Business Coach : Be An Amazing Business Person
-Every entrepreneur I’ve ever studied, every Thrive business coach I’ve met as we’ve traveled around the world meeting these people, they’ve all had some major adversity during their lifetime. What has been, in your mind, the biggest challenge that you’ve had during your career and lifetime up to this point?
-Helping my wife raise four kids. It’s an extension of you, and you try to do your best. I’ve got great kids. I do. It’s been a blessing. It’s a constant thing. You always want to be their business coach as babies, as cute little babies where they don’t have to worry about dealing with marriage, dealing with divorce, dealing with heartaches about this or that.
So I wanted to try to help my kids. It was scary, at times, just raising a family. Am I going to be able to provide for them enough? Am I going to be able to give them what they want? A business coach would ask you these questions.
-You were thinking that? Even when you were playing in the NBA, you were thinking– am I even going to provide for these guys?
-First of all, my first-year salary was $90,000.
-Real quick– I know it’s hard to tell, but Paul didn’t play in the NBA last season. You played years ago.
-Many, many, many years ago.
-You played 11 years, you coached for 20 years, but still, that was a pressure on your mind– how am I going to provide for the family?
-I’m making it now, but 20 years, 30 years from now, what am I going to be doing? Even though I wanted to coach when I stop playing, is the money going to be there? As the kids get older, the finances need to get a little higher, because their demands are more. Cars, all this newer stuff.
-My kids are riding a moped.
-I wish I could have got away with that.
-Five kids on one moped. I’ll get a little sidecar.
-Take a picture of that moped. I want to see it.
-I get my son on that, and all the other kids will be on skateboards that we attach to it. Back to the future!
-I want to see that. A six-passenger golf cart would work, though.
-Well, that’s a little out of the budget. I’m just going with the whole moped system. I don’t know it that’s OK. Final couple questions I have for you, though– this concept of deciding to thrive every day, it’s so much about attitude.
-Without a doubt.
-Because you know and I know there’s players who’ve played before you, who played after you, guys who were better than you, guys you were better than. But the reason why you have been in the league for 20 years as a coach, why they still call you, is because you have that attitude of gratitude. You’ve chosen to be positive on a daily basis. Positive is how you live. How do you do it? How do you do it on a daily basis? What are you doing? What’s going on? Have you been around Yoda? What is the deal?
-You know what I do, Clay? All of them think I’m just nuts. I make it fun. I make my job fun. I kid with the guys. I tell them jokes. Because when it’s time to go to work, we go to work. I’m making fun. I’ll tell them a joke, or– hey, who you dating? You know. Is she ugly? Is she pretty?
He’ll go– come on, coach, you don’t deal with no ugly girl.
I say– well, now, you ain’t the prettiest thing.
And he’ll go– what you mean, coach? What you mean?
I say– well, this is how they look at you. Like this. They look at you like– you ain’t pretty, but you good looking.
-Oh! Oh! Give it to them in dollars.
-You got the money! You got the NBA life. You’ve got some money. I keep it fun. And I think if you keep it fun, at the same time teaching them how to do their job, they know that you are truly genuine to them. I’m not just walking a straight line at night– hey, get over there and do that. No more conversation.
-With all the guys getting tattoos now, are you giving them tattoo advice?
-Oh, no.
-Are you going– hey, you should get a bird on your head.
-Oh, no.
-You should get a dog on your arm. A cross symbol on your leg.
-I’m not a big fan.
-Put a fish on your face or something.
-I don’t know how they do it.
-Put a little spider on your mouth.
-But you know what that is, don’t you?
-What’s that?
-It’s an addicting thing. It gets addicting. Having a business coach is addicting too!