other people, you know how great this world would be if we're
all kind of chasing this sort of standout person that's, you know, I'm kind of getting
on my soapbox a little bit, but. But it really, it really would be and it's all about
starting with each one of ourselves and, you know, in the actions that we can take.
So for anyone that wants to find
standout experience, where can they buy the book?
It's on Amazon and I have a website,
thestandoutmovement.com, they can go there
and order it through the website as well,
but I hope it just helps somebody.
It certainly helps me.
If anything else, it put my own thoughts down on paper.
I followed your advice about writing a book.
You just have to kind of do it.
And so now it's out there and I'm, you know, it's two years of writing,
but about 20 years of research that I put in.
Wow.
Oh my gosh, that's amazing.
And did you feel really scared when you were about to launch?
Like you wouldn't believe.
Like you wouldn't believe.
It's super scary.
It really is, you know.
But just like, you know, just like you had that editor,
friend of yours tell you, you know, you just have to do it
and just reposition your thinking.
I did the same thing and I put it out there and, you know,
what, let's let it fly and, and, you know, we'll go from there.
If anything, I put my thoughts down on paper and it's there
and I have three beautiful children and maybe they can be proud
of dad for having a book and the three,
it just touches the three of their lives
and I'm perfectly happy.
Oh, I'm so proud of you.
And I can't wait for everyone to grab the book,
stand out, experience, and where can they find you, John?
Through the website, but pretty much on Instagram,
it's a John Walsh underscore standout.
And then I'm starting to get a lot more active on LinkedIn.
I know you're very big on LinkedIn as well.
And I think that's a great platform.
So I'm on LinkedIn, John Walsh as well. So LinkedIn and Instagram are the two
probably best places.
All right. I'm going to go follow you on LinkedIn now so that you can all double down on your
LinkedIn. We need to create more standouts. Let's go. All right. Okay. John, thank you so
much for being here with us. I appreciate it. Thank you so much. It's good to see you.
All right. Hold tight guys. We'll be right back. I ask you to try to find your passion.
I hope you enjoyed meeting John as much as I did.
I'm so grateful to know him.
He's such an amazing guy.
His book also just launched and went to number one
bestseller on Amazon.
I can't make this stuff up you guys.
I'm so proud of him.
So excited for all that the future holds it for him and just bringing
more goodness to the world to shine his light, to help others and to just put good into
a world that right now is definitely struggling.
So check his book out, check out the reviews on Amazon, check out his ranking as a bestseller
and hopefully you will want to check him out again moving forward.
I'm so happy I get to work with him now moving forward.
Okay.
I've received a lot of questions recently around my coaching program and what am I doing?
And so it's funny, I'll respond to people on DMs like, oh, hey, here's the link, check
it out, right?
Because one of the things that's important in business
is the number one most precious thing you have is your time.
Right, and you constantly need to be re-evaluating
where are you spending it?
Where are you losing it?
Is it an efficient use of your time?
Is there an ROI return on investment on your time?
We need to always evaluate these things.
And for me, when I first started my business,
I did so many podcasts as a guest, which was a great use of my time because I was learning about podcasts and
meeting people, expanding my network, expanding my reach. Now, after the pandemic, I am so focused
on driving revenue because all of my speaking business money evaporated, right? So things
change, situations change and your goals and your evaluation will change based on what's
happening in your life.
So constantly re-evaluate those things, which I do.
So sometimes people will get frustrated, you know, I'll say, oh yeah, here's the link
to sign up for my course.
And they'll say, yeah, well, I just want to get questions and ask free advice.
So I open up this opportunity.
Anyone wants to ask me a question, all you have to do is shoot it to me on a DM on my site
anywhere, and I will answer to my podcast.
But I don't jump on phone calls with people to coach them. That's what I do now for a living
during pandemic. So that's, you know, a business window and opportunity for me that I don't offer
for free. That's my time. But my podcast, I do offer for free and I'm happy to answer those
questions. So here's one that came in today. One question maybe for a future podcast, if it hasn't already been asked, would be how did you decide to write a book and what made you feel
it was the right step or going to be successful? Ha! I think that's funny. And you need to know this.
I didn't know it was going to be successful. I didn't know it was the right step. I didn't know
to write a book. This is what people need to understand.
And this goes back to what I was saying earlier.
It's not about the how, it's about the outcome.
And to me, I got fired, I rebuilt my confidence, I stepped into who I really was, I started feeling
good about who I was.
I had no idea what being an entrepreneur looked like.
I had been in corporate America my entire life, which is so seismically different from being an entrepreneur. You're on your own. No one's
guiding you. There's no, you know, examples before you, right? Everyone has a
different path in the entrepreneur. It's very, very different from that very
constructed blueprint of corporate America. So when your brand knew it
something, and frankly, I was an expert in the polar opposite. I was an expert in this well lit world of here's corporate America. Here's a blueprint. Here's how you succeed
Yes, I mastered that I was an expert in that
But now I had to figure out okay start over ground zero
How do you build this I didn't know there was no map? There was no blueprint
I just started focusing on I have always succeeded. I will succeed, I will figure out a way,
but I didn't know a way, so I just kept taking action.
The first thing I did was I asked for help, that landed me on the Elvis Durant show, that's
when he said to me, well Heather, you're writing a book!
And I said, of course I am, but I wasn't!
I googled, how do you write a book?
I didn't know how to write a book.
I didn't even know if people can just write a book.
I had no idea had never thought of writing a book in my life.
So there was no master plan for me,
and it's important for people to know that,
I guess some people might act like they had some master plan.
I don't buy it.
If you are someone that got fired,
that found yourself just sitting on the sideline suddenly
and decided to go to work for yourself.
I definitely imagine you're probably similar to me that you didn't know what to do, didn't
know what you were going to do, but you were willing to bet on you.
You were willing to roll the dice on you.
And that is what I was willing to do.
Didn't know how to write a book.
Google it and figure it out.
Didn't know how to find an editor.
Posted about finding an editor, and trusted my gut, and then suddenly I had a book, and then suddenly people
closest to me in my life told me not to release it to pull the plug. And I made a very great
decision and called my editor who had written 19 books and said, should I pull the plug?
I'm scared. I don't think it's going to work. I think I'm going to get sued. All the negatives and nose and this and that and he said, why did you write the book? Has that changed?
And it hadn't. I reached out to someone who had already been where I wanted to go.
Instead of taking advice and direction from people who had no idea about where I was going because they had never, ever been there. And that realization for me is so powerful.
I no longer lean on people no matter how much I love them, no matter how much they love
me for advice.
If they haven't been in the ditch that I was in and they didn't dig themselves out and
they aren't going in the same direction I'm going, I'm not going to consult with them
on business.
I'm going to consult with me.
I'm going to rely on me and I'm going to tap people way far ahead of me.
And if I can't meet with them, I'll listen to their podcasts.
I'll read their book, whatever it may be,
but you can tap into knowledge on social media or anywhere
to help yourself access what it's like to think like someone
when you want to get to where they're going.
Because they didn't know the how, they figured it out along the way.
Was it messy? Ab's a fricking loopy. Is it still messy?
You got it. It sure is. I was on a call today with one of my coaching clients
and she was saying to me, well Heather, you don't understand. I have so many businesses going on at the same time
and it's hard to know to prioritize which one is the emerging business, which one is the right one to spend time.
I'm listening to her go on and on.
Mind you, I have a deal with Harpercons leadership for my new book to come out in 2021.
They just emailed me this morning for a meeting next week.
That is a priority.
I have this podcast, which is a priority.
I have my coaching business, which is my number one revenue stream, which is my brand new
business. I just launched and started. I need more testimonials. I need to build up a stronger
pipeline. I need a more efficient and effective pipeline. I need to work less time on the discovery
element and more time on what I do best. The coaching. I need to build this business out. I need to do
so many different things. I need to take care of my son and his home schooling and
Find a way to work out every day because that's a priority. Yes, I have a lot of things going on. No, I have none of it
Nailed down or figured out yet. So if you don't
Don't worry about it. Nobody does and the advice I gave her was right now
You are looking for cash focus on revenue only opportunities and focus on the higher ticket revenue opportunities because the
sooner you close your higher ticket revenue opportunities the sooner you can
reevaluate take a breath step back and decide what you want to work on next.
Revenue fixes all problems. So that's what I'm sticking with. That's how I'm
moving my business forward right now as a rookie in the executive coaching space. And
that's how I encourage you to as well, you will figure it out along the way. You
don't need to know the how today. And until next week, keep creating confidence
in yourself. I'll be doing the same. See you then. This episode is brought to you by the YAP Media Podcast Network.
I'm Holla Taha, CEO of the award-winning digital media empire YAP Media, and host of YAP
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