Episode 151: A Walter Bond Next Level Mindset for 2023

Whether you’re just getting your start out of your truck or you’re building a home services empire, there are some things you need to know! We’re excited to welcome Walter Bond, legendary business coach and former NBA player to To The Point! Walter is known for his incredible keynote speeches, business advice, best-selling books, and even scoring on Michael Jordan. Are you ready to get in gear for an incredible 2023?

It Was All a Dream

When Walter thinks about pursuing your dreams, he thinks back to elementary school. When we’re in the 3rd grade, we’re dreaming about being doctors, astronauts, pop stars, and professional athletes. What happens? Well, reality sets in the older we get. Life gets tough. People recalibrate and start reconciling. They slowly give up on their dreams as the ups and downs and ebbs and flows of life fluctuate day in and day out. Walter doesn’t think this needs to be case!

See, Walter had the dream of becoming an NBA player. He, too, was beginning to think it was impossible and was ready to give up. His father told him to go for it, because no one should live a life of regrets. Years of hard work, dedication, and determination later, Walter had a successful professional career playing basketball in both the NBA and international leagues. He points out that we live in America, and regardless of how you feel, the truth is that opportunities abound in this country. There are literally people dying in an attempt to have a chance at living the “Amercian Dream”. Getting older is no excuse to give up!

Now retired from the world of basketball, Walter has made a name for himself helping others live their dreams. He uses his more than two decades of experience leading up to playing in the NBA as his research into what is required to be truly elite and live out your dreams. If you believe you’re meant for more, you’ll never get complacent. You’ll keep pushing. And Walter wants to find those people – especially small business owners – and help them achieve their life vision. Walter has helped many, many clients through his coaching and mastermind groups discover what peak performance truly looks like. As long as you don’t disqualify yourself, you truly have a shot.

If You Can’t Dribble, You Can’t Play

The first thing to understand, and something that Walter and his team teach, is parallel to getting into the NBA. If you can’t dribble the ball, you aren’t playing! The fundamentals in basketball – dribbling, shooting, rebounding, and defense – are key before anything else. It doesn’t matter how talented you are or gifted athetically if you can’t handle the basics. Business is no different. You need to be fundamentally sound in marketing, selling, leadership, becoming an impact player, and a few others in the 7 fundamentals of business. If you aren’t fundamentally sound as an owner, your company is never going to be stable. Once you get there, though, you’ll be destroying the competition.

Next Level Mindset

Walter explains that how we think is just like the engine in a car. The more powerful the engine, the more expensive the car, right? Well the better we think the more powerful we are. The more powerful our thought process is, the more value we create. It’s not just the fundamentals that are required to get to this point. It requires a few key things: a coach and a system. Let’s dive a little deeper.

You Need a Coach

The first thing you need to understand is that it is not possible to reach your potential without a coach. Walter had great coaches in high school, college, and even played for the legendary Jerry Sloan with the Utah Jazz. Even those of us who weren’t in sports had coaches – your teachers. Which students got straight A’s in school? The ones that listened to their “coaches”, were teachable, and put in the work. The rest of life is no different.

When we become adults, we usually go out on our own and do our own thing. That limits you to how you think. Sure, you can achieve some success within your own limits, but you’re still limited to how you think and respond to life on your own. That’s why you need a coach to reach your full potential. Even today, Walter maintains two coaches – a conditioning coach for fitness, and a business coach for his professional life. Is it time to drop the ego and reach your potential in 2023?

You Need a System

Another key thing that Walter has learned is that every great coach has a great system. Phil Jackson had the triangle offense, Stephen Covey had his 7 habits, and every other great coach in history has had a proven system that gets results. In Walter’s Next Level system, you will be transformed to reach your full potential. You need a coach and a system to do this! The whole purpose of coaching is to change lives, and that’s exactly what Walter is set out to do.

Crossing the Line of Confidence

A lot of small business owners feel like they run the game after making a bit of money. They get comfortable, and act like they have a whole empire. The thing about empires? They can collapse quickly. A million dollars a year is not an empire. An empire, according to Walter, is much more than that. It’s being able to take care of your city, reach out to the world, and your family for generations. It’s massive. Think Ford Motor Company massive. You have to keep your foot on the gas and grow your business in a way that it can live on beyond you.

Walter’s clients sometimes come in as small business owners making money, but they don’t have a real business. A realy business has equity. It has a culture that can transfer to the next generation. It doesn’t fall apart when you take time off. This is why coaching is so important. You have to have the mindset of a CEO; not just someone who likes working on air conditioners or knows a bit about plumbing. Otherwise, you just have a job. Walter wants you to have confidence, but based on genuine foundation. Real confidence means arrogance under control. Once you get arrogant and think you know it all, you stop growing.

Be The Shark

Walter has written several incredible books that keep flying off the shelves. In Swim, he talks about “attack mode”. It’s a shark’s mindset. A shark is the apex predator in its environmnent. It’s discerning about what it eats, and moves differently than any of the other fish in the sea. It runs the ocean. Shouldn’t that describe you as a business owner? Don’t you want to be the apex predator in your territory?

With several books and plenty of resources available through officialsharkmindset.com and WalterBond.com, there’s nothing stopping you from taking the next step but yourself. Whether it’s Walter or another reputable option, you have to find yourself a coach. You have to set aside your ego and keep learning, pushing, and remind yourself that complacency has NO vacancy.

If you’d like to take the next steps with Walter, it’s simple! Just shoot an email to [email protected] and make the subject line read “I Need a Coach”.