Inside Strategic Coach: Connecting Entrepreneurs With What Really Matters

Entrepreneurs like being in action, but too often they get stuck in an in-between phase on a project. Business coaches Dan Sullivan and Shannon Waller discuss the dangers of maybes and the benefits of making clear-cut decisions. Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:The new Strategic Coach® thinking tool that reveals where you’ve been successful saying either yes or no—not maybe.What’s led to Dan having very few maybes in his life.A question you can ask yourself to lead you into action.Why having made a wrong decision can still be a good thing. Show Notes: Both yes and no are strategically useful. In your past, you either said yes and took a complete action, or you said no and prevented yourself from getting into trouble. Paralysis is in the middle of yes and no. This is where maybe is. When you’re saying maybe, you’re not committed or certain, so you keep yourself in a state of suspended animation. Your brain is what directs you toward and enables action, and it operates incredibly quickly. You can give your brain some help by deciding yes or no, and eliminating everything in the middle. Every week, look at your list of prospects and keep the yeses. “Maybe” kills you, “yes” rewards you, and “no” teaches you because you’re developing discretion. For some entrepreneurs, their research phase doesn’t start until they’ve made a decision and are in motion. When someone’s stuck in the maybe phase, it might be because they’re scared of making the wrong decision. They favor definitely not failing over potentially succeeding. Instead of worrying about making the right decision, you can make a decision and then work to make the decision right. Discovering what works for you leads to increased discernment. No matter how long you spend on research and planning, you won’t know if your idea works until you engage with the marketplace or your clientele. Resources: The 4 C’s Formula by Dan Sullivan Multiplication By Subtraction by Shannon Waller 

What if the best way to create a better future is to focus on making today a great yesterday? In this episode, Dan Sullivan and Shannon Waller explore a simple, rewarding way to approach time that can reduce stress, sharpen focus, and help you feel more satisfied with each day as it happens. Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:Why the last seven months have been the best of Dan’s life.Why engaging in this process reduces stress.Why Dan hasn’t been feeling any pressure from his ADHD.How this system creates a more satisfying daily experience. Show Notes: What you do today, and how you think about it, shapes your experience of tomorrow. Start each morning by deciding what would make today a great yesterday when you wake up tomorrow. When you focus on creating a great yesterday, tomorrow becomes less about worry and more about the commitments you make today. Creating great yesterdays can reduce the stress and regret you carry from the past. When tomorrow takes care of itself, you can feel less pressure and anxiety about the future. Getting emotionally attached to future possibilities can create anxiety because those possibilities don’t yet exist. Each future possibility you become attached to competes for your attention today. Focusing on today can improve your concentration by freeing you from stress about the past and future. A simple point system can make daily progress more visible, playful, and satisfying. There are no punishments in this system—only rewards for actions that move your life forward. An activity is more valuable if you do it consciously. Resources: The Gap And The Gain by Dan Sullivan with Dr. Benjamin Hardy Not Being Bothered by Dan Sullivan

For entrepreneurs, boredom is more than an inconvenience. It can lead to poor decisions, unnecessary disruption, and lost momentum. In this episode, Dan Sullivan and Shannon Waller explore why conscious thinking is the antidote to boredom and how asking better questions can create fresh energy, clarity, and opportunity from the experiences already in front of you. Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:Why entrepreneurs need to be aware of how they’re thinking.A simple, easy way to get energized by what you’re doing.Where boredom really comes from.How to respond to major changes in the world. Show Notes: Entrepreneurs need achievement that feels new, better, and different to stay energized and engaged. If you are no longer growing, or are achieving in the same way for too long, boredom can quickly set in. Boredom is not always a signal to look for more external stimulation; it can be a cue to change how you’re thinking. You can shift your energy by consciously switching away from an unproductive thought and giving your brain a better question to answer. Becoming aware of what you’re thinking, feeling, and experiencing in the moment is a practical antidote to boredom. Asking yourself, “What is actually happening right now?” turns you from a passive participant into an active observer. Taking the role of an observer creates emotional distance and helps you see a stressful situation more clearly. Naming your experience gives your brain something specific to work on and creates an immediate shift in energy. Anger and negative emotions can take over when you’re reacting unconsciously instead of examining what’s happening. Curiosity keeps entrepreneurs engaged because it turns familiar experiences into sources of new insight. Reviewing your best “yes” decisions and best “no” decisions can reveal valuable patterns, connections, and confidence for the future. The more conscious you are of your thinking, the more easily you can create fresh energy from your past, present, and future experiences. Resources: The Greater Game by Dan Sullivan and John Bowen Thinking About Your Thinking by Dan Sullivan Inviting Genius: How Good Leaders Use Conflict to Become Great by Matthew Abrams The 3 Most Important Questions For Constant Growth As An Entrepreneur

For over five decades, Strategic Coach® co-founder Dan Sullivan has been coaching talented, successful, ambitious entrepreneurs. In this episode, Dan shares insights from his new book, Who We’re Looking For, as he and business coach Shannon Waller define the kind of entrepreneur who gains the most from joining The Strategic Coach® Program. Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:How Dan discovered and describes the coaching instinct he was born with.Why The Strategic CoachProgram is designed exclusively for entrepreneurs.How Strategic Coach structures and processes can support an entrepreneur’s lifetime growth.How an entrepreneur’s ambition can create isolation—and what to do about it.How Strategic Coach and its members create a true collaboration, not a transactional relationship. Show Notes: Who you are is often easier for someone else to see, especially when they’re watching you in action and noticing what consistently works for you. Your life is made up of hundreds and thousands of experiences, and the patterns of what works and what doesn’t reveal your real talents and direction. The entrepreneurs who thrive in Strategic Coach are the ones who have chosen to base their income on their own effectiveness in the marketplace. Entrepreneurs have the strongest connection to their ambition because they’ve taken full responsibility for creating their own opportunities and results. Strategic Coach has coached over 25,000 entrepreneurs, and some members have been in the Program for more than 35 years, treating it as their entrepreneurial home. The ideal Strategic Coach member is talented, successful, highly ambitious, and never wants to stop growing their freedom and impact. When the right-fit entrepreneur hears about Strategic Coach, they recognize it immediately as the structure and community they’ve been looking for, which makes getting started simple and fast. In the Strategic Coach community, entrepreneurs collaborate rather than compete, contributing their experiences and insights so everyone grows faster. The biggest danger for entrepreneurs is loneliness, especially when they feel like no one around them really understands their ambition or experience. Most entrepreneurs have had to prove themselves on their own without a process, structure, or environment designed specifically for people who think the way they do. Strategic Coach gives entrepreneurs a space where they can be unabashedly ambitious and surrounded by peers who want them to think even bigger. Fundamental entrepreneurial thinking is different from knowing your industry; it’s a way of seeing opportunities, taking ownership, and creating value regardless of the business you’re in. There’s no point in being a successful entrepreneur unless your success continually increases your sense of personal happiness and agency. Resources: Unique Ability® My Plan For Living To 156 by Dan Sullivan What Is A Self-Managing Company®? The Entrepreneur’s Guide To Time Management The Impact Filter® Thinking About Your Thinking by Dan Sullivan

What does it take to build a business around only what you love doing? In this episode, Shannon Waller sits down with long-time Program Coach Teresa Easler to talk entrepreneurship, Unique Ability®, and designing a Self-Managing Company® that supports your best work. Teresa explains how better boundaries, courageous decisions, and seeing your business as intellectual property can change the way you lead and grow. Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:How Teresa first discovered Strategic Coach® through a surprise cold call from Shannon.How a move and lack of corporate options pushed her to start her own business.How she shifted from a gourmet cheesecake business into high-impact communication coaching.What big decisions she and her husband made to launch their company.What mindset shift led her to create Connect To The Core as a Unique Ability business. Show Notes: Most entrepreneurs can trace their roots back to childhood experiments in selling, serving, and creating value. Sometimes we choose entrepreneurship and sometimes life pushes us into it, but the result can be the same: freedom and growth. You can design a business where you do only what you truly love and are uniquely great at. Real communication isn’t just data exchange; it’s genuine connection and partnership with the person you’re talking to. Entrepreneurs need strong communication both in the marketplace and inside the company with their teams. It’s almost impossible to clearly communicate your value on your own because you’re too close to your own business story. You can decide you won’t work with anyone you wouldn’t genuinely enjoy spending time with. Learning to say no is a courage muscle that keeps your life and business simpler and more profitable. Saying “yes” too quickly creates obligations without real commitment, which leads directly to messes and drama. Treating your ideas and frameworks as intellectual property lifts you out of just selling products and services. When you build a Unique Ability-focused team, you can take more time off while your company keeps growing. Resources: Unique Ability® The Entrepreneur's Guide To Time Management The 4 C’s Formula by Dan Sullivan What Is A Self-Managing Company®?