Don Hobbs - Strategic Personal Branding Changes the Game: Years Spent with Tony Robbins and Jim Rohn Changed his Life, Sparked Hobbs Herder, and Brought SUCCESS

Voiceover: 0:01

Welcome to the SUCCESS Coaching Podcast. On today's episode, our guest, Don Hubbs shares his own personal journey to success because success is a journey, not a destination. Here's the hosts of the SUCCESS Coaching Podcast, Todd Foster, Alyssa Stanley and Kelley Skar.

Alyssa Stanley: 0:25

Welcome back and thank you for joining us on the SUCCESS Coaching Podcast. My name is Alyssa Stanley and I am here with Todd Foster and Kelley Skar, where we have the privilege of talking with THE Don Hobbs. As SUCCESS Enterprises Ambassador and co founder of the International Association of Expert Partners, Don continues his legacy of helping people to reach their greatest life by teaming up with the most legendary brand in personal development, reuniting with the works of Jim Rohn, and other industry giants. He brings his true passion to SUCCESS in moving entrepreneurs and high minded people to think and live a bigger, more fulfilled life. As a speaker, coach, trainer and business consultant for more than three decades, Don has spoken to nearly 2 million people. Thanks for joining us, Don.

Don Hobbs: 1:14

Thanks, guys. Nice to be with all three of you.

Kelley Skar: 1:17

Thank you for being on the show my friend really appreciate it. You know, you and I haven't known each other for a long time. However, I've known you and known who you are and what you've done. Maybe for our listeners, maybe you can give us a brief synopsis of who the real Don Hobbs is and kind of take us through, you know, where you started and how you became the Ambassador for SUCCESS Enterprises.

Don Hobbs: 1:40

Yeah, for sure. Thanks, Kelley. What's it's great being with you guys, of course, and you guys are I love the show, you're doing a level where we're able to do together through success as well. You know, my, my background, I started off really young I got I got into the seminar space, through a guy that I hope everybody will know Jim Rohn is his name. And Jim was kind of one of the godfathers or grandfather's of the personal development space. And I was fortunate a teen years old to walk into a big Ballroom in Southern California, where he was speaking and 1000 people showed up and, you know, at 18 I never experienced anything like that. Anyway, I was infatuated I, it was date night, I didn't want to be there. And I remember not wanting to be there. And within 15-20 minutes, I'm taken notes and totally like, oh my gosh, I love this guy. And I walked up to him at first break and said I want to I want to be I think I said I want to be you. But if I didn't say that, I implied it. I want to do what you do, and be you. And I just was like I could just see the power of personal development and what it meant, and what people were getting from it. And, you know, from that day forward, I mean, for me, it was always about how do I get help people get turned the lights on when they see it when they get it when they you know, they there's that moment that breakthrough and and I got to hang with Jim for a little while I went to a bunch of his programs. And finally, later that year asked him if I could work for him. And I did. And then you know, it was really interesting, because I got a chance to work with him for eight years. But during that time of three, four months after I started this big gawky kid walks in the camp named Tony Robbins. And Tony was with us for a little bit he was 17 years old. So, you know, we're working together for our I think until he was like 21 or 22. And then he went off to do whatever he does. I don't know that strange, firewalk thing. And, you know, we've been friends for all these years, but and then I stayed and became president of Jim's company. And you know, the answer your question, I really loved that piece of personal growth where we get a chance to and I love it about what we're doing even at success. I love the fact that we get a chance to be in people's lives and talk about significant things that matter because, you know, an idea can change somebody's life. You know, the right question can change somebody's life. I mean, there's so many things that we do when we get to play in that space. And for me, it's always been my heart. So I got to do that. And then when I left Jim's company, I started a company that was big in the real estate space got really well known, not in the in the big speaking space, if you will, but in the personal real estate space. And then did that for a lot of years and really became the biggest training company in the in the industry. And then eventually I got a chance to play with Gary Keller some people know Gary, because he's not only the founder of Keller Williams but he also has a great book called The ONE Thing and we played with that for a while and built some training coaching around that and then eventually this this exp thing happened and the significant other in my life and you know we'll talk about Allison I'm sure today at some point far smarter, far more attractive, far brighter. I mean it just it far better. I definitely you know am married and I we call each other husband wife, even though we're not. But you know, it's been super fun being around her and she saw what exp was building and took off and call me one day as I was Gary's partner and said, I'm leaving Keller and I'm going over to that company. And so that was a really interesting time. And when she and I got together and started really dating, like we were, you know, fell in love, we were together. And I'm Gary Keller's partner. And she's over the eXp, which for some people may not mean anything, but it's, it's kind of like fire and water right now. It's their oil and water, whatever doesn't mix. And eventually, my relationship with Gary was tested as I was sleeping with the enemy. So, you know, it didn't work out well. For the end of our relationship. However, Alisson and I are solid as a rock. And now you'll get the chance to play you know, for a year, after we exp bought success, I got to play in the role of the President, we got a bunch of stuff done, we got this coaching company lifted. And then I've been put in the role now of like, Ambassador, so what does that mean? I don't know, I, I speak every so often on behalf of success, and get to show up in my pretty face, which most of these people aren't going to get to see, gets to show up as part of that. But we're having a lot of fun with it. And of course, the eXp side is growing faster than anything that's ever happened in real estate. And success is really exciting, because at 124 years and to be 125 years, it's iconic. It was what Tony and I were reading back when we were kids, it was our little business Bible. And I feel like I've just fallen into a pot of jam, to get to hang with people like you, the whole crew, I just love the conversations, because I'm dealing with people and living with people and working with people who are about people. That's been the most important element of my life for all these years. So little of the story. Of course, there's lots of little moving parts in there, and failures and falling down and all that stuff. And today, we're living in Puerto Rico, and it's 84 degrees today. And how what's the temperature tomorrow? 84 degree. What was it yesterday, 84 degrees. It's always at 84 degrees here.

Todd Foster: 7:05

So you brought up Tony Robbins, you brought up Jim Rohn. I would love to know what they were like, offstage. Who were the real Tony and Jim's out there.

Don Hobbs: 7:15

You know, Jim, is a very interesting story. Because, you know, first of all, he's been gone for 12 years. In fact, like in a few days, he'll be is the anniversary of that he'll be gone for 12 years. So a lot of people don't even know who he is. Yet. If you've been around, you know, some years, you definitely have to find him and, by the way, very findable on YouTube and all that. But Jim was just like Jim all the time. Like he was that guy, he was a philosopher. He kept his journals, he was thoughtful. He was you know, thought he I mean, he was thoughtful as a human being he was thought he in that he was always contemplating and, you know, pondering and let me handle a Those were the words that he would use, right? That was how he was, he would ended up with the title of like, America's foremost business philosopher. Yeah, that was long after I was gone. And I was like, that's perfect, because that's exactly what he was. I mean, he was our Aristotle of our era or something, right? He was, he was that guy. But Jim was super easy to get along with. I mean, he never like you never saw anger you never saw. He was just like, I won't say he was flawless. Because obviously he, you know, gone through a couple divorces. I mean, he had some ups and downs, financially, he, he was a human being, but he was really had really mastered his emotions, and really mastered his mind. And really looked at things with a different perspective. You know, when things went bad, you know, a room was falling apart, or, you know, something goes wrong with Hotelling there was never an upset it was like, you know, listen, we're not dead. We're good. We're good. You know? And there was he was very even keeled. Now, Tony, on the other hand, you know, Tony had a great, great intention, but he didn't have his priorities. Probably all that straight in the early days. But you know, I mean, he was dynamic from the earliest days. I mean, we used to compete pretty head to head on sales and things and he was definitely him, the guy would go out and you know, he was big and intimidating anyway, but he would just take his big hand and shake your hand and probably hold and squeeze until you bought in and was really, really closer, so much so that a lot of his sales would unravel because as soon as he went away, they'd be like, what the hell I didn't mean to sign up for that you know, it's like so he was a really interesting character and what was really fun Taysom I got so many Tony stories Good grief. And because so many people know many so current even today, you know, it's it's kind of fun, but he when he left and he was doing this firewalk thing, this crazy firewalk thing you know, what the heck is that all about? Right? And he used to call Ron and I and go, Hey, I want you guys to take the program. More like we're not I mean, we You know, be cordial to me. Of course, Tony. Yeah, we'd love to do that someday, but we're always busy. And don't you know, we got laundry to do and cut the hair to cut and stuff. And, and, and you know, and then one day he caught me because I was I was in town and he had already told me he was in Denver. He said, What are you doing this weekend, I said, we finally got a weekend off and he goes, good. I'm flying to Denver, you got to come and take this program and really stuck me with it. Right. And anyway, when I took it, of course, it was pretty magnificent. Keep in mind, this was at a grammar school in Denver with 106 people. So I mean, this was like, early day, Tony Robbins, this is not arenas full of you know, this is not 20,000 people or 18,000 people walking on fire. So, you know, cool stuff. But Tony has always been, he was very hot headed. He was very strong. You know, known all the women in his life and sage, who's married to now is finally kind of tamed, has teamed the man, and he's really sweet. I said to him about a year ago, I said, You are your heart is so big and so open these days. And he said, I was always like, this isn't how you were not? You were definitely not always that way intended it. He just didn't know how to carry it off. Right? There was some stuff. So anyway, great guys.

Kelley Skar: 11:24

When you're that big of a personality, do you think that the the persona kind of overtakes? And do you think that they that they like knowing, you know, knowing Jim Rohn, knowing Tony Robbins like you do, do you think that their persona kind of took on a life of its own dawn? I mean, is it you know, you're talking about who these guys really were? And it sounds to me, like they had some failures, but you never really knew about that. And, you know, I guess secondary to that isn't that doesn't that apply some sort of ability from their audiences to see them as more as human?

Don Hobbs: 11:56

You know, Tony is pretty authentic and comes clean with, you know, his early days, childhood, you know, all that stuff, you see that a lot. I think it's a little bit more of a current trend. I, you know, there might have been a quick story about not being able to afford Girl Scout cookies, or there might have been a story or two that you would have heard. But the reality is, that was not the era of transparency, that was the era of taking the stage and being the person everybody wanted to know. And, you know, I like the current state, it's, it's much easier to be able to be real, and not have to be perfect. But you know, what's great about Jim was, he wasn't necessarily acting, that was really who he was. So he just didn't go back and tell you his history, per se, except select stories that told you no made a point and drew a line between where he was and, and what he was trying to say. And, you know, Tony's come out, of course, he's had some pretty tumultuous childhood, as I as it is. And we, I told him one day, I said, we we must have the same dad, it was just a, we were off by a year or two, you know, just but very similar stuff. And no, it wasn't the thing to talk about that it was kind of like people wanted to see success. And now people want to see authenticity. And I think it's, it's a different era, which I'm really glad for it because it's there was so much pressure to be something I mean, I remember feeling that it as I built my companies, I remember thinking, I have to be what they expect me to be. And frankly, I hated it. I you know, I remember sitting in a mansion in Southern California and going, I don't even know how I got here. I don't even know if I like what I'm doing. I don't even know what I was doing. But how I'm living. I don't even know if I want this. But it kind of was a reflection of what I was supposed to show. And, you know, like I said it, it was a very different time. And I'm really glad that time has changed.

Alyssa Stanley: 13:55

Don, I remember you telling us a story here a while ago about your dad visiting you at your home. Did it have any impact on shaping your future moving forward?

Don Hobbs: 14:05

Yeah. Thanks, of course, and very happy to talk about that. You know, what I would say is, and I'll tell you the story of it, but I would say is what I've learned is vulnerability is one of our greatest strengths. And when we become vulnerable, it allows other people to meet us there and go, Oh, it's okay to have my background or it's okay to come from where I came from, you know, it's obvious I can still make it. And so my dad was not a great guy in my life, and he didn't beat me. But it was a total verbal abuse and of course, there probably was some alcoholism, it was too early because before a lot of that became public, and people talked about it, but I didn't have a relationship with them. I mean, I flat out didn't type you know, he was not in my life. He was not a big part of my life. I didn't want that in my life. I used to remind my assistant to to remind me to call him just like, you know, call Dad you need to call dad once a month and just check in And, but it was really like I had no interest in him. And clearly he had no interest in in my life or at least it appeared that way. And so when I kind of struck it big, I, you know, remember Rohn used to say, I think it was a quote from Frank Sinatra, that, you know, the best revenge is massive success. And there was a part of me, I'm sure that kind of wanted to show off a little bit and say, you know, you, you kind of missed the mark, you missed your kid, you know, you didn't, you don't know what you had, right. And I invited him to come out to California and he flew out to my house, and I remember him getting there, I had a big circular portico, a circular driveway with a portico over the front of it. And I parked my Bentley right in front, just to make sure I don't even know if you knew what a family was, but I, I was going to make sure he didn't not see it. This was not in the garage, right? And, and I remember hearing the doors, you know, closing, they're here, they're here. And of course, I had these 10 foot iron doors, his wrought iron doors made, you know, synonymous. And I remember, like, almost the timing, he rang the doorbell, let them wait, let them let them just sit there and get the whole force. And then I open the door. Of course, after all the pleasantries and the you know, hugs and all that stuff. You know, here I am hoping, hoping that he would finally say, I'm so proud of you. And what he said was, he looked around, and he looked up at the ceilings, eyes ceilings, and goes, Why do you what do you need all the space for? And I gotta tell you, it was I mean, it was one of those things like, he just got here, I'm wanting to go get the f out of here, you know, just like, leave me alone. And what was great about that was that was one of the icebreakers to wanting to have a relationship and what I realized that I'm not sure where you guys want to go with this. But what I realized was that a lot of my success, as we would see it, you know, success in the way that people look at success, things and cars, and houses and money and stuff. One of my things were attracted through, trying to prove myself enough. And and, you know, there's, you know, the good news is, the best revenge is massive success. Yes. And there's a part of that, which is like, it comes from a place of fear of not being enough, instead of coming from a place of, I know, myself, this is what I want in my life. And I can go create it or not created, it's my life. And when I realized at that, not that moment, but in that timeframe, like right after that happened, I began to analyze and go, Why do I want all this? And was it about him and somebody noticing and going, Wow, look at you. Because I hadn't had that, right. I just, I didn't have that as a kid, for sure. And my dad and I did a bunch of healing about two years later, two years, three years later, and kind of got deepen, in what had happened in childhood and all that we laughed, we cried, we yelled at each other. And mostly I yelled, but, you know, we had we kind of had it out and got to a place of new understanding. And ironically, the assistant that used to have to remind me to call him I called her one day, and I said, Okay, I just got a phone, my dad, I'm going to go see him. And she's like, you're going to go see him. I said, Yeah, booked me a ticket for tomorrow. And he's like, you're gonna go see him? Like, it was a shocker. And literally, it was the beginning that that conversation that time was the beginning of a real transition. The other irony of it is that was October, whatever year that was 11, I think 11 years ago. And he died on December 5, like a month and a half later, and he wasn't sick. So it was really like, healing in time. You know, I got to say what I needed to say, got to deal with the issues of the heart. And yeah, pretty good stuff.

Todd Foster: 18:55

Did either of you have guilt after that? About possibly both being at fault somehow, on the relationship not working in the beginning?

Don Hobbs: 19:03

He did. He. He said one line in the midst of all this barrage of stuff back and forth for two and a half, three hours on the phone. And he said, I've told people with lousy dad, I was and I was like, livid, because I was like, Who have you told that you were a lousy father without calling me to tell me you're a lousy father. Right. And there was a lot of that. And what was fascinating and really heartwarming. Was that when he passed his than his wife is my step mom, if you will, said to me that month and a half since that healing. She said he's been so free. He was like, so lifted, like he didn't have all that weight on his shoulders of what he wasn't and didn't and all of that, that he had probably been carrying his whole life. So I'm carrying one side of it. He's carrying the other side of it. And both of us were released. And yeah, it's good stuff. I mean, it's not Easy to do that. And I'm not suggesting everybody needs to rush out and have that experience. But almost all of us carry some baggage. And sometimes it's defining baggage, or we allow it to be.

Alyssa Stanley: 20:11

So Don, seeing how Allison is the love of your life? It sounds like you actually gave up a career to be with her. How did you two meet in the first place? Was she the person that you stood up for date night when you went to see Tony Robbins?

Don Hobbs: 20:29

No, I met. I went through two divorces. So if we're, if we're confessing, mazel tov it, all right. We don't need to get into all that. But, you know, I went through an early marriage. And then later in life, a marriage when I moved to Austin, you know, my then old buddy, Gary Keller called me one day and said, Hey, I'm doing this book thing, I'd love for you to be part of the, this program in this company that I'm building and be a great guy to do it with. So I came to Austin, and she was the first girl that I got introduced to, by some very good friends. And actually, I think you guys might know John and Holly Prescott. They introduced us and, and it wasn't an instant take. So it was, I kind of got smitten. And I worked really hard at it. And Allison kind of went around the block a few times with, with other parts of her life. And I kept saying to I did say to her one time I said, you know, the things that are that you think are what you're looking for are Sunday, not going to be important to you, you're gonna wake up one day and see that what you've been searching for, isn't what you wanted in the first place. And what you haven't been looking for is going to be, you know, it's gonna you're gonna have a whole new set of values. And she said, Are you talking about you? And I said, No, I'm not talking about me. But maybe, but I'm just saying, it's like, that's what's gonna, that's what's gonna happen one day, you're gonna, there's gonna be that that day when you get it. And, and later, she said to me, you were talking about UI so well, kind of, but, you know, it's really like, that's what has to happen in our growth and awareness, right? We, we go through stages and phases. And when she finally kind of gave in, and the funny part is, she's, you know, we laugh about it and call it like, off the off the movie, I call it 100 51st dates, because good God, I worked really hard for a long time. And we got to, you know, see concerts, front row seats. And I mean, I did everything I could imagine, to make this thing happen. And she, and I go home alone. I mean, it was like, still going, it just didn't work out the way I was expecting it to. And we'd have, you know, weeks and my mom would go How's Alison? I go. I don't know. I haven't heard from her three weeks. You know, it's like, I don't know. And but, you know, my claim to fame was I lasted 100 51st dates her claim was claim to fame was she finally got me away, recruited me from Gary Keller. So we both had our victories and that kind of fun stuff.

Kelley Skar: 22:54

My wife and I, she says this a lot, if you were to, to, you know, write it all out on paper on paper, we weren't a fit at all, like, there was just so much so many differences there. But somewhere along the line, and we just we clicked and she saw the potential and knew that there was great potential for the two of us. And eventually, the paper stuff was all going to work itself out. And it sounds like everything kind of worked itself out. And Allison finally saw the light. Hopefully, she's listening to this.

Don Hobbs: 23:22

She did see the light. Exactly. That's what I always tell her, she saw the light for sure. No, it you know, and it's true. And we're going through, you know, it's life is about growth, right? I mean, life is about growth. And so you're gonna have different sets of things you're looking for, you're going to different people are going to come into your life. I mean, Friends come and go, right? I mean, people, people in your life, and then some friends stay a lifetime, and some come and go. And I'm not sure that, you know, I want to promote the relationships are like that. But there is an element to you know, what, what is it that you're looking for in your life, at this time, and some people grow together, some people grow apart. And for us, you know, it's a it's a great combination. She's brilliant, beautiful and smart. And, and I'm none of those things. So it makes a perfect combination. It's a it's a, it's a nice fit, you know, I get it. What's the old Jerry Maguire, You complete me? I don't believe in that at all, by the way, but I'm just saying it's a funny thought. You know, what's interesting about that, did the questions you've asked and the things that you guys talk about, because you get pretty, you get in the weeds with people, right? And it's interesting, because no matter how people look like their lives are together, everybody behind the closed doors, there's always something different than what we think is happening. And I remember, you know, again, much more surface level, but I remember 2008, nine and 10. Thinking to myself, it was such a great revealing place where people had lost so much and yeah, You walk into an office, your office and you, Hey, how you doing? Good, how you doing? Great, you know, and everybody's waving to the other and everybody's suffering and going through such stuff. And nobody wanted to talk about it because everybody thought they were the only one going through that. And what we come to realize is we're all going through something, right. And we're, we're having the human experience. So it's part of why we talked about earlier, I think it's a different era where, you know, transparency, vulnerability, is at a premium, because people really value knowing how you that you made it through things that you've been there to, that they're not alone. And you're not, they're not the only failures. They're not the only people going through stuff. They're not the only ones who've had challenging times. And let's face it, you know, we've all done it. So it's not fun, where you're going through, but there's a lot of lessons to learn for sure.

Todd Foster: 25:56

I love that you brought up transparency, so let's even be more transparent, Don. If you looked back five years ago, are you where you thought you'd be today?

Don Hobbs: 26:05

No, I what, I think I had a different thought about where things were going to be five years ago, I was still hanging out and building some stuff, and another company that you guys all know, and I thought that had a future. You know, a lot of things imploded on that. But again, you know, one of the things that I realized, and this is part of my dilemma is having a job at my style. Like I haven't had a job since I was 18. And then kind of did a thing with Gary, that was, uh, you know, Gary Keller, that took a job and, and that probably wasn't the smartest thing for me. And I like having independence. And I like being able to create my own way. And, yeah, I think there is no limit to that, which is Who knew that? That would not continue? It seemed like a great idea. I love being around smart people. I love being around. Glenn Sanford, I guess you guys just did a podcast with Glenn. I mean, I love being around smart people. Let's face it, it's it's just the rocks, right? To see somebody who's really got it together who's really doing big things has a big vision. You know, we I get inspired by people like that. I know that you guys, but you know, I get inspired by being around those people. And so did I get where I thought I was going? No. Am I getting to a different place? Which now feels like a great place? In a similar timeframe? Yeah, probably so that all we're doing between success and exp these two worlds that we're living in? Both things are kind of exploding. I mean, I mean, exploding, what kind of cat away? I don't mean like blowing up. I mean, like, you know, they're, they're really taken off. So there's good stuff happening. And I gotta say, I feel honored. And I'm really thrilled that at this point in my life, I have these things to do. Like this is great stuff, you know, to give and teach and coach and train and help and develop. And, yes, it's kind of what I've been doing my whole life.

Voiceover: 28:05

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Alyssa Stanley: 28:13

You spent quite a few years with Jim Rohn enterprises. And at one point you were running the entire organization. Can you take us through what happened between Jim Rohn and Hobbs/Herder and how Hobbs/Herder actually came to be a reality?

Don Hobbs: 28:26

Yeah, fun story. I knew I was going to be with Jim Rohn. For freaking ever. I mean, I just loved the man. He was my father figure. He was my father figure. I mean, he was really that to me, you know, is a very impressionable age. And he was a great guy. And I love being around him, and I. And then he got married to a woman that unfortunately, she was, she was running stuff from behind the scenes. So we'd make decisions during the day, he'd go home the next day, and come back and say, Hey, I've been thinking about what we talked about yesterday, I want to do that differently. And I'd be like, Oh my gosh, really? Like, anyway, it was clear to me that it was not my show anymore. And so I didn't know what to do with it. I mean, honestly, the one thing I would say about that that occurs to me is, I didn't have the emotional wherewithal to know how to handle that situation. He was so close, such a big part of my life and to say, you know, like, I feel ripped up by the fact that this woman has taken this place that, you know, whatever. So I resigned, I just quit. I left a little resignation. And she called me the next day and said, Jim got your letter, He's highly disappointed and, and it the way you handle it, I said, I don't know what else to do. No, Yvonne and adios. And, and so I was looking for a thing, because to be honest with you, I didn't have a plan. You know, it was like, it wasn't like I went, I'm going to develop a company and then I'm going to figure out what to do. And then I'll leave Jim Rohn and do that. I had no clue. And so between those two points, there were a couple people that had been involved with Jim through the years. And I remember, you know, being kind of hiring one of them to be one of my salespeople, Herder of Hobbs/Herder, fame, and then another one that was doing a program and we started promoting his programs. And to be honest with you a funny story, we would promote his programs, I was a great promoter. I mean, I would fill huge rooms full of people. And then people would go, his seminar sucked, you were really good. But you know, because we would do a presentation, right? We'd go into an office or a company, whatever, speak, and then sell tickets, and they go, You were great. And so I started going, you know, at least if I was doing my own programs, I would change if they were not good. And I think I've got enough stuff that I could do this. And so literally, I one day just said, Screw it, we can do our own. And I said to her, Do you want to start a company? And we were kind of searching Kelly, to be honest with you. I knew I didn't want to be Jim Rohn, Jr. I mean, it was, you know, I'm much more comfortable with using Jim stuff now. Because he's in my head in my heart all the time. I mean, there's no way I could go through days without having, you know, dropping quotes and thinking things and going, the moments that we had and things that we did together. But at that time, I didn't want to be Jim Rohn, Jr. I didn't want to have that I Ziglar was out there were a few other people that were training, and we teach in time management, teaching sales, what are we teaching, and we knew that real estate seemed like a natural niche. And frankly, in that timeframe, real estate was coming into its own, it was a, it was when mom and pops were moving into the franchise world, and they were consolidating. So there's a lot of movement, and a lot of companies that were forming and bigness, you know, they were starting to grow. And so we really thought that was a great opportunity for us. And we started doing seminars that were like, you know, time management, selling and, you know, three keys to selling and six suggestions for marketing and whatever. And this little personal branding, personal marketing idea, there was like 30 minutes out of a whole day. And we did do the little survey at the end, right? What is July? Would you get most would you like most? Would you like the least what would you change? You know, all that stuff. And people go, that personal marketing stuff is amazing. Like, we never thought about branding ourselves, who who does that? You know, because at the time everybody was joining, they were consolidating into Century 21, and wearing gold coats, they were they were moving into the big companies, we were going on this is for Todd by name, you know, you're screwed, you can be part of the best company in the country, and it doesn't matter. So that became the beginning of it. And we we kind of rolled that out, we just saw there was a trend here. And we started expanding that and expanding it. And there was no I mean, I will say this, if you go back, you can check the dates out, go back 1986. And you look at the personal marketing stuff, just look it up and figure out when it started. There was not I don't care if it was real estate, I don't care was financial services, I don't care what you looked at, there was nobody building a personal brand. Everything was about corporate. So our stuff was pretty cutting edge. And we just kept extending it then became a day of that, then it became two days, then it became three days. And of course, if you teach that stuff, and people are the impression people got that, that you know what they were left with is if you brand yourself and build your own brand inside that space. Now it's I would say it's true in any industry. But for sure, in real estate, what would happen is you get these calls going, Hey, come with my property, hey, we don't, we don't know you, we we've seen your stuff forever. And we just want you to come in. So it's like so easy. People just came to the, to the agents, right? And in real estate, it always been call and call and call and call you got to pick up the phone call, you got to go knock on doors. And for the first time in history clients were flocking to these realtors. So then we had to deal with mindset, because Would you allow yourself to be seen? Like Will you allow yourself to show up in a way that people didn't? You know, it wasn't bragging, it was just like showing up as the authenticity we're talking about today. That's so common. That wasn't at that time. And the second thing is, will you do you know what to do with clients if you got three times as many or five times as many? Like you're already stressed out doing your, you know, 12 units a year will get you 80 units a year? What the heck do you do with that? And literally people are going from like, I just talked to some of them today. And you know, program I did earlier this morning. She did 2.7 million her first year one year later. 10 point 4 million. So that 400% increase, one year later, almost 20 million, one year later, almost 30 million. I mean, it was like massive growth. And those are numbers that nobody's ever heard of before in that timeframe. And so we had to teach them systems and structures and really what we came from too was finally we're teaching people how to do business instead of how to sell real estate. Like we never got into real estate sale. We never even taught people scripts or any of that stuff. You know it was Why do you need a script for their calling and going Listen, let's my home You know, how do you overcome objections? Why don't get any objections. So Hobbs/Herder was born out of that and listening to the client, and watching the need and watching where people respond. And, and then figuring out we were, we were smart enough to figure that part out. We were lucky enough to be at the right place at the right time.

Kelley Skar: 35:18

So I'm curious in between Jim Rohn and Hobbs/Herder. You'd mentioned your good buddy Tony Robbins. Was there any ever ever any thought about joining Tony and what he was doing?

Don Hobbs: 35:30

No, not not at all.

Kelley Skar: 35:32

No way? Interesting.

Don Hobbs: 35:34

I knew too much about him at that time. No, he, he was that was in his, that was in his days when he wasn't is easy to get along with, his less evolved days. He left a wake have a lot of bodies at that time. I mean, again, you know, we, we probably did, too, I'm just saying, I was very aware of Tony's tendencies at that time, want to be very clear, because he's a different guy today. I mean, I, I love Tony and with all my heart, and he's really a good guy. And such a special man. I mean, almost nobody that I've ever seen has taken life to the level he has even people that have more money, by far, he's the most on purpose person, by far that I've ever met. Now, not so much at that time. That never crossed my mind. In fact, the thought would be, don't do that.

Kelley Skar: 36:18

Personal branding, I think is is such an interesting conversation. I, you know, I got into the real estate business in 2007, and quickly became a disciple of Gary Vaynerchuk, probably by about 2010. And he is a contemporary that was really talking about personal branding and utilizing social media to do so you know, at that time, Twitter was probably one of the largest social networks to help build that personal brand. I'm still over there. Not a lot of people are still there. I've got like, 3300 followers, and I just tweet political stuff, because nobody listens to it anyways. So it's just a place for me to go invent. You know, Instagram is really big, you know, Facebook, maybe not so much anymore. How do you see the personal branding space? Today's compared to, you know, back in 1986? I mean, obviously, the technology is different is are the principles still the same?

Don Hobbs: 37:06

Principles primarily, are the same, primarily, and I'll talk about that, but I think the biggest thing is, what's changed is, marketing was a very expensive sport for a lot of years. It was an expensive sport, if you were playing in the big leagues, you know, Nike having to run massive amounts of commercials. You know, today, that game has changed completely. But personal branding. There wasn't a lot of outlets, people. That's what people say, you know, I had somebody introduced me today. And they said, they were they were great. They were the best. They were amazing. And they were really expensive. And I said, No, we weren't expensive. We were expensive compared to what Realtors were used to paying. But if you'd gone into the personal if you went into the marketing world, and you said, What is it gonna cost for a bank to do a whole campaign? You know, it would have been $150,000. And we were charging 12 or something right. But it was just radically different. But for a Realtor. They never thought in terms of spending money like that. So what I would say is, at that time, there was such limited experiences. I mean, what did you have you have direct mail? I mean, again, let's go back. It depends on when you you know, the Gore invented the internet. 92 I think it was. So you know, that that's when something's changed, because the email came along. You know, Thanks for laughing. So, you know, email changed some things because that obviously was part of the Vaynerchuk deal, right? Social media changed everything. Because again, we didn't know what it was. All we knew was there was something here, and we could get seen, but nobody knew how to make money with it. I mean, now we're starting to see it. And of course, it's funny how we figured out Facebook, and yet Facebook is kind of fading. I mean, it's certainly gone. But it's, it's on the Fade. Instagram is next tick tock is next, right that these next platforms, what's next, but the great news is today, building a brand is so much more affordable. And then there's the concepts and that's what you asked about. How do you carry a brand? I mean, people were out just doing videos willy nilly a phrase willy nilly. I never say that, but they're doing it willy nilly. And, and they're shooting videos, but to what point to what target to what, to what content to what, why, why, why that? Why, why why are we just doing a mishmash of so much stuff, instead of saying, What's my target market? Who's my avatar? I mean, if you really walk it down, that hasn't changed, target strategy, then tools, will the tools are changed, the mediums changed. Media has changed. But the top two, they're the same. You gotta have a target and you got to have a strategy and where people go so wrong today and you know, in the real estate space clearly, one of the challenges We have is that people are selling stuff. So we're gonna buy that guy's website or that company's whatever. And that's gonna fix my problem instead of looking at what am I trying to do? Am I trying to appeal to? And then how do I use this tool? Oh, you know what this tool is not the best tool for me doing what I'm going to do, getting the people I want to get to, that's not the best, what would be better is something else. But they don't have those strategies. And that's where I really think the gap in, at least in personal branding is that's the big gap. Right? And, you know, if you throw enough fame at it, I mean, some of the, the rock stars, the pop stars, the actors and actresses, they can get away with some of that stuff. Some of the YouTubers, the tick talkers, you know, they get away with some of that stuff in that they're building fame and fortune, I was looking at some of the the biggest, richest YouTubers, and you know, 20-25, 30-40-$50 million dollars, these young kids, what do they represent? You know, they've built a following, and then they go, Okay, now, somebody comes along goes, hey, we'd like your brand. We'd like you to attach to something. So that's one way of doing it. But if you're in a business, you got to figure out who you're appealing to. Otherwise, you better get really famous and really big, so that you get a lot of people's attention, because otherwise you ain't gonna make any money.

Kelley Skar: 41:20

Yeah, all really good points. I, I was listening to the latest Joe Rogan podcast, he's got a guy on there named Jimmy Corsetti, and he's got a YouTube channel that he started back in, like 2016, his focus changed. I mean, he was talking about early on about how a lot of the videos that he was doing early on, actually, he wound up taking off of his channel, because the the focus of his channel, just completely, it switched to change to what he talks about today. And that's ancient civilizations. And, you know, he had goals of, you know, a million subscribers or earning X amount of dollars off of ad revenue. And he, he kind of fumbled his way through until he figured out what the formula was. And exactly, to your point, Don, he felt he figured out what the niche was going to be, or the niche was going to be and kind of worked it backwards from there, and then understood, then what what how important the thumbnails were how important the titles were, how important or unimportant, the the write ups were, what the most important thing was the actual content that he was that he was putting out. Yeah, right. Yeah. To that end, I think, you know, he's got it right now, because he's, you know, he's got tons and tons of followers, and he's making big bank off of the ad revenue that he's generating, you know, I talk to a lot of agents about about this kind of stuff on the regular and they say, Well, I want to start a podcast and I'm like, okay, to one end, I really like having conversations. Okay, so what's the return on investment? Right, you're going to, you're going to spend all this time talking to people editing the content, uploading to all of these different platforms, to maybe your maybe not get listeners. So to what end? Is it all you're doing is wasting time? Right? That's, that's the big question. Right? To what end? Right. Right. So yeah, no, I really appreciate. So it sounds to me, like maybe perhaps the principles really haven't changed it. The idea of personal branding is figuring out like, who you want to be, what you want to be, what you want that brand to represent, and what and then working backwards, and then understanding, especially today, that the mediums that you can utilize to push the message in the branding.

Don Hobbs: 43:21

Yeah, and I think at that point, you get into the Russell Brunson stuff where he started talking about, are you doing funnels? Are you doing Fly Wheels? HubSpot talks about I mean, what's your methodology, but again, that's all the stuff that comes later. That's, that's down here. People go, I'm signing up for, you know, I'm going to get involved in I'm buying and like, why, what are you going to do? I mean, you didn't have a clue. And you know, that you just talked about niches, I use that word a lot. But you know, there's there's definitely reached riches in the niches. Right. I mean, that's, that's one of the things I became very aware of is that the more defined your marketplace is, the more narrow focused it is, we often think we're gonna end up giving up business. And what in fact happens is we actually attract more, because we're getting people who really relate to what it is we're doing. And whether it's real estate, whether it's financial service, I don't care what industry to be honest with you, if you're running a small business operation, if your presence is a part of it, and look, I mean, I don't watch a lot of TV and can't say that there's a lot of commercials like this anymore. But if you think about how people represented their auto dealership, or how they represented their, whatever, it was a personality, like, you know, we'd see these people on TV and go, I'm going down to see him. You know, it's like that that was the essence of personal branding was making sure people connected to you. And so that's where it really comes down to and of course, you know, a lot of realtors want to tell people how great they are. A lot of people in financial services want to tell about what they're going to do for them. It's not about that I can can I relate to you? Do I like you? You know, like, you know, you trust you? Right? Those are the three we've always talked about. And the fourth When is remember you? Do I even have a freaking clue you exist. One thing that's interesting about that is, you know, people have talked about Tony Robbins because they know we're friends. And they go. So who's the next Tony Robbins? I'm like, I don't know if there is one. And it's not because there's nobody else like, Tony. It's because it's about the marketing. Because the market has been so segmented, there's so many people that are going to see a trainer or a coach of coaches, who then teaches people how to, you know, have their little funnel and, and so you look at people and I get asked all the time, do you don't you know, so and so I'm like, No, and I look him up, and he's got like, you know, 15,000 followers, I mean, he's not a big deal, or she's not a big deal on the world. But they're real big deal in that person's world. And they've got their own little mini followings. And of course, you can make plenty of money doing that. I mean, there's plenty to be made. But it's not going to be the Tony show, it's not going to be that it's not going to be that grandiose. And I don't know that there's room for that anymore. Because the market has been so segmented. I don't think anybody will ever come out. That's a different generation. It's a different era that I think we're leaving behind.

Alyssa Stanley: 46:13

So Don, where can our listeners find out more about who you are? And how can they contact you?

Don Hobbs: 46:18

Uh, you know, don@success.com is probably the easiest one. And I've got a couple of different, you know, companies and involvements. don@expertpartners.com is another one, but they're gonna find me. I mean, I'm, you know, pretty easy to find. And you check my social out the Real Don Hobbs on Instagram. I'm not hard to find, and I put my phone number everywhere and people call me on myself. And I'm not you know, I've just, I've always been pretty easy to reach and I just don't believe in in hiding out. So if anybody wants to, many won't want to, but they do. I'm here.

Voiceover: 46:55

The lightning round.

Kelley Skar: 46:57

All right. So this takes us to the lightning round. This is one of our favorite segments of the show. So I'm going to fire off a bunch of questions for you. You're going to answer kind of off the top of your head.

Don Hobbs: 47:07

Oh, boy.

Kelley Skar: 47:09

Number one, what is your favorite word?

Don Hobbs: 47:13

Success.

Todd Foster: 47:14

Oh, I thought you'd maybe you could say Todd.

Don Hobbs: 47:15

Todd Foster. There you go.

Todd Foster: 47:17

There we go.

Don Hobbs: 47:19

My favorite word. I'm sorry. I wasn't, I wasn't thinking, you said word I didn't think of name. My favorite name would be Todd Foster. My favorite word would be success. And I run them synonymous. I mean they're really joined at the hip.

Todd Foster: 47:33

Yeah.

Kelley Skar: 47:34

Yeah. Alright. Question number two. Who do you text the most?

Don Hobbs: 47:38

Who do I text the most I text? Hmm. Ben, maybe? I don't know. Allison. Probably. She's right upstairs now. But whenever she's here, I still text her. So probably probably Allison.

Kelley Skar: 47:49

Question number three. What is your go to past time?

Don Hobbs: 47:52

It's going to be either fly fishing or golf. I happen to live on the harbor here. So I'm, I'm learning to catch big tarpan in Puerto Rico. And of course, we have two golf courses right outside here. So those are my favorite things.

Kelley Skar: 48:05

I think we're gonna have to somebody who's gonna have to host a SUCCESS Coaching getaway in Idaho maybe, we got fly fishing and golf in Idaho right?

Todd Foster: 48:14

Idaho? How about Puerto Rico?

Kelley Skar: 48:16

Puerto Rico would be better? Yes, absolutely. Especially middle of winter.

Don Hobbs: 48:19

Yeah, for sure. You guys are always welcome.

Kelley Skar: 48:22

What is your favorite word in another language?

Don Hobbs: 48:24

Amore!

Kelley Skar: 48:26

Oh, that's a good one. Last one. Question number five. What was your favorite subject in school?

Don Hobbs: 48:32

Oh my gosh. My favorite subject in school was not Latin. Let's see my favorite subject in school was actually math. Hated history and certainly hated Latin.

Todd Foster: 48:46

Wow.

Kelley Skar: 48:47

Latin? They didn't even teach Latin when I was in school.

Todd Foster: 48:50

It's a dead language.

Don Hobbs: 48:51

Yeah, it's kind of a dead language for sure. I was supposed to be a doctor. I was going to take Latin because they told me all that Latin would help me with my my getting my doctorate.

Todd Foster: 49:00

What has been your favorite pair of shoes you've ever owned?

Don Hobbs: 49:04

That's a great, you're catching me. I could say that my Michael Jordan's I got some old school Michael Jordan's with the you know the cool like they're almost vinyl that I have now. I got reds and blacks. My probably my favorite pair that had the most story behind it was a pair of Nikes that were yellow. I had season tickets to the Lakers for all the Kobe and Shaq years. And I used to have my seats were first by the tunnel where they'd all walk out later we're at half court, but I'd have the Lakers would come and rub my shoes for good luck every night. And of course we were winning like crazy. So they they started to believe and I started to believe and I could get I could literally say the shoes are in the house and and some of the players would look up and point to me and you know that they knew that that that pair of shoes was was what was making them this win streak. So clearly, I had I have a big part in Laker history. Three championships were mostly my responsibility because of this pair of shoes.

Todd Foster: 50:02

You may need to go back because they are not doing very hot right now.

Don Hobbs: 50:07

They're not and and it's a shame I'm in Puerto Rico because I can't help them. I just can't help.

Voiceover: 50:14

Thanks for listening to this episode of the SUCCESS Coaching Podcast. If you've enjoyed this episode, please follow or subscribe to the SUCCESS Coaching Podcast at your favorite podcast provider. For special access to past recordings, videos of past episodes, and more, please become a SUCCESS Coaching Podcast Companion at successcoachingpodcast.com.