$100K Investment Without a Coach? Here's Why That Fails

SSS Podcast (00:01) Today on Sugar Spice and Spirits, we're gonna be covering why you need a coach. And I have some receipts for you as well to cover that. Got a story. Before we get all into this, I had a client that came to me. He said, I'm investing, I'm looking to invest 100,000 with these guys. I have a partnership, we're gonna go buy real estate. And I'm super excited. He's already investing in multifamily and he's been very diligent with his money. And he's a blue collar worker, great guy, done a lot. He brings me the contracts. I'm like, that's awesome. Let me take a look at what you guys are doing business wise. Because I said, before you put your money with any syndicator or any owner operator, anybody, let me just help you review the docs, make sure everything sounds good and let you know about my 20 plus years experience, 25, 30, 60, years experience in this industry. What the reputation is on the street because there's a street rep. And then there's like the online rep and there's like, you don't always know what's going on in the undercurrent. So I was like, let me review your docs. So I'm reviewing his docs and it is a chat GPT fund for real estate. My jaw hit the ground. I was like, there is no way you're investing with these people. There is no way you can move forward with this investment opportunity. There is a lot more to cover on that conversation. But we wouldn't do it like we're here. I'm Natalie Pilkinton one of the co-hosts of Sugar Spice and Spirits. I got my girl Mindy and I got my girl Kelly. So if you guys are needing coaching, mentoring, public speaking, Mindy is your gal. She does executive coaching as well. If you need home health, not medical, but home health assistance and home health. Caregivers. Caregivers. So somebody to sit with your elderly parents or somebody. She's in Louisiana and Mississippi and can help you. You can go to Sugar Spice and Spirits podcast, go to the website and spill the tea if you have any show ideas, anything like that. But Mindy is anxiously waiting. If you guys don't know, she has been waiting to take a sip of her tini We are at Poly Pop in Lake Jackson and today is tini Thursday. So there are $5 drinks. So we are here having a tini So I'm going to have a lemon drop teeny. What are you having? I have the key lime pie teeny. and had the spicy peach. peach? comes with canned. Cheers. Cheers. Cheers. And I thought you weren't drinking on this one, Kelly. What happened? I changed the heart. I changed the heart. Mine's the best. I don't know. Mine's good. I don't think there's a loser in this. So mine is spicy? Oh, it's very good. Got a little back. My son that's mine. So mine's good. She was like, need to drink more of the spice to get the spice down so I can drink more of the spice when Kelly's on the floor later. We'll know why. Sorry. Wow. So, you know, I just want to make sure that that everybody knows and understands that everything that we talk about is really for informational, educational and hopefully to help you move forward within your journey. Now Mindy, I'm to ask you, what's the difference? And I know she hates it when I do this, sir, but here I am. What's the difference between a mentor and a coach? You pay a coach. Bottom line. And so when you're paying somebody, typically you get more feedback that's going to be more constructive, hopefully in a more positive way, not negative construction. Because a mentor somebody like I have an amazing mentor that helps me with my speaking and my coaching and I absolutely Love and adore this person and they've been incredible But I think they tend to go a little softer on me sometimes whereas with my coach that I actually pay and work with They don't hold back but the words that they choose most often times are kind but it's just a difference and then you have their undivided attention Versus having to work around schedules. And what do you think? Yes, I'd agree. So a mentor is somebody that take you under the wing that season, typically in your industry or going where you want to go. But they're out, you know, they're not on a time schedule. You're not with purpose. You're more of unscheduled with it. And with the coach, you're paying for it. It's deliberate. It's with the purpose. It's moving forward. And that's the difference in my mind. So, yeah, I agree. So if you don't have a coach, or a mentor right now, you're leaving money on the actual table, actual real money. So PricewaterhouseCoopers, one of the biggest consulting and accounting firms on the planet, they have studied the return of investments, the ROI on coaching. And here's what they found. The average ROI is seven times, seven times guys, the cost of the coach. So you get what you pay for. Literally you get a lot more than what you pay for. great mentors out there. can say too there have been folks that I have worked with that haven't been a coach, they've been a mentor. A lot of my success is because of incredible mentors but there is a time and a place for a coach depending on where you are and what it is that you're wanting to accomplish. Yes, I agree. I mean, if you're doing something for recreational and fun, then OK. But if you're running a business, this is this is going to be calling us out like and I know you have one. But for me, I need one. And for you, you need one. And I have a mentor in my broker, Corey Kammerdiener with Home Rock, which I absolutely love. If you're guys looking for a brokerage, I'm your gal. But having somebody that you can go and ask questions to and be able to. fall on. have a really good friend that's been in the retail real estate side. talk real estate, people always go retail and the retail real estate side and she helps me with some of those questions that I have too. So I think that's that's really, really important. When I say seven times. So if you pay $1,000 to a coach monthly, you should be getting a return of $7,000 or more. And it doesn't happen like right away. Like it should be moving quick. Like they need to be holding you accountable. They need to be firm. They need to be calling out your BS, making sure that you are taking strides with purpose. Now I know you've had it to where if a client didn't do their homework. I've let them go. And you've also postponed the meeting. Like obviously you've had a busy week because life happens, but you will only tolerate so much of that. much because my time is valuable. Their time is valuable. I want to make sure that they're getting in what I'm putting out and vice versa. And so I think it is the accountability on both parts. If you have a coach that allows you to not do the homework, to not do the internal work, then how vested are you internally with yourself? That's the way that I look at it. And we do have those conversations where it's like, hey, are you sure this is what you want? Your time is valuable, my time is valuable. These are the goals that you had. This is what we've been able to accomplish so far. And then showing them, hey, when you did this, this, and this. Do remember what happened here, here and here? So I have to keep up with that too, Natalie. And a lot of times that's what will actually get them to go, yes, I know I've been busy, but let's do this. But it's very eye opening for them whenever I will say, well, we can't have this meeting today because the things that I needed you to do to prepare, haven't done them. On the other side of it, there's a huge accountability piece on my part that I need to make sure I follow through with all of those things. And I'm not just reviewing notes before I get on with that client. Like I want to know my clients. internally, externally, all the things that are important to them. Well, if you think, I'm sorry, if you think about it also, that coach is, I mean, you're investing in that coach, but that coach is also investing in you because you are going to go out there and based on your success, you're going to be a walking referral board for that coach. No coach wants you to not be successful because behind the scenes, no one really knows. Is it a lack of ability on the coach's part? or is it your lack of follow through on the student part? So when you're an extension of that coach and that coach's success, then they absolutely want you to be successful, but also you're for that. You know what you just reminded me of? So Kelly and I used to work out with somebody and she would not want to sell her merchandise with her logo on it because she was like, some people will buy my stuff and then they're with me for a week or two or even a month and then they go out and then they don't follow through. and they don't eat right, they don't follow my recommendation, and then they're a walking billboard around town. And at first I was like, really, you don't want just the name of your workout place there? And she's like, no. And you saying that, it just kind of hit me. You think about that. If you put out there, I mean, let's face it, unfortunately, negative publicity gets way more attention than positive publicity. And if you're out there and they say, hey, I heard your so-and-so was your coach. and you're still where you were three years ago, whereas so-and-so had this coach and they did so much better. Well, yes, you are accountable, but so is that coach. So it does. You are definitely a walking billboard of your success based on that coach's guidance. I'll cover some of that too. Okay. But I think it also goes to your shirt inside The Why So that's her company name. You really have to hone in on why you're putting in this time and this effort. and actually stressing yourself and stretching, not stressing, but stretching yourself. you're stressed, call me. Even if you're stretching, we need to stretch ourselves. Yes, absolutely. But I think there's there's huge value, but understanding your why and you have to remember that. So going back and seeing reflecting even six months ago, like we do that with the podcast. Yes. Like how far we've grown, how far we've done. By the way, if you think this episode would benefit somebody, please like, share and share with that person. And don't forget to subscribe. So one third, let's see, no, no, no, I wanna cover this Fortune 500 companies, 98 % of Fortune 500 companies have found the value of mentoring and coaching. They have mentor programs at their companies. And also the Build Your Pipeline, right? So if, I see this with my daughter who is with a restaurant and she's moved her way up very diligently from host to go, she wanted to be a delivery driver. She's about a size double zero. and they told her she couldn't and nothing makes her more angry than telling her she can't do something. I'm surprised to get the box truck and start trying to drive it around anyway. But she is now a shift lead and throwing those trays around, she's got to move food. They don't care if you're a pencil, you still got to be able to lift the trays and move them. So she's getting some guns now on her arms, but it's that mentoring program that they're building their funnel to get the GMs and the managers. so that they can open up new restaurants because they're in growth mode. And I think that as a business, especially if you've got a couple of employees underneath you or no matter how big you are, you need that pipeline for growth to be able to expand and grow and be better and do more. And if you're an executive and you're not thinking that way and you're not training your people up to take your position so that you can grow and do something else, then we probably need to have a conversation. And when I say we, I mean, Mindy, have a conversation with you. on what that looks like and why it would benefit you to do that. I think anyone that goes into a job, especially if it's along their line of their career pathway, I don't think you go in there with the means of staying where you are. think every majority of people want to move up. That doesn't necessarily mean that the CEO was going to be your coach, but they can certainly be your mentor, maybe not a direct mentor, but when you see where they are, where they came from, their pathway, how they got there. their mentor and then the person that's just above you is always going to be your mentor. So it may not even be in your company, you may be with a smaller company and you're wanting to switch companies or change even laterally to be able to go up. Whatever that move is and however that looks like, you still need to engage in industry meetings like going to those professional industry events where you can meet other people, other people who are in a similar position. Maybe they're going to leave and they can put a good word for you. You never know what door is going to open by being open and vulnerable yourself and looking to improve yourself. I can tell you I've had so many things good happen in my life because I was trying to improve myself and I was trying to be better and do better. And that's how I was able to, you know, knock down doors, you know, and one of the episodes, a couple of them we talked about, you know, are we in the right room? Yeah, we're in the right room. We kicked down the door to get there. So. It's coaching and mentoring that helps us get theirs. When you're walking into a completely different career pathway, like you said, all the more reason why you find those mentors because you may be drifting in unforeseen waters that you're like, have no idea what to expect. So that's where the mentors really play a crucial role as well. So one third of successful entrepreneurs had a mentor or a support group while building their business. You'll hear support groups, masterminds, those are good things too. And with the masterminds, would definitely make sure, find out who's part of the masterminds before you join. Cause anybody will take your 20 or $50,000 and let you be in the sugar, spice and spirits mastermind. Absolutely. $50,000. yet. Not yet. Don't sell yourself short. Yeah. Well, guess she hasn't heard yet. So it's 20 or 50,000 for these masterminds, but make sure you've got, you're not the top dog at that mastermind. And if you are, it's okay to give back in that sense. But and that could be a harvesting ground for you to get some solid employees But look for the next level, know for for masterminds in that sense, but so one-third of successful entrepreneurs has support groups Okay now flip that 14 % of entrepreneurs who failed in business had a mentor only 14 % and we'll get back to that accountability as we go along so 70 % of entrepreneurs who've received mentoring survived five years and I think that's one of the statistics, right, that they look at small businesses. Most businesses sell in first five years. So 92 % of small business owners say a mentor had a direct impact on their growth and their chances of survival. And then there's this one. This one gets me every time. 89 % of business owners who don't have a mentor, that's almost nine out of 10 people sit there going, should have asked. Glad you brought that up because that's what sometimes it pulls people back. They want to grow. but they're worried about asking for help, there's that insecurity. It's like you're your worst enemy if you don't ask for help. And then the person that you're asking for help, if they are, let's say you're superior, if you would, and they don't give it to you or they don't react in the way you want, or they don't have time for you, that could be because that company, that position may not be right for you, but there's somebody else that could help you. so figuring out, as Natalie was saying, going to the different networking events and putting yourself out there, finding somebody that... knows what you want to know, letting them know and just saying, hey, I would love to learn from you. Most people just want to be asked. Before I was getting paid to do this stuff, and I still do some pro bono stuff as well, because I want to pay it forward and give back. When somebody would ask me for help and for advice, I loved giving it. Yesterday, I was at an event that I spoke at, and a gentleman came up to myself and the other guy that was an amazing speaker that was there, Marvelous Mark. and said, I was so inspired by what the two of you said, very different presentations. And I have this background in X, Y, and Z. I want to speak. I want to be, I want to do what you do. How do I get started? And Mark goes, you need to talk to Mindy. She can absolutely help you. And the more I listened to him, the more I learned what his background was. And I said to him, I was like, my gosh, I would absolutely love to help you. However, I want you to know you have the foundation, you have the background, everything that he told me that he already had put together. I was like, you can pay me all day long, but let me show you a place to start first. gave him three things that he could do and he was blown away. And then you know was really neat? goes, but I still want to talk to you and I'm okay with paying you. I'm like, okay, but you do know this is a free route. You are on this. And if you just want to call me, you can keep take the money. Say yes to the check. Say yes to the check. You know what? It's all about giving back and paying it forward it. But it was really you. And he was like, I have to talk to some people and nobody's giving me this guidance. And he said, probably because they think you're so closer than worried about losing you. Other than a few very, very small percentage of people who are born into money, it's a safe assumption. is that? None of us were. It's a safe assumption to say, and we heard this from some that we used to work alongside with, is there are no self-made millionaires. Everyone had to have help to get where they are. Everyone's made mistakes. You think you're going down a great venture and suddenly it's like, wow, I misread that. You learn from that mistake, you move forward, hardly anyone out there is ever going to just jump into it. 100 % success without. having some assistance along the way. And that's, mean, that's where the mentors and the coaches come into play. So coaching and mentoring is more than just cheerleading, it's accountability, it's real outcomes, it's actionable items. So I'm gonna walk you through this first, competence and performance. 85 % of people who've been coached reports increased self-confidence, 75 % report better work performance, better relationships, and better communication. Mindy is helping me with that communication all the time. I just go straight to it. I don't give any pleasantries. I'm like, manager, please. Doesn't always go over well. So she's helping me. 87 % of both mentors and mentees say they feel more empowered and develop greater confidence through their relationship. Imagine having somebody that you can just bounce ideas off. And we do that with each other a lot. Like, hey, I'm thinking this. What do you think? And it gives us another perspective and eyes and ears that know our goals that are coming at us from a loving place. not from a vindictive place or, I can't wait till she falls on our face or anything, because there's some catty people out there. And if you've got catty people in your life, cut them out. You have to work with them. Limit their access to your mind and to you. Like, don't give them that satisfaction. So both sides benefit from the coach to the mentee to everybody involved, including your employer. But if you're self-employed, So let's talk money and career, because that's what most of us really are asking about. Employees with mentors receive higher compensation, more promotions and greater career satisfaction than those without. Promotion rates are five to six times higher for people in mentoring programs, five to six times. And if you guys want the stats for these, I've got the stats form too. I don't just take the information. So retention rates, like. Turnover is huge and if you're running a company and you have high turnover, we know companies that are burning through people, solid people left and right and they can't figure out why their company is not performing like they want it. There's a reason, retention rate, 72 % for people who are being mentored compared to 49 % for those who aren't and that's huge. So if you have a business owner listening right now, you might wanna get some mentors in there to help your team. And I know one. I would fall under coach in that category. Don't need the money. She wants the check on that. but mental health, because that matters. We cover mental health and how that works. So studies from Cambridge found that mentoring reduces anxiety. Because so many times you're like, I move forward with this? How do I represent the company the best? How do I represent myself the best? How am I standing in this room? Let's pause on that really quickly because what Natalie just said, that is something that I find, especially on my executive coaching level. I will tell you, I love working with emerging and mid-level leaders. that's really my jam. I'll just say it. But I do have a handful of executives that have been doing this for a while. And what I have found, the insecurities at every level is fascinating. But even I have insecurities about, I've speaking on stages for so long and I still get nervous. And I always say, if I don't ever get nervous, I don't want to do it. The self-confidence piece of it, you think you see this CEO or COO and they're incredibly confident. Well, sometimes they're shaking in their boots and they're just making stuff up because they're the person that has to make that decision. But then if they have a coach or a mentor that they trust that they can go to and have. private conversations and go back and forth about ideas and then hopefully Natalie's term, don't be an askhole asking questions and then keep going against the advice if it's great advice. But it would surprise you see people and they have all the answers to know they don't have all the answers, but they have a team around them. Sometimes that team is a paid team to help them out. Sometimes that team is a team of mentors or a team that is part of their group, but they're not typically making decisions on their own. I have found, Natalie, that when I have dealt with folks that have had high turnover, they don't typically have a team around them. They're relying on their selves and the knowledge that they have to make decisions, and it's living in their head, and they have a vision for it. The problem with that, sometimes it's tunnel vision. And so when you bring in other visions and you bring in other ideas, then you have the ability, it's like a buffet. You can look at every option that you have. and then you can choose the right path. What tastes best, if you would. Or they're basing it off of YouTube videos or shorts that they're seeing on somebody that's a high performing individual. And they could be going off a spruce. Yeah. I mean, even if they are a high performing individual that's done, there's different styles, different companies and different everything. And everybody is different. So I really think that there's harm that comes from that. And if you had the wrong mentor, if you had the wrong coach, It's just that don't don't give up on it. you're somebody that is open to working with others and learning from others, it just may not have been the right person at the at that time. And so if you want to invest in yourself and again, we seek mentors, they're not going to cost you anything. So yeah, and I mean, it's like a church, right? You may not have the right church. How many I went to five marriage counselors before the last one fired us and gave me a book. I thought five was a pretty good shot. Like I tried. So when you're looking at, mean, you look at how many how many different and this is so crazy, but how many different Churches do you go to before you find that pastor that you connect with? How many different hair people do you go to until you find that one that makes you feel good about yourself? It's the same thing. Different coaching styles, different mentoring. You're going to relate and you're going to be able to follow along better with certain mentors and certain coaches. And just like Mindy said, if you don't feel like you've connected with that one, it doesn't mean, well, I tried, now somebody's throwing a towel. No, if you're passionate about what you want to do and you really want to be successful, you can keep looking. because you're going to connect with someone. Again, no self-made millionaire is a self-made millionaire. You can't imagine how many coaches and mentors they've probably had throughout their years. yeah, just 91 % of workers with a mentor are satisfied with their job and 57 % are very satisfied. Very. I wonder if they have sex mentors. Contrast that wins this. That's the tangent tax. I mean... I'm not saying I need it, but I'm just saying. That was a gold. Contrast that with this. Over 40 % of workers without a mentor have considered quitting in the last three months. That's crazy. 40 % versus 25 % without a mentor or who have a mentor. So that's a really big difference in engagement and employee morale and you want to keep it. So for business, the Warren School of Business estimated that a formal mentoring program yields 600 % return on program cost. That's insane. So 600 % and 51 % of companies that use coaching report higher revenue than their competitors. And if you're using coaching, you're staying involved in what's going on in the market. You're staying involved in what's going on with everything. So you're ahead of the curve. and you can pivot and make these changes much quicker than your competitor that's still a couple of months out trying to figure out that supplies are going to be flow coming from China or wherever. know, now I'm still hearing from a number of folks in all different business verticals where they still get frustrated with the younger generation wanting to be promoted, wanting to have a raise now, wanting you all of the things that. us being the older generation, we paid our dues. You work hard, you you move up within your time frame. I know mine was a little bit different when I was younger, adding a mentorship program, adding, you know, access to a coach, think about what that does for that young person. Think about what that does for your, you know, we still have so many boomers that are still in the workplace and then you offer them a mentor or a coach in every age group in between. That's the reason that you see the numbers that she's going through, because there's this outlet. There's this, I'm not staying stagnant. I am growing. I am learning. They are investing in me. And there is something in our core. There's something in our core, or for most people, it's like, you're investing in me. I want to give back even more. I want to make sure you are a successful company because you are investing in me, versus being scared. What is that saying? Why should I educate them or pay for their schooling? And then they leave. Well, what's the opposite of it? You don't and they stay? Yeah, that's huge. Or they stay and they make your company like seven times more profitable. mean, I don't know. The ones that stay because they had the coaching. They had them and they're happy. it gives people a chance to have that confidence to speak up. Because if you're younger, like sometimes there's there's things that they hear and they see generational and. didn't mean that the company has to take it, but there are ideas and leaders are looking for thought leaders to step up in those meetings to have those conversations. So what a mentor will provide is that compression of time or a coach will provide is a compression of time to expedite the growth, to expedite the learning. So I had a mentor when I was in high school, I was at risk for dropping out. My father died my senior year. I got kicked out the day of my dad's funeral my senior year while playing basketball and from the cross country team. So I had to get an apartment. I had my first apartment at 17 over on Bartlett in the Med Center and I would drive from the Med Center to Jersey Village every day. having to make that drive, I had Miss Betty who was a mentor and she worked at the bank and I don't know, she was old then So Miss Betty, if you're still around, God bless you. She gave me a blanket. that was a custom quilt little blanket. Like, I don't know what it was, but it had hearts in it, the blue and white blanket with the hearts and the French on the end. I think they were pretty popular. I'd never had a gift like that. It was embroidered with my name. I'm like, how did she get my name on this? I didn't know this stuff was a thing. And you know, but having that mentor that actually poured into me, I looked forward to going out to eat with her once a week. She'd come up to the high school, check me out and we'd go eat lunch. You know, so mentors, you don't know when you're pouring into somebody. how it's gonna impact. and I have been asked to go and speak at some of the high schools locally about businesses. these aren't like your uppity schools. These are Yates High School. These are inner city schools that we're gonna go and pour into these kids. And if we touch one, that's fabulous. We're gonna change some lives and help some people with that information and education. But it just takes that one moment of time to not poo poo on each other and to afford to each other to make this world a better place. So when you skip the expert, a real life cautionary tale. So I was talking about the chat GPT I was reading over this agreement and there was, and it was a fund with no ownership. Like it was just an LLC. No other owners were listed on it. So you don't know if it's like a thousand of you guys putting in a hundred thousand dollars for this fund. You don't know what you're buying except houses. And then there was also no ownership shares. So there was no, and it was like, He would get this return and then put it into a life insurance policy for a family banking system that he was gonna pay into with his profits that the fund manager received the benefits from. So it was just like this one whole convoluted thing. And I took a moment and I said, if you wanna piss away 100,000, I am wide open. Here's my bank account information and I will gladly invest your money how I see fit in houses, real estate, whatever. I don't know, let's go into business together. And he took a moment and paused. And I think he took what I told him and he went back to them and he's still working with them and their attorney, but he's getting a keyword is attorney, not chat, GPT better agreement. having somebody that has those eyes, he would have been taken for a ride and wash. And the problem that I have with that is because I care about this person. felt like they treated him like a dumbass. Like how dare they put that in front of somebody and how dare you put that like without any thought, without, if you're supposedly an insurance, how are you, insurance to run a family office, you know better than that, especially if you're dealing with securities, you know, and you're in that whole insurance realm with the licensing and everything. I was so disappointed and I just, I'm so thankful he came to me and I was able to at least protect him in that sense and he's gonna get the right paperwork. But if you would have just signed that and ran with Well, and kudos for him to coming to someone that he knew was reputable and who did look out for him because there is a huge level of self-accountability in this. If you think about it, if you go to someone, let's say at Edward Jones or at whatever the other places are, and you walk in there and you hand them, here's $100,000 of my hard-earned money, I want you to, essentially, they're your coach because they are putting it someplace that's going to make you money. That's no different than this coach that you're investing in because the whole outcome is within to essentially make you profitable, make you more knowledgeable, make you successful, whether it's monetarily or just where you feel like you can advance your career. It is an investment. And if you, if you choose, you know, your coach off of Craig's list. then chances are, okay, like you said, here's my bank account number. I'll be more than happy. Don't go to That's I'm saying. I mean, that's what saying. You have a level of responsibility to make sure that your mentors and your coaches are the people that are gonna work for you and that are legitimate. And the purpose of them maybe it's essentially costing a little bit more is because their responsibility is to you and your investment. And thank goodness he was able to come to you and you were hopefully able to steer him. Maybe he is staying with them, but now he knows the better questions to ask and, and whatever the case is, at least it's not having the ego checking your ego and say, you look at them? Sure. No problem. Yes. So I didn't have a problem with that. yeah, you know, and I, I want to find an Edward Jones broker that's going to return my money sevenfold like a coach. Now that was just strictly an example. not. not. I'm not. Now I do. I do kind of have to disagree because I've had some some some pretty good good returns from good returns. You must be following Nancy Pelosi stock. Really? I mean, I thought was going to be. I'd follow her. So I think I'd stand out. an app for that. There's an app for that. No, but what I'm saying is that regardless of anything that's going to cost you money, you expect a return on your investment, whether it's through real estate, whether it's through car sales, whether it's through selling drugs on the fucking street, I don't know. But I promise you it has nothing to do with Nancy Peloci Sorry. Okay. Cheers. Studies have found that between 58 and 82 % of legal queries submitted to AI tools produced what's called a hallucination. Meaning that AI generates information that's found at the orthen and is simply wrong. There have been 486 documented cases worldwide of AI generated hallucinations and legal filings. Just like mentoring or coaching on AI sucks too, like if you get what you pay for. That's right. Sometimes they want to please you, and by pleasing you, they don't always give you the 100%, you know, hit you between the eyes facts and say, you're really making a stupid mistake. Okay, it's gonna be okay, let's go ahead and go that route. And you know, $50,000 later, you're like, well, could you hit me between the eyes instead? yeah. So they talk about attorneys getting fined, you know, 5,000. These are real court cases. a California attorney was fined $10,000 when 21 out of the 23 quotes in an opening brief turned out to be chat GPT hallucinations. That's fricking amazing. So we're talking about real money with the real documents. So be careful, get yourself a mentor, a coach, get yourself a coach. Especially if you're investing in something that you've never invested in before. We all work together through real estate investing. That's how we, the three of us came together and she and I knew each other outside of that. There's a lot of things that AI can do a lot, but the real world experience of what we have, what we know, depending on what it is that you're looking for, somebody out there has that experience. so reaching out to them, y'all, I didn't even know we were going to go down the path of investing your money. Let's say I met a guy yesterday from. He retired from Shell. was a big wig there. And then he started investing in property. Where did he start? He started at a real estate group. He owns now 200 units of his own. He said, I could not have done it on my own. couldn't have just read about it. I needed trustworthy people with a background in what I was doing that were going to walk me through it step by step. So then he just took down his first deal on his own. He's syndicating his own deals. By the way, we know a syndicator. If you ever wanted to invest with somebody that... Finding that right person for whatever the time is, the human with the real experience, with the real mistakes that they can tell you about. That's the thing. If you talk to a coach or mentor and they've done everything right, they've never made a mistake, run. this is the part that you were kind of talking about. So if I'm telling you just to get a mentor, get a coach, it's not all sunshine and rainbows. there are going to be times that it's not a good fit and when it doesn't work. So you can make smart choices instead of throwing money at someone because they have a nice Instagram or their socials look great. So number one, chemistry is wrong. You don't like Mindy. You think she's annoying when she laughs and you don't like her intros. Don't work with her because she's not going to be the one. If you like it more direct and to the point and you want somebody like that, go with that. Not that Mindy is not direct and to the point that didn't come across right, but So chemistry, chemistry is important. And I'd say same with counseling too, like just you got to make sure that everything drives. Number two is when you're not ready to be coached. If you've got an ego in check and you know everything, then you know what, keep on with your bad self. Number three, when the coach isn't qualified, you're wanting to go to a billion and they're just at a level million and they haven't even made it to the tens of millions, then they're not the coach for you. That's important. Number four, when coaching becomes a substitute for action. Those professional educators, how many people do we know that are on their fourth degree, they're on their fourth coach and they're not actually taking action because... Or they're just hopping from group to group to group and paying that money and not taking action because the coaches that they're working with aren't holding them accountable or they're the problem, they're not taking action themselves. I would never be the problem. Number five, when the relationship creates dependency instead of independence. You should not have to always be to this person. Like you should be able to spread your wings and fly and go to someone else unless your mentors growing with you in a sense in the way that you want to grow. So one thing that it didn't mention on this that I think is very important integrity. So, and that's one thing that we find in real estate a lot. And you see this in your business too. It's you got to work with integrity and mean what you say and say what you mean. And you can't compromise on that. So your values and your morals. you need to be in alignment with your mentor or your coach. If your coach is out sleeping around and you value relationships and marriage and you're worried, you want to make sure that's the lifestyle you're looking for, then you don't care. But I think that's one of the huge things that you got to look at and take into account. Are they representing themselves the way that you want to be represented? Just like the coach or the coach doesn't want to have people wearing their stuff around if they're not implementing and changing the way the coach is desiring them to. The same with the The mentee, the mentee has to look at that coach and say, do I want to tie my name and my reputation with that person? Right. Because it's, you know, that integrity means it goes both ways. It means a lot too. You don't want to, you don't want to have you go down in flames if your mentor goes down in flames. Cause there are like a lot of people will say, what are your coach? If you, if you can't do you teach. And I think that's a load of crock I think there's a lot of great people that have done and teach. So it's always good to ask somebody's resume and ask them what qualifies you to be a mentor? What have you done? And if they can't provide a solid resume, that's not just laugh and BS, like double check their LinkedIn, cross reference, check their Google reviews, check everything. Check the Better Business Bureau because we know so many fraudsters out there too that have done the wrong thing. So I think that's really important. The goal is to find someone who's been where you want to go and can show you the terrain, not someone who carries you and not someone who thinks for you. Someone who says, I've been on this road. Here's what I wish I would have known. That's the whole game, like getting you in there. So what you're doing with this information starting today is up to you. So we've covered a lot and I want to make sure you walk with three clear things, not 10 things, but three. Number one, Get a mentor before you need one. Same with taxes, same with the CPA. Get a CPA and a look-teacher before you need one. Not calling myself out there. Number two, AI is a starting point, not a finish line, but that's where you can go and ask a few questions, but you're not gonna rely fullheartedly on AI for anything. Relying on for the questions, not so much maybe the answers. Know what questions to ask, but maybe get your mentor and your coach for the answers. Got a question? What would you say to that? Both, because you can actually ask it for good questions, especially when you're interviewing. Right, that's what saying. And then also you can have a conversation with it about, what are some of the traits? What are some of the characteristics? What are some of the answers I might receive? What are some key points? No, no, no, that's what saying. But it goes along the lines of, know, sometimes you don't even know what questions to ask. AI is good to help decide what questions, but then when you get those answers, you want to expand on that and not say, oh, here's the answers. that's where you're to expand a little bit further beyond AI. Yes. Yeah. So, and then you also want to find somebody who knows what you don't know. So you need to know your weaknesses and be able to articulate that with somebody who can have a strength, which Mindy and I always say we're the same, but different. And I think there's that, that intermingle compliment because where I'm weak, you're strong and where you're weak, I'm stronger. So it's a compliment in there that We were very similar, but very different. And I think that's a great thing, but we're not mentors with each other. help each other, but I think that there's a huge value in that. So I'm gonna leave you with this score. The nonprofit that supports small business owners found that 30 % of small business owners who had just one interaction with a mentor reported business growth. One interaction, one cup of coffee. One phone call. 30 % of people moved the needle from one conversation. And I say this because I run my meetup and I run networking and my kids go to networking and meetups. You my daughter's even coming to my meetup a lot, which is I'm excited for. The important thing is you can always have a takeaway. So when I get in my car, and I have everybody I met, have their business cards or I downloaded, I type notes, meet up this day, this is who I met, this is who I think is important, why this is what happened. And I put those notes on my phone, screenshots sent to my assistant and she uploads them to the database so that I have it there. And so I have that information. And I think that there's value in that and following up with those conversations and just taking whatever that nugget is and implementing it. applying it to your life. I want to know who you're going to call and what action you're going to take from this podcast. What's your takeaway? Who's a mentor or coach? If you guys have questions or want to reach out, if you want me to look over the coaches that you're looking at for your industry, Mindy and I will do that. I'm throwing you in there. Mindy and I, Kelly, we're giving her two cents too. She'll have her input and thought process with it as well. You'll have the sugar, spice and spirits coaching mentor team look at you and let you know what it is. So what our thoughts are. So any final thoughts before we wrap? You're in the position that you're in for a reason. But if you want to elevate yourself and you're afraid to ask for help, you're afraid to ask that person that's in the position you want to be in, you're holding yourself back. because you would be very surprised how many people think just want to be asked and you just go up to them and you say, hey, I have looked up to you. There's certain things that you understand that I don't or you know what? You can even start out as I'm a little bit embarrassed. I'm really nervous to ask you this, but you do X, Y and Z. Would you mind sharing that information with me? Would you mind having a cup of coffee? Could I your brain? It will surprise you how thrilled and honored they may be. have you asked them that question? And if you've been sitting there and there's somebody you're thinking of, maybe not a complete stranger or somebody you just met on YouTube, okay, or TikTok, but somebody that's within your circle right now, and you go and you ask them or that's at an association, sometimes that's the biggest compliment you can actually pay to somebody and they're just looking to pay it forward, they just haven't been asked. Yeah. So if you guys have a thought, if you want us to help with anything, Sugar, Spice and Spirits, get our crew here. We'll take a look at it. to spill the tea at sugarspiceandspirits.com. Share the podcast. If you have somebody who would benefit from this, if you have a show idea, topic idea, a drink idea, we'd love to have you follow along and give us your ideas. Let us know. Cheers to you guys. Sugar Spice and Spirits podcast. Cheers. And thanks again to Polypop for letting us host our podcast here. Check it out. Some Lake Jackson. Great environment. You can tell you've got super, super colorful backgrounds. Great drink menu. So check them out.