PP 360: Robb Holman, CEO and Founder of Holman International

Website: https://www.robbholman.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/robbholman1/
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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robbholman
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCT-qG4VcO25cnaYn43Q1j7w
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/2balanceu/

Kim Sutton: Welcome back to another episode of Positive Productivity. This is your host, Kim Sutton, and I’m so happy to have you here today. I’m also thrilled to introduce our guest, Robb Holman. Robb is the founder and CEO of Holman International. And after having just a phenomenal pre-chat, we just need to push record because we don’t want to leave it all there. 

Robb, welcome. I’m so happy to have you here today.

Robb Holman: Kim, I’m so jazzed up. I’m overjoyed to be with you. I know our pre-recorded conversation has been really good, so I know we’re just going to continue it and bring the energy and enthusiasm for life and for people. So thanks for having me on.

Kim Sutton: Yeah, absolutely. That’s one of those times that I wish that I had it recording just so I could like take the little excerpts and share them with the listeners later. Because while some of them deserve to stay behind the scenes, just because it’s not necessarily stuff that should be shared on there, oh, my gosh, listeners, we were talking about faith, about our purpose, about the people that we’re serving, about the different levels of people that we’re serving, perseverance and just so much more. But before we even get deep into any of that, Robb, I would love it if you would share a bit of your journey with the listeners so they have a better understanding of what you do today and how you got here.

Robb Holman: Yeah. I appreciate that. Yeah. I think it’s a great starting place would probably be for me. I grew up in the Greater Philadelphia area in Pennsylvania, and family of five with mom and dad, and older brother, younger sister. I’m the middle child, Kim, so I’m a peacemaker.

Kim Sutton: Is that what the middle child is supposed to be?

Robb Holman: I guess from what I’m told, maybe. How I act, I don’t know. I’ve always been my whole life. If there was family turmoil, or challenge, or whatever, I’m like, can’t we all get along? Can’t there be a good healthy rhythm and some peace within the family? And I still kind of play that role today. So I don’t know if I’m alone, out of all the middle children out there. Or there’s many more like me. However, being that middle child, just to let your listeners in on this, I’ve always been the type of person, pretty sensitive person with my heart on my sleeve, and a lot hasn’t changed. I still remember growing up, we were far from a perfect family. I think every family has some level of dysfunction, and my family was not removed from that. Mom and Dad had some struggles in their marriage, they ended up getting divorced after my junior year of high school. And again, being that sensitive, kind of hard on my sleeve kind of a kid, it really paid a toll on me. And really, it really hurt me. My brother and sister were dealing with different ways because every person deals with things slightly differently. So I was bringing all this kind of like hurt and pain, and I’d act from the outside. Everything was cool, but inside, I was hurting. I was trying to find out who I really was. I was like, why can’t mom and dad be together? Did I play some role in this? 

So long winded way to say as I continue on my journey, went off to college, went to a small private university right outside of Philadelphia called Widener University. It was a business. Student there, was a college basketball player, but I would bring all this hurt and pain. It reached the point in my life, and I got to share this with you before I hit the kind of climax in college that I think is really important for your listeners to hear. Purpose for me like my personal existence. My big WHY was winning the next basketball game around this time. In college, it was hanging out with the guys and going drinking on Fridays and Saturdays, maybe even sometimes Thursdays. But now, I reached a point where it wasn’t enough. I had a physical problem going into my senior year of college that would radically change my life. I had a tumor in my abdomen that went clearly undiagnosed for about a month and a half to two months. I got CT scans, MRIs, ultrasounds, and the doctors didn’t know exactly what it was the mass, the tumor was so abnormal. They were not ruling out cancer. I mean, they didn’t know what was going on. So you can imagine this kid that is still dealing with life problems, my parents divorce, etc. Now, I have this physical problem. And not to mention, I’m going into my senior year of college at this point and this is supposed to be the best year of my life, right? 

So all of a sudden, I finally see this ultrasound specialist at Penn Hospital in Philadelphia, one of the best hospitals in our country, if not in the world, and finally see this ultrasound specialist. I go, and clearly with a mass in my abdomen, it was extremely painful. I go and visit this doctor, they checked me out, and they couldn’t even adequately describe what they were seeing on the ultrasound screen to me. But the doctor got out these words and said: “Robb, I cannot actually begin to even tell you what I’m observing, but you don’t have a tumor. You don’t have a mass anymore.” And I’m like, well, hold on. What do you mean? Wait, what? It was completely bizarre. So I said to him, exactly how you respond, he said: “Hold on, Rob, look intently at the screen what I’m about to show you. Obviously, all the previous test results have clearly showed a mass, you have pain, but I’m studying you now and what you came in with, you no longer have.” It was a modern day miracle. And I’ll tell you, it was a wake up call for me. I came out of this modern day miracle with a whole new lens and perspective on life, on myself, on people. Now, purpose for me, I wanted to go on a self discovery process to now understand the depth of who I was, why I was on the earth, why God is keeping me around. He must have purpose, he must have meaning that goes far beyond winning the next basketball game and going out drinking with the guys on the weekends. And that started a self discovery process in my life. Now, over 20 years later, I’m helping influential leaders all over the world. Help them with their personal purpose and see that infused in their professional purpose.

Kim Sutton: Oh, my gosh, I’m over here just blown away. Because listeners, I have to share with you that in our pre chat, I told Robb a little bit of my story. And I’ll actually link to the story I’m referencing in the show notes. There’s a blog article on Thrive Global, but it was one of those stories that I was telling him that if I had heard it from somebody else before, I would have been like, now, you’re just making that up. And your story is like, not I think you’re making it up. Let me just say. But knowing what I have experienced, and hearing what you’ve experienced this, wow, yes, modern day miracles. This was supposed to happen when it happened to get us on the path that we were on.

Robb Holman: And I’ll tell you this, Kim, some people might be listening and be like, maybe they have had extreme, something happen. And they’re still struggling with that something that’s happened. I’m here to say, I know you are too, that there are opportunities in that to lift our head up and begin living a life saying, you know what? Yeah, this has happened. I was hurt by it, I was wounded, whatever it may be. But in the midst of every trying situation, challenge, there’s always an opportunity for us to lift our head and begin to have a higher purpose. And that’s for some people, they’re listening, and maybe there’s something extreme has happened, and they might be struggling with it. But there’s other people listening, and maybe they haven’t had something extreme, but it could be just what they would consider subtle. Subtle little things that have happened to have them be like, I know there’s got to be more to life than just how I’ve been living. And there’s an opportunity in the midst of the subtle things. Those subtle simple things or the extreme things, there’s always an opportunity. There’s in the midst of a time where there’s a bit of a crossroads, and we can either retreat, and go back, and shy away from people, and shy away from purpose. Or we could say, okay, what’s happened has happened. So in the midst of this, I’m going to find the glimmer of hope, and I’m going to hold on to it. It’s almost like a fire that’s beginning to go out and you start to breathe on that fire, and blow on that fire, and add some kindle on that fire. And before long now, it starts to catch. And so that’s what we’re talking about.

Kim Sutton: Absolutely. And on that note, though, it might take a little bit of blowing. Your lungs might be tired, but it’s worth the chapped lips.

Robb Holman: That’s right. That’s right.

Kim Sutton: Yeah. Robb, have you seen the Facebook show Returning The Favor?

Robb Holman: I have not.

Kim Sutton: Oh, my gosh, okay. I thought I was going to be watching just a quick little five minute Facebook Live video when I saw this advertisement now. It’s full on TV series that Facebook has partnered with Mike Rowe, previously Dirty Jobs. And what he does is he goes out into the community and returns the favor to do gutters. There was one that I saw, I haven’t watched it in a few weeks, this one is old, especially since I got into it like a season late. He was in the military and stepped on a landmine or something, and lost several limbs. And then he took that, and he actually built a rehabilitation center for other combat veterans who have lost limbs.

Robb Holman: Oh, wow. I love to hear stuff like that. Because again, someone who went through it, and even where they get devastating kind of things, ultra challenging, but yet, in the midst of that saying, okay, what’s happened is happening. Now, I have the opportunity in the midst of this. And coming out of this helps serve, to help lift other people’s heads, to help give them a proper perspective on life. And it sounds like, wow, is he ever doing that?

Kim Sutton: Yeah, absolutely. But I also love how you said, it doesn’t need to be the super devastating things either. I don’t know why this just popped into my head. I hope it doesn’t happen anytime soon, but I get ideas all the time.

Robb Holman: That’s good.

Kim Sutton: I’m thinking about as a woman, if I were driving and I got a flat tire, and I had no choice but to change it myself, I wouldn’t have a clue. But there’s another woman out there, and I’m just saying woman in this example who has gone through that can make a YouTube video showing all the other women of the world how to change a flat tire if they ever need to. And that could be huge. Just helping that woman get back on the road and keep on going, who knows what type of impact you could have just off of something small like that. So it doesn’t need to be building a rehabilitation center for combat veterans who have lost limbs.

Robb Holman: That’s right. And I love that illustration you use. I’m even going further to the illustration by saying, so much is about perspective. I have found that there’s so many, I call them inside out perspective changes and shifts. For instance, let’s even stay with the tire thing. So many times when a flat tire happens to whoever it happens to, it’s like a reaction that made me want, this is the last thing I want, how can this be happening. But yet, have we been thankful for the other three tires that are still in our car. We are thankful for the tires that are working properly until we get the flat tire. Many times, we could be like, this has happened, I can’t believe. But are we thankful for some of the most simple things in life when our tires are actually working properly. Sometimes, when we come down with a cold and we get sick, we’re like, oh, my goodness, it’s the last thing I want. But are we thankful for all the days that we’re not sick? That’s just so important. It’s beginning to tune in, it’s beginning to have this mindset, this abundance mindset of being thankful for what we have, and not worrying about what we don’t have, as much as thinking about being grateful for what we do have today. As simple as it may be. And I have found that when we work out that gratitude muscle of just being grateful for the people in the things that we do have today. Now, that muscle starts getting bigger. 

So when a challenge comes about,because listen, we’re human. And if you’re a business owner, small, medium business owner, or leader, there’s gonna be curveballs that come in throughout the day, there’s going to be fires to put out but replace them every day. We’re all human, we deal with it. But it’s out of what place do we deal with that fire? It’s out of what place do we deal with that challenge? And I’ve just found that when that gratitude muscle gets big, now, regardless of what’s thrown our way, that challenge is put in proper perspective. And I have found that it’s out of that place of abundance, out of a place of gratitude that when a challenge comes, we now have the creativity, our boat is not rocked beyond human comprehension. Because now, we’re anchored in purpose. We’re anchored in a proper healthy perspective. It’s out of that place that we begin to solve that problem. And I’ll tell you, some amazing things can begin to occur.

Kim Sutton: Oh, absolutely. I like to use the example of when we accidentally oversleep, we could look at it without, oh, I had so much I needed to do this morning. Or I really needed that sleep, I feel so much better now.

Robb Holman: I love that. Again, it gets back to, and these are just subtle little shifts that make a world of difference. I think people are listening to this and saying, I am a pretty happy person. I do have some really positive thoughts throughout the course of the day. But we can always be more intentional with them. I’ll give you an example Kim. Every day, I’ve just trained myself this way. As soon as I wake up in bed, some mornings I have like two minutes before I hear my two year old crying, but I immediately start to thank God for who he is and what he’s given me. And then I work my way downstairs, I get a cup of coffee, and this become a part of my normal routine in the morning. I continue to say no to turning on the TV, and social media, and responding to emails, etc. And I extend that time of intentional gratitude by continuing to give thanks. And then Am I here to start to work their way down the stairs, and they’ll join with dad, and starting our day filled with gratitude.

Kim Sutton: Yeah, I love that. I see it around our house too. I mean, with five kids, three of them under the age of four. When we’re in gratitude moods in the morning, we can guarantee you that those three especially are in gratitude moods as well. And I want to apologize to you and to listeners, I don’t know if you can hear it, there’s a dog in the neighbor’s yard, diagonal from us, who barks like a cow. I can’t explain that any more than that, but he’s outside right now moo-ing. No, it is not a cow. Maybe they’ll let him in soon. But if you happen to catch that, it is not a kid locked in the closet. It’s a dog cow. That’s how I refer to it. The dog cow is that again? Yeah.

Robb Holman: There’s things that make for a great podcast, that’s what I’m always about.

Kim Sutton: I have no idea what this dog looks like. What I picture in my head when it’s doing this moo howl thing, I see it with a big snout, and like black and white, or black spots. I just had to share really fast, and I’m sorry to take away from you for a moment, but I was thinking about the flat tire. I was thinking, I guess it was 1997, my freshman year of college. I was taking the Amtrak back and forth to Chicago and my sisters for Thanksgiving. They pick me up at the train station and we were driving home. My sisters are right about, we’re all within 18 months of each other, his, hers and our family. And when you get 18 year olds in the car, especially in that day, well, no, even now with kids driving. I’m gonna have one driving the next six months. One of them, there wasn’t name that’s all I had to say, but I’m not gonna point fingers here. I was playing with the radio and accidentally drove the car a little bit off the road. We didn’t have an accident, but the tire just shot across the road. We lost it. Well, one of my sisters is a type one diabetic, and we had to wait for [inaudible] to get there. 

Yes, in that day, we did actually have a cell phone that did go in the car with my sister with diabetes all the time, just for circumstances like this. But it just so happened that I knew the number of the pizza hut and the town that we were in, her blood sugar started dropping. We could give them the address of the house that we were parked in front of, and we just asked them, can you do [inaudible]. Our parents weren’t exactly thrilled that we had to get a tire replaced and that somebody was playing with the radio and had to drove off the road. But they will forever laugh at the fact that stranded on the side of this somewhat deserted road that we were able to be that resourceful and call Pizza Hut to make sure [inaudible].

Robb Holman: Hey, if nothing else, some of these stories that we have, not all, but some, that our viewers can certainly, and listeners can attest to, I’m sure they create experiences. Again, I think all of us can say that when you’re in the middle of it, sometimes, not always the easiest thing to deal with or to cope with. However, coming out of it, it’s what people were talking about years later. And this is not to downplay the seriousness of what people go through. But there are some things that do happen where they seem pretty intense in the moment, and people were frustrated and discouraged, but only to come out, yet have siblings or family members gathered around the holiday table and said, you remember when this happened? And next thing you know, the whole tables laughing, and it brings you back to that moment in time of like, I can’t believe you did what you did. Again, sometimes, not in all case, again, depending on the level of severity and extreme nature which we’ve gone through. But sometimes, we do need to not take our selves too seriously and just really soak in. And even coming out of having a proper perspective on ourselves, on people that we experience things with. And out of that place, I’ve just found that when we don’t take ourselves too seriously and others as well, that I always call like having fun is a lighter side of leadership. And so many times, I think we just need to let loose a little bit and have some fun. And even in the midst of, when a curveball gets thrown in, don’t lose sight of having fun and not taking yourself too seriously.

Kim Sutton: No, yeah. I was having a conversation yesterday with a sales coach who works with 7 to 8-Figure business coaches when they’re going through launches and just guides them. And we were talking about our ideal clients. And one commonality amongst many that we found was that we love to work with people who aren’t getting overly anxious and just, well, I’m just going to put it this way. I rate when one little thing goes wrong. And what we found, we’ve both found this based upon our working experiences with clients, is that the 7 to 8-Figure leaders that we work with aren’t letting the little things get them down because they realize that it is in the big picture. It is just a little thing, and they make it so much easier to work with them too.

Robb Holman: Yeah. I don’t know if this was a book. But of course, a commonly used phrase, don’t sweat the small stuff. I think it was a book back in the day. Just so true. It’s interesting, I’ve had the opportunity to travel around the world with what I do, speaking and training people in my inside out leadership philosophy. Of course, gratitude is a huge part of that perspective. Having a healthy perspective is a huge part of that too. But I’ve had the opportunity to spend time in the Middle East with the poorest of the poor. I mean, we’re the poorest regions arguably in the entire world. Going, and just serving, and blessing, I mean, even kids that are wandering the streets and they don’t even have a home, and they just want attention, they just want to be known, they just want to know that their life matters Kim. 

And the reason why I bring this up is, every time I’ve gone there, and I’ve gone there a handful of times, take teams over there with me, it’s a wake up call. I come back into my cozy comfy world, and I still have challenges. But those challenges are just put in proper order. I always remind myself, I tell my friends and tell people that I have a chance to coach and speak in front of them. My problem about, whatever it may be here, is it a first world problem or a third world problem? Because that helps keep things in proper perspective. Well, okay, so let’s get real. Something’s happening, there’s a leak with my water in the kitchen sink, so I have to get a plumber in. I don’t want to spend a couple $100 to get the plumber in. First world problem or third world problem? Because I know a lot of people in third world countries and regions of the world where they don’t even have running water. And it’s like, those little things are big things. And if we can be mindful of them, and that’s why I think having a world perspective, not just an American perspective, but a world perspective is so important living life every day to the fullest. And just really being anchored in the things that truly matter.

Kim Sutton: I’m going to have to start using that with my older kids. Is this a first world problem? Or a third world problem? Oh, my gosh. What I find especially hilarious is when they complain about their dominance. Like, I just want to say, look, we heard from my grandparents when I was a kid, I had to walk eight miles uphill to get to school. Well, when I was a kid, we had 56. If we even had them, they didn’t come out and be readily accessible until I was in high school. So don’t complain to me about your 500 gazillion download speed, I’m just making it up now.

Robb Holman: I think knowing now that you have kids slightly older, I have at least a few of them, I’m going to be coming to you for words of wisdom as my kids get older. So as you try things out on your kids, I’m going to just dial the gap or message you and say, hey, Kim, did that work?

Kim Sutton: I’m still going through that. But I have to tell you what would be the first world problem versus the third world problem. Our entrepreneurial, or my entrepreneurial journey has not been easy. And listeners, you may have heard me share before that we’ve been in a four year experience trying to buy our house because of me being an entrepreneur and just trying to get our credit scores in order, and everything. So it’s been a little bit of a struggle financially. We’ve had our battles, we’ve had our utilities shut off. There was one day when our water was shut off. And God with a sense of humor, he gave us snow so my husband told the older boys, you can go pee in the backyard. And when you’re out there, bring in a bowl full of stone and put it in the toilets. Mom doesn’t have to go out there too. We had the water back on that day, but they don’t understand when I ask them, is this a first world problem? Or a third world problem? And that will be one of those stories that we laugh at in 30 years. It’s not something that we really want to be broadcasting because knock, knock, knock, here CPS at our door. But hey, all of our utilities are on right now and we’re resourceful, and we’re not telling them to go into the backyard over the neighbors and go pee.

Robb Holman: Yeah. One of the things I’ve really enjoyed about you in the short time pre recording, and now recording has been you’re the real deal. You’re all authentic, and you and I talked a little bit about this pre recording. But I think it’s timely to bring it up in light of our conversation. By taking your listeners through your journey, I think that’s something that’s really missing out there with a lot of coaching, and a lot of consulting that’s happening all around the world. So many coaches, and so many consultants, so many speakers, they have this appearance as though they’re all buttoned up, they have all the right answers. But the reality is they go to the bathroom like everyone else, and they have problems, they have challenges. It might just look a little different depending on where they are season of life or season in business, whatever. 

So I have found the most effective leaders, coaches, consultants, and speakers are the ones that are just real. Certainly, they want to share with people the things that they’ve learned out of their failures and successes. Maybe they’re not failing in the same ways that they used to 10 years ago, so they’re quick to be able to share those success stories, how they came out and everything. At the same time, though, Kim, I feel like effective leaders, and dare I say transformational leaders, and coaches, and consultants are the ones that also share when they’re in the midst of a battle. And you know what? Life isn’t perfect, but this is how I slowly but surely began to cope with it. And they take people along with them on that journey as well. It’s so encouraging, it’s so refreshing to hear people like you that are out there doing the work that you’re doing to positively influence people all over the place by encouraging people to learn from your mistakes, as well as your successes, and bringing them along with your life journey in the midst of it. It’s pretty powerful.

Kim Sutton: Thank you so much, Robb. When you said everybody uses the bathroom and we have to be transparent talking about leadership, I was laughing over here. I always get his name wrong so I’m not even gonna try it. But the leader of North Korea who has convinced his whole nation that he’s a DD and never goes poop. Look how it’s impacted. He’s got the whole rest of the world basically against him because that backstory, that journey, though, what’s really going on is not there.

Robb Holman: Yeah. Great illustration. And where my mind goes with this to further the conversation is, if you think about it this way, I think our especially western part of the world, I think our world at large. I think the western part of the world specifically is just, we’re more about that destination. Arriving at a point where we are perfect or we appear perfect to other people. My mom has taught me a lot about this Kim. My mom’s an artist, and she did beautiful art. She’s a sculptor, he does watercolor. She’s just awesome. And she has some bit of formal training, but she’s mostly self taught, which is just so proud of my mom. And by the way, a little shout out to my mom, she’s turning 70 this Thursday and she looks amazing. She’s so vibrance awesome. But anyway–

Kim Sutton: Happy birthday mom.

Robb Holman: But the reason why I bring her up as an artist is this, I think just to really encourage the listeners. She has taught me so much that it’s not about the destination, it’s not about her completing a piece of art that you can hang on the wall and it looks so pretty with all the colors, and everything just nailed down. She says, it’s the process that an artist goes through. And I want our entrepreneurs, our small business owners and leaders that are listening, and just everyone to really make this applicable to their own life and leadership. She says, hey, you know what? Like, come along with me, Robb, during the course of my journey in creating art and you’ll know why I’m using certain colors. Like you can actually help shape this as you come over. So I’ve oftentimes come over my mom’s painting and I asked her questions. Mom, why does it look like this? Or you’re only a third of the way through, like, take me into that a little bit. And then all of a sudden, I’m actually joining with her by the questions I’m asking and her responses on creating. Even though she’s the one painting, by my questions, I feel like now I’m an active participant. In the midst of this, it’s the process. Its beauty in the process, it’s not arriving at an end state so that we can put our feet up on the couch or on the table, and we can rest and sit back, and look at the final product as much as it is about truly soaking in the journey, the process. Because the colors that are coming about in the midst, that there’s people that are crossing our paths to help shape our journey. And if we’re just so infatuated with the final picture, the final painting, the final business thing of how it’s going to look, and the money we’re going to make, then we’re going to miss the sweetness, the beauty, the intricacies, the details of the moment, and our life journey. And my mom has taught me so much about that, and I wanted to share that with you.

Kim Sutton: Oh, that’s amazing. I actually did go to art school. I remember just watching painters and seeing what the colors that I wouldn’t have chosen to go underneath, and they’re the base. I mean, look at when we’re painting our room sometimes. We have to put that foundation down, or the primer. I want to jump back into your journey though. So you didn’t have a tumor, you were cured, or is cured even the right word.

Robb Holman: Honestly, I don’t even know what the right word to use other than it was there one day, and it was not there the next.

Kim Sutton: What happened next? Did you finish college?

Robb Holman: Finished college and graduated with a Business Administration degree. A lot of my friends that happened to go to college, they were so content with being in college. They were so excited, they just wanted to extend their college life for like seven years. After four years, I was more than ready to get out because I just had this entrepreneurial makeup in my heart. It’s like what I was born for, made for. So I was ready to start something, I just didn’t know what that was. And so I get out later, I graduate, and I also play college basketball. So I was an aspiring like NBA player. People kept on saying, Robb, you play college basketball, but your games really made it more like professional basketball. And so a couple of professional basketball opportunities came about and I took advantage of them. I started my first business right out of college, that summer after I graduated. So here I was pursuing a professional basketball career at age 21 shortly after I graduated, as well as starting my first business at age 21. 

To continue that journey by age 23, I’m still continuing on my professional basketball journey now playing for a professional basketball league. And by age 23, I had two companies, two businesses. One was a motivational basketball program business for kids. The other was a basketball clothing company that had our own clothing brand, and we were in retail. We outfitted teams all over the country. And so here I was, 23 years old, and had two businesses. And between me, you and all your listeners, I didn’t really know what I was doing. I would just roll up my sleeves, and I was a visionary. I was a risk taker and I had some vision. And now, coming out of the miraculous healing I had, there was more personal purpose in my life than ever before. I was like, life is way too short, and it’s just way too significant for me to wait 20 or 30 years to do what I really want to do. So I started going after things, and that continued on this journey that has now led me to start about nine organizations in the last 2021 years, six for profit, three nonprofit. And now, I get to help people build in a much healthier manner. And it’s just so exciting for me.

Kim Sutton: Wow. And now knowing that you are a dad of three kids three. What would you say is the legacy that you want to leave with them? And how are you passing your knowledge on?

Robb Holman: Yeah. What I want my kids, and I’ll say my biological kids, but I also mentor a lot of younger kids too. I’ll call them my spiritual kids for lack of a better term. What I want my children to really grasp when I’m no longer here especially is that they have a unique purpose, personal purpose. That’s different from seven and a half billion people that have ever lived on the earth, or they’re living on the earth today. And not to mention arguably over 100 billion that have ever lived on the earth up to the present day, that there is a uniqueness in my kids and every human being. That if people are willing to go on a self discovery process, not to find out the bad in them, but to actually find the seeds of greatness that are on the inside of them. Now, they’re going to become that much more laser focus, live a life of boldness, courage and perseverance, filled with just hope and faith that they would never even be able to ask or imagine. And so I want my kids, I want people to grass. When you are committed to going to the self discovery process to find out their seeds of greatness, you will find them . And when you do, you better watch out. Because the positive influence you can have with people all over the globe, to be quite frank, it’s pretty scary in a good way and what’s about to happen. 

And so how I model that or how I articulate that to the kids, again, they’re nine, seven and two. I feel like words are important, but we do need to share words. So I do share with them about their purpose, their unique purpose of what I see in them even if they’re young age. But more importantly, I want to live out of this place for them. So they see dad, so they see mom, so they see us as a couple living out of this place of passion and purpose. I’m a firm believer. When you see people and you brush shoulders with people that are living their life purpose, and they’re passionate, when you hang out with them, you’re bound to catch on fire yourself. And I want my kids to catch on fire because they see mom and dad living with this fire that they know could only be from God. And all of a sudden, they found a catch on fire in their own personal lives.

Kim Sutton: Oh, I love that. Now, regardless of whether the person is a child, or a kid, do you have one go-to resource that you would recommend for somebody who is looking for guidance, for lack of a better word, in discovering their purpose?

Robb Holman: A couple different resources. One, I’m getting this book out right now as we’re talking. This is my opinion, but it is a powerful resource for kids and adults alike with what you do with it, an idea. And basically the premise of the book is, and it’s a very short read. Again, it’s probably more meant for kids with the illustrations. But man, I learned so much with this short read, powerful read, what you do with an idea, that there’s an idea in every person. That when this idea never leaves you maybe a month, maybe you come up, maybe you have this idea. And all of a sudden, life happens. And it seems that you start getting involved in different things. Whether you’re seven years old, you get wrapped up in different things. Or you’re 70 years old and you get wrapped up in different things in life, but this idea never seems to leave, and it just seems to follow you. And maybe a month goes by, a year goes by, a few years go by and that idea just hasn’t left yet. It’s important. I think I might have given the book away, but it’s coming right to mind. Just listen. 

Yeah, here it is. I’m so glad I got it. All right. The book is called, this is a huge, What Do You Do With an Idea, and it’s written by Kobi Yamada. One of the most profound books, but yet most simple books. Aren’t the most simple, simple things in life sometimes the most profound. And it is one of my all time greatest resources for people to get a hold of. So that’s number one. Number two, I encourage people regardless of their age, there’s five basic things they should be asking themselves about. Personal purpose, if you want to know. I mean, this is an overarching thing, I’m going to get into five practical things. If you want to know why you personally exist, get to know who you really are, and there’s five things that contributed that based on just my life experience and statistical data to back it up. 

One, do you know your personal core values? Like for me, one of my top personal core values is commitment. These personal core values, these are the things that just mean a whole lot, that they’re deep convictions of the heart. The things that you stand by, and you stand for that. You’re making decisions out of these values all day long, and may not realize it. So that’s number one. Second thing is to help people regardless of their age. Understand what their top strengths are, Kim. There’s a lot of talk like, oh, you just need to improve your weak areas. And all of a sudden, the more that you improve in your weak areas that kind of match your mirror, your strength areas, that everything will be in proper balance. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t identify and work on our weak areas to improve on them. What I am saying is, when we clearly have identified our top strengths, and I call these natural talents, if you will. Now, the more that we can operate and function out of our top strengths and natural talents, there’s gonna be tremendous fruit that just comes out of that place. I’d much rather find people to take on more of my weak areas than anything else. 

The third area is what are a person’s top passion areas? The things that you just are overjoyed when you’re participating in them. It has you leaping out of bed in the morning, which to do or to accomplish. And so what is that? The fourth area, everyone is on a life journey. The fourth area to help you discover who you are that leads into why you exist, understanding your personal life milestones. The things that have happened throughout the course of your life as short, as long as it may have been that have gotten you to where you are today that have shaped you. Doesn’t mean some life milestones are greatly encouraging. Some are extremely challenging. But nonetheless, all of these things have shaped you to become the person you are today. Standing here sitting here, listening to this podcast, what is that? Because there’s more to your purpose relating to those life milestones, and you may fully realize. 

And the last area, the fifth and final is what would you say your primary gift in life? A gift in life isn’t meant for you just to utilize for yourself. It’s something that’s been given you the moment that you were born, that it’s a legacy you leave beyond, behind on the earth when you’re no longer here anymore. For instance, are you just a primary gift? Are you just a big time encourager of people? Are you a compassionate person? Are you just a really gifted teacher? So I’ve found when you begin to work through this self discovery process, you’re affirmed, you’re encouraged with your uniqueness, your significance. And then you can help on the coattails of this to begin asking, okay, so now, knowing who I really am, why am I here? And begin to identify a problem that exists on the planet, that as long as you’re here, as long as you exist, that you’re alive, you move and you have your being on this earth, that you’ve got to do something about that problem. That you in fact, become a solution for that problem. It could be an injustice in the world, it could be a business issue that you just see this always come about and you’re like, as long as I live, I’ve got to do something about this. 

So that’s just some personal things that I help people with. As well as what you do with an idea, I think it is a tremendous resource to help people with ideas and creativity, and just really starting to see the seeds of greatness on the inside of them as well.

Kim Sutton: Wow. That was absolutely amazing. I want to ask, what is the problem that you are solving?

Robb Holman: A mile away, no, and I love it because I get asked that a lot. Like, Robb, you kind of seem like you help people with their purpose. Well, what’s yours? Interesting. I’m on the planet. My purpose on the planet is to help other people discover, rediscover why they’re on the planet. So in other words, I leap out of bed every day with the people I get to Skype and interviews, I get to have the speaking engagements that come about the coaching. I get to help people have their aha moment, whether it’s in a moment or a process, if you know what I mean, of truly discovering or rediscovering why they exist, and they can live life according to that. See, my purpose is infused into others, helping other people with theirs. And there’s no other place that I’d rather be, honestly.

Kim Sutton: Yeah. Wow.

Robb Holman: So I’ll share this too. I recently wrote a book called Lead the Way, and a lot of what we’re talking about is in the book. I mean, I help people very practically with what I call I developed over the years is inside out leadership philosophy. And I talked through foundations of inside out leadership, some of the things we’re talking about, I talked about, just hanging out with, spending time with, learning from some of the most influential inside out leaders in the world, some of the core convictions that they live out of every single day. And then I also bridge in the book, can I bridge the gap? Okay, once you clearly begin to identify your personal purpose, how do you see that you live into your professional purpose building that bridge? So yeah, the resource I gave you with Yamata, What You Do With an Idea, my book Lead the Way, and then some of the practical things hopefully helped at least a couple people, may be of help to you.

Kim Sutton: Absolutely. That was amazing. Listeners, if you’re driving, if you’re working out and you can’t write those down right now, I want to invite you to go over to thekimsutton.com/pp360 where you can leave a comment. We love comments, we love feedback. I’ll share any feedback that you give with Robb. And you’ll also find links to where you can find Robb, to the books that were mentioned, and all of that great stuff. Robb, this has been absolutely amazing. I know this is not our last conversation, just the first step, I need to copy more.

Robb Holman: And you just need to know, I really appreciate you and the work that you’re doing Kim. I honestly just say this, it’s extraordinary work. People need more Kim’s in the world, doing what you’re doing, helping people, bring about Positive Productivity day in and day out, because there’s the grind of everyday, and people need their heads to be lifted on the things that truly matter. And so thank you for modeling and reflecting so well for so many people. I’m truly honored to be with you today, and I agree with you. I think this is the first of many conversations. And finding out different ways, potentially we could team up to make a greater and more positive impact. I look forward to that.

Kim Sutton: Robb, I didn’t share with you, and I don’t know if you’ve seen, but I’m actually writing a book called chronic idea disorder. And I have not heard of the book that you mentioned, and I have to go back and read. I couldn’t find a pen. That’s what happens with kids, they all disappear. But I can’t wait to read that. But yeah, oh, my gosh, definitely, I was getting ideas during this chat because that’s what happens when you have chronic ideas, that sort of a good idea. I can’t wait to see where this goes. Where can listeners best connect with you?

Robb Holman: Two primary resources. One would be my personal website, which is just Robb, and Robb has two B’s, robbholman.com. And the second is my book website which is leadthewaybook.com.

Kim Sutton: Fabulous. And listeners, again, those will be in the show notes at thekimsutton.com/pp360. Robb, I would love to know if you have a last piece of parting advice or a golden nugget that you could offer to listeners, and thank you so much for being here.

Robb Holman: Thank you again, so much. And yeah, just last piece of advice. I’d say as much of the world either sees the glass half empty or half filled, but I always see it overflowing, and every person has an opportunity to do the same. So be encouraged to do that.