Helping our clients sometimes involves getting to know them on a deeper level

If you've been following my blog for that last few months, you may have run across stories about Michael Edward, one of my coaching clients who needs help with his digital marketing and advertising content, funnels, and website.

I wanted to learn more about Mike's life, not just about his business, so I could advise him better on who his ideal clients are and what type of content they would enjoy consuming from him. Often times, our clients' experiences can be painted into a picture to get a better idea of who they serve best.

This interview with Mike's childhood friend, Glen Wade, helped me understand more about Michael's character and perseverance. I especially enjoyed hearing how Glen and Mike would ride bicycles together, both being blind, and use the street sounds to navigate their way through obstacles. Their mothers must have been worried to death!

Listen to the full interview here

Help Michael Edward get his personal development program off the ground

Michael has a personal development course called Crushing Your Mental Blocks. If you'd like to help him get his digital marketing, video editing, website imagery, and advertising going, please donate to his cause on our Shout Your Cause website.

Transcript:

Speaker 1: 00:02  Hello Glenn. Thank you for calling in. My name is Sally Hendrick. It's so nice to meet you. How are you today?

Speaker 2: 00:09  Very good. Great to meet you too, Sally. Uh, uh, thank you for taking some time to talk to her. Include me in your, uh, your conversation, getting to know, uh, Michael Edward A. Little better and uh, what uh, what you're working on with him.

Speaker 1:  00:24 Yes. Excellent. Uh, he mentioned you as being a great person to reach out to and I understand that you've known him since you were a very young child.

Speaker 2: 00:37 Yes, Mike and I, uh, met about a grade five or six, uh, attended the same school together and uh, continued on after that. We, we attended the same school right up to graduation high school and dam a few years later and ended up in college together and took the same, uh, management studies program and uh, graduated that together as well.

Speaker 1: 01:02 Excellent. That's, that's really neat. I haven't been able to talk to anybody that goes back that far with him, so I find that very interesting. Um, you told me before that you had met in a school for the blind. Are you blind as well?

Speaker 2: 1:17  I am. Um, I actually lost my sight to what childhood cancer and a blastoma and uh, at six years old lost full vision. And uh, so it was totally blind when I met Mike. And at that point he was, uh, losing his vision and uh, at 11, 12 years old was significantly reduced and his ability to see, and uh, I guess he, he was working through the process of adjusting as a blind person at that point and, uh, think he really made the transition, uh, quite well. And I think that's, that's kind of perhaps set the groundwork or laid the base, the foundation for any challenges he takes on in life. Any, any changes he deems necessary, you know, he knows what kind of commitment is required to see it through or to, uh, you know, what, uh, what success looks like, I suppose you could say.

Speaker 1: 02:20 Yes, I agree with you there. He really has made a ton of progress on creating a digital program to help people with crushing their mental blocks. And moving forward. And these interviews that I've been having have really revealed specifically how he has helped some people. Uh, he helped one woman, uh, really finish accomplishing writing her book and you know, that's a very big project for people to take on someone else. He, uh, made them see what was happening in um, a technical area [inaudible] excuse me, a technical area in their business that the seeing people could not see. And he was so good at researching deeply and behind the scenes from such a different perspective and different angle that he was able to really improve upon systems within an it company, but then also help, um, someone having personal mental blocks to be able to get through such a big project. So I really appreciate, um, his abilities to do that. Do you happen to have any stories that you'd like to share?

Speaker 2: 03:37 I think from a kind of a more personal perspective where, where I've seen that play out or experienced that with him as a, probably going back to college, our days in college together where I'd mentioned we take the, uh, business management program. Mike, as you had described, uh, you know, very good at researching and, uh, seeing things through that. I, I've seen that from day one when I met Mike that, uh, you know, if he's going to commit to something, he wants to know the whys and wherefores is that going to work? He wants to see the practical application. So I think that's where the drive for the research and, uh, discovering everything he can about it. So if he's going to recommend something, chances are he's, he's done so much research that he either knows firsthand by doing it that it works or he's, he's read enough, researched enough to be able to stand behind it and say, you know, I'm comfortable that I can recommend this with me.

Speaker 2: 04:43  Uh, with the college program we attended, I, I'm more of the almost, I guess you could say the idea guy in the relationship, if you will. Mike was the understanding, the, you know, one of the courses we had to take was a computer programming, a database management and it was fairly rudimentary, not too significant but more than I was prepared that the time to uh, take on I think. And you know, Mike, he got me through that again researching, he was the sit down at the keyboard and figure it out guy. Whereas I'm the just show me how to do it and I'll, I'll, I'll do what I can. I'll roll up my sleeves and put in the work. But you know, Mike figured it out from a step by step process perspective.

Speaker 1:  05:40 That's a very good combination. In fact, um, I do a personality test with all of my clients when they come in and it's a color personality test, which of course for a blind person and unless you know, color, uh, it would be, it's, it's still a process that you can understand. The people who come out to be the people who come out to be red are typically the leaders, the idea people, the ones who want to see the big picture in the bottom line. They don't want to dig into the details. The ones that come out as blue want to know every intimate detail there is before they can create the full puzzle. And they're very good at, uh, getting very intimate and deep into things. So it sounds to me, and that combination is a very, it's a lethal combination in business and in a good way in that the red and the blue together can really be a formidable force in creating a business together or a tackling a project or, you know, seeing something all the way through.

Speaker 2: 06:46 Yeah, I would say I've done the color, uh, test with, uh, some of my work, uh, courses. I've taken that too and I did come out very strong, uh, red and I could see Mike being a strong blue.

Speaker 1: 07:00 Yeah, yeah. Well it must, we may have done the same kind of tests there. Obviously there are different color tests out there, but it sounds like at least that part of it ha had that in common.

Speaker 2: 07:13 Yeah. So, and some of the other things that, you know, along those lines that I've, uh, benefited, if you will, from Mike's diligence and research and, you know, we spend time in the gym again through college and after college, a bit of a fitness and, uh, just staying, staying active kind of thing. And Mike, if we learned of a, a program, maybe an eating program or a lifting program around the gym, you hear people, you know, promoting things or suggesting things. Mike would do the dig in and research to see indeed, does this work? Does it have basis for a, doesn't make sense.

Speaker 2: 07:56 then he would come back and he could confirm that yes were on the right path or, no, we need to change this because though so-and-so said ABMC, it's not quite what it's cut out to be.

Speaker 1: 08:08 Wow. That's, that's very interesting. I like that example.

Speaker 2: 08:14  Yeah. That's so that, you know, kept us going for a few years there in the gym as well. And, uh, I think what really what I've taken away over the years from my relationship with Mike has a very close friend is the, I really learned the value of, uh, doing your homework and sticking to things. You know, it's, uh, if you're going to stand behind it, going to put your name behind it, uh, you gotta be comfortable with it yourself.

Speaker 1: 08:47  Yeah. And I can see he's got that stick to it in this for sure. The perseverance is amazing. Um, what about a personal standpoint as far as like mindset is concerned? Is he good at the motivational piece of keeping you going and keeping you sane, if you will, when times get crazy or too hard?

Speaker 2:  09:12  Uh, yes. Good and not in, uh, from a motivational perspective, I think it's kind of refreshing. Or what works well is that he's not a real rah rah kind of a, I'll knock down this wall and you follow me. We'll get to understand the person, understand what, what drives them and then approach it from that angle to say that, okay, so I know ultimately this is what you're looking to achieve or I know this is what you're struggling with right now and be able to talk through the barriers one by one. Take things as a piece by piece approach as opposed to I think with motivational speakers if you will, or people that try to lead in that area. Often you all they really focus on is the end goal and the hype and they think that if I can just get everybody hyped up, they'll, they'll figure it out on their own. He will help map through it step by step. Again, back to that planning and research process.

Speaker 1: 10:17  Sounds like I might need him to help me, a coach, my coach, my group. He seems like he would be a great partner with people in addition to doing his own thing.

Speaker 2:  10:29  Yeah, and what's with that approach to what it helps. It helps identify or uncover barriers as you go and it keeps people motivated because, you know, I think you can probably speak from your own experience that as you're working through things, sometimes you come on barriers that make you want to just drop it right now and walk away at least for a bit or what have you. But with Mike's approach this way, he's kind of there with you step by step and if one of those barriers pops up, then he's there prepared to talk through it and remove it or figure out a way around it, over it, through it and you know, keep going. So it's, it's the consistency and the momentum and I think, uh, you can build with Mike that will benefit.

Speaker 1: 11:19  That sounds really great. Is there any other special memory that you have from your childhood that you would like to share or, um, anything like, anything else that you want to talk through?

Speaker 2: 11:34  I think just, uh, not Mike doesn't allow barriers to prevent him from achieving things, you know? And as growing up, we kind of took that approach together and I think we learned off of each other that, you know, if we wanted to, you know, out riding bikes in the neighborhood that, you know, a lot of lot of people would look at us and say, Oh, you're totally blind. How can you ride a bike? Or even probably are our parents at that point. I'm sure they, uh, they got a lot of gray hair earlier than they probably otherwise would have because of some of our antiques by the,

Speaker 1:  12:12 and then how do you ride a bike without being able to see

Speaker 2: 12:17  a lot of listening, a lot of listening and a just judging, knowing that the ground beforehand helped. So if it's, I would ride around the block, the particular block I lived on and you kind of knew by gravel areas, by ground texture, by traffic noises. It just, it's something you had to put it all together and all this puzzle and uh, come out with a print out of what made sense.

Speaker 1: 12:43  Wow, that's a great, that's a great example. I love that.

Speaker 2: 12:47  I think that that's really what we, we learned a lot together that way, that, uh, breaking down barriers that, you know, let's not get caught up in the minutia. Let's not get caught up in the week. Can't do it because somebody says so or uh, you know, something pops up. A barrier is really just a stepping stone to a next step.

Speaker 1: 13:13  Well, thank you. I'm so glad that you told me that story. Um, I really have enjoyed talking with you and, and I can see how you've had such a beautiful friendship over the years. It's really nice to hear and I wish you luck with your endeavors and what you're doing and thank you so much for helping me today and that's it. I'll talk to you soon. Okay,

Speaker 2: 13:37  well thank you Sally. And uh, I look forward to seeing where Mike can take this, a program of his with your help as well. And you know, I think it sounds like you guys are gonna work well together and I'm excited to act to see what comes out of it.

Speaker 1:   13:54  Thank you very much. I, I'm certainly hopeful that, uh, that things will work out well with us. We've been a pretty good team so far. He's been in my mastermind to now for a few months. And, uh, there's a lot that needs to be done in the digital marketing space. It's always a lot more than people realize and he's been patient and, uh, perseverance and everything else to be able to push through these things. And now we're at the point where we're trying to get his content, uh, ready to go so that we can start pushing this out there. And I really appreciate you. You've helped me a lot just by talking today, so thank you very much.

Speaker 2:   14:35  Super all the best. If there's anything else I can help with, by all means, reach out at any time.

Speaker 1:  14:41  All right. Thank you. And I'll talk to you soon. Goodbye.

Speaker 2:   14:44  Take care, Sally.