How Shawn Doyle Turned a Comcast L&D Role Into a 24-Book Consulting Empire

Have you ever had a client insist they need one thing, when you can see the real problem is something else entirely? Shawn Doyle ran into it constantly as VP of Learning & Development at Comcast: high-level executives demanding training when what they actually needed was diagnosis. His realization — “I wasn’t just in training and development, I was in consulting” — became the foundation of a business built on more than 24 books, 68 training programs, and engagements that range from $5,000 workshops to $200,000 leadership development programs.

In this episode, Shawn shares how he built his consulting and training business through speaking, publishing, and analog touches like handwritten notes that separate you from the competition. You are going to discover why great consultants diagnose before they prescribe, how to structure a multi-six-figure engagement around assessments and accountability, why HR can be your most powerful champion even without budget authority, and why the single biggest asset in any company is the underdeveloped potential of its people.

In this episode you will learn:

• Why the problem your client says they have is usually a symptom — and how asking better questions to diagnose before you prescribe sets great consultants apart.

• How to set the stage for brutally honest conversations up front so senior executives hear your pushback as being in their best interest.

• How Shawn landed his first clients by working his network and publishing his first book a month before launching — and why credibility answers the question “why should I do business with you?”

• Why a mailed book with a handwritten note outperforms email, and how to build a unique selling proposition at the micro level that separates you from your competition.

• How to land more speaking engagements by pitching specific, packaged topics to local networking groups instead of only chasing big conferences.

• What separates a $5,000 one-day workshop from a $200,000 engagement: leading with ROI, organization-wide assessments, training tailored to the data, leader accountability, and a three-year holistic plan.

• Why HR may not hold the budget but acts as a massive influencer whispering in the ear of every executive who does.

• Why Shawn would bet on value-rich video across YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram to generate $150,000 in new revenue in 90 days — and why he stopped trying to convince executives who don’t believe in developing their people.

Welcome to the Consulting Success podcast. I’m your host Michael Zipursky, and in this podcast, we’re going to dive deep into the world of elite consultants where you’re going to learn the strategies, tactics and mindset to grow a highly profitable and successful consulting business.

Before we dive into today’s episode. Are you ready to grow and take your consulting business to the next level? Many of the clients that we work with started as podcast listeners just like you, and a consistent theme they have shared with us is that they wished they had reached out sooner about our Clarity Coaching Program rather than waiting for that perfect time. If you’re interested in learning more about how we help consultants just like you, we’re offering a free, no pressure growth session call. On this call, we’re going to dive deep into your goals, challenges and situation and outline a plan that is tailor made just for you. We will also help you identify where you may be making costly and time consuming mistakes to ensure you’re benefiting from the proven methods and strategies to grow your consulting business.

So don’t wait years to find clarity. If you’re committed and serious about reaching a new level of success in your consulting business, go ahead and schedule your free growth session. Get in touch today. Just visit Consulting Success – Grow to book your free call today.

Shawn Doyle is a Certified Speaking Professional, author, and Registered Corporate Coach with 30+ years of experience developing human potential. Formerly VP of Learning and Development at Comcast, where he co-launched Comcast University, Shawn now leads Shawn Doyle Training, offering 68 interactive programs and a proprietary executive coaching process. He has authored many books, including the Jumpstart series, and contributes to Inc. and Entrepreneur. Known for his relatable, story-driven style, he helps global clients like IBM and Lockheed Martin achieve measurable results in leadership, sales, and creativity.

Connect with Shawn Doyle: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawn-doyle-executive-coach/

Discover more about Shawn Doyle Training: https://shawndoyletraining.com/

What if the biggest problem in your business isn’t the one that you’re actually trying to solve? In this episode, I’m joined by Shawn Doyle, leadership consultant, executive coach, speaker, and author of more than 24 books. After years leading learning and development at Comcast and advising organizations around the world, Shawn has learned that the issue leaders think they’re facing is often just the symptom, not the actual root cause. And so, in our conversation, you’re going to discover why great consultants diagnose before they prescribe, how leadership development can become one of the most powerful growth levers in a business, and why many organizations leave enormous value trapped inside the untapped potential of their people. We also explore how Shawn built his business through speaking, publishing, and thought leadership, and why helping clients think bigger often creates the biggest breakthroughs. If you’re looking to build a stronger team to create more leverage and unlock the next stage of growth in your consulting business, you’re going to get a lot from this conversation. Enjoy. Welcome, Shawn.

[01:02] – Comcast Lessons: Why “I Need Training” Is Rarely the Real Problem

Hey, how are you?

I’m great. Looking forward to our conversation. So I thought I’d start off. You spent about six years at Comcast, right, Of learning and development. I’m wondering, what did you learn from that experience that you feel, you know, has given you an edge or maybe initially gave you an edge when you got into the world of training and consulting?

Yeah, that’s a great question. It was funny because when I became like the VP of learning and development, immediately, you know, I would get calls and meetings for people in other departments saying, I need training, I need training, I need training. And it occurred to me when I met with them that maybe they didn’t need training. And so I realized immediately that I wasn’t just in training and development, I was in consulting. I was trying to analyze, okay, what’s the problem? Is it people? Is it process? Is it front? What is it? So I meet with them and I would often say, well, maybe the problem isn’t training. Maybe the problem is we need to consult on some other areas. You go, no, no, I need training. And so that whole piece of people jumping to conclusions about what needs to be done versus asking better questions to determine and diagnose what really needs to be done. That was a real eye opener for me. And these are very high level executives I was talking to that often just said, I need training. And often that was not the case and they needed to do more analysis and consulting.

Did that mindset and approach come naturally to you? And what I mean by that is oftentimes People, when they’re dealing with those they might view as being a higher level than them, older, more experienced, more wealthy, whatever you want to call it, they hesitate to push back. They hesitate to. They don’t want to ruffle feathers. They don’t want to have a disgruntled person that’s around them. Was that natural for you? What kind of got you clear on? No, I need to actually challenge this person’s thinking and ask more questions.

[02:24] – Earning the Right to Be Brutally Honest with Senior Executives

I think it was just the fact that I had done so much training at the company before I went to Comcast. Any other company, was that.

Was that Dart?

Yeah, exactly. I did about a hundred different training programs there. So the whole idea of this isn’t just training, this is consulting, this is coaching all kind of in one unit that kind of gave me that experience. And I also make sure that when I work with clients, then at Comcast and even now, I say, well, my goal is to help you, and the only way that I can help you is to be brutally honest. You know, Jim Collins talked about it a good. The great. The key is to be honest, but not be brutally honest, but to be honest, because I can’t help you if I’m not honest with you. And so that whole stage setting, I think, is critically important. I think if you say that to people up front, they realize that you’re. Whatever you’re asking or suggesting or saying, it’s for their best interest at heart, as opposed to trying to show how knowledgeable you are or trying to show your expertise.

I completely resonate and agree with that. I mean, one of our values at consulting success is we describe as real talk. And it’s essentially not hesitating to say what needs to be said. Of course, doing it in a way that is respectful, in a way that is really caring for somebody. But very often if you kind of skirt around or you don’t say what needs to be said, you’re doing the other person a disservice. So when we’re coaching clients, we find it’s really important to have real talk, to have those honest conversations and not to be afraid to point something out that even though you might make that person feel a little bit uncomfortable or maybe not that happy about what they’ve done to this point, the sooner you do it, the sooner they can course correct and get things back on track. So I think that’s great.

And I think you can also paint a picture of in the future. I understand where you want to be and I want to help you get there. But in Order to get there, there are steps we’re going to need to get through, and some of them may be a bit uncomfortable, but at least that’s how we’re going to get there. Because sometimes we need to address kind of the obvious, the elephant in the room, if you will, in order to move forward. Yeah.

[04:52] – The Biggest Surprise: Senior Leaders Who Never Got Developed

So you were doing this. You know, you were consulting inside of an organization before you actually started running your own consulting and training business outside of a larger organization. Was there a belief that you had. Now, looking back, maybe kind of a misunderstanding or something that you. You had. You thought, this is the way that things are going to be, or this is what I need to be doing. But when you actually got into building your own business, you realized that it wasn’t the case.

I think the thing that I was most surprised by was that there were organizations that had leaders that were in a pretty senior position that needed leadership development, and they did not even know it or realize it or make that investment. So it’s kind of scary because sometimes we have people who are really good at something and they kind of climb the ladder and they get promoted to senior level. And it’s like they’ve never had any development to excel in their new role. Maybe they excelled in their old role, but a lot of clients that we work with, we need to encourage them to say, okay, well, selling this into a new role. They need consulting, they need coaching, they need. They need to get the skills and competencies they need for the next level. You may think they have it, but they actually don’t. And that was probably the biggest surprise.

Have you found that when you have identified an organization or an individual inside of an organization that matches that criteria, meaning they’ve obviously done well to get where they are, but they don’t have training or anything to really support them to get to that next level in their new role or whatever the case may be, that you’re still able to engage with them and get them to see things differently, that, yes, I do need training now, or in your experience, has that been kind of a waste of time almost trying to, you know, to sell or to persuade somebody who maybe hasn’t seen the value in training and therefore hasn’t done it to this point?

[06:41] – Defining the Ideal Client — and Why Assessment Data Wins the Day

I think there’s two scenarios there, Mike. Scenario number one is corporate America calls me in to do executive coaching, and they say, we want to develop this coach, this executive to get to the next level. So the organization believes in it, but the person I’m coaching doesn’t. So I have to convince them that it’s in their best interest. And then the other thing that we see when we approach clients, you know, when we talk to the CEO or the CEO or the cfo, if they’re not willing to invest in their folks, their people, that’s not our client. They don’t realize the value of investing in development, which gets them a return on profit. You know, profitability, retention, sales, revenue, you know, all the research shows it, but they’re not convinced that that’s the case. So that’s really our ideal line, is the person who’s willing to make that investment and development of their. Their potential.

I’m glad you said that, because I think if you look at some of the most successful marketers or copywriters from way back in time, the belief was always the ideal buyer. The most successful campaigns are going to be the ones that target people who are already hungry for what you’re going to offer. So rather than trying to hit a home run by having this magical, you know, very elaborate campaign, just find the people that are most likely to buy because they already believe the value, and then connect with a good product or service.

Exactly. And also find that data really helps. You know, when we have someone do a360 or we have 48 different proprietary assessments, but if somebody goes online and they take an assessment, we do the debrief, it’s kind of hard to argue with the numbers. Objective data right here, right here in front of us, we’re going to talk about it. So that helps a lot as well. It also helps us identify what really is and what really isn’t, because people have kind of ideas about observationally. But what is the data showing? The data really wins the day.

When you launched your consulting and training business, were the initial clients from your network and relationships, or were you doing marketing? Just kind of give us a sense of what are the early days there look like?

[08:26] – Starting Out: Work Your Network and Publish a Book for Credibility

Well, I had a very good mentor who said, you know, you’re starting a new business. Start with everybody that you know first. So, you know, don’t reinvent the wheel. Go to everybody you know. And so I worked my network, and I remember calling, you know, somebody out in California. He said, well, what are you doing? And I told him, and he goes, oh, well, we need consulting. Perfect. You know, he already knew me, already knew him. There was a level of trust there. So I was. I always advise when people are starting out. For those of you listening to your podcast, start with the people that you know. Start with the network that you know, People that know, like and trust you. It’s much easier to gain business with people you know like and trust, as opposed to starting from scratch. And I think the other element is, Mike, is the credibility piece. I think when you first go out, you know, hang your shingle, for lack of a better term, that credibility piece is really important. Well, obviously I had the Comcast experience, which helped a lot for credibility, but I also had published my first book about a month before my company started. So having that book generated a lot more credibility because people always say, well, why. You know, why you. Why should I deal with you? Why should I do business with you? What expertise and credibility do you have?

And did you use that book after you had reached out, somebody and said, if they’re asking the question, you know, why you, that you then send the book? Or in the kind of the path you took, did you send them even before and use that as a way to kind of start the conversation?

[09:45] – Handwritten Notes and Mailed Books: The Analog Advantage in a Digital World

Yeah, it depended on the client. And I always say that it really has to be tailored to every client. Some clients will send them a book in advance. Of course, I now have 24 books, but some clients will send a book in advance. Sometimes we’ll send it after, but we always follow up with a handwritten note and a book because I think, again, it separates you from the competition. In a digital world, analog gets a lot of attention. If you get an envelope in the mail, everybody does this, right? It’s handwritten. You’re like, oh, what is this? And a handwritten note, I mean, people call me, I got your. I got your note. Thank you. Because they don’t often get handwritten notes. And it’s custom, completely custom. That analog approach instead of digital, because they want to send him an email, it doesn’t have the same impact.

Why did you start that? I mean, I’ve seen this a lot. And I also believe the power of a print, of direct mail, of doing the things that many decades ago was the norm but has fallen out of favor and people now jump on. Well, I can send messages through LinkedIn or emails. So from a mindset perspective, it feels so much easier. There’s less friction. You’re doing the thing that for a lot of people, it takes time and therefore more effort. And therefore, well, I don’t want to do that yet. The response, the results are often far greater. So where did that kind of mindset come from for you, Shawn? Why do you decide to actually take the path of greater resistance?

Initially, I’d done a lot of sales training in my career in various companies. And one of the things I was talking about was, and this is very valuable for your listeners, you know, what is your unique selling proposition? And people say, well, I have a degree and at this experience and I have all that, I’m like, yeah, but even at the small, like the micro level, what makes you different? And so if I send a book in a handwritten note, that is a distinguishing factor because a buyer will say, well, I got your note and your book and let’s talk. So it’s, I think it’s unique selling propositions on big elements, but unique selling proposition for small elements. What can separate you from your competition?

So let’s fast forward. So you started off building this business years ago through your network and relationships. You speak, you’ve obviously written a bunch of books. If you were to zoom up and look down at how your business is performing today and what’s actually helping you to build the greatest pipeline and attract the majority of your ideal clients, what would you say from a marketing perspective or what channel, what activity is currently the highest performing for you?

[12:01] – The Highest-Performing Marketing Channel Today: Speaking at Events

Surprisingly, it’s speaking at meetings and events. As an example, about three or four weeks ago, I spoke at an event. It was a group of entrepreneurs and I spoke and there was a guy in the audience writing down notes, like as fast as he could write. I mean, he was like a learning machine. And I knew right then that’s going to be my next one. And short up after the meeting, he said, I need to talk to you, I need help. I’m like, perfect, perfect. So because in a 25 minute presentation, I delivered lots of great information, resources, tactics, tips, tools, really said, this is the guy I want to work with. So again, the credibility. So I’d say number one would be speaking, number two would be books. Again, it gives you credibility if the book is good. Also, social media seems to be very helpful. We’ve had a great success on LinkedIn just because I always say that LinkedIn kind of is the professional level of Facebook. You know, we have 68 different training programs and we have coaching and consulting and speaking and all that. And a lot of times people call in, why I saw your posts, you know, on LinkedIn. That said, you know, here are the six things to consider when hiring a consultant. That was really good. So that made me think, I’m like, I should call you and talk. Because I like how you think. Just seeing those six things, giving me a checklist, that was really helpful.

So let’s kind of dive a little bit deeper into the topic of speaking because you’ve you’ve done a lot of speaking over the years. For somebody who wants to get more involved in speaking, wants to reach new audiences or really be able to demonstrate their expertise, sell without selling from the stage or whether it’s online or in person, what would your recommendation be for them? What’s the approach and the steps that you would recommend for somebody to land more speaking engagements?

[13:39] – How to Land More Speaking Engagements (Beyond Big Conferences)

Sure. Well, I think the first one, if we back up a little bit, you have to be a great speaker. If you get that opportunity for 20 minutes or 25 minutes at a networking event or at a conference or wherever it happens to be, you have to be able to knock it out of the park when you get up there. For example, we have a program called Presentation Power. How to present with Power, Authority and Credibility. And it’s an online program people can take and it gives them all the building blocks that they need. So I think first of all you need to learn how to be a great speaker. So that would be number one. Number two, would be again, working your network. Where are places you can speak? Now a lot of times people want to speak at large conferences, but I would say that’s true. But I would also say that, you know, look at all of the networking groups are out there in the world. They meet in person. We belong to like four or five of them that are just in the local or regional area. They’re always looking for people to give presentations on something. So if your expertise is a, just go to the person who heads up that group and say, hey, I know you bring in speakers every now and then. You know, I’d love to come and speak on it and have a specific topic in mind, have a title, have a compelling, you know, couple bullets, say, well, here’s the 10 biggest mistakes that people make when they present. Oh, we’d love to learn about that. Or here’s seven things that managers do that they should never do. Just like package it in a way. If somebody says, well, what will you speak about? You go up. Consulting. Okay, I’m excited.

Well, I am.

What is that? Consulting. Right. What about it?

I want to switch the gears a little bit to the topic of training. You said that training is a process and not an event.

[15:36] – Training Is a Process, Not an Event: Building In Accountability

That’s correct.

Why do so many organizations in your mind still kind of treat leadership development like a one time intervention?

Mike. Something I’ve been scratching my head about or like my own career. Because we have clients that are amazing clients and you know, they’ll, they’ll bring me in and say we want to Do a one day leadership development program, like, perfect. And then I go, well, and this is where the consultant comes in, right? So I’m going to go ahead and do that one day training program. I’ll knock it out of the park. Perfect. Then I asked this question as a consultant, so what happens after that? And it gets silenced. You go, well, what do you mean? I’m like, well, are they going to meet with someone within two weeks, their manager, and say, hey, Mike, what did you learn? How are you going to apply it? How does this apply? What you already know? Then maybe a week later ask, what if a problem comes up, say, well, what did you learn? In Shawn’s session, you could apply to hold people accountable for what they learned and maybe even have, I suggest, you know, post assignments like a follow up webinar or reading a certain book, a chapter at a time in a book group. There’s a million ways. Anybody wants to know how to reinforce training, feel free to contact me. But the idea is that training is not an event, it’s a process. And so you have to make sure you have all those elements in place. And often it’s like check the box. And I’m not sure that’s how people really learn this. You know, the one day event.

No, I totally agree. It’s like going to any event. People are writing notes furiously, they feel motivated, they feel inspired. A week later, it’s like, what did I learn there? Or they’re not feeling as inspired anymore. So I completely agree that that accountability and that ongoing consistency, frequency, building it or building on top of it, I think is critical. What are you noticing, if anything at all, Shawn, about how organizations right now are buying training given the current environment, whether that’s AI, uncertainty, conflicts. Have you noticed any changes?

I’ve noticed more companies committing to developing their employees that they realize looking at all the research, if I have somebody here who’s brilliant, I have to do something to keep them. So we know that developing employees, whether it’s consulting, coaching, training, is going to help them, us retain them. Because we know from the research and you know this and that the millennials will stay as long as they’re getting development. Once they stop getting development, they leave to go to the next opportunity. Maybe they’ll only stay three years, but if we can give them development, maybe they’ll stay six. Maybe they’ll fall in love with the company and stay nine. Who knows? But miracles can happen. But I see that the companies are actually realizing the importance of investing in their employees. They do invest in the coaching and the training and that they realize the value not only just to retention, but profitability, revenue, productivity. I mean there’s so many statistics I could quote about increases in all those business levers that are huge. If you apply them in your experience,

[18:27] – From $5,000 Workshops to $200,000 Engagements: What Changes

just even looking, let’s say the last two years or so, what is the range in terms of dollar value that you see companies being willing to commit into training engagements from low dollar value to high dollar value. What does that range look like?

I mean it can go from 5,000 to 100,000 to 200,000. It’s really encouraging them to take more of a long term view.

That’s really why I wanted to ask you that question is. So, okay, we got a huge range, right? $5,000 to $200,000. What’s the difference between the 5,000 and the 200,000? I understand that a 5,000 is, you know, that’s maybe a one day, half day type of thing. 200,000 is going to be a of lot, lot more than that. But could you paint us the picture of to get to that multiple six figure level in your experience? What does that need to include? How would somebody think about it? How would they be best to package that? Just kind of walk us through what goes into a multi six figure type of training engagement.

Yeah, I think number one, you have to point out what’s going to be the return on investment. Is it going to increase productivity, is it going to increase sales, is it going to increase retention, whatever those, those business levers are. So you got to make that upfront. Right. It’s going well doing all that. We recommend this process. So I always say, well, one of the best things to do is some assessments. So for example, if we were doing a leadership program, we’d say, well, let’s do some online leadership assessments first. 30, 40, 50, 100 people, thousand people, however many there are. Now let’s look at the reports and I can actually tell you specifically what their strengths are, what their areas are for improvement. Now we’re going to tailor the training to that data. Not just what we think they need, but what they actually really need. That’s the question. So the assessment piece, obviously the training piece, whether that’s the classroom, whether that’s an online program, whether that’s a series of webinars, again it’s all completely customized for that organization. And then the follow up piece is the accountability. And I believe that if we’re training people in a leadership development program, we should also train their leaders as an adjunct to that. And Say, well let’s do a short session with your leaders, how to hold them accountable for what they learn. Because if they learn it and you don’t hold them accountable, we don’t have the return. And then to have a, I like doing a training needs analysis to say let’s look overall at your entire organization. What things do we need to do? And so we look at what they have. And by the way Mike, people are often shocked about what they already have. Like I didn’t know we had that. We’re not even using it, but they have it right? Or what they need to have and what they should do in the future. So looking at really a three year holistic approach because again I like to say, well, let’s not just do a one day leadership program, let’s do a leadership development program which is comprehensive. Let’s say this is one part of a comprehensive piece that’s going to include some classroom, some one on one coaching, some assessment and feedback. So working with your whole array of elements from front to back where they get results and then saying, well let’s do a debrief at the end of six months or a year saying where are we and what do we still need to do that we’re missing.

Yeah, I’m hearing you say it’s about not just looking at delivering training, it’s let’s look at the organization first to see what the organization actually needs. It’s about increasing the frequency. So it’s not just a one time thing, it’s multi stage. It’s also about increasing the time frame or the length so you’re providing more value over a longer period of time. And then it’s also about getting involved or getting in front of more people. But not only, let’s say the employees, also thinking about leadership. And so you’re expanding, you could say horizontally, vertically inside of the organization.

That’s right. And what happens in many cases you probably realize is, you know, we’re working with HR in this whole project and they go, well our sales team needs this, we can help your sales team. And so suddenly like you said, it goes this way, right? It starts to spread. Well, when the head of the VP of sales gets, it’s a heads up from the head of hr. Oh, we love this guy and we’ve worked with him for a while. He does great work. And then because again, sales, somebody who he knows likes to trust, recommended me, who’s already in their organization getting results, that vertical or horizontal approach is very, very helpful. And as the old marketing statement Always says it’s easier to do work with clients that you already know than going and getting new ones, and you need both. But I’m just saying it’s easier to go deeper within a client that you already have.

Shawn, a lot of people have this belief that HR is a terrible buyer, that they don’t have much of a budget, and they don’t really have the authority to make a decision. What’s been your experience with that?

[23:00] – Is HR a Bad Buyer? The Influencers Whispering to the Budget Holders

I have found that if HR people know, like and trust you, they may not have the budget, but they’re whispering in the ear of all the people that do have the budget. So they’re saying to the CEO, hey, we, you know, COOs, all the senior executives, HR is with them or maybe even at the table with them. Someone comes, something comes up, they’re like, well, we should get Shawn in here. You can solve that. So they may not have the budgetary authority, but I would say that they’re a massive influencer. And then the other element is sometimes people do training or consulting because there’s a problem. Let’s say a company says, well, boy, we’ve got some massive amount of conflict that’s causing HR issues. HR person says, I want to fix this. I don’t have the budget for it. I’m going to ask the CEO to give me the budget for it so I can fix it. But then, next thing we know, we’re doing a conflict avoidance program and coaching and training and helping people to change the culture to make them less. You know, the whole idea of liability is a big issue today in corporate and a huge issue in corporate America now. People are very, very concerned about liability.

So you mentioned that in your experience, HR plays a massive role. But I also heard you say that, you know, giving talks to entrepreneurs, do you tend to target in your marketing, you’re writing books. When you’re selecting where to speak, are you targeting HR over entrepreneurs or entrepreneurs over hr? How do you think about that, that kind of blend and where to really put your energy?

Another great question. You should have a podcast. I don’t know if you thought about

it, thought about it for a few years. Yeah.

The answer to that is very simple. It depends on the book. For example, one of my books that I wrote with our coo, it’s called jumpstart your business. Well, that book’s clearly aimed right at the entrepreneur, the founder. But my book, jumpstart your leadership, I would say, would be the one the person from HR would want to read, or the CEO or the cfo. So it depends on the book that I’m writing, and some of them probably are more agnostic. Meaning my book the Goaltender, which I wrote about setting goals, and it’s written as a fictional novel as opposed to kind of a standard nonfiction that’s aimed at anybody in the world who needs to learn how to set goals. So it could be an individual contributor, it could be a company. Anybody who picks it up could say, well, I want you to teach folks in my company how to set it, achieve goals. So it depends on the book. But I always know who I’m aiming the book to when I write it. I always think of the audience.

Is there a belief that you held about your consulting business? I know I asked you earlier about when you went from kind of corporate into consulting, something that maybe you thought would have been a little bit different, but I’m wondering, how is your view on the business of consulting and training changed over the last several years? Is there anything that you feel that people maybe have a strong belief about and you completely disagree with in terms of the status quo or anything that kind of stands out for you?

[25:39] – “Get in the Door”: Broadening Your Skill Set Without Diluting Your Message

I think the one thing that I realized was, and this is something that folks listening to this can really benefit from, get in the door. So in other words, I want to do consulting. Like, no, we want you to do training. I’ll do training. So I go ahead and do training. Well, do you do consulting? I’m like, well, of course. We talked about that first. So my whole idea is to try to get in the door. So one of the shifts that I had to make was if I can get in the door and I can work with you and your folks, and I get great results. Whether it’s training, whether it’s coaching, whatever it is, there’s more opportunity there than we realize. And so I say that the other thing that’s important is to have a diverse set of skills. Say, well, I do consulting. Do training. No. Well, if you don’t do training, partner with somebody who does and, you know, have them come in with you as a partner. But don’t walk away from people who are willing to hire you for something just because you don’t have the capability. So I would say that try to broaden your skill set, because, you know, I do a lot of different things, and the fact that I can do all those things to be that versatile has been a huge win. It only hit me, like, a couple years ago. I’m like, oh, I can get in the door no matter what the service is. That’s the key I think one thing

that some people might struggle with when they hear that is the idea of a focus and positioning and messaging. So when you have multiple things that you can do, in your case, how have you decided where to lead? Because you can’t say everything to everyone initially, how do you decide what to actually target and use as your initial messaging?

I think that’s where the diagnosis comes in. I mean, the initial message is example, when we do social media, we don’t do social media that says we do everything. We do a social media message that says, you know, we do executive coaching and, or. And lately we’ve shifted from not the ad like we do executive coaching, we shifted to. Here are five things you need to consider when you promote a manager. Here are seven things to consider when hiring an executive coach. They’re almost like a little bit of an advertorial, if you will. You’re containing valuable information to make somebody go, I like how they think and I’m going to call them now. Then on the initial meeting, we try to identify what’s the biggest pain point first. And I don’t even mention all the other elements because that just gets diluted and confusing. If you’re calling me about consulting, I’m just going to talk about consulting. Then later on, once we start consulting, then you may say, well, oh, what we see need for this. I think that singular focus is really important because I think people are too distracted these days. They get very confused. If you try to do everything at

once, if you were tasked with or challenged with generating an extra $150,000 in the next 90 days, and the number is not as important as just the concept that I’m going to kind of ask you about here. The default for most established business owners would be to go, I’m going to go to all my current clients and just find out how I can add more value for them and provide some additional product or service. And there we go. But I want to just assume for the purpose of this question that you don’t have that. Let’s just take all of your client base to this point and let’s just imagine that they’re frozen in time. You can’t access them. So you can leverage the assets that you have, but you can’t use your current clients or past client base. What would you to to generate that extra six figures in new revenue in the next 90 days.

[28:32] – The $150K-in-90-Days Challenge: Why Shawn Would Bet on Video

I think video is very powerful. So when I say video, I mean do videos that are rich in tools, techniques and ideas and now get those videos out to YouTube, to TikTok, to Instagram. I know there’s all sorts of formatting things we have to worry about, but that’s beside the point. But the idea is to try to make yourself known. Where someone watches your video and says, I want to work with her and I really like how she thinks. And don’t just say, well, do you know, we do consulting, Say, no, no, let me share with you a success story that we have, or let me share with you a service that we offer, whatever it happens to be. I think that’s really the way to go because we live in a video world and I’ve noticed that on our social media posts, the ones that always get the most views or clicks or whatever you want to call it are always video based and not just a picture. People love video. And it also gives a chance for people to get to know you, can see you and hear you.

Shawn, I’m partly surprised by your answer because, you know, you’ve written all these books, you do all this speaking. Why did you select video as opposed to just saying, oh, I’m just going to go and give four more talks or send a book to, you know, one of my books to 100 executives.

I think the world has changed. I think we’re going after business in the old school way and I think we need to because we’re getting ready to start just a, a huge campaign with video on all channels. I think the world has changed and I think that yes, we can go try to find former speaking. And by the way, I’m not saying those other ones don’t matter. I think you do all of them at once. But I think the world has changed and now, you know, it amazes me how much time people spend on TikTok and Instagram and Facebook and it’s just incredible to me. So to me, that’s the best way for people to find you quickly and, you know, a couple of contracts, you’re good.

What’s one thing that you have stopped doing that you used to do?

[31:02] – Stop Chasing Non-Believers: The Underdeveloped Potential of People

I’ve stopped trying to convince executives who don’t believe in investing in their folks to invest. It was really funny. I had one CEO actually said to me, well, if I have to train him, I hired the wrong people. I’m like, okay, I’m never going to change that guy. And if he’s so grounded in his belief system he’s not willing to have an open mind about it, then I’m like, okay, next. And no one is somebody who is a believer. I always say this Often that the single biggest asset that you have at a company is the underdeveloped potential of your people. Not your trucks, not your products. Sorry, apologize for that. But that’s what I believe. So if you could develop your folks, what would happen in your company in terms of revenue and growth and morale and retention and all that? Amazing things would happen. But people sometimes reluctant to make that investment. But if they made the investment, they would see amazing things happen. So I would just stop wasting my time on that. Grumpy CEO.

What’s one thing that you are doing today that maybe you weren’t doing two or three years ago that you feel has had a very positive impact on your business?

Speaking at the networking events, I think classically in the past, it’s like, we have to go speak at big conferences. I’m not saying that that’s not important, but I think when you go out, there’s so many business networking events. Like, we live in Chester County, Pennsylvania. There’s probably 30 business networking events in our area every week that are live. And every single person that leads one of those networking events says, occasionally I’d like to have somebody come in and speak who’s an expert on something. And you get to meet them and you get to know them. And I think that’s a really great way to get more business and something we hadn’t thought of before, but it’s really paid off.

How has your definition of success changed from the early years to how you view it today?

[32:57] – Thinking Bigger: Building a Global Training Empire

Now I really believe that we’re building an empire, and I don’t know that I would have thought that five years ago, but I do believe that we really believe that Shawn Doe Training will become a global empire with products and services. And we already have 17 facilitators around the country. But the idea is to really focus, to build it to that next level. It is probably related to all of the consulting that I’ve done. That the biggest thing that I’ve seen with a lot of my clients is their thinking is too limited. If something say, well, you know, you know, where are you going to be next year? Well, we’ll probably be at 3 million. I’m like, how about 6? Oh, 6. That sounds crazy. I’m like, yeah, it does, doesn’t it? Let’s go for it. And I see a transition where with enough conversations, a CEO or a founder will start to, through consulting, will start to change their mindset. Well, why couldn’t I do 6 million? I’m like, why couldn’t you do 10? And I’m like, you’re right. And so I think that that has maybe rubbed off on me a little bit that, you know, where we are today, but there’s no doubt that we could build an empire because there’s such a need out there for guidance and direction and support.

Well, Shawn, I want to thank you for coming on and, you know, sharing a bit of your journey and what you’ve done to this point. So I appreciate that.

Thank you, Mike. Thanks for having me here.

Where’s the best place for people to. To go to learn more about your company and the work that you’re doing?

Yeah, just go to Shawn training dot com. Also, if you’d like to talk, there’s a button right there on the site. Makes it real easy. Hit the button and set up an appointment. We can talk to anybody out there that wants advice or counsel or needs training or anything like that. Give us a call. I’d love to talk to you.

All right, we’ll link that up in the show notes. Shawn, thanks again so much for coming on.

Thank you. Bye.