With Patrick Snow, an international best-selling author, professional keynote speaker, and publishing, speaking and book marketing coach. He first discovered his gift for speaking at the age of 17 while giving pre-game speeches to his high school football team. Since then, Patrick has electrified more than 3,500 audiences on four continents to achieve their destinies. As a publishing coach, he has mentored more than 1,200 clients throughout the world to successfully publish their books. Patrick’s “DESTINY” message has been widely recognized in the media including, The New York Times and Forbes Magazine.

His book, story and family photo was also featured as a cover story in a 2002, issue of USA TODAY. Patrick is the international best-selling author of Creating Your Own Destiny, which has sold upwards of one million copies in five languages and 108 countries worldwide since 2001, The Affluent Entrepreneur, and Boy Entrepreneur. He is also a contributing author to Chicken Soup for the Soul. Originally from Michigan, Patrick graduated from the U. of Montana in 1991. He lived in the Seattle area for more than 20 years until 2013, when he moved to Maui, Hawaii. He recently just moved into his new construction ocean-view home on Maui where he often hosts publishing workshops and seminars.


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Biggest takeaways (or quotes) you don’t want to miss:

  • “We are headed for chaos and we have to make a decision – are we a victim or are we a victor?”
  • Connecting with your “soul level” mission.
  • The importance of learning sales in the path of entrepreneurship.
  • As an entrepreneur, you are not paid based on how hard you work. 
  • How to look in the mirror and take responsibility for anything that isn’t working. 

Check out these highlights:

7:50 Patrick’s journey on entrepreneurship.

12:16 The relationship of personal development work to our business success.

15:45 “You are not paid as an entrepreneur or small business owner based on how hard you work, you are not paid based on the number of hours that you invest in your business, you’re paid directly and proportional to the value that you bring to the world.”

19:30 Why you should keep your day job while you work towards your destiny.

32:45 “And I think when we discover that purpose, and then we start to live that out, then every obstacle in our way clears its path for the life of service.”

How to get in touch with Patrick:

On social media:

https://www.facebook.com/patrick.snow.9465/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/patricksnow/

FREE GIFT FOR LISTENERS:

Book your FREE no-obligation 30-60 minute consultation for writing, publishing, book marketing, speaking or coaching. Reach out to Patrick here: 206-310-1200


Patrick Snow is an international best-selling author, professional keynote speaker, publishing, speaking and book marketing coach. He first discovered his gift for speaking at the age of 17 while giving pre-game speeches to his high school football team. Since then, Patrick has electrified more than 3,500 audiences on four continents to achieve their destinies.

As a publishing coach, he has mentored more than 1,200 clients throughout the world to successfully publish their books.

Patrick’s “DESTINY” message has been widely recognized in the media including, The New York Times and Forbes Magazine. His book, story and family photo was also featured as a cover story in USA TODAY.

Learn more about Patrick here.

Imperfect Show Notes

We are happy to offer these imperfect show notes to make this podcast more accessible to those who are hearing impaired or those who prefer reading over listening. While we would love to offer more polished show notes, we are currently offering an automated transcription (which likely includes errors, but hopefully will still deliver great value), below. 

GGGB Intro 0:00
Coming up today on Guts, Grit and Great Business.

Patrick Snow 0:04
I couldn’t get a paid speaking engagement until I wrote and published a book. And so then I realized the book is nothing more than an arrow. And that arrow points to your website and on your website, you have a highlight video. And that’s the whole purpose of the book. So I’ve learned that the world’s greatest marketing secret for entrepreneurs in the history of business is to write and publish a book, and then use that book as a platform from which you stand on to do speaking, coaching and consulting.

GGGB Intro 0:33
The Adventure of entrepreneurship and building a life and business you love, preferably at the same time is not for the faint of heart. That’s why Heather Pearce Campbell is bringing you a dose of guts, grit and great business stories that will inspire and motivate you to create what you want in your business and life. Welcome to the guts, grit and great business podcast where endurance is required. Now, here’s your host, the legal website warrior, Heather Pearce Campbell.

Heather Pearce Campbell 1:06
Okay, welcome. I am Heather Pearce Campbell, The Legal Website Warrior®. I am an attorney and legal coach based here in Seattle, Washington. Welcome to another episode of Guts, Grit, and Great Business. I’m super excited to bring you an individual who I’ve actually known about his work for some time now, but we recently connected on LinkedIn. Patrick snow. Welcome, Patrick.

Patrick Snow 1:29
Are you there? I’m thrilled to be here. Super excited to chat today.

Heather Pearce Campbell 1:32
Super happy to have you. So for those of you listening if you are not familiar with Patrick’s work, Patrick Snow is an international best selling author, professional keynote speaker, publishing, speaking and book marketing coach, he first discovered his gift for speaking at the age of 17, while giving the pregame speeches to his high school football team. I love that. Since then, Patrick has electrified more than 3500 audiences on four continents to achieve their individual and organized organizational destinies. As a publishing coach. He has mentored more than 1200 clients through the world, throughout the world to successfully publish their books. Many of these clients have also gone on to become speakers, coaches and consultants as well. So there’s a lot more that we could talk about. When it comes to Patrick’s background and the things that he’s done one of my favorites, Patrick, and I know you and I were connecting right before this, but I had a sibling, go to school, actually three siblings go to school in Montana. One of them played volleyball at University of Montana. Awesome. Classic. 91. Is super fun. So she was behind you a few years. But I spent a lot of time in Montana and out there visiting schools in Montana. It’s a good spot.

Patrick Snow 2:48
Yeah, I love it there.

Heather Pearce Campbell 2:49
Yeah. Awesome. Well, welcome. I’m super excited to have you here today. I feel like there’s so much that we could talk about.

Patrick Snow 2:54
Well, thank you so much, that could very well be the best introduction that I’ve ever written. So thank you for so eloquently reading it.

Heather Pearce Campbell 3:01
Well, it was longer than that. And truthfully, I wanted to get to some of the rest of it. Because for people listening, how I was actually first introduced to your work was through your book, creating your own destiny. And I know that you have since written at least one maybe two books.

Patrick Snow 3:15
Yeah, we’ve got three altogether, creating your own destiny, the fluent entrepreneur and boy entrepreneur, and really just a business ownership advocate helping me more try to get more time, more money, more freedom, more health, more love, more happiness in life, by transforming your passions and your profession. And I love that. And that’s what I do.

Heather Pearce Campbell 3:37
Well, I know there’s a lot we can dig into, I’d love for you to take audience, the audience back to where you’re either path or love of entrepreneurship started.

Patrick Snow 3:48
While I was born and raised in Michigan, my father was a school teacher, my mother was a nurse and I was the fourth of five children. And they taught me I could do anything in the world that I wanted, as long as I was willing to work hard enough at it. And they said, you can buy anything that you want, as long as you pay for it yourself. And I remember my mother worked nights. And in the eighth grade, she said, if you want clean clothes, this is how the washing machine works. And this is how the dryer works. And oh, by the way, if you want food, here’s how to cook for yourself. And so I guess all of us siblings became very self-reliant very early. And they provided lunch money, and that was it. And so if we wanted anything else, we had to go on work for it. So my first entrepreneurial experiences were shoveling snow in the winters and then mowing grass in the summers. And I made a little bit of money doing that. And then that evolved to about 1983. In the eighth grade seventh grade. I started selling Detroit Free Press subscriptions door to door in the town about an hour and a half outside of Detroit and I would make a $1 sale commission and $1 Commission on every Sunday paper that I’d sell. And then if someone signed up for a daily paper, I’d make a $2 commission and if they signed up for a daily and a Sunday I made $3 And so there I was 13 years old, making $100 a night work in two hours at a time. And it was amazing. And I thought, my goodness, I’m making like 10 times more than what you make at the minimum wage of $3.35 an hour. And so I loved it. And that was my first taste of entrepreneurship. And I’ve never looked back. And I’ve never been able to just work for the man, I had to always do my own deal, because I wanted to be compensated based on my efforts, not on somebody else’s opinion of my efforts.

Heather Pearce Campbell 5:33
I relate so strongly to your story, I came from a family of six kids, we got probably very similar lessons early on, we had to pay for all of our extracurriculars, half of our clothing, you know, anytime we wanted to do anything with friends, or do anything, like we had to pay for it starting in seventh grade, but when I was five, I got the lecture from dad about, you know, saving your money and getting good grades. And so when you were selling press subscriptions, right, I was seven or eight, and I was knocking on doors in our neighborhood asking, could I rake leaves? And, you know, yeah, I look at it now. And my kids, like one of my, you know, one of my children has just turned eight. And I honestly cannot imagine setting him loose on the neighborhood.

Patrick Snow 6:17
Well, I love this quote that says this, if you’re born poor, you die rich. But if you’re born rich, oftentimes you die poor. And obviously, that stereotype doesn’t work for everybody. But I believe that when your parents and my parents installed that work ethic into us, then we needed to learn how to hustle and make things happen for ourselves. I think some of the challenges with some people today that are born into money, they never develop that work ethic. And because of that, they develop an entitlement mentality. And eventually, sooner or later, the trust fund runs out and they are forced to make it on their own and they don’t have the skill set. So better to give a man a fish, a teach a man a fish, so we can, you know, eat for a lifetime then to give a man a fish so he can eat for a day?

Heather Pearce Campbell 7:02
That’s right. Well, the other thing, when I think one of the most significant components that is missing in the education of our children today is around finances around like a good basic financial education. And, you know, I have to say that most kids don’t get that in their households. Most children don’t whether..

Patrick Snow 7:22
They certainly don’t get it at school, either.

Heather Pearce Campbell 7:24
No, that’s right. That’s right. And so without some of that real life experience of actually learning what it takes to create something, create value in the world that people will pay for, right, you some people end up really learning that painfully in their adult life. Yeah. So it started young for you. Take us forward a few years, like when did you decide to go out on your own and do your first thing as an entrepreneur?

Patrick Snow 7:50
Well, I think I always had a part time job and high school and I was an athlete, I played three sports. And so I was always busy, either working or at sports, or whatever. And so maybe that’s why I could only get B’s in school. And I didn’t have any time to study. But my goal was to play professional football and went off and play college football had a career in back injury. And I was kind of devastated. I had no idea what to do or where to go. And I took this philosophy class. And we read a book titled Man’s Search for himself by Dr. Rollo May. And in that book, we were taught or we read that at birth, the physical umbilical cord to our parents is cut. But oftentimes in life, the psychological and build record is never cut. So we end up like a dog, a tied, like why I changed my parents front yard only going as far as the length of that chain allows us to go. So there I was 18 years old, my pro football career had come to an end in terms of my goals for pursuing that. And so I remember just being passionate about personal growth and development and quotes and goal setting and, you know, pre determining your destiny in advance. And so I just transferred all my athletic discipline into my academics in my career, and I started reading every personal growth and development book that I could find no augmon Dino Zig Ziglar, Brian Tracy, Dr. Stephen Covey, Mark, Victor Hansen, everything that I can get my hands on, I probably read 2000 books in the next few years. And up until through high school, I probably read 100 books, only those that were assigned to me by the teachers. So I graduated from the University of Montana took one speech class in high school, one speech class in college, I moved to Seattle, I got in corporate sales, and I really had this passion for speaking. And so from 22 to 26 years old, I gave 300 speeches, and I failed 300 times to get paid. I got free breakfast and free dinner and free pens and free mugs and free food. And finally, being a Christian had to come to Jesus talk and it’s like, what am I doing wrong here? Why can’t I make it in this business? And the answer that I got back completely changed my life because I heard this from the universe. And the quote was this that if you want what others have, you must do it others have done and you’ll get what others have gotten. And so the way that I launched my speaking career, my writing and publishing and coaching career was, I simply sat down over the next five years. And I wrote and published the first edition of creating your own destiny. And then after that book came off the press about 20 years ago, then I started getting paid speaking engagements. And then coaching clients and other people asked me how to write a book. And I just kind of fell into coaching people how to do that. So really, I wasn’t able to go full time into this personal growth and development space until the book was published. And up until then, it was just a hobby, but I certainly love doing it and my, you know, soul-level mission and goals to love, serve, heal and inspire. And the way I do that is through speaking and coaching and consulting and books.

Heather Pearce Campbell 10:51
Hmm. Well, I love I mean, I love knowing more about your story and, and the, you know, the role that publishing a book played for you became that like authority piece, that of authority platform that launched you into a new level of your work and business that sounds like.

Patrick Snow 11:07
Well, everybody on planet Earth is an expert at whatever they’re passionate about. The kidney gardener is an expert at coloring. The teenagers and expert at video games, the senior citizen is an expert at you know, pharmaceutical drugs. And so until we have the word author, next door name on our business card, no one in the media is going to recognize that credential or that we are the authority, and that subject matter. And so I’ve always been the same speaker, even when I was 22. You know, getting free food and free parking that I am today with the $25,000 keynote speaking fee. I’ve always been the same. I’m still an underdog and I’m still you know, trying to help people out. But having those credentials after your name has really opened some doors over the years.

Heather Pearce Campbell 11:51
Hmm, I believe it well, in your in reading your book that the creating your own destiny book, your love, not only personal development, but even your quotes, one of my favorite things about that book is actually how you sprinkle in, you know, so much of the wisdom that you have used yourself through quotes and inspirational stories, which is really fun to see. Talk to me, share a little bit about your perception of the relationship of personal development work to our business success?

Patrick Snow 12:22
Well, I think we could go a little bit further, I mean, with all the drama and chaos that’s happening on the planet, and I really feel that we need to buckle down and be ready that we could have two or three or four years more of chaos, you know, regardless of the election, regardless of you know, vaccinations or whatever else, I just think we’re heading for a lot of chaos. And I think whether it’s in business in life, that or just as human beings, you know, early on, we have to make a decision. And the decision that we have to make is are we a victim? Or are we a victor, in a lot of people that are looking for handouts, they want freebies, they want to be taken care of, they want free this and free that and they want someone else to take care of them. They made a decision earlier in their life that they were going to be the victim. And that was going to be their narrative, their story. And so they have this victim mentality. And so if you’re a victim, you’re not going to succeed in sales, you’re not going to succeed as an entrepreneur, you’re not going to succeed in small business. All of us have had major blows and adversities in our lives. I had 10 years of adversities between, you know 40 and 50, major adversities my father passed away. I mean this and all kinds of things. But through it all, it just always came back to victim or Victor and I chose to be a victim every single time. And I think all of us regardless of its academic, sports, business, politics, when we choose to take 100% responsibility for our lives and for our actions, then we have the ability to predetermine our destination in advance. And to me, that’s what I think it’s all about. My challenge is how do I get to those people that made a decision that you know what I grew up poor, or I came from a single-parent family or I was a victim of alcoholism as a child, or you know, I had this issue or that issue, or maybe I wasn’t good in school. And so they’ve just carried that baggage with them their whole life. And I’m on a quest to teach people that love, you can have anything in your life that you want, as long as you’re willing to work hard enough at it. And it comes back to taking 100% responsibility for your actions and knowing that there’s no free lunch. So I think this concept of discipline, and Victor ness, if that is even a word opposite of victimhood ness, comes down to a decision and earlier in life we make that decision, the more successful we’ll be.

Heather Pearce Campbell 14:55
I agree. And I think that, I mean, one of the questions I have for you is, how do you communicate with the folks? Right? Because for people that are remaining in victimhood versus those that are clearly making the choice to become victors like something’s missing between those two mindsets, whether it’s awareness, like even the awareness that they have a choice? How do you speak to those people that may not even recognize they’re in victimhood?

Patrick Snow 15:22
Well, I tried to do it as politely as possible. But sometimes I’m pretty blind. And one of the challenges that a lot of entrepreneurs have is they don’t have the ability to promote, maybe they’ve never been in sales, maybe they’ve never had to deal with rejection. And I tell people that look, they’re not rejecting you, personally, it’s just that they don’t have the money to hire you or to invest in your products or services. So what I try to help people understand is that you are not paid as an entrepreneur or small business owner based on how hard you work, you are not paid based on the number of hours that you invest in your business, you’re paid directly and proportional to the value that you bring to the world. So if you’re not happy with your income, I tell people look, you have to look in the mirror. And if you’re unhappy with your level of income, look in the mirror and understand that you are the only ones to blame. But yet, they still say to me, you know what, I can’t do this, or I can’t do that, or I don’t like speaking about myself. I don’t like standing up and fighting for me. My answer is it’s okay. But I just turned 51. And I can’t believe like, I still feel like I’m 30. But yet, you know, 60 is right around the corner. And then 70 and you go to Walmart, and you go to McDonald’s in their great organizations. But yet you walk in and you see these 65-70-75 year olds, and they ask you the questions, you know, can I supersize your drink and fry order for you? Or Welcome to Walmart, how can I help you. And this is how I do it. This is how I inspire that that says, Look, if you don’t transform your passions, into your profession, in your 30s 40s and 50s, you’re going to find yourself in a position where you’re not going to ever get employed again, and you’re going to get stuck having to accept very low paying wages, and then the best years of your life, you won’t be able to enjoy because you’re going to be stopped working for the man, you know, making minimum wage. And hence this is the reason why I become a business ownership advocate. Because I want people to achieve their greatest dreams, goals and visions. And unfortunately, that takes an investment in themselves. It was Benjamin Franklin who said the best investment that you can make is to empty your wallet or your purse, into your head and in your mind. And when you invest in your head, and in your mind, then that investment will pay off. So it’s not easy. I anger a lot of people that way. Because they like their victimhood in this, you know, you know, narrative and script. But it’s okay. I think what I found out is 90% of the people on planet Earth. They’re just accepting a life of mediocrity. And that’s their soul level journey. And I’ve accepted that. But then there’s 10% of us people like you and I and the listeners to this podcast, that invest in themselves and they’re willing to go after their dreams, balls and visions, and they’re not going to stop until they get it.

Heather Pearce Campbell 18:07
Oh, there’s there’s so much good, juicy stuff in what you just said. And one, I wholeheartedly agree. I mean, one of the ways that I view entrepreneurship and the path to entrepreneurship, is I really feel like it is one of our greatest opportunities for not only the expression of ourselves in the world, but our greatest expression of good in the world, right, like to really use. And, you know, one of the questions that I have next for you is for people that you know, currently have a decent paying job, or they’re, they’re comfortable, they’re getting by they’re relatively happy with work, but they’re not pursuing their passion. How do you talk to them about the risk, right and the and the potential reward? Because entrepreneurship is not for everybody? Right? Let’s be clear that even as statistics you use about the 10% and 90%, what at least when I looked at it at a certain point, it looked like less than 10% of people ever actually choose the path of entrepreneurship to slim, right, the slim percentage.

Patrick Snow 19:11
Well, the first thing I would say is that there’s no quote, maybe I don’t know if I turn this or somewhere else I heard it. But it says you work 9am to 5pm to make a living, but you work 5am to 9am or 5pm to 9pm to make a life. So you put in your first eight hours a day to pay the bills. And then you put in a another four hours a day to you know chart your destiny. So I tell all my clients keep your day job is the best seed money that you can have because you don’t have to pay it back. And then you can take that day job income as seed money invested into your passion. And I believe that when it comes to purpose and passions, I believe that when we come into this embodiment of being a human being at a soul level, I believe we have a family and career you goal and mission, most of us achieve that in our 20s 30s 40s. And then we have a soul level mission and goal. And that soul-level mission and goal might be stopping human trafficking, saving the whales cleaning up the ocean. And when we focus our time and our effort and our energies on our soul level of mission and goal of making this human race in this planet, that we live on a better place to live, then the soul and the heart creates an unlimited amount of energy, and an unlimited number of years into your 80s 90s 100. Look at Jimmy Carter, for exit exists, for goodness sakes, still building houses for Habitat for Humanity. And I don’t know, I think he’s like 94 years old or something. Because he has a soul level mission and goal. So the challenge we have as entrepreneurs, we need to identify our passions, identify our soul-level mission and goal and our purpose. And when we combine our purpose and our passions together with a mindset of service to others, then everything falls into place, and it does not work. And there’s no quote that says, when you do what you love, you’ll never have to work another day of your life. And that’s the way that I feel that’s what I try to coach and teach.

Heather Pearce Campbell 21:15
I love I got goosebumps when you talked about the soul level goal because I believe the same thing. And that may not be the word that I use, but it makes it so clear. And I think for people who are living that they know exactly what you’re talking about. Right. And for people that or not, I think they always feel like something’s missing.

Patrick Snow 21:34
When you have a soul level mission and goal and not to, you know, get into a faith based conversation here. But I believe when you do God’s work, and you serve humanity, based on your soul level, mission golden, you’re protected. You don’t need to worry about flus and viruses. And you don’t need to worry about any of that stuff. Because you’re doing such great work that you just don’t have time to get bogged down with any of these earthly challenges. And that’s what it’s about. It’s about service. Hmm. Well, the thing is, you can’t take anything with us from this earth. The only thing that we can take is what we’ve served, that imprint will stay with us forever.

Heather Pearce Campbell 22:14
That’s right, and the impact on other people. Yeah, and you know, regardless of people’s either religious beliefs, spirituality, beliefs, you know, I consider myself a spiritual person. And I, same thing, I believe that when we tap into knowing what our contribution is to the greater good, things just become easier.

Patrick Snow 22:34
And that’s when you become an unstoppable force of power fully capable of achieving your destiny. And I love what Zig Ziglar said on that subject matter. He said, you can have everything in life that you want, as long as you help enough other people get what they want. So that’s our job as an entrepreneur, helping other people achieve their dreams, goals and visions. And when we do that, somehow, miraculously, our dreams, goals and visions are right there behind them becoming realized.

Heather Pearce Campbell 23:05
That’s right. That’s right. So let’s take this conversation, share with us some of the big goals and dreams that you have realized that are your favorite to share about in your life.

Patrick Snow 23:17
Well, I think I have, maybe ever since I was selling Detroit, Free Press subscriptions door to door, I loved having that freedom, that independence, having the ability to set my own hours and not have a boss to be able to work on my own work and myself meet people get to travel. And I’ve been so blessed. As a professional keynote speaker, I’ve spoken on four continents all over the world, most of those trips have been paid for by the corporations and associations that have booked me. So I’ve got to meet a huge network of people all over the world. And then not just to meet them, but then have them put me on stage and inspire their audience. When they don’t, I think myself and my boys could just see me now, you know because I feel like I’m an underdog just going after my dreams, goals and visions, but they put you up on the red carpet as a celebrity. And it’s not about that it’s about service, as we said, with that experience of being able to travel the world and impact people’s lives, and to be able to make a very good living as a result of it. And then when you come home, to be able to have the freedom to live anywhere that you want to live. And after graduated from university, Montana. I was spent 21 years in Seattle. And then when my boys graduate from high school and college, I moved to Maui, Hawaii seven years ago. And people ask me, Well, why did you move to Maui, Hawaii? My answer is, you know, have you been there before? And if you’ve been there, then you know and the answer is because I could like well how can you make a living in Maui Hawaii, like all you need is a phone line internet access, and a cell phone. And that’s what I love about probably the greatest milestone that I have professionally is to be able to have a complete work from home virtual business in which I can love, serve, heal and inspire others without having to be tied to a building, or tied to a geographic location without having a boss. And I think I quit my last job about 17 years ago. And I don’t even know what it’s like to commute. I don’t know what it’s like to have to shower before 10 am in the morning, I just, I just can’t fathom that anymore. And I did that for 15 years early in my career, and it’s just like, never again, you know, life is too short to miss out. So yeah, and you know, what, I searched all different kinds of ways to achieve this lifestyle. And it was entrepreneurship, which was the way that I found?

Heather Pearce Campbell 25:43
Well, it’s, you know, the, your, your relationship to your why right? All the reasons that you chose entrepreneurship and this path that, you know, when I, when I talked to audiences, I asked them, I asked them to go back. First of all, I asked them, How many of them like consider themselves entrepreneurs, right, the vast majority of the people that I speak to are in the entrepreneurship world. And then I always ask, how many of you chose it? Because you thought it would be easy? I never get a hand up, right? That’s not why. And I say, Okay, so then why did you choose entrepreneurship, and it’s the things you’re talking about. Freedom, like the ability to choose who I want to work with, and the work that I want to do, and to not be told by somebody else, when I’m going to show up and who I work with, and all of these things. And, you know, and for me, that includes also, more stability, a lot of people see jobs as stability. But I’ve seen so many times how that just gets taken away in a heartbeat, and you have no control when you’re working for somebody else.

Patrick Snow 26:43
Well, I was laid off twice, and 911 and then laid off again in 2002, and high tech sales. And I think the other thing that maybe we don’t talk about enough as an entrepreneur, and all those years in corporate sales, I would make the sale. And then we would have operator errors, machinery errors, computer errors, in which whatever I sold, it actually wasn’t delivered at the time in which I committed to being delivered. So one of the things that I love about being an entrepreneur, being the speaker and the coach, is that I am the deliverable. So I get to not only make the sale, but I am in complete control as to the product and the value and the services that are delivered on the timetable and on the budget that the customer is looking for. So there’s never again, Oh, I’m sorry, but we failed, and so many times in corporate America and apologize. But you’re right, just because you have a day job today doesn’t mean you’re going to have it tomorrow. And that’s the problem of that false blanket of security is mergers and acquisitions and downsizing, all kinds of things happen. There’s no such thing as job security. So our challenge is to create income security. And the way to do that is to own and operate your own business.

Heather Pearce Campbell 27:56
I love that I’m such a fan. So I mean, you’ve obviously accomplished some really fabulous things. I mean, some of your big goals and getting on stages and publishing books. I mean, you’re a professional and authority in your space. Talk to us about what it’s taken to get through some of the hard times right, one of the things that I like to talk about on this podcast, his mindset, particularly in relation to hard times, and what it takes not only as people but entrepreneurs to make the right kinds of decisions to get through those times.

Patrick Snow 28:29
Well, I would say I mentioned my 40. So of my 40s were the probably the toughest 10 years of my life. Right around 40, my older son goes off to college, then shortly thereafter that my mother’s dying, diagnosed with Alzheimer’s dementia. And then after that I’m a cat person, my favorite cats killed by the neighbor dog. Then after that, I went through a divorce. I was married to a lovely woman for 20 years. But ultimately she fell in love with a co-worker. And so I had to bless her and forgive her and send her on her way. And today, we’re still great friends, and I’m very happy that they’re married to this day. So that was a challenge. And then what else moved to Hawaii and then things in Hawaii were fine for a while. And 18 months later, my dad comes down with pancreatic cancer. And I watch him go from 220 pounds to 120 pounds. And then, unfortunately, he passes you know, nine months after that. And then there was two or three years of healing from that and all through the while. I’m you know, I had a spiritual awakening about 10 years ago now I view myself as more of a spiritual Christian and which is wonderful because I’ve learned about energy work and clearing negative energy and staying away from toxic people and, and helping other people, you know, overcome the wounds that I’ve had. And I feel like I’m 51 I’m stronger than I’ve ever been before because of going through that. But how did I get through it? I think two things. Um, you know, there’s an old saying that says fear and God cannot occupy the same space. So we need to understand that we have to trust in God trusting the universe trusting the source. And then secondly, we need to believe in ourselves. And once we believe in ourselves, then we’re going to get through all of this. And then third, we need to understand the concept of unconditional love. And when you have unconditional love for all things, all beings, all people, you know that power is the most powerful word in the language is unconditional love. And so those three things, faith in God, belief in myself, that my parents taught me, and then practicing unconditional love, not only loving myself but loving those people who maybe betray you. Um, and knowing that, you know, tough times don’t last, but tough people do. And there’s no quote that I saw on Facebook, and it shows this baby Wolf, and the baby wolf is got like one arrow, you know, in its back, and it’s on the ground whimpering. And then there’s this adult wolf. And it shows the adult wolf has got about 30 arrows in its back, and it’s reaching down to that baby wolf. And it kind of shows that, you know, you can’t really teach and coach that which you haven’t been through yourself. So I realized that every adversity that does not kill us, strengthens us. And so that’s a process that unfortunately, we have to all go through.

Heather Pearce Campbell 31:22
I agree. And I think there’s, you know, there’s something really powerful about midlife, you know, and for anybody listening who has been through any of the kind of, you know, major transitions that you’ve spoken about, and we all face them at some point in one form or another, right, whether it’s the loss of a parent, and I’ve been through, you know, the loss of a parent as well. So sorry to hear about your consecutive losses, it’s so hard when you have that much that close together. But I think there is something as hard as it is, I think there’s something pretty magical about midlife and the separation that we get to have from and just, I think greater awareness of truth, but the separation from childhood and thoughts and things that actually were never true that we can see more clearly now, right, and the releasing of so much, I mean, getting to the point of compassion for all things, and for all people, I think takes a lot of relief, a lot of letting go. And to be able to do that, you have to get to the clarity piece first, right, and that you just get to clarity through struggle.

Patrick Snow 32:26
And I agree with you that a lot of people don’t find out about their soul level mission and goal, or they don’t understand or live their purpose, until they realize it’s not about themselves. Um, you know, it’s the, it’s the people that are planting trees, realizing that will never sit in that shade. That’s the purpose of this earth is to serve others. And I think when we discover that purpose, and then we start to live that out, then everything in our every obstacle in our way clears its path for the life of service.

Heather Pearce Campbell 32:58
Let’s shift we’ve got a few minutes left, but I want to hear about the work that you’re doing now, right in the publishing space in the coaching space. Talk to me a little bit about who you help, who are your people? What are they up to? How are you serving them?

Patrick Snow 33:13
Well, I’ve learned over the years because again, I couldn’t get published, I couldn’t get paid speaking engagements, I wrote and published a book. And so then I realized the book is nothing more than an arrow. And that arrow points to your website. And on your website, you have a highlight video. And that’s the whole purpose of the book. So I’ve learned that the world’s greatest marketing secret for entrepreneurs in the history of business is to write and publish a book, and then use that book as a platform from which you stand on to do speaking, coaching and consulting. And so what I do as a writing and publishing coach, is I help my clients navigate about 100 decisions that they need to make. Most people make 20 or 30 decisions quickly. And that’s why they might, you know, fail in that business. People say, Patrick, how do you sell a million books? How did you get your book in five languages in 108 countries? Well, I spent 20 years doing it. And so my role as their coach is to lock arms with them, help them make 100 out of 100 decisions correctly, so that they have a world-class 250 page book that they own 100% of the rights of. And then secondly, I’m a book marketing coach. So now I help them become a best selling author. And as they achieve that status and opened more doors, and then I also become their professional speaking coach, giving them the confidence not only to make audiences laugh and cry at the same time but also to market themselves as a speaker. And then the last thing that I do that I love, maybe more than anything else is I’m a coaching coach. So I teach the business model, the revenue side, the prospecting side of succeeding as a life coach, business coach, health coach, weight loss, Coach relationship, whatever you want. The coaching industry is a $1 billion-plus industry. In North America, and I teach and coach people how to triple or quadruple their income in that space. And I love that, because I’ve been doing this for 2530 years. So every mistake that I’ve made, I show them how not to do that everything that I’ve done, that’s worked, I tell them, here’s why you should do that. So that’s what I do.

Heather Pearce Campbell 35:19
Well, I love I mean, I love the combination of skills that you have, you know, that come from your experience living in this space, the publishing the coaching, the consulting. And, you know, I think the challenge that so many entrepreneurs face, and it’s truthfully the same challenge that attorneys face, or anybody that’s going into business for themselves, is you essentially show up as a technician wanting to do a certain thing, right? And you suddenly have to learn everything that it takes to actually do that as a business as an entrepreneur. Very different skills.

Patrick Snow 35:52
Yeah, you’re absolutely right. And there’s a lot of people that become speakers because they like to speak a lot of people that become coaches because they’ve got great experiences. But what they don’t understand is in business, nothing happens in the business between buyer and seller until an offer is made. And you being the business owner, your listeners being that coach or that consultant, they need to be the one making the coaching offer. And if they don’t make that coaching offer, people are going to assume that their millionaire, a billionaire, they don’t have time that they don’t care. And so later I’ll make a coaching offer as we wrap up, offering people a complimentary consultation. So I tell my clients don’t ever use the word free, because free is cheap, you need to offer complimentary sessions. And when you do that, you’re giving people the ability to trial and error your services, you’re giving people the ability to test drive the car to kick the tires. Imagine trying to go to a car dealership and you’re trying to buy a car, but then they don’t ever let you take it for a test drive. And this is what we need to do in the field of coaching and speaking and consulting is allow that prospect the opportunity to learn what it is to work with us.

Heather Pearce Campbell 37:03
And I agree, I think there’s a lot of power in that actually, across a lot of industries that get missed, I even think of the legal industry and what I call it, the black box legal model doesn’t serve people in the way that it really should. And so much of what people need is this, what you’re talking about the ability to know, like and trust somebody so that they do want to establish a relationship and they will hire them. And without that it’s so much harder. So I love the concept of giving people the chance to kick the tires. Um, where do you like to connect with people? For people that are thinking like, I would like to learn more about Patrick, I want to connect with him, see what he’s up to? Where do you like for people to connect with you?

Patrick Snow 37:40
Well, I always give up my private cell phone number. And the reason why I give out my private cell phone numbers because there’s an amazing thing happens when I give out my private cell phone number people give me the private credit card number. And I’ll think about that for a second. Nobody wants to go on a private cell phone number. And the reason why they don’t want to do that is they’re worried about, you know, millions and millions of people, you know, hassling them. And let’s face it, we’re not celebrities. So we as entrepreneurs need to be accessible. So anybody that’s listening today that’s interested in a complimentary no-obligation 30 to 60-minute writing, publishing, book marketing, speaking or coaching consultation, I’d be honored and thrilled to offer a commentary session. The best way to reach me is just to send me a text. Hello, my private cell phone number is 206-310 -200. Again, 206-310-1200. My main website is Patrick snow calm. Again, Patrick snow calm there, they can send me an email. But again, the challenge with email is sometimes we all have spam blockers that haven’t that. So I just tell people to send me a text with your name and their timezone. And I’ll get back and offer you a complimentary session.

Heather Pearce Campbell 38:54
Hmm, that’s awesome. Well, and for folks listening, you can find this information and more about Patrick at the show notes. So go to legalwebsitewarrior.com/podcast and you’ll see Patrick’s information there. Patrick, it’s been such an honor and joy to talk with you today. I love your approach. I love the ways that your wisdom shows up across numerous areas. It’s one of the things that I loved about your book. What final thoughts do you want to leave listeners with today?

Patrick Snow 39:22
A couple of three things. Number one, I challenge people to think it in get believe it, and achieve it. Think about their dreams, goals and visions. Or think about your book and then ink your book or your goals into the paper. And then Believe in yourself and you’ll achieve anything you want. But yeah, people have self-doubt because they’re concerned about what other people think. And I always tell people will remember what Les Brown said never let someone else’s opinion of you determine your reality. So my question is back to your readers and listeners and audiences if not you then who if not this then what if not here, then When if not now then when right now is the time to get started. And finally, I firmly believe, as you’ll see in the book, creating your own destiny, I believe that my mantra in life is only those who can see the invisible can achieve the impossible. And ultimately the belief in your vision holds the key to creating your own destiny.

Heather Pearce Campbell 40:21
Hmm. So true. Those are very powerful words. And it reminds me I’ll put links in the show notes as well to each of your books so that people can check those out because I think it’d be fun for people to have access to those. Patrick, I so appreciate you. Thank you for joining me today. I really look forward to being in touch and chatting with you again at some point.

Patrick Snow 40:40
Well, congratulations to you, Heather and all your success. I’m honored thrilled to be here. I’d love to be a guest again at some point in the future. Awesome.

Heather Pearce Campbell 40:46
Thank you.

GGGB Intro 40:49
Thank you for joining us today on the Guts, Grit and Great Business podcast. We hope that we’ve added a little fuel to your tank, some coffee to your cup and pep in your step to keep you moving forward in your own great adventures. four key takeaways links to any resources mentioned in today’s show and more see the show notes which can be found at legalwebsitewarrior.com/podcast, be sure to subscribe to the podcast and if you enjoyed today’s conversation, please give us some stars and a review on Apple podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcast so others will find us to keep up the great work you are doing in the world and we’ll see you next week.