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- Cody's Mailbag
I received a lot of positive feedback on the first edition of Cody’s Mailbag, so it’s a column that I’m going to write more regularly. Thank you if you took the time to write to me and let me know what you thought — it means a lot.
For the second edition, it makes sense to focus on my role as a second set of eyes.
I get a lot of questions about technical and business elements of what I do, so I’ve compiled the most regular topics for you here:
What are some of the misconceptions that still exist about your role as a second set of eyes?
There are plenty:
That it’s only worth having if you’re strugging in your career
That it’s only worth having when you’re early in your career
That the focus of my work is wellbeing (it’s not, my focus is performance, of which wellbeing is one part)
That having a mentor is the same thing (it’s not, a mentor doesn’t have dedicated focus on the coach)
That coaches shouldn’t need coaching or development
Most of the misconceptions that existed when I wrote the book still exist to this day. On one hand, that’s frustrating. But on the other hand, it means that those who do have a second set of eyes have a rather significant competitive advantage.
You work independently across different teams right now, but would you ever go ‘inside’ and work exclusively with one team?
I would.
With the right head coach, and for the right organization with the right mindset, I’d love to build out a Coaching Performance practice for a team.
I plan on doing this work for the next 40 years — that’s a long time. So it’s likely I’ll spend periods of time working for myself, and periods of time working for a team. I’m not necessarily set on one or the other.
What do you think your coaches would say about your work with them?
I hope they would say they feel seen.
I hope they would say they feel more confident in themselves than they’ve ever felt.
I hope they would say I’ve helped them explore the outer reaches of their potential.
Beyond 1:1 work with the head coach, where does your work tend to evolve over time? Do you get involved with the players, administrators, other staff, etc?
Great question.
In general, as I get deeper and deeper into work with a head coach, there are three areas where it might make sense for me to provide additional support:
Organizational alignment
Player leadership
Staff development
These are high-impact areas for a head coach, but they can be easy to let slide when you’re in the daily grind.
How often do you speak to your head coaches?
It depends on how often the team plays — six games per week MLB is different to one game per week NFL.
That said, generally I have a set meeting time with each coach, each week. That meeting can move on the calendar, but it can’t be moved off the calendar.
For the coaches I’ve been working with for multiple years, we tend to speak every day on WhatsApp.
How do coaches speed up the teething problems of the first few months with a second set of eyes, while also building a relationship quickly?
I believe that the fastest way to speed up relationship building is to actively work on something together.
Working on something together is the best way to run job interviews, just as planning a vacation together is the best way to figure out if you want to be in a long-term relationship with someone.
This phenomenon also holds true as the best way to speed up the relationship-building portion of having a second set of eyes.
I ask three questions whenever I start working with a new coach:
What are you hoping to achieve?
Who do you want to be while you achieve it?
What’s in the way right now?
The reason for #3 is that it gives us something to work on together right away.
However, just as speed is important, so is patience. I find it valuable to talk about how the rate of change is going to feel slow for six months or so.
You don’t get big biceps by doing curls one time. You get big biceps by doing curls consistently for about six months without any visible signs of change. Until one day, you look in the mirror and see a dramatic transformation.
What has been the most challenging or frustrating element in venturing out as a ‘solopreneur’?
It’s the biggest organizations that are often the slowest to pay.
One of the world’s largest football clubs took five months to pay my invoice, and there was no way to get in touch with the Accounts Payable department.
No business can operate if their debtors take half-a-year to pay, but when you’re a solo operator it has much deeper implications.
My business revenue is essentially my personal salary, so if my business invoices don’t get paid, my kids don’t eat.
If you’re thinking of going out on your own, you might want to consider having a 3-month float so you have enough money set aside to pay your bills and buy groceries.
I want to be a second set of eyes and do what you do. How do I start?
Cool. Welcome. This is a rewarding part of the coaching pathway.
Well, to start, you should probably tell people that’s what you’re doing now.
Social media is a good place to start, but a website also gives you a space to explain more about who you are and what your methodology is. Remember: coaches are making a purchase decision, so a quick LinkedIn post often isn’t enough to convince them why you’re the right person to support them.
You’ll need a domain. An email address. An incorporated business. A bank account for that business. An accounting platform. An accountant. A way to get paid. An understanding of when taxes are due. A budget. Insurance. A Zoom subscription (don’t be the coach who has to jump off a call at a crucial point because your time limit expired).
You should also have a strategy for how you’re going to attract clients longer-term. I write books and speak and appear on podcasts, but you might choose a different content engine to get your message out.
Those are probably the key parts to have in order as you start your journey.
One final tip: I found the biggest hurdle to be unlearning the 9-5 ‘corporate productivity’ mindset that has been drilled into me. I didn’t know how to fill my days, and felt useless when I wasn’t full throttle all day. It took me 12-18 months to get comfortable with working less, but at a much higher standard.
What are some of the consistent traits that you observe in the head coaches you work with?
It’s far less than you might think.
One that stands out the most is curiosity. Boundless curiosity. About people. About things. About the world.
Another would be bravery. They’re secure enough in themselves to continue to do the right thing, even when it might serve them personally to take another course of action.
A trend I’m seeing is the arrival of a newfound openness. We’re part of multi-million dollar, multi-departmental organizations now, so the days of operating in a cone of silence are over. Working collaboratively requires a willingness to communicate up, down, and across the organization so that we can all succeed together.
I was recently a guest on Cameron Schwab’s show, In The Arena.
I’m really proud of what we created in this conversation, and I hope you’ll add it to your queue of podcasts to listen to:
