Billy Keels  0:00  

If you've ever held yourself back because you felt like you lacked the right background or credentials, you're focusing on the wrong thing. In this episode, I'm going to share a powerful story from a rainy Chicago White Sox game about how my oldest son leveraged his unique differentiators to get what he wanted, and how you can apply the exact same strategy to your career and side business aspirations. So let's dive in and let's get you to optionality. Today's episode is sponsored by Billy Keels Advisory Services. If you want to learn more about how to make your 99 optional, just go to makeitoptional.com. Once again, that's makeitoptional.com.

Speaker 1  0:43  

Helping you build freedom without losing your edge. This is the Going Long podcast with Billy Keels.

Billy Keels  0:56  

It's really easy to think about the things that you don't have when you're going after a goal, it can be a limiting belief. It really holds you back. And if you've ever suffered from that, or you thought, well, you didn't have everything that you needed to be able to go after this next role or this particular side business opportunity, I want to share a story with you that I learned from watching my oldest child, and it's like it's such an amazing story about when you don't think that you have the skill set, you just got to look in and figure out what is it that makes you unique to be able to get to your goals. And it's one of these things. So you know, every every summer I love going to travel and and traveling around with my with my kids, and this summer was no different. Really loved watching baseball, and over the summer we went to Chicago, so we got a chance to check out a couple different games. We went to a football game as well, but the very first game we went to was a Chicago White Sox game, and it was a really cool game. Like the thing that was also starting, it was supposed to start at 1o'clock. Well, the rain was coming into town, which was not really part of the goal because I didn't really look at the weather. I probably should have. It was summertime in Chicago. I thought it was going to be great, but this day it was supposed to rain. So the the 1o'clock start was going to start at 12 or 12 o5 or something like that, and so it wasn't ideal. The rain and I didn't have a raincoat or even an umbrella. But hey, we went we went there, had got baseball hats and all that kind of stuff. We went there because we wanted to have fun. We wanted to be able to you know add to our hat collection, and ultimately for me, I really wanted to continue and and want to and will continue to create these really unique experiences with my kids, memorable experiences and things like that, and and there's always different lessons because I think about so many conversations that I'm having with executives and you know senior corporate leaders who are enjoying what they're doing and they also want to be able to create more autonomy, more agency, and do that through owning assets, right? And so these kinds of trips, I'm always thinking about thinking about things, and I thought about this particular day because, like, as we get to the stadium, we get into the stadium. We're we're sitting in row 12 on the right hand side, or like on the right hand baseline, the first first baseline, and it's really cool sitting in row 12. We're really close to the action, nice seats were were nearby. But as we're in the game, one of the things that starts happening is my oldest he notices that the foul balls because we got there early enough, like the foul balls and the balls that kind of went to the side. The ball boy was actually giving away balls, and so like we're close enough. And so my son's thinking himself, "Wow, I really like baseball a lot, and I'd love to have one of those baseballs. But he kind of said something to me at the beginning of the game, and I just kind of like, yeah, you know, the ball boys, you know, they're over there, and they, they, they get the balls, and you know, they're giving away. And my my son, I, I could tell like in his mind, he's like, okay, I really want to be able to do something. Like, like I'd love to take one of these balls, um, and have one of these balls, and so he also starts recognizing something else because, like, we're there, and it's probably like the third inning. It starts raining a little bit harder, right? And so it's raining harder, and as it starts to rain a bit harder, I start to notice that you know, hood people are hoods are up, people that had their ponchos put their ponchos on, the people that brought their umbrellas started putting their umbrellas up, but it wasn't raining hard enough to actually stop the game.

Billy Keels  4:24  

So the game never stopped; it kept going the whole time. But the rain just kind of got lighter. But every time it started raining harder, the people that were in front of us, well, they went under the concourse because it was covered, and it wasn't hard enough. So we just kind of stayed. Me and my youngest, we were there, and then, but but at a certain point, my my oldest, he's like, Dad, will you go over and just ask the ball boy? Will you ask the ball boy to give me a ball? And I kind of looked at him and I'm like, it would actually be pretty easy for me because I just walk down. It's like whatever, 11 steps down, 10 steps down, 11 steps down, 12 steps down, something like that. Ask the question, and I wanted to understand for my for my son. Well, like, why don't you know? What's the reason? What? Why would you not want to do it? Ah, Dad, I don't feel confident. I don't feel comfortable. And keep in mind, like, my kids speak three languages, and yes, they speak English very well. But they got some would say, I won't say this out loud. They'll probably get in trouble because my kids listen to the podcast. They've got a slight little accent, makes him a little bit different, right? And very, very slight, guys. You know, and so, but the reason I'm saying the story is because my son didn't actually want to go and do that because he thought, well, you know, when I asked him, he was like, well, you know, it'd be easier for you. You don't have to like think about it. There's not all these people standing in front of you. Blah blah blah. You just got a couple steps. And I thought to myself, well, you know what? I could, but I don't really want a ball. So if you want the ball, you got to figure it out. And so, like I said in the beginning, usually if you are at a point where you think you there are things that you don't have. You focus on the things you don't have, but this was a real opportunity for my son, and I watched him, and I could tell he really wanted the ball. Right, he really wanted to get that ball. He was just, he had some like limiting beliefs in his mind that he wasn't going to be able to go and do it. But what happened next was absolutely amazing, right? Because it starts raining harder again, but the game never stops. Remember, the game never ever stops, and so more people left than they went under the concourse, and so my son starts to recognize that there's this thing that's happening. So this time he says, "You know what, Dad? I'm going to get a ball." I said, "What do you mean you're going to get a ball?" And he looks at me with this like wonderful smile on his face, and he had his Spanish ID card, and he said, "Put that because we came all the way from Spain." Like he'd been thinking about this the whole time, and I'm just like, "What's going on?" But he saw his perfect opportunity because people left, so the people that were sitting in front of us were not there. So he goes down little by little, and I and he goes down one of the times where a lot of people left, and the game keeps going, but he gets close enough to the ball boy that he goes and he's talking to the ball boy. Now imagine this: he's like 11 rows in front of us. He's gone all the way to the front of the ball boy, and instead, because he knows he's recognizing like the four and five year old kids are the ones that are getting all the balls, and he's as tall as me. Like he's as big as me. He's much older than these kids, but he wanted that ball, and so he had to do something to differentiate himself.

Billy Keels  7:24  

So I'm literally watching my my oldest child, and he's down there, and he's talking to the ball boy, and he's showing him his Spanish ID, and I see the ball boy kind of like Bob, and then instead of coming all the way back to our seat, and I'm telling on myself a little bit, but nope, all the people left. People, a lot of people left. So my son sits in the third row, and lo and behold, one of the balls gets popped down the first base line. The ball boy gets it, and all they're like the few kids, not like some of the little kids left, but the little kids that were there, they ran up to the front to go get it from the ball boy. And my son, the the ball boy, then waves my son on. He goes, he hands him the ball, and it was the most amazing thing in the world. Now the reason I'm excited about this is because I I see it all the time. People that want to join my program, they they have these limiting beliefs. They say that they can't do it, and instead of focusing on the things that maybe could have made him different, that he was not as young or as cute as the little kids that were four and five years old. He found his differentiator, and he leveraged it. He said, "Hey, listen, you know what? I've got maybe a little bit of an accent, and I've come a lot further than these kids." And at the end of the day, what was amazing was he got the ball that he was looking for, handed it to him, and it was like the people started erupting. Like the people that were sitting next to us, because they they didn't go anywhere either. And I know my son felt uncomfortable. I know it wasn't the thing, but he had such a desire to have that baseball that he came up with his own strategic plan. Even when he was told no, he was like still thinking about it, inning after inning after inning, and he figured out how he can differentiate himself from all the four and five year olds that were constantly getting the ball. You see, this story it ended well because he actually got the ball, but that's not the part that that I'm here to share with you. It's the fact of the matter that in the beginning he heard a no from me, but that didn't stop him. He just found a different way. He realized that yes, maybe he wasn't four or five years old, and yes, the stakes were against him. But he found what differentiated himself, and this was the fact that one, maybe he sounded a little different, and two, he traveled a whole lot further, and he actually came through the challenge that he had of going 11 flights down to ask and feel very uncomfortable, he broke through that, and as a result, this time he got the ball. But more importantly, the confidence that he has in himself it grew because he actually did not let a limiting belief squash his attempt to try. He went out there. He tried it, and now he's got a story that he can tell everybody. Heck, I'm on the podcast, and I'm telling the story about it. It's a it's a wonderful transformation for him, an evolution for him, and that's exactly the same thing that I want for every single client that I'm working with. Maybe in the beginning you don't think you can, but have you really looked at what makes you different. What makes you unique in the marketplace? That's the question. And I got inspired by watching my son do that. And now I'm sharing it here on the podcast. I share it with other people. Don't figure out what you don't have. Figure out what you do have. What makes you different? Lean into that. What makes you unique? What's going to make your service unique? What's going to make your perspective unique? Lean into that because that's how you're going to walk away with the ball. Even when everybody else, it seems like they should get it. That's what I want for you.

Billy Keels  10:50  

And if you've struggled with that, if you felt like, hey, listen, I I don't have this, I don't have that, I want you to focus on what you do have. Take my son's lesson, apply it to your life. Apply it for that business that you're building on the side, or for that next promotion that you're going after. That's what I want for you. And if it's not you, if you know somebody else that's suffering from that, then share today's episode. I want them to be inspired by my son's example. I want them to know that it's not about limiting yourself. It's about, in spite of the fear, you still continue to move forward in spite of the discomfort. You continue to move forward in spite of the things that are against you, or at least you think in your mind are against you. Still go for it, because if you don't, you're never going to know. And the worst thing you can ever do is live it with your gut. And if it's not you, if it's somebody that you know that's felt or has been struggling with this, share today's episode. Let my son's story inspire them too. And then what you do after that is you go ahead and you get on the phone with them, or you meet them for a coffee, you meet them for your favorite beverage, and you talk about it. Don't stay stuck in theory. Be like my son and get in the game, and then you'll figure out what's going to happen. And while you're doing that, guess what I'll be doing? I'll be right here preparing for the next episode. So until then, go out and make it a great day. And thank you very, very much.

‍