Kurt Brown - Golf Trainer

Steven Burkhart: Hi everybody. My name is Steven Burkhart with Burkhart Creative Agency and I'm super excited on this digital hustle show to bring you Kurt Brown, who's also known as big Kurt. And so he does golf instructing and his build his own business doing that and as I'm doing pretty well. So just introduce yourself real quick and talk a little bit about what you do.

Kurt Brown: Hey guys, my name is Kurt Brown. You might also know me as big Kurt golf. I'm an instructor here in town and in Canto golf course in downtown Phoenix. And I'm just here talking a little bit about my, my process so far. I hope you guys enjoy.

Steven: Do you do like specific kind of meditation or just kind of just like sit in clinic clear your mind? So it's what's called Zebra

Kurt: The meditation. I went to a, I went to a seminar and that I had heard about her form of Emily Fletcher, I believe was her last name. But she has this process and it's a triangle based aspect. It's mindfulness, which is kind of being in the moment. And then you go into your meditation, which is kind of just going through a mantra and, and then it goes in, the last portion is visualization. So kind of hits all these little different spots and just a really good way. So I do that twice during the duration of the day or do it right after I wake up, before I have a caffeine or anything. And then then kind of mid afternoon, so like typically after I eat lunch or anything like that, I don't exactly, it got to access a little bit of an app. It's kind nice that you kind of wake up and you feel refreshed.

Kurt: You'll get really that grogginess that a lot of times like after you eat and then like that, that afternoon kind of like Lall so you kind of feel like you've just got to reenergize and get a refocus and, and, and only to filter a minutes. Yeah, exactly. And supposedly it's supposed to be deeper rest then it's sleep is five times deeper, supposedly from what I've read in research writer. So yeah, it's been good. Keeps everything moving to the way it's supposed to be. And especially the mind, especially like in the, in the, in the instruction world and trying to keep yourself at 100% for each individual client. Right? So like the first three clients a day might be getting your best effort, but then you get kind of that wall and you don't want to have that have, you don't want to see your performance decrease. Right. Especially in the afternoon when people are still wanting to see your percent,

Steven: They're showing up fresh ready for you to like rock. And then it's like, you're like, Oh sorry, not enough Starbucks today. Like that's kind of not cool. No, that's super cool. I remember like when I very, I know this is totally off topic, whatever, it's still useful. I remember when I first got into like meditation and just like that kind of stuff. And it was just like, at first you're reading it and you're like, this is total bull crap. Like this is just brainwashing and like all this other jazz. And then when you sit there and realize like how much you're doing the opposite all the time, then you're like, Oh, like I'm actually brainwashing myself all the time. It's just not positively like, you know, it's like that like, you know, not to jump into, you know, like the negative self talk stuff or just like the negative stories that you tell yourself and all that other jazz know. You don't realize it until think about like when you like become more aware of it and you're like, Oh, like if I'm just like sitting here thinking positively, it's not just me like telling myself something cool. So I feel good about myself. I'm actually like undoing like years and years of like thinking the opposite. Not that I'm like a negative person, but still

Kurt: Those thoughts. And at some points I'm going to kind of comes into what people have to listen. Think sometimes you get, you got to get back to yourself. And what are the positive vibes?

Steven: Want to feel like your whole life. You've basically like, like you've tried to fit in and you've had other people kind of define your success, right? Like grades a, B, C's, D's pass, fail. When you do your own thing, it's like the first time I feel like at least my experience is that's like the first time you're like putting yourself out there. Like you're like, like the first time that you're like, Hey, you need to notice me. I'm doing something cool, look at me. That's like the opposite. Like for the most people, unless you have like that personality type, like that like, you know, lead singer thing, which I don't have. You know, unless you're that kind of person who is kinda like naturally like charismatic in that sense. Like for me it was like the first time I was like, like I want people to see me, I want people to notice me.

Steven: So most of my life wanting the opposite. And then now I have known telling me whether or not I'm doing a good job. Then you have to like trying to figure out for yourself. And then of course, you're your own harshest critic. So then you do like try something and you fail and like in your brain, you know, like it's not the big of a deal, it's just one failure and it leads to better success, but it's still, you kind of feel the weight of that and then like you work through that and it's like, it's like a whole process. Yeah.

Kurt: Yeah. It's, it's so much fun because when you do go in that route and you are kind of on your own, you stop listening to all the noise and it could be the praise or it could be the, the shame. Like you suck, you do this, and then it's like you're great. And then everything in between, it really doesn't matter of the day. You're still doing your thing and you press it forward, right? That's all that matters.

Steven: You've got to look at yourself in the mirror at the end of the day. Like you, you make your own bed so you gotta, you gotta learn to be happy with what you built.

Kurt: It's told me in this, I've never really made sense until about a year ago. This decision you make today will affect your tomorrows and that's, it could be a good thing or a bad thing and whatever it is that it led you to this point, this moment in time. So you're exactly where you're supposed to be, which is always kind of cool when you look at it that way.

Steven: Right. That is cool. What happened that you like?

Kurt: So actually it was I was going through some own, as we all kind of do, go through some own mental lapses in our lives and feeling like you kind of get a little bit lost and like what was me type thing. And it kind of goes back into that thought and it's like every decision that you have made, and I was listening to a podcast was with RB Marcus and I'm Mike Posner and I'm just sitting there and I'm listening and I'm just chilling my room. And they're like, you're, you're exactly where you're supposed to be. And those words just hit me just super hard at that in time. And it's like, man, like everything I've done to the point has led me to where I'm at now and the decisions that I'm making at this point in time to better myself and change myself.

Kurt: And it just, it made, it took longer than what you want at that point. But it's like man, Lisa, Lisa, it's happening now but not happening 20 years down the road or 30 years down the road. And you look at maybe your parents are looking at people that are longer in life, still dealing with the same shit that you're dealing with. Yeah. And it's like, Oh okay so this, this stuff, this is, this is just like this super annoyed is, yeah. I mean it's just like we're still early in that process and you just keep calling, just keep trying to get better and it's an infinite game so that, that podcast hit me hard that time. Yeah. And just you needed to,

Steven: Right? Yeah. You'll have to send that to me. Cause I know like right now my like just to like strongly second that although that was a year ago free, it's like I'm going through the process right now where I'm realizing that I'm like, I'm an optimistic person and I believe pretty well on myself. But when you're growing something you're always looking at like, what's not working and what you're not doing good at. Like, like it's like, it's like obsessive for me. Like I like only can see what's going wrong because my thought is you know, fixing those things will make me be that much better at what I'm doing. Right. And so it's been interesting to realize that like that may not be entirely healthy to spend so much of my time dwelling on those things when like you said, you lose perspective, you don't realize that like to get to that moment you were in then a lot of good things probably happened to you. Like you don't see that because all you're thinking about is like what you can fix to get even better, which is unfair to yourself. And

Kurt: I was listening to a book, it's called good degree and it talks about all the different businesses that have took themselves from good businesses to great businesses. And then they have a bunch of different parameters that they kind of did this study with. But it goes into everybody has a to do list, but nobody has a to adult list, right? It's like, what do you do that, what do you do now that's really probably not helping you? And then kind of subtracting those things out of your life. And not too many people look at it in that way. And that's kind of, I guess how I took what you just said is you're looking at things you might not be doing well at this point in time in the haiku, you subtract that to make yourself that much better. And then it also talks about the concept and it's pretty simple.

Kurt: It's this, it's a hedgehog concept, the way they call it. And then they have what people do as like a Fox. So you're trying to do a Fox is trying to figure out a way how to get this hedgehog. So he's doing everything in his power to try to figure out, so you might try this, he might try that and might try this, but the head truck just does the same thing over and over again. It always defeats the Fox because all I just curl up in a ball. So he's figured to figure out that you do something very simplistic and do it very well, and then you continue to do that. And then next thing you know, you just continue to gain that momentum and just continue to win. Right? And that's, and that's kind of how I into instructing golf is if you can do the most basic things extremely well for a long period of time, you're only going to get better, right?

Kurt: And that's as simple as it can be. I think a lot of times we go into, especially in in, in my realm, kind of, it's very similar to life, is we hear all these tips and bits and all these things like, Oh, I'll try this today or I'll try this today, or I'll try this today. And you never actually do yourself any consistency to actually improve. And my work for a day, it might not work the next day. So you try something else and you try something else that you never actually improving. You just think you're improving for one day, cause you're basing it off the performance. You're not basing off of your learning, you're not actually getting better. So it's kinda, that's how I communicate to a lot of my students is we need to find the most basic things and just get extremely good at those things over and over and over and over again until you can do it in your sleep.

Steven: It's not a very sexy suggestion. It works, right? It works

Kurt: Well. That's what I think a lot of people get hung up. And I don't care about making a bunch of money. I don't care about any of this. I want my players to be the best players that they possibly can be for the longest periods of time. Right. And that's all I want for them. And if that's the, if that's the ticket and then they want to do that, perfect. Let's get to work. Right. They don't. They want somebody that's flashy and wants to have all these nice things and like try different things each and every single time. Right. Not going to be the person for me.

Steven: So that's on your to don't list. Right. People who are not interested in actually being good but just feeling like they're good or at least being adventurous. I dunno. Yeah. So so that's probably a good segue and just talking a little bit about like how you started with the whole call thing.

Kurt: Golf my entire life. My father played mom tried to play my sister plays. And so I just been around the game my whole entire life and I've always had a passion for it. I've always had an idea that I wanted to do something with it. Even since I was in fifth grade, I listened to this one guy talk about being a golf pro and I'm like, man, that sounds like a cool experience. I'd like to do that someday. So I ended up doing I started caddying when I was in a freshman in high school. I played throughout high school. I was a pretty decent player in my in, in my high school. I was the MVP or junior and junior year and then ended up making the state senior year and didn't really do much with the game after my my senior year of high school playing wise.

Kurt: But I went to a place called Ferris state university in the West side of Michigan. Went through the golf management program there, got a couple of internships, got to travel to Oregon, got to live in Northern Michigan, get to live out here. And that's kind of where I ended up out here. It was my last internship. I came out here and then fell in love with Arizona. So I said, yeah, let's spend my twenties here and see where it goes. And then this last last November I made a move to become a full time instructor and it's been going very, very well so far. So that's kinda my, we'll call the story in a nutshell. And I was trying to try and play the best I can and try to get as many people as good as golf as I possibly can in the process. So things that I learned can help others. And the more I learn, the better they get. Right? Yeah.

Steven: That's crazy. I didn't even know, I didn't even know there's such a thing as golf management as a, is that like a part of a different like is that like business admin with the specialization or

Kurt: So in, in our, in our school we had a marketing degree, marketing and UBS and then an emphasis in golf management. So really what the processes over the four years you go through your level one, two and three for the PGA. So the class, a professional staff to go through certain levels and certain certain tests to get their class a certification. We just do that in school. Other people go and go to Florida and travel back and forth and go that route. But there's about 19 schools I think that have a professional golf management program, summer get business degrees. Some get like turfgrass management degrees and things along those lines. It just depends on the school. But Arizona actually, Arizona, Arizona state actually had one, but they have, I think it was, I think they want to wait like 2012 or 2013 it was the last season that they had it though is what it is.

Steven: It's not a bummer for you. Right. So, so that was like, that was an amazing nutshell. That was, you summed up late 10 years, like 30 seconds. That was amazing. But let's walk through that again, but tell me just like from a different perspective, like, and you don't have to like hit every single moment, but what, what is it that you think you kind of like learned along the way? Like is there like specific lessons you felt like you learned that like kind of built where you are today?

Kurt: For sure. I'd love to hear about that in a plain sense. I've always looked at myself as an as a very talented individual, but when I came to actually competing, I put so much pressure on myself to compete and play at a high level because I was doing it for other people. I was doing it from maybe my father or maybe the people that are around. I wanted to make sure, like when I first played a professional event here in our section, I wanted to go out there and perform well so people would think of me as a good instructor and I played and miserable. I shot 87. It was probably the, turned me around since I was a sophomore in high school and it was just, yeah, it was, it was, it was actually a really, really cool learning experience. I was so nervous.

Kurt: I was, I was excited that I put myself out there and did it. And it's cool because no one really cares. No one cares that a shot eight, seven, no, nobody that even, they're going to go back in 2016 and be like, Oh, look at Kurt Brown's term at records from the last four years. No one really gives a crap, right? So that was me just putting all this extra pressure on myself to perform at a high level and that's what I started learning. I'm like, even when I was a younger player and trying to compete, the reasons why I didn't win a bunch of junior events is because I put that pressure on myself. Like you should be winning like you are the best player. Like everybody knows that you're the best player, but you're losing still and you just put this added pressure on yourself, which you can't play golf that way.

Kurt: You can't play golf free. You have to play golf just like you kind of go in life. If you're going out here and you're worried about every single result, you're never going to actually do it. You're never going to actually take a leap of faith and try. But if you, if you have faith in what you, what you do and you have faith in the things that you've worked on and then you're not too critical of yourself afterwards, it makes it a little bit easier to kind of take a step back and look, all right, I did this very well, did this very well, did this for where I could need to improve on this and this and this. And it could be in the world of golf. It could be I drove the ball really well. I had my iron play was very good, my putty was solid, but I short gamed it poorly and it wasn't great around the greens. Or I, I drove a light crap today. But you can always kind of find things to improve your game and your game is never going to be perfect. That's a really most difficult thing. Just like probably in, in everybody's life, you always strive for that perfection. But perfection is, isn't Nolan boy thing that your eyes and perfection might be different than my eyes and perfection and so on and so forth. So you never really like there's perfection doesn't exist

Steven: And it always ends up being higher as you like achieve more like you, like you think you're going to be like hit this level success or this level of skill and you'd be like, Oh, that's like running to be, and then you get there and you're like, Oh wait, but that guy's better than me now. I'm going to be that good. It's unfair.

Kurt: I think it was a, it was either Tom Watson or Jack Nicholas that said you need to be the best player in in your, in your city. Then it needed to be the best player in your state. Then you need the best player in the country needed to be the best player in the world and you kind of, you're always striving for that, that greatness, but really at that, at some point in time you're just trying to do it for yourself. Like LeBron James Bryant example right now, 35 years old, probably having one of the best seasons of anybody in the history of the NBA. And he's like, I want to be the best player in the history of basketball. And that's very different than maybe somebody trying to win just the MVP for this season. True. Like it's a very, very different goal and it's, you know, you're going to be driven in a different way.

Kurt: That's the way that life is kind of is. It's an infinite game and we look at it so finite most of the time. Like I want them to be able to win this quarter of the market or whatever it is. This is looking at the fact that I want to win these next four months or I don't know in this and I want to win this. And it's really, you can't keep that going unless you're striving for just a lifetime of, of greatness. Right. So it's kinda, it's, I dunno, it's just changed my outlook on, on my instruction, my plane. Really just life in general is this has never ended a learning experience in order to try to get a 1% better each and every day. So that's about it.

Steven: Right. And you have those diminishing returns too where it's like as you get better, like the amount of better that you get each time is like, just a little bit smaller. So then it's like, like what does it Tim Ferris, you ever read any of yeah, he does like a lot of like like life and productivity hacks. And he always talks about basically getting like 90% good at anything cause like the last 10% is so hard and the reward is so little that it's like not worth all the extra effort. Which I think is a little sad mindset, but he's probably right. So this is, it's hard to like be OK with that mindset, right?

Kurt: Yeah. It's tough to get that much better when you're already that great at something

Steven: Like how, how much better is 1% better for tiger woods? Like, like a stroke. You know what I mean? Like at that, at that level. Yeah. Yeah. So what, what are the, do you have any other lessons you think that you picked up? It was like, just like real eye openers as you like even your, all your traveling, you've been all over the country really. Anything that stood out to you?

Kurt: Just, just the time that I was able to spend with my current roommate right now I've known him since college. My father is driving across the country moving those times, those moments are just like something you might not really enjoy as much as you as you should in the moment. And they count on the looking back on it and like how cool it was to have the amount of time in a car with your old man. Like this is fun. It's an enjoyable experience. So those kinds of things are, are kinda cool when you, when you started looking back at it. But then it kind of reminds you to live more in the moment a little bit, each individual day aspect instead of getting kind of lost and in that, in that strive that that goal for 100% in whatever you're doing and kind of get lost in that and instead of enjoying that moment as much. And that's kind of where I'm trying to try and get to a little bit more in my life is just trying to be in the present a little bit more. Totally. Yeah. Not too worried about the future, not too worried about the past and just kinda just live and see where life takes you.

Steven: Right. So I'm kinda curious what that means for you is as far as like your, your mental health and everything else like that. Cause just even the other day, it's probably to have a couple of weeks ago where like I realize like when I'm in go mode I'm getting sipped on it, which is really good. You, you gotta have those moments. And then I had a moment of like calm afterwards cause I had gotten everything I did, I needed done on my to do list. So it was all done and I was happy to get myself an end to my work day. Right. So I'm like sitting there and I'm like, now I'm like realizing like I'm like hearing birds tweets and hearing like the wind and I'm like, Oh my gosh. And I was like thinking back to like that previous part of my day and I was like, I don't actually remember hearing anything because that makes sense.

Steven: You get like such focus that like everything else gets drowned out. And like certainly that was great for getting stuff done, but it's like that, like that mindfulness, that presence where like, like I literally didn't enjoy anything about everything happening all around me because I was like so focused and like now I'm like sitting here, I'm like, listen to the birds tweet and I'm not like a birdwatcher. But I think that's pretty cool. Like I enjoy that. I enjoy being outside and hearing like nature and life happen and it's totally true. Like, you could have, you know, I don't know how it went for you, but you know, you could totally have that situation where it's like, it's not fun to drive cross country, you know what I mean? Or like sit with someone for hours and hours and hours, but at the same time, that was like a really great opportunity and really great time. The I doubt you regret. No. and so it's like one of the things, it was like all the situations lead up to like a not fun experience, but then when you actually step back it's like, wow, this is really cool actually. So I don't, I dunno. How, what, what does that change for you? Just like being the president? Like what does that really mean to you? Like how has that affected you?

Kurt: A lot of times it's like the, the conversation, like for an example, our conversation right now is just being 100% with you. Right? And, and that's kind of taking me into the coaching aspect too. It was almost like I get blinders on. I don't pay attention to what's going on around me. There could be 60 people behind me hitting golf balls. And I literally am so focused on the person that's in front of me that I completely lose myself in that moment. And that's really, I think, just a great experience for the person that's out there, getting information from myself and trying to become better. But it's also just a great thing for myself as an instructor and as a just a person is to just enjoy the time I have with that person and what I can learn from that person and the, and the 45 minutes that we have with each other.

Kurt: So I've taken, that's where I've kind of taken it, at least in a professional sense, in a relationship sense, trying to do that more with my girlfriend, trying to be more in that moment, trying to listen to what she's saying and then hear and kind of communicate better in that sense. And then the same with friends and family and things along those lines and spending more time just with the people that actually matter in your life. And, and kind of going into the moments of the birds chirping. Like you hear him right now, like $10,000 just going in the distance and that's music. It really truly can be music and the world has its own little things and that's where even some great musicians actually will kind of just sit in their own thoughts and their own quiet and it'll kind of produce something and change something.

Kurt: And what they have, and is this different is I don't think a lot of people think that way or go that way and it's am I've kind of been that way my whole entire life was my mom always get pissed at me when I said I'm not too worried about it and I'm not too worried about it. What about this one or that and hadn't life goes on and I'm not too worried about it and it is what it is. I said that a lot to her and it is what it is. She goes on and I never let too many things really try to affect me in that sense because life does go on. We continue to press forward and sometimes it's not a great way to look at things, but I mean it is what it is. You just keep going.

Steven: Right. I suppose there is a, everyone's jealous, not everyone, but a lot of people we run into, they're like jealous of what the other person has. Like I feel like your mom probably was jealous of your free spirit at the same time, like you were poly. Maybe, maybe not jealous of like her ability to like think through things. You know what I mean? I dunno. Like I feel like

Kurt: I think it was just a teenager

Kurt: Maybe. Right. I always like to joke I'm a stoner without smoking. That's fantastic.

Steven: No, that's really cool man. I that's definitely like a challenge. And even just one of the guys, I was listened to, ed my lead, I was listening to a couple of podcasts by him and he was just talking about like the difference between like quantity of time with people and quality of time when like you're present with someone you're like way more engaged in, in ways that you don't even necessarily are conscious of. And that investment like means something not only to you but to that person. As opposed to just like sitting next to someone on the couch is like cool, but that's not like the quality of time. So he's like, some people especially like, you know people who are achievers are doing things on their own. Sometimes, you know, their business takes up a lot of time, then they feel guilty cause they don't get to spend a lot of time, you know, quantity of time or the people they care about.

Steven: But then if when you're with them, you just like on your phone, well then you don't have quality of time either. And it's like someone would probably much rather spend an hour of quality time with you than the three hours of just like whatever. So that's always something I kind of like keep in the back of my mind. It's like I need to like get off my phone and I need to stop thinking about business. I need to stop thinking about what I need to do next with life and just like enjoy my time with this person. It's difficult. Yeah.

Kurt: Very, very difficult. Yeah. You're like man cause you probably love what you do. Yeah. And being on like your constant, the businesses aren't always constantly on your mind. Yeah. It just hard to turn that off. Yes. Very difficult to turn that off. Like everybody. Like what do you do in your free time? I'm like, I studied officer.

Kurt: Right? Like what the hell is wrong with you? I'm like, I enjoy it. Right.

Kurt: Fair enough. I'll just watch golf swings and see what people do and then I'll watch mannerisms and like I just enjoyed that and people are like, what the hell is wrong with you? And we had just like, I just enjoyed it and all of it.

Steven: That's cause everyone else has a massive disconnect between what they do for a living and what they actually enjoy. It's like we can't imagine a world where those things are together.

Kurt: Yeah. It's, it's, it's, it's interesting. And that was one of the things I got lost in the golf industry is I started to hate golf when I was working in the golf shop and dealing with the monotony of the day to day, answering phones, answering the same questions, talking to the same people on Regan on like not like the person I'm becoming because I'm a very positive individual and I'm always very charismatic when it comes to these things. And it was becoming, I was becoming a just erected year round. I was like, I don't like this, this is not fun. And I got that person when I started coaching and teaching and kind of preaching in a sense. And I was like, man, this is a lot more enjoyable. Why don't I just do this? So it's kind of where the, the love for teaching kind of went to and getting away from the monotony of, of Santa Monica counter and dancing the same questions over and over again. You can only do that for so long and it's like you just don't like the person you're beating. You become, this is no fun. That's the way to go through life.

Steven: Yeah. Cause that, yeah, that like that like resentment and like bitterness, you know, wherever you want to call it. Like as a slow build, you don't always like see it at first and then you're like, wow, like why am I angry every day? Like I have no reason to be angry. And then you're like, Oh, it's cause I hate every moment of what I'm doing at my job. That can only wear on you so long before it sounds like affecting your quality of existence. So why so you said, what was it like a year ago or how long ago was it when you started actually doing work independently as a teacher?

Kurt:

I've started doing like stuff on social media. It had been last November. We're getting pretty close to right after I turned 30 or just before and I started kinda going through and certain kind of thing and look a little bit deeper in my own self and listen to some things to just kinda change my mindset. And then November this year is when I decided to make the jump full time. Yeah. So that was, that was an experience in itself was I was

Kurt: I was up for our director of instruction position at the course I was currently at and waiting and kind of going through that and, and then they decided to go with with another instructor and I was a little butthurt at that point in time. But then I kinda took a step back and made myself realize I'm, Hey, it's your fault that you didn't get the job 100% your fault. And there was another opportunity that actually came up. I was playing in a golf tournament back in Michigan with my brother in law and I'm, one of the guys I knew from school was playing in it as well and just kind of ran into him. Then later that next week when I got back into town, he actually sent me a note on Facebook and said, Hey, did you see the structure of instruction position in Phoenix? And that was the job that I ended up going with in November.

Kurt: So I reached out to a [inaudible], his name is Jerry Reed, Reed West Academy's owner and sat down and had had a coffee with him. He kind of told me that opportunity. Then I went to to Las Vegas with my girlfriend for my cousin's wedding up there and kind of just was processing it and trying to, trying to figure it out, the decision to make, which I deep down and kind of knew the decision already. I was just fearful of going out and doing my own thing and totally and saying, Hey, you're not going to have a guaranteed check. You're not going to like nothing guaranteed in this. Like you shouldn't go out there and this is all you, and it was scary to kind of bet on yourself, but it was so much work, so much well worth it. Yeah, it's been a very, very cool learning experience over the last, what does that fuck? Five months. So it was crazy.

Steven: So you yeah, that's a pretty big life transition. So as far as, so you've talked about how you started posting on social media. What kind of stuff did you end up posting? What kind of stuff did you like? Were you trying to like put out there and kind of get rolling? So a lot of things that I

Kurt: Started was more mindset. When it comes to golf, everybody kinda wants to be consistent. Everybody wants to consistency in their golf game, but yet nobody works at it consistently and nobody does it again. That's kind of where my philosophy of coaching Kennedy came in. It's like you got to do the basics the most consistent you can do the basics to become consistent. You can't be just trying to try this to try this today, try this to right. And it always kind of irked me that comment. I want to be more consistent and I'll say it to, you know, I'll find myself in this probably my own way of, of going about like under like my own resentment towards that statement is probably for my own self more than anything. Cause the things that you see in people that you don't like is typically things that you see in yourself. So

Steven: That's the harsh reality.

Kurt: And my mom, my mom was the most, she told me all these things when I was growing up and, and kind of looking back and I'm more, I'm a lot more like my mother than I am my father. I'm more I'm very much more of a philosophy buyer than of breakdown information very analytically. My dad was very analytical, mom's very, very free, free minded. So kind of going into that and it's like, man, I hate that. I want to be more consistent, but nobody wants to put in the work to become consistent. Right? Right. So it's like everybody wants to take the pill to make themselves lose weight. Right. They don't want to put the work in. But really the way to lose weight has been the same workout. Eat good, workout the rest, right? And do those three things. You're probably going to lose weight and you're probably gonna get better if you

Steven: Does it make for a good info commercial though. That's where the flashiness,

Kurt: It comes in and people will kind of, they, they, they go towards a flash and you'll get thousands of thousands of people looking for that easy, easy way. But the, the, the easy way is a simple way. It just takes a lot of work. And a lot of times people aren't willing to put in that work. And that's where I kind of start preaching and I'm like, this is what it takes. So you want to be consistent, you're going to be having to put in consistent work and you have to be the below. Put that consistently with work in, that's a consistent process, right? So if I started doing the same thing over and over again, each and every day, I'll be getting better at that same thing over and over again. So if I do my morning meditation, I do this, I'm going to have a better start to my day and I'm going to be able to control the things that happened during the duration of my day a lot easier than if I were to just do something different every single morning.

Kurt: Right? Right. Brain's not going to be as prepped and as ready to go perform. Same thing when you talk about golf. If I'm coming out there and I'm trying something different every single time I go out there and practice how am I getting what's with the golf course and perform at a high level when I'm drunk on a consistent basis, it just not, it's just not feasible and people really don't look at it in that sense. They just want that one little fix that's going to change their life for the rest of their life. They want that one club that's going to change their life and it's like, it doesn't work that way.

Steven: Well, it's like everyone wants to have confidence, but how can you be confident if you onto the golf course and wonder what day is this going to be? And granted, there's always fluctuations, but it's like if you've practiced consistently and have consistent results, you don't need to wonder what kind of day you're going to have when you step out into the tournament because you put in the work and you put in the consistent word. So then like there's all the renin reason in the world to have confidence and it's like, yeah, people. So it's like, I feel like people steal their own sense of confidence because they, because of, like you said, like they don't consistently put in the work and so they don't have any real reason to be confident, if that makes

Kurt: Sounds. Sedan Don. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. And just like anything else, right, right. Yeah. It's no different than what we do in life and working out or it's wrong. The answer is pretty damn simple. Right, right. It just takes

Steven: Work. Yeah. And people were just creatively avoiding a hard pass. Right.

Kurt: Just go by this this $50 thing on, on the internet and that's, it says it's going to help me. Right. And that, and there's a bunch of people making a bunch of money off a lot of people's insecurities. Right. It's totally true, which is unfortunate, but it's true.

Steven: Well, and it's cool that you have that morning routine. And I know we talked a little bit about it earlier, but just like, even like last week I had like a couple of like short nights of sleep and it totally threw me off of my work day and I was like super frustrating. And it's like, man, like, especially like when you're doing your own thing, like it's really, really like tough to have off days. Like it really screws with your mind. It screws with like everything you're trying to get done. And it's just like, you know, like when I had, when I had like a, a grocery store job, you could show up half awake, unfocused, and you just like, you're just like loading up like trays with cheese cubes, right? Like, so at the end of the day, like there's no real challenge. And you know, you just get through it and you go home.

Steven: It doesn't work that way quite as much. It's like, like when you show up and like butcher it for five clients in a single day, like that's going to show and the pay could change at that point. And so it's like, it's like having that consistent routine and things like that is super healthy for your brain. Like you need structure and no matter how much of it, like a creative person you are and it's like, that does prep you every single day to like have the best day possible. And like things happen. Sometimes you just don't go to sleep at night and who knows why. It's frustrating if some noxious, but at least it's not your fault. You know what I mean? And it's like good

Kurt: To have. And, and this is something I struggle with is having a consistent nightly routine and kind of going through this maybe the same 30 minute, 40 minute period each and every night to prep yourself for rest. And that's something I struggle with is I just kinda don't watch it like a couple of those and couple of that and kind of not give myself that, that book end. But it is challenging though. Like I, I bartend too a couple of nights a week in those days. Like I'll wake up and I don't wake up. I'll be the same time. I just worked 1920 straight hours from waking up teaching until coming home. So I'll leave my house at 7:00 AM I get home at 12:30 AM and by that time my body is just torched and I'll wake up and I'll, I'll pretty much feel like a piece of shit the next morning. This is not an enjoyable experience, but, and sometimes it's, it's, it's this thing as you, you go through to kind of get yourself to the next step and you just kinda kind of wake up and get yourself back into the same frame of mind or at least as close as you can,

Steven: Which is why you have those things to get your day started. Even if it didn't start maybe as early as it normally does. So for you so you started posting the motivational stuff, the mindset stuff with the consistency. And then now I have noticed too, just like when I go on your Instagram is a lot more like instructional stuff too. It's kind of showing off like what you do with people. Is that, I'm assuming that was intentional. And how has that kind of shaped things for you?

Kurt: A lot of it is a, is because I don't have as much time to create the content as I did being on the go as much as I am being at the course, being in front of people. So I'm using it more as a documented of aspect. So the things that I say to people and then other people I feel like can resonate with the information that I'm maybe saying to the person that I'm filming and they can kind of see that they might be having similar struggles and, and trying to build that more as a community aspect. Some of the other things I've been just seeing some good results in the sense of building an audience. Yeah. So kind of maybe not as much the things that I want to say as much, but it does help. It doesn't, it gives me a little bit of a different creative aspect.

Steven: What do you mean by not quite as much the

Kurt: Thing that you want to say? So it might not be as much as the, it's a little bit more kind of catchy, so I might not be as real, but but it's just kind of things I'm learning at this point in time. So it's like the information that I'm putting out there and the drill census things I would actually give clients. But again, it can be taken in the wrong sensitive being taken as one of those tips and taken as one of those little tricks to try on the range. And so I don't like giving too much of that. And a lot of the stuff that I do, it's pretty consistent. It's a lot of the same things of movement patterns I'm trying to give. And it could help one person, which is kinda cool, but I also don't want it to destroy 25 people, all other games.

Kurt: So that's where I get a little bit kind of nervous with the in the internet coaching because the communication isn't as clean as it is when it's one-on-one because they might not completely understand what I'm trying to communicate and they might take it into a whole different rabbit hole of a, of a thing. So that's where I get a little nervous. And when I was kind of going more of the mental aspect of things, it's a little bit more I think it's consistent over over most people's mindsets. If we do go out there, I mean, we're letting our ego get in the way. We had driver over and over again and you're not seeing the results with the driver and you keep losing golf balls, take a step back and hit 300 off the tee. Something that gets you into play, right?

Kurt: Those kind of remain consistent from whatever the high end player to the low end player, the newer players that remains consistent. Sometimes you'll have something, you can't just go out there and just anticipate. It's showing up at some point duration around because that day is just different than other days. Maybe you hit the driver like crap, that's fine. Just be aware that your driver is going like crap and just hit something else that puts you in play. And that's kind of regain that confidence. It's just figuring out a way to make a win. Right? So if I can, if I can play winning golf with my C game, I know I'm doing something really, really well. Right? And that's more up here in the mind than it is because nobody ever has their a plus game that nobody has ever had everything rolling at once.

Kurt: So when something's not going your way, having the mindfulness to take a step back and and give yourself a something that might work that day. So maybe, maybe a shot that you, your go to shot might not be as GoTo as you want it to be. Right? And you need to figure out a different way to get it done. It was just kind of the, those kinds of things are more that I like to communicate to people and like, like I said, I kinda just saw some good results from some videos. When I screw it off, I'll see if I can nail the audience a little bit more and then eventually give them, give them a little bit more of my personal thoughts and, and what I think that they can truly improve upon.

Steven: When you had the opportunity to provide some context. Yeah, I feel like I've kind of sorta hadn't been on a similar journey of moving more from like super practical to more conceptual just because that is like so much like better. I feel like to be able to have that consistency and be able to like have less misinterpretation of what you're saying, you know, like, Oh, like be consistent. It's like a great, I mean you could say that a thousand different ways and it still remains true and it's pretty hard to screw that up. I feel, you know, for other people to like interpret that poorly. But way different to like be like, this is exactly how you hold the golf and maybe, you know, I'm sure you could, but then like, you know, someone will do wrong. You don't have the opportunity fix it like you do on one-on-one clients. So I understand

Kurt: Like just to get people to do what you want in a motor pattern sensitive, very, very challenging, very, very challenging. Motor learning is very different than I guess cognitive learning just because you're trying to, they might not have the motor skills as somebody else, but it just takes time. And that's the hard part is people don't like to hear that. Right. It's like this just takes time. You're going to get better at it. Just keep, keep working.

Steven: So it's different. Yeah. So as far as your audience how has, how has that evolved over time? Cause you were just, you know, you're talking about how you, you kind of bounce a little bit back and forth between, you know, practical and conceptual and you felt like conceptual resonated better with people. Not conceptual is not the word you use, but mindset. How, how do you feel like that's grown your audience? Do you feel like it's been good? Do you feel like the community's been more healthy? Like how, and how do you like engage with your [inaudible] with your

Kurt: Community? So a lot of the people do follow that are in the area, which has been cool. They have either reached out, come out and taken lessons or even just said hi to me when they're, when they're out and about and they see me, which is pretty, it's, it's, it's a little surreal. I hit your big curtain. I'm like, yeah, let's say it's up. It kind of throws you off a little bit and it's only happened a couple of times. Am I going to say like it's happened every single day. It's like happened like maybe three times in the radiation that I've been doing it. And but it is pretty, it is pretty cool to see that people are following along. I just had a newer, newer client come out and he's been following me for over a year and he's just like, man, thank you so much for the information that you put out there.

Kurt: It's helped me a ton and then I wanted to just get with you and this is, I should have done like he's like I should have done this sooner. I'm like that's any, you did it when you wanted to do this. I'll be like nothing matters to me as long as you're out here and you're trying to get better. It is what it is. Cool. Exactly what it is man. Like life goes on and it's just cool that like the things that you are putting out there, it is helping people then you might not, when you're doing it, you might not see it at that moment in time and you might get some of the people that don't quite understand it and when they don't quite understand that and they put some, some, some more hate in the in, in post and I've seen that more on like tick tock than I have on on my Instagram.

Kurt: Instagram has been a little bit more, a lot more of my people that actually know me in the lot more that like our actual people that are friends and acquaintances. So they have a personal relationship with me outside of the Instagram aspect. Take talk is a little bit more, I guess a broader in younger and younger. And so when they don't quite understand what I'm trying to communicate and they throw out a little bit shade and it's like, I gotta take a little bit of a step back cause I'll get, I'll get offensive right off right when I read it and I'm like, wait a second. Like they just don't understand what I'm trying to communicate now. How can I communicate this better to them? And, and the more I kind of get into that frame of mind, I feel like it wins more people over just to be able to kind of let them be heard in a way.

Kurt: But it's just a learning experience just like anything else. Yeah. And but it's been very, very, I've been very blessed to attract the people that I've been able to attract through social and the people that are following along and coming out and taking lessons. Like you, you take a look and you're like, man, these are the people that actually do want to work with the, this, the stories that they have, the work that they want to put in. Just their, their attitude and it's like, it's cool that you can see yourself attracting these, these types of humans versus the people that you might not want to deal with on a regular basis, which is kind of nice. Yeah.

Steven: Your vibe attracts your tribe. That's a good, I like steal that from, Oh man. I usually get eye rolls when I say that. Cause it's true. Yeah.

Kurt: How you, how you see the world, how you see life. Like it will directly influence others. And if you're out there throwing out shade and being negative, you're probably going to attract negative and you're probably gonna attract that shade. But if you're out there being positive and throwing that positivity out, it's hard. It's hard to really throw negative negativity at that unless you're just an extremely negative person that point in time. And most of the time they're in a bad place. Right? So what do you kinda understand that? And it's like, okay, they're just, they're just not happy with where they're at. Right. That's okay. Yeah, it's [inaudible]

Steven: It's wild. Like, you know, I don't, you know, I don't know what your experience through growing up was, but you like, you have like your own set of like values and, and things you care about and stuff like that. And it's, it can, it can often, I feel, feel like a L like feel like a little bit alone in those things. And so it's always really cool. Like, you know, everyone wants like a financial return on investment and it sounds like you do have that, but at the same time you're also return on investment is like having the right people. Which is super valuable because like, like for you, it sounds like for you is more than just making money. Like, money's great pays bills, you gotta pay with mortgage. But at the same time, like to be able to do that with the right kind of people, that people who appreciate what you're doing, the people who actually take your advice, do something with it, like is huge. And to be able to have that community is like super refreshing, I feel. So that's cool that you're like putting that out there and, and obviously like even the fact that we got like connected is because like I found your stuff, like I, I found you, like you had your stuff put out there. Which is, it's a, it's a wild world. We live in Haven. It's like connect with like just anyone. Okay. So

Kurt: Let's see here. I put,

Steven: Let's get in a little bit of like your motivation in general and I think you probably covered it a little bit, but I'd just want to be super specific I guess is like, what do you think is like your motivation in general? Like what, like when you wake up in the morning, like what gets you like excited about getting out of bed and like living life?

Kurt: The app, it's always kind of interesting when I think about this deeply. I was a really bad student in the sense of the way people are great in the way people actually like the way the society teaches kids. I was a terrible student. I got, I got some A's and I got some BS, but most of the time it was from maybe looking at somebody else's pieces.

Steven: No idea what you're talking about, right? No, no, no.

Kurt: Don't cheat kids. You know, it's really cheating yourself. But anyway, so I was not a, not a very educated individual when it came to that kind of thing, but it just, because I didn't understand how I learned information. So I've become very much a learner of learning. I want to better understand learning and that every day I wake up, I want to figure out how I learn more information on how better I can communicate that information to each individual and be it in golf to be it. And just in life in general, whatever it is I'm trying to communicate, I want to be able to speak to that person in the information that or the language that they can actually understand the information, cause they understand how difficult it is to learn things. Just from how I came up and in those things and my background of, of learning, I remember that I remember crying and telling myself stupid and, and doing all this just negative self talk at a young age just because of how society kind of looks at education.

Steven: Right. It had nothing to do with you. It had to do with just the way you learn. Exactly. Exactly. And I'm a very

Kurt: Hands on individual. If I break something apart and if I can typically put it back together, I just got to figure things out. And I kind of, I'm a doer, I'm more so than somebody preaching to me. I have to kind of physically do it and kinda go through my own process. And that's how I learn. And I know there's a lot of people that kind of learn similarly and might not get that same, same vibe from school. Also there's other people that have a harder time communicating with because they are more step-by-step and more process oriented. When it becomes like they're learning a task and I'm like a free spirit and free willing and all that stuff. So it's better. It's, it's, I'm becoming better at understanding each individual person's learning style and how to better communicate that. And that's kind of what gets me going.

Kurt: And each every day is kinda how can I figure out how to become better as a communicator and as an educator. And that's not even, not even just for, not even just for golf, but just just life in general. Cause that's kind of what gets me going and gets me motivated for each individual day as they are at, well, how can I get, how can I learn to become better today? And that be learning about learning or just how to communicate better things that I can hear from other people and take from what are successful people that have done it, what did they do and how has that process kind of looked for them and just kind of just go through that. And that's what gets me out of bed each and every day. And a lot of it has to do with I want to play the best golf as I possibly can play right. And and keep all that kind of stuff and then be able to then educate other people so they can play their best golf and just see where it happens from life. And in that perspective

Steven: Seems like it just in general like if I had to pick apart a little bit of your, it's really just like the reason it's so positive and joyful cause I get that sense of like joy in what you do from you. A lot of it has to do with like that it's outward focused. Like the reason you want to be better communicators cause you want to help people more and you want to be able to improve their life, which ultimately like improves your own in some weird metaphysical way where it's just like, because of the fact that you're like trying to take care of other people's needs, like somehow yours get met and like all the happiness and joy that comes out of life is usually because you made someone else's life better, which is so backwards from how you think at work. But I mean I definitely do get like the sense of like, join in happiness and excitement from what you do from you. Like I get those things from you, those feelings and it makes a lot of sense why? Cause you're like you're out there like helping people, which is ultimately what makes us so much better and helping people makes you help yourself. Yeah, totally.

Kurt: If you can't figure it out for yourself, you're not going to be able to figure it out for somebody else. Right. So that's kind of where my mentor is a golf instructor. He told me, he's like, if you can't play golf and you did, you shouldn't be coaching golf. Like if you haven't figured it out for yourself, you shouldn't be coaching it. So I'm like, okay. And that's true for all aspects. If he can't figure it out yourself, how are you going to be able to communicate that to somebody else? Sure. So it's kinda one of the reasons I had to, I had a player that had been almost two and maybe two years ago or a year and a half ago. It was right before I kind of started learning all this stuff or getting better as he was trying to become a professor. He's trying to become, he's a professional golfer trying to make it on tour.

Kurt: And I'm like, Oh man, I got to learn some. I gotta learn some stuff now. Like we gotta be able to figure out. And that's where I started, kind of opened up my own mind and opened up my own perspective. So I had a lot to depress in in that sense, cause he challenged me to become better for myself, to help him become better. So that's pretty cool. That's kind of where that, I guess that that first pole, the fan wheel started, that's where it kind of tumbled on and so forth and so forth and since, so yeah.

Steven: So what would you say is like your goals? Like for the future? Like what kind of things have you been like setting your eyes on now?

Kurt: Honestly it's hard to answer that question cause my goal is literally just to become the best individual I could possibly become. And wherever that goes it goes and I kind of want them, my goal in general is to be so much more open minded to whatever the universe kind of comes in. So if an opportunity comes up from what I do and maybe it's the coolest thing in the world and we go with it and just kinda just see where, see where life takes you as you, as you continue to improve and continue to get better. And it just, it's, it is an infinite game. So I always have troubles with them. Say everything that five year goal and everybody's like, what's your five year plan? Five year plan. I don't know, I can walk out of the place and get hit by a semi truck right now. Like who knows, I just kinda, I'm just going to keep going living in the moment and

Steven: See where, see how good I can get. Right. So, no, I, I'm like literally laughing cause I feel like I bounced back and forth between those two worlds a lot. Where like I definitely feel like I need to have a five year plan and I'm told that I need to have a five year plan. And I do think that's good because I think that in general, like if you're doing something it should be in a direction, but at the same time I do have to remember to be open to it. Not working out in the way that I think it's going to, but not in a bad way. Does that make sense? Like like for me, like I know like as a, like a person of like faith as a Christian. Like I believe that not only our actions but God kind of directs things as you will, but certainly like you know, I don't know where you stand on that, but you know, just even our actions have like consequences that we don't know, like good ones that we don't know where they're going.

Steven: Like you said, like you said, like you had that guy use you use an instructor. Did he find you a year ago? And who would've thought that a year ago you'd be posting something that someone's going to see that now is your instructor, you know, one of your students a year later. Like you can't predict that. And so it's like being like open and excited about whatever happens, knowing that like if you're doing the right things that like good things and the right things will happen later even if they're not like what you hoped. So I think that's, that's an a more exciting way to live I think is be able to just know that like if you woke up and you live today exactly like in your best way possible. That like over time that like snowballs into something amazing. I don't know. Yeah, it's true. I was raised as a Lutheran and kind of, when I say universe it's kind of, people will put that in the world of job and I just think everything has, everything's already been kind of mapped out for us and we just don't know the new math we just kind of just go with it happens, happens.

Steven: We don't know. But it doesn't mean no one knows. It's a super interesting, yeah. You give you, when you give yourself that freedom, I think it just makes it a little bit easier to kind of go without the plan. Right. But I've never been a planner, so maybe it's just a good excuse. So, right. Well I mean I think for you, I think planning would kill the fun. And I think for other people love planning and so to like try to not worry about it would be just as aggravating cause like it just doesn't come naturally to them. And I think that whether you believe it's God or whatever else, like you're, you're obviously made a certain way, like you are the way that you are. And so it's like, I feel like anytime that people run into huge frustrations is when they try to become something they're not because other people have decided that's what they need to be.

Steven: And all the time I run into business owners who, and I'm sure you've had this same experience too because of probably a lot of your clients are business owners. But where they are doing in business, what you thought you couldn't do in yours. And it's like they just figured out a way to make it work and it's just like, Oh, I put myself in some sort of box where it's like, I, I decided what my reality was. But like, it wasn't true. It wasn't true for them. So it doesn't have to be true for me. You know what I mean? Like I don't know.

Kurt: Yeah, it's interesting. One of my clients is a very successful dentist and now he's an extremely successful real estate agent and his, his advice to me, and then he was one of my newer clients and I think we sort of work in later, November, early December timeframe. And he was like, this is going to be a really dumb business plan, but this is what I think your business plan should be. Just smile and be yourself. Yeah. I'm like, yeah, that's kinda, it is like, it's going to work out. He's like, yeah, that charisma and you have to smile. Like people are going to be gravitating towards you. And he's like, just do that and see what happens. Then like,

Steven: Well he's literally in sales so he wouldn't,

Kurt: And again, he's dealt with teeth his whole life and I'm like, okay, right. You have great teeth. You, you'll be fine. I was like, okay, I appreciate him. It might be a little biased. I'm not going to go to the bank and ask for a loan. My smile. If you take his advice, he will know what's your business plan. Smiling a lot and just being myself. Well here's a check man. They're like, ah,

Steven: That may not work on the bank but it will probably work online. Let's be honest.

Kurt: It just takes just going to anything we become, we become impatient with our timelines a lot of times, a lot of times there is no timeline. If you truly like what you're doing, just keep doing it.

Steven: Yeah. Eventually it's going to work out. Right. So just having that patience, like you said, like you know people get messed up by like trying on a bunch of different things, but like sometimes you'll never find that thing that works cause you won't spend enough time on it. Correct. So it's like you said, just wake up every day and just do it because eventually it will work out. You just gotta like trust the process.

Kurt: You got to enjoy the process, cause the toss and solves it matters. Right. And that's like Gary V thing. It's like if you're doing it for the end man, not doing it right yet. Enjoy the process. If you don't enjoy the process, what the hell is the point?

Steven: That's true. So science, most people freaking die super fast after they retired because they're not doing anything like doing as like a part of who we are as people. Yeah. Purpose. Yeah. It's a purpose. Yeah. Thanks guys for watching. Please like and subscribe to get more videos. Watch more video podcasts and be able to just follow along as we learn from entrepreneurs about what they're doing.