PP 058: Propelling Forward with Doug McIsaac
Quick Show Notes: Doug McIsaac
Doug McIsaac and I discuss the ways we, as entrepreneurs, can measure self-worth, how life’s lessons propel us forward, the importance of gratitude, and the tools we use to keep us positively productive on a daily basis.
.@dougmcisaac & @thekimsutton chat about how to measure self-worth, how life’s lessons propel us forward, the importance of gratitude, and more. https://www.thekimsutton.com/pp058 #PositiveProductivity #Podcast #gratitudeClick To TweetConnect With Doug McIsaac
Episode Transcription
KIM: Welcome back to another episode of Positive Productivity！ This is your host, Kim Sutton. And on this beautiful morning, I have the pleasure of introducing you to our guest, Doug McIsaac, who is the founder and president of Linked Coach. Thank you so much Doug for being here – and I love that we’re having another conversation!
DOUG MCISAAC: So am I. Really looking forward to chatting with you, and hope your listeners get something out of today’s call. But it should be a lot of fun to chat either way.
KIM: Oh, I’m sure they will. And I’ve got to tell you: We talked – what was it? like a couple of months ago now. I’m just looking back – oh my gosh, it was two months ago to the day that we talked.
DOUG MCISAAC: I know, it’s nuts. Oh is it? Wow!
KIM: Yeah, it’s crazy. And the last exchange was – and I have to quote you, because I’m pretty sure I’m quoting you on this – “You want to be in a mastermind to be stretched, but you don’t want to be stretched to get in a mastermind.” And that’s the first thing I saw when I pulled up my Skype this morning. And I think it was maybe only our first or second conversation, and I had already sent you a picture of my dream home. Anyway, enough about me. Let’s talk about you!
DOUG MCISAAC: Yeah. For those that are listening, I mean, the understanding of that is you want to be around people that will stretch you, and your goals, your beliefs – people that are above you. But what you don’t want to do is bankrupt yourself to get amongst those people.
So if that means that – if you could only surround yourself with people that are a little bit ahead of you, that’s fine. Do that, but just always try and surround yourself with people who are ahead of you and where you want to go – even if they’re just a couple steps ahead of you. At least get involved with them, and if you leapfrog them, get involved with the next set. So it’s all about surrounding ourselves with people that are more successful than we are.
KIM: So I just need to surround myself with more people like you, Doug.
DOUG MCISAAC: Like I told you before – I’ve been much more successful in the past, but I’m definitely on the back to where I was – even though on a different path. So it’s going to be fine.
KIM: Yeah, so share your story.
DOUG MCISAAC: Well, I was one of those people – I grew up in one of those households where we got – the only reason that we didn’t have completely free lunches was because of the neighborhood I lived in, and my mom had a part-time job – but there’s four of us living in that house. My mom was raising us by herself. I had a stepdad that showed up occasionally and didn’t really contribute.
And yeah, so I grew up – we were poor, but we didn’t know we were poor, because we were surrounded by really poor people, the neighborhood I grew up in. And I didn’t really realize it till I got to high school and was around a lot of the doctors’ kids – they’re going on ski trips all weekend, and they’re traveling to Europe, and all that.
And here I was – geez, I was working a job on the weekends. I never had – barely – Mom did everything she could, and I amazed that she was able to do what she did and what she made. I mean, stunned actually, looking back on it.
But I always looked at money as being the ultimate, and is – what you wanted. You wanted to be wealthy. And I spent a lot of my time in my 20s really going after – just wealth, going after money. I did multi-level marketing. I did lots of “quick-fix” things. Learned a lot of things along the way, owned several businesses, and finally started a software company in the late 90s.
And I actually grew that to where we landed a 25 million dollar contract to deliver the pharmacy management system that’s in all the Albertsons and SuperValu pharmacies here in the United States. And with that contract, we were really a company of about 30 employees, and we were doing really well.
I mean, I was – I had a multimillion dollar net worth, I had all the trappings of what I saw and believed made somebody wealthy. I had a six-figure salary, I had bought the new car. I will say that I wasn’t one of those “Guy buy the Mercedes” or anything, but I did have a Porsche in my eye that I was looking at. And bought a house – all those things.
But I never really – my vision was always on the dollar, and it was always looking outside myself for self-worth. It was not looking inside. And as will happen when you’re certainly – when you’re looking outside of yourself, ultimately what happens is, we lose that, and it destroys you.
And my company – I actually retired from that company in 2005, I had a multimillion dollar payment package, and the company ended up going out of business – and only 10 payments into my 10-year payment package. And because of that, I ended up losing everything. And had I been in a different mental state, I would not have lost everything. I completely let the lack of cash coming in, a lot of other things going on in my life – I let all of that control me and control my focus. And really, really just let everything come crashing down.
And I had gotten married, and I’d gotten married to somebody who was as focused on money and outward appearance as I was. Then we got divorced quickly, and I was going through that in 2005 – that divorce was while 2005, 2006 – and a lot of other personal issues. And everything just went tumbling down. I had my houses, I had rental properties that I was buying, I ended up losing them. I had one go into foreclosure. I sold every asset that I had. I did – I cashed in my 401k to start another business, and that didn’t go anywhere.
So I was really – all these things that I had seen as being important to me were gone. I lost my company – I defined myself as an entrepreneur and a successful business owner, and I’d lost that. I defined myself as somebody had money – well, I lost all of that. And that’s where all of my definition of Who “Doug McIsaac” was came from. And that really – that was a very black period for me, of my life.
And it took me several years of inner work, and going through a number of things, and struggling, and barely getting by. And I did a lot of things in the last 10 years. I started – I’d been doing some business consulting, and I found success helping small business owners grow their business. And I enjoyed doing that. I found something that I really loved doing. And that worked for a while, because once again, I was defining myself outwardly by what I was doing for other people.
But I still struggled with that sense of self-worth and who “Doug” was. And one of the things that I did is I found – I ultimately – I found that one of the things that I struggled with was alcohol, and I finally decided I had to quit because I was letting alcohol get in the way of everything that was going on. And I’ve been sober now just over three years, and – thank you, Kim.
And in that time, I’ve done a lot of inner work and realized – understanding that so much of my life, I’ve looked outside myself for what was important, and let other people’s opinions of me – and that’d really affect how I felt. And I’d always looked at building my business that way, and how I looked on the outside, not how I felt on the inside.
And over these last three years, I have – in AA, and I’m working the Steps, and working with a sponsor, and now I’m working with other sponsees – and it’s been an amazing thing. Now, I’m not going to do a talk about AA here – but it’s been amazing to me, it’s the working on myself and really understanding that sense of self-worth is putting me on a different path now. That I am back doing what I love doing, I’m work with business owners, I’m helping business owners grow their business.
A lot of that is through LinkedIn and The Linked Coach, where I’m working with people, helping them use LinkedIn to generate leads for their business. I’m also doing business coaching with small business owners, because that’s what I love to do.
And I’ve decided that I want to live a completely remote lifestyle, where I can travel as I want and be able to – and it’s not about how much I making. It’s about the life I’m living, and spending time with my daughter, and enjoying life. Now that being said, my income is growing again as well, because of that! I’m focusing on what I love doing that adds value to other people, and it’s growing my business. And my goal is to be 100% location-independent by January 1st.
I may not make January 1st 100% because I just took on a big local client, but they’re talking long-term. But I will still have flexibility to travel as I want, and travel – maybe not as much this next year as I had hoped – but I’ll be building them a foundation, so that they can move forward without a full touch, without me in there all the time, and be able to do meetings online.
But that is my goal, and it’s – I’ve really just learned that it’s more about being happy with who I am, being comfortable with who I am inside, and not needing that outside, and defining myself by what other people think about me. And that’s been – that’s really the wealth that I’ve felt, and it’s really the future I’m headed towards, and it’s a pretty exciting time in my life.
KIM: That’s all so huge. Doug, I have to ask: What was your first job?
DOUG MCISAAC: Let’s see, my first job, I was either – well I did some door-to-door selling and stuff.
KIM: Like in high school, were you door-to-door?
DOUG MCISAAC: Oh yeah, no this was in grade school. Grade school and junior high, I did some – I’d go and do door-to-door sales for greeting cards.
KIM: Really?
DOUG MCISAAC: Yeah. Yeah, and then I did babysitting, and I also shoveled walks. And in high school, I did telephone sales over the summer – and then actually during school, I did as well. So I did telemarketing, which sucks. I have a lot of respect for the people who can do that, because outbound telemarketing is brutal.
KIM: Would you rather do outbound telemarketing or collections?
DOUG MCISAAC: Probably outbound telemarketing! Collections would be rough.
KIM: Right.
DOUG MCISAAC: Well, I mean actually – I do collect. As a business owner, you always end up doing some collection calls, because it’s inevitable that you have clients that aren’t paying. But being in the knowledge industry, like you are as well, I tend to prefer – I’ve learned just to charge the bulk of it up front. Because if they don’t – you just have to. And if clients don’t understand, then…
KIM: That’s been a huge learning experience for me, too. And I’ve had clients ask, “Why do you require a retainer?” And I’ve actually started turning it around. “Well, do you require a retainer, or do you do your work upfront for no payment?” And then the “aha moment” comes for them, and like, “Okay.”
But my son and I were actually – my 10-year-old – we were having a discussion last week. He asked me, “Mom, what would be your least favorite job that you would ever want?” And I actually answered, “Collections,” and then we had a whole discussion about it. Because I reminded him that the people who are making the collections calls, they could very well be receiving collections calls themselves, and they’re doing that job to avoid those calls.
So yeah. My first job was actually babysitting, and then I was a paper girl at 12, and then I worked in my church rectory – I would serve dinner to the priest and attempt to make coffee. But that didn’t always go so well because I started putting instant coffee in the coffee pot, and that makes sludge.
DOUG MCISAAC: Yes, it does!
KIM: Yeah, unfortunately – well, I have to admit, that only happened one time – but unfortunately, it was a night when the priest had guests. So that was pretty embarrassing.
DOUG MCISAAC: That is pretty funny.
KIM: But it’s pretty amazing how – I mean, I grew up with divorced parents. My mom struggled a little bit more than my dad, but the stress was there on both sides. Dad had a really good salary, but the stress was still there because – yeah, and the money doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re any more or less happy. I definitely have incredible memories with both sides. I do, however, remember stress with both sides. So just because there was money didn’t mean that it was any less. But I do, completely – I also relate to the marriage where money was more important.
DOUG MCISAAC: I had literally – since I’d had so much of my worth tied up in my value – how much of my personal value tied up in my net worth – and realizing that… And I just need to caveat – my ex-wife and I have a great relationship today, and she’s really done a lot of good work as well, and we’re co-parenting very well. But both of us were in a bad spot during our marriage and subsequent divorce.
But then I went on, and I saw – what I realized was that she was after me primarily was my money. I ended up getting rid of all of it. That was not a conscious effort! It was more of a subconscious thing, that I’ve learned since then that I just kind of went, and I just let myself destroy myself and continued my negative spiral.
And it’s – looking back on it, it’s interesting. Because, I mean – I look at where it was, and there’s so many spots I could have changed it, could have changed the direction of the course. But I didn’t have the tools I have today, and you always look back and go, “Oh, yeah, I should have changed, yeah” – but you know what? I’m not one that tries to dwell on the past. It’s more about where I’m headed in the future, and learn the lessons, take the lessons from what’s happened in the past and moving forward. But absolutely understand.
KIM: Absolutely. And what are some of those tools that you would say you have today? Or what are the ones that make the biggest difference on a daily, or weekly, or regular basis?
DOUG MCISAAC: Well, a couple of things. One just starts with being aware of when I’m letting outside influences get in the way. But it’s being aware. I try to – and I’m not great about it, but – I try to journal every day, and I focus on what I learned that day, and whether I stayed inside myself or let outside people influence me. So journalling, just journaling and letting out how your day went, is a huge value because it gets it down on paper. Just get it down.
And just having a good – once again, I’m not your Mind Map, which you’ve got everything – the way you do your goal-setting is even more than mine. But I have a dream board as well. I know what I want today, and I know where I’m headed. So I try to ask myself, “Is this moving towards my goal?” And I’ve also made a point of, I read more, and I focus on reading more positive books, and I’m reading biographies as well as reading business books.
KIM: What are you reading right now?
DOUG MCISAAC: Right now, well I just finished reading Oprah’s biography. And I’ve also got – geez, I’ve got like three books I’m working, and I’m listening to Grant Cardone’s-
KIM: Are you listening to “10x Rule”? So am I!
DOUG MCISAAC: Yeah, I just – I’m listening to that, and actually today, I just started his next one. And what is it called again? I am listening to… “If You’re Not First, You’re Last.” I just started listening to that and implementing it.
And I’ve added a lot more structure into my day and my week as well, to keep me on track. I do a Sunday – every Sunday, I do a brain dump. I actually will write down everything I know I need to do next week, and then I will break them out across the week and time-block stuff out. So it’s like I know what I’m going to do on each day, and I try to fill my calendar virtually every hour of the day.
From about 5:30 a.m. – actually 5:00. I usually go running at about five, I do an accountability call at 5:30. And I try to at least from 5 to 6, 5 a.m. to 6 p.m., I block out my calendar every day, and I try to fill it all up. And I fill it up with – I put my workout in there, and that’s…
Keeping your head on straight: For me, it’s reading, it’s working out, it’s watching my diet, it’s journaling – and I also have a gratitude exercise that I do in the mornings that works great. And I’m chuckling because I haven’t done it for a little while, but when I do, I love it. And it’s literally just writing down things that I’m grateful for every morning. I do it mentally, but it’s much more powerful if you write it down and just say, “I’m grateful for this…” “I’m grateful because…” And it’s easy to forget just where we are compared to where we came from, and by being grateful and having honest gratitude is important.
Another thing that I started doing is accepting. I used to never accept compliments. Somebody would say something, I would blow it off. I would never – I was like Teflon if somebody tried to give me a compliment. I would blow it off. But now I’ve learned to just say “thank you”.
KIM: Do you think it’s an introvert thing?
DOUG MCISAAC: Well, it’s a combination. It is an introvert thing, but it’s self-worth thing. And many of us that are naturally introverted, we don’t have a sense of self-worth. We have a negative sense of self-worth.
And you don’t know how hard it was for me to learn to just start saying “thank you” when somebody gave me a compliment, and it’s tough. Some people out there have never struggled with this. But those of us that are naturally introverted, and those of us that naturally struggle with a sense of self-worth – we don’t know how to take it.
And I was one of those – I had a very gregarious outward shell. Whereas, but internally – who I portrayed myself to be outside was very different than who I was on the inside. And it took a while, it took a lot of work. I mean, “work” is the only real word for it, but it’s literally praying, and journaling, and being grateful before you can really learn to be happy with who you are.
And simply saying “thank you” if someone says, “Wow, your hair looks nice today” (which that happens to be less and less now, by the way!). Sorry, that’s funny! But you just say, “Thank you”. Or “Geez, I really appreciate the work you did on this.” It’s like, “Thank you.”
Because there’s two sides to that. If you never allow people to give you compliments, they’re going to stop giving you compliments because you’re not allowing them – if somebody gives you a compliment, you need to allow them. You need to take it and give them a “thank you”, and that’s kind of what they get for giving you that, is they get a “thank you”.
Consciously or unconsciously, they will stop complimenting you, and and some people will hold resentment if you’re not – if all you do is: They say, “Hey, that’s a really nice outfit you’re wearing.” “Oh, this old thing?” I mean, people do it, and we naturally do those things all the time – that deflection – and we need to learn to accept those compliments and just say “thank you”. I mean, you don’t have to deflect all the time. But yeah it’s a…
KIM: I never thought about that. When they say, “Oh, this old thing?” I mean, that could almost be insulting your taste when you say, “Oh, that’s nice.” And then you worry about – where’s your taste at?
DOUG MCISAAC: Yeah, we – and I mean, some of us will spin on that all day! It’s like, that’s the other, too – is letting go of those things. Letting go of what other people think is easier said than done for a lot of us.
KIM: Oh, definitely. And I actually – I haven’t struggled with alcohol personally, and I haven’t been to AA, but the Serenity Prayer is actually how I start my day.
DOUG MCISAAC: I used to, my daughter – were nightly prayers. We’d do the Serenity Prayer. It is learning to let go, and understanding what we control and what we cannot is – I mean, that alone was a huge changer for me. And that alone starts working on your self-worth. Because while I’m saying you say “thank you” if somebody gives you a compliment, you also don’t require other people to give you compliments for you to feel like you’re worthy.
We’re all children – whether you’re Christian or not – we’re all children of God, and we’re all equal. And we’re all – we all started out the same way, we’re all going to end the same way. And we need to understand that nobody is better or worse than you. They may have less money, they have more money, they may be better looking, maybe uglier. But nobody is better or worse than you. All of us have an equal value, and we all serve our roles, and we need to understand that our role is what we’re there to do.
And just accept where we’re at, be happy where we’re at, maybe strive to grow, get better. But it’s just being happy with where you’re at, is vital to – because if you’re not happy where you’re at, money isn’t going to change that. A new house, a new car, a new wife, a new husband, a new boyfriend – nobody outside of you is going to make you happy. Nothing outside of you is going to make you happy if you’re not happy inside.
KIM: Absolutely.
DOUG MCISAAC: Yeah, learning to let go of – and nothing on the outside should control you, either. It’s not what you have. I was in a meeting with a guy that was like, “I own a bike now. I used to live under – I still live underneath the bridge, but I’ve got a bike.” And I’m just like, “Wow, that puts your life perspective!” It’s like, wow, I had trouble paying this bill.
And you’ve got to understand that where we are – we’re the United States, man. It’s – not thrilled with this presidential election and our choices, but we live in the greatest – this is one of the greatest countries in the world. I mean, all the negative crap going on, whatever. I mean, there are billions of people of the world that live worse than our poorest people in the United States. I mean, there are places that people live on the street can go get a meal at least several times a week, if not every day.
There’s places they can – we have a lot – I mean, there’s so much opportunity in our country that is not available to billions of people across the world. And we need to realize that and be happy with that, and we need to just – I mean, start by being grateful that you’re born in the United States. I mean, it’s amazing – it’s amazing what people can do here that they cannot do in other places.
KIM: Oh, absolutely. And I mean, even in this country, though – and Matt White will be on the podcast in about a month or so. Matt, if you didn’t hear his story, I can’t remember what state – I want to say New Orleans – but he was at his local Kroger. And Chauncy went up to him and asked him if he could help him with his groceries in return for a box of donuts. Did you hear this story?
DOUG MCISAAC: No, no, I have not.
KIM: And Chauncy is a teenager who was living with his grandmother, and he had taken the bus from the dangerous area that he was living in, to the… a ways, let’s just say, to get into a more affluent neighborhood because he was just trying to get some handouts for him and his grandma. And Matt White helped him out, and listen to him – Chauncy had already been turned down seven times or more by the time Matt talked to him. But Matt ended up talking to him through the store, and bought them like a few bags of groceries, and then drove him home because he didn’t want them to have to take the bus home. And then when he got there, found out that they had no furniture, barely any electricity. And then he started a GoFundMe campaign for him and his grandma. And it ended up making close to $400,000 to get out of there.
DOUG MCISAAC: Oh!
KIM: Yeah, which they’ve set up properly in trusts and all that. But yeah, just here in our own country, I mean – there’s people who would die to eat the food that’s being scraped off of our plates.
DOUG MCISAAC: Yeah, yeah. Definitely.
KIM: So we have to we have to be grateful for all of that.
DOUG MCISAAC: That’s right. And I mean, obviously nobody that’s listening to a podcast is in that situation.
KIM: Well, who knows? The gentleman who’s still living under a bridge but has a bike now, he may just have an iPad by now, too.
DOUG MCISAAC: That’s right!
KIM: I’m just kidding. That was me being smart, but I’m sorry.
DOUG MCISAAC: It’s okay. He may be listening at the library.
KIM: He definitely could be. Working on building empire.
DOUG MCISAAC: Absolutely. Absolutely. These people are – we all need to understand where we’re at and where we can go, and we’re just growing. Anybody that’s educating themselves and listening to podcasts like yours is on a growth path. So that’s – they need to just stick on it. Hopefully they got some value today by my story, some of my rituals that I do, and the Serenity Prayer is an awesome one. If people are not familiar with it, look it up.
KIM: It will be – I’ll put it in the show notes for sure. (You can find the show notes at TheKimSutton.com/PP058.)
DOUG MCISAAC: That’d be great. Because it is a great way to center yourself and understand – just helps you learn more about yourself, just reading that and learning to let go of outside influences affecting you.
KIM: So I just have to ask: What happens if there’s a day when you get up and you’re in a funk? What do you do?
DOUG MCISAAC: There’s two things that I do. Sometimes when I can’t pull myself out of it, I just end up reading. But what I try to do is I try every morning to get up to do something physical, to get my blood going – because that helps. If you’re in a better physical state, your body controls your mind. If you’re in a better physical state, you become in a better, more positive mental state.
I also will pull out my journal, and I’ll just start writing. And sometimes getting that crap off your shoulders onto paper is enough. I’ve done that. There are days where I’ve just puked onto the paper, and puked garbage onto the paper, and then was able to jump back into work. So two main things, is: one, just get moving; two, journal, get get the junk out of your head and get it somewhere else so you don’t have to worry about it.
And then the third, read inspiring stories. Listen to inspiring podcasts, or listen to upbeat music.
I mean, those are the things that can help get you moving. And I know the days that I do best, I’m able to get up and do something physical, go out and go for a run, do a little Tabata workout at home, or even go to the gym depending on the day and time. It’s all about taking control of that. And if you start your day right, the rest of your day will go well. And I start my day before I go to bed and night. (And I realize we’re going a little longer.)
KIM: No, but this is awesome. Yeah, I’d love to hear: What do you do before you go to bed?
DOUG MCISAAC: I always – I told you already I do a brain dump on Sundays. Well, what I will do every night is, I’ll do a quick review of the day, and then I do two things. One, before I leave my computer, I write down – I review what I’m doing the next day, and I add any tasks in that I need to do the next day. So that’s out of my head. I have a list of stuff I need to do the next day, and I get that down.
Then I go upstairs, and I will journal a little bit – usually just half a page, maybe a page – where I where I write down kind of how that has gone. And so I’ve gotten rid of today before I go to bed. And then I will read a little bit of a biography, then I go to bed.
I get up, I make my bed, I put on my workout clothes, and I go out for a run. (And I do brush my teeth before I head out the door.) And I do that. And I only run a mile, a little over a mile, and some days I’ll walk more than I run. And then I get back, and I jump on an accountability call.
And starting if we start at day right, the rest of our day will go well. And the activity I haven’t been doing as well lately is doing my gratitude journal every morning. But doing that every morning helps as well. The mornings I do it, I know I feel better.
But I do that accountability call at 5:30. So usually I’m up, I run, grab my breakfast, and jump on the call.
KIM: Have you heard of “The Miracle Morning”? (And I apologize to listeners who have heard me bring it up before.)
DOUG MCISAAC: I haven’t. But I mean, Tony Robbins calls it “The Hour of Power”, or “15 Minutes to Fulfillment”, or – I mean, I’m a big Tony-head. So I’ve been to his Master University, I’ve been to most of his things. I almost did Platinum back in the day, but I was in a different mental spot than that I am today.
I really – that hour of power, starting your day off right, makes a huge difference in how your day goes. I’m sure it’s the Miracle Morning, the same thing – you’ve got to set your day up right. You have to set it up ahead of time.
Even if you’re just going into a job, before you leave the job, know what you’re doing the next day so you don’t have to worry it. None of this getting in at the morning, and trying to figure out what the hell you’re going to do. You’re more productive if, when you walk in the door, you know exactly what you need to get done.
KIM: Right. Absolutely.
DOUG MCISAAC: That’s what I try to do with my day. Am I perfect about it? Absolutely not. I’m not perfect. But that’s what we do to keep our – you’re most productive when you know what you’re doing, you don’t have to think about it. You just jump right in.
KIM: So in your business now, would you say then that you are following your passion and seeking happiness first then?
DOUG MCISAAC: Oh, absolutely. I’m working with clients that I love. I love their businesses, I really enjoy working with them, I’m helping them grow, and I’m really adding an impact to their businesses.
Taking one client from low six figures to closing it on seven. He was a single-person shop with one contract, and now he’s got 10 people. I helped another business coaching client of mine go from where she was – her promotions were getting her three to five people. Now she did fifty in this last one.
So I love helping – I love seeing the successes, and working with people, and helping them grow. And I love the people that I’m working with. And that’s my goal going forward, is I only work with people I enjoy working with, and that I can impact their business.
So yeah, I’m much happier doing that than I was before. And I went through – I mean, I’ve had some rough patches, but it feel so much better knowing that you’re making an impact. And at the same time, you’re getting paid what you feel you’re worth, but you also know you’re providing them at least 10 times that value because you see it.
KIM: That is so key. And I know there’s listeners out there who are wondering now, “So what do you do, Doug?”
DOUG MCISAAC: I do two things. I really – I’ve been focusing on LinkedIn for the last year for LinkedIn lead generation. I’ve actually – I have a product that will be launched soon, I’m watching my own podcast, but you can go to LinkedCoach.com, and go there – and you’ll find out more about podcast, and more about me, and some of the packages I offer.
And I’m going to – I’m actually moving out and doing more lead generation into the teaching and consulting. I do a little bit of both. But I’m really enjoy the teaching and consulting – teaching and coaching, not consulting – I enjoy that more, and that is my goal, to do more and more of that.
And I do also work with businesses just coaching – a broader base than LinkedIn as well – but teach business owners. It’s a lot about their marketing, but we’ll even talk about what they need to do if they’re hiring employees, we’ll talk about whatever they need for around their business, because they’re going through a number of businesses.
But I really enjoy doing the business coaching, and I really love the training. You can find me at LinkedCoach.com or at DougMcIsaac.com – is my personal blog. You’ll get even more insight into who I am there. And there’s other – I have a number of other courses there as well that you can take a look at.
KIM: Well, I told you before the call that I wouldn’t put you on the spot, but I do have to ask: When we spoke last, you gave me an awesome tip sheet for LinkedIn. Is that available for general public, or is that clients-only? Because for listeners, if it means you have to hire Doug to get this sheet, it is worth every penny. Because it has paid off in the two months since I got it.
DOUG MCISAAC: Pretty crazy, isn’t it?
KIM: Absolutely!
DOUG MCISAAC: That’s six years of the work into that one doc. Go to LinkedCoach.com, and I do have – if you opt-in, you can get access to – if they do it soon, that whole profile worksheet’s in there. Because I’m actually going to be chopping that up into a series of other items. But yeah, go ahead and go to LinkedCoach.com, and you’ll be able to get it there.
KIM: Okay, awesome. Well, when it gets chopped, I’m going to have to ask you to update me, because I want to let listeners – I’ll update the show notes to let them know where they can purchase the course to get all the awesome info, or whatever you do with it. But yeah. So LinkedCoach.com. It’s definitely worth it, that’s all I’ve got to say.
DOUG MCISAAC: Help to turn it in – LinkedIn is an amazing place for generating leads if you’re selling business-to-business. If you’re not using it, you’re missing out. That’s all I can say. I mean, you need to use – if you’re selling business-to-business, use LinkedIn. It’ll help you grow your business.
KIM: Well, I’ve had clients come to me and say – acquaintances noticing the changes that I made, and commenting, and then I’ll notice that they’ve made similar changes on their profile. And I started sitting here chuckling, thinking, “Thanks, Doug.” I see what they’re doing!
DOUG MCISAAC: Oh, yeah. It happens to me, too – which is cool. I mean, I – there’s other coaches – I mean, there’s a lot of other LinkedIn coaches out there. And some of them are good, some of them are bad. But I know that what I’ve done works, and like you just said – it works. I’ve built – a lot of my business has come off of LinkedIn – including this local client. And I mean, they’re a 200-person software company that’s got three products in three different ventures, and they’re doing eight figures. So they came off of LinkedIn. I knew them, but they also came off of LinkedIn.
KIM: That’s fabulous. So again listeners, you can go to LinkedCoach.com and learn more about Doug and get in touch. Doug, I just want to thank you so much for being here. This has been awesome.
DOUG MCISAAC: You are very welcome. Yeah, I know we went well beyond the 20, 25 minutes we were going to do, but I think it was a good call. Hope everybody got value!
KIM: Yeah, well for listeners, and for guests: I’m never going to cut us off in the middle of an incredible conversation. So thank you so much for making it one.
DOUG MCISAAC: You are very welcome.
KIM: And for listeners, thank you so much for being here for another episode of Positive Productivity. If you enjoyed what you heard and you want to share it please do so, and make sure to leave a review and rating on iTunes.
