Next Level Pros - #75: How to Turn Your Set Backs Into Comebacks: Tim Storey, Celebrity Life Coach

Episode Date: February 13, 2024

In this episode, we dive into the remarkable journey of Tim Storey, an acclaimed life coach, author, speaker, and pastor. Known for coaching celebrities and leading figures around the globe, Tim shares his story from growing up in Compton to influencing the lives of many with his wisdom on overcoming setbacks. Join us as Tim unfolds the power of perseverance, the importance of being a good listener, and his unique approach to life coaching that has transformed lives worldwide. Highlights: "I'm not good at everything, but I'm the master of this." "Life interruptions usually hit real strong even before the age of 10... Most powerful men in the room... have had huge life interruptions before they were ten." "You have to become awake... take inventory... partner with the right people." Timestamps: 00:00 - Building Your Spotlight: The Genesis of Greatness01:35 - Thinking Big in Small Places: Tim's Early Inspiration06:16 - From Dishwasher to Influencer: The Path Less Traveled08:54 - A Doctorate in World Religion: Beyond Traditional Pastoring12:09 - The Art of Listening: Key to Tim's Coaching Success17:06 - Monumental Speaking Engagements: Global Impact20:09 - Collaborations with Steve Harvey: Celebrity Coaching29:28 - Regrets and Reflections: Personal and Professional Growth34:28 - The Concept of Comebacks: Turning Setbacks into Success40:04 - The Importance of Coaching and Being Coached

There's a Bible verse that says, do you see a person skilled at their work? They will be brought to the presence of the greats. Watch this. So I believe in building your spot and then God will put the spotlight on your spot. So I became really great at life coaching people before people talked about life coaching. All these years, imagine what I know on the comeback. So I'm not good at everything, but I'm the master of this. Yo, yo, yo, yo. Welcome to another episode of the Founder Podcast. Today, I'm joined by Mr. Tim Story. Tim is an incredible life coach, author, speaker,

and I think most importantly, pastor. I think that is such a cool thing. I'm still that, yeah. I went to seminary, and then I kept going on and got a doctorate degree. So it's not like I pastor my own church at this point. I'm the founder of a church that's fantastic called The Congregation, but I pastor millions of people. That's amazing. So I know you have a very unique background, right? You've been a life coach to many very top celebrities. Oprah, to name one. I know there's a handful of other very well-known names. Obviously, you don't just get there one day, right? It's not just like, oh, I'm live coaching Oprah. I would love to hear the journey.

I know you have an incredible journey of like growing up in Compton. Yeah. And give us some more of that. Yeah, I think that number one, you know, I was raised in a family that we were thinking big in small places because we were raised in a seven, I'm sorry, we had seven people in a two-bedroom apartment in Compton. And that's cramped and crowded.

But it's strange because when I talked to my siblings about it, we were all thinking big already. So my mother always used to say something to us. She would say, we are lower income but we are not lower class um so i always felt that i was going to do something special didn't know what it was exactly yeah and my sixth grade teacher later on said to me uh timmy can you stay after class i stayed after class and he said i want to tell you something. I think you're brilliant because you're brilliant. I want to give you some books to read that would enhance your mindset. So in that moment, I mean, any kid that hears that, that's going to be like,

those are the sweetest words you can hear. How did that make you feel? And like, how did that like change your trajectory? I had never heard that before because my mother is very, very tough as a disciplinarian. And my father died in a car accident when I was only 10. So I'd never heard words like that. So when this teacher said that, it was very foreign to me. But I remember I thought, don't push those words away. Take them. So I took them and I stuck them on me

because all of us have been labeled. So as you know, a label is a tag or a marker that denotes three things, your value, your usage, and your content. So when he labeled me brilliant, I just went, okay. You accepted it. I accepted it. I went with it. And from that time forward, I mean, how did that change your path? Well, I just think that that just became really my mindset. I'm really not joking. I didn't go tell people, you know, I think I'm brilliant because my teacher said I'm brilliant. But, you know, one person's opinion can really kind of drown out the negative opinion.

So when he branded me brilliant and said, Tim, you need to expand yourself, he gave me a book about the life of Michelangelo and said, this is not extra credit. This is just to expand your mind. I mean, what a big thinking sixth grade teacher, right? Right. So then after that, I just kept reading more and more books about entrepreneurs, about artists, about business people. Starting in the sixth grade

is when I started all this. Wow. Wow. How many books did you read growing up? I was a reading machine. I'm a cool nerd because I a an athlete and i did well in sports but i've always been nerdy where i would much rather have been reading a book than watching gun smoke big valley partridge family brady bunch those were the shows of my day yeah yeah so you obviously had like a very dynamic background i mean you played sports yeah yeah, the jocks aren't hanging with the nerds. I mean, you kind of had that. And then you grew up in a, well, a very small home. Yes. Right. And so that gave you a very diverse background view on life. And how did that

inspire the rest of your life? So at that point, I'm not thinking about inspiration to do anything big. I'm seriously thinking about how great life is. That even after my father died when I was 10, I've always had like something inside of me where I knew that life was going to get better somehow, someway, somehow, someway. When my mother was working at Winchell's Donut Shop, raising all of us as children for a very small salary, I knew somehow, someway, somehow, someway that I would be okay. And then- So question, how does she support a family? Are you guys all helping pitch in and doing odd jobs? 100%. So starting like at 15, we all work jobs. So I'm the youngest of five children. So from my oldest sister all the way down to me, the youngest brother, three sisters, two boys,

we started working at 15. Most of us started in the restaurant business. I was a dishwasher at 15, worked my way up to a busboy. I was excited about that. And then later on to become a waiter. And during these times while you're a waiter, you're helping pitching in and whatnot, what dreams did you have? What did you expect life to be? What I was expecting life to be is just better than what I saw for my mother and my father. At this time, I'm not thinking I will go to 78 countries. I will influence US presidents. I will speak to 85,000 people at a time.

I will break records in many, many things that we've done. That's not on my mind. On my mind was I want to help support my mother and i want to do the best i can yeah yeah so you're you're just taking you're doing it and like at what point does the future of tim's story like when you get when you get clear and like okay i'm gonna pursue pastorship or i'm gonna pursue life coaching because like that's not the typical dream of pretty much anyone. Right. Like, and so like what were some pivotal points from then on that really changed? There is one pivotal point. So that's a phenomenal question. So I'm 17 and I'm in high school and about to start my senior year, which just started.

And we were all talking about schools. My thinking was I wanted to go to USC, which I had the grades to do it. And I wanted to be a communications major. But the girl in front of me in my math class who tutored me in math, she was really a great tutor and a great friend. She was reading a book about the life of Mother Teresa. And it was a big book. So I saw her reading it.

And I said, you know, what's that book about? So she says, it's about this lady. She's a nun. She goes, when I'm done, I want you to read it. So I was thinking, that's really not what I'm going to read. So when she finishes it, she literally goes like this in math class hands me the book and she goes be done in two weeks but i had so much respect for her i decided to read this book that book about the life of mother theresa was my aha moment really when mother theresa said

she could not forget the cries of the orphans and she had to find a way to feed them, I said, man, I wanna help the underdog. And that's when I went to my guidance counselor, and he talked me into going to seminary. It was the last thing on my mind. So from high school, that's where you go. You go to seminary. Seminary, yeah. How long does that last?

So I go and I go and I go and I go, and then I keep going. And then I end up getting a doctorate in world religion. Wow. Wow. So you get a doctorate in world religion. Does that immediately transfer into being a full-time pastor? Well, it could mean many things.

So John Maxwell really blazed the trail for guys like me because I knew I was not a traditional pastor. So I became a traveling minister is the way we saw it, but teaching on leadership, goal setting, and created the message on turning your setbacks to comebacks when I was only 27 years of age. And I took that message around the world. But kudos to people

like Robert Shuler people like John Maxwell who went way before me and blazed the trail that I followed yeah yeah I Stephen R Covey I always always said that you know he preached the gospel in his books right seven habits of highly effective people that that literally he was just taking the gospel of jesus christ and dumbing it down into more you know consumable uh versions to yes you know and and maybe things that applied to business or whatnot but it's really the same principle let's throw him in because cu, no doubt about it, was one of the mega leaders, what he did with the core principles and taking that into leadership. So I was fortunate enough to have a lot of people behind me. So this thing that we see now of the things that I get to do. It's really a team.

People were kind to me from the get go. So I don't have the story of, I was clawing my way up and I was looking for places to speak. No, I was being set up. I was having Lee Iacocca mentoring me on business. And he was like, he was the mega guy of his day. But you were clearly doing something, right? From a standpoint of being in the right room, asking the right questions meeting the right people yes so what

did what did that path look like i mean you said a lot of these guys got you on stages and speaking arrangements so you were just constantly looking for opportunity no not all. So it's the complete opposite. So there's a Bible verse that says, do you see a person skilled at their work? They will be brought to the presence of the greats. Watch this. So I believe in building your spot and then God will put the spotlight on your spot. So I became really great at life coaching people

before people talked about life coaching. So I was in my 20s and I was already life coaching people in the NFL. So Reggie White said, I have money and you have a gift. Let's go. So he started booking me in all these chapels for the NFL. I started meeting everybody. And then they would say to me, hey, how do I work with you? I mean, I'm young, early, early 20s. I didn't know what that meant. So I went to a lady

who taught at USC, Dr. Helen Mendez. She gave me a curriculum that was like on life coaching. Again, before we knew about life coaching, I started coaching people. So I became so good at solving people's problems, I got ushered to the presence of the kings. So what do you think led to that though? Like what made you, was it a natural gift that you got from God or was it based off of experience, a combination of your intellect? What do you think?

So number one, I'm a good listener. That comes with being the youngest of the five children um a lot of my friends would say you know tim the reason you got to be in these big tables is you're phenomenal at listening and then you only insert when you're supposed to so if you're sitting there with char Charlton Heston or you're sitting there with Tony Curtis or you're sitting there with Walter Matthau, I mean, these were the greats way before me, you know, as they're the biggest actors of our time, right?

And these are the people I was spending time with. I learned to listen and then I learned to insert when necessary. And I think that they really respected the wisdom that I was bringing. So when I was building my spot, my spot was learning about life, how to turn setbacks into comebacks, learning more about spirituality, learning more about biblical ideas that could change their life, all of Steve Covey. So it was those kind of things that I was used to unlock things in

their lives that they needed me. Yeah. It's powerful. And so, I mean, you built your spot and the spotlight came. Yes. And people just kept presenting you more and more opportunity. Non-stop. Awesome. At what point did you realize or did you ask yourself, like, is this my real life? All the time. Now is what's going on with me now.

You know, we're launching a new national talk show. I'm right now in 90 airports around the world with my own talk show. That's amazing. And in millions of hotels. I'm working on a movie with one of the best actors we have in the world right now. So, no, right now, talking to you, I'm way over my head. I'm way out of my comfort zone and over my head. But I think that was God's plan for my life. And that's

why I need to be grounded and rooted in him because I'm empowered supernaturally. That's how I see it. Yeah. I mean, obviously you've had a lot of financial success over the years because of all these different opportunities. So at what point, at what point did you change the, or what drives you? What gets you out of bed? Like, what is your mission today? The money's a funny thing because I remember the first time I got paid to speak when I was 19, I tried to give them their $50 check back. It was through a church situation and so um it was weird to get paid to speak yeah but then at like 20 21 years of age i started getting invited to things like amway and other mlms and they would say you know here's five thousand dollars or here's eight thousand dollars they were higher amounts and i would say like are you, here's $5,000 or here's $8,000. They were higher amounts.

And I would say, like, are you sure? It seems like a lot. They go, Tim, you know, we pay the other speakers pretty much double than what you're getting. And this is back in the 80s, 90s? Yes. So I'm 63 now. Okay. So, yeah, I was, you know, 21 years of age.

So that was like 1981 which i mean if you're getting paid five to ten thousand dollars in the 80s like that's a big deal it was yeah and then the other thing is is um i know the irs won't come after me now because i was back in the 80s but a lot of people would pay you in lots of cash cash for a kid from Compton. Oh, yeah. That was cool. That's great. Yeah, so then it made me in a good position

because I didn't want money from churches and from the church world for my personal life. I would use it for humanitarian efforts and doing missions work. And I was making all my money off speaking at a lot of MLMs. that's kind of how it started probably about like eight to ten of them and then it started opening like for companies so i never had to have an agent i never was knocking on doors and yeah this was all pre-internet pre-social

media pre all those things i mean word of mouth it's all word of mouth right yeah it's all word of mouth it's like okay um you know less brown can't do this conference who do we get uh they got this new guy tim story he's pretty good he's funny he's got good content so i was getting like a lot of uh stuff that less brown couldn't do in the early days what was like the the coolest memory or coolest experience that you had speaking on stage um i think i think it all started in the church world so at 20 speaking to 13 000 people in nigeria wow it was a lot that is a lot of people and that's a real number yeah and then 21 uh going back there again and speaking to 18,000, and then speaking all through Latin South America, speaking to 28,000 people at the age of 27.

Wow. So in those days, obviously, it's different than being 63 and well-seasoned. Yeah. I mean, what were your nerves like, or have you always been just chill as a cool cucumber? Yeah, I think that I see everything through the lens of humor. Yeah. Humor and compassion.

So I always thought, like, oh, man, I'm way over my head now. Like, I remember, like like speaking and then seeing denzo washington in the front row but i was only in my 20s or you're speaking and you see stevie wonder or you're speaking and you see you know leigh iacocca that's when i just had first met leigh iacocca are you speaking you see james conn from the godfather right this is all my 20s wow so heck yes you feel like i am way over my head so what i did yeah they call that what imposter syndrome so did you feel that pretty strong yeah big time so i i felt like there was definitely an expiration date on what i was doing like they're gonna find out who i am like i'm just some boy from compton just trying to figure it

out so i was like saving up money like in uh i didn't quite have a piggy bank but something like that i had a safe i used to save like a lot of cash like thinking like uh uh you know i don't know how long i'm gonna be making this kind of money that's rolling in. But again, I give credit to God and I give credit to the people that cared enough about me to continue to lift me up. So the guy you see right now, I don't feel like it's all about me. I don't get into like the seven ways I did it. You'll never see me do that on social media. Thank you, Oprah Winfrey thank you steve harvey thank you the quincy jones who called oprah nine times and said you've never seen anybody like this guy he is the best speaker so is that how it happened come on yes yeah so this guy i was already flying i was already big

but quincy quincy jones was persistent persistent called called Oprah nine times. Oprah Winfrey said, Quincy called me nine times and said, you've never heard a guy speak like this. And that's when she began to say, I believe Tim Story's the best speaker in the world. And when she says that kind of stuff, people pay attention to it. That's a rocket ship. No, for real.

It went into some weird place that I'd never been before. Wow. And tell me about your relationship with Steve Harvey. Great guy. I mean, I do a lot with him. I mean, how did that go about? How did it come about? What happened is that the doors of me being the life coach to the stars,

which I have worked with over 300 entertainers. Right. And currently work with probably over 100 right this second. Yeah. So with Steve, he had heard about me through different people, but it was his guy who ran everything, a guy named Gerald Washington, who's amazing, that really got in Steve's ear and said,

look what he's doing for Oprah. Let's do something with him. So I did something with Steve for a while every Monday. Oh, wow. So that was dope. And then I went on tour with him and he's become a great friend. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Steve, he's got a great story. I've watched a lot of his stuff. And the fact that, you know, you were behind a lot of that and coaching with him directly and whatnot is pretty awesome. Well, I wasn't behind Steve's story. Me and Steve are just brothers. But I think that with Steve Harvey, you see a lot that we have in common

of being in a setback for so long and then finding a way. Whether you find it, so I'm talking about men of color for a minute, whether E.T., my good friend Eric Thomas, same thing, okay?ve harvey same thing oprah winfrey pregnant as a teenager same thing set back to come back so i think that people like us from our culture and our background we wanted to give people a step up yeah i love that i love that what, at what point did you feel like you had made it?

Never still don't. Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, I've lived in houses with elevators with seven bathrooms and three fireplaces in Beverly Hills. And, you know, I've done all that. Um, never have I ever thought that I have made it. I appreciate that about you. I can tell that you're very genuine and a seeker of knowledge and someone that really just respects everything that you experience. I'm intentionally driving a car that my friends bother me about. I'm driving a BMW, that my friends bother me about. I'm driving. Tell me about it.

I'm driving a BMW, but it's an X6. But it's more of like a family car. Yeah. So my friends are always like, dude, like I got a Lambo guy or I got a Ferrari guy. Tim, you don't even have to leave your house. It'll show up. It grows up. They get very bothered with me that I come in looking so ordinary.

But that's where I'm at in life right now. Why is that important to you? Because I think that the humanitarian side of me is a side that brought me before great people. That's what got the attention of many of our presidents. That's what gets the attention of people who run the world. Like I'm 78 countries deep, but I'm not playing small. I'm at the highest people and the people that are struggling. I think it's a humanitarian side.

I don't think it's the I'm flossing and I'm great and on my grind side. That's not really the guy. Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, it's really just your connection with humanity and being such a – and I appreciate that. I could tell that about the very first time I met you, right? We were at an Aspire event.

Yeah. And our mutual friend, Clinton, introduced me to you. And I was just like, man, this is a genuinely cool guy, right? I could tell that you did not put yourself above anyone. No, not at all. Which is very rare in that space, right? I mean, many big keynote speakers or whatnot, they are in and out. Don't say hi to the uh you know yeah the the poor

you know i mean that's literally they they think that they or at least they portray i stay the whole time right i stay the whole time and i walk around the audience and i get over a thousand invitations a year have you done that always over a thousand have you always done that where you've yes i love that because the thing is is that that guy that i might meet like let's say i'm getting into um to an uber to an suv with a huge guy this guy is a manager for famous famous people like at the highest level right like stars he came with me to atlanta from beverly hills okay we're getting in this uber in this young guy comes me and like tim story and he's like at the at the window so i go i roll the window down

i go no no take your time because he's gonna try to see something real fast like oh man you're man i look up to you man you're from the neighborhood, and you made it. I go, wait, slow down completely. And I want you to DM me your phone number, and I'm going to call you. Okay? He DM'd me his phone number, and I called him. Wow. So I could have a long conversation with him.

That's awesome. That's real. That's real. Because that's somebody's son. Yeah. And a lady comes up, that's somebody's daughter. So that's how I see it. So the way these guys, Quincy Jones, you know, Lee Iacocca, Vidal Sassoon, the way they all brought me up, I want the next generation like yourself, you know, take it to another level. I don't mind.

Go above me. Man, I love that. I think that's the powerful sign of a great leader, you know, someone that is not in competition with others but wants the best for everyone, right? And that's where abundance really comes in and you're really able to experience the fullness of life. Yeah. And I appreciate that about you. And I'm only a part of the puzzle. So, you know, even though I get to play a very cool role

and that I'm very connected in a lot of things that I get to do, but I'm a piece of the puzzle. And let me tell you something that's strange about aging. I was always the guy that was in his 20s trying to act older because there would be like this big multi-level convention and they get a 23 year old speaking right right so they'd say and there's a lot of like 40 and 50 year olds that are wanting to retire exactly right yeah ladies and gentlemen buckle your seatbelts here to to the stage is coming Tim Story. And then they'd see like this young, energetic chocolate guy.

So it was really weird to be the boy wonder. And then now to have to fill out forms sometimes. And it says born November 2nd, 1960. Okay. Number one, as you see, I don't look that age. I don't let my body go. I let my body go up. And I think I'll live long and strong because my mother is about to be 92,

and she's very fantastic. Got some good longevity genes. Yeah, so I think that my mentors, Quincy and guys like the leader of Motown, Barry Gordy, those are my mentors. They're all working. They're in their 91, 92, 93. So that's my goal, right? So 30 more years of doing this.

But I'm realistic. So that's why I like, you know, if I can plant seed into guys like you and to take what I've learned and say, hey, you might consider this or consider doing it that way. I love that. That's where I'm at. I love that. So what are the goals that drive you now? I mean, 63 years old, you want to live for another 30 years. You've accomplished so much in your life.

What pushes, motivates, drives you? What are the big, hairy, audacious things? Number one, I want to live longer than 30 years. All right. Above 93. But I'm going to live healthy and strong. Yeah. I'm not really driven like that.

I'm into what is the God idea for my life? What is the assignment for my life? So the last few days I've been helping one of my friends whose child struggles with mental illness. So I've been working on getting them into the right institution that can actually help their life. So I'm in the middle of that.

Plus I own a lot of companies. I've invested in a lot of big companies so i get to do some things that people consider grand and kind of cool but i'm not chasing anything yeah i'm fully present fully feeling fully alive in this moment and i'm just living life and so would you say that is what brings you the most joy? What brings me the most joy is life. The fact that I get to live. The word to live is to be animated. So I am alive in my life.

I'm animated. I was animated when I was a busboy. And I'm animated at the level I'm at right now, whatever that level is. So are there any regrets along the way? Sure. I mean, my God. I mean, regrets of people I should have partnered with that were great companies that I was too busy to see.

Regrets in going through a very difficult divorce from a smart lady who's also a doctor, a college professor. We were married 11 years, have two amazing kids. Tough. Wow. That was tough. What would you do differently there? I think that when I was rising so high, it was foreign to me. And so I was bringing a lot of that energy home of, oh my gosh, you wouldn't believe who was there. That's not really what she wanted to hear about. She wanted to talk about curtains and changing the tile.

You're talking about my life right now. Yeah. And she's an amazing person. And we're so close that she's always had keys to my houses. We're so close that she's always had keys to my houses. We're super close. And I really blessed her going out financially. She's a mother of my kids and she's brilliant. She's smarter than me.

But I think the side where I jacked up is that the career became almost like the other person. But I didn't know that. I just was blind to that. So when we were in counseling and she would bring that up, I was like, what? I thought you were loving all this. So because I thought I was like building for my family.

So I think that's where I messed up, yeah. Yeah, you know, I interviewed a guy the other day, Keith Yackey. Do you know Keith? Yes, I like Keith. Wow other day, Keith Yackey. Do you know Keith? Yes, I like Keith. Wow. Yeah, Keith is stud. And, you know, he talks about a lot of these things and, like, how to solve a lot of those relationship issues, you know. And you just said something that he talks about being an issue where a lot of times us as entrepreneurs, we make the excuse of, I'm doing this for my family.

Right? I'm doing this for my family yeah right i'm doing this for my kids but we're we end up being deceived that where we're our own ego and our yeah it gets in front of of those type of things for for me i promise you it wasn't it wasn't even ego it was just not knowing any better and so i was so excited his blindness did i yeah did i got to speak to 7 000 people in baltimore at 31 i wanted just to tell her that right but it was weird she didn't want like the presence i was trying to give her she didn't want the cars that we could buy again i'm doing this on what i would consider like secular money, businesses that I was running, businesses I was doing, and companies paying me large amounts of money to talk. That wasn't really what she was

about. Her father was extremely influential. He was an aide and a consultant to both of the Bush presidents. So she was used to somebody in the family doing well, but he didn't talk that much about it. He just did it. So that kind of turned her off. Right. In her mind, that was how a husband or a father figure was. Yeah. It is so interesting how our childhood shapes so much of the way that we perceive life.

Yes. But we came to figure this out through walking. We used to walk together after we were divorced to talk about the kids. So we would do this thing that I call walking with my ex. And we would talk, and we'd have these amazing conversations. I would say, like, why didn't you tell me that years ago? She goes, you never really would listen about to that you know you're now more mature but she's apologized for a lot of things that she felt

that she did by um you know not listening to the fact that her husband was excited i mean it sounds like you guys have continued an incredible relationship after the fact did you guys ever consider getting back together yeah yeah so i have a screenplay that i've written sounds like you guys have continued an incredible relationship after the fact did you guys ever consider getting back together yeah yeah so i have a screenplay that i've written on this whole journey with her because um after being divorced for seven years and having these walks to talk about the kids yeah we were on a walk and i said this this is weird. We get along so well. I said, you think we should get back? She goes, no. That would ruin it all.

She goes, I'm impressed with you. I'm blown away by you. You're an amazing provider. But all that energy in the house, I'm so glad it's gone. She was serious. Wow. Because she's very chill. Yeah. she was serious wow because she's very chill yeah and um she's really into like substance quality

uh she she didn't enjoy the beverly hills life she didn't enjoy my beverly hills friends right that that was not her her thing yeah no i i get that so you talk about a lot you know turning setbacks into into comebacks. Can you expound on that a little bit more for some of our listeners? Yes. So most people at some point in their life, they have momentum. Momentum is a force or an energy. And then they have a life interruption.

The life interruption could be you're young and you're chubby. Or you're young and you have asthma, or you're young and you got molested, or you're young and your parents got divorced. Life interruptions usually hit real strong even before the age of 10. So when I life coach powerful men, the most powerful men in the world, most of them have had huge life interruptions before they were 10 years of age interesting right yeah so what happens is that when a life interruption comes an interruption is a disturbance most people could either sit in that setback and settle in that setback so in that area of their life they now have a setback in the area of I'll never trust another person I'll never trust a woman I saw what my mother did to my father I'll never trust a man I saw what my father did to my mother right interesting stuff right yeah so I

started studying on what setbacks do to people so i went into like a four-year study before i decided to write the book it's time for your comeback around 1990 1991 and then i released that book which became a bestseller then my book come back and beyond went to the stratosphere because oprah held it on her lap for an hour and talked about the book for a whole hour wow wow that's buddy that was like yeah that's that's the best thing that could ever happen to an entrepreneur it's like kids we're going to hawaii yeah love that so so you write you write this in your book and so you said you studied this for four years i

studied the comeback for four years and but you gotta remember that was back in the late 80s so so now the decade of the 90s studying comeback and teaching it and then 2000 2010 2010, 2010, 2020, now we're 24. All these years, imagine what I know on the comeback. So I'm not good at everything, but I'm the master at this. I love it. I'm not good at everything, but I am the master at this. So teach my people just a couple things about how we can turn those setbacks into comebacks. Okay, so if you are the next gigantic actor in Hollywood and you're screwing up on the set, okay?

You're losing your temper. Right. You're under pressure at home, right? Yep. Maybe there's a little substance abuse challenge. So they bring in a Tim story. These are my steps I take them through. Number one, you have to become awake

become conscious and truth wake up secondly you have to take inventory okay where am i at mentally where's my mindset okay physical body where's my spirit so you come awake number two take inventory number three you got to partner with the right people. So show me your partners and I'll tell you why you have that problem. Absolutely. Every time. Not sometimes. Every time.

So you got to become awake, number one. Number two, take inventory. Number three, partner with the right people. Number four, go through this quickly. You have to have the right principles, all of Stephen Covey. Number five, from the principles, you have the right plan. You cannot have the right plan until you have the right principles, all of Stephen Covey. Number five, from the principles, you have the right plan. You cannot have the right plan until you have the right principles. Yeah. Then you have to develop persistence, and then you have to stay on the path.

Boom. Were those all P's or the last four? Well, there was some P's in there, but remember we had inventory. Oh, that's right. And awake. Oh, yeah. But that works every time love it but i just change it slightly depending on how it is so if i'm dealing with the biggest rapper in the world yeah that's one thing if i'm dealing with a guy who uh got caught cheating on his wife and he works at Circuit City

or I think they've closed those. Or he works at... Best Buy. Best Buy. There you go. Okay. Then, you know, his world might be different than the rapper

because that guy's on TMZ. This guy's not. Yeah. So I may change it a little bit, but I use those seven principles i love it i love it what advice do you have for someone that feels stuck maybe they're stuck so i mean obviously apply those principles yeah right if they're stuck in a setback or maybe they're not even stuck in a setback they're just kind of stuck in life and just looking they want to take the next step they

want to take the leap what advice They want to take the leap. What advice do you got to those people? Yeah. My big thing is, is life transformation. I'm a transformation coach and transformation, as you know, means change, means to alter, to modify something, to redo. And so the first step to transformation is that you have to have that desire so do you do you desire it and then you have to uh have the the discipline to say i'm going to go through and then i think everybody needs a coach that's why i still coach people people always say you still coach people one-on-one absolutely so who So who's your coach? I would say I have a number of coaches. So Tim Grover and I are super close.

Tim's awesome. So Tim and I go at it with each other. So we coach each other. Yep. Grant Cardone and I are super close. We coach each other. Ed Milet and I are super close. We coach each other.

Steve Harvey and I coach each other. Oprah Winfrey and I coach each other. Me and you might start coaching each other. So yeah, I think I other. Oprah Winfrey and I coach each other. Me and you might start coaching each other. So yeah, I think I get coached by other coaches. I love that. I love that. So here's a fun question for you. What is a belief or an opinion that you have that you would say is probably different that

most people won't have? Yeah. I think that being the best is really not that important so like what is the best compared to what right it's like um the world series uh we weren't playing japan right yeah we call it the world Series, but it's the United States Series. Right. And a little bit of Canada. So that's my point.

So when you look at the current thought leaders and you look at like Tony Robbins, Gary Vee, Grant Cardone, Ed Milet, Tim Story, okay, now you. And, but dude, we don't know about the dudes from Sri Lanka. This guy may be kicking our butt on stage. Oh, this is, this is so true.

So I, I attend a Harvard program. Yeah. Right. It's for owners and presidents of businesses. Okay. And this has really opened my mind to this exact principle. Right. So I go and we live on campus three weeks a year.

Okay. And I'm in my third year and it's guys billionaires from all around the world yeah people that i would never be exposed to now you see my point yes yeah and that's like literally my my roommate from dubai does 3.6 billion a year okay and there's no way on earth i would have ever heard of him. Right. Right? Being from in my little bubble of where, to your point of being the best. So I never think about being the best. Right.

Because, I mean, what does that mean? I want to be the best version of myself, but I'm also open to the season of life. So right now I'm having a very bright season from age 20 to 63. I've had a bright 43 years that I've been in the spotlight. If I go to the most CVSs or something, someone's going to come up to me. If I go get gasoline today, someone's going to come up to me. That's an unusual life, pretty cool life.

But there might be a time where I go away for a while and just work on movies i work on broadway plays but that doesn't mean that i'm less significant it just means i'm choosing to do something else for that season yeah yeah that makes sense tim first of all thank you so much for your time it's been absolutely phenomenal i know it's extremely valuable and uh second of all, thank you so much for your time. It's been absolutely phenomenal. I know it's extremely valuable. And second of all, where can the audience follow you? Where's the best platform? Where are you most active? Yeah, I think that just like Tim's story,

so you guys will put it up, S-T-O-R-E-Y.com. Then you can just find things, all the different things. And that has your books, that has your programs, all the different things. Tim is a remarkable speaker. I've seen him multiple times live. He drops some of the most incredible things, as you guys can tell, listening in on this episode. Tim, once again, thank you so much for your time and for your knowledge. Any final words? Yeah, congratulations to you. How does it feel to be you right now? Oh man, it feels great.

I'm on a great trajectory, loving life, living in the moment. Yeah, because just today, you have been meeting with three people that do very well. And we all took our time out because it's you. I appreciate that. And for real, think about that.

So what the other guys did for me, the Quincy Jones of life, all took our time out because it's you i appreciate that and for real think about that yeah so what what the other guys did for me the quincy jones of life you know guys like david melzer and i are now doing for you and saying hey you're next go do it i appreciate that thank you so much to go get them all right until next time