EP07: I Thought My Dream Was Over - Jonathan Olejnik

 

And I remember the leg break like it was yesterday. 12 minutes in, lovely little ball got put through to me. I went one-on-one with the keeper. I chipped it over him. He absolutely clattered me, and I kind of got up, and I went to walk off, and I thought, "Something's not right here." So I went down, and I pulled my sock down, and my shin pro- my shin pad off and all that, and it was like a big balloon on my ank- like, just above my ankle, and I thought, "Oh, God, what have we done here?"

The whole stadium stood up. What was going through your head, like, after you got taken to the hospital? Just, "What's gonna happen? Is, is this the end?" So I went back too early, and the first game back, played the whole 90 minutes, and then five minutes towards the end, center-back come through me, and snapped again.

Oh, yeah. So I've actually had two leg breaks. Right. Yeah. My leg just took so long to heal, and- Thought, "Well, maybe what, what's the point of going back to football? Just go out and-" Started going out partying. Yeah. Then I started drinking and meeting girls, and what, what am I gonna do now? I was taking it out on my friends.

I was taking it out on my wife. Yeah, you take it out on clo- people close to you, don't you? People closest to you, yeah. Yeah. I suppose I was going through a, uh, I don't know what to do with my life stage. Yeah. And learn from your failures. A setback is not the end. It's just a, another way to, to grow. Hmm.

Interesting. And the worst thing I did was

Welcome to Effers Life, Jono Thank you very much. All right. Thanks for having me. All good, eh? Looking forward to it? Yeah. I'm, uh, apprehensive, but- Yeah? How's that? ... we'll see what you got in store for me. Why apprehensive? Just- Never done- Like I just said, the nice little word, professional setup. Mm-hmm. It's not, not done it to this extent.

I've done a couple of podcasts- Yeah, yeah ... but all online. Yeah. Nothing like this, so- You- ... stepping up. We're growing. Oh, yeah, that's it, man. It's all part of it, innit? Yeah. On the up. Yeah. 'Cause you do interviews and stuff, don't you? Do interviews, yeah. Just face-to-face, but again, nothing like this. No, yeah. So it's just me and my little, you know, little camera there- Mm

just set up on a tripod. Yeah. And, uh, that's it. Just, just, it follows me around- Yeah ... like a little lost puppy. Could you interview... 'Cause I did on here, that Dale Linder, the comedian, you had to interview him, didn't you? Yeah. And we went, we went to his show Friday night. It was a good night, wasn't it? Yeah, it was good.

Yeah. It was good. Um, as well as, as well, like we met through Broadbeach. Yeah. You played there. Yeah. How long, how long were you playing at Broadie for? So I've been at Broadie, I think it was four years. Yeah. I left, I left last year. When did you join? Last year. Yeah, so... Yeah. I left the year you joined. Yeah, yeah.

Um, 'cause me and my missus went and climbed Kilimanjaro in Africa. Oh, yeah. I saw that, yeah. And I literally, I just didn't wanna get injured at all. So I thought, you know, take a year out, and I had every intention of coming back, but, uh, yeah, it still hasn't gone that way. No. I'm enjoying my weekends off.

Absolutely, that's it, isn't it? Talk about football, as we get into that, the leg break. Yeah. How m- how many years ago was that? Yeah. I- FA Cup ... I remember the day like it was yesterday. Yeah. I was, you know, 17, 18. So, so yeah, I was playing for the under 18s. Yeah. I was playing regularly for the reserves. I was knocking on door for the first team, and, uh, the FA Cup come along.

It's the early stages, and I thought to myself... They, they, they said, "Come on, let's give you a go." And I was like, thought to myself, "Right, here we go. Here's my chance." And I was like 17, 18 years old. And, uh, it come to the game, and I found out just before I got there, before I got to the game, that there was a Reading scout coming to watch me as well.

Oh. So there was a bit more pressure on it, but I was having such a good season, and I thought to myself, "Do you know what? I'm not gonna let this chance slip." And I remember the leg break like it was yesterday. I bet. It was 12 minutes in- lovely little ball got put through to me. I went one-on-one with the keeper.

I chipped it over him, he absolutely clattered me, and as I went on the floor, I just kind of looked up and I watched the ball, and it just trickled across the line. And I was like buzzing, but I thought, "I've done something here." And I kind of got up and I went to walk off and I thought, "Something's not right here."

So I went down and I pulled my sock down and my shin pad, my shin pad off and all that, and it was like a big balloon on my an- like just above my ankle. And I thought, "Oh, God. What we've done here?" Yeah. My dad was there watching me. Got carried off. Actually, I didn't get carried off. I got like... I just kind of like hobbled off to the pitch, and then I got carried off by the boys round to the changing room.

And, um, yeah, I was waiting for the ambulance. They knew r- right away what was going on, and, uh, got into the ambulance. And I always remember my dad saying... It's like I just... He felt emotional, and my dad's like a strong Russian background- Mm ... Polish background kind of man, and like never seen him get upset apart from once.

And I always remember him saying that he was getting choked up because the whole stadium stood up and they was clapping me off. Applause. Yeah, yeah, that's nice. And then I just went into the ambulance and yeah, that was- That was it. Who were you playing for? Playing for a team called Harlow Town. Harlow Town.

I don't remember, but that must have been a pretty decent stand there for the FA Cup. Yeah. Well, I think most non-league teams go into the FA Cup- Yeah. -up, up to a certain standard. So, um, yeah, 17 touching 18 years old. Reading Scout the game if I remember. Yeah. Reading Scout the game. On the brink of something- And then I thought, "Here we go.

Here's my chance." And yeah, this happened here. And you knew like immediately when you got off, when you scored the goal. So you scored the goal as well? It's a goal. Scored the goal. I was buzzing. Then you tried to get up and you broke your leg. And I was like, "Oh, something don't feel right here." Yeah. So, uh, just kind of stood up and I, I went to walk off and I was like, "Oh!"

You know, put a bit of pressure on there. I was like, "Nah, this, there's no- something not right here." What was going through your head, like after you got taken to hospital? After that, like the first few days after leg break, what was going through your head, like you think? Well, that Reading Scout- Yeah, yeah

was what was going through my head. Yeah, I bet. I was like Just what's gonna happen? Is, is this the end? You know, what, what am I gonna do now? Before that, like I took football really, really seriously. Like I, I never used to drink. I used to go out, but I used to drive, and I used to eat right and, and had like a good structure, good discipline, and everything was coming to this moment, and then this happened.

Mm. So over them first few days I was just so gutted and I was like, "Is this it? Is this, is this my chance gone?" Yeah, blown, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so how did it like affect like mentally? Like, say you wasn't drinking before, was you going out drinking after? How'd you like cope with- Yeah, so- ... with that, that, that sort of setback?

You know, I suppose things took a change. Yeah. 'Cause like I say, I never used to drink alcohol or anything. My leg took so long to heal 'cause it was a double break, like it was- Right, you're going out. Yeah, straight through the bone, and I was on a, a full leg cast and then, um, it went down to a half leg cast and I went through the rehab and, and things like that.

But I went back too early and the first game back played the whole 90 minutes, and then five minutes towards the end center back come through me and snapped again. Over here. So I've actually had two leg breaks. Oh, yeah. So yeah. Uh, I've never... The only thing I've broken is my nose which you probably can tell.

Bit old crook. I can't imagine, especially for yourself being 17, got that Reading scout there, you think on the, you might be on the pushing for something- Yeah ... and you just get leg... Well, your leg break, leg break again. Yeah, I went through this long process, this long process of recovering, done everything correctly- Yeah

which I thought, and then, I don't know, just went back a little bit too early and first, you know, 85 minutes, playing a blinder as well- Right ... and then I think I had like a chance at goal, I can't really remember, a chance at goal. Their center back come through me and it just went p, you heard it. My sister and my brother and that come to my first game back and- Heard it, mm

they, they said they heard the snap in the stand. So- The second time ... second time they heard it- Mm ... in, in the stand. Right. So then my leg just took so long to heal and- Then I started going out partying Yeah Then I started drinking and meeting girls and living a different lifestyle Yeah. Kind of like you- well, then the focus off football then?

Just c- after the second leg break, you kind of just- Yeah, pretty much ... wasn't completely mi- like your mindset sort of switched, and you just thought, "Well, maybe what, what's the point of going back to football? Just go out and-" Yeah, pretty much "... get on with sorrows." I went and worked in Malia for- Oh, yeah? I done, I done f- uh, four seasons there.

So look, it was a... You know, you could look at it a different way. Yeah. Um, I met my now wife out in Malia- Yeah ... so- Yeah ... you know, that on the last season. Um, but yeah, I went out to Malia, partying all the time, drinking all the time- Yeah ... um, meeting loads of girls. But I also don't regret it because, uh, some of my best friends around the world I met from going to Malia, and I also met my wife from Malia as well, so- Yeah.

Kind of worth the leg break, I suppose. Uh Well, yeah, maybe, maybe not, but, uh, that's pretty- Uh, what, what do you do? And then, like, sort of like you said, you leg break. How old were you, s- 18, 17? Yeah, so I went out to, to Malia when I was 18. I then I done- Did you ever, like, give football a go after the second lot, or just not completely- Yeah, so-

on that level ... that brings me on to, like, now to the reason... I got back into football. Yeah. Went back and played for Harlow Town. Yeah. And, uh, just couldn't break into the first team. You know, I just... My mindset wasn't the same. No. It was just... Yeah, it, it was just completely different. You know, I was, I was going out every weekend, probably rocking up to a game- Hangover

hungover. I was playing on a Sunday, you know, smashing tequilas, Indian curry, but you're still banging a hat trick or something. That's what it's like. C- can't do that now. No, yeah. Definitely not anyway. Um, but yeah, I went back into football, and I thought to myself, you know, I've got myself into a comfortable level, not as good as I used to be, you know, because a lot of things change.

Uh, but I applied for a few teams in Australia- Right ... 'cause my wife's cousin done it. He went for a year to play in Australia. So I applied for Gold Coast Knights, and I applied for Gold Coast City. I think that's what it's called, Gold Coast City. I, I ended up having trials with Gold Coast Knights. So I went traveling, went to Thailand, Vietnam.

You know, nothing really changed the partying aspect- No ... but when I came out here, uh, I went on my trial and, you know, I was, I was with Gold Coast Knights for, for a little while, but, you know, there, there was no money to be made- No ... out here, and I was running out of money. Yeah, yeah. So I end up, you know, working and, uh, getting, like, a sales job- Okay

and working for, like, the nightlife and the tourism around Surfers Paradise. And that's what you do now, don't it? Is it- So a part of what I do is I run a sales team now. Yeah. So I m- I manage them. Uh, yeah, I manage- And that's sort of the going out and the partying. Well, not... You call manage a sales team that sort out tickets, you know, like, for the- Yeah, so I guess it all started from Malia again.

Yeah. So, like, I was a promoter in Malia, and then I worked as a barman, and then- I actually ended up managing a bar out there, and I was doing a bit of everything. Bit of promoting, bit of barman, looking after the shot girls. Actually, I hired my wife as a shot girl. Um, that's a story for- ... for another time.

Off camera, I suppose. Um, and then done that, and then I went and worked in Ibiza. Done some- Yeah. Lovely ... boat parties there. Uh, worked in London doing a similar kind of thing, and then I come to Australia and, uh, I happened to just meet the person that was running it at the time. Yeah. So I end up working there, and, uh, you know, I was making quite a fair bit of money for, for doing what I was doing, and Then I ended up just leaving football for a little while Yeah Um- Till just- Up until Broadbeach

Broadbeach. Man, that's a... They're a good group, they're in there. Yeah. Good group of lads. Yeah, Broadbeach is wicked. Oh, yeah. Good group of lads. Yeah. Bro, was your... Close with your brother? Did he play football? Um, I suppose we had the, you know, the s- the, the typical sibling- Yeah ... brotherly love growing up.

Yeah. We was always fighting each other. He was, like, seven, seven years older than me. Oh, yeah. Was always fighting each other, and winding up the neighbors, pranking the neighbors, winding up our parents, pranking our parents' friends. I don't think they liked us very well, actually . Um, and then obviously he moved out because he was a bit older, and I used to go round to his hou- uh, his, uh, flat or apartment, whatever you wanna call it.

He used to play PlayStation. So it was a good relation growing up, relationship growing up. And then, um, yeah, he was hilarious. He was, he was so funny. Yeah. And then it got to, like, uh, COVID, and he, he started kind of maybe changing a little bit, 'cause he was, like, believing in all these conspiracies and things like that.

Oh, okay. So he was... I suppose we all was kinda going down that route, but I think he just took it- Too, yeah, to the extreme, I suppose ... to the extreme- Yeah ... and he was really going into conspiracies, like flat Earth and, and, uh, you know, everything that was going on with

COVID, so much so that his beliefs were his beliefs, and if you didn't believe what he was saying, he would actually probably fall out of you. But I was one of the lucky ones. Right. He, he used to listen to me, even though I was the younger brother, and that's kind of how I got into coaching. Um, I'm sure we'll cover that later- Yeah

but, um, that's kind of... He used to come, come to me and ask me for advice and then talk to me about things. So, um, yeah, it, it was, it was, it was a good relationship. Yeah. And what was he... Where did you, like, initially take the loss and kinda find out of his passing? Yeah, so- Like, three years ago? It was before...

So- Through COVID, we hadn't seen our family for, like, three and a half years 'cause, 'cause of what was going on. And me and my now wife went back to the UK to get married. That's the first time we've seen all our family for, for so long, and he had, like, a pain in his back, and, um, went to the doctors, and the doctors would say, "Oh, it's just a muscular, it's a muscular issue."

So they went, "Here's some, uh, here's some painkillers." And a, and a few months went by, and he went back to the doctors, and he was like, "Oh, my back's still hurting. I can't walk. I can't do anything." They was like, "No, no, it's just, it's just painkillers. You know, just, just take these. Just carry on." Anyway, I went back to, um, the UK to get married, and, um, he just was too unfit to, to travel 'cause my wife's Scottish.

Mm-hmm. So he was just too unfit to, to travel to Scotland. And, um, so he didn't come to my wedding. Okay. Didn't come to my wedding. So when we got back, and this is before we knew he, uh, had cancer, um, we, we had, like, a big family meal and, and stuff like that, and that was, that was the day after I was going to the airport, and that was the last time I see him.

So we flew back from our wedding. We was at home for two months. Flew back to Australia, and then we was just asleep one night, and obviously, you know, different time zones. Morning is Australia's night- Mm ... vice versa. So my... I didn't hear the phone or anything, so just woke up and had all of these missed calls, and you know you, when you know- Yeah, yeah

you know when you know- Something's happened, yeah ... something's happened here. So I just kind of rang my, my dad, my mum and dad, and, uh, yeah, I just remember my mum was just in tears. Yeah. Like, as you can imagine. She said, uh, "Nick," my brother, she goes, "We've just found out he's got cancer." And I was like, "Fuck."

Like, what? How? How's that? Yeah. He's, like, he was only 42. Like, how? How's that even happened? Anyway, I was like iffin' and buttin', like, "What should I do?" Everyone was saying, all my family was saying, "Stay there. Stay there. He's gonna go through, you know, treatment," and, and everything that they had to do. Yeah.

And, um, literally 10 days later, got a... We had, like, a bit of a group chat with the family, and, um, my sister-in-law, she was at the hospital, and he just went into this, um... went into, like, a cardiac arrest. And she was, like, typing, saying, "Nick's, Nick's gone into cardiac arrest," and everyone's going, "What's going on?

What's going on? What's going on?" And my... I remember my home phone number, went Mum and Dad, like, back in, in the UK. Yeah. And I was like, "I've gotta ring 'em," so I just rang 'em from my Australian mobile. I just rang and was like, "Mum, Dad, you need to get up and, and just ring Michelle and, and see what's going on here."

And, um, yeah, on the message it come up, "He's gone." Right. "He's gone." So yeah, just, uh, that it was a real big- Yeah, right ... shock. Um, yeah. So how would you... So I've, I've obviously lost my girlfriend, Lou, passing away, but losing a sibling and especially when you're on the other side of the world, probably feel like a bit, like helpless, I guess, helplessness and- Yeah

or just, just shock of it all and it's just- Yeah ... it's horrible. Well, I'd imagine we had the same feeling there 'cause it's what I used to say to, to people, like everyone expects like your nan and grandad to pass away- Yeah ... or, or your mum and dad even if they're, if they're old enough. Yeah. No one really kind of expects it to be your partner- No

or your, or your sibling. Yeah. And it, it, that was a, a weird feeling. Yeah. 'Cause I've had- That was surreal, innit? ... nan's passed away, and obviously, you know, I love them to pieces- Yeah ... but you kind of just expect it a little bit- Yeah ... because they're, they're of age. But, um, yeah, that feeling was, was something I've, I've never felt before, you know?

Horrible, innit? Yeah. Just like a, a... feel like, you kind of feel it out, like the shock and that's like you're just sick to your stomach, it's just- Yeah ... horrible feeling and- Yeah. I think I went out and I just bought a couple of bottles of wine- Yeah ... that day, and I just sat on the river, and I was just like drinking, then I was like, "I, I dunno what to do."

And I just remember speaking... 'Cause I've got a half-brother and a half-sister, we're really close, we never say half. Yeah. We're just like, they're my brother and my sister. But for the context of this, and I just remember calling them and... or they would call me, and it was like, "Please don't be on your own today.

Please don't be on your own." And thankfully my wife was there. Yeah. So what you're saying, yeah, absolutely. It's, it's obviously harder, hard being out here, but you're reminded of it... I, I would imagine that you're reminded of everything when you're back home in the UK. Mm. Like my, my parents would sit- be seeing like my brother and sister frequently, or they'll be seeing his friends or whoever it might be And, and he used to go around my mum, mum and dad's quite often, and, you know, they, they'll just be expecting him to come in or, or something like that, you know?

Yeah. Know what I mean? What's like your... For, for obviously for grief, I know I'm not an expert on grief. I'm like someone who's been through it. I, I feel like for me, grief was just there. You- like from the moment you- I woke up, I thought Lydia. From the moment of- like the last thing I thought of going to sleep was Lydia.

Mm. I feel like grief, like I say, I'm no expert. I feel like grief like affects everyone different. Everyone has their own sort of opinion. It kind of... Although how would it call it? I'm not sure what a lot of... What was like grief to you, I suppose. I, I know it's like it's diff- probably losing a sibling, your brother.

Yeah. I've got, I've got friends that have lost siblings, so it's like very probably feel like grief affects them different, I

suppose. Like I think, I think it, it probably everyone's got their own sort of opinion and their own sort of- Yeah. Um, I always thought to myself, I appreciated all the messages I was getting. Yeah. I was getting messages from all my friends- Yeah ... and family and whoever it might be, and I appreciated it so much.

But it was just like, it'd be like poking the bear. Mm. And I was, I was- Don't know how to say this 'cause it's gonna come across, like- Right ... a bit shitty, but it- they'll say like, "Sorry for your loss." No, I know. Yeah, yeah. And that, that's okay. Yeah. Th- th- they'll say, "Sorry for your loss", but then half an hour later they'll be going to a barbecue and, and, or having a party or, you know, doing whatever they did, and that's okay 'cause that's their life, so their life just continues- Yeah

to be the same, whereas it just stays with you- Mm ... like every day. It's been four years now, coming up four years, and, you know, I still think about him every single day. Yeah. I, yeah. And there's just loads of things that just remind me of him. Yeah. So when people would say, you know, um, you know, "Sorry for your loss," or whatever it might be, it would, it would bring it back up and, and obviously I know everyone means well- Yeah

but it was just, they would then just go on and, and continue living their life, whereas it was just staying there. Stuck with you all the time. Yeah, yeah. Staying there all the time all the time. Yeah. Don't leave it, does it? And the worst thing I did was, I don't know, it just, I, I held it in. Like, I didn't really cry or...

I did obviously at, when it first happened- Yeah, yeah ... but I didn't really cry or anything like that. I just held it in, didn't really wanna talk about it. Like, people would ask me, didn't wanna talk about it, change the subject, whatever it might be. And actually, that was the wrong thing to do- Mm-hmm, yeah

because it just- Agree ... built up- Yeah ... inside me and built this anger and this, this, I don't know, this different feeling in me that I was taking it out on my friends, I was taking it out on my wife. Yeah, you take it out on cl- people closest to you. People closest to you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it's horrible. I feel...

I know, I know the feeling, you feel, like, agitated and, like, on edge all the time, don't you? Yeah. It's, yeah, it's, yeah. You know when, like, peop- you watch a film or something or whatever it might be, and they'd be like, "Go under a bridge and scream"? Right. I was, I was like, "That probably would work." "That probably would work."

Scream into the pillow. Yeah, yeah. It's like, it's like, it's such a weird feeling that it just... I don't know, you can't really describe it. Yeah. Just agitated, on edge all the time. Trying to, trying to... You probably, you probably, like, deflect because you don't wanna talk about it 'cause you don't wanna believe that it's real- No

in, in your head. Okay, yeah, yeah. I don't know. That's, that's probably what I, I feel like- Yeah ... uh, for me, how it was. And bottling it up, it was definitely the wrong thing to do- Right, yeah ... because, yeah, it, it just got... You know, it just left my body in, in other ways- Yeah ... where I was, like, showing anger, and that was definitely the wrong thing to do.

Yeah. No, agree. Like you were saying, bottling it up, I think there's- This is why it's important for blokes. I think this is probably the, the best thing for people to do. And pe- we don't really do it enough. You know, you just bottle it up, get- Yeah ... sit down and like talking about it. Yeah. And hopefully this helps you doing it,

talking, sitting around and talking about it. Absolutely. Like, I'm, I'm not gonna lie, I'm a confident person- Yeah ... I feel like. Oh, yeah. And, you know, I've been super busy today, but it's been on my mind. Uh, you know, I've got to talk about this, got to talk about this. Yeah. I was saying this to, to my wife and a couple of friends earlier.

I was like, "Well, I don't... I'm not sure what he's gonna ask me about it." Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. But, yeah, you're making me feel comfortable. No, good, mate. That's what I want because I'm... Well, I know if I, I didn't do it enough, like you're saying, bottling it up, uh, angry, you take other vices. Like for me, drinks, drugs, blah, blah, blah.

You take it out on the people closest to you, and you look back and think, "Fuck, I don't, I, I don't wanna feel like that anymore." There's- Yeah ... do you know, kind of, you start to resent yourself, I suppose. Yeah. Um, and I'm, I'm just someone that's been through it, and I, I've like t- t- like, all I've learned, it's good to talk about it.

And if I can talk to people that have been through something similar, like the grief, losing someone, and make them feel comfortable, it means a lot, and I appreciate that. Yeah. Um- No, I appreciate you, uh, you know, having me on, uh, to- Mm-hmm ... you know, let me- And you talk- Well, we're going on to the... kind of talk about the coaching now.

You said when... It's your brother, all the conspiracies, he, he keep coming to you for advice, and that's how you started the coaching. Um, I was going through... I suppose I was going through a, uh, "I don't know what to do with my life" stage. Yeah. And I was working in the sales, and I, I was like I didn't wanna be selling like nightclub tours or, you know, the tourist stuff forever.

I just knew I didn't wanna do that. Yeah. And I was just going for a walk one day, and I was listening to a podcast, and I come across this guy called Paul Mort. And he was a master coach, life coach kind of person, and he was just talking about, you know, what he was doing for, for it, and how he was doing it, and how he was, you know, uh, working with all these people.

And like I said, my brother used to come to me for advice, and all my friends come to me for advice, and, you know, I've, I've, I've helped like my sales team, and I've, you know, I've got a few lu- yo- sorry, I've got a few young lads there that always come to me for advice. And I thought, "No, I'm actually quite good at helping people."

Yeah. So I was kind of trying to merge things together, and I actually started coaching when I was... Uh, I wasn't doing sales coaching, I was doing like confidence coaching. I was trying to teach people how to be confident, and, uh, particularly like young athletes or young entrepreneurs. And then, um, it was going really well.

It was going really well. But then I just had no clue how to run a business. Mm-hmm. Didn't know how to run a business at all, so I hired a business mentor And we went through the stages and stuff, and he was... He said to me, he goes, "Like have you ev- you know, you've been in sales for a long time," including like Malia to, to now, which is like 10 plus years.

Like, "Have you ever considered being like a s- like a sales coach?" I was like, "Well, not really, no." And then he's like, "You can put the two together, like the athlete's like mindset, discipline, structure, what you used to do in the past- Yeah ... to what you do currently, and you can kind of merge them together to, to, you know- Build something.

Yeah ... build something." So I kinda went on that journey- Yeah ... and I started working with different teams. I, I firstly started working with that sales team, and then I started putting my hand at online coaching and I was, you know, helping furniture salesmen, I was, you know, car salesmen, or whatever, whatever it might have been.

And then it went into like teams, so a solar panel team. I've been asked to do like a migration agency team. Um, and things just started growing and growing. But what my motto is like, or like my thing is I help sales reps perform like athletes- Okay, yeah ... with- Yeah, a mixture of those. Yeah, that's good. Yeah

a mix, like meaning like confidence, structure, and getting next level results, and that's kind of what I've built. So now that's what I do. Yeah. And, and I, I also interview people, not like in a podcast. You've seen my stuff online. Yeah. It's more like a one-on-one with... I interview a lot of athletes 'cause, just 'cause I like their mindset.

Yeah. I agree. And I just hope that people can just take things away from it. Um, but I've started to interview like business owners now just to kinda get into the, to the minds of, of- Try to learn off that. I suppose with your coaching, you're learning as well, aren't you? Learning of how other way, other people think.

You can probably use that. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, yeah. So you're pick- like I'm picking up things as well as I'm going along, and, and learning myself and then putting that into practice- Yeah ... which is, which is great. Well, I've, I've, 'cause I've got a coach now, and it, I think it helps me 'cause I think I've always been like an over thinker, I think.

I, I've, I over think. I'm my, I'm my own worst critic, I think. You know? I think a lot of people are. Yeah, 100%. And I think it's helped me 'cause kind of just help you stay focused on what you want, and it just, it helps me a lot and I've, I've obviously... You probably use what you've been through to make you a better coach, I suppose, 'cause you've learned.

Absolutely, yeah. Yeah, yeah. You just, you learn off your adversity- Yeah ... like you say. That's what you gotta do, innit? Yeah. And, uh, learn from your failures. Yeah. You know? And, and use the things like- What, yeah, what was I thinking the other day? Like, your setback is, is... A setback for you is not the end- No

it's just starting. It's your starting point for you. So you're starting to grow in a different way, starting to learn in a different way. So, like my leg break, I couldn't run as fast, so now I've gotta change my game. So when I was younger, I was rapid. I was really, really fast. So a lot of my game was ball over the top, I'd run onto it, one-on-one with the keeper, score.

But then I had to change my game to my back to goal, so the ball would come into my feet and I'd start holding the ball up a lot more. Yeah. Passing it out to the midfielders than getting into the box, and then it was more tap-ins, whereas before I used to score, uh, scorchers- Right ... but then it was more tap-ins.

That's why I love a, a typical tap-in striker now. Yeah. So, uh, yeah, it's just about changing the ways and learning a different way. Yeah. You know? It's not... A setback is not the end, it's just a, another way to, to grow. Interesting, mate. So like, so, so you'd coach people like just kinda getting into sales, improve their sales, or do you coach people just through, like, their day-to-day life?

Bit of both? Well, yeah, a bit of both. I've got like a, a model called the shift model, so it's like structure, habits, identity, financial, and sales, and then it's like time freedom. Mm. So it goes through the whole process. But off that is like different frameworks. So I've got like a, um, a sales framework, and then I've got, uh, you know, other, other different frameworks for each one of the, the, um, things that we, we talk about in the shift.

Um, so I work with... Like for example, yesterday I was coaching... This was a first one for me as well. I was coaching, uh, a singer in a band. Yeah? Yeah. How does that work? 'Cause he had, uh, low confidence- Okay, yeah ... and didn't believe in himself, and he- Right ... wanted to, um, he wanted to like make his voice heard.

He was the lead singer, by the way, lead singer, but behind the, the microphone. Very like shy and stuff, yeah. Shy. Didn't believe, yeah. You know, he- Self-confidence and stuff, yeah ... he felt like that he, he wasn't, um, being noticed in other ways, and also he wanted to learn to sell more records. So we done a coaching session yesterday.

Yeah. And, and yeah, he's gonna be working with me for the foreseeable now. Oh, good. So that was a new one for me. Yeah. But yeah, it's like I do always start with like mindset and structure, discipline, identity, values, purpose. How do you, like coach people, like the mindset and discipline and stuff? How would you...

So like, say if I was going in like the... saying to you, "I'm an overthinker," how would you like kind of coach that out of me and that? Well, it depends what you're overthinking about. There's a- Yeah ... like for example, I'll go back to the, the person in the band yesterday. Yeah. There's, there's loads of frameworks that I've got- Yeah

but the... this particular framework that we used, he thought he was thinking about it or he was, um, worried about something, something else- But actually, after digging deep and using the framework, it come out that he was actually, you know, more worried about this thing. So we pivoted the, the framework into, into what worked for him, you know.

So he thought it was something else, but after digging deep and asking more questions, bringing it to the surface, peeling off the, the layers of the onion, we got down to the core and realized that it wasn't actually A- No ... that was giving him the issue, it was B. Yeah. So we needed to... So now we're gonna start working on B because, you know, A is not, not the real problem here- No

the real challenge. I don't like calling them problems, call them challenges- Mm-hmm ... or obstacles. So rather than looking at challenge A or, or obstacle A, we're gonna start tackling obstacle B, challenge B now. Yeah. You know. Interesting how, like, like you, you can flip something. Like this is... How the human brain works, and this is so interesting.

I'm trying to get on top of it and trying to learn a bit more and... 'Cause you... I remember we went out Friday night, and you said you got your, um, uh, the Melbourne, the show, and you gotta go up on stage and talk to a big group of people. Yeah. How's that... How you feeling about that? Yeah. I've, like, I've never done anything like that before, so I'm shitting myself-

looking at it live. But gonna do it because you're gonna grow. Yeah. You're gonna grow from it, and, you know, s- this is probably more n- nerve-wracking just doing this. Yeah? Probably. Uh, because once you... 'Cause I know my frameworks, you know, I know my frameworks. I know they work. Yeah. So it's just doing the frameworks but to, to a bigger audience- Yeah

I suppose. Um, but that's the way you grow. Yeah. You just, you just put yourself in there, wing it, I suppose, at- to some, to some degree. Yeah. Make it up as you go along. Make it up as you go along. That's what I'm doing, man. That's what... It's all part of it, and it's, like you're saying, just chucking yourself in the deep end, learning from it.

That's what I always say. Honestly, it is chuck yourself in the deep end, right? Kind of wing it in a, in a way. Yeah. Learn from it. Find out what works, and then do it 1,000 times. Right. And then once you do it 1,000 times, after your 1000th podcast, you'll be an absolute natural. Yeah. So. Hopefully, fingers crossed, if I get to 1,000, that'd be nice.

That's a big goal, but no, it's interesting, mate. Um, I appreciate you coming on. No, thank you very much. Thanks for having me. No, I appreciate it, Johnny. Thank you.