I’m Coming With You

One of the largest business magazines in the world made me an offer recently. They asked me to be a member of their prestigious coaches council.

Before you think - damn, Mikey is going places, I must advise you that this was a pay-to-play opportunity. Meaning, I was invited to join, but I’d have to pay to be a member.

This isn’t crazy nor is it frowned upon in the coaching world; and, it was pretty cool to be approached about them as they certainly don’t offer that opportunity to everyone.

So, I took the call and heard all about what the council would do for me (it was a lot: articles published, features, potentially my own column. Again, this is a HUGE magazine. And while I won’t tell you the name of the pub, it starts with F and ends with S and rhymes with orbs).

Anyway, the call was supposed to last 20 minutes, but at 22 minutes, the person speaking to me told me I was an “ideal candidate” and that I’d be a “perfect fit.”

Cool.

The only thing was, she needed to check with her team to ensure I was approved by them to join. When she put me on hold, I hung up. Not to be a jerk, but because I had another call. Remember, her call was running late.

It just so happens, my next call was with Skyrocket CSO, Dr. Antonio Vance. I told him how ridiculous it was that she was pretending to check if I was approved when we both knew they’d be happy to take my money. I’d made it that far and the ‘approval” was some nonsense strategy to make the council seem more exclusive.

Gross.

I told him it reminded me of the car salesman who, after the customer haggles a bit, says, “I don’t know. Let me check with my manager” knowing full well they’re going to say yes.

Dr. V told me, “Oh, when they say that to me, I tell them, ‘I’m coming with you.’”

“Really?”

“It freaks them out. They get flustered and don’t know what to say.”

Interestingly, according to Antonio, after these interactions, they don’t need to speak with anyone and can just make the deal.

His coaching was a good reminder that even though it might not always feel like, we have way more power than we think we do. And, that we can often control the narrative instead of being subject to it.

That magazine has called and emailed a bunch since then.

I’ll let you know if I approve them and decide to join.