Danny Creed on Building a Million-Dollar Coaching Business Through Referrals

In this episode of Success Leaves Clues Podcast, host Pedro welcomes Danny Creed, a Certified Master Coach, serial entrepreneur, and seven-time Brian Tracy Award winner, for an inspiring conversation about business coaching, entrepreneurship, sales, leadership, and building a referral-driven coaching business.

Danny shares how growing up on a farm shaped his relentless work ethic, why coaches should stop chasing niches and let the right niche find them, and how referrals—not expensive marketing—helped him build a million-dollar coaching practice. He also explains why sales is about serving, how listening creates trust, and why understanding a client's needs is more powerful than any sales pitch.

Throughout the conversation, Danny reveals his coaching philosophy, discusses the importance of accountability, customer retention, business growth, and leadership development, and shares remarkable client success stories, including helping a construction company grow from $1.8 million to over $43 million in revenue.


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Transcript

Danny Creed 0:00

Because I believed one of my one of my secrets is a strong work ethic. I got that from the farm. A lot of coaches think, well, you know, I was a big shot for 25 years and people are going to come and kiss my shoes when I become a coach. It doesn't happen that way. You know, so I work really hard, but I th I always believed if I work hard enough, a niche will find me. You know, uh, for instance, one of my early niches that I dominated for a long time was financial advisors. But I found financial advisors because somebody referred me to a financial advisor that made sense to him, and then he told me about all of his friends in this practice. And I got 12 clients out of this one practice. The niche found me.

Davis Nguyen 0:45

Welcome to Success League's Clues, the podcast where we interview business owners on how they built their businesses and the hard lessons they learned along the way. My name is David Swain, and I'm a business coach and a founder of Purple Circle, where we help business owners achieve their first six-figure, seven-figure, and eight-figure year, all without sacrificing their quality of life. Before becoming a business coach and before founding Purple Circle, I started to scale up several seven and eight-figure coaching businesses and have been a consultant at several businesses doing over $100 million each, including some that are publicly listed and doing over a billion dollars each. In every episode of the podcast, you're gonna learn lessons that are just years to learn, and you'll be able to learn that in. No matter if you're a new business owner or an established business owner, every episode is gonna give you the clues in order to elevate your business.

Pedro Stein 1:30

Welcome to Success Leaves Clues Podcast. I'm Pedro, and today I'm joined by Danny Creed, a certified master coach whose extraordinary background as a radio host for over 20 years, musician and serial entrepreneur involved in 15 startups, gives him a depth of real world, real world experience that most business coaches simply can't match. Danny has logged over 15,000 hours of business coaching, consulting, and training across industries, ranging from retail and construction to financial services and technology. Working with companies from startups to industry leaders like Avnet, Xerox, and SRP. Studying under legends like Zig Ziglar and Brian Tracy shaped Dan into a seven-time winner of the prestigious Focal Point International Brian Tracy Award for Sales Excellence. And in 2022, CXO Outlook named him one of the 10 most inspiring transformational coaches globally. His straight talk, real-world approach to business growth, sales training, and leadership development has helped 100% of his clients achieve growth through some of the most challenging years in recent business history. Welcome to the show, Danny.

Danny Creed 2:51

Thank you, Pedro. I'm so happy to be here. I'm excited.

Pedro Stein 2:55

Yeah, I'm excited too from the day we met. You know, it's great to have you, by the way. And Danny, I'm kind of a comic book nerd guy myself. I love the first editions, you know, the origin story. So let's rewind a bit because every coach has that moment when they look at their life and say, Yeah, I guess this is what I'm doing now, right? So when was that for you, Danny?

Danny Creed 3:18

Well, I'll keep it short, but I I was I was born and raised a farmer, believe it or not. I have I have pictures of me in bib overalls and long hair and no shirt and all that stuff. But I knew I couldn't do that, so I I walked off the farm into a radio station because I used to lay awake at night going, Where do those voices come from? You know, and as you can see, I collect old microphones, which which uh drove that. Um when the radio business started changing, I walked into an entrepreneurial startup in the mid 80s, and uh that changed everything. I changed my career and everything, but everything up to that point was feeding me to do become an entrepreneur because a lot of people who fail in coaching fail because they don't know how to be an entrepreneur. And entrepreneur means, you know, change is the key word. That's how you define entrepreneurship, change. If you don't like change, you're screwed, you know. But I loved it. It was dangerous, it was fast moving, it was fun, it was exciting. I didn't even focus on a topic. I did uh 15, I'm now up to, I need to update that. I'm not up to 17 startups, but 15 of them were just everything you can think of. If it was fun and groundbreaking, I did that. Uh, I ended up, I we did bootstrap startups, very basic, uh, you know, a card table and a telephone in your garage. And I did some well-funded ones. I actually did one with the Oracle Corporation in Washington, D.C. And I worked primarily at the uh Pentagon and Department of Defense. And while I was there, shortened version, an admiral pulled me over. I worked with admirals and generals, and he said, Man, with all your background, if with all your background and knowledge of successes and failures, there's a new industry called business coaching. You ought to look into it because you can help people not make the same mistakes over and over again. And that just really touched me emotionally. So I spent two years studying the industry when it was brand new. It's only been around for about 25, 26 years of business coaching. And it just hit me that's what I needed to do. Because I was traveling, Pedro, 240 nights a year. I mean, it was just crazy as that wild entrepreneur. But I said, I need to do this, and and I've always been driven by helping others. Uh Zig Ziggler and some of my mentors. Uh I didn't get to finish college, but yet I've spoken at and and worked in boardrooms of hundred billion dollar companies. You know, it's experience that pays. You know, there's an old sage that once said uh the world is full of educated derelicts, that knowledge is not power, the application of knowledge is power. And so I've tried to spend my life learning from my failures as well as my successes, and I decided I'd become a business coach. Uh I I wrote a business plan 20 22 years ago. Uh and then one of my mentors was Brian Tracy. I found that he was building an organization called Focal Point, and I could really help them grow, which would then give me a support mechanism to work in the world across the world. And uh the rest is I've been very blessed. I've helped a lot of people in 18 countries now, and I've logged now over 16,000 hours of helping people. And I might just back that up with saying, which is my journey, but Zig and some of these other people taught me this, and I'll paraphrase. They said anybody, and this is something for the coaches listening to think about, that you'll never be as successful as you potentially can be until you learn this one rule. And that rule is this to be successful today, you have to focus on understanding your prospects and customers' needs from their point of view. Validate those needs, help them solve those needs, and the money will always follow. There's a lot of coaches who go, Well, they won't pay this amount, I'm not gonna work with them. Well, they'll never be successful. It's about helping people and understanding them, and that's that's my journey over now 20-some years.

Pedro Stein 7:45

Interesting. Appreciate you sharing that. I'm thinking, right, uh, 20 years in the game for coaching, at least. You're it sounds like you're an entrepreneur by heart, right? By trade. It's something like that's the main health.

Danny Creed 7:57

I was a farmer, that's about as entrepreneurial as you okay.

Pedro Stein 8:01

Now, when you started, I want to zoom in a little bit in the coaching arena, right? When you started the coaching business, it sometimes it starts with, I'm not saying it's your case, but sometimes it starts with I'm helping people, I'm serving people, I'm giving advice, and eventually realize, okay, I'm actually building a real business around this, right? And you mentioned uh focal point and all that. But when was it for you that you had your, even if it that was an aha moment, that you you realize, okay, I'm actually a coach right now, not just an entrepreneur. You know what I mean? Did you have that type of moment, that feeling that you've you felt your identity shifting a little bit from business owner, which you still are, right? But the coach starts ramping in. Did that look that did that happen?

Danny Creed 8:47

That yeah, that's a great question. Actually, for me, it was a little different in that I felt that my entire life journey, from the time I was on the farm to when I actually decided to be that coach, everything I had done leading up to that moment was directed towards me being a coach, an educator, uh uh, somebody to help help others uh be more successful. I just feel my whole path just feels like you know, the hand of God was leading me in that direction. So it just felt so natural. And when I when I wrote my business plan, I said, you know, I'd had the help of a lot of famous people, just as angels kicking my rear end. Because the help I got from these famous people was read this book, go out and do it. And then I'd report in and they go, Why once you learn? I go, Well, I failed. They go, Well, you learn, it's only a failure if you didn't learn something. Well, I learned this. Okay, go do it again. So that's the drive I had, and what the organization gave me was it sped up my process quicker so I could get out and help more people faster. And actually, I had a pretty blessed, remarkable startup. Um I I I knew how to sell, which is if anybody wants to be an entrepreneur, one of the things they have to learn to do is be a learn sales. You have to. I I just can't stand with people, oh, I'd never be a salesman. I don't, yeah. Well, baloney, if you've ever asked a girl on a date, you're a salesman. If you've ever dealt with your children, you're a salesman. If you've ever applied for a job, you're sales. You have to understand sales. But I knew how to do that, and I had created a process over the years uh in my sales career uh to not have to spend so much time doing marketing that we knew didn't work, but we keep doing it. A lot of my drive is how much time is wasted, you know, in being successful. Uh, you know, and I think a lot of time is wasted by people in being successful because they keep doing the same thing over and over again that we know doesn't work. So I created this process that's really focused. I even wrote a book about it, that's focused on uh uh referrals. And and I built a million-dollar practice uh not spending hardly any money on marketing, but building a referral network that paid off. So I I just knew that this was something like this was what I was supposed to do. But I'm telling you, when I got the clients, because I got a lot of clients very quickly within 60 days, I had 23 one-on-one clients. Um and at that point you go, what do I do now? You know, because I I didn't know how to coach. But the key is if you're open to learning, you're only open to thinking, really coaching is all about listening, asking questions, and and and focus, being positive, you know, and I knew how to do that. I just had to slick it up for a lack of better terms. I just had to polish the car a little bit.

Pedro Stein 12:14

Yeah, I I love how you you framed it like, and it meant I was a sales guy, right? I was a high-ticket uh sales closer, and uh you mentioned a couple of things that really stood out to me. I would put it like when you're talking about helping people, that's the thing, I think. Uh most people have a misconception of what sales should be, or they were burned in the past. I don't even blame them, right? They were pushed into something they didn't want to. So there are terrible people in sales out there, so there's that. But sales is about serving, right? That's the first point. And uh by hearing you about in the coaching space, it's sales has a lot to do with coaching because it's about listening, actively listening, it's about caring. If you really want to serve and you really want to help, and it's about asking the right questions, right? I don't want to simplify coaching because I know it's a little bit more about than that, but you do have the, I can see you had the foundation to be the coach. That's what I'm trying to say. Now, I'm curious about one thing because you started, right? You you opened shop 20 years ago, and at the start, we attract all kinds of people eventually. I'm not sure like if that it was like that for you, but eventually we sharpen the blade or we attract a certain type of people, right? That that tend to connect more with us. So when did you realize and who they are? Like, would you say is your your tribe, you know, you know, the the ones you realize, okay, this these are the people I can help the most. Good question.

Danny Creed 13:43

I uh I I never, contrary to what some people teach, I never ever chased a niche. Because I believed one of my one of my secrets is a strong work ethic. I got that from the farm. A lot of coaches think, well, you know, I was a big shot for 25 years, and people are gonna come and kiss my shoes when I become a coach. Sound like that? Oh yeah, it doesn't happen that way. You know, so I work really hard, but I th I always believed if I work hard enough, a niche will find me. You know, uh, for instance, one of my early niches that I dominated for a long time was financial advisors. But I found financial advisors because somebody referred me to a financial advisor that made sense to him, and then he told me about all of his friends in this practice. And I got 12 clients out of this one practice. The niche found me. Okay. So my target audience then, people I believe that if you pick a target audience and you're a coach that once you're doing, you're walking like this, and you're walking by 500 people that you're walking by going, hey coach, where are you? Come back, I need to talk to you, and you don't see them just because they don't fit your niche. See, my my niche, if you ask me, is business owners, executives, and entrepreneurs. And and I will talk to anybody, Pedro, anybody that fits that. I'll talk to anybody anyway, because how do I know if they say no or it's not right? How do I know they don't know somebody that is right for? I've had many people say, you know, this really isn't right for me. So thank you for your time. But you know, I know somebody can I refer you? And I will go absolutely. So I I think it's our job to understand that we are supposed, we should be consider ourselves experts in the realm of business. It's not our job to help a chiropractor, uh to help a dentist, let's say. It's not our job to make them a better dentist. It's our job to make them a better business person because there's specialists out there that'll help him be a better dentist, they'll help him run a dentist, practice better. But most of these people like dentists and doctors and plumbers, most of them are great at their craft, but they're terrible business people. So that's where I can help them improve their how they think, understand how to run a business, how to deal with people, how to communicate better, how to set goals. Does that make sense?

Pedro Stein 16:30

Oh my God, it does. You know, I am a I'm from Brazil and I'm a business graduate, right? And I had this buddy, he graduated in uh pharmacy, something like that. He was gonna open up shop and pharmacists, right? So he's a pharmacist. And uh he got like, let's put it like this, 200k from his parents to open a shop, right? Go do your thing. So first thing he does is buy the the place, the building the building, gets zero cash flow next month, and starting to get carpet, and then and then and then starts to get in debt because he had like no idea he should. I I mean it's it's unfathomable if you think about it so absurd, but he doesn't know better, right? Uh he's not a business guy who was just like doing pharmacy and all that and studying for that. So I understand where you're coming from. Like that hits home hard. No, let me shift a little bit here because I want to do a little bit of game of pretend here, Denny. Oh boy, okay. Okay, let's pretend I'm one of uh those business owners. Actually, that's gonna be easy because I am a business owner. Okay, but in this scenario, I'm your uh avatar, your ideal client profile, right? So, first of all, how would I be able to find you marketing-wise?

Danny Creed 17:54

Um, I've done a really good job with some partners on Google search. I think that's the key today. You've got to do a lot of things to get found on any on Google search or any search engine. So um I will tell you that 100% of my clients for the last 18 years has come from referrals and uh and Google searches. I don't really have to go out and do the networking because most networking is stupid, unless you want to just go out and have a drink and you know that I get a hundred, you know, go out and give out a hundred cards and get a hundred cards, and most of them aren't people that will buy. They may know somebody that will. So uh my website, LinkedIn is very important because LinkedIn and the digital age is seen as LinkedIn is seen as a website by some people. They can go there and see it in Google search.

Pedro Stein 18:48

So we're talking about Google search referrals, LinkedIn, your website, right? Let's say I I saw you digitally, right? We're on the same game of pretend scenario, and I'm like, you know what? Danny seems like a cool guy, right? And I'm like, I want to I I do the outreach myself. Like I want to work and work with you. Uh we let's put it like this. I went through the sales process and we can spend uh speed that up a little bit. Um, let's say there's alignment. You see you can help me, I see you can help me. Like we're gonna work together. So, what I want to do is for you to walk me through how does it look like a little peek behind a curtain of what working with you looks like, uh, and uh the potential outcomes I can expect. Okay.

Danny Creed 19:32

Well, that yeah, I I do things a little different than a lot of people do because I understand that when I'm doing that initial conversation, we're we're saying, is there a fit? My key, I'll I'll just give you some secrets for your listeners here that I use. But my key phrase I use is you know what, Pedro, I'm not right for everybody. So so can I ask you some questions and we can discover together what your needs are and if it makes sense that we work together. So let's say we did that. Because when I say I'm not right for everybody, what that does tends to lower the fear of being sold. And most prospects and clients are scared to death is somebody gonna pitch them, and the last thing anybody wants is a pitch. So what I do is have a conversation because my goal is not to sell you a package of anything, my goal is to sell you that you trust me enough to give me a chance to help you solve your needs and grow. See, and that's where a lot of coaches go wrong. They're just I'll sell you a 12-week package, or my average client stays with me seven to ten years. I've got a friend in in coaching, he's in Canada. He keeps clients 14, 15 years routinely. Our job, Brian Tracy taught me, our job is twofold. One is to acquire customers, and most people don't do this. The second piece is to retain customers. And the only way I'm gonna retain customers is constantly be talking to you about your needs, how they're changing, where they're at. The problem that most coaches get into is they love to tell. So when I work with you and we sit down for that first meeting, I say thank you. I have a whole bunch of things I send you to facilitate, and I say our first conversation is going to be an hour and a half at least, where I just beat you up to understand your needs from your point of view as deep as we can get. And then and then I will customize a curriculum plan just for you. Now I have this mass library of knowledge. I have the library uh that I have from Focal Point, which is a fabulous library. I also have you know 40 years of being an entrepreneur. As a library. Most people, you know, one of the reasons why a lot of coaches fail is that they don't honor their past. Every success you've had, every failure you've had is a lesson that you can use in coaching. You know, so I take all of this and I say, Pedro, well, you're going to customize a program for you. Number one, we're going to meet every week. We're going to meet every week, same time, same channel, so there's consistency. Two, I don't use a contract, I use an agreement. That agreement says that you can cancel anytime you want. But it's my goal to work with you for seven years or more. That's my goal. Three, I'm going to make myself available to you 24 hours a day. And I've always done that. And I've only had one person call me after 11 o'clock. But just to know that I'm there with them, that if they they're not alone anymore. Pedro, I'm telling you, what I hear around the world from executives and entrepreneurs is that they're lonely. They don't have anybody to talk to. You know, and nobody listens. So I position myself as an elite listener. I'm concerned what your needs are. So then I will create a customized curriculum that first will put out any fires that are burning for you, any issues, any challenges. By the way, I never use the word problem ever. I have challenged challenges, you have needs, you have opportunities. But I never use problem if you look psychologically, is an argumentative word. It's a word with some personality profiles, let's fight. You know, so I focus on what you need right now because my goal is to set metrics and give use a biggest win we can get as fast as possible. Now that win doesn't necessarily mean more revenue, doesn't mean necessarily mean more profit. I had a client last year that a big win for them, he hadn't had a vacation in seven years. So he said, Coach, help me help me understand why I won't take a vacation. You know, and and that'll be a big win for me. Because I always say, I would ask you, Pedro, what does a big win look like in the next 120 days? I want you to tell me, and then we can work. Now, look, coaching is about coaching. I won't do it for you. You have to do it. But when it really, you said something earlier, I want to I want to share the number one thing I believe in, not the number one thing, but one main thing I believe in as a coach is that if I'm working with you and you're passionate about your goals, you're passionate about your vision, something like that. Many times though, you don't have the confidence. So it's my goal to believe in you until you can believe in yourself at a higher level. I ought to be the most, I ought to be a lighthouse of hope to you. That's one I sell. I sell hope. I don't sell packages of stuff, I don't sell short-term solutions. I sell hope that I'm gonna be there to support your vision, to support what you want for your family, to support your goals. And if you don't have the goals, I'm gonna help you get the clarity in building the goals. You know, that's what our job should be. And so that would be the process. First meeting after we sign everything would be understanding, getting total clarity on your vision needs. And through that conversation, I'm gonna figure out you know, a short-term and possibly a long-term curriculum, and then we're gonna dive in and I'm gonna push you and we're gonna work hard. The only time I ever I will always tell every new client, so I'll tell you this. Pedro is my new client. I want to, I'm really excited about this, but let me also say that there's only one thing that could happen that will that will ruin this. That when I work start working with you, I'm going to be passionate about your success. And if there ever comes a point where you're less passionate at your success than I am for your success, I don't even want to work with you.

Pedro Stein 26:30

Interesting. Drawing a line on the sand, right? It sounds like like you have to keep your your integrity on check, too. It's like if if they don't need or they don't want, there's no need for it, right? So that makes sense.

Danny Creed 26:43

Now I can't make you be successful though. Right, exactly.

Pedro Stein 26:47

It's not done for you. It's not done for you, it's like with you, right? At the end of the day.

Danny Creed 26:52

I always know a coach is going to be struggling when they say, Well, I've got a client. If I could just get them to do that, I go, no, no, stop. That's not our job. Our job is to be there to support them, to listen to them, to push them. You know, there's two levels of accountability in coaching today. One is I need to show up on time. I need to be accountable to my client. But the other side of it, I'm getting lots of customers saying, Coach, are you the kind of person that can hold me accountable? Because I need to be held accountable. And I always say, absolutely. You may get mad at me, but I'm gonna hold you accountable.

Pedro Stein 27:30

I'm your guy, okay? Uh and you're gonna you may regret this, but I'm I'm gonna get to a different level of accountability for you, buddy. Now, let me shift gears for a second, right? And I appreciate you sharing the the ins and outs of your own business, but let's talk about the future a little bit. Okay, you know, uh, I'm curious about where you're taking all this, you know. Looking ahead, where do you see the business going? Are you thinking about scaling, hiring?

Danny Creed 27:56

Yeah, no, I'll never retire. This will sound morbid, but I I I you know I hope if I if I ever die that I'm in the middle of a coaching session, it'll be very, very good, it'll be very traumatic for my client. But I love doing this. And I'm way past the age of retirement, and I love doing this. Who can say they really love what they do so much that they just want to keep doing it? It's not about the income or anything, it's about it's about helping people. You know, it's about uh one of our great philosophers, uh Mark Twain, said one time that the greatest repository of knowledge on earth is our cemeteries, that people retire and they don't they have all this knowledge and they just take it to the easy chair. You know, I I I want to continue to learn and share and learn and share. My goal to answer your question is reach 100 million people in some way. Now, the way I'll do that is um I I I still will coach, uh, do executive coaching, business coaching, sales coaching, but I I want to do more speaking. I I've I've been in three different countries this year speaking to audiences about motivation and sales and business development. Um I want to do more high-quality shows just like yours. This is a way to reach 100. I'll never know for sure if I reach 100 million people, but if if I share something with you and you go, ooh, I'm gonna go share that with somebody else. It just goes on and on and on. I've written or been a part of writing eight books. I I've got a couple more I just signed the contract for. Hopefully somehow that'll get, you know. But the other thing that I'm I I will do more of, which is all paying back, uh, the success that I've had, and anybody can have, I've always said everybody, every coach should do something for no charge and no expectations as part of their practice. Um, I've been working for 10 years with men in prison in maximum security. Uh I go up every other month, and I sit down and I can spend six to seven hours with up to 30 men, and we talk about, believe it or not, I'm in maximum security. We talk about goal setting and personal development. Last time I had 34 guys, 28 of them were in on life sentences. So you say, why do they want to know about goals? Well, doesn't mean just because you're in prison, you can't have goals to change yourself to get degrees. I work with one man that's been in 38 years on a life sentence, and he just he got a PhD in Christian counseling, a PhD. So my I give that. I don't want, I don't care if anybody knows it, but that's something that's important to me to give back. That just as speaking is, just as and look, to be honest, you're you're a business marketing guy. All that stuff that I do is still good marketing for people to talk to me. Then it all they all do marketing, which all goes to my my Google search, you know. Uh I write, I've got a very, very successful uh blog on LinkedIn that gets lots and lots of thousands of reads every week. Uh that's another way. But I want to reach 100 million people, uh, and and I want to help them in some way, uh, whether to pass it on to friends. That's why I tell the guys in prison. I said, look, you may tell another inmate something that you learned that improved your life here. If you get out, when you get out, you may go tell your family, say, here's what I learned while I was there, and it may change their lives. But you have to have that attitude. Because if you got the attitude, I'm in it for the money, you'll never be as successful as you can be ever. So that's where I want to go.

Pedro Stein 31:53

I love it. You know, the speaking gigs, talking, like impacting a hundred million lives. I mean, that's a huge goal, but at the same time, it's it's what drives you, right? It's having that hope that you mentioned for yourself, too. You've got to walk the talk, right, Denny? You've got to have your own goals. And I I I really like that. Now, I wanna venture a little bit into sci-fi territory here. Let's go. Okay, come on. Let's pretend. I love a game of pretend, man. That's a yeah, let's go. Let's pretend we do have a time machine here in front of us, okay? Danny, we are gonna have two stops. The first stop is 20 years ago when you started your own coaching business. Yeah, right, and you can go back in time and you can talk to past Danny when he was just starting the coaching business. I know you have other ventures, and you can give yourself one piece of business advice you wish you knew back then. Specifically, I'm not sure if it's about coaching, but something that you wish you knew and that would, you know, ease up the journey. Let's put it like that. What would that be?

Danny Creed 33:03

No matter, no matter how desperate you are for income or whatever, always be concerned about the customer's needs and not mine first. I wasn't always that way because I've I I had to sell, I used to sell, I had two babies and a wife. I was selling five dollar radio commercials and I was getting paid straight commission on collections. So I had to sell something to eat. But when I got into coaching, I I wish I would have been more aware of the importance of look, forget about the pressures, forget about you know the you know how dire things are, but focus on the client first and it will always follow. I wish I would have knew that quicker, realized that sooner.

Pedro Stein 33:55

It's the agenda, right? It's like I always, you know what that brings me back to. It's like I always come up with this analogy on dating and and selling because they they walk hand to hand, as you already know. Uh and uh it's like you know, those girls who are going out looking for a husband, it's like it's backwards. They're not they're just worrying about getting a husband, but they're not worried about getting to know people, you know, and understand where they're coming from and understand their needs. It's just like, yeah, I want to find a husband. And whenever you go with that, and I I've been there too, okay? I'm not judging. Uh, whenever you go with your agenda first, your energy tells it, you know, it's something that people can pick up on. They're like, um, this guy's trying something, he's trying to push me to something. I don't know. Sometimes it's very nuanced, it's even hard to pinpoint, but the neediness, the, the, the, this connection in the energy, it people can feel it. And the more you distance yourself, like your example of uh, I don't work with everyone, like this is the type of frame that people are like, wait a minute. Right?

Danny Creed 35:06

I I've had big tough, I'd have I've had big tough deep personalities when I said that. Go, what do you mean you're not right for me? Right? Yeah, okay, let's talk, you know. But yeah, you're exactly in, you know, in a day, there must be a reason. I don't know what the number is now, but like I've heard that like 70%, 80% of the world is divorced. I mean, so there had to be a different agenda, you know. For uh, we have just ask if you know a school teacher, just ask them. They'll tell you how many kids 20 years ago were from broke split families is what it is today. But it's all about agenda. And again, I knew it because I was very successful in sales, I knew it. But what drove me was more along the lines of being a consultant, understanding their needs, and then filling those needs rather than telling. And I was part of a group, Pedro, that uh we and it's still not taught, I don't get it. But in a digital society, why does an elevator pitch even still exist? Because if you look at the definition of an elevator pitch, and I know people that still teach it, but if you look at the definition, is what do you tell your perfect prospect if you're locked in an elevator with them for one minute? You know what? Nobody wants to be told anything. You know why? Because they can get it instantly here. They don't want to be told anything, they're more along the lines of if you ever studied Simon Sinek and some of that stuff, they're more along the lines of tell me why you do it. Because, like in coaching, there's a lot of people out there that claim they're a coach. You want to really upset me of these people that just claims they're a coach and they don't have any background, they don't have experience, they haven't studied it, and they hurt business owners. You know, they hurt them. But you know, the the thing is that that you really need to step back and go, look, I'm not right for everybody. So let's find out together. So one I've instantly done, and I'll do this. If you want to talk later, if I have a billion-dollar company come to I work with the biggest company, $400 billion company, and that's how I sold them. I'm not right for everybody. And I got that deal because I said, Why me at one point? I said, You could have had your pick of any of the big five, you know, any of this. They go, You're the only one that didn't try to sell us on you. Right? You're the only one that said, I can't help everybody, so what do you need? And they started telling me their needs. Uh, I was part of a sale, uh, you know, I did the startup I did with the Pentagon, and I was the first sale we did was 43 million, I think. And the main reason that happened, and I we were working with 10 admirals and generals, they said everybody comes in and tells us why we ought to buy them. Right. And you guys came in and said, I don't know whether we can help you or not. What do you need? And they go, Well, here's what we need. I go, okay, well, I can help you with that. Now, here's the close. Here's how difficult a close would be at that case case, then. Well, golly, it makes a lot of sense. We ought to do business together. Can we start Tuesday? That's all it is. But if you continue to tell, telling is overrated, nobody needs it anymore. We're in a digital world. We're in an AI world. Nobody wants to be told anything, but they want to know the emotional connection. They want to know is this guy really going to give me hope? Is he really believe in us that much if we work together? Does he really have resources to help me with any need? That's what they want because then I have the chance to prove myself. Unless I'm schlepping a package of something. And that shouldn't any coach that's selling schlepping a package of something, don't even talk to them. Okay. I'll probably get in trouble on that one. But but you know, that that means they're all try they're trying to sell something to you rather than understanding your needs and solve the needs.

Pedro Stein 39:30

I agree with that a hundred percent. Um, and I I don't want to get into a a rabbit hole here, but one thing that really grinds my gears sometimes is those influencers and sales, and they're always having like the perfect sentence to overcome the objection because I'm gonna say this and they're gonna say this, and then I got the deal. I mean, at the end of the day, it's way simpler than that. And if you get into a point that you haven't a real objection, like real, real one, it's just about sitting down with the person trying to figure out something now. It's not about yeah, it's just like it's not conversation, it's not having a tactical book of play that you say this and then you win and then you say that. It's dude, it's way simpler. Pedro than that.

Danny Creed 40:18

I we don't have to get into it today because that is revital. But I I've got a standing $10,000 bet that I can show you one technique for handling any objection on the face of the earth. One technique. And it falls right along the line. And I've done this. The first time I said this, I was doing a speech in front of 23,000 people in this big arena in Minneapolis, and my wife was with me, and she about had a heart attack. But I've offered this for 20 years, and nobody's ever given me an objection. I can't answer with one simple technique. And it really comes back to what you said. Brilliantly said, it just comes back to let's talk about it. I'm not gonna argue with you, right? I don't want to argue with you, let's talk about it. And in essence, I'm not, you know, we can, if you want to talk about it, we can, or maybe we do another show. But you know, in essence, it's look, let's talk about it. And if I can help you with it, we ought to do business. If not, we won't do business, okay?

Pedro Stein 41:22

It's all good.

Danny Creed 41:22

What do you do? You're fighting fire with water. I am telling you that many customers, many prospects will give you an objection like that just to get rid of you, to get you into an argument so that then they can say, Well, screw you, I'm not gonna work with you anymore.

Pedro Stein 41:38

Exactly.

Danny Creed 41:40

I had an old mentor 50 years ago, because I had to start selling when I was really young, but he he told me, he said, Look, understand that an objection is nothing more than something when told to a salesperson will make them leave. And and so I just turned that around. What are what are standard objections? It's too high, it's too expensive, I'm not ready, I've got to talk to my wife, all those things. And really, let's sit down and talk about it.

Pedro Stein 42:17

Yeah, honestly, the way I see it, Danny, I tend to isolate things. It's like if if XYZ was not a problem, would you see yourself doing something like this?

Danny Creed 42:26

You know, you you are basically on my bet.

Pedro Stein 42:31

I always use this because most objections are just smoke. It's just smoke. If you don't want to, he doesn't if he or she doesn't see him or she doing something like that, it's all good.

Danny Creed 42:49

Okay, you think my product's too expensive. Let's I write that down, let's set it aside. And if I could solve that issue, does that mean that we have a deal? Oh, there's more de more issues, okay.

Pedro Stein 43:08

Tell me you're isolating the objection. That's the thing.

Danny Creed 43:12

And you're tying it to value, right? But it's not an argument, it's not a debate, exactly, it's not getting in each other's face, it's calling the bluff of most of the people you're talking to. I've had guys look at me and just go, you figured it out, did you? Yeah, okay. I want to work with you. I mean, it's just to understand it, but look, our you to be a coach, you have to be passionate about understanding the customer's needs from their point of view, validating those needs. We have to be passionate about helping people who are willing to take help. Not that we have to force, we have to ask questions. Because honestly, over the years, there are certain types of people I don't want to work with.

Pedro Stein 43:59

True.

Danny Creed 44:00

I just don't want to work with them. So if they're saying I'll pay you anything you want, and I feel that, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna push it. Because they're gonna be a pain in the rear end to deal with. So we we have to have some integrity. We have to believe in ourselves. We have to have ultimate confidence, even maybe when we're not as confident. But our prospect and client will buy us because they we're selling hope that maybe we have more confidence than they do. Maybe we know a way to help them. They've got to see that. Now you may go close your office door and cry after the meeting. What are the hell do I do it? But they can never see that. Because I I'm telling you, 100% of my clients initially buy me because they believe that I give them hope that we can solve the issues they're facing.

Pedro Stein 44:54

Okay. Now, back to our time machine scenario. We're still there. We have a second stop. Uh because before we get into another rabbit hole, we're good at that. It sounds like it, Danny. Uh this time you have the opportunity to go back in time. You're 20 years your your your journey, right? You can pick a time, a moment, a specific moment that you felt your cup was so filled, you know, that you that you understood, oh, that's why I'm doing this, you know? Uh a moment of joy. The you can be like your biggest win. What would that be?

Danny Creed 45:31

Um, I was working with a construction company in Arizona, and they had terrible issues. They were wasting money, spending money, unchecked. They were great technicians, but they didn't know how to be a business person. And in short, uh, they were losing the company. They employed 300 workers, they employed nine family members, they had over a thousand vendors. Uh and if they lost it, it would have gone everybody would have lost their jobs, they would have lost their investments and fortunes. And I helped them because and they were tough because these guys were the ones that cussed and swore and had fights and all this stuff. And uh I helped them go from 1.8 million to 43 million in three years, and I asked him at one point that uh I I I asked the owner, I said, So what has our relationship meant to you? He goes, You changed our family tree. He said, Without you being tough on me, without you giving us leadership and believing in us and moving forward, he goes, everybody would have lost their jobs. And the end result of that was that they were so successful after a while, they learned new practices, it was sustainable, uh, that uh they had a lot of their 300 employees were laborers or workers, a lot of guys out of prison uh they who had no idea about finances and personal finances that this company actually offered a 401k for their employees and paid for it themselves.

Pedro Stein 47:12

Wow.

Danny Creed 47:13

So they had guys no education, been in prison, get ready to quit, and they go, Well, have you checked your that 401k thing? No, they go, You got 60,000 in there. So they they funnel it back to their people, their team stayed with them longer. And at that point, I said, you know, I can really if I if I if I find the match, people who really want to improve and grow and change, if I find that and I'm not desperate, if I find that I can really make a difference. Pebble in the pond kind of stuff. I can really affect generations. Now, if you look at my website and you look at there, there's a deal in there on case studies. I never beat my own chest. If you look in there, it never says look what Dan did. It says, look what my clients achieved. You know, look because they have to do it. Anybody listen out there, understand they have to do it. So it's our job to manipulate personalities. It's our job guide them through it. Like guide them. It's our job to be cool, it's our job to always have hope. But we went from a million eight to forty-three point seven million, something like that, in three years.

Pedro Stein 48:27

That's freaking wild, man.

Danny Creed 48:29

That's pretty powerful. That's a legacy. That's a legacy. At that point, I really realized you know, that's the difference. That's the difference. When you mentioned the award I got ranked in the top 10, I everything I use confidential, so nobody really ever knows who my clients are anything. And I I keep it the highest level of confidentiality. But they found out somehow, some of my clients, and one of them said Dan's a lighthouse of hope. And that probably meant more to me than anything because that's my whole purpose. I want to, if I'm working with you, Pedro, I want to understand your vision no matter how crazy it is, and support you on that. Show you how to get there. Always be there when times are down. You know, I've had parents die, I've had partners die, you know, that of clients I work with. I've had, you know, everything you can think of. I could write a book, but I always tried to be there as strong emotional support, continually selling hope. Uh, during COVID years, you mentioned it. 100% of my clients had growth. Why? Well, I sat down and said, Where's your head at? I'm not gonna allow you to think about what if. We're gonna only talk about what is. What can we control? I told all of them, I said, let's go out and steal all your competition's customers because they're in hiding. So let's go out and steal them all. And we had some great stories in that, you know, that come out of that. But it's just giving them hope that maybe the world's not gonna end. Maybe there's opportunity because in every economy in world history, in the worst ones, there's also, and this you can find this out easy. There's also been more millionaires made during that period of time than any other time because somebody said, Okay, it's terrible, but wants the opportunity. So that's where I try to keep myself, and it's not easy, but any coach can really be more successful if you start building that mindset.

Pedro Stein 50:37

Okay, love that, man. Now, if someone listening wants to connect with you or follow your work, Danny, and we're gonna have all the links in the description, but what's the best way for people to find you and connect with you?

Danny Creed 50:48

MasterCoachDan.com. That's the website, and through that you can send me a message. And of course, I'm on LinkedIn and all those things, but that'll that'll get you in there and see a lot of the success stories and you know that that kind of thing. And I always, by the way, I always give uh a complimentary hour discussion. It's not a sales pitch, it's just a discussion about your business. If you choose to ask me about that, we can. But it's just a discussion about your business understanding. Maybe I can help you with a couple ideas in that process. So okay.

Pedro Stein 51:23

You know, there were a few moments from this chat today that I feel the urge to highlight. Okay, then. Um first, origin story. Grew up in a farm, right? But what really caught my attention was the entrepreneurial journey. And one thing that you said that most coaches they they fail to understand they're not wearing just a coaching hat, they're wearing the CEO, the business owner hat, right? Uh, I see a lot of them that are very passionate about the craft, which is totally fine. I completely understand, but they have to understand they're running a business, not a hobby, not something that they just love. Because without understanding, you need to sell or something like that, it's not gonna last long, okay? And you're gonna have to look up for a job. So that's one thing. Uh, another thing you mentioned really stood out to me. Uh, it's like some people, your clients, your coaches, they just want someone to listen, right? And how lonely is that the top? Because if you're a business owner, people uh there are like your employees and all that, they're sort of biased, right? Because you're you can you can change their lives sometimes about income and all that. So that's a different opinion, different conversation. Some people are trying to sell you, which are the service providers, and you do have the family which joins there, but the family also relies on you. If you're a business owner and you're running everything, you know, uh, so it's very lonely at the top to talk to someone who can actually get you, you know, that is not trying to push you into something, that is not trying to uh get advantage out of you or trying to say hey you go, the less you really can share. Exactly. Because at the same time, the higher you go, you're a different level. So it's not like you're gonna talk to any business owner. You have different problem challenges. I'm not gonna say the word you're you you don't like. Okay, you get different challenges. So uh there's that. Now, last but not least, I would say uh the life sentence, right? When you were talking about uh those guys that are in the can, uh talking about goals, right? That made me think a little bit. Are we all carrying life sentences, right? The only difference is like they are locked in and we're not, but we are all having uh expiration date, right? So we can still all have some hope despite circumstances, right? So that's just my long-winded way of saying that I appreciate what you do, Danny, and I appreciate you being here and sharing so openly today. It was great having you on.

Danny Creed 54:00

I'm honored. Thank you very much, Pedro. I I'll be back again if you ask.

Davis Nguyen 54:04

So that's it for this episode. This episode, as well as this podcast, was brought to you by Purple Circle, where we help business owners elevate their business to six, seven, and eight figure years, all without burning out. If you're looking to grow your business as well as get the time freedom that you are looking for, visit us at join purplesircle.com and see what we can do to help you end your business.