Guest Speaker Series: Meet Robert Peterson

Hey, everybody is Tara O'Brien. And you are listening to the course building secrets podcast. Whether you're a coach or a CEO, the success of your team and clients is based on your ability to deliver a consistent experience and guide them on the fastest path to results. This podcast will give you practical real life tips that you can use today to build your online experiences that get results and create raving fans. Why? So you can monetize your expertise and serve more people without adding more time or team to your business. If you're looking to uncover your million dollar framework, package it and use it to scale you're in the right place. Let's dive in.

I am so excited today to introduce me to my special guests, Robert Peterson from added added value for life.com. Right, that's the name of your company. And so excited to welcome him here today to talk about all things course building, and, and coaching and building your business and all the different things. So welcome, Robert. So happy to have you here on the show. Give us a little you know, sort of highlight of who you are, and in your business and what you're about. And we'll go from there.

Oh, thank you, Tara, and just appreciate the opportunity to share and for the invitation. So thank you. And yeah, so I started a coaching company in 2018, and was mostly doing one on one coaching, did it and moved into group coaching, but all in person in 2018 2019. And then of course, in 2020 was forced into the internet, which sounds, you know, for some people would say, oh, that's obvious, it should have been, you should have been doing that all along. And yet for somebody, you know, I have a pastoral background, I love seeing people in the room I love, you know, reading their body language I love, you know, being able to hug people and greet him and handshake. And so the transition of the internet was was harder than it should have been. And taking my platform online. My, my existing clients actually handled it very well. The bigger piece for me was was marketing, because all of my previous marketing had been networking and face to face. And and that all went away, of course. And so figuring out this digital world and how to build an audience and find people through the internet was was all new to me. So over the last year, year and a half been working to, to transition myself to, to building audiences, you know, electronically.

Yeah. And that's, that's a big undertaking. So there's so many different directions, I want to I want to take this conversation. So thank you for giving us a little bit of your background. I think that, you know, this is the reality that so many people have faced in the last couple of years is how do you pivot online? How do you continue to grow your business in a different way, when you can't meet with them in person? And so, so tell me just like, just on that note, just in and of itself. You mentioned connection was one of the things that was the most difficult for you to kind of make that transition. But what like, tell me about like, when you decided you're not going to just shut down your one on one or group coaching in person, right, when everything kind of exploded? That you were going to take it online? What what was sort of your mindset around that? Like, how did how did you reconcile that in terms of like, okay, I'm going to jump on this. You know, I don't know if you're using zoom or what you're using and just getting people together?

Yeah, so through my domain, I'd already been using Google Calendar, and Google is my email provider, my workspace provider. And, and Google meat was working really hard to to provide a higher level of service, you could put 100 people in a room, it didn't have the 40 Minute limitation, like the free zoom version had. And so my meetings were an hour long. So right away said, Okay, Google's already paid for. So I'm going to use Google meat. It's already linked into my calendar. And so it it actually worked. It worked really well. And, you know, I emailed all my clients and said, you know, this is this is where we're going to meet let's let's try this and see, see what it looks like. And so the teaching elements changed a little bit because I don't have a whiteboard and I You know, didn't have a whiteboard, you can certainly do electronic whiteboards, but they're not quite, not quite the same. I didn't use a lot of PowerPoint or any of those things. So it, it took, it took a little bit. But, you know, for the most part, my paying clients stuck with an NF have appreciated the transition. And got used to it, right, because everybody was getting used to all of their meetings transition. So my meeting wasn't the only one that that happened to happen to all of their meetings. And for some of them, they were just happy to have the same group of people that they'd seen every week, still be able to see those same people, and we do a daily check it a weekly check in, where they just share, you know, what's going on in their business, what's going on in their personal life. And in those check ins, just help them feel like, oh, there's a little bit of normal, right, and everybody's kind of going through some of the same things. In fact, I just had a meeting today, and one of the dads shared that his son, you know, had an incident and just, you know, got violent and destructive, and everybody else all seem to have kids stories that that resonated in, and everybody's struggling with different things. And so even though we're a business group, or the groups kind of become a family become a place of confidence a place of, you know, so there was hope there was, it was a there was a lot of positive, this was the one thing that everybody just kept doing. When all the a lot of the other groups just stopped. And so we were the one one of their only in person groups that had gone online and kept just kept meeting.

Awesome. The one that was one of the biggest surprise is that you've had in switching online of it. And, and, and getting maybe new people or additional people into your program, like what would it what's the biggest surprise that you've had?

Yeah, I mean, the first was that, that it worked so well like that, that people adjusted and, and, and wanted to meet like, every other group quit all their networking groups quit meeting, their big groups quit. And and so because I I enrolled right into, we didn't skip a week, like they closed our office space, you know, march 17. And then in March 25. All right, we're gonna have online meeting. So because we didn't skip any meetings, I think there was there was, there was more buy in. You know, it wasn't like we had to stop and restart, like a lot of groups did. And so that was that was really good. The people that we added to groups, in those first four months, were all people that we had met previously. So I met those people face to face. And now they reached out to us, Hey, what are you doing? Are you still doing? Are you still coaching in COVID? And what's happening is, yeah, we still have this groups and their spots available here and here. And so, you know, the people that we added initially, were people that we'd met through networking. And so figuring out, you know, how do we find audience without networking events without all the all the model that had been using, tried some Facebook ads, you know, and of course, you meet the kid that says, hey, I'm a Facebook ad guru on YouTube, you know, well, they added 500 people to my list, but I'm not even convinced that they're 500 people that want want what we have to offer. And so none of it translated into into calls. And at one point, it just feels like you're throwing money in a, in a, in a big black hole. So pretty much you know, so, so the digital marketing space is just so challenging, right? And, and you put, you put a lead magnet out there, and start using a lead magnet. And of course, I've I've tweaked and changed and now I'm getting better and better lead magnets that are getting, you know, more alignment with what what we have to offer so that the people that we're getting to sign up for the lead magnet are already you know, kind of pre qualified or, or at least good candidates to be, you know, to be clients. So that's

nothing yeah, there's nothing like having to put something online and actually like, you know, get specific about what you are doing and how you're bringing people in then when you're not like in front of them, right. When you're in a networking group. It's a lot easier to explain what you do and and what how they would benefit. When you have to put that into a sales page. It does become a little bit more challenging to articulate exactly the value and you know, what you're offering and not having that face to face connection with them. So, yeah, that's super interesting when you make that transition, you know how to start thinking about it and looking at it a little bit differently.

Well, and even the networking group, right, you're choosing a networking group based on who's attending the group. And, and, you know, eight out of 10 people in the group would be a good client versus online, you could talk to 1000 people, none of them are, you know, the right client, you'll see just don't have the same kind of group. And some of those networking groups eventually, you know, did go online, and, and a lot of it just just just wasn't the same. And by then I'd already transitioned from, I don't want to be, you know, just targeting people in the city that I'm working in now. I'm on I'm online, I can target people anywhere in the world that speak English. And so, so, so that changes that changes, even, you know, my commitment to getting back into those groups, it's like, no, no, I need to do something different. To find people in this internet space, put myself

networking groups that are, you know, for a broader audience.

Yeah, yeah. Well, and, and there aren't necessarily, you know, groups where people are, you know, doing that traditional BNI networking, or the Chamber of Commerce networking, in the internet, right. Like, there's Facebook groups, and there's LinkedIn things, but they're, they're not quite, it's not quite the same. You know, you have to put yourself out there, and, and let people see, and pull those people to you. And so that's, that's a big, just a big transition, right?

What have you felt, it's like, just personally, when you went online, one of the things you mentioned is connection to people, and you're seeing them in person, you can give them a hug, or a handshake or whatever. One of the things we talk about a lot at Learning Academy, which is it, which is the program that teaches people how to package and create and sell their online courses, is, you can do that without sacrificing customer experience, you can do that without sacrificing the connection that you have, and the relationships that you're building with people. So when you ship online, tell me a little bit about how you personally reconcile that, right? How did you create connection, when you were on a computer like this, versus being in person with someone to make sure that you kept that relationship going?

Yeah, so you know, acknowledging each other is a big piece, right? When everybody comes into the room, but then we added that part where we added this, this personal check in. And so they rate their they rate their week, you know, or where they're at today, on a scale of one to 10. And so, you know, I'm today I'm a five, because my, you know, my kids get off to school, but they had a rough start my husband was, didn't get his lunch packed, you know, just, they're able to just mention a couple of things that sets sets the tone for their attitude. And then they do the same about their business. So, you know, businesses at a seven, I got a couple good leads this week, and somebody helped me do this. And, and, and so you're, you're getting a feel for everybody in the room. The things that you would see on their face are the things that you would ask, you know, over the cup of coffee, now, we're intentionally asking, what's happening? And then, and then everybody shares their when, what, what was your win this weekend, so we've got something that we're trying to celebrate together as a group, and so that that's the first 15 minutes of every group meeting. And I think it's, it's helped replace that, you know, the pre pre meeting banter, right? And it really does it, it helps everybody have an emotional connection. Not just, you know, hey, we're here to learn and here to do business. No, it's here. We're a group of people and, and we do do all I do all of my coaching live. And so, you know, there's no pre recorded course materials or for that model, right. And that's the majority of my business is, is those group sessions. And so, that connection at the beginning, I think, can really, you know, set the tone for the group to, to really care about each other. And I think that yeah, that's made up for, you know, what, in my mind was a big deal. And, and really, everybody had made the same leap. And sure, we still want to go out and and grab a beer or a burger, you know, meet together. But the truth is, the meetings are working and people you know, over over 18 months now, if stuck, stuck it out So it's obviously meeting that need.

Yeah. Well, and I think that that's so important, right is, is how do you take sort of what you're doing offline? And, and find those ways to make those connections find that way to, to gather people together? Online, it doesn't have to me that difference. Right? Like, you know, yes, you may not be able to physically be in the same room as them, but, but you certainly can still get to know them and, and provide that value and build that relationship, even when you're online, even if it's automated, like you're doing it online right now. But even when it's automated, you also can create that connection, and that relationship with people and kind of making that shift start to start to give you that idea of Wait a minute, if I want to connect with someone this way, how do I do that like and really being intentional about that. So I love that you're that you're doing that. That's awesome. So I want to take us just a little bit of a tangent for a second. And I want to talk about how you transitioned from kind of what you were doing in ministry and all of that to coaching, because they think one of the things that a lot of times people struggle with is like, either this is my profession, and how do I change it to do something different? Or I have an expertise? How do I package it in a way that then is different than, you know, maybe doing what I've been doing in my day job? So can you can you walk us through a little bit of that transition? Yes. So

I spent 20 years in the church, 10 of those years were as a missionary in South America, and then 10 years as an outreach pastor for a large Christian church. And our leadership at the church was transitioning. And the new leader, basically, it said, you know, you don't connect very well with the audience. And so we probably won't have you preaching as often as you were. And so I was, you know, 668 times a year was all and so it wasn't a lot, but it was something that, that I definitely enjoyed. And, and so right after that, this ad, I think, even on Facebook, which at the time, I wasn't even on Facebook, for John Maxwell was offering this training for Speaker trainers, coaches, and so it's actually a God thing or universe thing. And so I made an appointment, they you make an appointment, they call you back and explain the whole program. You know, it's, like, $6,000 for this three day weekend, and, and literally when the girl when the lady said it, I laughed, I'd like, that's not even. That's not even in the possibilities, like that's more money they spent on my car. And, and then I hung up the phone. And I texted a friend, I didn't even call him, I texted him. And I said, Hey, I've got a chance to do this program that I think will make me a better speaker. And, and will give me the tools to make me a better preacher. And he's like, Yeah, dude, I got it. I'll cover it, like, and so Oh, wow. Yeah. And so, three days later, not only was I going but my wife was going with me. And my wife and I went and got trained as Speaker trainer coaches through John Maxwell's training program. And so that was in February, and by May, it was pretty clear, my job was going away. And so it went from be a better speaker at the church to maybe I can use this coaching and, and, you know, become a coaching leadership consultant, become a consultant of some sort. You just wasn't sure. But then my wife and I sat down and reflected on it. The 10 years I was in South America, I was coaching pastors like so these pastors, Colombian pastors are really passionate about preaching and teaching. But they had no idea how to treat the church and run the church like a business. And so a big part of my role was helping them set up all the business systems and processes for the church. So the church had was was more legitimate and and would have a better opportunity to last longer, because it had the systems in place for handling their finances and for how they treated attract people and all the just all the things that happened behind the scenes in a church and so recognized that those 10 years were coaching, and then even in my role as an outreach Pastor, one of the things that I took very seriously was our relationship with the 12 different missionaries we supported around the world, I went and visited all of them, and was building to change that from a transactional relationship where they received a check from the church to, to a real relationship where they felt like they had a connection to the church Only so that if something bad happens, a missionary that's transactional, can't tell you that something bad is happening, because you'll take away the money. versus, you know, if you have a relationship, and you can say, hey, this is this is happening. I know you won't take away the money, because I know you want to help us through it. And that's really what, and really, those were coaching relationships, as well. And so recognizing, I've been I've been coaching, I've been counseling couples, I've been, you know, premarital counseling, I've been doing mediation, counseling, and helping people with conflict, and all of those things. And recognizing this isn't, this isn't something new, this is something I've actually been doing all along. Now we're going to do it for a different audience. And so, just really felt like it took a little bit. In the beginning, I thought, Oh, I'll go in and do corporate training, and do these leadership things and get into all these big companies. And of course, that's really hard to get into. But my heart was really for entrepreneurs, and really, for the folks that are bootstrapping and their businesses, and so that, that's really networking really brought that out, and, and allowed me to, to build an audience of entrepreneurs, sales professionals that are, they're working on their own, but now they can have this group that is going with them, and they're not, they're not alone, they're, you know, they're all going in the same direction. And they all want the same things, essentially, they want to make more money, they want to be more successful. And, and as a group, we can we can help them, you know, be accountable and have other people, you know, that care for them and, and know what they're doing and have their back. Right? Unlike their family or friends, which they trusted and want to tell. And they soon as they say, Well, I'm gonna go start my own business, and they're gonna say, You're nuts. Don't do that.

Yeah, exactly what and I love that I love I love yours, you're sort of transition for a couple different reasons. One is, very rarely is it a direct path from here to here, right? Like, when you decide to pivot, or shift or even just kind of claim your superpower. It's not necessarily always had, like, very direct way of doing that. So I love hearing that story, and how you sort of uncovered your superpower, even to hear that maybe one thing that you thought was your superpower wasn't that, but there were all these other clues of things that you were doing, and you were doing really well. And you wanted to continue doing that, that sort of brought you to that point of now being able to step fully into that coaching role and helping people in that way versus even kind of the speaking aspect of it. Because there's so many different I mean, every, every expertise, every industry has lots of different ways that you can show up and help people. So I love hearing hearing that you found that thing, and then we're able to take it and and really do often think,

well, even even the coaching model, right? Choosing a one on one coaching model to do the things I want to do I need to charge you know, 400 $500 an hour, which is doable, but even there, it's it's limited. And then the audience I've chosen entrepreneurs typically can't afford, you know, for when they need the help can afford 400 or $500 an hour. And so that's kind of what led into the group model. And it really became like a biblical, like a discipleship group. You know, you're helping people grow. And so it's very similar to, to the kind of groups that we would set up in church to help people grow. Our focus is now business and growing business but but the the idea of working in a group and of course, the power of the mastermind, you know, the whole group elevates everybody else. Oh, that really grew out of the combination. Recognizing AI can make this more affordable for people by putting 10 people in the room at the same time. And, and B they actually help each other more than I can help them because now we have 10 Brains 10 Brains at the table. They can help somebody deal with their thing. They will their stuff is In such a better, you know, there's so much more value in that environment, especially for growing business. You know, it's not like marriage kill, need privacy.

Right. Right. Exactly. Well, and, and, and the fact that, you know, it's a new time, right, so you're not doing all one on one, you're able to do the group where you're able to scale, your time and your efforts to be able to help more people. But absolutely getting people together is what makes the biggest difference. I also love about your story, the fact that you reached out to somebody to get help, you knew you needed a training, additional training, you knew that you needed a different system. So not only did you reach out to get that help, but I also love the fact that like, somehow you got an investor to invest in your development, and like paper, pay for that to happen. So I love that part of your story. And I think for anyone who's listening, you know, there is there, there are options, right? And there are different ways to get the, you know, science, your personal development, and just having to pay out of pocket. So I love that part of your story. And it's a little surprise, I didn't know about, but that's super cool that you were able to do that. Because I think sometimes people would say, but too expensive. I'm not gonna do it instead of how can I make this happen? And, you know, the fact that you got you got that level of investment to help with your personal development, which I think is phenomenal. The next question I have for you is, if he if somebody is listening, and they're in that place where they know that what they're doing isn't necessarily exactly maybe following their superpower or something, you know, isn't something exactly what they should be doing? What's your advice? For them? Like your number one tip for them in terms of how they can take what they're doing to the next level?

Yeah, I mean, I think you have to try it, right? Yeah, you have to try things, you have to do something, it's you got to pick, you got to pick a direction, and hope it's your passion. And, and try it. And I think, I think you'll find it in the doing right, you'll you'll start, because that's what happened. For me, I did a few company things I did, did some trainings, but then really started attracting entrepreneurs. More so than than these company gigs. And, and it just started, it feels, it's just starts to feel right. But I think sitting back and trying to figure it out, right, write it down on paper and think you're gonna come up with the right thing, without taking action is just not going to happen. And so I think you have to just try something, try it, if it doesn't work, change it, right. And that's really the entrepreneurial journey. It's really as simple as that, try it, okay, change it, and make it better. That's how it's got to work in marketing, it's how it's gonna work in your creating a program, you know, even finding your ideal audience, there are a few people that that, that just know their niche, right, and, and they just naturally gravitate to it. But even then, you've got to try stuff and, and tweak it, change it get better. And, and I think then, then your passion and purpose can can align. But I think they only they only can align in action.

Absolutely, yeah, you have to actually jump in and do it. And the other part about that, expect that you're going to have to make some changes, right? Like, you know, maybe maybe not having it work is almost as important as when it does work for you. It's not failing, it's learning. And you can only do it through action. I love that. That's awesome advice. Okay, so give us one resource or tool or book or something that you love that's really impacted your ability to step into your superpower as a coach and consultant.

Well, since you mentioned superpower, my mom in the midst of all this at the same time is building my business was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and placed into memory care and so studying the mind and, and and being intentional about my mind, and my clients mind. So I'm very holistic and dealing with, you know, their body, mind and spirit are all important in in their entrepreneurial journey. And so Jim quick as a book called limitless and Jim as a young boy was at fell and hit his head on a radiator and had brain damage. And, and so grew up as the as the broken brain kid. But, and in his college years, was introduced to Do a mentor who encouraged him to read thinking grow rich and Wallace D wattles and, and all of these personal development books. And Jim created the book limitless, really about applying your mind. And so he he's got a section on mindset, and then a section on mastery and, and really a section on, on how to do it right improve your memory, improve your, your retention, improve your networking, and your ability to remember names. So the tools are all in there too. So he's got great, great stories are great reasons why. And then And then really the tools, the tools to master that. And I think conquering your mind and having your mindset right, can be so powerful as a foundation for, for building anything.

So that's an awesome book, I think that I have it in my library, I have like hundreds and hundreds of books in my library, but I'm definitely gonna go check that one out. But I think mindset is so critical. Because if your mind isn't in the right place, the rest is not going to follow. Right, like being able to just, you know, get get that set, what would you what would you say is like a key mindset. I don't know, attitude or behavior that you have that's helped you through this journey.

I said, I guess my willingness to question the voice in my head. And so when the voice in my head says no, or that won't work, or you can't do that, I'm always willing to say, or why not? And what do you mean? You know, isn't that interesting? Right. And so having that conversation with the voice in my head, I think the biggest thing was, and it's a different author that basically wrote about the voice in your head is not you. And so you don't have to take the voice in your head as serious as you take yourself. Right. And so just just being willing to question that voice and, and challenge it. Right. And so I like planting seeds in the evening for my subconscious to wrestle with while I sleep. And so sometimes those can be, you know, why did you say that? Right? Or, you know, why do you think that? Is that really true? And so even challenges in my, in my business, like, you know, how will I get the next 10 clients? Is a question I'll ask at night before I go to bed just and let that be the thing that, you know, I sleep on.

I love that. I you know, I think I do that all the time. But I never really thought about that. That was an intentional practice, right? Like, it'll be like, Okay, I'm gonna, I'm really like, and I do this a lot when I'm about to go speak. So if I'm speaking, the next day, I will run through the entire thing in my head right before I go to bed. And then like I dream about it all night in terms of, you know, like processing through that. But that's so fascinating, because I don't know if I've ever really put language to that before that, that I'm actually like asking my subconscious to go through and solve a particular problem while I'm sleeping. I love that.

That's cool. So I talk about morning routines all the time. But I tell people, your morning routine starts with your evening routine. And everybody's like, evening routine. And so yeah, there's just two or three things you can do at night, to set yourself up for a successful morning, you know, turning off your devices an hour before you go to bed. Walking through those, those those questions, you know, setting the five things through a three to five things that you want to do tomorrow, setting those intention, right, write those down, and then asking you asking your brain those questions that you want it to work on while you're sleeping. And then those are the last things that your brain is processed, and it's got, you know, seven or eight hours to, to work on those things and focus on those things instead of just, you know, whatever was the last sitcom you watched?

Well, and that's interesting, because I tend to, you know, like, if I'm thinking about something that happened during the day, and like practicing through that, like, it's much more productive for me to think about, like, what are the things I need to process for the next day, in terms of what I want to do versus like rehashing maybe something that happened during the day. So I love that. That's awesome. Very cool. All right, cool. So for everyone who is looking to find you how can they find you? Obviously, we'll put things in the show notes, but give us a little shout out in terms of what my audience can do to find you

guys so I have a podcast called add value 2 entrepreneurs. And a lot of great episodes, we interview entrepreneurs or people that can support or help entrepreneurs with tools or tips or things and a lot of great stories. We try to put up there there. And so you can find that where ever you listen to podcasts, it's also available in video on my website and YouTube. So add value the number two entrepreneurs calm. And then my website, add value to life.com. And, you know, essentially it became my personal goal just to I want to be a person that that adds value to others in every situation. And so whether it's the grocery, the grocery store clerk that's checking me out the the waitress that's serving us dinner, or just somebody even I'm walking by when I walk my dogs, I want to smile, I want to, you know, I want to leave them better than I found. And and so in business, I want to help you know, entrepreneurs, reach that next level and continue to just add value and give, give all I can to help them get to that next level.

Awesome. Very cool. Thank you so much for being on the show. Appreciate you being here. And and check out his information down in the show notes.

Thanks for the invitation, sir. Appreciate it there.