0:03

Welcome to your career

0:03

2.0 Launchpad presented by the

0:06

entrepreneur source, my name is

0:06

Mike toper. And it feels like

0:11

it's been a matter of time

0:11

before I get these guys here to

0:13

join me. I'll introduce them.

0:13

We've got Jim and Brian. And

0:17

we'll start with Jim, just give

0:17

us an introduction of yourself.

0:20

Good morning. Thanks, Mike. Jim

0:20

dolliver with the entrepreneurs

0:24

tours, I'm a career transition

0:24

coach for the entrepreneur

0:26

source and just happy to be

0:26

here, especially with you,

0:31

Brian. He's, he's a neighbor,

0:31

almost a neighbor. We sit at

0:37

opposite sides of a mountain in

0:37

the San Francisco Bay area. So

0:42

if if I had the ability to be a

0:42

drone, or jump on a drone, I

0:47

could probably Brian's house and

0:47

minutes. But it is a 4000 foot

0:53

hill slash mountain depending on

0:53

where are audiences listening

0:57

and viewing us. But someday,

0:57

Hey, Brian, I love to climb

1:00

mountains. As you know, I climb

1:00

mountains all the time. I have

1:04

no excuse. I should climb over

1:04

the mountain and come and visit

1:06

you. So anyway, JD you already

1:06

know ain't no mountain high.

1:15

This is gonna be the common

1:15

thread throughout this video

1:18

podcast is Mike singing to us.

1:18

Thanks. Thanks. Thanks for

1:23

having us. We got the coffee going. Brian,

1:24

could you tell us a little bit

1:26

about yourself here? Sure. I'm Brian stratco. And I'm

1:27

a client of the entrepreneurs

1:33

source. And I am now a proud

1:33

owner of a no H two O franchise.

1:42

As Jim said, I also live in the

1:42

Bay Area near this really great

1:47

mountain. And what I really love

1:47

to fly fish. And so that's how I

1:56

get out into the world and see

1:56

things I probably wouldn't see

2:00

otherwise. Excellent. And Brian, let's

2:01

start with you. First of all,

2:03

can you just tell us a little

2:03

bit about your work history?

2:07

Before tea? Yes, sure. Yeah. I I'm a longtime

2:09

wildlife conservation person as

2:16

well as a water conservation

2:16

person. So I've been in the

2:20

nonprofit space for over 20

2:20

years. Most recently, I worked

2:25

at The Nature Conservancy, and

2:25

was the Water Program Director

2:30

for California. And then prior

2:30

to that, I worked at California

2:35

trout, which does help the

2:35

waters of California too. But of

2:40

course, it's related to fly

2:40

fishing, which is another reason

2:43

I was there. And prior to that I

2:43

have a history and in working in

2:48

in Africa. Yeah. And speaking and that's

2:50

the transition there. Obviously,

2:54

with water, you know, in your

2:54

career, when did you come to the

2:57

point where you felt like you

2:57

needed to change? Or I should

3:00

ask what inspired you to look

3:00

towards a new venture and to

3:04

reach into something different? Well, it was a couple of things.

3:06

I think, first of all, I, during

3:13

COVID, I was home a lot, and I'm

3:13

sure this is the case with a lot

3:17

of people home a lot. Seeing my

3:17

kids, I have three wonderful

3:22

daughters, beautiful wife, two

3:22

dogs. And I lived in a great

3:27

place. And I was able to spend a

3:27

lot of time with them. And for

3:35

me, that was really important.

3:35

And prior to that I was

3:38

commuting an hour and a half

3:38

each way, almost every day. And

3:44

while I love the work that the

3:44

Nature Conservancy does, it was

3:48

it was time for me to think

3:48

about some something else to be

3:53

more with my family. And then

3:53

the second reason I would say

3:57

is, is because the work in

3:57

water, especially in California,

4:04

and places as dry as California

4:04

can be really taxing. It's hard

4:10

to make any headway. It's very

4:10

politically fraught. And I

4:16

wanted to try something new that

4:16

would help me feel like I was

4:21

making a difference on a more

4:21

frequent basis.

4:26

Excellent. Yeah. I certainly

4:26

your background that you

4:28

described has been rich in in

4:28

making a difference and, and

4:32

let's move over to JD, our

4:32

coach. Now. How did you meet

4:35

Brian? And what were the

4:35

conversations like with him when

4:39

he came and said, You know, I'm

4:39

looking to try something new

4:42

here. Right, right. Well, Brian, Brian

4:42

came to me. You know, we really

4:47

kind of found him through a

4:47

LinkedIn sourcing messaging. And

4:53

you know, he was one of these

4:53

individuals that you don't get

4:56

very often as a coach, but it

4:56

just the way he respond 100 was

5:00

sure, yeah, let's let's get

5:00

together. And you know,

5:04

sometimes at this beginning

5:04

point, there's there's some

5:07

questions, there's some

5:07

hesitancy. But Brian wasn't that

5:11

way. Well, suffice to say that

5:11

the next few months of

5:16

conversations were just similar,

5:16

very, very accommodating, very

5:21

friendly. Brands, just one of

5:21

these guys that almost

5:25

immediately go, I can hang out

5:25

with this guy. Now, there were

5:29

some real commonalities. We

5:29

talked a lot about church and

5:33

our involvement in our church,

5:33

we come from the East Coast. So

5:38

we kind of have that, you know,

5:38

East, coming all the way west.

5:42

And now we're in California,

5:42

we've been in California long

5:44

time. We have that connection to

5:44

the east coast. But we love it

5:49

out here in the West. And there

5:49

was just something about

5:52

everything. You know, he talked

5:52

a lot about his family, I talk

5:56

about my family, which isn't

5:56

typical of a coach, it's more

5:59

about you, not about me. And I

5:59

could, I could feel this

6:03

commonality we talked about his

6:03

Bachi games on, you know, the

6:08

week and, and it was just fun.

6:08

And, and then of course, as I

6:12

said, he's relatively close to

6:12

me in geographically. So we

6:18

could talk a lot about the world

6:18

around the San Francisco Bay

6:22

Area, and the outdoors, as you

6:22

know, we're both outdoorsy in

6:26

our, in our heart and soul, fly

6:26

fishing, I tell you what, it

6:30

takes high intelligence and

6:30

patience to be a fly fisherman.

6:35

I don't have high intelligence,

6:35

and I have no patience. So it's

6:38

kind of kind of odd how we

6:38

connected but somehow we did. So

6:43

anyway. And you can you talked a little

6:44

bit about just going off along

6:46

that How important was that

6:46

relationship? Because you guys,

6:51

for those listening? Can Can you

6:51

describe that a little bit you

6:53

guys kind of develop this relationship, like you said, where you felt like you

6:55

connected? You know, how

6:57

important was that and, and

6:57

trying to explore something

7:00

different? Well, go ahead, Brian, because I

7:01

started started into it, but

7:05

maybe from your side. Yeah. As JD said, we connected

7:07

on LinkedIn. And I was kind of

7:14

looking to see if there were

7:14

some things out there. I had

7:18

recently started a small

7:18

nonprofit, and I knew that

7:22

wasn't going to make enough

7:22

money for our family. And I was

7:28

still looking for something.

7:28

And, you know, once we talked

7:32

the first time, it was it was

7:32

like, we were kind of old

7:37

buddies or something. We were

7:37

able to just get along from the

7:44

start. And, and I gotta say, JD

7:44

has been was really open to just

7:52

being patient. And to making

7:52

sure that my needs were being

7:58

met. And honestly, this this

7:58

came from I knew it was coming

8:04

from the heart. I knew I could

8:04

tell that he was doing this

8:09

because he cared about people.

8:09

And then because we got along so

8:14

well. That he actually had my

8:14

interests in mind.

8:20

Yeah, that's fantastic. And and

8:20

for you JD What was it like?

8:25

Mentoring Brian you mentioned

8:25

you know, he's a he's a go

8:28

getter you know, right. He knew

8:28

a lot about what he wanted to

8:32

tackle something What was it

8:32

like mentoring him?

8:34

Yeah, um, you know, I sent this

8:34

to some of my fellow coaches we

8:41

were talking a little before we

8:41

got on live and we get together

8:46

some of us get together and

8:46

collaborate together as coaches

8:49

to become better coaches and

8:49

very positive very positive

8:52

mindset in these these weekly

8:52

calls, Zoom calls. And I was

8:59

describing this quite a few

8:59

months ago about Brian and the

9:02

journey and as I said, it was it

9:02

was almost too simple. It was

9:07

almost too simple. It was almost

9:07

like you know breaking bread

9:10

with them every more it you

9:10

know, there are times when I

9:13

look at my schedule for the next

9:13

Daniel Bryan's on it this is

9:16

great because you know we're

9:16

progressing well of getting to

9:21

know his you know, his goals in

9:21

life and truly what what drives

9:26

him and what is his goals are up

9:26

against lifestyle and income and

9:30

wealth and equity but it was

9:30

really you know, waking up in

9:33

the morning all right, I got

9:33

Brian today so it wasn't as

9:37

though it was you know, complex

9:37

in any way. It flowed well never

9:46

had this feeling like oh, boy,

9:46

are we you know, are we moving

9:50

along? Because sometimes clients

9:50

will go you know if they've got

9:55

a certain we call it a DISC

9:55

personality disc communication.

10:00

But But Brian was always I know,

10:00

we've got things to accomplish

10:05

today and we want to be

10:05

productive. He always held to

10:07

the I get this, I know we have

10:07

to be productive every week. But

10:12

at the same time it was, let's

10:12

get to know each other. And I'm

10:15

going to really let you get to

10:15

know what drives me. He talks

10:19

about, you know, this, this

10:19

importance of being around his

10:22

family and his friends. And I

10:22

could really get that as we

10:25

progress through each and every

10:25

week. But I don't know if I was

10:29

patient, Brian. But But I am,

10:29

I'm pretty patient, and I let

10:37

this journey really unfold. So I

10:37

never have a timeline. But Brian

10:42

seem to know that there is a

10:42

timeline and there is a time to

10:45

be productive throughout each

10:45

one of these. These meetings.

10:50

Does that answer the question?

10:50

Mike? I don't know.

10:53

Yeah, Jack. Okay. No. 100%? And

10:53

for you, Brian, you know, let's,

10:57

let's look at can you can you

10:57

describe for us how know, h2o

11:01

is, is going for you and how you

11:01

feel that? You know, I guess

11:06

your overall career and your in

11:06

your work life is right now?

11:09

Well, me, first of all, I have

11:09

to say that JD, because we had

11:16

that, that immediate pour, it

11:16

was easy to feel trust, I think

11:23

both ways. And when you're in a

11:23

place where you're not sure

11:28

where your life's going, and you

11:28

really do want to come up with

11:34

something kind of new. And I had

11:34

never stayed home and worked all

11:41

the time, you you really need a

11:41

coach. And I think for every

11:49

part of the journey, and the

11:49

patients I talk about is that JT

11:55

always talked about it as an

11:55

exploration. And that really

11:59

sang to me. And that's what I

11:59

needed to do as an explorer. And

12:04

then we went we found no H two

12:04

O. And I got to talk to some of

12:13

the folks at Fastlane. And

12:13

thought about my water

12:19

background and nonprofit

12:19

background. It really is one of

12:23

these opportunities to do good

12:23

while doing well. And it's hard

12:31

for me to see myself doing just

12:31

well. And meanwhile, I could

12:38

spend more time with my family,

12:38

I could continue to have

12:43

camaraderie with JD, and he'll

12:43

follow this I know for a long

12:50

time. So it's going well at no

12:50

age to Oh, it's it's definitely

12:55

a Scurry. It's we're it's a it's

12:55

a startup in a lot of ways here

13:00

in the United States. But

13:00

somehow that matches my

13:03

personality a bit. I like to

13:03

break through barriers and try

13:08

to find new solutions. And what

13:08

I'll say to is everybody at no

13:13

h2o in the headquarters,

13:13

including Emmet, right at the

13:17

very top, they see the value in

13:17

us as franchisees improve

13:24

helping provide ideas,

13:24

solutions, move the company

13:29

forward, not just be a

13:29

franchisee, and that I think, is

13:35

paid a lot of dividends. Last

13:35

thing I'll say is I I'm one of

13:40

the original few franchisees in

13:40

the United States for for no

13:47

h2o. And to be able to have that

13:47

ground up relationship with the

13:54

company, I think is really

13:54

helpful for me, because we're

14:01

all kind of in this together.

14:01

And, and that it makes me feel

14:07

like they got my back if I need

14:07

something, and I have theirs.

14:13

Yeah, that's excellent. That's,

14:13

that's what makes the dream

14:15

work. Right. One last thing I

14:15

want to ask and this is for you

14:19

JD you know, obviously, you've

14:19

been in this position as a

14:23

coach, but you know, what kind

14:23

of advice would you have for

14:26

somebody like Brian who may be

14:26

seeking a career change and, you

14:30

know, maybe in something with your passion, something completely different. Is there

14:31

any advice you would have for

14:33

somebody? Yeah, thanks. Let me go back

14:34

real quickly, Brian, I love

14:39

that. Doing good while doing

14:39

well. I've written it down I'm

14:44

going to share it. You know,

14:44

Mike, Brian, what I do in life

14:48

is a steal shamelessly from

14:48

others. And I will always give

14:52

you guys the credit because I

14:52

don't I can't come up with

14:55

anything creative and

14:55

innovative, but it's Something

15:00

that I really love to do and

15:00

give you credit. So I love that

15:04

because there's so much to that

15:04

meaning but to your to your

15:07

question Mike and I do get to

15:07

points eventually, is the fact

15:15

that we're most of us really

15:15

rely on the people we love and

15:24

respect the most. But when it

15:24

comes to potential pivots in

15:28

life, especially from our career

15:28

perspective, sometimes those

15:33

people are just too close,

15:33

they're, you know, they're just

15:36

too close to the subject matter

15:36

to you as the as the as that

15:41

person. And they love you, but

15:41

they protect you. And they don't

15:44

want you to veer too far right,

15:44

or left or forward or backward.

15:49

They want to keep you safe. And

15:49

I think, as as a coach, and

15:55

again, I'm surrounded by amazing

15:55

coaches and entrepreneurs

15:58

source, it was the great one of

15:58

the greatest decisions of my my

16:02

life outside of marrying my

16:02

wife, Liz. But it really was an

16:07

incredible decision. Because as

16:07

a coach, I look at it and I say,

16:11

I can be that person with no

16:11

biasness don't know you at all,

16:18

and be able to just, you know,

16:18

provide you some feedback while

16:22

asking you some questions about

16:22

what's what's most important to

16:25

you? What's most important to

16:25

you moving forward? What are the

16:28

some of the things that you

16:28

don't, you know, don't want to

16:31

do as much if you had your

16:31

choice if you had a magic wand?

16:35

And were able to say, what if I

16:35

had that magic wand? You know,

16:39

what do I want to do more of

16:39

what I want to want to do less

16:41

of what do I want to accomplish?

16:41

As Brian just said, you know,

16:46

doing good while doing well.

16:46

It's it's relying on somebody

16:51

like myself, to just, as Brian

16:51

said, eventually, possibly trust

16:57

to me, that I'm here to just

16:57

help even if it's this much, I

17:03

mean, to be honest, you know,

17:03

the majority of my clients will

17:06

find some fit a new job, the

17:06

startup gets going, where you

17:14

don't have to pivot to an a

17:14

business, whatever it is, but

17:19

it's helping out even if it's

17:19

just a tiny bit helping out with

17:25

that, that pivot in their lives,

17:25

to find the good fit for them.

17:29

And that's, you know, that's my

17:29

goal, and it fits my personal

17:33

mission statement that will

17:33

never change. And I just love

17:37

helping people out. And, you

17:37

know, Brian told me to get out

17:40

of the way eventually, by the

17:40

way, I'm a very conservative

17:45

person, and I make people do

17:45

their time I make them do their

17:49

validation, and he literally did

17:49

tell me, I got this. I remember

17:54

the word, Jim. JD I got this.

17:54

It's like, No, you don't have it

18:00

yet. But he did. He did have it.

18:00

Much so much brighter than me.

18:05

So I finally had to say, I gotta

18:05

quit coaching. I gotta quit. You

18:09

know, being so conservative.

18:09

He's got this.

18:12

You know what, and doesn't take

18:12

a mountain to divide. You're

18:15

free to come together. Oh, going

18:15

onward and upward here. So

18:21

that's human, Brian. This has

18:21

been your career 2.0 Launchpad

18:26

presented by the entrepreneur

18:26

source. My name is Mike Soper.

18:29

Hope you got something out of

18:29

this. And JD and Brian, thank

18:32

you so much for joining us.