Adam Torres and Dr. Ron Eccles discuss Ron’s entrepreneurial journey.
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Show Notes:
How did Ron go from doctor to business consultant/coach? In this episode, Adam Torres and Dr. Ron Eccles, CEO of Going Vertical Coaching, explore Ron’s journey and plans for the future.
About Dr. Ron Eccles
A professional speaker/Author/ Business Coach he travels throughout the US and abroad inspiring and empowering others.
Dr. Ron has over 37 years of business experience as an entrepreneur
Doctor of Chiropractic (subspecialties in Orthopedics, Neurology & Sport Injury)R, estaurateur, Real estate investor, Professional Speaker/Trainer, Business Coach.
He and his wife Co-founded ROAR for Christian Business Owners and a online coaching platform “Going Vertical Coaching. He lives in Lakewood Ranch Florida, is married and father of 5 grown children and 3 grandchild. When he’s not working he’s active in his church, staying fit and spending time with his wife and family.
About Going Vertical Coaching
They help business owners grow and scale for high profit with a clear purpose. They also focus on building a better you to build a better business.
Full Unedited Transcript
Hey, I’d like to welcome you to another episode of Mission Matters. My name is Adam Torres, and if you’d like to apply to be a guest in the show, just head on over to missionmatters. com and click on be our guest to apply. All right. So today’s guest is Dr. Ron Eccles, and he is a CEO and doctor over at Going Vertical Coaching.
Ron, welcome to the show. Adam, thank you so much for having me. All right. So we got a lot to talk about today. Of course, I want to get into your background a little bit more about how you went and how you got into the coaching space, of course. But first, I want to give a shout out to Juliana Strout over at the Women’s Expo, SRQ Women’s Expo, who referred you over to us.
I understand that you’re going to be going, going over and attending. I think you may have a booth or something else. Is that right, Ron? Yeah. We are going to have a booth there. That’s correct. Yeah, that’s great. And , what’s taking place at the women’s expo? I’m curious. I know it’s, I think it’s in Florida or that, or that side of the countryside.
No, I’m not going to be able to make it out, but , what’s going to be taking place? Okay. We’re at the Gulf coast of Florida. And my wife actually is friends with one of the people that are affiliated with it. And for one of our businesses here, she said, Hey, It’d be great to have a booth there and I contacted them and they were so easy to work with.
So we’re really excited about going there and just seeing how we can serve people. That’s really what we’re about. Ah, it’s amazing. . Thanks for sharing that. And I guess , just to dive right into this, I guess whenever I meet someone, Somebody that’s you know, highly trained, whether it’s a doctor or, or many, many other fields, and they choose , maybe go the entrepreneurial route in addition to what they, what what their training, you know allows them to do, so to speak.
I always find it really fascinating, really interesting. Did you have that concept of being an entrepreneur? Was that like, even before becoming a doctor, like where did that entrepreneurship bug hit you? Cause you have multiple businesses. Yeah, well, I graduated chiropractic college in 1983. Now, chiropractors, almost by definition, are entrepreneurial, because we’re not linked into the typical medical system.
So we got to go out and we got to be both a practitioner and we have to be a marketer. So, entrepreneur spirit is kind of almost wired into us. So, I was an entrepreneur right from the very beginning. My career took off very quickly. I was in Practice in Sarasota and I over 10 years. I actually completed three diplomates orthopedics neurology and sports medicine, which is It’s just you got to be a little bit insane to do that much postgraduate work, but I loved it And so take me back further when you’re a kid Did you used to were you an entrepreneur were you out there figuring something out or no?
It didn’t it was pretty much after a galley, you know Yeah You know, I’ve, I’ve, over the last, let’s say, 17 years, I’ve spoken on probably over 200 plus stages. I’ve emceed over 85 events, and I always use this particular joke, and because most people think you’re a doctor, you must have been always smart.
And I said, you know, I remember grade school, middle school, high school, even my freshman year of college, I said, I made the top half of the class, and then I pause, and then I say, possible. I say possible. I was that kid that nobody would have bet on. You would have never in high school would have bet on me to be successful.
In business and life and never, I never think, no one ever thought I’d ever become a doctor. So, but it was around, I tell a story in my book about, I worked on my breaks during winter and summer on a roofing crew in New Jersey where I, where I grew up. And I had a boss who rode me like a rented mule from the time I got there to the time I left during the summer.
And. thank God he put him in my life because I couldn’t stand the guy because he hated me. But he was the inspiration that turned everything around. I went back and I studied twice as hard than everybody else to get the A. And I became driven to overcome my learning disabilities. To achieve a lot more in life than anyone would have thought I would have.
So now and thanks for sharing that because I feel like I always want to hear those backstories because some people will listen to this and now once we get further in the conversation, maybe they’ll hear about some of your successes or they’ll hear about Yeah, but it normally doesn’t start that way.
Not really. Not if somebody’s sharing everything. Like, there’s some pain and some bumps along the way. So if you’re out here, out there listening to this right now and you’re like, Yeah, well, I was in the bottom half too and maybe you’re not yet. And you’re just starting your entrepreneurial journey.
Hey, my, I won’t say this about you, Ron, but I’ll say for me, if I could do it, anybody could do it. So well, I’m with you. I’m with you. So, going a little bit further into the conversation, so now , you’re out of chiropractic school, , you’re an entrepreneur, , you’re having some success and you’re doing well.
I mean, like, what’s next? Like, how do you get that bug to take it further and to even start thinking outside of that particular success? What’s next for you? Yeah. And I’ll say this, and you just described something very powerful. We never know what’s going to happen in life. And most of us have.
Difficulties, challenges, things that come up. Mine was an accident that shattered my wrist at the peak of my career. Put me into, we’ll call it retirement, and I began teaching post grad orthopedics and neurology. But from there, literally, I became Bought a restaurant from a former patient of mine, and I was in a restaurant business for 10 years, and I built very successful business.
You know, very successful restaurants, and then I got tired of that, and I began real estate investing, and I did that for about 10 years. I still do some. Then I found my passion. My passion and my drive was to do two things. Coach business owners on how to actually achieve more in life than they’ve ever dreamed of, both personally and in business.
And then also speaking professionally. Those are the two things that I love doing more than anything else. And during that journey, those are all, I bought and owned multiple businesses during that time. And I want to stick, in that accident period a little longer, because most people don’t realize, I mean, like being a cow practices a very physical job.
I have, I have friends of things that are cow practice. And if you’re actually practicing, that’s a very physical job. So you’re like, , when you’re, you know, you had that accident, then you’re, You’re out of it. And at that point, like that was your success. That was everything that was happening. Like, how did you deal with that mentally?
Like, that’s, that’s gotta be tricky. It’s like a, it’s like an athlete you’re out there, you know, all of a sudden, you know, your knee gets blown out or whatever else. And now you can’t, you can’t be on the field anymore. What’s next? Like, how, how’d you get through that? You know, that’s a great question, and I, I, I had disability insurance during the time, and the disability carrier sent out a professional person who dealt with people like me.
And we sat down and talked because I was almost a year in, and I was, I was, I was kind of like in a funk, is the best way I could describe it. Never really got depressed, but I got into a funk. I felt lost. I would have been depressed. I’m like, I did all this school work, all this, like, I would have been like, man, sorry, go ahead.
I went, I would have been, oh, I, I was at the top of my career and well respected by my, by my peers. Even the medical profession, you know, had great relationships because they respected my, my, my degree of. Professionalism and excellence of what I did and all of a sudden in within a year like no calls no invitations I was like the I called the maytag repairman.
He’s got a commercial with a maytag repairman. Yeah Opens up the door and like it’s a it’s a ghost town Don’t know about that one, but google it maytag repairman commercial for the youngins listening. Go ahead ron. They’re great Yeah, well, I felt I felt like I was on a desert island and one thing this guy said to me I’ll never forget it was he said You You’re like most professionals that he works with.
He said, you are highly driven and you will never be happy unless you’re being productive. And I look back at that and it was absolutely spot on. Many men are, you know, we’re very, we’re very driven to work, but for me, it was more than that. I had to be constantly. Building and pushing myself to get better all the time.
I heard at a seminar when I was in chiropractic school that said that he who is not busy being born is busy dying. And I was always excited about learning something new and moving on to something better. Yeah, I get that. And so now you’re going out there, you’re getting into restaurants, you’re getting into other types of businesses.
What was that like finding your footing in like different entrepreneurial, entrepreneurial ventures? Because these are like, those are like, I’m not going to say very different, but to me, they’re worlds apart. And it’s like different, different challenges, right? Like, especially restaurants and many people now you’re dealing with hundreds of staff, even for a small restaurant, depending on, you know, the format we’ll say, or prior to that, my guess is that your office was anything like many of the chiropractic jobs I’ve been into, you got a handful, but you’re not dealing with the same type of labor, the same type of, what was that jump, man?
That’s, that’s interesting. You, you are so right. I, in fact, a lady came in one time , and wrote an article on me for , this small publication and the title of it was Doctor to Dishwasher, because again, here’s what That’s a great title, man. Shout out to her, whoever that was. I love it. Well, I gave her the title, so she can’t take credit for it.
But then you good job. Yeah. And it was one of those things when I stepped out of the, let’s see, you know, where I was at in Florida, where I practiced I was Dr. Eccles. Yeah. And then I moved to Pennsylvania and I opened this restaurant. Now I’m standing behind a counter and it’s a pizza restaurant and , I’ve got a shirt on that says pizza peddler and people, you know, just look at me like every other person behind it and many people can be even condescending.
They think you’re stupid because you’re behind the counter. So I would say the skills that transferred over are people skills, learning how to deal with people. I already had that expertise. I also had a very very top notch work ethic. I had to just learn a new set of skills. I learned how to run a restaurant.
I learned how to actually do the things inside the restaurant, and I was willing to do whatever it took to make it happen. Friday nights, bathrooms clogged up, places packed with people. I’m in there, you know, plunging it out and cleaning it up. I did whatever was needed. When I didn’t have a driver for deliveries, I went out and delivered.
So, we had a big staff, big business, and , I just went at it just like I was that 14 year old kid working in a restaurant, washing dishes. I did whatever was necessary. Yeah, I know when I first left find the reason why I kind of can feel some of this bit maybe the empath coming out in me is when I was a financial advisor, when I was in that business, that’s you know, I managed a lot of money, you know, managing a couple of hundred million dollars wearing a suit and tie every day, all that stuff.
And then at some point when I make the, I didn’t have an accident or anything that took me out of the business or anything like that, I had more so just. Kind of was sucked into the media side of things from the standpoint of I just loved what I was doing I love being a finance advisor, too. I just felt that I could help more people through this medium and I remember like when I went from being the adam in beverly hills that wears a suit and tie every single day and I mean, I think I own one pair of jeans, Ron.
I mean, don’t even think I own one pair of jeans and I don’t know if I ever wore them. And so it was just a different lifestyle and finance. And then I went to the media guy and a much more relaxed look and everything else, man, for you to thought people thought I was homeless all of a sudden.
And it was just like, why would Adam be doing this? Like, is he crazy or is he come to now? Is he, did he get bit by this? LA bug that makes people want to be something or this or that not now many years later, you know, the company’s grown and you know, they now I think more people can see the vision it’s respected and people are like in, but in the beginning, like when you have an idea or you have something you want to do and not everybody understands it, like your support.
Even the people that want to support you, maybe don’t always know how in my opinion, like what was, how does your support network work to get you through that too? Like, did you go through any of that? Maybe, maybe not. I don’t know. I’m just curious. You know, it’s really interesting since, again, going through the transition of being a, like a, a C minus D plus student to then becoming an A student and working hard.
I was C plus, by the way, the whole time, and I, and I exited education at C plus, just throwing that out there, so all the C plus students out there, go ahead. Listen, I, I, I, I encourage you. My whole life. Listen, I encourage parents, I say, if your kid is an underperformer right now, give them time. Because all it takes is a spark.
And that kid may not I don’t have, I’ve had doctors, I had one time had five doctors working for me. And I still generated 80 percent of all the income in that office. Of course you did, that’s very normal. Because , I have a high income. And some of these doctors were way smarter than I was, naturally.
, we would both learn the same information, they could learn it twice as fast. But they would never outwork me. They just couldn’t do anything. I just keep pushing until I knew more than everybody else. Or the EQ of other people. Yes. The EQ, the like many, many, like what you just now described is like characteristic of hundreds of, very particularly chiropractic offices in the country.
Usually there’s a couple people. Oh, go ahead though. Listen, over my years even in practice, I remember meeting so many business owners that didn’t finish high school. They never had a college degree, but they went out and they had that social quotient. They had that emotional quotient, but they also had a very high drive.
And what you just alluded to before was they didn’t give up on themselves when other people doubted that they would ever make it. And even questioned, why are you doing that? And to get what you never had, you’ve got to be willing to do what you’ve never done, and to become what you’ve never been. Such a powerful way, and I watch people do that over and over again.
So if you’re listening to me out there, and you’ve got a dream inside your head, and people don’t believe in you, Push through, get a new set of friends. That’s all I can tell you. It’s a thing. It’s a thing. I know we laugh, but it’s a thing. And , it’s just the process. I’m not claiming I know how or why, but I know it’s the process.
I want, I want to jump around a bit here, Ron. Coaching , when does coaching the concept of coaching, like as a profession, like when does that come into your world or into your, your view? You know, I have to say I’ve always been a natural, Teacher, giver, it’s just hardwired into me. And for the longest time, I mean, I would do it for free.
I don’t do it for free anymore, but I would do it for free. And I realized I was very good at it. Now, I’ll go back to being a doctor and I’ll say specifically a chiropractor. One of the things drilled into us early on was, Don’t settle for the symptoms. Listen to the symptoms, but always search for the cause.
You remove the cause, the symptoms go away. In coaching, that’s exactly what I do. I speak, I listen, I ask questions, I draw out of my clients where their challenges are at. And then I begin to really dial in on where’s the root of the problem. And if we address the root give right action steps and then more important accountability It solves the problem so much faster.
So I started Charging people to work with them in the beginning and I didn’t charge very much and I felt like that was you know Oh gosh, there’s a lot of money over years You get really good at what you do and you see that other people charging Way more money than I charge and they’re and I say this very humbly, but they’re not as good.
They don’t have the experience. very comfortable charging people a fair amount, giving them way more than they ask for or make way more than they pay for. Because coaching is just something that you’re either good at it or you’re not. I have a very good friend who’s a multi multi millionaire and he wanted to, you know, he builds businesses, but he wanted to do this coaching thing.
And I warned him because I know him. I said, don’t do it. You’re not going to love it because I just knew him. So eventually he did it. And about a year later, I said, we, we had breakfast again, not too long ago. And I said, you know, how, how’d you like it? He goes, I hate it. Yeah. He’s not hardwired for it. So , you gotta be really patient with people and really tap into them and give more than you receive in return.
What are some other things that you feel make a good coach just in general, whether it’s, you know, I don’t know, personal characteristics, makeup, aptitude. I don’t know, like what ingredients let’s just draw to the ingredients. What are some of the ingredients that you feel make a good coach? Well, I’m going to use the same ingredients that I tell all my clients when they’re hiring people, even for themselves, three key things that can set you apart from everyone else.
Number one is your mindset. Number two is your skill set. Number three is the tool sets. Tool sets change. We have AI now. That wasn’t available a couple of years ago. We have iPhones , cell phones. I remember the day when I had a , we had a dial phone at home. You know, so think , tool sets change.
Skill sets you got to be working on all the time and 24 hours, every waking moment mindset is the most important thing that sets you apart. So I say great coach number one has a superior mindset work ethic. They’re working on it all the time. They’re constantly looking to improve. Skill sets have several different components to it.
, I listened to one of the interviews you did with David Meltzer. Brilliant. It was a lot. I love, I loved it. And it’s about this factor of doing something over and over again, being consistent at it. Yeah. So what builds, builds the muscles is frequency. Then there’s the intensity, because you can do something frequent, but not do it intense enough.
And then there’s the longevity. You have to do it long enough. So if you do it frequent enough, with enough intensity, and you do it long enough, and if you’re doing the right thing, you’ll develop incredible skill sets. Coaching requires that development over time. You get better. The coach I am today is way better than the coach I was five years ago, ten years ago.
And I hope five years from now, it’s going to be, it’s going to be even much better. Because again, I always tell people, look, you can hire somebody who’s got 10 years experience, or you can hire somebody who’s got 42 years of real world experience with, you know, having spent two to four hours every day learning for all that period of time and can integrate it well.
That’s the asset you get as you do it for a longer period of time. Let’s take that same, style of question from the other side of things. And let’s say like somebody that’s listening to this, that has they’ve kind of maybe been curious about coaching or otherwise, and they are, they don’t know if it’s really for them.
What do you think makes a good, a good person to engage in coaching services? How do they know they’re ready? You know what? I tell people first of all, you have to overcome doubt by just getting out and doing it. You gotta fail forward fast. Start by coaching people for free. And then figure it out.
Build some muscles. And then, the hardest part you’ll ever do is to charge your first client. But once you do that, and then you see the value you give, you’ll, over time, Develop the ability to elevate your value. And I wish money is nothing more than the exchange of value of the services or goods you provide.
And the marketplace has some limitations it puts on it, but there are consultants and business, coaches that charge , a hundred thousand dollars a year to work with them and others, five thousand, 5, 000 a year. It all depends on the level of expertise and what you’re going to get. And there’s some people that, , charge 25, 000 to work on them for a year, but they’re not as good as some people charging 5, 000.
But you got to start somewhere and you got to work your self forward. And that the easiest place to start is to pick up a couple of friends and do some stuff, you know, low to no cost. niche do you focus on? Is it executives? Is it like, what areas do you focus on most, if any, by the way, are you agnostic?
Yeah. Well, actually, it’s a really interesting question. You go through , evolutions inside of your years. I used to start out doing group coaching. Then I went to one on one, which is not as scalable. Then I went back to group coaching again and I found myself one of my former clients, one on one clients, great guy.
And you know, he wouldn’t mind sharing this cause he did, he gave me a public testimony. When he first came to me, he came to me to help his life get together. He was seeing his wife, they were doing drugs, doing his pornography, there was all kinds of problems with them. And his business was starting to be impacted by their, you know, they were getting ready to go through a divorce.
I worked with him for four months and his life completely changed around. And everything turned out for the better. Now, a couple years later, he contacts me again about eight months ago and says, I need help again. Not the same problems. His business exploded. He was doing great, but he was losing that balance.
So, and I’m answering this question. One of the things I fell in love with again was, I decided to take on five or six more clients like that. Work with them one on one, higher, higher fee, but it’s about getting, people who’ve already built a business , have money, money’s not the problem, but the, the cost of having built that business has impacted , their marriage or their relationships, it’s impacted their health.
What’s impacted their spiritual walk and I’ve recently moved back into working with these individuals one on one I think it’s so much satisfaction and watching them get massive turnarounds in a short period of time. Mm hmm. It’s amazing Well Ron first off it has been great having you on the show today and getting to know more about you Going vertical coaching obviously your deep Passion for helping others.
I know you have so much more to offer and to give if somebody is listening to this or watching this and they want to continue the conversation with you and your team, like how did they reach out? How do they do that? Real simple. It’s drroneccles at gmail. com. It’s d r r o n e c c l e s at gmail. com.
Amazing. And for everybody listening, just so you know, we’ll put that information in the show notes. You can just click on the links and, and head right on over. And speaking of the audience, if this is your first time with Mission Matters and you haven’t done it yet, this is a daily show. That means each and every day we are releasing new content.
Content, new entrepreneurs, new executives, hopefully new inspiring ideas that help you along in your journey as well. And if you’re into that, we welcome you again, hit that subscribe button or follow button, get it done so that you get the notification tomorrow when the next episode comes out. And Ron, again, thank you so much for the interview and all you do.
So thanks for coming on. And thank you.
