Perry Agass
Summary
Full Story
I've been an elite triathlon coach for well over 10 years now, working with and around some of the best athletes in the world of sport today. Over the last four years, I've also dipped my toe in the water of mindset coaching by going into companies and addressing staff in a way that helps them become better within their industry and their life in general. It all started when I had a phone call one day and someone wanted me, from a triathlon coach point of view, to come into their company and give a presentation about what it would be like to achieve something as an athlete and take that dynamic and mindset and put it into the workplace. It worked really well and from there on in, over the last four years, I've done little bits and pieces, going into colleges, companies and businesses, passing on my mindset and knowledge on how you can get an athlete from nothing to something and how to implement that into the business world and life in general. But it was never really a full-time thing for me. Then about 18 months ago, I decided that I wanted, not to come away from triathlon coaching, but to add another arm to my already existing coaching platform.
I first came across Michael on YouTube. I found him quite intriguing and believed that he delivered what he was talking about. I went on Google, researched more and then arranged a consultation.
We hit it off from the first word. It was very much a two-way conversation, it wasn't me just sitting there listening to him, he wanted to understand who I was, my background and the trigger points. I knew 100% I wanted to work with him.
I chose Michael because he has a no-bullshit attitude that works really well with me. My belief is that in this industry, there are so many people out there that sugarcoat the truth. I know, coming from being a triathlon coach that you need truth in order to get the best out of an athlete and for that athlete to achieve at a very top level. They need to hear the truth, it does hurt, but it gets results - it's the same in life. I've always questioned why there are so many life coaches out there who don't actually address the factual evidence of why people are not successful. Michael resonated with me plus he was so much more successful in his industry than anyone out there.
What I got out of the process was clarity. I wanted to understand whether I had the right skillset in order to transfer my current knowledge in producing a champion and implement it when working with ‘everyday people’. Michael gave me the clarity that I have all the skills in my locker to do the same with a champion sports person as I would with a business person, it just reiterated for me that by approaching it in the same way, but just in a different kind of industry, I'd excel straight away. It's still early for me, but it's almost like he’s given me the green light to just go and do it.
The investment I put into working with Michael initially felt as way too much. The reason I felt like that was because, coming from being a triathlon coach and having already tapped into the personal coaching industry over the last four years, I felt that I didn't really need Michael as such. But over the number of sessions that we had, I realised very quickly that the confirmation and clarity that he gave me, the world that he opened up to me, the people he has introduced me to along the way, and the little touches he puts in the sessions made this a worthwhile investment. I would recommend to anyone who has reservations about doing the same thing to just go for it and roll with the risk factor - you need to speculate to accumulate.
Michael and I hit it off straight away because he gets on your wavelength very quickly and he hits the points at the right time. For me that was really important because I don't want to be dealing with somebody that's going to skirt around the edges. I want someone to hit it hard where it is, give me the answers and if he couldn’t give me the answers, we’d talk about it and explore the possibilities of potentially doing something else. He was never afraid to tell me something I didn't want to hear, even if it hurt, it was welcome constructive criticism and that's what I really loved.
As a person, Michael is a really nice guy. He gets on a very personal level with you; he asks about your world you live in outside of work, he'll talk to you about life in general, and this is all before you actually explore the business elements. For me, that's what you really want, you want to feel very comfortable in addressing matters, but the reason you are comfortable is because he gets down on that level with you.
If you've done your research and understood the kind of guy that Michael is with his no-bullshit approach, you should reach out to him and see whether the glove fits.