Alex Morris:
Welcome back everyone to the coaches, to the moon podcast. I'm here with Colin Scotland. He is a business and marketing coach for vision driven entrepreneurs. He's got a master's degree in marketing, which I'm really keen to talk about, and he's also a bit of a jujitsu hound, and he's really good on the map. So really keen to talk to you, Colin. Thanks so much for being here today, mate.
Colin Scotland:
Wonderful pleasure to be here.
Alex Morris:
Forward to it. Fantastic. Now as a fellow Englishman, I know you're in England, I'm in Sydney, Australia. I've got to say I got up at 5:00 AM to watch the Euro finals a few weeks ago with a cup of tea and a bacon butty and the energy and tension here in Australia. Having been here for 20 years was insane. I can kind of imagine how it was back in the Homeland. How was it?
Colin Scotland:
Unbelievable man. Unbelievable. Yeah, I mean, I wasn't, I'm not old enough to remember the last time England got anywhere near, as far as that in a, in a major tournament. So it was the whole nation where w was a light. It was amazing, amazing. We didn't get the result, but, you know, get into where we did and the experience it was just man, it was phenomenal, phenomenal.
Alex Morris:
It was really cool to see. And it was really cool to see when we say to him full as well after everything, we've had a full stadium full of people singing three lines, that kind of thing. It gives you goosebumps.
Colin Scotland:
Definitely, definitely. There's the small things, the small things after the, after the 18 months that we've had, it was just, yeah, it was really nice, man. Really nice. We needed it.
Alex Morris:
We did, we were deep in that at the moment here in Sydney, actually, we're a, I don't know how many weeks into a lockdown we are, but they've given us a date and we're all going back and we're very excited and just hanging on and feel very, feel very blessed to have a digital business, which is why I love having people on like use today. So your website, your page, you mentioned that you work with vision driven or mission-driven entrepreneurs. I'd just love to know what you mean by that, what it means to you, why you've chosen to work with these people.
Colin Scotland:
Yeah. So it's, it, it didn't happen at the beginning of my journey as a coach. It kind of, it, it, it, it was a realization that I had. It was a common thread for all the people that were working with me that were attracted to what I do is that they have a, a purpose, a reason for being that is bigger than greater than themselves. So I want to help these people to achieve X. I want to bring this, this vision I have for what I know in this field to life or to the world. And so it was always that that was always the common thread, you know? So I want to, to rid the world of, of poor conversions, I want to re help married couples to really reconnect a deep, deep, emotional, spiritual level. So there's always like a, there's always something outside of you at play.
And so it's, that was the common thing that I seen in a lot of my clients. And so, so, you know, as you do, when you are looking to find a niche, it's not a job that you do and forget, it's something that you continually do, so you do, and then you review and then you do, and then you review, right? Just like anything. And so it was it was a re it was triggered from a realization that that was a common, a common commonality amongst the majority of the people that came from my coaching. And if you think about it, there's a, there's a beautiful quote by nature, the German philosophies that, that says he, who has a strong enough, why can bear almost any how, because the journey of building a coaching practice, building a consulting business, it's not an easy one.
It's like climbing up a mountain, right? There are storms and all kinds of stuff that goes on that, trying to blow you back down the hill. And so you really have to have an inner strength to, to make you take that step to make you hit record, to make you hit live on that button, because you know, that that little, that little voice inside your head tells you not to do it. And so I think, I think having that connection in the first place is the thing that allows you to do the work that's required. And so, so it was part of my journey of finding that, that I'm refining, what that niche was for me.
Alex Morris:
It's really interesting and really cool to hear as well that that quote come out of you, because I believe that when you see the people really making an impact in this world, their, their, why is so much bigger than them and the person I think of the most is Elan, Elon Musk, his why being get humanity to Mars, which just sounds insane. And it's going to be a dream that's just so far beyond his lifetime, but he would work 18 hours a day to do it. And I truly believe that that guy and a lot of people up at the top end do not care about the money. They care about the mission and that intense care helps them to get the money, but obviously they need to get themselves out there. And that's why they need marketing because often people with the ideas, don't also have the skills to get there, right? They need to hire people like yourself who can help them implement.
Colin Scotland:
Definitely. And it, and it, it all kind of, it all treated all triggers from this, this reason for being this reason that you do what you do, you know, why, why is it that you get up in the morning and do this? Why are you spending 18 hours a day in this particular space? What's the reason for that? What's the, what's the reason inside of you to make you do that. And when we look at that, it really opens up a load of a load of doors that are pathways to growth growth for you as an individual, but also growth for your business because you hit roadblocks of, I don't know how to do this. I don't know what that looks like and hit internal roadblocks. If I don't feel like doing that, I don't feel like I'm able to do that. I feel like an imposter when I do that. And so, so really that looking in is the pathway to that, to that growth. So it's a really, a really, really big and powerful subject, man.
Alex Morris:
Well, your cover photo on Facebook says marketing plus mindset equals growth. And it's clear that you're very passionate about the mindset part of it. Which a lot of, you know, I suppose I'm overlooking that I've realized in my own business, I'm, I'm pretty metrics, numbers driven. I get excited by the creative, but the mindset is something I'm going to have to take away from this and focus on a little more, which is great. I don't want to talk about the marketing now, but in the biggest compliment possible, man, talking to you for five minutes, you remind me so much of Brian Cox, the astrophysicist, just in the way you're so calm and you talk with your hands and you're going to be beautiful gestures. It's already really a lot of fun talking to you, man. That's a lovely, lovely start to the podcast. And so I'm going to try and remember, I've got some stuff written down, some letters written down. I couldn't remember them, but after your name, Colin Scotland, BA honors MSC dip, M M C I M. I know you've got a master's degree in marketing. Can you just break down all of your qualifications quickly before we get into the next question?
Colin Scotland:
Yeah, I'll do it super fast because it's not that interesting, right? The first is a bachelor's degree in business. The second is a master's degree in, in marketing. The third is a postgraduate diploma in marketing and the third is a member level certification with the chartered Institute of marketing. So the S I M is like the, the, the body for marketers in the UK. And I used to lecture for those guys. So it's a, it's like a full MCOM member. You've got to have 10 years senior marketing experience within, you know, running a business, doing all kinds of director level stuff. So it's just basically, and it's a, it's a, it's a qualification. That means I've been around the block, right? That's it.
Alex Morris:
A hundred percent of it looks very impressive, man. Look, I can't really put Alex Morris, marketer and Certificate Three in Commercial Cookery at the end of mine.
Colin Scotland:
I don't know. I'm feeling quite peckish this morning.
Alex Morris:
It's a good break from the computer. I'll tell you that, but it's not conducive with the the, the family lifestyle hospitality anymore. You know, so I had to marketing came as a bit of a means to an end at first, and now that I fell in love with it. So yeah, obviously a super qualified dude. And I'd love to ask you this with absolutely no pretense that I'll be offended by your answer, because I have no official certification at all to be doing my job and running my business. I've just learned through a lot of work and a lot of mistakes. And do you believe that it's important to have qualifications in the area you're coaching and what do you think is the biggest difference between someone who's studied this subject at uni versus someone who's just learned from online courses and experience?
Colin Scotland:
So, I mean, that's a great question. I think the, the, the, the academic academic skill is very abstract. It's very kind of textbook, it's it, it doesn't always translate to the real world. So my journey's a little bit unique right? In that I, I did the academic thing. I was lecturing in marketing. And then during that journey, I built an online business alongside being a lecturer. And the stuff that I learned in business school just didn't translate into real life. They did, they were like completely alien worlds. I would try and apply the stuff that I'd learned, and it didn't kind of didn't work, right. It was like, what is this? There's a big gap between what the people in the textbooks tell you and what actually works in real life. So I built a business and it went bust and I lost everything. And then the, the thing that brought this, these two things together is the devil is in the detail, right?
So I really don't think it matters a jot, whether you have 500 qualifications or zero qualifications. I think what really matters is your ability to drive results for that person that you serve in. So your ability to get that person from point a to point B or wherever they want to go to, that's really what matters. Look, the, the qualification, it gives a level of credence, doesn't it? You know, you wouldn't go to a doctor that doesn't have a doctor's degree, right? To know that that certificate lets you know, that when they see you open, they're going to be relatively good at what they do because of all of that schooling. So that I'm not saying it doesn't matter at all because it adds a level of credibility. But if we look at, if we look at, if we look at buy-in right, this is something that fascinates me.
The buy-in process that we all go through in our, in, in our minds, which is marketing tries to kind of address that when we buy, we buy because of pathos, we buy because of emotional connection, we don't buy because of well there're three reasons we buy, right? Pathos, emotional attachment, emotional connection. We buy because of ethos, which is the credibility, which is the certificate. And we buy because of logos because of our brain kind of rational brain telling us how and what and why. This is the best thing for us that we could possibly do. Pathos drives 80% plus of the buying decision. We, we feel like this is the right car for us to buy. We love the sense of wanting to own that particular piece of clothing or whatever it is. And so, so in that process, credibility, ethos is just a very small part of it.
If you're looking to employ your coach. I you're the first person in probably three years, that's asked me about my qualifications, right? Because it's to the, to the people that come in, it's really about how can you get me from here to here? It's that rich results driven. So from that sense, if you are, if you're qualified, great, if you're not qualified, don't let it be. Don't let it stop you from realizing that vision that you have for your life, for your family's lives and for the lives of those people that you come into contact with in service. Because if you can do the work, that is the measure for me, that really is the measure.
Alex Morris:
Yeah. So the question, it very much answers the question and it's a very interesting, one of my first guests on this podcast was a friend of mine who is a health and fitness coach. He's kind of like a bodybuilder as there are hundreds of millions of these jobs out there, but this guy is his job, you know, degrees in exercise science and nutritional science, all this stuff. And I said the same question to him. What do you think about your qualifications? Do people need to be qualified? He said in fitness, there's obviously safety. You've got to take into account, but that's about where it ends. It's can you get results because there's a plenty of overweight doctors out there. There's plenty of, there's plenty of like you said, people who've done a business degree that have no applicable real life skill. So no, it really, really cool question. The answer, sorry, the I'm interested about the business degree because I'm sure you didn't do it in past five years or so, but do you know if there's any modern social media marketing at all in those courses these days,
Colin Scotland:
They, this, this, cause I'm still involved with the CIM, the chartered Institute of marketing, right? And they have a series of qualifications. I used to teach on their post-grad qualification. I used to teach marketing communications. And so what happens with these institutions is they, they, they introduce, there'll be like a social media marketing module. There'll be a digital marketing module. But the, the, the problem with a lot of academic stuff is it's all, it is all abstract. And so they teach social media marketing from a very very kind of lofty perspective. And they'll talk about brand value and they'll talk about awareness campaigns and consideration campaigns and decision campaigns. And they'll talk about the different channels and what they do and what they don't do and all of that. It's really quite sterile. So if you're looking to get, if you're looking to hone your knowledge and skill, which we all do, we all have to do on a daily basis, right. We're constantly working on our ourselves growing out and developing our, our skill, our mastery, right? So it plays a part in that sense, but from a practical, how do we, how do we basically get leads and sales on social media? There are better pathways and something like that, for sure.
Alex Morris:
Great. Yeah. I'm not in any way considering going and doing some sort of qualification. Firstly, don't have the time when, since these babies came along and a second late stool didn't finish very well. So I'm not even sure how, you know, academic level at the tertiary center would work for me. So know that's, it's just cool to hear it from a, it's a completely different perspective. Everyone I know is winging it and doing our best winging it. And some of us are doing fine. Some of us are not. So do we, we had a quick little Quip before this started, where I mentioned your motto which was create every day and you picked up a sticker, let's say great. Every day, immediately. There it is. There's clearly something you do stand by it. And you do have a lot of like an incredible amount of content on your page. I went on your Facebook and there's like a new blog every day. And you seem to be really walking the talk there. Why do you think it's so important for entrepreneurs to create every day?
Colin Scotland:
So it's really rather simple, right? If, if I, if I say, look, I, I love to help people. People that are driven by something inside of them that feels bigger than they are, right. People that have this burning passion inside that they want to realize as a coaching business, as a consulting business, to free up, to retire their husband, to be able to quit their full-time job. And these kind of burning desires that people have. I say, I want to help people like that. And then if you look at, if you, if you look at my world online and you see like tumbleweeds and crickets and this page about me and all of my qualifications after my name, nobody cares about any of that, right? Nobody cares about those. You know, that those years you spent studying and all of those things, all they care about is how they can realize that burning desire.
Colin Scotland:
And so part of that is you creating the content that helps them to realize that burning desire. Because if you want to go from a to Z and I produce content for you, that genuinely takes you to be, and to see then guess what that's done. All of a sudden, you're like, oh wow, man, Colin can help me to get to Z. He's already helped me to get to see. So, so now the decision to look to Colin, and I'm just using me as an example, right? But to look to that as the example, as the person that can get you to those end results becomes a much easier one. So you don't have, as, as a coach consultant, you don't have to sell because already people come to you and they see, I call it your ecosystem, right? They see all of this super helpful content in your ecosystem.
Colin Scotland:
So the important thing to think about is the journey that you take people on in your process with what you do. That's what you should create content around, not what you see out in the world, oh, 10 ways to do X or a checklist for this or a PDF for that it's, it can be a PDF. It can be a checklist, but the content that you create really has to be focused on the journey that you take people on. And if you, if you allow yourself to, to give that freely, then man that just sends ripples out into the world. People look at you and they see all of this content and they are moved. They're moved on their journey, which brings them closer to you as a potential client. So it's kind of a win, win, win, win, win, right. You know? Yeah,
Alex Morris:
Absolutely. It is. And it, you know, it doesn't feel too bad as well. You get used to it when you post three times a day and you don't get engagement on all of them and they just disappear into the midst of social media somewhere, you stop caring about that so much, like how much engagement you've got when you love just creating. And I think I post six times a day or seven times a day, and I've got very little engagement on all of it, but I really love the process and writing my captions and creating my videos and doing this podcast really, really beautiful and fun. And hopefully that reflects because for you, I can tell you're having fun. You know, when you talk about stuff.
Colin Scotland:
Yeah, definitely. And you know, you hit on something really powerful there as well. Alex, it's that having fun in the process and enjoying the process of creating the content and pushing it out because you really have to live in the process. If, if you are focusing entirely on how many likes did that get? How many engagements did that get? How many clients did I get from that? Then you'll always, you'll always come up short and you will always end up feeling, you know, feeling like rubbish and not wanting to make, not wanting to realize that vision, that you have, that, that driving force behind what you do. So you really have to focus in on the process, Seth Godin calls it, the practice, right? You, he talks about loving what you're doing, what you love is for am. It is loving what you do is for professionals. So actually enjoying that process of what you're doing is, is really part of what we're talking about here. And creating as online business owners, creating has to be part of that process. You can't build an online business without creating IP, intellectual property assets around your skills and expertise. It's very difficult to do that, right?
Alex Morris:
Yeah. And it is on the other side, difficult to get started doing it on a consistent basis as well. But once you get into the flow and you realize that people do respond and every now and then you'll get a message or a phone call or an email from someone who's seen something that you forgot about. It's a very, very cool feeling as well to know that someone's listening every now and then
Colin Scotland:
It's always there. It's always there, right? So we produce a piece of content today, this content that you and I are creating right now, right? It will, it will, it will get pushed out as an episode. It gets pushed out onto the social media channels and people might not watch it right now while you and I are chatting necessarily. But in three months, time in six months, it becomes part of the tapestry of your ecosystem. So people go, oh, you know, let's binge watch half a dozen of Alex's episodes on the podcast. And, and, and it's part of that journey. And part of that ecosystem that you're creating. So it's never, if you take time out of the equation, it's never a success or a failure. It's always only a good thing that you create content.
Alex Morris:
That's going to be a lovely little soundbite for a lot of people who place a lot of weight on how much engagement they get on social media and, and rely on those external factors as to how well they think they're doing. Because it is, it is just a lot of fun to be able to have a business where you can talk about what you love and love what you do. In hindsight, I didn't start loving metrics and, you know, daily campaign reports and pixels and stuff, but I'm learning to love what I do. And it's really, really cool to talk about it, man. I would've never thought that back when I was in school. So that's very, very good. Have you created anything today or is this your creation today?
Colin Scotland:
Actually, this is creation, right? So just this conversation is his creation. So I'm going to hide behind that and say, yes. Right.
Alex Morris:
You're rocking it, man. I'm lucky to get to my desk by 11:00 AM. Most days, you know, with the girls and the nappy brand, you're busy. Can you, it's a big job. It's a big job, man. But I know you were talking about to begin to coaches and people maybe in that first year or two or that business still figuring stuff out. But, but for you as a guy, you've you've built a business turning over millions of pounds and then lost it all again. Hope you don't mind me talking about that at all. No, but then risen from the ashes again into Colin Scotland, the man you are today, what advice have you got for any beginning coach out there who may be struggling to pay their bills, but still wants to put everything they have into growing their business.
Colin Scotland:
Don't give up. I think what we've just said about social media and content creation encapsulates this it's, if you haven't had success, just put the word yet on the end of that sentence, you know? And, and, and then refocus your energy on the stuff that's happening inside you. That's driving you to do this and it might be you, it might be physical. You know, you might need, it might be food on the table needs. It might be your family. It might be the people around you. It doesn't matter what that driving force is. Tap into it, reconnect to it. And you know, we everything's energy, right? And we're like, we're like little radio, little radios. We can choose our radio in to that energy of, I can do this. Right. I can, I can make a difference. I can put my self out there. I can put what I know and love and know to be true.
I can put that out there in faith, in trust, in hope. And I can continue to do that, even though right now, I don't feel like it. So you can decide how you show up. And I would just encourage you to continue to show up in that energy of inspiration of awesomeness that, you know, you can unleash on the world. Don't give up on that. Don't give up on that. You know, you've got to be practical. I've been in a position where I couldn't pay my bills, where I lost everything in the world, literally everything I owned in the world. Right. So I know what it's like. Not to be able to put food on the table, you have to do what it, what it takes. I had three part-time jobs where my business went bust. I was teaching jujitsu. I was working as a tech in a school. I was doing all kinds. I was doing, I was a part-time marketing manager for a jujitsu organization. I was doing all kinds of stuff just to basically pay the bills. No individual job paid the bills, but I did what it takes. And then when I was exhausted at the end of the day, I would sit and start working on what my coaching practice looked like, because that was where I felt called to, to kind of move, you know? So don't give up, don't give up.
Alex Morris:
Really respect that man. Really respect that three, three part-time jobs is not easy. One part-time job is not easy, but not putting food on the tables harder. Right. And then hustling. Of course.
Colin Scotland:
Yeah. So you've got to, you know, you, you, you've, there's a time and a season, isn't there for hustle and for doing what it takes and you have to do that. But then once you've done that, once you've got that base level, once you're fed and watered, then get back to that connection, get back to that driven purpose and give it all of the, you know, all of the energy that you, that it deserves. You have a duty to bring out in you the thing and the difference you can make in the world and in people's lives that need to hear what you've got to say.
Alex Morris:
It's really, really beautiful, man. I was going to say, you don't give off the energy of a hustler, but obviously there are the seasons and that's a, there's a sewing season and the reaping season, or there's the hustle season and the flow season, or however you like to voice it in, in all that coaching language. But you seem like a really calm dude. Who's managing to do quite a lot of stuff without giving off that you know, work all day, never sleep kind of mindset, which is nice. I don't like that mindset.
Colin Scotland:
That's the that's the, the reward of doing this for, you know, over time. So the, the stuff that you can create and create and create, it's it snowballs it accumulates. So that at the end of it, you've got a world that brings in clients that converts people into people, wanting to work with you. People get on a call with me and they're like, I feel like I know you're calling, I've watched this, I've learned that I've followed. I've took that course. And I'm like, how can you know, how, how does it work for me to get from here to there with you? So all of that stuff allows now the freedom for you just to kind of, you know, go in I'm in the flow, right? So you just kinda go in the flow and create every day and continue to add to the snowball. So it, it does, it does become, it becomes easy, right? Because not because it is easy, but because we've made it. So by doing all of that work under the surface, you know.
Alex Morris:
I do know, I love that. And I'm waiting, you know, I'm on early in, I'm only a year into my digital marketing company taking it seriously. And so I'm really looking forward to getting into the position you're in now, but for now I'm enjoying it. And I can tell you, enjoy your job. You're a very, very happy dude. And I really appreciate you hopping on this chat with me today to service the one or two people who are watching now and the six or seven people who might listen to it, listen to it on the podcast later on
Colin Scotland:
And the infinite number yet to yet to have ears to listen. Right? So there are, there are an untold number of people that will listen to this message in the future,
Alex Morris:
A hundred percent, a hundred percent. And I think the more you're on it, the more people will appreciate it. So I'm going to need you to come back every week now, Colin, because you make me feel like a very happy dude. And I really, really appreciate having you on best of luck to your son, going to uni best of luck to you empty nesting for the first time. And thank you very much. I'm gonna plug and tag you as much as I can, but Colin Scotland is the man here. It's been a pleasure having you on I’ll thank you once more so you can get a final word in.
Colin Scotland:
Thank you. So Alex has been an absolute pleasure. Love, love, love conversations like this. So thank you for the opportunity, man. I appreciate it.