Episode 74: How A Job Can Allow You to Pursue Your Passion | Danielle Tucker Host of The Golf Club Radio Show

Danielle Tucker’s Golf Club Radio Show has been broadcasting from Hawaii since 1999. Danielle interviews PGA, LPGA and International Golf Professionals, Young Rising Stars, Teaching Pros, Sports Shrinks, Authors, Mental Coaches, Golf Equipment Companies, Club Designers and Golf Broadcasters. Danielle Tucker is the host of Radio Golf Club. It’s a live radio golf show that takes place in Hawaii. One of the things that came up in the interview that I thought was interesting, because it’s a different point of view from other guests of our podcast. She’s doing this as a side job. This radio show, she does it on a saturday. She has her normal work week and then she goes in and does this podcast on a Saturday because it’s something she really loves and she has the opportunity to do it.

Zeb’s Take

She has a lot of energy and excitement. She’s professional and the way she carried herself, and that extra energy she put into the interview, not to mention the insights that she gave. One thing that I thought was unique was that she encouraged people not to leave their job to pursue something like what she is doing. She is doing her golf club radio show because she loves it and for no other reason. She works her regular job, which I’m sure she enjoys, but maybe not to the full extent that she’s living her passion in that sense. But, it creates the opportunity that she can do something that she loves. What I’m doing right now in my business I know is my passion. I know that I’m working hard and making things happen, I think it’s going to be good in that sense. For Danielle, I think she is doing exactly what it is that she wants to. You can tell that she loves and enjoys what she does, just like I love and enjoy what I do. I think there are opportunities out there for people. You have to choose the path that’s right for you. Some people think they have to leave their regular job and become an entrepreneur to find success not really thinking about their passion is. Think about what it is you enjoy and that experience and how can you make that happen. Sometimes that will mean extra sacrifices. Working a 9 to 5 job to do that stuff that she loves on the weekends. It’s really up to you to determine what that sacrifice is.

Listen to Danielle Tucker’s Golf Club

Visit RadioGolfClub.com hear all Danielle Tucker’s episodes from 2005 and live streaming episodes every Saturday.

Quotes

“The best thing I can tell you about growth is never being satisfied with the work you’re doing.”
“The key to a successful interview is making someone comfortable.”
“To me every piece of work that I do, I’m working and I’m playing at the same time.”
“It’s up to me to keep it moving, keep it bright, tight and outta site!”
“We all learn differently, we all hear differently.”
“It’s always asking yourself, how could I have done that better.”
“The hardest thing to do in the business of radio is to listen to yourself.”

More from the Interview

Danielle has been in the broadcast business for a long time. Her past as a News Director, Co-Host, all built her experience working in a live radio environment. Her dad encouraged her to do a golf radio show, even though her station didn’t have any sports programming. Years later, someone approached her about doing a golf talk show. It was weird and perfect. At first, she was worried about running an hour long talk show, her experience had not prepared her for that. She was very nervous, but went ahead anyways. The person at the radio station loved it. She was able to expand it, find other radio stations that wanted to have the show. She started streaming it, and here she is today. Her dad came from England. He saw America as a land of opportunity. His proficient golf abilities allowed him to create great business contacts. He ended up in LA where he heard a radio show about golf. He knew golf was growing in the United States and that’s when he began encouraging his daughter to pursue a radio show talking about golf. Danielle used to work at an indoor golf facility. Over the years she has played lots of golf. She does traffic reports in the mornings and afternoons for five radio stations and on television. On Saturdays, she does her radio golf show. On Sundays she tries to get on the course, but all her work keeps her busy. She stays up to date on the game. she is engrossed in the game; but she needs work to carve out time for, if not 18 holes, at least nine. When she’s on the course, she just wants to stay out there forever. Danielle began her radio show about 1999 when Hawaii had a lot of impressive golf events going on. Pacific Golf Academy, Danielle’s workplace, was approached by a radio station to see if they wanted some advertising time on their station. Instead, The Pacific Golf Academy asked about doing a radio show for the station about golf and they were able to find sponsors to help pay for the air-time. I am paid to do what I do for a living. I work for a corporation that owns radio stations. I’ve worked in the business for a long time and my credibility is very good. People respect and listen to me and trust that what I tell them is accurate and fact. I have my credibility. The Golf Club Radio Show: The radio show is live 10am on Saturday mornings streaming online at RadioGolfClub.com. After each episode the programs are uploaded as podcasts to listen to any time. She has callers from around the world, all involved in the golf industry. Some of her impressive guests include Peter Alice, Arnold Palmer, Alice Cooper, Bubba Watson, Ben Rice, plus people who either do broadcast or architectural work and a lot more. If you’re going to listen to one episode, Arnold Palmer and Bubba Watson were great interviews. The most irreverant and the most honest interviews were Peter Alice and Ben Rice. They talk about golf as they see it. They weren’t afraid of saying things that might make waves, or rock the institutional world of golf. Usually her older guests are not as worried about saying things that might be disruptive. For me to look back at myself and what I’ve done in the past. I’d probably be very uncomfortable listening to myself. Because as I’ve gotten more comfortable I became better at making other people be comfortable being on air. The show allows her to get outside of the ever-confining radio tactics. She remembers the business of radio used to be free flowing; for the people on the radio they were deciding and doing things instataneously. It was art. Then corporations took over and now things are much more controlled. There is no spontaneity left in the business. Doing my golf show is a constant spontaneous moment. Advice: Her advice for someone who wants to start a radio show or a podcast would be: be willing to work for no money, hope that you learn a whole lot in a very short period of time, keep your ears open and your mouth closed, and practice. Talk, read out loud, express yourself, do the show for your family, friends, or dog. You can’t be afraid to say what you think. It’s a passion that you may not be rewarded for financially. She says, “I don’t recommend that anyone give up their job and look for a gig in radio or do a podcast and expect to actually feed themselves. You have to want it so bad that you’re willing to keep the job that you don’t necessarily like. Find a place where you can become successful inside yourself by expressing through a podcast the thing that you like to talk about. So when you go to work, at least you have a place where on the other side, that part of you that needs desperately to be fulfilled is being fulfilled through this additional outlet.” It’s a hobby. From her experiences she’s learned confidence, to be comfortable with herself, and to laugh in the face of almost anything. Different people gravitate to different personalities. “We all learn differently, we all hear differently.” Insight: Most successful people don’t think they’re successful, because to be successful you have to be pushing yourself to be successful. There comes a point where you might have an off day, and your audience will allow you that, but they won’t all multiple off days in a row. You have to be striving and making yourself – reinvent yourself, it’s the biggest cliche ever. To me that means, I want to learn something new today, I want to challenge my brain today, I want to bring something new to the table today, I don’t even know what that is, but I’m going to open myself up to find it. That to me, I think I’m successful. I’m never satisfied with what I’ve created. I might be happy with it, it might be rewarding, but I know I could have done it better. The hardest thing to do in the business of radio is to listen to yourself. I don’t know anyone in this business of radio who likes the sound of their own voice. When you’re listening to yourself you’re not hearing yourself, you’re hearing the tape in your brain. You’re hearing the moment in your head and that’s what makes you uncomfortable. I’m am a sum of being a mother a grandmonther, having supported myself through college without any help from my parents, paying off my college loans by myself, finding a job, working three jobs while going to school, working for free for two jobs, then having to find a job to keep another job. To me right now success would be to be able to retire and say “yo, let’s play a round of golf, the sun’s out.” My son says I was the best mom. My grandson misses me. Hearing my son and grandson say that, it doesn’t get any better. Now go out there and find your success!

Episode 73: Connect with Influential People | John Corcoran, Host of the Smart Business Revolution Podcast

Leave a reply

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

John Corcoran knows how to connect with influential people. He has worked in the White House, he has met presidents, he has his own law firm, there are so many different things this guy has done. He’s great at networking with very important people, he has lots of tips and information on how we can network better.

John's talent of building business relationships with VIPs including presidents and important decision makers has helped him define success.

John Corcoran shows entrepreneurs and small business owners how to bring in more clients, customers and revenue by building relationships with VIPs and top performers. He’s also the host of the Smart Business Revolution Podcast.

Zeb’s Take

In this interview I found I had a lot in common with John. Especially, the similar outlook that we both have on life. What stuck out to me was the task that he encourages people to tackle. He said sit down and create a list of people that you want to get to know better in the next few months. Assignment: Today take the time to sit down and write a list of 20 people that you want to get to know better in the next three months. It could be people in your field, politicians, people locally, maybe potential customers. Then, work on ways to introduce yourself to those people. I’ve never done this before, but I already know that this would provide value for my business. It’s something that I kind of do already with this podcast. The Defining Success Podcast is a perfect example of how I used John’s strategies to connect with influential people. It started as a way to build connections. It gave me a reason to reach out to these people. Then I can get to know them better, they get to know me better, and our world’s collide during the interview. Afterwards, this person knows me. We have the potential to connect again down the line to help each other in business. I’ve made some fantastic contacts and met some wonderful and helpful people. I want to connect with all of our listeners and hear what you have to say about this assignment and this idea. Connect with me, go to Facebook.com/DefiningSuccesPodcast and let me know what you think.

Free Ebook from John Corcoran

Download John Corcoran’s ebook at this exclusive link for Defining Success Podcast listeners: SmartBusinessRevolution.com/DefiningSuccess

Quotes

“You are what others perceive you to be […] If you act like you belong, you can often belong.”
“The key thing is keeping in touch with people who are going to help your career go in the direction that you want it to go.”
“Think proactively about the people that you do want to surround yourself with.”
“When you have a strength, it’s not you who sees it. It’s others who see it.”
“As a business owner nothing tops the satisfaction of a job well done for one of your clients.“
“Success is not on anyone else’s terms. It’s your own choice. You define what success is.”

More from the Interview

John Corcoran’s career path has taken him all over. He’s gone from DC to Silicon Valley and he’s worked with people from DreamWorks and Hollywood to Bill Clinton and his staff. Eventually he founded his own boutique law firm where he works with a lot of startups and small business owners. All these different positions came from the relationships he developed and how he was able to gain opportunities through those relationships when it came to his career path. One of John’s first jobs was at a brand new company at the time, DreamWorks. He was exposed to VIPs and often was around celebrities. There he learned that in Hollywood you are what others perceive you to be. If you act like you belong, you will belong. In college, Corcoran was part of the White House Internship Program where he got to work in the White House speech writing office. As he finished his degree he set his sights on getting a job in that same office. He kept in touch with the people he met during his internship and from one of them heard about a position with the speechwriters and was hired at the White House for first big major job after college. He says, the key thing is keeping in touch with people who are going to help your career go in the direction that you want it to go. And often times people don’t think about these things. Our network often comes more by happenstance rather than by thinking proactively about what direction you want your career to go, who are the people that can help you get to that point, and who are the people that can motivate you to get there. John was unaware of his talent for developing relationships and building his network until it was reiterated to him several times by other members of a mastermind group he participated in. He had written blogs before, but not until he changed direction did he find the reaction he was looking for. John writes about something that comes so naturally to him, nurturing relationships with people. Much of what he shares involves using social media tools to establish and build your network in a positive way. Broaden your circle of influence. Be helpful to the people you reach out to. Don’t wait to be successful in order to implement things right now. Doing it right now, implementing the tools now can help you become successful. Cool Experience: You often see when you’re around someone like the leader of the free world, they have this magnetic charisma and it can be very intimidating. It can be very difficult to approach that person. First, everyone appreciates a sincere compliment. Have a human conversation with someone, that’s a great way to break through and have a really normal connection with someone no matter how successful they are. When meeting President Clinton, John knew that the president was building his DVD collection, so he brought him a few old westerns on DVD. He said, they were able to connect and it was the most normal conversation you could be having with someone, except it was in the Oval Office of the White House with the leader of the free world. Advice: No matter who you are talking to, no matter who you want to meet, find a way to connect with them on something personal and something that they are interested in, and make a connection on that in whatever way possible. That will serve you well. Insight: Working at the white house was a tremendous honor and a privilege, but I was missing that immediate feedback and sense of gratification that you get from a personal job well done. As a business owner nothing tops the satisfaction of just a job well done for one of your clients.

Episode 72: The Social Golf Course Part 2

Leave a reply

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

The Social Golf Course was written by Zeb Welborn and John Hakim.

The Social Golf Course

In Episode 72 of the Defining Success Podcast we go through our book chapter by chapter and discuss the ideas presented in the book. At the end of each chapter we present a question in our book, which we encourage readers to engage with on our website, SocialGolfCourse.com.

In Part 2, we discuss Chapters 9 – 14.

‘The Social Golf Course’ with John Hakim, Part 2

Chapter 9: How to Become a Social Golf Course
Basically, in this chapter we walk through each platform and the basics of how to use each platform. Create a social culture and reflect that culture online through your website, email list/newsletter, Facebook, Blog, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram. Social media is constantly evolving and each platform will offer different ways to reach out and encourage golfers to play your course.

Which platform is the most important for golf courses to utilize to reach more customers?

Chapter 10: Greenskeeper.org Golf’s Social Network
In this chapter we discuss how golf courses can leverage Greenskeeper.org. How they can use it for free, and why Greenskeeper.org is a media buy.

How do I get more GK’ers playing my golf course? More ideas!

Chapter 11: Creating Content to Build a Golf Community
Creating content for social media is not easy. In this chapter we have lots of ideas and examples for creating content that will resonate with your golfers. Macro content is larger pieces of content designed to educate, entertain, or help tell the story of a golf course. Including 19th Hole Stories, the golf stories you share in the clubhouse before and after a round of golf. Micro Content can be posted more frequently. It is smaller pieces of content that are designed to build engagement.

What is your favorite 19th hole story?

Chapter 12: Implementing Social Media: Getting Your Staff Involved
To transform your course into a social golf course it’s important to have several members of your staff contributing. Staff members from marketing, top level management, turf management, the pro shop, tournament organization, event planning, and outside services can all be a part of your course’s social media presence.

What ideas do you have to get golf course staff more involved in the social media presence at your golf course?

Chapter 13: Managing Your Reputation
Today, customers naturally filter sales messages because the internet, search engines and social media provide a more accurate representation of your golf course. Properly handling negative and positive reviews on your social networks can not only bring more golfers to your course, they can help you make your business better.

How do you handle positive or negative reviews at your golf course? Have any examples?

Chapter 14: The Social Golf Course
Creating the social golf course will take hard work commitment and dedication. The social golf course is proud of their product. They strive to give the best golfing experience to every golfer that visits the course and then work to share that experience with as many people as possible.

Use social media effectively and turn your golf course into The Social Golf Course.

Do you have questions about how to turn your golf course into a social golf course?

Visit www.SocialGolfCourse.com!

Check out the book on Amazon.com, The Social Golf Course: Increasing Rounds with Social Media. Available for Kindle (you can download the kindle app for free on most smart phones, tablets, and computers!) and as a paperback.

Episode 71: Overcoming Career Disaster | Melissa Krivachek from Briella Arion

Leave a reply

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Melissa Krivachek has had lots of ups and downs in her professional career. At a young age she was promoted quickly at the retail store she worked for, but when the recession hit, she lost her job. During that time she became homeless and even spent some time in jail. She rebounded nicely by creating her own business, Briella Arion, which she is running today. Learn how Melissa worked toward overcoming career disaster in episode 71 of the Defining Success Podcast.

Melissa Krivachek

Melissa Krivachek is the President of Briella Arion. She has been captivating, inspiring and motivating entrepreneurs across the globe since her early twenties. Chosen as Evolution Magazines 2013 Top Power Player Under 40, and featured on CNN, Forbes, Yahoo Finance, and receiving dozens of other accolades, Melissa’s passion for personal growth resonates with audiences looking for more fulfillment in all aspects of life and business. As the Author of Be Ballsy! How Not To Suck At Love, Success, & Happiness she loves teaching audiences how to break-thru limiting beliefs so they can have it all.

Briella Arion is a coaching company that works with six figure entrepreneurs so they can breakthrough the ceiling of complexity and have it all, all at the same time, love, success and happiness. Melissa has been with a six-figure salary and jobless.

In 2004, Melissa started at Walmart at 16 and the manager mentored her along the way. She exceeded his role in the company and became the store manager and in 2008, she was fired. Melissa bought a brand new car, a new home and eventually they took her car, her came and was $50,000 in debt.

She then began working for Family Dollar and Melissa got bored fairly easily and moved to Chicago where she began managing multiple stores. From 2004 to 2011 Melissa racked up a bunch of speeding tickets and ended up going to jail.

Melissa gravitated towards anything related to professional management. Melissa’s first client was a customer who was trying to get Melissa to sell her Visalis. He was having a really difficult time and she began coaching him. He’s a very passionate person, became a millionaire and is now doing extremely well.

Melissa’s Mastermind is a five-week program that holds people accountable to help you hit your goals. She does the program on Facebook so that you have accountability built into it.

Through her coaching Melissa tries to remove limiting beliefs from people to help them break through to more success.

Be Ballsy, written by Melissa Krivachek, focuses on helping people balance love, success and happiness and she has been able to maintain it.

Matt Lee was the first guest Melissa Krivachek had on her show. He’s actually the coach for Melissa and has helped her achieve phenomenal success.

The best thing Melissa is doing right now is working with lots of successful entrepreneurs and coaching them break through their limiting beliefs.

Melissa Krivachek

Engaging Discussion Questions:

Have you ever had to work at overcoming career disaster?

Success Quotes:

“Success is about the impact that you make, the money that you make and how clear your message is to the audience you’re reaching.”
“It’s more important to take small consistent action than it is to reach goals.”
“If your values and beliefs aren’t aligned with your values and results than you have a problem.”

Links to Great Stuff:

Briella Arion – I coach 6 figure entrepreneurs across the globe from my home in Marion, Iowa.

Be a Baller

Episode 70: Don’t Let Your Ego Get in the Way | Virgil Herring Author of The Golf Journal

Leave a reply

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Don’t let your ego get in the way. Virgil Herring is one of the top teaching professionals in golf and when one of his best players, Brandt Snedeker became the PGA Tour’s Rookie of the Year, Virgil expected recognition. Brandt recognized another golf coach for his success and Virgil’s ego got in the way. Learn from Virgil in Episode 70 of the Defining Success Podcast.

Virgil Herring

Best-selling author Virgil Herring is Director of Instruction at the acclaimed Westhaven Golf Club and is founder of Higher Performance Golf Academy. Virgil received the 2003 Tennessee Section PGA Teacher of the Year Award and was named 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2006 Middle TN Chapter PGA Teacher of the Year. He was named a 2009 U.S. Kids Golf Top 50 Instructor (source) by U.S. Kids Golf. And he also worked with PGA Tour player Brandt Snedeker.

Virgil got involved in golf after he injured his shoulder as a baseball pitcher at 16 years old. He then turned to golf. Virgil took up the sport by playing with his best friend at a young age. He knew that he wanted to be involved in sports in his entire life.

He went to college to learn how to become a part of golf management. Today, he plays as much as he possibly can, but he became an instructor at an early age. His first 1,000 hours of golf instruction were working with over-achieving collegiate golfers. Everyone who worked with him told him that he had a knack for teaching.

Virgil likes to help others. When he’s competing he’s too concerned about other people’s games. He says he’s coached about 22,000 golf lessons, and coached 1,500 to 1,600 people.

The most compelling story Virgil has working with students was a young female golfer who Virgil took from a golfer who was quitting and three months later, she became a professional golfer. And now, Megan Grehan is now a professional golfer.

Brandt Snedeker was another student of Virgil Herring’s who went on to do great things in golf. Virgil was Brandt’s golf instructor for eight years where he went from an unranked junior, to the #1 player in college golf, to the #1 amateur in the world, to a two-time Nationwide Tour Winner, to the PGA Rookie of the Year. He won the US Public Links and made the cut in the Masters as an amateur.

Brandt was never the best hitter of the golf ball, but he always ended up winning. Virgil remembers the first time playing with him and one thing that Brandt had was confidence. He knew how to hit the shot when he needed to hit it. Virgil has taught more than 20 people who hit the golf ball better than Brandt, but he’s been the best putter 3 out of the last 5 years.

When Virgil began teaching golf, he was a big believer in getting people to perform their best. He saw the little differences between the average golfers and the exceptional golfers. Virgil knew he wanted to be a competitive golf coach and his brand was helping golfers achieve their personal greatness.

When Brandt won his PGA Tour Event in 2007, he went on national TV and thanked another teacher. Virgil reacted in disbelief and shock. And they didn’t handle the situation very well and Virgil wish it hadn’t had bothered him as much as it did. They’re both members of the same club, but their relationship is nothing like what it used to be.

Virgil wrote The Golf Journal and Virgil believes this is the year for statistical data to help people track their statistics to help people understand what they need to do to get better. His book helps people understand their golfing trends and how they can make those trends better. Golf teaches honesty, and integrity.

Virgil likes the creativity of golf. There are a lot of different golf swings out there. Golf is a long contest that trains focus, concentration and how to re-focus.

Another story Virgil re-tells is the time when Brandt asked Davis Love III about how he could stay on the tour and Davis told him that if he thought he should be out on the PGA Tour than he shouldn’t worry about it. The guys who can miss a cut are ok, but those who treat it as life and death are in trouble.

The Golf Journal

Engaging Discussion Questions:

Name a time when your ego got in the way?
Have you ever worked with someone who was a world-class athlete or business person? What traits did they possess that others did not?

Success Quotes:

“Success is choosing what you’re life’s mission is and chasing after it with all of your zest.”
“Golf mirrors life … how you handle adversity on the golf course shows how you handle adversity in live.
“There’s no such think as perfect.”
“When your ego gets in the way, sometimes bad things happen.”
“I get the chance to do exactly what I wanted to do since I was 21 years old and I get to do it every day.”
“Brandt Snedeker has a killer instinct that most people don’t have.”

Links to Great Stuff:

Virgil Herring – Virgil worked with PGA Tour player Brandt Snedeker from 2000-2007 and Tour players Harry Taylor, Brad Fabel, Cliff Kresge, Vance Veazey, Garrett Willis, Bob Wolcott & Kim Williams. He works with 52 Division-1 College Players and 22 top TN Junior Players. In Nashville, hear Virgil 7-8 a.m. Saturday on 104.5 The Zone.

Virgil Herring

Episode 69: Evaluate Every Decision | Griffen Halko from Stay Designated

Leave a reply

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

As a DUI offender, Griffen Halko made a mistake that changed his life forever. In Episode 69 of the Defining Success Podcast, we discuss how important it is to evaluate every decision. Griffen’s decision resulted in the death of a good friend, sent him to jail and forever changed his future.

Griffin Halko Stay Designated Evaluate Every Decision

Griffen Halko

Stay Designated, Inc. was conceptualized in March of 2008, in a hospital bed located in the Intensive Care Unit at UCI Medical Center. While recovering from critical, life threatening injuries, Griffen Halko came face to face with reality.

Before the accident in March 2008, Griffen was working locally in Chino Hills an Diamond Bar. And, he was frequently involved in the night life scene, visiting bars. In March of 2008, Griffen had a night out with a good friend, Eric and his girlfriend at the time. They had a couple of drinks and Griffen drove home and his car was hit by a vehicle in Grand. Eric was killed in the crash. Griffen was transported to UCI Medical Center were he sustained serious injuries and was in a coma. Doctor’s believed he wouldn’t be able to walk. He came out of the coma and became healthy.

Griffen was charged with vehicular manslaughter, two counts of felony DUI and an enhancement with driving above a .15 BAC. While he was laying in his hospital bed, he decided he was going to take this opportunity to educate others about the danger of drinking and driving. He pled out to a felony DUI and started Stay Designated. Both the victim and the perpetrator struggle.

Griffen hopes to educate others so events like these don’t happen again. As a young man, Griffen identifies as an addict, but he does not identify as an alcoholic, but he does make poor decisions while drinking alcohol. Stay Designated has a few different programs. Griffen does a lot of mentoring and a lot of coaching with people who have substance abuse problems.

Stay Designated has a three-tier mission. The first is to educate others about the effects of alcohol and drug use. The second is victim advocacy for those affected and for perpetrators. The third tier, and the most important is to get hands-on in the community to create a designated driver program.

Chances for change brings an individual who fails a drug test at school or work they need to complete an out patient program. They work hands on with a treatment specialist. They have a bunch of courses they need to attend and once their course work is done they can go back to school or work.

Stay Designated is very new. They have weekly marketing meetings and they start working the streets. They work with attorneys, schools, the city, Psychology Today and the Yellow Pages. They also try to work in the community as much as possible. There have been individuals that Griffen has worked with who have achieved clean time and have been able to get their lives back together.

Six years after Griffen’s accident, but this year Griffen was granted an expungement by the courts that put an exclamation point on his success story. One of the most difficult things that Griffen has encountered is that Griffen is looked at as an offender. When Griffen started this program he had no idea what it would become and it has expanded greatly since then. Getting off the ground was probably the hardest thing for Griffen to do.

Stay Designated

Engaging Discussion Questions:

What’s a bad decision you have made that you wish you could take back?
How important do you think it is to evaluate every decision?

Success Quotes:

“When you’re getting in a vehicle, make sure you haven’t been drinking.”
“Think before you act.”
“If you have the emotional support and the drive, you can get it done.”
“If you can go to sleep at night and rest easy and have a good heart than you are successful.”

Links to Great Stuff:

Stay Designated – “To offer support to those struggling with alcohol as well as other substance abuses and destructive behaviors. With a focus on reducing driving under the influence injuries and fatalities, intoxicated driving, underage drinking, and drug abuse, we strive to offer education and other means of prevention, promote victim advocacy, as well as assist those both directly and indirectly affected. Ultimately, we aim to achieve positive rehabilitation for all parties involved.”

Griffen Halko

Episode 68: The Social Golf Course Part 1

Leave a reply

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

The Social Golf Course was written by Zeb Welborn and John Hakim.

The Social Golf Course

In Episode 68 of the Defining Success Podcast we go through our book chapter by chapter and discuss the ideas presented in the book. At the end of each chapter we present a question in our book, which we encourage readers to engage with on our website, SocialGolfCourse.com.

In Part 1, we discuss Chapters 1 – 8.

Chapter 1: The Death of the Traditional Golf Course. When I think of the glory days of golf, I think back to the time my grandfather played the game as the men’s club president at his local golf course. The times have changed and we must think about the game differently. The local golf course must take the responsibility for developing and enhancing their local communities — online and offline.

Question: When were the glory days of golf?

Chapter 2: An Industry in the Rough Golf has been in decline since 2005. It’s been a scary time in the golf course industry with more courses closing than opening and the outlook doesn’t look pretty. Golf courses need to take a much more active role in promoting the game.

What is the biggest problem facing golf today? How can we fix it?

Chapter 3: The St. Andrews Model St. Andrews is the undisputed home of golf, but it is not by luck. St. Andrews marketed themselves and their golf course to the world which has made St. Andrews the most recognizable golf course in golf. The most important thing golf courses can do is to market their golf course effectively.

What are some interesting ways you’ve seen golf courses market themselves? How do/would you market your golf course?

Chapter 4: The Mulligan Tee time wholesalers have been detrimental to the golf course industry. Social media has created an opportunity for local golf courses to eliminate the need for tee time wholesalers and create a strong personal brand for themselves.

Are tee time wholesalers good or bad for the golf course industry?

Chapter 5: Golf is a Social Game Golf is a social game. It’s a no brainer that social media and golf go together.

What makes golf special?

Chapter 6: Marketing in Today’s Economy Effective marketing methods change all the time. Right now, social media is outperforming all other forms of advertising methods. We all must learn how to market effectively as technology is changing the way we live and the way we consume information.

What is the future of marketing in the golf course industry?

Chapter 7: The Golf Niche Golfers are really easy to reach through social media. Targeting features on different social media platforms offer a great opportunity to connect with your target market.

Who is your ideal customer? How can you get them?

Chapter 8: How Being Social Can Increase Profits at Your Course The big question is, how can social media make money for your golf course. In this chapter we go in detail about how social media works and how you can profit from using social media at your golf course.

How has social media impacted your relationship with your customers?

Part 2 will complete our discussion on The Social Golf Course.

Episode 67: The Learning Experience | Fred Shoemaker from Extraordinary Golf

Leave a reply

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

In Episode 67 of the Defining Success Podcast, Fred discusses what he’s learned teaching golf and how people tend to learn best and enjoy the experience when they are allowed to learn for themselves. As a coach, Fred avoids passing judgement and simply guides his students to be more aware of their experience during the process. Learn how Fred Shoemaker cultivates the best learning experience.

Fred Shoemaker

Fred Shoemaker is the founder of Extraordinary Golf which provides an environment where golfers could know their remarkable ability and learn to unfold it moment to moment. The school has been named One of America’s Top 25 Golf Schools in America by Golf Magazine and has been a life-changing experience for many participants.

Fred has spent most of his career—over 42,000 lessons, and thousands of golf schools and workshops—helping people overcome the obstacles that prevent them from discovering and expressing their potential.

Fred fell in love with golf at an early age and at some point he realized that there was a lot more to the game than just the golf swing. He was a coach at UCSB in 1975 and has been involved in the game for a long time.

Fred’s Dad was in the military and they were stationed in Guam at an early age and he began visiting the golf course regularly where he fell in love with it. Fred was not fascinated in playing golf professionally, but he became fascinated with coaching the sport.

Sometimes golfers need to look at what they do before and after they get on the golf course to help improve their game.

Fred knows that his first ready-made answers don’t help people. Letting people experience the learning process is the real key to success in learning and education. Since 1950 human beings are not getting better at golf. The learning experience is a key component to learning and happiness.

Anybody who has developed anything has gone through a lot of failures along the way.

Extraordinary golf focuses on the individual and works with each golfer individually. Extraordinary golf helps to capture people when they do something that is extraordinary. The basis of extraordinary golf is awareness. Human beings are capable of accomplishing anything as long as they are aware.

Transformations are difficult. Fred has been a part of some remarkable transformations and to watch people undergo those transformations is profound. Fred has been able to change the way golfers think about their swing and how they respond to positive and negative thoughts. Through that he has witnessed many transformations.

Golf is a game where you can keep improving well into your seventies. We have a sport that can teach us something about life if we choose to learn from it.

One of the biggest mistakes Fred feels he has made is not acknowledging the people who have had an impact on his life. The connectivity of all of us is undeniable and he feels like he’s a link in a chain and he intends to be the strongest link in the chain he can be.

There are some people who have chosen a purpose to play golf and for those people who have found a reason to play golf that makes sense . . . they have won the game.

Fred Shoemaker

Discussion Questions:

Would you like a life of endless interest or endless boredom?

Links to Great Stuff:

Extraordinary Golf – “Extraordinary Golf challenges the cultural views on learning. We’ve come to see that golfers are far more able than they believe. But, they haven’t learned to develop–or access– what they have.”

Success Quotes:

“Success is to be up for something bigger than what your life is about . . . to have a cause that’s worth giving your life to.”
“There is no such thing as a bad day in gratitude and appreciation.”
“Really successful people always interpret the world in a way that empowers them.”
“How we interpret life . . . is what changes our world.”
“When one changes one’s language you actually physically change your body.”
“If you rob people of their failures, you rob them of their future.”
“The golf swing is the most analyzed human motion in recorded history.”
“Sometimes the questions make the difference and not the answers.”
“The way we do one thing is the way we do other things.”

Visit the website for our new book, The Social Golf Course.

Extraordinary Golf by Fred Shoemaker

Episode 66: Incorporate Mobile Marketing Into Your Business | Greg Hickman Host of Mobile Mixed

1 Reply

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

The host of Mobile Mixed, Greg Hickman shares his insights into mobile marketing and how business owners must start to incorporate mobile strategies into their internet marketing campaign. Learn from the best when it comes to developing your mobile marketing strategy in Episode 66 of the Defining Success Podcast.

Greg Hickman

Greg Hickman is the Creator/Host of Mobile Mixed. He is a Mobile Marketing Consultant focused on retail. He is the Co-Founder of Thumbfound, Entrepreneur & Mountain Biker. He started off as an agency guy having the opportunity to work on brands like Pepsi, Lipton, and Walmart, creating and managing digital, in-store and grassroots initiatives.

Out of college, Greg started at an agency doing project management for a company that represented Pepsi so he got a full grasp on all aspects of marketing. His supervisor left his position and he pulled Greg over to help him at this new business in 2005. The company would make ring tones and wall papers for professional sports teams and he was able to see how engaged people were from their phone. When the iPhone came out, he knew the world was going to change and he knew that was where he wanted to be.

MobileMixed.com started in June 2012 while he was working with a company that represented 300 shopping centers around the country. He didn’t have any role models so he wanted to reach out to people who were doing mobile marketing really well and he started to reach out to them for his podcast show. He realized there was an audience following behind his show and he shifted his show from being interviews to solo episodes as well.

Through the podcast, Greg has developed relationships with a lot of the guests that have been on the show. He’s been able to find mentors and through his podcast he got offered a job at a business leading the mobile strategy of a large brand. Through the podcast, they found Greg and it was really an opportunity to work with those guys. Greg was able to work for the big brand for a year, but things kept growing with Mobile Mixed and although he enjoyed working for a big brand, he enjoyed growing his own business more.

Because of his podcast a big brand found him. When he stopped focusing on trying to work for a big brand and when he tried to make it a resource for mobile people, other people saw it. Since he started the podcast it’s been a great tool to land speaking gigs to share his knowledge about how to incorporate mobile marketing into your business.

Greg will be speaking at New Media Expo, Social Media Marketing World, Mobile Marketing Strategy Summit and the National Podcasters Conference.

By 2015 more people will access the internet on their phone than on their computer. More than 50% of all emails are opened on a mobile phone. 70% of Facebook users access their content from a mobile phone. 40% of global YouTube views are on a mobile phone. 61% of podcasts are listened to from a mobile phone.

To get started on mobile, make sure your website is mobile-friendly meaning you can use responsive design. You can also create a mobile optimized site.

50% of all email is opened on a mobile phone so you need to make sure your email is presentable on a mobile phone. The mobile phone has become a filtering device to even let emails into our inbox. Knowing that your customer is doing these things on their mobile phone, how does that impact them. Web to lead marketing is extremely important to businesses to ensure they sell products, if you want to find out more about how this can impact your business, visit https://www.salesforce.com/products/guide/lead-gen/web-to-lead/

Greg says the best mobile marketing company is Starbucks. They do the advanced stuff and they do the basic stuff and they always think about the full experience. They think everything through from start to finish.

One of the things Greg is using now is MMS which is muli-media messaging service. It’s text messaging with picture and video. In Greg’s podcast, he will have a text call to action. Through the messaging a person could record their question and they get a quick video in response to their question.

SMS messages have a 99% open rate and 90% of text messages are opened in less than 3 minutes. The average open rate for emails is 20 – 22%. You get a much higher open and click-through rate through text messages.

It’s just as easy to sign up on a text message list as it is to an email list.

If you realize that your website is not mobile friendly you should listen to Episode 49 of the Mobile Mixed Podcast titled, 6 Ways to Make Your Website Mobile Friendly, Episode 51: Email: The Most Overlooked Mobile Tool and 9 Tips to Get Started, Episode 65: 17 Mobile Marketing Mistakes You Want to Avoid.

Greg Hickman

Engaging Discussion Questions:

How important is having a mobile strategy in today’s economy?
Do you think mobile marketing can be done independently of a traditional marketing campaign?
What questions do you have about mobile marketing?

Success Quotes:

“Make sure that your definition is something that you own and is not based on someone else’s accomplishments.”
“Success means being happy every day, being vulnerable and not being worried about what other people think.”
“Your business objective is to sell more stuff. You need to think how can mobile help you cell more stuff.”
“How do I get my customer to do all these things I want them to do as easy as possible wherever they are at.”
“Responsive design is a great way to make sure your site is presentable on multiple devices.”
“74% of consumers will only wait three seconds for a website to load on their mobile phone before abandoning that site.”
“Starting the blog and the podcast were the best things I’ve ever done.”

Links to Great Stuff:

Mobile Mixed – Mobile Mixed is more than a web show, blog, resource and community of awesome mobile marketers (which it is of course)… Mobile Mixed is a freakin’ mission.
New Media Expo –
Social Media Marketing World – You’ll rub shoulders with the biggest names and brands in social media, soak up countless tips and new strategies, andenjoy extensive networking opportunities in San Diego, California.
Mobile Marketing Strategy Summit – GSMI is a leader in the industry of executive education, global conferences, summits, and training sessions that combine rich learning environments with the opportunity to network with today’s most relevant thought leaders, speakers and practitioners. GSMI’s annual events have reached 85% of the Fortune 500 companies, in over 30 countries, and cover topics that today’s leaders find most challenging and inspiring.
Podcast Movement: National Podcasters Conference – For podcasters, by podcasters. Come together for a weekend of learning, lessons, and living life. For podcasters of all skill levels!

Greg Hickman

Episode 65: Creating an Online Community with Zeb Welborn

Leave a reply

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Creating an online community is no easy task. The key ingredient toward building an online community of people who take action is consistency, persistence and greatness.

Bunkers Paradise

I came into contact with Bunker’s Paradise while working for Los Serranos Country Club in Chino Hills, CA. Bunker’s Paradise is an online golfing community where they talk about anything and everything golf. Mostly they focus on reviewing golf clubs and golf equipment, but they’ve created a great golfing community here in Southern California. The key to creating a vibrant golfing community online is creating good, quality content according to Ken Lee, the Editor-in-Chief at Bunker’s Paradise. Ken is a full-time police officer, yet in his free time he’s been able to build this online community of golfers. If you’re a small business, work to build a community like Ken Lee’s Bunker’s Paradise.

Greenskeeper.org

Greenskeeper.org is another great golfing community in Southern California. Greenskeeper.org started as a website to notify golfers when golf courses were performing aeration. The community has expanded substantially since it began more than 10 years ago and is working to make the golfing experience more enjoyable for golfers. The owner, John Hakim said that whenever he invested in his community he’s seen rewards come from it and he works hard to be of service to his GK’ers. By creating a vibrant golfing community which now regularly rates and reviews golf courses he’s been able to create a community of 60,000 golfers here in Southern California. He routinely holds golf outings and gets his golfers involved. In fact, we’ll be having a golf outing this week on March 14 at Los Serranos Country Club in Chino Hills, CA. All are welcome! Contact Zeb Welborn at Zeb@WelbornSocialMedia.com

Scrapbook Expo

Scrapbook Expo is another great company that has been able to build an online community which have helped them increase sales for their business. They started by developing an extremely active Facebook presence, now with more than 120,000 Facebook followers. These followers are very active online and contribute regularly to the Scrapbook Expo Facebook page and in turn, build massive word of mouth exposure for the events Scrapbook Expo holds all over the country. Look to Scrapbook Expo if you’d like to build a strong online community. Creating an online community is no easy task. Many who set out to achieve that goal quickly realize the amount of work it takes to establish and develop an online presence and quit. To develop a strong online community it takes consistency and persistence. Develop a loyal customer base and have those loyal customers promote and build your brand online and you’ll be well on your way to developing a strong social media presence.

Episode 64: Pinterest and SEO | Cynthia Sanchez Host of Oh So Pinteresting Podcast

4 Replies

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

In this episode of the Defining Success Podcast, Cynthia Sanchez shares her thoughts on Pinterest and how to optimize your website to take advantage of Pinterest and SEO. She also discusses the importance of including proper descriptions so you can be found in the Pinterest search engines and reach more people.

Cynthia Sanchez

Cynthia Sanchez first started to use Pinterest in 2011, and launched Oh So Pinteresting in February 2012. After a few months she was approached by a company to see if she could help them with Pinterest and manage their social media accounts. In September 2012, she left her job as a full-time radiation oncology nurse to focus on building Oh So Pinteresting and my business. . . . and the rest is history.

Cynthia got involved in Pinterest reluctantly and the first time she got on Pinterest she was hooked. She was seeing pins and images that linked her to these new websites which she never would have encountered using traditional Google searches.

Pinterest is a very visual platform and she thinks that’s the appeal of it because you can quickly browse through images to see what gets your attention to decide which website you’d like to visit. For her, it was eye opening. We relate to images in a more emotional way where we get lost in the pictures, we relax and it causes our brain to react in a different way.

In January of 2012, Cynthia was looking at podcast categories and she came across Pat Flynn’s Smart Passive Income Podcast. She didn’t realize that she could start a business with her blog and so she listened to all of Pat’s podcasts and it could be something that she could do in her spare time.

She decided to write her blog on her personal experiences using Pinterest. And after starting her blog, she was quickly approached by a business that wanted her to help manage their businesses Pinterest page. She went to Blog World in New York and she created business cards. One of the posts she wrote when she came back was about using Pinterest to get your hair cut. She asked the salon owner if she could leave her cards in the salon. A local business owner visited the salon, saw her cards and approached her.

Cynthia focuses on just doing Pinterest for the majority of the businesses she works for. Last week, they launched a new way for how categories appear and they are constantly changing. Cynthia is now working to stay on top of managing her social media presence.

The biggest piece of advice Cynthia can give to business owners is to come up with a strategic plan. You need to think of your ideal client and how they connect to your business.

The early adopters of Pinterest were women from the midwest and traditional social networks are adopted in a particular geographic region. Women represent the largest population on Pinterest. In Europe, the ratio is closer to 50/50 while in the U.S., there are many more females than males. You can customize the boards you want so you can get and see the topics you want to see on Pinterest.

Cynthia thinks that many businesses don’t use Pinterest and SEO (search engine optimization) properly. They don’t take the time to incorporate keywords into their SEO strategies and this is extremely important on Pinterest.

When Cynthia works with clients she is on Pinterest five to six days a week. She tries to get on Pinterest at multiple times every day. She tends to pin a lot about social media, Pinterest, web design and other topics. She tries to spread out her posts throughout the day. Cynthia tries to pin between 5 and 12 times when she plans how often she posts on Pinterest.

One company that did Pinterest very well was a boot sock company, which is a product that has become very popular recently. She doesn’t have an active account, but her picture went viral on Pinterest, and the girl did around a million in sales and was a featured entrepreneur on Shark Tank.

Cynthia’s podcast has been on for a year now and the coolest thing about podcasting is that she’s been given speaking opportunities as a result. She’s given multiple speaking engagements across the country as a result of her podcast.

Cynthia Sanchez

Engaging Discussion Questions:

How do you use Pinterest?
What is your favorite thing about using Pinterest?

Links to Great Stuff:

Oh So Pinteresting – Have you heard of Pinterest? It has become one of the fastest growing sites in history. In a nutshell, it is an online visual bookmaking site but, if approached with a strategy, it can be a very powerful tool. I’m here to teach you all about it.

Success Quotes:

“Success comes in little bits and bites . . . Those little successes all add up to the big success.”
“People don’t think of the SEO of Pinterest.”
“My favorite thing about Pinterest is being to connect with different parts of the internet that I never would have found before.”

Special Requests:

Go out there and find your success.

Cynthia Sanchez

Episode 63: Being Obsessed with Your Business with Zeb Welborn

Leave a reply

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

To be a success you must be obsessed with being successful. There are hundreds of people out there who do the same things you do and the only way to be better than them is to be obsessed with your business.

Tamika Newhouse is a famous author in her own right. At a young age, Tamika became a single mother and even though her situation was not ideal, she found a way to persevere. She has written numerous books and started her own publishing company. To become a success she needed to be obsessed with her business. Day in and day out she learned to write better and to connect with influential people in the process who helped her along her path to become a successful author.

: Tamika Newhouse

I feel I have become obsessed with my business, Welborn Media. From the time I wake up in the morning until the time I go to bed, I am continually thinking of ways to make my business better. Whether it be learning a new technique, reaching out to new business contacts or doing the work of my business. I’m constantly thinking, “How can I be of service to more people.” And it has become an obsession.

In an interview I had with TJ Hale, host of the Shark Tank Podcast, we talked about our goals. From our conversation, I came to the conclusion that in order to become obsessed with your business that you needed to develop a very clear purpose for your business. It’s easier to become obsessed with your business if you are working to become a person of significance.

The definition of obsession is the domination of one’s thoughts or feelings by a persistent idea, image, desire, etc.

When you think of Steve Jobs, Donald Trump, Bill Gates, Barrack Obama, Oprah Winfrey and others like them, you’ll understand the sacrifices you must make to become successful. These people are absolutely obsessed with what they do. So, if you want to be successful, think of the career you’re in and think to yourself can you become obsessed with it? Can you work in it day in and day out? If you can answer yes than you’ve found yourself a new business or a new career.

Episode 62: Don’t Get Attached to Outcomes | Creativity Coach & Author Dr. Eric Maisel

Leave a reply

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Dr. Maisel shares his thoughts on creativity and how developing a process and sticking to it regardless of outcomes can help you to become creative. The struggle with many creative people is that they expect something to happen when they create something and when the outcome doesn’t match their expectation they get discouraged. Don’t get attached to outcomes. Learn how to explore your creativity in Episode 62 of the Defining Success Podcast.

Dr. Eric Maisel

Dr. Eric Maisel is the author of more than 40 books. His interests include creativity and the creative life, the field of creativity coaching which he founded, and natural psychology, the new psychology of meaning that he has recently been developing.

Eric started out as a novelist early on his career, but it wasn’t paying his bills. He then decided to become a psychotherapist. He recognized that no one was studying creativity and he began studying and learning creativity. He eventually moved out of psychotherapy and became a creativity coach.

Creativity in the business world is meant to be innovation and/or problem-solving. Creativity to artist’s is manifesting potential. Creativity means the results and the desires to manifest ideas so they turn into tangible products. Most creative people are stuck because they don’t know what to do, they are not able to work and they have difficulty in the competitive environment.

Dr. Eric Maisel

Dr. Eric Maisel suggests that creative people start a process where they work early in the morning every day. By creating this habit, creative people can avoid being stuck in a pattern where nothing gets accomplished. Another thing Eric suggests is to continually think of the meaning behind the things you create. Establishing a meaning will help guide the process and make it important to complete.

Eric suggests that creative people start in the morning is because at the end of the night of the night most of your brain cells have already been used. At night, people are thinking and working in the morning will help take advantage of that thought process. Lastly, if you do something in the morning that is creative and has meaning you will be much more positive throughout the day.

There are two kinds of typical creative coaching sessions, the first session gives the client the opportunity to air their concerns so Dr. Maisel can address them and create a plan for subsequent sessions. The regular coaching sessions will be about the issues he identifies in the first meeting.

A woman came to one of Dr. Eric Maisel’s workshop and she created a novel set in World War II and the book that came out of this was called the Puppet Boy of Warsaw. And the pound amount of her two book deal was a phenomenal amount.

The most regular thing that Dr. Eric Maisel encounters in his coaching session are people who have tried to be creative for years without having much success. They are looking for practical advice and emotional support in the process which Eric has been able to offer them.

Natural psychology does a better job explaining what the meaning of life is. It shifts the idea from seeking meaning to the idea of making meaning . . . more specifically, value-based meaning.

Dr. Eric Maisel runs the Life Purpose Bootcamp. Life Purpose Bootcamp is about getting a good handle on your meaning and your life purpose. Eric uses process to help him understand how his life purposes get manifested day in and day out. Don’t get attached to outcomes.

Dr. Eric Maisel

Engaging Discussion Questions:

Have you ever found yourself getting attached to an outcome?
Do you have a process?
How are you creative?

Links to Great Stuff: EricMaisel.com – “Dr. Maisel, widely regarded as America’s foremost creativity coach, maintains a coaching practice, trains creativity coaches, and provides core trainings for the Creativity Coaching Association.” Suggested Reading: For Depression and Sadness: Rethinking Depression and The Van Gogh Blues: The Creative Person’s Path Through Depression For Creativity: Coaching the Artist Within: Advice for Wrters, Actors, Visual Artists & Musicians from America’s Foremost Creativity Coach and Secrets of a Creativity Coach Success Quotes:

“Success is making yourself proud of your efforts.”
“Most people can’t white knuckle creativity. You have to do it because you love it.”
“Natural psychology focuses on our meaning needs and tries to articulate what meaning really is and how we can have more of it in our lives.”
“Life purposes are not given to us. They’re decisions.”

Episode 61: Develop a Business Mind with Zeb Welborn

Leave a reply

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Ashley Majeski

In my discussion with Ashley Majeski from The Ashley’s Reality Roundup, she explained how she first started writing about reality television and how much she enjoyed it. She received encouragement from her family and friends, who loved her writing and suggested she do more of it. She saw that as an opportunity to start her business. She needed to develop a business mind.

Sometimes, doing what you love is not enough. Sometimes, you have to apply business principles to the things you love in order to turn your passion into a career. I love being an entrepreneur because figuring out ways to build a better business, ultimately gives me the opportunity to help more people. If you find yourself doing something you love, but you haven’t made a career out of it, you might need help to develop a business mind.

My wife, Cindy is very talented artistically. She creates great pieces of artwork and truly enjoys the process of creating new art, but she can never do something she loves as often as she would want because she needs to focus on paying the bills. But, if she would develop a business mind, she could do the thing she loves must and have a happy, fulfilling career.

A good friend of mine, Richie absolutely loves music. I’ve never seen someone more passionate about a topic. He even created a CD for a friend of mine for his bachelor party where the entire CD was personalized for his friend. To do something like that . . . you have to love music. He’s also extremely talented, but he hasn’t figured out a way to turn his passion into a career. He is working on it though which I give him props for. He just needs help developing his business mind.

Even if you do something you don’t love, but you’re good at, you can still create passive income from it. My sister Lacey is very talented when it comes to website design, but early on she discovered that she didn’t enjoy it very much. It was great that she discovered website design was not the career for her, but she still could have made more money from her unique website design skill. She could have hired staff and trained them on website design skills and referred business their way, since people have come to respect her website design skills.

My Dad, Larry Welborn is the epitome of success. In junior high school he knew he wanted to become a journalist and worked to get himself involved in a career he loved. For 43 years my Dad worked for the Orange County Register and most of his time was spent in the courthouse as the court reporter for the Register. He loved his job and was great at it. He developed a business mind early on by connecting with the right people who could help him get the career of his dreams. Once he found himself in his career he also began helping others who shared his same passion.

Larry Welborn

I found something I love to do with Welborn Media. Helping small business owners get more business through social media is the most rewarding thing I feel I could be doing with my time. So many opportunities have come about because I developed my business mind to work to sell my goods and services so that I can grow my business and help more businesses thrives. But, it hasn’t been easy. Once I began to develop a business mind I really started to evolve as a business and it’s growing. Even though my business mind isn’t fully developed, I’m working on it every day to try and develop new business and create more opportunities to help others.

Ashley figured out how to make money from something she loved. She knew she couldn’t just keep writing for the fun of it, so she developed her business mind and created opportunities for herself to make a living from her writing. The happiest and most successful entrepreneurs are those who have figured out how to make money from the things they love to do most. Our economic system is geared to give us the opportunity to help people with our passions.

Develop a business mind in order to make a difference.

Episode 60: Golf is Social | Kevin Flanagan President of USGLL

Leave a reply

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Golf is social. Kevin Flanagan is the President of the USGLL which is a golf league for juniors. Kevin talks about the social aspects of golf and how golfing can help bring people together. Learn how Kevin is helping to grow golf by listening to Episode 60 of the Defining Success Podcast.

Kevin Flanagan

USGLL, Inc, is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing national team competition for young golfers. Since 2008, their Team Match Play format offers boys and girls, ages 6 to 18, the opportunity to compete at all levels. Players receive instruction in the etiquette and rules of golf, learn mutual respect and teamwork and develop important social skills. These relationships and sense of integrity are a solid platform that will last them the rest of their lives.

Kevin was in the trade show and transportation industry for over 20 years. Once he retired he decided to get involved in golf and became a teaching professional. He realized that a lot of young golfers were leaving the game. He approached the city and said he wanted to start a golf little league and they worked on a way to figure out how to manage it.

The USGLL opened in April 2008 and now Kevin is running the business and the USGLL is growing rapidly.

The USGLL is trying to get more and keep more kids in the game of golf. We’re targeting the 85 – 95% of the kids who haven’t had the opportunity to expose kids to the game. The matchplay format helps young kids and parents understand the game.

One of Kevin’s mentors, Tom Addis, the president of the Southern California PGA and a former president of the PGA. And he asked “What are you going to do to grow the game?” Kevin really took that to heart and he decided to start this junior program.

The biggest obstacle Kevin faced was missing out on money that was promised to him before the economy tanked in 2008 for the USGLL. He then committed to multiple programs and faced a lot of roadblocks due the economy. Currently, other programs have started up which are similar to Kevin’s, but they’re taking away from the focus of the USGLL.

Kevin is always looking for sponsors to see how they can make golf affordable for some of the parents. Some companies realize if they get a kid interested in golfing when they are young that there is a lot of potential for their businesses.

When Kevin was in business, you could decide on the golf course whether you wanted a guy to go in business with. It’s a sport that all ages and all groups can play together.

The first child that teed off in the USGLL program in 2008. He made multiple All-Star teams and lost his father last year. They mentored him in the program and the child is going to be their first inductee into the USGLL Hall of Fame. Another girl, who’s a freshman is playing in the finals in High School.

The national website is being changed over so it will be a lot easier for golfers to get in. Parents can go to the USGLL.org to work to set up a golfing program for younger golfers.

Kevin Flanagan

Engaging Discussion Questions:

How important do you think being social can help a business?
Do you think golf is social?

Links to Great Stuff:

USGLL – “Our national strategy endeavors to increase our footprint from coast to coast, in all 50 states. Along with the USGA, PGA, LPGA and the NGCOA, we are committed to increasing youth involvement in the game of golf throughout the U.S., its territories, and, eventually, internationally.”

Success Quotes:

“Success is finding something and someone that you love to do and be with all the time.”
“The motto of the USGLL is teamwork, respect and integrity.”
“Girls can now compete with the boys at this level.”
“(The USGLL) started on a paper napkin after a golf lesson.”
Between golf courses and golf players, we’re losing (golfers) left and right.

USGLL