Coach Story with Nick Devlin 2020-02-02

Nick Devlin Interview-2020-01-28

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

coaching, coach, life, ripple effect, started, creates, dream, artist, nice, love, awesome, player, meant, conversation, transformational impact, willing participants, talking, struck, realized, very close friend

SPEAKERS

David Buck, Nick Devlin

David Buck  00:00

Hey Nick!

Nick Devlin  00:02

Coach  Dave.

David Buck  00:03

Nick, so great to be talking with you.

Nick Devlin  00:05

Yeah, likewise Coach Dave. It’s our first time in person.

David Buck  00:09

in this sort of face to face via zoom encounter. I love it. Yeah. So first off, so Nick, just give us give us a quick backstory of how you became a coach, how you got into coaching. Just the quick, the quick version.

Nick Devlin  00:26

Oh the quick version. Okay. Alright, so this shouldn’t take more than 30 or 40 minutes. {Yeah, exactly.} You know, the quick version of how I became a coach. So I have been a coach my whole life, but I realized it really just over a year ago, okay, so about two years ago, I was finishing up my MBA and I was in this real kind of logical, you know, If This Then That step, which most of my life and so I am looking for our corporate leadership position. You know, generally I succeed when I put my mind to something, so I got this position, and you know, careful what you wish for my whole life started to kind of do a downward spiral. And when I realized that was the beginning of the end of my old life, right, so, you know, it took a little bit of kind of time to realize that that was actually a gift.

David Buck  01:24

Yeah, right. (laughs!)

Nick Devlin  01:28

Couple years ago, you know, I said, Okay, I have to make a change. And it was a it was a provocative question that a very close friend of mine asked me, that made all the difference. And he asked me, Do you want to stay married to Camilla? my wife. Really out of the blue, but now I know. So you know, everything happening every time. And it really struck me and it just it had a lot of weight to it. I answered the question, but I took some time to answer it. When I did, you know, that was when I realized that had completely turned my life around. I quit my job moved my family from New Jersey actually.

David Buck  02:07

Oh, I love New Jersey, but I’m glad you found a better place for you.

Nick Devlin  02:11

It has a special place in my heart but it’s not where I’m meant to be. {got it} So we ended up back in New Hampshire, which is where we had come from. And at that point, I started to really live my life intentionally. And I say, refocus. I was kind of white knuckling all the details, but I had no grander vision and no, you know, I do meant to do through this process of on packing and peeling back the layers. You know how it was it means to live an intentional life. What do I how do I live with my, you know, from the heart? {Yeah} Based on the things that matter through a bunch of actual you know, work and looking at that. I know we hate that four letter word here, but

David Buck  03:03

some intentional play you looked at this {action} who you want to become.

Nick Devlin  03:09

That’s right. It really struck me. I mean, I can’t I can’t explain it just one day. Like, aha, I’m meant to be a coach. {Right, thats Good.} So you know, and that’s when it really started to snowball. And I got myself a coach. And I said, Well, hey, I’m really on this path of transformation and growth. And I really, really need to find out what my heart’s desire is, and I think now it’s coaching while I better get a coach, kind of {good idea.} And, and that was game changing. You know, my first coach absolutely changed my life. And we started putting together the plans, okay, you want to become a coach. Let’s start looking at coaching programs. Let’s start you know, okay, but that means

David Buck  03:56

that was it. Yeah. So that’s a great story, Nick. I love it. Alright, so then tell me about this player that you shared about on your game card. And the the gist of it from the story that you shared, which I loved was your player was acknowledging to you some gratitude for having you as their coach and sharing with you that even, you know, the your players wife or and the idea that other people in their life. were noticing, oh, this this, there’s a change happening here. And so you made a comment because we talked about this all the time about the ripple effect of coaching. So you just made this comment about Hey, the ripple effect of coaching is is happening here. Yeah, so you got this gratitude, you got the ripple effect. And this is awesome. This is what we play for. We play for, you know, as far as coaches we play for having a transformational impact on our players. That’s what we do. That’s what that’s what the whole point of it is. So share with me a little bit about this player, how did you meet them and what was their what is their big dream?

Nick Devlin  04:58

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. really thrilled to share so, so this is actually a longtime friend of mine. Okay, that, you know, we we’ve actually live in different states now. So we very rarely kind of, you know, caught up and but it’s always been a dear friend of mine and so when I first started coaching with CoachVille I thought Okay, I’m gonna reach out to him his name is Jimmy. Okay. And so that was a pretty easy connection at first to just start now like okay who can I talk to who’s gonna be willing to step out this is {this is how you do it, it’s perfect} and he’s someone that I’ve always been inspired by so he’s an entrepreneur, he’s a tattoo artist, he’s an artist in every sense of the word, paintings and murals and creates a suite where you know, hip hop, so he’s all into that makes him incredible art. And it has a business has a few artists working for him and and he’s always kind of going on around the world to be through guest spots, and he’s used connections with different very popular bands and stuff like that and he supports them. And he’s got a really big dream. So he wants to move away from the smaller world of tattooing only tattoo shop and do that, okay, let’s do art in front of the world. Okay. He wants to one of his some of his power power languages like, you know, creating with uninhibited velocity and, you know, wow, fearless creation around the world, that kind of stuff.

David Buck  06:36

And so basically, he wants a bigger Canvas, you know, because the human body is a pretty small canvas. He wants a bigger canvas.

Nick Devlin  06:48

Yeah, yeah. One of the coolest power patterns he came up just recently was I am the bigger picture. {Nice. Whoa, that’s cool.} That is cool. Yeah. So that’s that’s his big game.

David Buck  07:03

And I love it. The idea is what was his big dream? And then what has been sort of the arc of your coaching? How have you been coaching him toward that big dream?

Nick Devlin  07:17

Yeah. So, you know, we started kind of with this world power because that’s where I was it started assessing his environment and so UK, you know, how can we improve your relationships and your conversations and, you know, pulling the things that give you energy and get rid of things that don’t. And so he started to streamline his life. And that affected me in a number of ways, but ultimately, it just gave him more energy. This is his dream. And, you know, not long after we started coaching his confidence level spite. He actually stepped away from the day to day of the business to kind of delegate and ended up Coming up with a partnership with somebody else. And so they can handle some of the Ministry of stuff and allow him to really get out there and pursue his dream, nice, pivotal conversations or interactions with artists in his shop, and you know, all starting to kind of shift the culture of his shop twice, maybe even more cooperative. And so he started to get out into the world more, and he started to do more of these guest spots. And he said, but now he had a coach. So when he was going there, and he was recognizing, hey, I’m feeling some fear or something around showing up there and feeling like an imposter are, you know, I go to New York City to this famous tattoo shop where I just need this little one over here and and so he was able to take those opportunities and have really meaningful conversations that built him up even further and kind of showed the people that he was interacting with. He was a big player.

David Buck  08:57

Nice

Nick Devlin  08:59

and so now He’s gone. He’s done a live art show, a warehouse that was opening in the community. He’s been in at least one magazine article. I went on a podcast recently in Atlanta, Georgia. So he’s based out of Savannah, Georgia. But he’s just he’s getting out there who’s he’s really taken off. It’s awesome.

David Buck  09:24

So sweet. And I think this is big, right? Because when you start playing big for your dream out in the world, you need someone with you. Right? That’s the idea of the coach or that companion on the big adventure that can keep the person growing, believing in themselves, believing in their bigger possibilities. This is what we do. I love this. Alright, so the last thing is so good. Last thing I want to just touch in on is the impact that him going out on the in the world has had on his family.

Nick Devlin  09:58

Yeah, yeah. So he He’s married and just recently got a puppy so small {Yeah, great.} family. And yeah, you know, I think part of the reason because we were friends before, and now we have this regular conversation going, you know, oftentimes, it was just like, “Hey, how’s it going?” Go through the session. Great. Have a great week and plan on talking next week. And the other the other session, he said, You know, I don’t I don’t say this enough, but I really appreciate what we’re doing together. And the coaching that that you’re providing it, you know, I cannot appreciate that enough. {That’s awesome.} He said, it’s even, it’s even impacting my wife, you know, and that’s the ripple effect that I was talking about. {Yes.} You know, I say great. And then what when you had said you want to have this conversation, I reached out to her and said, Can you tell me just a little bit more how its impacted. to her, {yeah} that, you know, just the fact that I’m coaching has inspired her right that he’s that he’s coaching with me and he’s taking his dream, you know, seriously and really, {yes!} inspiring her. And the fact that he’s more level headed and his words on his goals, just creates less stress. You know, so I love that kind of the mashup of that where there’s this big inspiration. And then there’s also like, hey, in the day to day life {it’s practical} Yeah, our relationship is better because, you know, you have kind of this sense of direction.

David Buck  11:42

Yes, I would, I would imagine to, you know, speaking of ripple effect, also, as you described all the people in his shop. Yes, you know, they they have a bigger game to play now, because he’s made space for them. {Yes,} yeah. That big as well, then they feel better about their lives and they are growing and then that ripples out into their families and their communities. And it’s, that’s the idea, the ripple effect. When you help someone grow. It creates a vacuum of growth that touches many people.

Nick Devlin  12:17

Yes, yeah, absolutely. In fact, there was one interesting incident recently where they actually let an artist go. And, you know, there was a lot of hesitation around that for a long time. And when they finally did, she came back, I think, the next day or something very quickly and said, Hey, thank you so much. You know, I found another position that’s a much better fit, you know, with this partner who’s great, it just, you know, those types of things are now easier for him to do. Yes, partner because there’s this, this coaching in their lives.

David Buck  12:53

Yes. I love it. Awesome. Nick. Well done. All right. One last question. Yeah. What is What is your next big growth move? What are you up to?

Nick Devlin  13:04

Oh, man. so as you know, I’m I am building an adventure coaching business. Yes. And so I’m super excited because the next thing that I’m that I’m up to is assembling some willing participants some who around the last bit and some who are just curious about it. Yeah. In and the intent is we’re going to co shape the actual experience.

David Buck  13:31

Love it.

Nick Devlin  13:32

Yeah. So you know, I’m done with working in isolation and making something perfectly then hoping people appreciate it. Like, yes. You guys interested in going on an adventure and diving into some, you know, some transformation? What do you want that to look like? Let’s start there.

David Buck  13:48

Nice. I love it Nick. It’s so good. It’s co-creating.

Nick Devlin  13:53

Yes, yeah. So exciting. So I you know, I’m sure it’ll be a series of meetings, but Super excited about what’s gonna come out of that. {Nice.} And have more fun.

David Buck  14:05

Yeah, a lot more fun. Yeah, we all need a lot more fun, but meaningful fun. This is the whole point, right? It’s meaningful fun. That’s the game now. meaningful fun. {Yeah} That’s awesome. Yeah. Awesome. Nick, thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me. Appreciate you. I’ll see you soon. Thank you, Coach.