By John Cunningham

Mark Jones is a personal development coach that helps not only managers and executives to perform at high levels but also professional footballers. Mark has been a MorningCoach® member since 2016. You can find his business MJ3 coaching here. He sat down to talk about the impact JB Glossinger and MorningCoach® have had on him over the years.

John Cunningham: How did you find MorningCoach®

Mark Jones: I first heard JB on Hay House Radio. All of a sudden I heard this American guy on the show who had come from corporate and was living the dream in Florida, spending his day playing golf. So I was thinking, this is pretty much aligned. I listened intently, and I loved his energy. I sought out his podcast and it fit in nicely with the work I was doing on a daily basis. It just became part of my daily routine. It helped keep me positive and focused.

JC: What are some of the benefits that have kept you coming back?

MJ: JB’s energy is great. I have the utmost respect for someone who can consistently turn up day in and day out for all this time. It’s just amazing. I sometimes find it difficult to just eat and get out the door, and he’s been doing this for so long. 

The energy you get from that is a massive benefit. Another (huge) benefit is the people I have been introduced to from being part of this group. I have made some really good friends from being part of this community and contacts all around the world, and we speak on a daily basis. For me, that is something I never knew was possible, and it was not something I was considering as I got into (to the Morning Coach community). It’s been far more than I could have ever imagined.

JC: Tell me about those connections

MJ: I think what took it to another level was visiting the retreats in Florida, meeting and talking with the people I had connected and spoken with on chats and social media, as well as having heard JB talk about them so often on the podcast. 

When you get to spend prolonged periods of quality time with those people, that’s where the real value comes from and the relationships form. I have a group of these people I speak with on a weekly basis. It’s a good way to share energy and support one another. These people are so different from the people I normally have in my life because the majority of relationships we form are with people within a short distance from ourselves. But being around like-minded from all around the world is amazing. It’s phenomenal to think we can connect with people all over the world. If you were to look at a globe you just think it’s massive, but here I am talking to a guy in Japan and later on someone on the West Coast of the US all on the same day. And here still in my own little town, It’s just a phenomenal way to meet new people. 

You take a little bit from all those people; you learn from them. It’s like golden nuggets. You take those little golden nuggets and you incorporate them into your life. From a relationship point of view, it’s been fantastic.

JC: How have you grown over the last year

MJ: This year has been very interesting, right? The biggest ways I have grown over the last year is as a father and part time teacher. From a self help perspective, it’s been confidence. 

When you are moving up the mountain, you don’t get to the top and then help people. You have to keep helping them all along the way.

What this group has enabled me to do is grow as a person, as a former athlete I have always been positive, but over the last year to 18 months I have grow as a person and (the community) has lifted me up as I needed it and (in turn I have) help those people as well. It's like reading a book. You will get something from it the first time but when you read it again, you understand at a deeper level. Eventually you take that stuff on board and it helps you to become a better person.

JC: Post-COVID, what is a personal change you are expecting?

MJ: I’m an introvert by nature, but when I am in the right environment and around the right group of people is when that confidence comes out and I am able to grow into myself. I am expecting to be able to get myself out there more.

JC: I’m surprised you consider yourself an introvert because the work you’ve chosen needs someone who personifies confidence.

MJ: We are ruled by our heads and it can be hard to distance ourselves from those negative thoughts. Those negative thoughts hold us back from doing the things we want to do. When you are moving up the mountain, you don’t get to the top and then help people. You have to keep helping them all along the way. You know you're on the right track when you can relax a bit; the confidence comes out and you get in the zone. When you get in that zone, you can perform without thinking and it’s at that point that the magic happens and your natural (self) comes out. You know, you start talking to someone and you give some good advice and then you wonder where did that come from, that’s quite good advice you just gave there, Mark. 

Certainly in coaching you can channel the right words at the right time and then you know you're on the right path because everything comes naturally.

JC: Are you using Sacred 6 or Get It Done - Now?

MJ: Yes, I am in the Get It Done - Now coaching program and the benefit of having a structured program like that is that it keeps you honest. Being in the corporate world, I have had that process for the past 25 years... But what I love about the program is that it provides a clear structure for you. You may have all of the thoughts and processes, but not the understanding of how you will benefit from that. The Sacred 6 process helps you narrow down what is important for you and make sure every decision is aligned with that. This is a really good learning point.

JC: What is one piece of business advice that has stuck with you.

MJ: I was in a position of fear, and one of the most important things I have learned through coming to the retreats was embracing the nos. “Every no brings you closer to a yes.”

Putting yourself out there and embracing those nos as just part of the journey. It doesn’t mean you have to stop.

We see failure and rejection as we are doing something wrong. But not every coach is right for everyone. If you put 10 coaches in a room with 100 people, not everyone is going to select the same coach, everyone needs something different. Putting yourself out there and embracing those nos as just part of the journey doesn’t mean you have to stop. By changing my process, reframing my thoughts and putting it out there consistently, I have seen that every no brings you closer to a yes. Watching JB’s inspired consistent daily work on the CoachCast has proven these ideas.

JC: What is a book that guides you?

MJ: There are two actually. This first one was recommended to me by a coach in the UK and this changed my life because when I read it, it was exactly what I was looking for at the time. A sequence of events then kicked off that led me to Hey House where I discovered JB and here we are today. 

The first is a book by Robin Sharma - The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari. It is basically written as a story, but the messaging that is in there is about how we can live a happy life. I remember taking the book on holiday and reading it from cover to cover taking massive notes and when I came back, I had always been a night owl staying up to four in the morning, not wanting the day to end. Then I read this book and when I came back (from vacation) I flipped a switch. I woke up early and got out to the park to watch the sunrise. There are miracles in those mornings there is magic in that because anything is possible at that time. That book was a driver for me. For me at that time, it was absolutely perfect.

At the opposite end of that. The book that brings all of my learning together and helped me to scale up really is The Napoleon Hill Book Think and Grow Rich. So, I had always heard of this book but never read it. I had some audible credits and needed to use them up, so I got it and listened to it from time to time. As I listened, I thought, this makes a lot of sense and I’ve now listened to it 4 or 5 times and also bought (Think and Grow Rich) as a paperback to mark up and take notes. I have used that (book) as a part of my model for coaching footballers and corporate clients. They are at opposite ends (of the spectrum) but have really helped me to gain structure and move forward. 

JC: What is something you are working on now?

MJ: My business has two streams, the elite athlete and the corporate client. One thing I am working on now is to create a monthly call for both of those groups separately. 

From the football perspective I have a monthly call called Team Talk and I work with a football agent in the UK to provide coaching on mindset, mental health and general welfare to the players this agency has on their books. I speak to the players pretty much every day and run a free monthly session. 

The professional athletes market is a hard one to break, they have to have trust in that person and make sure that the coach is not going to leak their information to the media. So, it's been a slow process earning their trust. I have spent the last year providing monthly calls with information that has value, helping the players realize that there are some resources here for them. What has happened over the months is they go from just listening in to making a comment and eventually telling stories about themselves. From a guy’s perspective, we are supposed to have all the answers. Be strong and not share those feelings. It’s not that easy, You know, you go to a pub, and it’s like, “I’m all right, How are you? I’m alright.”

There are miracles in those mornings there is magic in that because anything is possible at that time.

And it has been interesting to watch them develop and they reach out to me. It’s successful and so I want to grow it to other agents and a broader range of clients leading to one-on-one coaching clients.

And with corporate, I am looking to do something similar: I’m doing a monthly men’s health session and my plan for that is to have speakers every month and get guys used to an environment where they can learn, open up and grow. The corporate bit has been built on the success of the footballers because it is a methodology that works. My question is, will it work when the world opens up and people can go out? I am hoping that there will be enough value for them to still participate.

JC: Is there anything else you’d like to share?

MJ: I am so grateful to JB and his community. I am so grateful to have found this group of people that want to develop themselves and help others. It has been really interesting to be part of that group. You can have conversations and reach out to people and have real connections. 

I am excited to see what comes next. Hopefully JB will get down to that single digit (handicap on the golf course). I am looking forward to being back in Florida around those people. That is where the real value comes from. In 2019 a group of us shared a house in Ft. Lauderdale and we were up watching the sunrise at Ft. Lauderdale beach, spent the day at the retreat then sat around the pool and brainstormed our business. The value in all of that was amazing. Looking forward to going back to that situation.