Begin With a Vision with Ben Spangl

Begin With a Vision with Ben Spangl

Kelly Kennedy: Welcome to episode 94 of the business development podcast. And on today's expert guest interview, we have Ben Spangl mindset and performance coach, speaker, entrepreneur, and he is going to set your 2024 off, right? Stick with us. This is one. You're not going to want to miss

Intro: The Great Mark Cuban once said business happens over years and years value is measured in the total upside of a business relationship, not by how much you squeezed out in any one deal.

And we couldn't agree more. This is the business development podcast based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and broadcasting to the world. You'll get expert business development, advice, tips, and experiences, and you'll hear interviews with business owners. CEOs and business development reps, you'll get actionable advice on how to grow business. Brought to you by Capital Business . Development, capitalbd.ca.

Let's do it. Welcome to the Business Development Podcast, and now your expert host, Kelly Kennedy.

Kelly Kennedy: Hello, welcome to episode 94 of the business development podcast and to all our lovely listeners out there. It is New Year's Eve. I hope that you guys all are having an amazing night and are thinking ahead for the new year.

We have an absolutely amazing next level guest for you today. We have the privilege of hosting a true Mestero of the mind. A renowned mindset and performance coach, entrepreneur, and the dynamic force behind The Pursuit podcast. Joining us is none other than the transformative Ben Spangl. Ben has made a remarkable mark in the world of personal development and his insights have catapulted The Pursuit into the top 1 percent of all podcasts globally.

As an entrepreneur, speaker, and devoted family man, Ben not only shares his wealth of knowledge, but also his personal journey of triumph over adversity. From the trenches of financial struggle to doubling his business income within a year, Ben Spangl is the embodiment of turning dreams into reality.

Today, he's here to unravel the secrets of unlocking your mind's potential and creating a life of unparalleled happiness and success, Ben, it's amazing to have you. What a perfect time for it.

Ben Spangl: Kelly, thanks so much, man. I'm so happy to be I have to say, I think I'm going to start bringing you everywhere I go.

That might have been the nicest introduction I've ever had. Well researched. Thank you.

Kelly Kennedy: No, it's an absolute honor, dude. You know, I hadn't came across you until we came across each other on LinkedIn. And I think initially, when I'd reached out to you on LinkedIn, it was because I was connecting with other entrepreneurs and podcasters in the area, because frankly, we're.

We're both from Edmonton. It's a small community. There's not a lot of us and trying to connect and learn. And you know, me, me being a fairly new podcaster, I guess if you're listening to the show, yeah, we're probably coming up on 90, I guess it's 94 episodes is what we're at today. But the reality is in the podcasting world, I'm a youngen and I'm a youngen and Ben's got me by leaps and bounds.

Today we're recording. It's actually his. Third anniversary as a podcaster and I have yet to reach my number one. We're, we're getting close. It'll be a month away at this point, but man, you know, congratulations.

Ben Spangl: Thank you so much. You know what? The trajectory you're on is amazing. Yours is ranked quite high.

You probably already know that if you check out, listen to us, your top 5%, even though just starting at this year, which is incredible, but just to give you. Context, I'm, I'm on, what are you on? We've done, we've released 98, something like that. A hundred and some odd. Now I guess but you're already done that many episodes.

So I mean, yours is it's, I know it's doing well and it's, it's going to continue exploding. So it's really exciting.

Kelly Kennedy: Thanks dude. Thanks. I really appreciate that. I never know where I'm at half the time. You know what I mean? Those statistics, we'll have to chat about it after the show. I'd love to learn kind of where you got those from.

You're ranked in the number one. So I, I still got a ways to go to catch up to you. And, you know, like I said, before the show, it's, it's absolutely an honor. In the podcasting space, when you start a podcast and we talk to a lot of people on the show who are interested, you know, I'm sure you've got lots of reach outs of people who are like, Hey, I want to start my own show.

How do you go about doing this? So we definitely do try to get into advice. And I think, you know, there's a lot to talk about in this episode. Ben is an expert in mindset and it's the new year. It's like the perfect time to chat about that, but it's for me. I, you know, I mean, I'm, I'm, I'm a podcaster and I see somebody like you, Ben, who's been at it for three years.

And like you said, you know, it's dedication, it's commitment, but I don't think people recognize how much effort and dedication it takes to host a podcast. It is a heck of a lot of work. And you know what I mean? I, I feel like I'm standing in the shadow of a giant, whatever you say, I definitely feel when I'm standing next to somebody who's three, five, eight years, it is a hell of a commitment.

And I think you have to remember too, all of these podcasters for the most part. This is their side thing. This is the thing they do because it's a passion for them. They love it, but this is not the way that they make their day to day income. This is over and above, and it is a full time job over and above.

Ben Spangl: You know, podcasting is one of those things that it it's like, I've heard it said, everybody's got a book in them. You know, everyone's got a book in them, right? There's a lady Peggy McCall that teaches authors. Everyone's got a book and I don't, I don't know if this is entirely true. I've never heard somebody say this, but maybe everybody's got a podcast in them to though, you know, it's, it's a great way to explore.

I mean, it's great for business. Those that are entrepreneurs, obviously, which all your listeners are in business development of some kind. Right. But it's also great for just a great passion project too. It's a great way to connect with people. It's a great way to meet people as you know, that you would never get to meet.

I mean, you know, maybe you and I would have crossed paths, but unlikely. Yeah. I agree. Right. Yeah. You know, unlikely. And so I, I love it. It's it's one of those things that when I started three years ago, November, 2020, November a little bit longer than that, I guess. But when I started three years ago, I had no idea where it was going to go and what it was going to turn into.

And. But it's an amazing thing.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah. Yeah. And I love that you say that cause it's so true. You know, I don't think anybody starts a podcast journey. I'm like, I'll tell you what my podcast equipment sat in the corner of my room for like a month and a half before I had the courage to pick it up. My fiance was like so when are you going to clean up that mess in the corner and go and do something with it?

And that night. Holy crap. If I don't do it now, I'm never going to do it. And so I went downstairs, I set up my equipment and I recorded our intro episode and the rest is history. It was funny, you know, you were commenting on, you know, the cadence and I told you before the show, it was frankly, just because I was probably a little dumb and naive.

I went with two shows a week because I knew. It's aggressive. It was very aggressive. I didn't realize it at the time how aggressive it was, but, it was a hell of a commitment and I knew, you know, I mean, I'm the kind of person that once I start something, it's like, damn it. Well, I did that. Now I just got to keep doing that.

And so we've done that, which is like, I don't know if I'll continue that pace forever. We're at least going to do it for the first year. We might reevaluate it after that. But yeah, it's been, it's been a heck of a aggressive journey and a hell of a commitment, but I'm very proud, Ben. I haven't missed a single one.

Ben Spangl: That's amazing.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah, it's really amazing. But if I would have talked to you before, I probably would have went with maybe one, one a week or one every two weeks.

Ben Spangl: Yeah, yeah, figure it out. I mean, you know, if someone's thinking that they really want to start their own, I think that's probably one of the things.

What do I actually want to commit to?

Kelly Kennedy: Yes, yes. And understand it's probably going to take three times the effort you think it is. It's important, but it definitely takes a little bit of effort. You know, okay, take me back. beginning. Who is Ben Spangl? How did you end up where you are today?

Ben Spangl: Yeah, I mean, I was I grew up in northern British Columbia and in kind of like a middle income household, but I'd say lower middle income household.

Life is good. I had good parents. I was at a roof overhead. I always had food to eat, but financially it was always struggles. And like many people, I'm not, you know, not unique in that way. And I just remember growing up. Us not really having a lot of money and, you know, everything had to be on sale, buying lots of stuff secondhand, which nothing wrong with that.

Still kind of shop that way today often. Yeah. But but I remember when I was a teenager and, you know, mom and dad always fighting about money and I just made this decision. I think I was maybe 14, 15. And I said, that's not going to be me, you know, I'm not going to do that. So I got my very first job working at a shell gas station.

I was a gas jockey pumping gas. You don't see too many of those anymore, but but at the time, yeah, full serve station and I just saved virtually all my money. You know, I think I'd saved up maybe 5, 000, which you're 15 years old. That's a lot of money, a lot of money.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah.

Ben Spangl: Right. And you know, my plan was I'm just not going to be like mom and dad.

And a couple of things happened during that time that were. Made an impact on me. One, I remember my, my parents couldn't pay their mortgage payment, but they knew I had this money. So they asked me to borrow money for the mortgage payment. There it is. My parents, of course, I'm gonna lend them the money.

Yeah, I wasn't upset about it or anything. They ended up paying me back. But it, it, I didn't realize it at the time. But again, it made an impression that, you know, I didn't want that to be me. But then second thing that happened was I had saved all this money for no real purpose other than I just wanted to have money.

Yeah. But at the time I was heavy into video games and Diablo 2 had just come out and you needed a much better computer than what I had. Yeah. To get it. So I dropped and at the time to buy a good computer is about 4, 500 bucks. Yeah. So here I bought this Dell, you know, it's probably a. Hunk of junk today, but at the time it was like, you know, stage of the art dropped all my cash on that.

And here I was back to no money. Anyways, you know, you kind of fast forward a little bit into my adult year, starting to work, started getting a construction and I had forgotten about those times, but I got into construction and bridge construction. And here I was, I'm working seven days a week, 12, 14 hours a day.

Tons of overtime. I'm clear in six grand a month. More money than anybody in my family had ever made at the time. Yeah. And And I'm still freaking broke, dude. Like, I'm, you know, paycheck to paycheck. Dating this girl at the time, and we'd save a little bit for a month or two, and then we'd spend it on something, and it just kind of perplexed me.

So then I moved out to Edmonton, where we are now. This is 2007 now, I was in my early 20s. Got a different construction job. Started making significantly less money. Still paycheck to paycheck, you know, got my apprenticeship, got my next race, still paycheck to paycheck. Yeah. And I'm giving you a long story of it.

But fast forward into end of 07 and I got an opportunity to start in the financial industry and that kind of started my journey of both business and sales. But it also, and thank God it did, it started my journey into personal development. And, you know, personal development is really what saved my life, if you will hands down.

So that's kind of like my start, I guess, you know.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah, no, that's, that's amazing. And, you know, I mean, I grew up very similar to you as well. I would say that we were, we were definitely a very middle class family. It was tight. You know, my mom and dad worked all the time. My mom worked late at night.

Sometimes my dad worked overnight. Sometimes my dad had a social maintenance firm and I remember growing up. Working going to work with my dad literally because he had to bring us with us because there was no one to watch us. So I would literally, you know, be sitting in the sitting in the lunch room or whatever while he's doing whatever work he needs to be doing.

And I remember at that time, because I did a lot of physical work with my father at that time. And I remember thinking like, my gosh, like, I don't want to live like this either. And that was very young, like, I came to that conclusion at like, probably 10 years old. Right. It was not going to be my life path.

And I have absolutely nothing against hard workers. I think it's absolutely, I have the pleasure to, to have most of my friends be incredibly hardworking people. And most of the people I know, incredibly hardworking laboring people. But yeah, I remember at that time just thinking like, you know, like my dad kills himself for this money and that's just not something that I wanted to do.

And so that really led me down my trajectory as well. And, and you know, I mean, I have the pleasure now of being in business development. I'm not sure that that would have happened. Had I not seen that up close or had I not lived in that kind of same scenario where, you know, the things that we really wanted, we're kind of off the table if, unless we could figure out how to get them ourselves.

Ben Spangl: Yep. I know exactly what you're talking about.

Kelly Kennedy: You know, like talking to you about your, your venture into the financial industry, we're, you know, we have some guests coming on that are in that space, but we've delved very, very little into it. What was it like, you know, coming from. The way that, you know, you experience life living paycheck to paycheck and then suddenly Being thrust into the financial world, tell me what that was like for you.

Ben Spangl: Well, I mean, it was super exciting. First and foremost, these were all foreign concepts to me. I grew up in a very much like hardcore employee type family. Both my parents were government workers. Many of my aunts and uncles were government workers, whether that was in teaching social work on and on and on.

So. And the mentality in our family was safety and security. Well, you know, when you get into a business like that, I mean, obviously, if you work at a bank, it's different, but you get into a business like I was in an M and it's, it's all commission, you know, so I had started on the side for 6, 8 months, something like that, and then jumped in full time.

And I fell flat on my face. I mean, I was, I was having fun doing it in the sense that it was new. It was exciting. Again, it got me into the world of personal development. I made some great friends, some wonderful friends of mine. And but yeah, I mean, I failed miserably for about three years. You know, I was working hard.

I was learning the skills, learn the business, learn that and hustling and doing all the things that I thought I needed to do, but I was not not getting the success. So it was a I'm sure you feel the same way. But when you start doing something for yourself like that, it's like a giant personal development package that.

May or may not pay a lot of money in the beginning, but as you keep getting better, eventually it's gonna get to that point. Yeah. And so, yeah, that, that was my first bit, for sure.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah, absolutely. You know, like te tell me. Okay, so you got into financial, you were there a long time. 16 years. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah. My gosh. Congratulations on an, you're a young, you're a young man. 37. Yeah. That's a long time for, for someone as young as you. Yeah. You must have learned an absolute ton in that. What was the point at which, you know, you decided Obviously, you know, you talk in your story about, about an event happening.

Right. It essentially catapulted you into changing your whole life. Can you talk to us about that event?

Ben Spangl: For sure. Yeah. You know, it's probably close to the day again here. It was November, except this was 2000 and 10, November, 2010. So I'd been three years in my business life, you know, failing pretty miserably.

And you know, and I'm talking just to be clear, you know, I'm talking like not making enough money to pay all the bills, stuff, getting into collections, being behind on rent, like all that stuff. You know, I remember I got kicked out of my office one time that I paid a desk fee at, and I got the email eviction.

I remember my cell phone bill got cut off. Like that's the stuff I'm talking about. Right. McNosh. Yeah. But I went to this event and you know, at this point I'd read a lot of books had, you know, watched a decent amount of YouTube's podcast didn't exist back then, but listen to different CDs in my car, you know, and but none of it seemed to really click, you know, I, I liked all the information and I was very passionate about it and I was attempting to apply it in my life, but I wasn't seeming to get results.

And anyways, I ended up November 2010 through a series of events, getting an invite to Harv Ecker's Millionaire Mind Intensive Three Day. Live program and the tickets were free, which was the perfect price for me at the time, you know, yeah And so me and a few buddies went there and several things happened at this event I tell the story all the time, but you know, most importantly my wife and I met at that seminar, right?

So that's you know, that's what led to our family and everything, right? Yeah But I learned something there and you know when you've you maybe you've heard something you're perhaps even read it But some maybe it's the 10th time. Maybe it's 100th time. This was not that it was relatively new, but it clicked And I had really started to understand throughout this three day weekend, the impact of programming and I had this flashback and it's all about money.

The specific, I'm not sure if they still do it, but the specific seminar, but I remember one of the exercises I had this flashback of driving. Downtown in the town that I grew up in in her old, you know, beat up station wagon, and we were driving past the A and W and it was with my mom and I'm not sure how old I was.

I don't know if I was 8. Was I 10? I'm not sure. But the A and W, I remember her talking about what a greedy bastard the owner was because he owned an A and W, but he also happened to be one of the densest in town as well, too. Yeah, so he was this greedy master because of it and this flashback occurred in the seminar.

I was like, man, you know, no wonder I've been struggling. And that was one of many things, right? But no wonder I've been struggling my programming around money. Was so poor, like how could I ever become financially successful with those kind of background thoughts, unconscious underlying thoughts? Yeah. So I, so I began a reprogramming routine over the next, you know, 90 days and I continued on after it, but very intensely for 90 days.

And yeah, I mean, you know, I'm, I'm a big believer that when you change your inner world, you're going to change your outer world. And, you know, most of us that are, you know, if you're, you're quite ambitious as anyone listening would be, you know, we're big on action. I'm going to go make things happen, which is wonderful.

And, and we seem to reach for most people. There seems to be kind of like an outer edge to where that's going to take you if we don't do the inner work. So that's where things really started to change for me was really jumping into that. And at that point, Kelly, I mean, it became, I was already quite into personal development, but, but I was obsessed at this.

I mean, I was. You know, if my main business was the financial business, this was my other business, even though it had nothing to do with business, but it was like all my extra time and energy went into how could I figure this stuff out? Just honestly, for my own personal success is why it started. But that's, you know.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah, wow.

Like, first off, just wow. Because I listened to your story and I'm like, oh, my gosh, that's my. Like that sounds like my story. Like, I think back to my, my dad also had that same mindset around money. Money's bad. You know, we assholes have a whole bunch of money. Like I grew up with that programming too. And that I had to also work on and change.

So I do find that really funny that, but you're absolutely right. That was the world that I grew up in. And that was the mindset of, of, of my father as well. My mom didn't necessarily share that same mindset. So thank God I had kind of, I had like the opposing sides that I could kind of choose which one I was going to go with at any given time.

But yes, I definitely feel like I, I probably struggled and wasted a lot of money due to inner thoughts of that same nature of that same, like you said, completely unconscious thoughts that I have no, that I have no choice in.

Ben Spangl: Totally. Well, we have to recognize 95%. At least by the time you're 35, 95, 95 percent of who we are is a set of unconscious programs, which, you know, there's obvious stuff the way the body runs.

You don't have to think about that. That's all unconscious, but it's 95 percent of the thoughts. 95 percent of the emotions, 95 percent of even our behaviors. This is unconscious. So most of us, I mean, well, we really are in some ways. We, of course, we wouldn't think of it this way, but in a lot of ways, we're just like sleepwalking through the day.

Very little of our day. Is choosing and so much of it is habitual, you know, reactions to our environment.

Kelly Kennedy: That is terrifying.

Ben Spangl: Yeah, well, it is. It is. But the great news is the great news is, you know, that beautiful mind of ours, that subconscious a lot like a computer can be reprogrammed as much as we were programmed.

We can, you know, deprogram the old and reprogram the new. So, I mean, that's the good news, right? Yeah, that's ultimately what we're after.

Kelly Kennedy: Yes. Yes. And I, I want some programming today, so let's definitely get Yeah, yeah, yeah. We'll, yeah. One of the one of the things that I wanted to kind of chat about and I talk about on my show all the time you know, I mean, I find it kind of funny 'cause you were talking about how it just, it just grabbed you, you know, like self-help and personal development.

Yeah. In my case, it was really business development that grabbed me. And I always say, because I've met so many business development people now, at this point in my life, and you ask any one of them, Hey, like, did you choose this? Was this something that you were like, I can't wait to go do? They're like, no, had no idea this existed.

It just came up and grabbed me. And then it was everything we did. It was all we cared about. And I was like, it's so funny because I always say that business development chooses you. And I think in your case, personal development chooses you.

Ben Spangl: You know, I, I, do you know who Robin Sharma is? You ever read any of his stuff?

Okay. I saw something he put out the other day and I thought how great it was. And he said, you know, so many people they're seeking to find my purpose. He goes, you're never going to find your purpose. Your purpose always finds you. Yeah. And you know, to your point, you know, why, why business development for him is probably kind of what you were meant for.

Yeah. And like, why this stuff for me? I don't know. This is kind of what I was meant for, you know.

Kelly Kennedy: I totally, I totally believe you. I totally believe that. I can't imagine what else I would be doing. Mm-Hmm. with my life. I have no idea. Mm-Hmm? . Mm-Hmm. . And it's so funny because, you know, I'm sure just like you, I, I don't dunno.

Maybe not, maybe I, I don't wanna speak for you, but there was never a time where I was going to be a podcaster. . Mm-Hmm. Especially not, not a successful podcaster. Like I might talk to a wall and maybe five people. And my, my uncle, listen . Mm-Hmm. totally. But it's like I never saw this when I started this show.

I knew that I just needed to do something and then I enjoyed it. And then from there it was like, Oh, this is a lot of fun. I'm just going to keep doing this for a while and see what happens. And it became what it is today. And, you know, I mean, I, I don't know about you, but was it a similar thing for you for?

Ben Spangl: Podcasting?

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I, you know, obviously when it first came out, I never had any intention of doing it. Yeah. The, the way it ended up happening for me was I, I had a really good friend of mine who encouraged me to do it. She goes, Hey, have you, you ever thought about doing a podcast or a YouTube? And I was like, and at that point I actually had thought of it.

But I told myself, I'm not going to do it. It's too much work, too distracting, you know? Yeah. And I said, yeah, I thought about it, but I'm not going to do it. About six months later, she follows up and I said, yeah, maybe. So then I bought my equipment and then I did the exact same thing you did. I get like literally right down here on my shelf was where it sat.

Yeah. Probably two, three months until one day I was like, all right, screw it. Let's, let's record an episode. Yeah. You know but yeah, you know, I mean, it's just one of those things that I don't know why, why, why did we get to do it? I guess it was kind of. Right time, right place, you know, in a way. Yeah, exactly.

I don't know.

Kelly Kennedy: I know it's such a weird thing because I have so many people that reach out on this show and are like, Hey, like we love your show and we're thinking of doing something similar. I'm like, absolutely go for it. Like, but it's one of those things that it's so personal, right? Like choosing to sit down and do a podcast isn't about anybody else.

It's about you and and how you feel about it. And when you're ready, if you're meant to do it, you're going to go and do it. Like it really is that. And like I needed a push. You needed a push. And I hope every once in a while to give people a push on this show and say, Hey, if you haven't done it and that's what you want to do, go do it.

Because now is the time.

Ben Spangl: Yeah. Yeah. That's it.

Kelly Kennedy: I, you know, I look back now and I don't know, you know, maybe you do as well. Do you ever go back and listen to your first episodes? I haven't in a while. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like I did it a while ago because I uploaded all of our, all of our episodes to YouTube. So I kind of went back and do a few of them and it's like.

My gosh, is it night and day, you know, it's really unbelievable how different it was. And I remember the first time hearing myself because I'd never heard myself before. Okay. You probably had because you were already doing speaking engagements and stuff. I had never heard myself before. I'm like, is this really what I live?

What I sound like?

Ben Spangl: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You got a great podcast voice, man.

Kelly Kennedy: Thanks, buddy. Yeah, no, I yeah, it was really funny because it was, it was a really Introspective moment. The first time that I heard myself on a podcast and it took me a long time to get used to it. I didn't like it at first. It took me.

It took me a bit to get used to my voice. Yeah, that's funny. Okay, so take me into your professional speaking and mindset, right? How did how did we go from financial world to I've learned something. This is my passion and I'm going to go with it. What was that moment?

Ben Spangl: You know, there was a few. And again, there's these moments that seem to open up and unfold a little bit more of, I think, a bit of our purpose.

Right? So, when I was early into my career, I went to my very 1st convention and saw Ed Mylett speak and you know, there's probably 20, 000 people and Ed is you know, he's a household name today and personal development and all that at the time. He didn't really do that. It's just more internally.

But you I saw him speak and I thought, man, one day I'm going to do that. You know, and I'm like six months into the business at that point. Yeah. But I said, one day I'm going to do that. And, and, and I didn't think, I just thought I was going to get on stage and speak. And it was, it terrified me, obviously.

Yeah. But, you know, as my career progressed, I got a lot of opportunities to, you know, do small little, you know, two minute, five minute things here and then bigger ones. And, and then got to speak at some different conferences and conventions. And, and so I did that for a very long time. I'm not sure when into the, my personal development journey, but there came a time fairly early on that.

Not only did I know I was going to speak, but I was going to teach this kind of material. And I had no definite date in my head. It was just, you know, 1 day in the future. Once my business is big enough, which I didn't even have a number to it. It was just 1 day. Yeah. And I'm a big believer now in helping people let's, let's get clear on when that is.

Yeah. Otherwise we're doing that forever. Yeah. But yeah, but I, I just kind of knew that I wanted to, it was always a part of me. And then as my career progressed long, you know, like you say, a pretty decent long career, right? 15, 16 years. Absolutely. But I remember getting to my 35th birthday. I'm 37 now.

We did a little staycation here in Edmonton, rented a hotel down on White Ave. And it was the next morning and I was journaling. So it's middle of July and my wife was sleeping and I was just thinking about, all right, I'm, you know, I'm 35 now and what have I learned and where do I want to go? But then the thought dawned on me because I still hadn't started outside of my own internal business, any coaching and speaking.

Yeah. But I knew I wanted to and I thought, man, what if I died young, you know, what if I died at 50? What if I died at 40? What if it takes me 10 years to actually, like, start building up a career in this? And those thoughts, it's not the first time I thought those thoughts, but I have to tell you it was one of the, one of the very first times that made such an impression on me.

That I realized and, you know, and we all kind of like, listen, you do, I do, everybody listening, watching, because we've all got things we want in our life. And most of us are putting them aside to some imaginary date in the future. Sometimes we're thinking we can't. Right? Like, we don't know how, so therefore we can't.

Sometimes we're thinking, well, once I have X, you know, once my kids are old enough, once my business is big enough, once this, but the truth is, none of us know how much time we got left on the planet. But we're all certain we are going to die one day. Yes. And that really made an impression on me. So I thought, okay, I gotta do something about this.

And I didn't do shit with it for six months. You know? But six months later, I'm setting my goals for the new year. So this is, when was this? 2021, maybe 2020, it doesn't matter. Some around there. I'm setting my goals for the new year, 2021, I think maybe. And I said, okay, I'm going to get some speaking engagements, like outside speaking engaged.

I'd done lots internally, but it's time to do some outside. And I set my goals. I'm, you know, big teacher and proponent of the law of attraction and the power of intention. And so I set my goals and one of them was I'm going to get, I can't remember what it was, four speaking engagements this year. Yeah, I don't know, three, four weeks later, an acquaintance reaches out to me who I knew from previous business.

And and she goes, yeah, I'm actually working for this company. We've got an online summit coming up and she'd seen me speak before. She goes, I think you'd be perfect for it. And I'm wondering if you would come and speak. And I was like, Yeah, yeah, I would, you know? Yeah. And so that that kind of started it and then it snowballed into a bit more and and then then I knew it was time to start doing seminars.

I did the exact same stuff with myself, procrastinate and put it off until June. Whatever year that was, and I was like, okay, if I don't do something with us, I'm never going to do it. Book the freaking venue, you know? So then I booked the venue. Now I had to do something with it. So, so that's kind of how that stuff started.

Coaching was a bit different, but that's how Lisa speaking in seminars.

Kelly Kennedy: My gosh. I want to talk to you about that. What was it like the first time? Okay. So, you know what I mean? I talk about, i, I, I'm, you wouldn't know it, but I'm very introverted as a person. And so I had to learn to be extroverted in business development.

It's, it's weird how that happened. It kind of came at like, you know, I was, I was really good at turning it on, but like, you know what I mean? That wasn't my natural state. Let's just call it that. Yeah, we're the same way. And so like, I struggled with like meeting anxiety and stuff for a very long time.

What was it like the first time that you knew that you were going to be up on stage talking to God knows how many people? How did you handle that inside? How were you able to deal with the stress? Because for some people that would just shut them right down.

Ben Spangl: Yeah, well, you know, they say that public speaking is the number one fear in the world, right?

Yes. I remember Steve Siebold. I don't know if you ever read any of his books. He wrote 177 Mental Toughness Secrets. You ever read that? Not that one. Nope. You'll love it. It's a great read. But he talked about the two best ways that he ever came across to build confidence was number one is taking control of your self talk.

And number two was learning to be an effective public speaker. So I got an opportunity. I remember the first time I got a chance to speak and we're talking like a group of 15, 20. Yeah. Yeah. But it was, I was early in my career. I was just starting to, you know, do a couple of things. Right. And they say, Hey, can you speak for five minutes?

I was supposed to speak for five minutes. And all I remember is I went up here's, you know, a little baby, Ben, 21, 22 years old. Yeah. And I'm supposed to talk for five. I talked probably a mile a minute, maybe for maybe a minute. And then I was like, done. Went to the back. Sat down. I don't remember any of it other than I'm like, pouring sweat.

Kelly Kennedy: Yes, yes. You know, it was just terrible. Yeah. It was an anxiety response.

Ben Spangl: A hundred percent. Yeah. Next time I don't think it was much better. The next time probably, maybe tiny bit better. But then I remember where things started to change and it was, I was driving one day and I got an opportunity to speak, I don't know, whatever it was.

Short time, five minutes. Yeah. Did a crappy job. And I'm driving home. I was like, man, get it together. I know and I'd listened to lots of great speakers at this point, you know, through audios and everything. Right. So I was like, I know how I want to talk. Why don't I just talk the way I want to talk? Yeah.

And I began practicing in my car, communicating in a way that I pretty much modeled a lot of American speakers at the time. I listened to lots of people from the States. Yeah. To the, to the point, bro. No exaggeration. As I progressed further and began to do more and more speaking, people would come up to me after conferences and say, were you Are you from the States?

Like, are you American? Cause I, I had listened to them so much that I began to develop this little drawl, this, and I'm Canadian. Like I never grew up in the States, but began to develop this American drawl. And so, so anyways, to answer your question, it all started with that. And I remember the time I got my first time to talk in front of a large group, maybe a thousand, something like that.

Yeah. And yeah, I mean, my heart's pounding. It's racing. I can't remember anything. I said, I was supposed to talk to two this two minutes. This time I talked for four. Way over my limit, you know, but yeah, it's it's fun though. You know, it's one of those things that it is scary in the beginning. Cause you know, we're putting ourselves out there.

Yeah. Like even the podcast, like you say, you know, you start the podcast and you're thinking, who's going to listen to this? Like, are they going to like it? You know, are people going to want to tune back in and it takes, it takes risk. It takes courage to put yourself out there. We are so afraid and we're so conditioned to the approval of others that.

You know, it takes a lot of, a lot of courage to step out and do something like that.

Kelly Kennedy: Yes. Yes. Yes. And first off, congratulations on your success. Thank you. Congratulations on your bravery. You know, I don't, I don't many people give you that, but the reality is it takes an incredibly brave person to get up in front of thousands of people or even 10 people and, and, and, and, you know, speak from the heart and, and send a message.

Congratulations on, on, on that scale on being able to do that. And you've made a career in it and you're doing amazing. And I think that there's a lot of people who look at people on stage and they think, could I do that? Is that something I could do? And what would you say to them?

Ben Spangl: Well, you have to remember, you're seeing the finished product.

Yes. Right? You're seeing a product of, you know, years for many, many cases of it. And, you know, hundreds, if not thousands of different times that they've done that very thing. So Where they started was the same place you started. You know, I remember being in a seminar, Robin Sharma seminar, 2013. So it's my brother in law.

He was not my brother in law at the time, but one of my best friends. And then he ended up marrying my wife's sister. So it worked out great. And we went to Robin Sharma seminar and Robin said something. Robin coaches, those that don't know him, he coaches billionaires. He coaches like NBA players.

We're talking like the elite elite performers of the world. And he said, you know, most people think that. The world class, the top of the top, the best of the best that they're, they're never off their game. They never make mistakes. They're just, because that's not true at all. I mean, I work with them. So they get knocked down all the time.

The difference is how long they stay there and how quickly they get back up. And that really made an impression on me because I had developed this belief and I was doing okay. You know, I was making probably Okay. Mid, I don't know, 100 grand, maybe 150, 000 at the time. Yeah. But I developed this belief that, you know, all these people that I had looked up to that were making so much more in their business and their financial lives, I thought, there's something different about them.

And I think that people in speaking, they think the same thing too. There's something different about them. Like they've just, they're so powerful. They're so, well, Man, I mean, the only difference is they felt the fear too, but they're willing to try anyways, and I mean, we can apply that to anything. It's not just speaking, but it's, you know, that's that next level of life for us is that the fear is always going to be present where you're on the verge of next level.

Never changes.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah, for sure. For sure. I agree with that. It's like, you know, I think the most successful you people, you know, are probably also the most terrified because they have the most to lose if things go south as well. Right? Like we, we see success. We see successful people. And you know, I am guilty for this because as a kid, you know, I had the pleasure of knowing lots of people, especially when I got into the early business development.

I dealt with lots of presidents and now I see CEOs and all sorts of stuff all the time. But yeah. Mm hmm. The reality is they're all people and most of them are struggling with low level anxiety all the time because there's so much going on in their world that it's almost impossible for any one person to handle.

Ben Spangl: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I struggle with it at times myself for sure. You know, it's something I'm working through all the time trying to figure out better ways to deal with it. But yeah.

Kelly Kennedy: No, I, so I, I think it's like important to recognize that it doesn't matter how successful you are, you know, you're still feeling those human emotions, , you're still feeling, you're still human.

There's no way to get away from your humanity. Totally. And and I, I try to make that a regular topic on our business development show here because, you know, we talk to a lot of, you know, on the show, we're talking to a lot of entrepreneurs just like you do . A lot of business development, people, founders, startups, that sort of thing.

And they're probably questioning, man, like I'm terrified most of the time, or like, I'm afraid of what to do or how to take the next step, but it's like, I got to stand up here and look like I know what I'm doing all the time, even though I don't, I don't know what I'm doing. And I think it's really important to let them know that they're not alone.

This is, this is very normal. And it's also unfortunately very normal for entrepreneurs to put on a brave face and act like they got it all together all the time. And then, but in their personal life, they're struggling.

Ben Spangl: Yeah, I was coaching a guy this morning, really successful business kind of blew up the last two years and you know, like many companies and there are lots of work in the beginning, very little pay, if anything, he was probably spending money rather than making money.

And that first two years, not a lot, but then now it's, it's really exploded for them, him and a couple of partners. And, and I think this is for a lot of people too, as their life begins to improve and their business does begin to grow. He goes, honestly, man, I just feel like. Total imposter syndrome, you know, I feel like I've now I've got all this money too.

And why me? Like, why do I, even though he knows he worked super hard to get it, he can agree with that, but he's got still all these own internal challenges and overwhelm is a regular part you know, of his experience of like, well, what if it all falls apart? You know, what if, and so here's a guy that, you know, most people would be fairly envious of, of, of what they've built.

And where they're at, at least business and financially, and, you know, we struggle with those emotions too. And, you know, what I've learned in recent years, my, my journey into this was not like this in the beginning. buT I, you know, I talked about the inner world creating the outer world. I actually now believe in my life.

I think that the inner work that we will do far exceeds ever in the outer work we will do. And we could do a whole, you know, probably three hour episode on that one concept.

Kelly Kennedy: But there'll be a round two.

Ben Spangl: Exactly, but to make a point to this, though, is that without us learning, you know, strategies that we can begin to apply in our life and tools tools and concepts, part of me that we can use to manage.

But those emotions, the truth is it doesn't matter how much external success you get. This is the paradox. When we don't have it, we think, ah, yes, I feel this way now, but I know when I get X, then, whew, then I'll be able to, you know, then I'll be able to, and, and it doesn't work that way. You might do it temporarily.

Yeah. But it's not, it will never create the lasting feeling we're after.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah. It's, it's funny that you say that because. Myself and everybody I've ever talked to that has goals and dreams and hopes. We all think that way. We all think we do. We all think, okay, like if I can only reach this level of success, or if I can only make this much money, or if I can only hit this many downloads or whatever, it's going to change everything.

We're going to be, but I, you know, I mean, the more. The more that I experience those milestones, you know, even though even the small ones that go along the way, you're absolutely right. I recognize that internally it changes nothing.

Ben Spangl: Because you end up getting there and then you move the yard post. Exactly.

Well, now it's well, okay now. You know, and I remember in business, I remember I was like, you know, I mean, man, I never made more than 30, 000. No, that's not true. I think I made a bit more than that bridge construction. But prior to that, in electrical, I, I, I think my last T4 was 30 grand, 29, 000. I'd never made a lot of money.

You know, both my parents, I don't know if they ever made more than 50 grand a year. I remember when I made 60, 000, 60 grand, you know, and I was like, holy cow, this is, it didn't give me the feeling I could have had all this pride for it. I could have had all this amazingness, but I thought, okay, well, no, it's once I'm at 10 grand a month, then, you know, and the story just keeps going.

Right.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah. That's like, you know, I think about that in the terms of success. As well, right? Like, you know, I mean, I've met a lot of successful people who to me are incredibly successful. I'm sure that there's a lot of people that look at you and me and say, wow, these guys got it together. They got it all figured out.

Like they're doing great. They both have awesome podcasts. They both have business and they're doing okay. Like they're killing it. They're successful. And I think, like, I, I would not consider myself successful yet. And I've talked about, I've talked with this about with other guests who are also incredibly accomplished.

And I kind of ask, like, hey, like, you know, like, where are you at? Are you happy with your level of success? And I don't think I've had one yet that say that they're where they would like to be. I think, like, defining success. Sorry, Ben. I think that defining success also is very hard. And a moving goalpost, and I'm not sure if anybody ever truly finds it.

Ben Spangl: You know, I it's a really good concept you bring up. I was going to ask you, but you kind of answered it. If you don't feel that way now, what would, at what point, you know, what is success then?

Kelly Kennedy: Agreed. Yeah, I don't, I don't know. I don't know. And I think it's very hard to define it because like you said, let's say that you accomplish that goal.

Are you just done? Most people aren't. No, no, no, no, no. Yeah, it is a hard one. It's definitely one that I've struggled with and a lot of my guests that I've asked that same question to have struggled with. I think defining what is success for any, any entrepreneur is a hard one. And you know, my fiance has pointed me down many times and said, Kelly, like, at what point are you going to be happy with your level?

Like, at what point are you good? I don't know. And I feel kind of shitty saying that because it's like I should know, but I don't know.

Ben Spangl: Yeah, I think we have to change it. Yeah. Well, not even changed, but defines a good point of what success is Earl Nightingale he wrote the strangest secret and Earl had become this is in mid 1900s.

He'd become financially independent by 35. There was all these write ups about him and he was in the Navy and he was actually 1 of the ones that survived Pearl Harbor. I think it was like 1 of the remaining. Yep. And but he went to buy an insurance agency, ended up buying an insurance agency, and he was going on vacation, and so he recorded a record for them of like a motivational record, kind of the first of its kind, really, right?

Yeah called the strangest secret, and the, the employees asked if they could have a copy of it and share it, and it began to spread, and it went on to become like platinum selling, the top selling spoken word Record of all time at that point. And it's, it's an amazing, I dunno, 35, 40 minute audio that you'll listen to it.

It's from the early fifties or mid fifties. And you'll, what he talks about is almost verbatim. We could talk about today. Now lots changed. buT he talks about his definition of success. And I think it's a great definition. I think it's one that if we adopt it, you know, you can begin to feel successful now and still create more for the future.

But he said that success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal. Progressive realization of a worthy ideal. So in other words, something that's important to you that you want and you're progressively Moving towards it. Are you successful? Yeah. By that definition, you're very successful. Yes.

You're progressively moving towards it. Now, I think why a lot of entrepreneurs and a lot of achievers, why they have a hard time saying I am successful is because you always want more, right? But there's an older version of you that would be like, dude, wake up, look at your freaking life, man. If you could have told me that this was going to happen, right?

Like I want that so bad. Yeah. So when we can recognize that, but I think the reason why they're so scared to say it is because they believe that if I start to feel successful, I'm gonna lose my drive. Mm-Hmm. . And I remember that I lived that and and then I changed my definition and several things, but, but I realized that no, that was no.

Like someone asked me a successful say, yeah, I am. Yeah, yeah. I wanna do a lot more than what I've done. But yeah, I mean, man, I'm always taking steps towards. Better health, better relationship with my wife. You know, I want to be a better dad. I want to be a better business person. I want to be better in my spiritual life.

So yeah,

Kelly Kennedy: I love it. I love it. Thank you, Ben. That is, that is an incredibly good definition and I agree. And I think, I think what that will allow a lot of people to do is recognize. Yeah, you have accomplished a lot. You've done a lot. You've done great. Actually, you're killing it and you don't have to quit, but it's okay to feel good about where you're at too.

Ben Spangl: And it's necessary, bro. Because if you don't, man, I'm telling you, you're going to, you're going to a bad place. I don't know how long, five years, 10 years, 15. But at some place, you're gonna say, what, what did I do all this for? Like, I got this, I got the millions now, and I still don't have it. And I think a lot of people wake up empty.

And whether that's that midlife crisis, whatever. But we realize, like, And it's because, you know, something like that is that if I can't allow myself to feel successful, and the thing is, is that somebody might be listening, saying, I just started my business, man, you're successful too. You just started the business.

You know, I understand. It's not where you want it to be, but Frick dude, you're taking steps. Let's go.

Kelly Kennedy: Yes, yes, you're progressively moving forward. A hundred percent. Yeah, I love it. You know, like I, I think back, you know, you, you made the analogy of what would your older self think of you today? One of the funny connections that I remember making a while ago was What would my 16 year old self think of me today?

Could not know, could not believe where I am at today. Would have never ever thought that this is where his life would go. There you go. I wonder how many of you feel that way. How many of you look back and if you were to ask your 15, 16 year old self, would they be proud of you today? I can say, my gosh, my 16 year old self couldn't even believe the person that we've been able to accomplish.

The, the, not just, not just like you said, not just in business, but In family in, in personal relationships you know, financially this was never going to be where I was going to be. I would never. Heck, if you would ask me, Ben, even like two years ago, would you ever even consider starting a podcast?

The answer would have been no, right? I think it's important to know that we don't know where we're going. And you talked about that in the beginning of the show. You could die tomorrow. You could die in 10 years. What are you going to do today that matters? You're really advocating for living and finding happiness in today.

And I think that my gosh, dude, that is so commendable.

Ben Spangl: You know, we it's one of my passions I work with people with is that because we're all the same, you know, we're all different, but we're all the same, right? We got similar fears, similar doubts, insecurities, all that stuff. anD one thing I find that we're all the same in is that, is that we're living in this together.

Bye. Bye. You know, delusion that some, you know, time in the future is better than where I am today. And so my big passion is, is how do we begin to fall in love with life today while creating more for the future? You know, and that's what I really love doing is helping people understand that, man, you can.

You can love today, you know, you don't need to wait until you get the car, you don't got to wait till the business is X till the money's X, right? And the sooner you fall in love with life today, number one, you're going to be happier. Yes, but what I found, though, is that success tends to become it's it's this weird paradox because it doesn't make sense under the model of just like.

You know, grinding to go and get it and make it happen. Yeah. But the more you can fall in love with life today and find more joy in today and the things that I'm doing and the how I'm running my business today, et cetera, the more effortless success actually actually becomes. It seems to like just happen with Maurice less effort.

And, you know, I mean, to me, that's who doesn't want that, right? If I listen, bro, if you could double your results with less, less effort, how's that sound to you? Yeah, it sounds pretty damn good, you know, and I'm not saying that it's a guarantee W results, but the whole point is, is that I think we all want that right that we can begin to create greater results with less effort.

Kelly Kennedy: Yes, yes, you know, and you ask any entrepreneur like, you know, how hard is it? Most of them are going to tell you, my gosh, I'm killing myself trying to make this thing work. I'm, I'm doing everything I can. I'm working harder than I've ever worked in my entire life. I haven't talked to an entrepreneur an entrepreneur yet who didn't say that entrepreneurship was the most challenging thing they ever took up in their life because it doesn't, it doesn't have a nine to five, right?

It has all the time to all the time to up all night because I'm stressed out. Yeah, that's right. And I always tell anybody, you know, if you're starting your own business, you know, you best love it. It best be something that you are passionate about. It is your purpose in life. It is your drive because it will be the hardest thing or one of the hardest things aside from maybe being a parent that you will ever take on in your entire life.

And You know, like you said, if you can find ways to love it, if you can find ways to find happiness in the journey, as opposed to what the outcome will be down the line, I think that's a, that's a hell of a way to live. But I, you know, I'll also say Ben, I don't think a lot of people are living that way.

Ben Spangl: No, most, most of the time we're not, yeah. No, or not at all, for sure.

Kelly Kennedy: No, that's absolutely amazing. Well, you know, Ben, we're heading into New Year's. You this, this show is New Year's Eve 2023. And what a crazy year it's been. I don't know about you. 2023 has been probably one of the busiest years of my entire life.

So much going on. Actually, at this point, I have a new son. We're recording right now. November 10th, but by November 25th, somewhere in there, I will have a new son. So my life is about to tip on its head. I already, I already have three sons, but yeah, I've never dealt with a little, little one before I'm excited.

But yeah, it's, it's a crazy, it's just been nuts. This year has been crazy. And I know right now. There's going to be a lot of people setting goals for 2024. You know, we're talking to a lot of entrepreneurs right now. They probably do just like me and you. They sit down and they write up, what do I want to do for 2024?

And I'm one of those people. I know you're one of those people. Do you have some advice for those people?

Ben Spangl: I like to start with bigger picture than, than even the year. And so one of the things that, you know, when I work with people, we'll do a lot of is I'm big on vision and sometimes that can be kind of abstract for a lot of people.

Right. You know, but we talked about having a vision for your business and entrepreneurs were pretty good at that, right? We would set some goals, things like that. Maybe even a vision for our business where often we can neglect it is we don't develop the vision for life. And if we don't do that, I mean, the mind is so powerful, right?

It'll go wherever you place your attention. Yeah. So if we don't build a vision for not just our business, but for our whole life as well. Then we can very much become consumed by the business. Yes. And you know, which there's seasons for everything, right? Sometimes the business demands that I get that, but if we're not careful, it can get to a point where we neglect some of these other things that end up being some of the most important things in our life, our family, our health.

I mean, we've all heard the stories of people that build great amounts of wealth and then end up with disease and they would trade all their wealth if they could have back their health. Right. And same thing. I watched a little clip from Sly Stallone. He's got a new documentary out. I didn't watch the video yet, but it talked about how he lost everything.

For the pursuit of his acting career, the most important things, family, you know, and how it wasn't worth it. Right? And when he realized that he changed it anyways, my whole point to that, though, is that before you sit down to write out the goals, begin with a vision. And if I could give a quick little process sometimes it's easier if we can pick a date.

So I just tell people pick 3 years. So it's, you know, December 2024, let's pick December 2027. And, you know, I like the question if I could wave a little magic wand. I got Harry Potter's wand with me and we could create anything and everything I've ever want. What would my ideal life and business look like and begin to script that out.

And then from there, once I've got a bigger picture of my ideal life and business, now that's what I'm going to get into my goal setting for the year. And typically for me, when I'll do that, I'll kind of, you know, I'm going to have business and personal goals on there as I think everybody should. Yeah. And I'll come up with kind of whatever my top 10 are from my top 10.

I want to narrow it down to my top three. And ultimately, I think if you focus on too many things, you're not going to achieve anything. Sure. So what are my top three? And maybe it's even top two for you, but once I've got that, then we're going into this first 90 days. And in this first 90 days, what are the metrics?

Or projects even that I want to actionable projects take actions on to begin to move towards, you know, these goals that ultimately move towards the vision. So that's a bit of my process. So I'm big picture first vision first, and I like to stay in the big more than I do anything else, like bigger vision.

Yeah, but then, of course, I've always got, you know, those next step goals.

Kelly Kennedy: Why do you think that so many New Year's goals struggle?

Ben Spangl: Well, I know the answer to it. And you know, the answer is, is plain and simple. It's how we're programmed. So, you know, everyone sets, not everyone, but anyone that sets goals has the best of intentions.

Very few people, to your point, very few people make the changes that they want to. Yeah. Now, some do, but very few. Why? Well, if 95 percent of who we are, It's an unconscious set of programs. If we don't rewrite the programming, then I'm going to do a lot more on autopilot. And this is why so many people can end up a year older, but they're in a very similar situation.

You know, this is how we could work you know, of course, I was in the retirement business. So this is how you could work many people that work from 25 all the way up to 65, but never have the means to retire. How's that possible? Programming. Hands down the program, right? If the programming doesn't change, I'm going to keep repeating the same behaviors and I'm going to keep attracting the same set of circumstances, maybe a different person, different people, different environment, but it's going to end up being the same.

Yeah. So we want to begin to update the subconscious mind. The part of us that happens without us thinking. And that's where, again, these vision and goals can become powerful. If I just do them on New Year's, the likelihood of creating them is pretty limited. It's not impossible, but it's pretty limited.

Yeah. But if I can begin to take that vision, if I can begin to take those goals and to begin to mentally visualize myself already there, we already know that I'm going to have to take some steps in action. Yeah. Right. But you know, many people think that like, they think visualization's crazy or silly because they say, well, you know, you can't sit on the couch and collect checks.

I agree. I agree. But you're already at the point that you already know that you're going to work hard. So why wouldn't you supercharge that by programming your mind for exactly what you want? And one of the greatest tools that we have is a combination of meditation and visualization to begin to access the subconscious mind and give it clear instruction.

For it to move towards

Kelly Kennedy: I want to talk to you about that because that's something and I don't know whether it's just I'm I'm a Western boy. I grew up in, you know, hard, tough oil and gas and I, you know, dealt with construction workers and stuff my whole life, but. I've struggled. I get it. I get what you're saying.

I think visualization is important and I think I have visualized, but like I've struggled with with the idea of sitting down and really meditating and thinking about that. And I know I'm not alone. I know I'm not alone in this for sure. How do I change my mindset about it, Ben? Because I know it's important.

Yeah.

Ben Spangl: How do I do that? You know, I mean, visualization or meditation and they're not necessarily the same, but often, you know, they can work in conjunction, but it's a challenge for all of us when we begin. Why? Because our minds kind of all over the place. And today we're in an era that it's the hardest time ever to be focused.

You know, it's the hardest time ever to have your thoughts slow down because of the, you know, my buddy Chris Felton calls these the weapons of mass distraction, our cell phones, right? That's, that's accurate. And but because of text messages, because of social media, because of email, because of notifications on and on and on, our brain is just like agitated all the time.

So this, this is a hard process. So first, I just want to acknowledge that. Yeah. It can be difficult. One of the reasons why it's hard often though, too, is for most people where they struggle with it is, is they're not even sure what to visualize or we begin to think, well, I can't see it clearly. Or am I doing it right?

And, you know, all this kind of stuff. So one of the best ways to start. And I'm happy to give this to everybody, too, actually is, is a guided visualization. It's one of the easiest ways to start. And so I created one for this very purpose because I know people struggle with this stuff. And so it's a six minute one called Achieve Your Goals.

And I'm just going to walk you through a real brief, real brief guided one that will help you see yourself already at the end goal. I want to talk about, please remind me about that, okay, if I get off topic with that. Sure. You know, in high level athletics, the best of the best, they're all visualizers.

Not only do they have their strength and conditioning coaches, but they'll have their mental coaches. And you read any great, great sports psychologist, mental coach. Visualization is not an option. It's not, you know, sometimes we recommend this to some of our clients. It is a mandatory, massive component of what they do.

Because at high level athletics, I mean, I want to see myself making that winning save. You know, I want to see myself on the podium. You'll hear some Olympic athletes when they win and say, I've already been here 3, 000 times. Yeah. You know, well, why would it be any different in business? You know, why, why would that be different in business?

The best of the best. I promise you. They were the best in their mind. They were the top in the field in their mind long before. They were ever the top externally and if we do not constructively visualize, then what we're doing is we're leaving our mind to its own devices, which are often in states of fear, doubt and worry.

So you are visualizing except you're visualizing the very things you don't want. And so this ends up. You know, best case it slows your progress, worst case it actually creates more crap that you don't want in your life. Right? So, so anyways, going back to this, it is a struggle, there's no doubt. And, and that's where guided visualizations can be so helpful.

So you, you can go to, people can go to too, if they go to benspangl.com/ gift, they can download that meditation. Free, no charge, just, and, and it'll help. Right. It'll at least get started

Kelly Kennedy: just for the listeners as well. If you're hearing this show, you'll be able to go to my LinkedIn page or our website.

This link will be in there wherever you need to find it. So this will be easy to find. Don't worry.

Ben Spangl: Cool. Yeah. So, so that will help, but, but just get started with it. I mean, five minutes is all it takes. You don't even need to worry about doing a whole bunch more than that. But it's a great one. And then the second thing too, I'll just add to it too.

Some people struggle with when we, they hear visualization. There's different reasons why people don't visualize if they understand that it would be a good idea. Sometimes they struggle with when they see when I try to imagine I can't really see pictures and that's fine. You know, some people are more visual that they can other people are more kinesthetic So if you can't see pictures as well, then typically you're able to feel a lot better and the and the truth is You know, without getting in a deep explanation, the truth is all visualization.

We actually want aimed at you feeling how you think you'd be feeling and the quick, quick kind of version of that is the reason why is that's the language of your unconscious mind. So again, totally not a discussion, but, but that's why we want to get into the feeling state.

Kelly Kennedy: I see, I see. Walk me through what a day in Ben's life looks like.

What it, like, do you have a routine that you follow every day with regards to visualization, with regards to getting in the right mindset? Is there a process for you?

Ben Spangl: Yeah, and it's, it's evolved in many different seasons in my life, you know, I mean, there's young entrepreneur been where my wife and I were, all we were was married couple and business, you know, and that was our life.

And then then we had our 1st daughter you know. And yeah, when you got a baby coming right away here, anyone that's had a baby, you know what that's like that first little while, right? So now my morning's all out of whack, but, but to answer your question, there's three, there's three primary things that, that I like to integrate.

I'd love to tell you they happen every single day, but most days, you know but there's three main things that are important for me for priming my mind. One is a combination of meditation and or visualization, lots of different ways you can do it. You know, that one I just gave as an example but I like to meditate typically nowadays would be anywhere from 15 to 60 minutes, you know, and that took time.

That's a practice. I've been working on it for a long time since 2017. I'm a huge reader. I very rarely does a day go by that I don't read from some great book. Whether that's an autobiography, business book, personal development, spiritual development, whatever. Yeah. But I'm a big reader. I'm also big on journaling.

I think journaling is one of the greatest tools for personal transformation. I think it's one of the most stress relieving and healing tools we can use. And I also think it's a great tool for asking and answering questions for ourselves. So those would be my big three. In terms of the mind and then and I couldn't have told you this two and a half years ago, but today in my life fitness and lifting weights and getting in the gym.

Yeah. So it wasn't always that way, but that's a massive part of my life today.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah. Yeah. You know, and I, I'm, I'm horrible for this. I haven't gone to the gym in a while, but it has always been an outlet for me when I've gone through some really struggling times in my life was always to join the gym and start running again or start lifting again and finding ways.

And for me, that's always been an outlet. I think like. More recently in my life, I've felt too busy. And I know that that's a shitty excuse. I know it is, but I've, I've told myself that enough times that I got to now unprogram it like we talked about, but yeah, I definitely agree. There needs to be some stress relieving things.

And I think as entrepreneurs, we can get so busy in our lives that we say, I don't got time for that. I, you know, I barely have time for the meetings I have, let alone to take time for myself. For my mental health, but I am definitely starting to feel like I have neglected it too long and it's going to be something that I need to step up huge over the next little bit.

Ben Spangl: I mean, it happened for me, man. It wasn't until I was 35, you know, I worked out seriously when I was 18, stopped, maybe had a six month time when I'm like 23, 24 stopped. And then I had the odd 60 to 90 day kind of beyond that. But once I was 35, I started really simple one day a week. So, you know, for yourself or anyone, you can do, you can get to one day a week.

Don't tell me you can't do one day. That's an easy commitment. Yeah. You're not that damn busy. Right. Yeah. And but the other thing too, though, is, is just not to dive into that too deep, but, but I know we say that and not even just entrepreneurs, everyone says, how you been? Oh, man, busy. Whew. Yeah. So busy.

And, and I know why, because like we have such an emphasis on being busy is productive. And if you're productive, you have value as a human being. That's like Western worldview. When the truth is you're valuable because you're a human being. You know, it's not, it's not about how much money you make, don't make your business doesn't do.

Yeah. But, but when we're so busy with that stuff, what ends up happening is we're operating under the illusion that more is better. But there's a tipping point to that. If I'm sitting at home doing nothing, more is better. You know, right? Like you're making no calls in your business. Well, you better get to work.

Yes. Right. You know, I'm only doing the bare minimum. It's probably just step it up. But then there comes a point though, where more is not better. And, you know, why I say that is that we're not robots, we're not machines, but even if we were, you know, if you look at like I don't know much about NASCAR or the India or anything like that, but these are like well oiled machines.

Yes, you know, the utmost care is taken with these so they can go at the highest speeds, but imagine if they never stopped for pit stops. They just kept racing. I'm going to beat these guys because I'm going to keep racing. Well, we know, I don't, you don't even need to know a lot about, I don't know much about it, but I know that car is destined to blow up.

Yes. That something's going wrong with that engine and as entrepreneurs, that's a good way to put it. You're a high performance person, right? You're a high performance vehicle. So a high performance vehicle, what kind of stuff does a high performance vehicle need? Well, it needs ongoing maintenance. Yes. It needs time to rest.

They don't drive it 365 days a year because they know that it's destitute for some problems. They put the best fuel in the sucker. You know, we're getting some checkups on to put some new tires on that baby, you know, and and that's something to keep in mind too. So the illusion is, is that more is better and I don't think that's true.

I think performing at a higher level is better. Yes. You know what? I rather have a 12 hour day where I'm at maybe 40 or 50 percent of my best capacity. Or would I rather have an eight hour day where I'm at 80 to 90? I'd take the eight hour day every time.

Kelly Kennedy: Yes. Yes. And you make an incredibly good point.

And I think that a lot of us are just going full out. And like you said, we're going to go all out into a wall.

Ben Spangl: Yeah, I did it.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah. Yeah. I've definitely felt close a couple times this year for sure. I agree immensely with what you're talking about and I think for sure I've definitely kind of hit the point where it's like, okay, this has been great.

This has been crazy. This has been a nuts year, but I think going into 2024, we need to reevaluate and take a little bit of personal care into this as well.

Ben Spangl: A hundred percent. Listen, if you, if we want longevity, not just in life, but in our career. We're gonna have to look at that, right?

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah, you're you're incredibly smart.

Ben Spangl: I don't know if that's true, but thanks man.

Kelly Kennedy: Is it lessons learned the hard way? Did you have to learn most of these the hard way yourself?

Ben Spangl: Yeah, a lot of these for sure, right? Yeah, I remember in 2020, a quick story. 2020, my business went from fully kind of like face to face in person to fully virtual, like many people did, right?

Yeah. And which I loved because now all of a sudden, I was driving around, you know, meeting people. And I'm probably on the road two hours, three hours a day in my car. Well, now I'm on the road zero hours a day. Yeah. So I went from doing, I don't know, three, four meetings a day to eight to ten to twelve some days.

Wow. So, so I'm like, man, this is awesome. You know, I'm getting way more done ever than before. We're gonna explode. Well, I did explode about three months later. I remember waking up and I'm this is not an exaggeration. Never had this happen in my life before or after, but I woke up and I was so stressed out and I had developed hives on my shoulder.

And then I came upstairs one day, my wife was on the couch, and, and all of a sudden I just started crying. And like, you know, I'll cry at a movie sometimes, we're watching a little teary movie, that'll happen for sure. Like, I'm not, you know, the kind of guy that hides my emotions. Yeah. But I've never had this happen in my life, bro.

And I just started and I couldn't explain it and it was nothing. And that's when I realized like, all right, something's going to have to change here.

Kelly Kennedy: I can't imagine. You know what I mean? Like I'm in business development and if I had anything more than about three to four meetings a day, I would lose my mind.

And even at three to four, that's a lot what you must've been dealing with. That's like, it's people don't recognize how challenging meetings are. People look at your life and you're like, Oh, what? You got like three or four meetings today. And it's like, I don't think you recognize what that really means.

And it's funny too, cause I'm in business development. So I'll be talking to clients and sometimes clients will be like, yeah, we'd be okay with like, you know, like four to five meetings a week. And I look at them and I'm like, I get it, but I want you to understand what that really means because the meeting is just one part of the world.

There's definitely sometimes some realization that has to happen that there's a lot more to it. The meetings are just one part and they're stressful on their own. They have, they come with their own set of, of you know mind, mind eating efforts. And then usually there's post work. So that's right.

It's definitely one of those things where I can't imagine what like 12 meetings a day. How are you even still standing here in front of me?

Ben Spangl: I mean, that was probably rare that it ended up at 12, but it happened, you know, but certainly that eight to 10 and, and I learned, I learned the hard way, right. But it was a great lesson.

It was what I needed at the time. And it taught me that there's probably a better way. Absolutely. Absolutely.

Kelly Kennedy: Ben, I know we have a ton of people listening who are thinking, man, where can I, where can I delve in more deeply can Ben do coaching? What are the services that you offer? Let's, let's, let's just plug what you got.

Ben Spangl: Yeah. It sounds great, man. In terms of like, so I'm big on three ways that I can help people and work with them. One is free content. Right. So the best platform is, is Instagram. I'm Facebook too, but Instagram is kind of like my, my main go to I'm on LinkedIn as you know, that's where we connect. I'm just not on there a lot.

Right. But those would probably be the best. Of course run my own podcast too. If you search the pursuit. Ben Spangl. We got a bunch of great episodes on, you know, concepts like we're talking about today. And then, so those are all the freeways. And then I run a, a group coaching program that isn't open right now, but if someone's interested, we could talk about what it is.

That's called Mindset Mastery Pro. And that's primarily, it's pretty much entrepreneurs and salespeople is what it is. And we do a couple of live calls a month where I'm doing the first call is a deep dive into some kind of mindset, performance type goal, achievement type training and tools that you can apply in your life.

And then the third call is a group coaching where people just come and Q and A and we'll go right on the spot and coach that person on the spot. So there's that option and then my one on one coaching is limited just due to time. So I only do so much of that, but for the right person again, probably.

Yeah, entrepreneur, executive salesperson, something like that. But one on one I, you know, I've got a small amount of space that I do one on one coaching as well.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah. Amazing. I don't know how you find the time. That seems like a lot.

Ben Spangl: You know what? I set my life up in a way because I had lived so where I did work so much that.

It may sound like it, but truth be told, I got more free time than, than, you know, I live my life pretty freely. So nowadays,

Kelly Kennedy: I know that there's a lot of entrepreneurs listening. They're like, huh, we got to figure that one out.

Ben Spangl: Yeah. Yeah. It wasn't always that way. Right. But, but, you know, nowadays that's how it is.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah. Do you have any public speaking engagements coming up over the next year?

Ben Spangl: Nothing, but we just did one. We just did a big seminar in Edmonton. What are we a couple months ago now? I'll probably do one in 2024 but I was taking a break from, I did three within the year and they were pretty intensive.

And so right now I'm on a little hiatus. I'll probably do one, but right now, no. Yeah.

Kelly Kennedy: Well, you keep me posted. If you do just let me know and I'll make sure that we share it out over our over our podcast page for you.

Ben Spangl: That sounds awesome, man. Awesome. That sounds really awesome.

Kelly Kennedy: This has been absolutely amazing.

I want to wish you the best of 2024. I hope it's the best year that you ever have and to all of our listeners, happy new year. I hope that 2024 it brings you everything that you ever hoped for. And this has been episode 94 of the business development podcast. We've been graced with Ben Spangl. He does offer coaching.

He offers other group courses as well. So feel free to check out his website. I believe it is benspangl.com. Is that correct, Ben?

Ben Spangl: Yeah. Awesome. And Spangl, there's no E. So it's just S P A N G L.

Kelly Kennedy: S P A N G L. This has been Episode 94 of the Business Development Podcast. Happy New Year, everybody. We'll see you all in 2024.

Outro: This has been the Business Development Podcast with Kelly Kennedy. Kelly has 15 years in sales. Sales and business development experience within the Alberta oil and gas industry and founded his own business development firm in 2020. His passion and his specialization is in customer relationship generation and business development.

The show is brought to you by Capital Business Development, your business development specialists. For more, we invite you to the website at www.capitalbd.ca. See you next time on the business development podcast.

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