Have you ever thought of unconventional ways to stay motivated?

One of my clients, Michael Edward, is a personal development coach who has a way of digging behind the scenes of someone's life and finding ways to motivate them to achieve their goals, overcome mental blocks, or simply to see life in a more positive manner.

In this interview, Betty Jo Ross, one of his past clients, shares how Michael helped her get and stay motivated and on track with her book project. Listen, as it may inspire you, too.

Raising Funds to Shout Michael's Cause

Michael was blinded before the age of 10, and he has total hearing loss in one ear. How he uses his computer to create his website, his course, and navigate many other things digitally is beyond me. I am thoroughly impressed by what he's accomplished. Yet, he needs some help getting his videos edited and sprucing up the images on his website and in his marketing materials.

Please help Michael by donating on our campaign, so we can help Michael achieve his goals with his online coaching business and personal development course.

Transcript:

00:00 Okay. Hi, Betty Jo. Then my name is Sally Hendrick. Thank you for calling me. I'd love to chat some more and find out about, uh, Michael Edward, which is, uh, the, my client that I'm working with. How are you today?
00:17 I'm good. How are you doing?
00:19 I'm doing amazing. It's beautiful day here in Nashville. Where are you located?
00:25 I am located in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
00:28 Oh, nice. Okay. I've never been to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. I've been to Philadelphia and I, my husband really wants me to visit Pittsburgh the next time he's there. And uh, but I've never been to Lancaster. Which side of the state is it on?
00:45 Opposite of Pittsburgh. So definitely go to Pittsburgh. It's awesome.
00:49 Yeah, that's what he said. He really liked the layout of the city and he enjoyed it a lot. So thank you for meeting with me today and I want to find out what you know about Michael Edward who is one of my clients and uh, he's got some great stories in his back pocket and I'm wanting to find out what other people know about him.
01:16 Yeah, well I met him. Um, just can't believe how time flies. Uh, a few years ago when we were in an online inspirational group together, uh, with Bob Doyle called 30, 30 days, uh, to reinventing you or reinventing success or something like that. But Bob Doyle was the leader and, uh, we met there and, um, I found Mike to be very inspirational and he offered to assist me with coaching as far as, you know, um, helping me as far as writing a book that I was working on for my daughter. Um, I was in a place in my life where I was in a different state. I was living in California at the time and it was a time when it was a stressful job. It was stressful also from a personal standpoint, cause I was away from my daughter who lived in another state and it's a really lot of different, um, high intensity [inaudible] and I wanted to write this book. So I reached out to Mike and said, you know, I will coach you and help you along. And I really did take him up on that offer and I'm so glad. I am glad that I did.
02:52 Now was this an online program and you met in like a Facebook group or something?
02:59 No,
03:00 we did a telephonic coaching. Oh
03:06 yeah. Telephonic. And um, then, you know, maybe about 30, 45 minutes or so, um, talking each week, um, about where we were at, where I was at, how things are going. And he always had great ideas for ways to, you know, spare me on, um, do want to hear about some of them.
03:32 Absolutely I do because I'm learning more and more about Mike. Every time we talk, every time he comes to one of my mastermind group meetings, he's always bringing out something new that's like, wow, this is amazing. Because you know, Mike has, has his, uh, faculties that he has and his faculties that he doesn't have. And I think because of his blindness, and he's also nearly deaf as well, but he is able to use these tools and he's able to look at things from this backdoor angle that, that no one else seems to have, you know, the vision or perspective on. And it's an amazing tool that he can use to be able to help other people.
04:19 Yeah. Well, well, uh, currently based inspirational tool that he gave me is might sound kind of strange, but he talked to me about, uh, journaling, but not just very journaling. Lou Penn instead of a black pen and you know, to this day I will choose those blue.
04:46 Well now what is the blue pen about
04:49 the blue ink? The blue ink.
04:51 Yeah. But why?
04:53 It is,
04:54 why is that different?
04:57 Um, it has different properties. The blue color has different properties than black, and it kind of lends to inspirational thinking. Um, and that was my experience. So to this day I still journal and write in blue ink whenever I can.
05:21 Um,
05:21 another thing that he, um, coached me to do was, um, when I'm kind of needing a little bit of lift to just go outside, take a walk, and you know, as I put one foot in front of the other, uh, to say thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. With my feet. So with each step you're saying thanks and the other foot you thank you, you do. And it puts you in a mind frame of gratitude, um, which is such a simple technique. And yet gratitude is something that I know that I, I forget, you know, sometimes to start my day with, Oh, thank you. You know, for this day, just expressing gratitude for the gift that we have of life. The gift of breath, you know, the gift of whatever you're thankful for. And so Mike was, you know, awesome to share that with me.
06:26 I like that a lot. That's definitely a different way of thinking about it. A lot of people will say, Oh, you know, write in your journal to talk about gratitude, but what if you don't have the journal or you don't have the time? Or maybe that time of day is not right for you. And you want to use that method just throughout your day when you are having a moment. And you need to just be able to stop and say thank you to whatever it is that you're grateful for to push you through. So I really liked that.
07:00 [inaudible] yeah, for sure.
07:04 So what, um, what was the process with Mike? Like he was helping you in this group and then he offered to help coach you on the side. Uh, was it throughout this group that you were with under Bob Doyle that you had him, um, inspiring you with your book, writing what, you know, what, what happened? Like how long did it take and what did you do
07:31 okay. After the group? Yeah, after the group had ended, a few of us as group members continued to keep in touch. Um, and Mike was one of those people. And so this thing was separate after the group had ended. Uh, it went on for a period, I would say maybe two to three months. It took me about six months to write the book that I was writing and it's a very, uh, small inspirational book for my daughter. And, uh, uh, looking back, I think I got it completed, you know, in record timing. Uh, and I would say that's many thanks to Mike for keeping me up beat, keeping me focused because that's really what you want to do when you have a project, you know, that's important to you. You wanna really stay focused.
08:28 Exactly. Well that's really inspiring. I like that he has had to, he's been able to create that outcome for you. Now have you been able to keep in touch with him? Sense.
08:41 I, it's been periodic, you know, from time to time. But um, he will be in my memory for a very long time because he was a very [inaudible] he played a very important role at an important time in my life.
08:57 Well, is there anything that you would like to say that, uh, maybe some memory that you have from the time with Mike that would, um, help other people,
09:09 the time with Mike that wet
09:11 that would help others too, you know, um, make that decision to communicate and work with him?
09:20 Well, I think, um, what people need to know is that Mike is a straight up kind of guy. Um, he doesn't pull any punches. He's very direct. Yeah. Focus on his client, you know, and he's, you, he lives for that kind of communication, that kind of relationship. That's part of his gifting. His talent is direct connection with other folks in a way that will be helpful to them. And, um, I think that any, the working with him, he has such a multitude of skills, I would definitely benefit.
10:00 Okay.
10:00 Excellent. Well, I love this. If there's anything else that you want to share about Mike, just a let me know. Otherwise, I really appreciate your time.
10:11 Oh, absolutely. My pleasure. Anytime. Thank you.
10:14 Okay, well thank you very much, Betty Jo, and, uh, and we'll just go for now. Okay.
10:21 Sounds great. Thanks so much.
10:23 All right, thanks. Have a great week. Bye.