The High Functioning Struggler: Kenny Stoddart on What Happens When the Executive Who Has It All Together on the Outside Is Falling Apart on the Inside

SPEAKER_01 1:00

When I showed up at my first entrepreneurial event last year, I felt like I didn't belong, like I was nervous, like I had a little anxiety of like what what what am I doing here? And I wanna I wish I could rewind the clock on that, because if you have the if you have the courage to walk into that room, then you absolutely belong there. And I I belonged there, but I I wasn't believing in myself. That was the only person that didn't think that I bel didn't belong there. Everybody else, when you're an entrepreneur, is typically everybody that I've run into open arms because they've all are going through the same things. And I felt intimidated. And I'm telling this is you know, and I don't get intimidated, but I felt like like almost shy to ask a question because I didn't want it to sound silly or like, and so my advice is to not do that. My advice is if you have are passionate and you are starting out as an entrepreneur and you love what you've built, whatever it is, then whoever it is that you talk to in whatever room it is, whether it's virtual or it's to your neighbor, or you speak with the same passion about it every single time because that is what resonates.

SPEAKER_00 2:10

Salutations, Scooba Levers, and we are here again with another amazing entrepreneur. Today we're here with Kenny. Hey Kenny, how's it going?

SPEAKER_01 2:18

It's going great. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_00 2:21

Absolutely. Thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to be on the Undiscovered Entrepreneur. Get across the start line. Super, super appreciate you.

SPEAKER_01 2:29

Oh, well, I'm I super appreciate it back.

SPEAKER_00 2:33

All right. So what I'd like to do here is kind of give you a kind of semi-serious question right up front here. Okay, you ready?

SPEAKER_01 2:40

I'm ready.

SPEAKER_00 2:41

Okay, here we go. Are you a school believer?

SPEAKER_01 2:45

You're I am a school believer. Here's why. Because how could I not be? With your energy and passion, I'm a school believer.

SPEAKER_00 2:55

Woohoo! All right, yeah, Kenny's a school believer. Thanks, Kenny. I super appreciate you. All right. So, what I'd like to do up here up front is get a kind of an idea of who you are, what your entrepreneur adventure is, and how you actually got across the start line in your entrepreneur adventure.

SPEAKER_01 3:11

Great. That's a great place to start. We could probably spend an hour on it, but I'll do the best job I can of kindly introducing myself. My name is Kenny Stoddart, as you mentioned. I live in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. I was born and raised in what uh Hamburg, New York, just outside of Buffalo, and ventured down south when I left to go to college back in the late 90s. And upon graduating from the Citadel back in 1997, I joined the dot com boom in the internet security space and went on to have a fascinating career in the internet security world for 27 years as an executive sales leader, traveling the world, living the dream job that everybody uh got to see on the outside. But it actually almost killed me on the inside. So um, after 27 years, I retired from that industry and joined the entrepreneurial life as a uh second career, and I'm enjoying every bit of it. My passion is for helping others avoid burnout, like I did, like I suffered from during my executive days, and really trying to be a uh superhero with chasing the quotas and the finish lines and the you know high achievers clubs and making money and all those things that are, you know, goals that we set out to do well. And I let it get the best of me. I let it control my identity to a point where I kind of didn't even know who I was anymore. And um a couple years ago I had to stick my uh I had to raise my hand and say I needed help. And that's what I did. And uh that transitioned into me becoming a helper of people. So my entrepreneurial life began just about a year ago. I went back to college to get my second master's degree, this time in clinical mental health counseling, so I can um be do just that. So I'm a I'm an executive coach, I'm a I'm an entrepreneurial coach, quite frankly. Uh, and what I say that very loosely because I'm I'm learning this as we go uh also. But I've I've got the benefit of you know, the past year of working with some of the greatest coaches, learning from entrepreneurs, digging in to be like I I literally did, I I registered a domain name, set up my email servers, built a website. I did every single thing that needed to be done to start my business to where it is today. And we can talk more about that, but it's been a thrilling ride, and I'm grateful for every moment along the way, which is why I love joining conversations like this, because I love to pass along the knowledge and help others where they need it. Perhaps they can learn from my mistakes or they can learn from my successes either way. I would I would love to share what I have to offer.

SPEAKER_00 5:57

No, that's fantastic. I love that. Well, you and me really come from the same tree here, because I'm kind of doing the same thing as you. I'm also just getting started. Now, I know I've been doing this for five years, but still kind of like in the crux of the very beginnings of things, but still having the the the want to be able to help others go, you know, get to where they're trying to get to and point them in the directions. There's always somebody 10% behind you, and those are the people that you want to bring along with you to show that we I we can actually do this.

SPEAKER_01 6:29

I agree. Uh, part of being an entrepreneur in the especially as a second career, you know, I I I I was coming off of a career to write about, quite frankly. I mean, I made millions of dollars. I was tart, you know, the timing was right. I was part of the dot-com boom. I was a millionaire by the time I was 24 years old. I I'm so grateful for that. But as I mentioned, it that comes with the price tag as well, that imposter syndrome, trying to keep up with that level of performance over the years. And I had to do it for 27 years. And um, you know, it is as grateful as I am for all of the lovely experiences and the dollars made and the deals closed, you know, there was one huge piece of me that was missing. And I wasn't helping others. I wasn't I was not in the right lane, if you will. And when I discovered that, when I started working with others and coaching and mental health therapy and things like that, I realized that, you know, there's so many similarities in what I used to do and what I do now, but you know, now I do it to help others. So now I used to protect, I used to focus on identity loss. That was my career. I was in, uh I worked for Symantec and Verisign. I encryption and data security was my livelihood. I I made sure that you didn't get hacked. I protected identities, I create, I prevented identity loss. And um, like I said, it was amazing. But now I focus on identity gain, and that's helping people regain the version that they once wanted to be, or they still want to be, or thought they might not be able to, because that's really what I struggled with. I was not, I was not really living up to the expectations that I've had for myself because I was operating through someone else's lens. And the entrepreneurial lifestyle, or and all the things that come along with it, the challenges, the triumphs, the tribulations, the wins, those are for me now, right? As an entrepreneur. Those are my hard work, my blood, sweat, and tears, my, and hopefully one day my reward, right? That's what we all work do this for to, you know, we want it to be lucrative and successful. Whatever definition of lucrative is for you might be different than mine or any else, uh anyone else's, but the reality of it is, is like I'm helping people, I'm doing this for myself, I'm all in. And that's what it takes when you're an entrepreneur. I know that for a fact, even after one year, like that's why I wear my brand everywhere. I love my the name of my company, I love my color scheme, I love my logo, I wear it on my shirts, my hats, because that's the the the passion that you need to be successful as an entrepreneur. Otherwise, you'll just be one of many, right? And that's the the the brutal reality of entrepreneurial life is you have to have that drive, that strength, that vision, otherwise, one of many, and many go out of business and few stay, right?

SPEAKER_00 9:20

Oh, yeah, absolutely. Having that passion for what you're doing and working in your zone of genius is really what's gonna drive you forward, even during those hard times where you know you're having a rough time. Many's maybe not coming as good as you were hoping for, anything like that. But you still got to keep pushing forward. You still gotta keep moving because something will happen, whether it's a pivot to something else that's even better or greater or different, or you know, you make that one sale that makes all the difference, or you meet that one coach that tells you the one thing that you need to do, but you never would accomplish any of that if you stop what you're doing and just stop moving forward. So always keep that in mind as you're going.

SPEAKER_01 10:01

Got to keep driving forward, gotta handle the rough days, gotta handle that adversity as a learning experience. In the last year, I went from wanting to change the world to really honing in on who my target market is. And that's what we as entrepreneurs you have to know who to sell to and how to sell to it properly. And um, I I entered this universe saying, like, well, I can help anybody, I'm better now. And and perhaps that's true, but that's also unrealistic. And you know, so I've I've changed my offer, my pricings, my target market. And without doing that, without going through those cycles, how do you know where you actually belong? Right. So I figured out that one arena was really not my target, but the other was just a natural fit for me. And so put my energy towards that and learn, like, okay, well, you didn't exhaust too many resources or money or whatever you want to call it on something, but it's okay to try. And you know, I've done that, and I'll probably do it again as I progress through my, you know, my offer continues to change, right? Every time I get a new client, the demand, the supply goes down, right? Because there's only so many Kenny's. So I have to, that's an entrepreneurial problem for me being in my industry, where I want to I want to continue to provide the highest level of service that I expect out of my brand, but I can't do that for a thousand people or even a hundred people, quite frankly. Now, there's ways to do that with the formations of communities and different types of groups and whatnot. And of course, that's a great way for me to expand. And I that's what I'm going to do, but I can't do that at the same level as I do with like my one-on-one business clients where I'm immersed in their business because that's not fair. And I didn't know that a year ago. I learned, I learned by being in over my ski tips a little bit, meaning, you know, I probably bit off a little bit more than I can chew, and then I had to take a step backwards. And those are things that you have to go through to kind of find out where, and I don't think I found it quite yet, but I'm getting closer every day, and that's the beautiful thing about this life of entrepreneurial. Like, if I if I need to make another pivot tomorrow, I have to talk to myself about it. I don't need to explain it to the stick, my staff or my marketing team, or justify it to the CEO. Like, I'm all those things, and I need to make sure that I'm comfortable with what it means to do it and then do it. Never look back. That's my whole we don't look back and dwell on what we should have, could have. We look forward, especially in entrepreneurial. Well, especially in I'm in recovery, like we always are focusing on the the best outcome. But even for business, like my my whole livelihood is is dependent on this business being successful. And I treat it that way. Like I want it to be that, so I I put those wheels in motion to make it happen. And yeah, the grind is tough. We know every entrepreneur listening, like the tough days are like no one can relate to it unless you just know that you have you have are all in on your business, and today's not going well, and I just need to uh and then you got to get back to it, right? You got to get back to it. You have to.

SPEAKER_00 13:09

Well, it's it's the entry level, it's the entry, it's the entry like uh price that we have to pay uh uh to get started. I mean, it it's it's the hard work and the grinding and everything else we do, that's kind of the sacrifices we need to make to make something succeed. But when it does finally succeed, it succeeds it in droves because you work so hard at it. And uh I want to step back just a second here. I mean, first of all, you need to change your world, right? Because you're not if you don't change your world and what you're doing and your mindset on things, nothing around you is going to change. It's gonna stay the same way the whole time. So let's work on changing our world first. Then once we know we're kind of in that zone, now we find one person that has one problem that you could solve and change one person's world. If you could do that, then maybe you could do it for another person, maybe you could do it for another person, and it just grows more one at a time.

SPEAKER_01 14:13

I've wanted to grow so fast because you know I've got a lot invested, and I look back and I'm so grateful that I didn't, you know. I'm so grateful that I I kind of took like each step along the way during this entrepreneurial process to like I'm grateful that I wasn't successful out of the gates because I I wouldn't have had to go through some of these bumps. And I don't know if I would have had what I have now after learning through the challenges, and you know, there's so many different ways. We're also embracing new technology every day with AI. I mean, that's no secret, but that's taking a whole new master's class and being an entrepreneur at the same time to try to keep up, right? And um you just gotta, there's so much going on, and we have to learn. We have to, you know, there's so many, you know, people say, well, it's God's timing, and I I'm a true believer in that, but whatever it is, your belief timing is such a critical thing. You can't rush entrepreneurial, you can't read a book and expect it to be fully experienced, even go to and I mean I have an MBA, like entrepreneurials being an entrepreneur is a class of its own, I'm telling you. And just a wild journey and something that's so incredibly warning or rewarding when it works out. And I never say if or when or hope or anything like that. When it works out is so rewarding because of that type of energy that you put into you have to devote to it to get to get to that level.

SPEAKER_00 15:40

Well, it's very important that we experience the failures and the bumps and that kind of thing, because that teaches us what to do and what not to do. I mean, if we just went straight to the end, then that's kind of like why did we even take this ride? I mean, it's nice to be here at the end, but at the same time, what experiences we did we miss out on? What what pitfalls that we could have taken lessons away from that we missed that could have benefited us later.

SPEAKER_01 16:04

So much learning. So much learning to do. I mean, I I mentioned to you before we I'm in Las Vegas today and I did some some content filming with some people that I work with out here. And a year ago, I wasn't I shouldn't have even been involved in these types, or I wasn't involved and I didn't deserve to be, but now here I am, and what a learning experience to work with some people that have even that are like maybe one or two months ahead of you in the entrepreneurial cycle, or one or two months behind you, like, oh yeah, that was me two months ago. I remember that when you might have made a bad investment on a social media or whatever it is that you, you know, like, damn it, I wish I would have known that. And that's just part of the curve. And you know, there's there's people, there's people telling me stories that you know are six months ahead of me in the process that are telling me, don't do this, don't do that, don't do this. But I'm probably gonna do all those things because I have to learn, like, you know, it's otherwise I wouldn't know why you shouldn't. And it's you just try to do it with the a more structured way of like this is I like to dabble a little bit because there's so many different things we can do to try to grow our business, especially with all the tools that are and I was like, there's if I wanted to try a new project every day, I could to you know, to whether it's to do lead generation or graphic generation or content generation. But there's also the business side of things, right? We have to we have to sell, we have to, we have to deliver the product, which I that's my day job, and I love to because I like to work with clients when it's convenient for them, and then I love to do podcasting and stuff. So, but I have to pick and choose, right? When's the right time to do those things and how not to be overbooked and how not to get burnt out again? Because that was something that I've already uh been there, done that on. And with this lifestyle, when you're so passionate about it, it's very easy to work all night, right? That's a that's a common theme with entrepreneurs, like just drink and drink coffee and work away, and you know, we're building something fun, and I can't stop. Well, stopping is a good thing, and getting a good getting rest and getting some sleep and then getting recharged and doing it again. So I I like to do that a lot. I'm like, I go to sleep at night, and that way the next morning it's like, oh wow, I get to do this all over again and I'm fresh and it's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 18:22

So yeah, you gotta you gotta give yourself the time to rest because if you don't, your brain gets really mushy and you can't really make a thing. So then suddenly you get you make a bad decision, or you know, I I've been known to fall asleep in the middle of an editing job and it just messes up when I wake up, everything's a mess. But yeah, but it's really important to set those boundaries for yourself. Set the boundaries so like, okay, 11 o'clock, I'm in bed. That's a boundary. Um, this day is when I'm doing my podcast, this day I'm doing my editing, this day I'm doing my my interviews. That's a boundary, you know. So setting those strict boundaries for yourself to make sure that you can accomplish everything that you're gonna be able to work on is really super important.

SPEAKER_01 19:05

Yeah, and there's there's so many tremendous efficiencies that are available to us now that can make our days more manageable. And you know, I'm a big fan of those because I I technically come from the old school. Like I've been doing this, I've been in, you know, I've been out of school for 30 years now. So when I started, the technology that we're using is like obsolete by many, you know, you know that, right? And uh so and I was a typical, like, you know, I worked when I worked on the East Coast, uh, it was I was in sales, like I had to be on the like it was nine to five, and then the other stuff outside of that, you know, with with entrepreneurial life, no one's telling us when to be there or when to go to stop. You know, I like to set some boundaries on that too. Like, I I love my mornings now, so I don't like to work in the mornings from before like 10 o'clock in the morning because I end up working until 10 o'clock at night, so it's it's just in getting that time in for myself. I never even considered that when I was 30, you know, and then time for yourself or meditation or breathing exercises. I was like, whatever, that's stupid. Then here we are 20 years later, and I'm like preaching it because I almost died, you know, and I had all this stuff go on. And these are little things that can create major longevity and they're easy to do, like getting out for a morning walk, like that's stupid. No, it's not, it's the best thing ever to do. Yeah, we learn so much as we get older, right?

SPEAKER_00 20:30

Oh, yeah, definitely. I'm I'm uh we're probably pretty close in age, it sounds like so. I understand completely.

SPEAKER_01 20:35

Yeah, I'm 52.

SPEAKER_00 20:36

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, I didn't start meditation until probably about two years ago, and now it's I it's a practice I do every time before I go to bed. I I sit down and have a meditation, and it helps clear my mind for when I do sleep. And it's it's been a big help for me.

SPEAKER_01 20:51

It's you know, it again, not for everybody. Meditation is amazing. I love it too. It I never thought of doing it when I was younger or when I was like when I was running hard. Like, you know, I had no time to stop and meditate that, but now I really any type of wellness or well-being activity that you can engage in in your busy lifestyle, whether it be, like I said, the walk, or you know, I live in Florida, so I like I like to go out and get some sunshine in the day right in the middle of the day. I know it's super hot, but I only take 30 minutes and it's it's so recharging. And I don't know. We're going down the wellness path because I love it. I mean, I literally almost died, I had cancer, I'm healthy now, so I can talk about the wellness side all day. What I really like to preach is just people, even leaders who are in my stage or our stage later, like if we have a responsibility to pass that knowledge on to the younger generations of entrepreneurs, founders, people that are in corporate America that and you know it's it's it's very important to maintain your health at a young age so it doesn't catch up with you when you're when you're older.

SPEAKER_00 21:57

Yeah, because they don't tell you about that in school, they just tell you about math and that kind of thing, but they don't really tell you a a smart way to really live and be yourself. And and I don't know any kind of school that talks about meditation or or well-being or anything like that. That's it, and then and it's really unfortunate. So if that's the case, then it's up to us, who's over and experienced these things, to teach to the younger generation that this is really something that we need to pay attention to.

SPEAKER_01 22:26

I truly believe that. I mean, it's one of the things that I do. I work with uh student athletes as part of my something that I'm very, very passionate about. It's not necessarily a financial endeavor, it's more of a way of me giving back to the like I like to make sure that's not only from the wellness side, but the mental health side too. And that's a big like I'm a therapist. So you know, when these younger boys and girls or men and women take their helmet off for the last time and lacrosse or soccer's over, and it's now that's no longer part of their life, it literally comes to an end. And there's a lot of people that parents and student athletes that are well aware of that identity loss that you know who am I after soccer or lacrosse or hockey or whatever sport that it is you play? And the answer is a lot. You're a lot. You've been coached by great coaches, you've had great teammates, team captains, you've traveled to different. So there's so much, and there's so much to build upon. And I, you know, I struggled with some mental health situations when I was younger and a student athlete. And that was one of the areas that I never properly dealt with, quite frankly. I I let I was I swept it under the rug and just pretended it didn't exist. And then it came back to, you know, to to revisit myself and many years later, and it didn't have to. And that's what I love to educate. Like I don't get into deep mental health. I just want to make sure that student athletes are aware that these types of things come up and it's okay to say I need help or ask for help or whatever it is. Call me. Like I say it's the biggest sign of strength because I had to do that too. And you know, I was the um, you know, I was the big strong Iron Man, triathlete, CEO, sales executive. Everything had it going on the outside. I never ever would ever think of asking anybody for help. Who am I? Like, I don't need help, I know it all. And then I asked for help, and my life changed dramatically for the better. And um now my my issues were, you know, I struggled with alcoholism. I I'm not shy about that because I'm I'm now free of that demon. But at the same time, there are so many people that are afraid to raise their hand or don't know, maybe they don't know where to go. I didn't know where to go either until I finally knew where to go, and it was amazing. So I know that I'm unpacking a lot there, but these are these are some of the best lessons that I could possibly say. Like I was the guy that never thought I needed help or wanted like even career, like coaching. Now, like I co I get coached on pretty much every I still have a career coach, I still work with my own therapist because I'm trying to get better always, too. But there's there's a we do not know it all. There's a lot of people that they think they know it all, and no one does. We come be an entrepreneur for a couple days and see how much you think you know, right? You'll learn that someone knows it better.

SPEAKER_00 25:24

Yeah, yeah. And we come across that a lot too, because we compare ourselves to other people that are out there. So we think that, hey, we can be these people too that don't ask for help, but we don't know what's going on inside and going on inside their heads. What are they going through? We just see the finished product, we see what's out here. So that's our perception about these people. But what do we really know about them up here and what they're going through up there? So help is definitely not a weakness. That's that's something that we really need to ingrain into our brains, especially as entrepreneurs. We're gonna need help because we don't know what we don't know, right? So there's there's only gonna be one way to figure it out.

SPEAKER_01 26:05

There's yes, so much help. Especially, like you said, in the entrepreneurial circle, networking with other entrepreneurs, like who's gonna teach you better than the other entrepreneurs, right? That are, and I just did that last night and a little bit today. These people have all gone through some of the same or many of the same struggles, the same trials, the same challenges. And when you network and talk about it, it's the same kind of thing as asking for help, it's just having a conversation. That's what I always say. If you're so afraid of just say hello to someone or say, you know, and start. Entrepreneurs, like, we love to talk about our business, right? We're that's especially me. Like, if you if you ask me a word question, be prepared. I hope you have a few minutes because I'm passionate about it and I want to talk about it. Now, I I almost have to be careful not to talk too much about it because I don't want to overwhelm people, but if if if it's brought up, I love to talk about it. And then what happens with those conversations every time? It's it's every time now I'm in it in my field. This is not the same for every field, but in my field, because I I am in the mental health side, every entrepreneurial conversation ends up in, oh, you should talk to my I have to have my friend Jimmy call you, or I need Timmy to call you, or you need to talk to Billy. I know because everybody has something going on, and I I I I I love people when they come to me to share with their and I can help them. But the reality of it is is that's that everybody has something going on, and networking with others, like-minded individuals is a really, really good way to get yourself feeling good about what you're doing and learn about things that you know. I learn every day. I think I'm good at this, and then I meet someone that's way better at it than me. And I'm just like, can we talk? Can you tell me more? And I'm like, there's no competition because there's a million and trillion entrepreneurs, right? Especially healthcare professionals. Like, there's a million of me. Um, I think I'm different in my own unique way, but maybe other that's for me to decide or for others to decide. But when I'm around like-minded individuals, it's so engaging and learning. And you know, it doesn't matter what you look like or how you dress or what color, it's just like, let's talk business, let's talk shop, man. It's so cool to learn. I mean, I met some fascinating people today. It was amazing.

SPEAKER_00 28:23

Yeah, that that's the one thing we need to think about too as we're going along here, with especially if you're going to be networking things like that, you got to understand that we're not competition. You're gonna find more people that will actually want to help you and help you succeed than not. If they don't want to help you succeed, then you don't need to be around them. Those are not your people.

SPEAKER_01 28:42

That's exactly right. That's exactly right. And I'm talking, I meet people that like when they ask me what I do, and I would say, like, well, I'm a blah blah blah blah blah, and they say, Well, I'm a I'm a blah blah blah blah blah. We do the exact same. Like, and how can I help? Tell me about where you're where's your focus? What's your target market? Do you have a terror? It's not like can I steal your customers? There's none of that. It's how can we help each other? Because there's enough, right? And that again, I I can't speak for every market where they're much more competitive. My market's extremely competitive, but you the only thing that differentiates me from everybody else is me and them from them is them. You know, it's I have no time for for competition. And if you're an entrepreneur, I mean, I got your back. Like, I buy from you, I check out your website. I like people say, Hey, can you look at this for me? Yes, I can, because I know what it's like when I want someone to look at that for me, right? Can you check this out? Can you give me feedback? And someone's like, Well, uh, yeah, I'll get to it. And they never get to it. I'm like, Bam! Yeah, I'm your buddy, man. You're supposed to do that for me. But people have their own lives. And so I I take that. Like when people say, Hey, Kenny, can you check this out for me? The answer is yes, I can. And I'll always say, like, put it in my inbox. And I, because I like to look at things like and give a response, and I don't want to do it on the fly. Again, that's just me being me, but that's me being an entrepreneur and loving to learn and loving to teach and spread, spread the knowledge and gather more along the way. I mean, I'm sure your audience is full of people that know so many tricks to the trade that I don't know, and I just hope to learn like one or two of them along the way, you know.

SPEAKER_00 30:24

Take the best ones that you find and incorporate it into yourself, and that's what makes you who you are.

SPEAKER_01 30:28

Yeah. The best one that I can find, and the best one that any entrepreneur can find, is to be your true self and be authentic and be relatable and have good moral and ethical standards with your business. And with those things, all great things will come, you know, if you lump on the passion and the drive, because really not everybody is that way, not everybody has those traits, those characteristics. And they don't walk in my circles. I know that because I I've put that wall up and I know how to recognize them now. But doing business and doing it the right way, and having, you know, being proud of yourself and being proud of your product or your color or your brand or your tone or your music, whatever it is that you do, that is a beautiful thing. I like I said, I love my brand. I love it more so than I make I give away hats because I'm like, just wear it. I love it. Whether you don't like it or not, it looks great on you.

SPEAKER_00 31:26

So that's great. That's awesome. So, you know, my uh pretty much my entire audience are brand new entrepreneurs that are just getting started. So if you came across an entrepreneur that's just getting started in their entrepreneur adventure, what one good solid piece would of advice would you give them? What good first step would you have them take?

SPEAKER_01 31:44

I think back, and again, I've only my one-year anniversary of Iron Mind Advisors is on July 6th. So I'm about two weeks away from being in this business for one year. I made the decision. I was touched, I uh there was a hand that came out of the sky, and it was God's hand, and he touched me and he said, Kenny, you're not going back to corporate America. Go follow your passion and help people. So I started that on July 6th. But here's here's the the thing that I would recommend to everybody, because this is the mistake that I did, because even after 27 years in cybersecurity, even after a Citadel MBA and an undergrad and all these accolades and everything that I've accomplished in all my career, when I showed up at my first entrepreneurial event last year, I felt like I didn't belong, like I was nervous, like I had a little anxiety of like what what what am I doing here? And I want to I wish I could rewind the clock on that because if you have the if you have the courage to walk into that room, then you absolutely belong there. And I I belonged there, but I I wasn't believing in myself. That was the only person that didn't think that I bel didn't belong there. Everybody else, when you're an entrepreneur, is typically everybody that I've run into open arms because they've all are going through the same things. And I felt intimidated. And I'm telling this, is you know, and I don't get intimidated, but I felt like like almost shy to ask a question because I didn't want it to sound silly or like, and so my advice is to not do that. My advice is if you have are passionate and you are starting out as an entrepreneur and you love what you've built, whatever it is, then whoever it is that you talk to, in whatever room it is, whether it's virtual or it's to your neighbor, or you speak with the same passion about it every single time because that is what resonates. That's what becomes the authentic version of you. And you don't feel intimidated when you go into a room with other entrepreneurs, just because they look different from you, or they might have been in the game a little bit longer, they have more money than you, they've all had nothing before, right? And they've all made it through hard work and they respect the person that comes into those rooms and wants to learn and ask questions, even if it's a silly question. And if they ever say that it's silly, like then you're not with the right people. But that doesn't happen in this universe in the in the entrepreneurial world because everybody's at different stages. You know, I was asking like how to hold the Twitter button a year ago, and now you know it's just so funny. You learn, right? Now I do content all day, every day if I needed to. But yeah, just believe in yourself and be proud of what you've built. And then think of the um, I I don't know what, like whatever it is that person that is listening has built or their product that their venture or whatever it is, I guarantee that they've put a lot of thought into it, a lot of behind the scenes thinking, a lot of nights laying there, like, this is what I want to do, and I'm gonna do it. And that's what you carry into the the first day, the business goes live, or whatever. Like, those are the memories. Like, I dreamed about being this in this, but I never thought it was possible. I thought I missed the boat, I was too old, I was too late in the game. You can't switch careers at 51 years old. And now I'm like, the point is just be be so proud and be passionate. And then you start, it it just resonates to other people, and then they they pick up the phone one day and call you and say, Hey Kenny, remember that athlete, student athlete thing you were talking about? My nephew needs to learn about that. Can you help me with that? Of course I can. Out of the blue, organic, such a beautiful thing because just I don't know, maybe that will happen with me doing here because I love telling my story. And I love being, you know, you know, I love helping the people that I I was there on July 7th of last year. What the I but I had a I knew exactly what I wanted to do, but it was time to go do it, and it's scary, and you just gotta let's go. You gotta be so confident in what you build.

SPEAKER_00 35:58

Well, if it's scary for you, it's a good thing. That means you're in the right place. I mean, that's that's one thing I always preach about. If you're not scared, then you're you're probably somewhere you need to be somewhere else. Because if you're not at least a little bit nervous about where you're going, that means it's not big enough for you, and you need to find something bigger. And you always gotta have a little bit of fear.

SPEAKER_01 36:18

Gotta have the I mean that it's healthy anxiety. It's it's not it's not like the bad anxiety. It's the stuff that keeps in the back of your mind that we have to we have to do the right thing, we have to work hard to do this. This isn't gonna, this is not going to grow on a tree. Our we have to spread our word and whatever it is, whether it be social media, whatever, whatever it is, you have to get up and do it, right? And you have to believe in it, and you know, you have to believe in it with a passion that is just it almost is too good to be true that there's not a chance in hell that this is gonna fail. And it's amazing what you can do when you have that mindset.

SPEAKER_00 36:58

Yeah, absolutely. I love it. All right, I have a tradition with all my guests in the next six months. Where do you see yourself and your company? Now, you're you're kind of on the newer side, so I I really, really am excited about hearing what you want to do in the next six months.

SPEAKER_01 37:13

Yeah, so the next six months, I'll be graduating from Liberty University with my with my master's in clinical mental health. So that's super exciting. That'll be in the November, December time frame. Personally, everything's personal because my work is I want to be on some big stages. I have a beautiful story to tell. It's called Grace in the Mirror. I'm not promoting it, that's not my intention, but I do like I love being on stages telling my story about my redemption story, quite frankly. And there's a lot of them. Mine is fascinating and I love sharing it with others. You know, my coaching/slash therapeutic sports excellence business is continuing to grow every day, and I continue to pinch myself and be so grateful. In six months, I would love to have a more defined view of exactly what the future looks like because I I I've been able to spread into different arenas here, but I also never got into this with the intention of growing to beyond a point where I can't enjoy the lifestyle and give the the product and the level of service that I always wanted. And I'm I'm here to help people, and I mean that. Like I know that is cliche to a lot of people, but I the whole reason that that hand came out of the sky one day is because you know, when I went to rehab to get a hold of my drinking problems, I was greeted by people that by complete strangers that that showed a tremendous amount of love and care for me that I never thought existed outside of my own home, but like complete strangers that wanted me to get better and were walked beside me during those storms and those valleys, if you will. And when I got better, and it just my life became so much better and it made me want to help others. And so I'm still going to be doing that in six months, and I'm going to try to continue to do that at a big capacity, but without spreading myself too thin, with you know, so I'm really wanting to enjoy the process and then continuing to work with others, specifically um the high-functioning struggler, which is me, which is your typical executive that looks great on the outside, but he's really, really not doing well on the inside because relatability, I was there. And then on the reverse end of that is the student athlete getting out of those things ahead of the curve, like I wish I did. And I I can honestly like I have gobs of advice that I put into my program with student athletes. There's both an online and a um, you know, there's like a crash course because I don't want I want this to be available to everybody. So that's where I'll be in six months. I think it's gonna probably have a nice little bow on top of it, meaning like I'm I'm slowly but surely like my website looks professional now. My, you know, I'm just because when you're doing it all yourself as an entrepreneur, it's time to button it up and put the bow on it. So that's what's gonna be in six months.

SPEAKER_00 40:05

Nice, awesome. So, Kenny, what I'd like to do with you if it's okay, is I'd actually like to follow up with you in six months, have another interview like this one, and I just want to see, you know, where you're at and see if you've accomplished goals, those goals. Is that okay?

SPEAKER_01 40:18

Oh my goodness. I love accountability, especially the friendly accountability like this, because that truly is like six months from now, I could see myself, if I don't manage it accordingly, like being pulled in too many directions. And that was never my intention. So I'm gonna go on record with saying that as well, because I'll be very honest with you. Come uh late November, early December as we get towards the holidays and my graduation that that I haven't been pulling my spreading myself too thin. I still feel great. My mental health is strong, my wellness is strong because those are things that are incredibly important to me.

SPEAKER_00 40:54

All right, fantastic. And you're not just accountable to me, you're accountable to all my school believers out there, so no pressure. School believers.

SPEAKER_01 41:02

I hope they school believe in me.

SPEAKER_00 41:04

That's right. All right, Kenny, this is your time to shine. This is the time where I want you to advertise yourself. How do we get a hold of you and all that good stuff? Okay, ready, set, go.

SPEAKER_01 41:16

Thank you so much for the opportunity. Again, my name can my name is Kenny Stodder. You can f follow me on Instagram at uh Iron Minds Kenny, and you can go to my website, which is Iron MindAdvisors, which I ironmindadvisors.com, which I highly encourage people to do, not because my website's amazing, but if you look on the top of my website at IronMindAdvisors.com, there's a cool button that says take assessment or assessment, and it's a free tool. And I I love when people take their identity assessment. This is a tool that I built. It's 40 random fire questions that you finish, you get the results right on your PC or your phone. And it kind of gives you an identity-based assessment, not like your wellness, not it's it's a combination of the things that I think are very important in life. Ironmindadvisors.com, forward slash assessment. And then if you are a student athlete and want to take the same type of assessment, but that's designed for you, please check out forward slash assessment for your student athlete assessment that is guaranteed to make you better than any one of your graduating peers when it's time to graduate and move on to the next level. I promise you that because there's stuff in there that is foolproof. I tell you that right now.

SPEAKER_00 42:35

Awesome. If you want to get any of that information, look into the show notes. I'll have links in there for you. In case you're driving or you just can't get to a pen or something like that, you didn't want to forget, look into the show notes. I will have links there. Kenny, thank you so much for being on the Undiscovered Entrepreneur. Get across the storyline. Fantastic conversation. I had an absolute blast.

SPEAKER_01 42:55

Me too. I school believe in this thing, and it's gonna be great. And uh I appreciate your time. I'm really looking forward to following up. I'm a man of my word, so six months from now, we'll see how much of a man of a word I am.

SPEAKER_00 43:09

We'll see how it goes. That's awesome. All right, come on now. All right, Kenny, thank you so much for being here. All right, school believers, make sure you stay tuned for the wrap-up. Okay, everybody. Bye-bye. All right, school believers, that was Kenny. What a fantastic episode we had with Kenny. I loved everything he said. He had so many insights about imposter syndrome and the experiences that he had going through everything. But I wanted to make sure that you heard the two major takeaways, and here they are right here. The person that you're comparing yourself to, the one who looks like they have it all figured out, looks like they got everything polished and looks fantastic, really doesn't know what's going on inside of their head any more than you do inside of your head. You two can be and more than likely are exactly the same in your thinking. What do I need to do next? What's the next step that I need to take? Things like that. But the moment that you ask for help, the moment that you raise your hand and say, I need help with this, it's the moment that your real life begins because now people are helping you. People are showing you the way. People are already showing you what they've been through, and you can use that as a shortcut so you can get past the barriers that they have already crossed. Never be afraid to ask for help. Never compare yourself to somebody else. Compare yourself to yourself. Compare yourself to yourself a week ago, a month ago, a year ago. Look at the progress that you made in your entrepreneur adventure. From beginning to where it is right now, and then where it's gonna go in the future. Execute your ideas because your ideas are yours, and yours alone to do. And this is one of my favorites. If you walk inside the room, you belong in that room. You're supposed to be there because fate has put you there in that room. The only thing, the only person that thinks otherwise is you being in your own way, thinking you don't belong in this room. Where the universe has put you there for a reason. And then when you go in that room, people aren't judging you. Even though it feels like you're judged being judged, even though it feels like I'm gonna I mean, you could talking to yourself saying I'm gonna ask stupid questions, so I'm not gonna say anything at all. No. People are actually wanting to help you. People with the same mindsets, people with the same thinking, they're all working together. And you need to become a part of that if you want to thrive in your entrepreneur adventure. More than anything, I think they're just grateful that somebody else showed up. A new mind to ask questions about. Because they will also ask you questions. They want to know what's going on in your head too, and what they can learn from you. Understand what that actually feels like, and you will go ahead and succeed. And with that, I'm gonna say thank you, Scooby Levers, for another fantastic episode. Thank you so much for being here, and I will see you next week. Okay, everybody, thank you, bye bye. This is an undiscovered legacy production and prod member of Pod Nation Media Network.