121: How this former professional golf player left the daily grind to be a location independent entrepreneur with Colin Morgan
On this week’s episode, I speak with Colin Morgan who is a former professional golf player and the host of the popular podcast The Daily Grind.
Colin interviews today’s most successful business owners and people, in hopes to inspire the next great entrepreneur.
Listen on to hear more about Colin’s journey and how he was able to leave the daily grind.
RELATED EPISODES:
- How this former accountant quit his job to make money on the road.
- How to become a location independent writer.
- How to create more opportunities for minority travelers to see the world.
Listen Below:
Show Notes:
Debbie:
Hey everyone, thank you so much for joining us today. I’m so excited about today’s guest. I am here with Colin. Hey Colin, how are you?
Colin:
Debbie, I am fantastic. Thank you so much. And thank you so much for having me on this amazing show.
Debbie:
I’m really excited to have you here because you have a lot of different tips and tricks to give us, but before you do that, can you tell us a little bit more about you and why you live an offbeat life?
Colin:
Of course. Just a little bit of a background, sports was my thing growing up, so I was never really into school. My career choice was really sort of up in the air for a long time, but one thing was consistent and that was sports. I excelled in it. I eventually got a full scholarship for golf and thereby after turned professional. So I played professional golf for four years. I’d been kind of living an offbeat life my whole life. Being a professional golfer on mini-tours is very similar to starting your own business. There’s a lot of time commitment to it. You don’t make a lot of money and the money coming in is sort of an unknown. You don’t really know when you’re going to be getting that paycheck. I decided after four years that I wanted to do something different.
A lot of that stems from the pain I went through my early years and I knew that golf was no longer the avenue that was going to take me to where I wanted to ultimately be in my life. So, that transition for me was super hard. I went through a time of trying to start a whole bunch of businesses and failing and due to just searching for money. I probably went through about 8 to 10 jobs during a three-year span and not because I got fired, it was because I got tired with something and I wanted to start something new. And then, I realized that I needed to do something different, if I was going to get what I wanted in life, I knew I needed to do something different. I had to deal with my past.
I had to understand the behaviors and habits, which got me to this point and I need to recreate new winning thoughts and new winning behaviors into my life. And I started working with my father where he had a startup helping businesses find funding. I did that for two and a half years and then, I fell into podcasting and it was something that I just was doing selfishly to learn from amazing people like yourself, Debbie and people out there who had accomplished what I wanted to accomplish. And after a year and a half, I realized that “Wow! I could actually take podcasting and turn that into a full-time job”. And due to that, it allowed me to do so many things and really follow my passion which is to prevent abuse in sports and help small businesses with marketing and a whole bunch of other things, doing some consulting on the side. But that’s sort of my journey in a two-minute span. But, really, through a lot of pain, a lot of learning, a lot of investments, I’ve been able to kind of get myself to this point.
Debbie:
You had gone through a lot of different things from sports to a business with your dad, which I’m sure was really interesting. And now to podcasting, what has been the greatest lesson that you have learned throughout all of these different journeys that you’ve had as an entrepreneur?
Colin:
There’s definitely a few, but for me, I always had difficulty taking direction. I felt for a long time that I had all the answers. If I took a course or if I learned from an expert, I was now the expert. And if they didn’t listen to that expert, I wouldn’t listen to them. So, I had this sort of personality where I wouldn’t take advice and I felt like I was better than most people. And just humbling myself and realizing that you know what? The most successful people in the world are insatiable learners and they don’t have all the answers. One cool thing is that from all these successful people I’ve had the ability to speak with, and you could probably speak this too, Debbie, is when you’re sitting down with someone like that, you go through a 30-minute conversation and you realize that they’re asking you all the questions. It’s so funny that they’ve accomplished so much in their life, but they just want to learn more. They’re trying to look for that little thing that you’re doing that they can incorporate in their life. So, that was sort of the real turning point for me is when I went from trying to think that I knew everything to really realizing that, you know what, I’m going to take a beginner’s attitude to everything I do and I’m going to try to learn as much as I can.
Debbie:
It’s interesting that you say that, Colin, because I always find the people who are the most successful are the ones like you said, are always learning. And I have really looked at people and I love people watching. Maybe it’s The New Yorker in me. I love watching people when they talk to each other and the ones that are really successful are the ones asking all the questions and also are very good listeners. They listen to what you have to say. They want to really learn from you. I guess when we’re young, we can be very stubborn and we all have that attitude that we know everything. But I think as you grow older and as you make more mistakes, you realize that you don’t know anything and life gives you a really big push back and then you realize that, “Wow! There are things that even newbies will teach you, something that you didn’t know. So, there’s always something to learn”.
Colin:
Yeah, and I think it happens through all ages, but it definitely happens when you’re young because you’re becoming your own person. You’re starting to branch out from your parents, have your own thoughts, and what you want in life. So, everything that they say to you, you kind of push it away like, “No, no, that doesn’t make any sense. I’m not listening to you”. But you’re really right, you can really listen and learn from anyone, whether it’s a kid or someone older. And I think people who are older you can learn a lot from.
Debbie:
Yeah, absolutely. And you have spoken to a lot of really big names in the entrepreneurial world. And I do have a lot of listeners here who are very much afraid to go and speak to somebody who is very successful. How were you able to do that, Colin? How do you approach these big names in the business and actually get them to talk to you, interview you for their show or you be able to interview them for your show as well?
Colin:
I think one of the most important jobs I ever took was selling international real estate and pretty much all I had to do Debbie was get on a phone. There was an automatic dialer sit there for five, six hours and call 250 people. And I realized very quickly that a lot of people are going to hang up on me. A lot of people are going to tell me to go blank myself, don’t call again. But, it really is a numbers game. So, out of every hundred, maybe I had two really good conversations. So, I understood the power of just persistence and consistency, and I built that muscle of not really caring if people didn’t want to talk to me or had no interest in coming on my show. So, that was really important for me.
I knew even from the beginning that I would reach out to 20 people who I would view as mentors and very successful people. And I knew out of that 20 that probably 19 were going to tell me “no”. I just knew that from the beginning. And because of that, when I did get a no it didn’t hurt, I didn’t feel like I was personally being attacked. Like, “I’m a loser. I’m not there yet. I need to make this amount of money for them to talk to me”. And with podcasting, it’s funny that people really want to share their story. Successful people want to help people. And I would say out of the first 20 that I sent out, I probably had 10 come back and tell me “yes”, which was mind-blowing to me. I think most people have that fear and that’s why they don’t ask to begin with. And you’d be surprised if some people that will say yes to you, even if you don’t even have a show name because that’s what happened to me.
Debbie:
That is really incredible. And if you think about it, everyone starts at the very beginning with nothing, right? So, I’m sure once you become really successful, you understand the struggle that this person has and you want to help as much people as you can because truly successful people raise each other up and they don’t want you to fail, they want to see you succeed. So, that’s a really good lesson you learned working in real estate, Colin, and now you’re taking that with you to your new business. It’s really interesting because we fail often, but if you see it not as a failure but as a learning lesson, you will always take that with you and actually makes you succeed even more when you learn from that.
Colin:
So true. You’re going to fail a lot and it’s not necessarily failing, it’s just you. You tried something and maybe it didn’t work or people like to say “fail fast”, but it’s more so about pivoting quickly. I think if we start using the word pivot that makes more sense because I don’t think it’s the right decision for you to just stop something. If you’ve done it for a week and you’re not seeing any results, don’t stop – just pivot. What can I do differently? Maybe one day I’ll come back to this, but what can I start doing differently?
Debbie:
Yeah, absolutely. That’s a really great way of putting it, actually. So now, Colin, you are no longer a newbie, obviously, you’ve started different businesses and now you’re here in podcasting. Is this your main business now or do you also have other side businesses as well?
Colin:
I have multiple but this is the hub. Everything I do stems off of podcasting.
Debbie:
Which is pretty incredible, by the way. And it just shows you that podcasting can be done and it can be a business. Now, was there anything that you had wished you would have asked yourself before you became an entrepreneur?
Colin:
I grew up in sports. So, it’s different when you’re an entrepreneur as to when you’re an athlete where you can’t just be like, I’m going to be a professional golfer tomorrow. But you can say that about entrepreneurship. So, for me, I was such a beginner getting into business – I knew nothing. So, I wish that at the very early stages or as I was getting into it, I just learned to sharpen my tools a little bit. Get into that learning mode a little bit quicker. Again, not be as stubborn. I feel like if you do those things, that could have saved me a whole bunch of time and not trying to do everything yourself. I think that’s something that when you’re starting a business or if you’re trying to do something, you feel like you have to do it on your own so it’s yours. And I just think that’s such a small way of thinking and I’m telling you by experience – it just doesn’t work.
Debbie:
And we always have this fear that if we let other people in, they’ll take something right? Or whether it’s an idea or it’s income coming through and we don’t realize that the more you spread it out there, the bigger it gets and it helps you as well as other people. So, it’s a really good thing to do. And like before, it’s a very common mistake that we all have when we were first starting this. So, I’m sure you’re not the only one and I definitely did that when I started too, Colin.
Colin:
It’s so natural and even working with my father, we were helping startups. So, we would have so many people want us to sign NDAs, non-disclosure agreements for people that don’t know what that is. So we wouldn’t steal their idea. And then, we would hear their idea and they want to open a restaurant, like, “Really? There are a million of restaurants out there, there’s 15 on the same street you want to open it on.” And that’s really the same thing to just know is that really no business is new. And everyone’s busy. No one’s going to steal your idea unless you go to Steve Jobs. No one’s going to steal here.
Debbie:
It’s not like you have the secret recipe to Coca-Cola. If you know something similar to that then an NDA is always good. And the thing is, even if somebody has a similar idea or they steal it, they’ll never have your voice. It’s never going to be your voice, right? It could just be the starting part of it, but it’s never you. If you had these incredible ideas already, don’t worry. You’re all good.
Colin:
And even if someone else is doing it, that’s another thing. Even if you have a great business idea and then you research on Google, you’re going on your phone and you’re like, “Oh shoot! I missed out my opportunity. There are already four people doing it.” That’s actually a good thing. That means that the business model is proven. Now you just have to go and find your little piece of the pie in the space. You don’t need to take over Facebook. You just need to find your little piece. Especially if you’re just trying to live an offbeat life, you don’t need $50 million.
Debbie:
And that’s the thing If somebody’s doing it already, it means it works. So, it’s less research for you to do because now they’ve done all the legwork for you, so, thank you to whoever did that.
What is the biggest setback that you are encountering right now, Colin, as an entrepreneur?
Colin:
For me, I think this is something that a lot of people struggle with and I sympathize to it, is that we have so many ideas on a daily basis. I come up with something else that I could be doing and oftentimes you give it a shot, as I had mentioned for a week, and then you realize that it’s not really fitting in or you’re not going to be able to put in the amount of time that you can do or you don’t have the skills to do it. You just really need to look back on, and I struggle with this so much. I sympathize for anyone out there doing it. That’s why I’m saying it. This is my biggest struggle, but you really need to have your own set of principles or vision for what you want in life and it needs to be clear.
So, when you have a business idea pop up, does it fit into what you want? Because if it doesn’t fit into what you want, there’s no point in putting energy and effort into it or giving it any sort of time. But if it does, now this is something where you really need to create a plan for yourself as to how you can start to accomplish that. And it doesn’t matter if you do it in a week, it doesn’t matter if you do it in two years, as long as you’re putting time towards it – that is what matters. But for me, like everyone else, it’s so many things coming in. So many ideas, so many different things I could be doing, so many ways in which I could help my audience. But what are the ones that really fit into what you want and your lifestyle and how you want to live?
Debbie:
It’s definitely the shiny object syndrome. We get distracted by so many different things every day. And because you also speak to so many different and incredible entrepreneurs, I’m sure you’re getting a lot of ideas from them.
Colin:
Especially early on. You’re like, “Oh my God! That could work.”
Debbie:
And you don’t know where you’re going to be putting yourself into. So that’s a really big struggle for a lot of people. Especially, since you speak to so many different people. I can’t even imagine.
Colin:
But what I’ve found is there’s a common outlet nowadays. I’ll say, beginners, the way they’ll consume content, whether that’s listening to a podcast or reading a book, or taking a course, is that they’re sort of doing it for motivational purposes. They don’t really have that niche. They don’t really have that thing that they do, so, they’re just listening for something. They’re sort of find that idea which will spark their motivation or inspiration to do something. Then, there’s a group where people sort of are starting to develop that niche. They’re starting to become that expert and they’ll listen to shows in order to get tools and tactics like, “What can I do in order to take my business to the next level?” They’re looking for those little nuggets and then, the high performers, what they do when they consume content is they’re looking at things like, “When Debbie speaks, how does she engage with her audience? What sort of language does she use? When she’s reading her ads, why is she placing them there? What’s working for her and why” – that is what they’re looking at. So, it’s really interesting the sort of the different buckets of learning that you’ll kind of go through. And even if you’re the beginner, just know you can maybe start learning like an expert, but just always have that in your head of like, “What is, how is that person where they are?” And really try to dissect that. But there are different buckets there.
Debbie:
Yeah. It’s interesting the way their minds work and you can definitely learn from that. And as you said, just the way somebody speaks, you can learn from that and how they approach things, how they approach different people as well because everyone has a different personality. So, it’s a different approach for each different person that they go to. It’s really interesting. I’m sure with your podcast, you do that a lot too. When you’re listening and when you’re speaking.
Colin:
It is and you really learn. Even for myself, I always try to learn and get better. Even as I’m speaking to you now, I’m starting to realize when I listened to experts, it’s amazing how calm and clear they’re able to present their message, like the way in which they communicate is amazing and oftentimes, even for me, I’m so excited to get something out that you’ll stutter over words. You’ll say things twice because you’re so excited to help people, but just look at top performers, just listen to them. Look at the way they look at the person interviewing them. They do it with such conviction. It’s amazing
Debbie:
And it makes you trust them. Everything that they’re saying is the truth and you will believe everything they say, and that’s a true gift right there.
Colin:
It is.
Debbie:
Colin, one of the things that I think we don’t really know and understand before we become an entrepreneur or a digital nomad is how isolating it can really be at times, right? There’s a lot of loneliness or especially when you’re just starting out and you’re not surrounded by people who are in a similar industry. No one really understands what you’re going through unless they’re in the trenches with you. Have you ever encountered loneliness as an entrepreneur, or as a digital nomad, or as a location independent entrepreneur, and how do you usually handle those?
Colin:
A hundred percent. To answer your question, is it lonely? Yes. When you’re doing something different from other people and other people don’t understand what you’re doing, it’s difficult because you feel like you’re the only person doing it. You don’t have friends people talk about all the time, right? You are the five people that you spend the most time with and you’re sitting back as an entrepreneur and you’re like, “How do I connect with people like me? There is no one like me. My friends are, have a job or my parents don’t understand what I’m doing and think I should be doing something different”. I think A; is to be empathetic to what other people are thinking and knowing that they just don’t understand. It’s not that they don’t want you to succeed or it’s not that they want you to see you fall on your face.
It’s that they don’t understand what it is that you’re doing. And there may be a bit of a jealousy thing there where they have to go into work or they never were able to start a business and they see you and just naturally they’re like, “Oh! In my life, I wish I had that. So, A to be empathetic and B is to really find people out there and it’s difficult to do. The way I’ve sort of tried to do it with my audience is to create a little inner circle group where I put people in packs of five who are at a similar position but share the same vision. So, you’re able to hold each other accountable and you have people that you can actually speak to. That’s one way I’ve tried to do it because I’ve tried so many mastermind groups – I don’t know about you, Debbie.
I’ve tried coaching, I’ve tried all of these things. Have gone to events. They just don’t seem to work for me because I feel like I’m just one of a million. Like, “Where do I fit?” But as I get into more intimate groups, that’s really when you see your creativity and other creativity, people’s creativity come out and that’s where I think the real magic happens. So, to answer your question, it is just finding just a small group of people. You can either do that through someone’s inner circle group or you can do that through just friends or reaching out entrepreneurs. It’s difficult and know that it is lonely, but people really want to see you succeed. They maybe don’t understand what it is that you’re doing. So you feel very defensive when you’re in those settings.
Debbie:
I think we’re also really lucky with what we do in our podcast, Colin because we speak to so many different people and a lot of my mentors and friends now are the people that I have interviewed. Because they are in a similar field or they have those types of mindsets that we just need around us. So, if somebody wants to do this and they don’t have a podcast, I would suggest just reaching out to them, right? Like you had mentioned and you don’t need to have a podcast to do it, just pick their brain and you would be surprised how many people will be willing to speak to you and then, it’ll start your inner circle of the people that will understand you. And like you said, being empathetic to others who are not in the same field as you is also really important to really keep your sanity. Otherwise, you’re just going to be in the corner rocking back and forth when you’re not speaking with anyone.
Colin:
How many business podcasts are there? There are thousands. And the amazing thing is you could probably go through a bunch of episodes and a lot of people will provide you with their personal email address – experts in these episodes, or phone numbers even, or free training or books. You can literally funnel through a whole bunch of things and after a week you would maybe get on a call with three experts, have email addresses of five people you never thought, and have a bunch of free books. It’s amazing what you could actually do because it’s all out there.
Debbie:
Absolutely. There’s just an endless amount of resources. Now it’s just to funnel the ones that are right for you. That’s going to be a little more difficult. But if you figure that out, that’s going to be good and you’re going to have so many different information available to you.
Colin, how were you able to finance your chosen career at the start and how do you continue to create income today?
Colin:
At the beginning stages, it was working with my father that gave me the base to be able to go out and have the freedom to be able to go out and do what I want. So, if you have a job, look at that as actually an asset for you. You have money coming in, take your free time, maybe don’t binge watch Netflix, which I get because there’s a lot of good shows and try to do something to start. All it takes is just a little bit of time, if you put in 15 minutes a day, I’m a big believer that 15 minutes a day is way more effective than just finding a spirit of motivation and working for four straight hours. It’s consistency, it’s momentum, it’s keeping up with it that’s really, really important. Now, over time as I was working with my dad, I was able to start a podcast.
I was able to build my toolbox – learned skills. Then, eventually, I was able to fund what I’m doing through all these different things and I could really be a true entrepreneur and do it all on my own. And now again, you have this base which allows me to now be creative and other ways and maybe the base is bigger, but it’s just you have what you have and now it’s like, “What’s that next stream of income?” I think you hear all the time that the average millionaire has maybe six or eight streams of income and all of us are just focused on one. Focus on, “Okay, this is a stream of income that’s built. It will continue to grow, but what’s next for me and how does it fit into my vision and what I want? But really if you’re trying to do that, the biggest thing is having a strong sense of self-worth. We all have goals and visions and what we want in life, but if you don’t feel worthy of those goals, I really think that’s something that a lot of people struggle with. And if you don’t have that self-worth, it’s impossible to reach them.
Debbie:
It doesn’t matter how much you make, if you don’t have that self-worth, then you’re going to end up losing it very fast because you don’t feel like you deserve it. So, it’s a lot of work to do internally for yourself, but it’s such an important thing to do aside from just the business part of it. I think we all have gone through that. You definitely have gone through that, Colin, from sports to a business with your family, and now for yourself. It’s always learning and a progression of some sort, whether it’s business or yourself.
Colin:
Absolutely. And the way to get through that, if someone’s going through that, and maybe you feel that way or you don’t know you feel that way, but you’re not where you want to be is just to start getting really used to winning. It doesn’t have to be a massive win. It could be as something as you woke up today and instead of having a breakfast sandwich, you had a smoothie. Wow, that’s a win. Good for you. You took a step forward towards bettering your health. Maybe you did five pushups today, you haven’t worked out in a year. You did five pushups today – that’s a win. You don’t have to go to the gym for an hour. Create momentum for yourself. Just start off by doing one. And when you do one, I guarantee tomorrow you’ll want to do two and then go ahead and do two and the next day you may want to do three or you may want to stick with two, but just stick with something that you can do every single day. And if you can start to have those small wins, it will build up that sense of self-worth and your self-confidence.
Debbie:
Yeah, and also I’m really excited to talk to you Colin, for our extended interview because you have your five pillars to getting what you want. What do you call it? The fist method.
Colin:
The fist method. The five pillars. If you want something, if you have a burning desire to have something amazing in your life or you want to create a change, you are where you are, but you have that endpoint of where you want to be and if you’re struggling to get there, this is going to help you.
Debbie:
I’m really excited to talk to you about that because you have some really incredible tips. Colin, let’s fast forward to 50 years from now and you’re looking back at your life, what legacy would you like to leave and what do you want to be remembered for?
Colin:
I love these questions. Even going back in time, going forward in time. I want to be remembered by a bunch. I just want to be someone who really helped people. And the area in which I feel like I can help people the most is through my own pain. So, for me, I went through abuse in sports. I was mentally, physically, and sexually abused and for a long time was very difficult to admit that and it was very difficult to get over that. And with pain you can either internalize it and just keep it there and what it does is just eats away at you and eats away with you and you don’t deal with your problems or you can use that pain and fuel it into something positive and to help people who may be going through what you’ve been through, especially this day and age, is a big epidemic. In sports, it’s massive. I think we’re just starting to see little peaks of what is actually happening and I hope that I could be one part of the change that happens.
Debbie:
Yeah. And it’s really crazy because we are at a day and time where we have such big voices, especially with Social Media and Internet and we have all of these platforms, but I think especially in sports and with men, you are not really expected to say anything. Often it’s women that you hear “abuse” and then with men, you feel like you have to internalize that because you’re a man and you have to deal with that. I think, like as the abuser, they expect that and they expect you not to say anything. And for someone like you to come out and to be able to show others, to show other men and also women that you don’t have to be silent for this and you have a voice and you will be heard is so crucial and so important for anyone listening who’s going through with it right now.
Colin:
And just knowing that other people have gone through it and will go through it – for me that was huge. I think especially being a male, being an athlete, you grow up in a locker room setting where it’s like, “You’re supposed to be macho.” There’s this sort of masculinity to being an athlete and then to have something like that happen almost takes that away. But then, to realize that actually some of the most successful people in the world have been through that and learning about those things and hearing stories and figuring out that and understanding that it’s not your fault could really couldn’t have done anything differently. I think it’s really empowering and more people need to come out. I agree with what you’re saying.
Debbie:
Yeah, absolutely. Just hearing your story is really important for all of us to hear as well.
Is there any question that you wish people ask you more of?
Colin:
That’s a really good question because as you think about it, like a lot of things pop in my head, but I’m trying to give something that most people should ask.
I’m a big believer in behaviors and habits. So, I think that understanding what people do on a consistent daily basis, whether that be in the morning, afternoon, or evening, I think there are consistencies to what makes people great and what allows people to perform at the levels in which they perform at. So, I wish people sort of dug deeper into daily habits and routines and ways in which you can kind of get yourself into a flow state and high-performing states. I don’t see a lot of people asking me that question. I know I like to ask that question, so I would recommend other people ask me that question, but also ask others that question,
Debbie:
Which is really important, by the way. So, are you working on anything right now that’s really exciting to you?
Colin:
I had mentioned I kind of working with universities. I’m looking to go on a big speaking tour here in the fall and the spring to universities to spread awareness about abuse in sports. Also, I kind of sprinkled that in. I started an inner circle group, something that I’m super passionate about, which allows entrepreneurs who are feeling lonely, who do feel like they’re the only ones going through that. And then, maybe other people can relate or comprehend what you’re trying to accomplish. This just puts you in a group of five people who share the same vision, who are at the same point as you, gives you a group leader so you’re able to sort of grow together and hold each other accountable. So, those are the two things that I’m super excited about right now.
Debbie:
That’s really exciting and I can’t wait to learn more about that. If our listeners want to know more about you, where can they find you?
Colin:
You can visit my website DailyGrindPodcast.com. You can also follow me on Instagram. That is probably the platform in which I am most active and if anyone has any questions or wants to reach out directly, I’d be happy to share my email address, which is colin@dailygrindpodcast.com.
Debbie:
Perfect! Thank you so much, Colin, for speaking with us today. I really appreciate all the knowledge that you gave us,
Colin:
Debbie. Thank you so much. Keep doing what you’re doing. You’re adding so much value to people’s lives. I appreciate it.
Debbie:
Thanks, Colin.
Listen to Colin’s extended interview to learn the 5 pillars to getting what you want.
What you’ll find:
In this episode, Colin Morgan shares the 5 pillars to achieving success and getting what you want. He will dive into how to know what is possible and how to achieve them.
