Your business coaching mission, should you choose to accept it, is to lead small business owners towards profitability and success.

Should you or any member of your team fail, the local business owners will disavow any knowledge of you and of your actions. This post will self-destruct in five seconds :o)  Good luck, Coach.

Enter: Mission Impossible music.

I went to go see MI with my wife and kids and holy cow. It’s a regular day at the office for Ethan Hunt and his IMF (Impossible Missions Force) team… motorcycles at mach speed, bike and car crashes, skydiving, gunfights, MMA style fights with no cage and death for the loser, jumping off buildings, double-crosses left, right and center, aerial acrobatics that’ll make Cirque de Soleil jealous, and not to mention… not one but three nuclear bombs to diffuse. I’ll stop there so I don’t play spoiler in case you haven’t seen it yet :o)

Last time we chatted I was on a fast food high (low??) of McDonalds and Subway…. here I wanna talk MI and Tom Cruise magic when it comes to accomplishing the impossible.

Here are some business coaching and leadership lessons I got from my boy Ethan Hawk while at the movies:

Technology is your friend:

Ethan Hunt and company always have the latest and greatest tech. There is no computer they can’t control, no satellite they can’t hack, no level of security they can’t bypass and no technological advancement they have not taken advantage of.

Lesson:

If you’re a business coach and you’re not using tech like autoresponders, squeeze pages, list building tools, building your list, webinars to reach more ppl (your first one will likely suck… but they’ll get better, you’ll get better and ppl will start to show up), online calendars, screen sharing software, apps of all shapes and sizes… you’re doing yourself and your clients a disservice.

Preparedness:

There are three categories of events to be prepared for… (1) those that can be expected, (2) those that can’t be expected and (3) those that can be reasonably expected.

The IMF shows up nowhere without ropes, tablets, trolleys, pulleys, machinery, helicopters, computers, raw materials (those masks are so cool??!?) and most importantly, all the training required to put it all to very good use.

Lesson:

Respect your client. Before you sit down with a realtor… if you know nothing (plz don’t be delusional the way SO MANY coaches are – Tony Robbins and Tim Ferriss study their subjects prior to an interview – maybe you should to) about real estate you’d be surprised how much Jedi magic you can learn in 30 minutes with your buddy Google.  I repeat, RESPECT YOUR PROSPECT (OR AUDIENCE, IF YOU’RE SPEAKING).

Total Focus: 

Ethan Hawk never lets his team forget the end goal. The IMF never deviates from that end goal and it’s always a matter of life and death. The whole storyline is a constant and almost never-ending series of twists and turns (welcome to business coaching peeps). There is another disk to be stolen, underwater Houdini act required to get loose, satellite to hack and wall to scale. Through it, all Ethan remains focused and he keeps his team focused.

Lesson:

If your end goal is to help your small business coaching client put $100,000 in their bank account within 90 days of starting your relationship…. then do it. It’s not about “doing what they pay you for”…  it’s not about fulfilling the terms of the agreement… it’s not about being present for the weekly coaching call… it’s about DOING WHATEVER IT TAKES! You’ll be rewarded in spades, I assure you.

Accept the risks:

In the last edition of my magazine, Jeff Bezos is quoted as saying “I knew that when I was 80, I was not going to regret having tried this. I knew that if I failed I wouldn’t regret that. I knew the one thing I would regret is not ever having tried. And I knew that would haunt me every day.”

Taking monster risks is pretty much the premise of the entire Mission Impossible franchise.  Not to mention Tom Cruise actually does almost all the stunts in the movie. He broke his ankle on this one and the show continued.  Ethan Hunt will take any and all risks associated with a successful mission for him and his team.

Lesson: 

I offered a money-back guarantee for the first 10 years of my coaching. Had little to no problems and the only thing it did do is MAKE ME UP MY GAME. I remember running my first live presentation where “I guaranteed to solve any marketing problem on the spot” with a full house of pretty savvy entrepreneurs in the room. Absolutely CRAPPED MY PANTS before it started and questioned my sanity… pulled it off with spades and went on to do many more. BTW I stole the idea from Tony Robbins who got his start when he “guaranteed to cure any phobia on the spot” and received all kinds of publicity.

The first time I “guaranteed to find any small business owner $100k in 45 minutes without spending a dollar on marketing or advertising” I crapped my pants then too. I’ve now perfected it and turned the process into software any business coach can use.  What risks are you taking that make you “crap your pants”?? It’ll help you grow… and maybe get you some new underpants :o)

There you have it for my night at the movies.

Also drank a large Coke and the biggest bag of popcorn they had. Enjoyed every minute of it.

Mission Impossible broke all kinds of records at the box office, so next, I’m going to deliver how I’ve created “World Record Weeks” for myself and my clients for many years. 

Made myself and my clients’ tens of millions of dollars in the process.  Busy day ahead but will try to get it out by tomorrow for you.

Thanks for tuning in,

Karl Bryan