Kevin tells the story of a client who came to him because she couldn’t stop eating candies. After a consultation session, the reason was traced to problems with her marriage due to a miscarriage. Work like this is what Kevin does with businesses, including identifying problems with their businesses that they may be oblivious to, thinking another issue was the problem.
Most business owners hit a wall in their business and begin to think of several things that could be wrong, such as their marketing, pricing or the economy, but oftentimes, they rarely know what is wrong, and may misdiagnose. This is where Kevin Martin steps in, he is a business mindset coach and hypnotherapist who has spent years sitting across from professionals who arrived with one problem and left having discovered a completely different one underneath it.
He joined James Durkin on the Premier Edge Podcast for a conversation, and it was a really profitable conversation. Let’s get into it.
Your story rarely starts where you think it does.
Kevin did not set out to be a hypnotherapist. His career began in the software industry, which eventually led him into sales training through a franchise model. The pivot into hypnotherapy came not necessarily from a professional strategy but from a deeply personal one.
He was searching for help for his adopted son, who was dealing with severe behavioural and emotional blocks due to a history of abuse. In that search, he came across someone who helped his son overcome his behavioral challenges in about 2 days! This was so remarkable to him and he decided this was something he wanted to do, and what started as a personal experience became the foundation of a profession he has come to love and has served several people with.
This pattern is rather a common one among business owners who build something meaningful. It often starts out as something they or a loved one really needed, and then they learn to offer the same product or service to other people who are now in a similar situation.
If you have gone through something difficult and come out the other side with real knowledge, do not underestimate the value of that; it can become a service you offer others who may find themselves in similar situations, and they would come to pay and appreciate you for it.
Getting out of your own way
Kevin described helping his clients identify what the problem could be that they may not be seeing when they approach him for help, and James called this, ‘Getting out of your own way’ which I think pretty sums up the explanation.
Many business owners find themselves in cycles of unproductivity, and instantly assume that an external force may be the problem. However, Kevinn explains that your subconscious plays a large role in determining how you run your business.
Kevin explains that these subconscious patterns running underneath your conscious goals were formed long before you became a business owner, and they do not automatically update just because your circumstances changed. The version of you for example that learned to stay small to stay safe, or that associated visibility with criticism, or that decided early on that wanting too much leads to disappointment, that version is still within you.
So getting out of your own way implies dealing with the different aspects of you that may be limiting you unknowingly.
This episode with Kevin leaves us with a question that every business owner should return to periodically, especially in the seasons where you seem to be doing a lot but seeing little results: Is the obstacle in front of me actually out there, or is it in here?
Definitely, not every stuck point is a mindset problem; some of them are genuinely external, or situational, such as resources, timing or market conditions. However, it is important to know when it is from within, and deal with it as such so you can move forward.
Kevin Martin helps people do that internal work, and if this conversation resonated with you, reaching out to him directly through his website is a good place to start.
Kevin is also the author of two personal development books, Perceived This and Living Your Dream Life, and he serves as an ambassador for the World Ethics Organisation, where he leads an ethics roundtable.
The full episode with Kevin is available now on the Premier Edge Podcast. Click here to watch the full episode.
Also remember to subscribe to the Premier Edge Podcast for conversations with business owners, who are willing to share their experiences and lessons with you so you can learn and become a better business owner.