Surviving the Side Hustle

E105 - From Beyond the Cage: Transforming Combat Lessons into Entrepreneurial Victory

• Coach Rob • Season 1 • Episode 105

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The arena of business bears a striking resemblance to a UFC octagon, according to former fighter Cliff Starks. Both environments throw punches, demand resilience, and teach harsh lessons in real-time. The difference? With the right coach, those business lessons don't have to leave quite as many bruises.

Cliff's journey from professional fighter to sought-after business coach reveals a powerful truth: success leaves clues across disciplines. When everyone kept calling him "coach" during his entrepreneurial journey, he decided to make it official, getting certified and developing a methodology that targets the blind spots we all have but cannot see from within our own containers.

His approach is refreshingly straightforward—listen four times more than he speaks, identify patterns that either serve or hinder his clients, and help high-achieving entrepreneurs take actions aligned with their ultimate goals. Through his "Training Room" concept, Cliff guides ambitious professionals through five-day challenges that build trust and momentum simultaneously.

What sets Cliff's coaching philosophy apart is his emphasis on asking better questions. As he explains, "The quality of your life comes down to the quality of the questions that you ask." This insight prompted him to create "The Fighter's Formula: Winning the Game of Life," a book designed to transform readers when he can't be physically present.

For entrepreneurs at any stage, Cliff offers differentiated wisdom: beginners should focus on small wins that create momentum, while veterans need the reminder to have fun and listen more carefully to what people are actually telling them. His own daily declarations—"I'm a champion and I am amplified"—demonstrate the power of intentional mindset conditioning.

Whether you're launching a side hustle or scaling an established company, the fighter's formula offers a blueprint for success: identify your blind spots, focus on the next actionable step, and maintain your championship mindset through daily practice. Connect with Cliff on LinkedIn or Facebook to learn how his coaching can help you win your own business battles—with fewer metaphorical bruises.

Speaker 1:

What's going on, guys, and welcome back to another episode of Surviving the Side Hustle. And today we've got my buddy, Cliff on. Cliff, dude, it's a pleasure to have you on. I'm excited to kind of dive into this conversation, Glad that we got it on the calendar and I'm excited to hear a bit about you and your story and everything you've got going on and your book and everything. So, man, I'm excited, dude. How are you?

Speaker 2:

Hey, I'm doing well, thank you. Thank you. I know we had some technical difficulties last time, so I'm glad we ended up adjusting and figuring it out like entrepreneurs do.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, man, yeah, it's the name of the game right, resilience and consistency, just sticking through it and eventually getting it done right A hundred percent and eventually getting it done right 100%. Cool, man. So why don't we just kind of kick it off by diving in and learning a little bit about you as an individual? Who are you, what do you do? Who?

Speaker 2:

do you?

Speaker 1:

help kind of thing.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah. So I am a crazy individual who tries to do really hard things really, really quickly and I start learning a lot of lessons very, very quickly. And one of my first biggest things I was a former UFC fighter and when I went from UFC and I got into business, I quickly realized, oh crap, this is the same exact game. We're getting into arena realized, oh crap, this is the same exact game. Like we're getting into arena, we're getting punched, we're getting kicked and we're learning lessons on the go. And when you have someone who can support you in learning those lessons faster, you really, really appreciate them. So I am that guy for business owners who are getting punched in their face and kicked in their face.

Speaker 1:

Just to clarify, you're not the one who's actually punching and kicking them in the face, correct? No, yes, they're clients.

Speaker 2:

They're employees sometimes themselves, but not me.

Speaker 1:

Well, so talk to me. So, how did you get into the position that you're in now? How did you? Where did you decide that you wanted to start coaching and helping other entrepreneurs and individuals?

Speaker 2:

It. It honestly kind of happened randomly. So I got into business. Um, cause I knew there was opportunity in getting into business, and the reason the reason I knew there was opportunity there was a book I read called the E-Myth by Michael Gerber, and I read that book and I really loved how he was talking about, how there's an entrepreneur in us, there's a technician in us and there's a manager in us, and we just got to figure out how to put that together.

Speaker 2:

But the coaching aspect actually came about randomly because everyone kept calling me coach as I was going through my journey and so, because everyone was calling me coach, I'm like, well, maybe I should get certified in this thing. And I got certified in it and I realized, like, holy crap, this is something that I've been kind of doing all of my life is supporting people and getting clarity so that they can take the necessary steps to create the life that they wanted. Wow. So talk to me about the process of getting certified. How was that to read? And they gave you a couple of tests to do through that process and they tested you out. They tested your skill sets out and how you ask questions and what kind of questions you ask. And that's where I really kind of realized like, oh, I'm pretty good at this because life comes down to asking the right questions, and I even have one coach who says the quality of your life comes down to the quality of the questions that you ask.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that is so true, Asking better questions and people always think that, oh, questions are just questions, but questions are of scale. There's better questions, there's more in-depth questions that get pull out more information, and then there are like very simple, yes, no. Questions that give you very little information. And if you know how to ask better questions, usually you can extract more information and better position yourself and help others and influence each other to create better impact and better change in the world. It's kind of where I believe and I would love to hear a little bit more about where you're currently going next, so we know where you kind of started from, where you began to shift into the coaching realm. What are some of your goals and expectations? I guess I could even ask for this year, like what are you looking to work towards? We're about halfway through the year already at this time of recording.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. So I actually started doing challenges with people and I have something called the training room, and the training room was built out of a desire that I wanted when I got into entrepreneurship and I felt we know what to do but we don't do it. And I always ask myself that question, like okay, why do people? Why don't people do what they're supposed to do if they know what to do? And it's all in our head, all of it.

Speaker 2:

But it's easy to say that right Like now it's about okay, what's the one action that will move me forward? And there's a question right there Like what is that one action that will actually get me moving forward, instead of trying to focus on the really big action that just terrifies me and freaks me out? And so, as I'm going through the process, I want to get 12 people in my training room. So I have eight people right now and I'm looking to do these five-day challenges on a regular basis, because the other thing that I'm noticing people really need to feel trust before they take an action, like they need to feel some form of trust before they take that action, and I want to give them that trust opportunity so they can feel me, they can understand me, they can see my vibe and they can see if I'm a good fit for them or not Very cool.

Speaker 1:

I like that. That's pretty interesting there. I like the concept of the challenge and it's really cool because I know much about me. Same way, I like to push myself in different ways. Different challenges physically, mentally, emotionally, different skills, constantly learning and growing myself. So I am one who agrees with you that it's always good to push yourself and challenge in different ways. Cliff man, I know you've got a book. I would love to kind of dive in a bit on that. Could you mind sharing a little bit about where that came from and how that came about?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah. So it's called the Fighter's Formula Winning the Game of Life, and it came about from me actually butchering a speech. It was my first speech and I absolutely butchered it, and I spoke with my speaking coach about it and she told me well, usually the best way you get clear on how you help people is figure out how you help someone through the result that they got and then work it backwards. So that's what I did. I'm like, okay, what are the best results that I get? And then I saw, and then I started working it backwards and I started seeing patterns in it. And as I was looking at these patterns, it's like, oh, there's certain patterns and there's certain exercises that you can do to move a person forward. And so the book came about, because it was like one.

Speaker 2:

I wanted to be able to transform people without me having to be there all the time, because I want to influence 1 billion people, and I went after a big goal and it's more of the same. I go after my big goal and then I start learning lessons and I'm like I can't talk to 1 billion people. It's not possible, even if I was talking to people coming through my door every day on a regular basis. It would be too much, and so I was like, okay, how can I transform people when I'm not around? And that's when the book popped in. I'm like I can use a book. That's an effective way that I can transform people and I don't even have to be there don't even have to be there.

Speaker 1:

So the book itself is kind of like a guide, like a go at your own pace kind of guide that'll help you achieve the goals that you're looking to achieve.

Speaker 2:

Yep, Yep, Because as I've gone through this journey I go. Life's a game of resources and resourcefulness. Both are important and the book lays out a bunch of resources and a bunch of ways to be resourceful, Because when you step inside of a cage, for instance, like you got to have both, Because if you don't have both, you're going to be in a world of hurt. And business is the same thing, Like if you don't have those pieces, if you don't have the guide, the steps necessary to move forward and build traction life can get a little bit hairy.

Speaker 2:

And where can people get the book? Yep.

Speaker 1:

They can get it on Amazon actually. Okay, awesome, and could you remind me what the book is called?

Speaker 2:

again, yeah, it's called the Fighter's Formula Winning the Game of Life.

Speaker 1:

Awesome, very cool. Everybody listening. Make sure you go check that out as soon as possible and snag a copy or two and let us know what you think on that. So, cliff, I'd love to kind of dive back into hearing a bit more what it's like coaching with you, so I can get an understanding and so the audience can as well. What is it like in everyday working with Cliff?

Speaker 2:

Absolutely so. I am a person who I have two ears and one mouth and I say I do my best to listen four times more than I speak, because the more I listen, the more I can see what patterns are serving a person versus which ones aren't serving a person. And I say we are all going through it, myself included. You know I got my coaches and there's a saying you can't see when you're inside of your own container. And the longer I live, the more I realize how true that really is. We all have these blind spots and I support people through getting through the blind spot, taking the actions that actually serve them so they can live the life they want to live and do it with less stress.

Speaker 1:

Okay, very cool. And who do you typically work with? Is it just the entrepreneurs, or do you have a specific niche or area of individuals that you've been working with recently?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah. So I look for high achievers, those who are constantly looking for their next edge, looking to get to the next level in their life. I'm actually playing with a couple of different industries where I have real estate, real estate brokers, ceos, cfos because they all deal with a couple of different industries where I have real estate, real estate brokers, ceos, cfos because they all deal with a lot of pressure, like they're dealing with a ton of pressure and they're go-getters, and when you're a go-getter, dealing with a lot of pressure, that can be very, very hefty, heavy, and so I do my best to really give them the power, like align them and power them up so that they can be the person that they were meant to be and create the impact without as much heaviness on their back and their shoulders.

Speaker 1:

Oh, interesting. So you shared a bit about the speech that you said you totally bombed your first ever speak. Can you kind of share a little bit about that? What was the like? How did you, how did you get that speaking opportunity and and what was going through your mind and just kind of like giving us a background on that whole situation and you know, I brought a bunch of my friends and family together to listen to me speak and that was uncomfortable as it was.

Speaker 2:

I'm like holy crap, like my friends and my peers are going to be around me listening to me speak, and what made it difficult was me, because we put our own pressure on ourselves and we make our lives like we got to get it right and we got to make it perfect and we got to do all of this. And all of that was going through my head and after I was done with it, what was cool was people wanted to give me constructive feedback and they were really proud that I did it. You know, it was a combination of like we're so proud that you got up and you did it and you had so many amazing things to say. And the truth was a lot of the feedback was you have amazing things to say, but I didn't know what to do next. Like I just I felt good, but I don't know what to do next. So that's life.

Speaker 2:

You know, you ride a bicycle and you fall down. You figure it out, but you get better at at doing it and so I go. Oh, so I have to say it in such a way and communicate it in such a way that I can give people practical tips so that they can actually get traction in their life, and so that was great feedback that they gave me. I'm glad that I did it. I was sweating when I was speaking on the stage and I survived.

Speaker 1:

I survived curious about getting into the potential speaking careers and world and very often I see a lot of people coming out and they just want to share their story. They get super excited about sharing their story and it's emotional and it's exciting and and some do better than others at delivering their talk about their story Uh, and then a lot of the time they forget to like relate it back to the audience. And then at times I've been sitting there and I'm kind of like, okay, this is cool. At times I've been sitting there and I'm kind of like, okay, this is cool, this is interesting to hear. But like, what does this do for me? And one of my good friends who teaches a lot of speaker schools his name is Carl Michelle and he always talks about everyone's favorite radio station.

Speaker 2:

W-I-I-F-N. Yep.

Speaker 1:

What's in it for me. So I feel you on that and I remember like the early days of me starting out too, and I'm like, yeah, rob, good job, you did well. And then I'm like, all right, well, how do I get better? And they're like just keep at it, buddy. And I'm like, great, this is awesome feedback.

Speaker 2:

Thank you so much so it sounds like you've got great people around you. Yeah, what's interesting because I come from a fighter's background and what I loved about fighting you get really fast feedback from getting punched and kicked Like there's not a better feedback than well. I don't want that to happen again. So so when you're dealing with athletes, they, they know like, nope, do this, do this, change this, switch this, and it's freedom. That's where the freedom lies, not like, just keep at it, buddy.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah. So that's like it, exactly Like I'm used to, that more combative kind of attack on fly, the challenge, almost Like a little bit of friction helps me kind of create some fire and moving forward, so but it sounds like you've got the great people around you Talk to me about how.

Speaker 1:

how do you continue to find positive influences to surround yourself that move you forward with your business but then also help you connecting with your clients, with other people, because we all know that like power of a positive circle right, some of them are five pluses friends, so we want to have a strong circle around you.

Speaker 2:

You know, there there's the saying birds of a feather flock together and like even just me being on your podcast right now, for instance, we met through Connected Leaders Academy and odds are people from the CLA are going to be good people. That's the odds, and so I reach out to people where it makes sense to reach out to them. If I'm going to, let's say, when I was a fighter, if I were to go to a bar to try and find fighting buddies, that's probably not the best fit for me. So it's ultimately like ask yourself the right questions, like am I really doing the best for myself? And I really think and sometimes I tell people to ask themselves that question twice Am I really doing the best for myself? Because we know where our potential's at, it's just kind of scary to go after it sometimes, so we give ourselves reasons and excuses to be like I'll do it tomorrow or maybe I'll do, I'm going to do that thing one day, and it's like no, go after the thing you want to go after, why not go after it today?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's powerful stuff to know and I know I've been in countless different groups. So, like you mentioned CLA, for example, which is a great one. So shout out to Jose Escobar for putting and curating a powerful group of, I think, over 500 individuals Now. Every person I've met on through the group there is very well driven and well connected and just very inspiring to connect with. But I've also been a part of a lot of negative groups that were pretty terrible and I thought that I was getting into the right group and signing up for different coaching programs and asking myself, like okay, this? Or telling myself, like okay, this is what I need, because this is all that I know. I see this individual has a lot of success, whether they've written books or I followed them in the past or whatnot. So I've signed up for different things only to be let down and my expectations crushed. So I want to ask you along your journey, have you encountered maybe some coaches or sparring partners, or maybe even clients that weren't the right?

Speaker 2:

fit for you? That is such a powerful question, rob, and I will tell you, I actually, before I was a fighter, I was actually a personal trainer and I had a belief of what a salesperson was and what a personal trainer was. And I didn't think I was a salesperson, I thought I was just a personal trainer. And I ended up connecting with the guy who was a quote unquote salesperson, up connecting with the guy who was a quote unquote salesperson, and this guy was not the most integrous salesperson, to say the least, and I thought that's what sales was. That's what I thought it was. I'm like okay, I guess that's what selling is. I'm the personal trainer, I'm not a salesperson.

Speaker 2:

But as I grew and I learned, I got to learn no, you can sell with complete integrity and you actually should sell with complete integrity, because when you sell with integrity, not only do you get them a great product or service, but they feel really good around you, like it's it's. It's selling is for them, not for you. Well, it's an alignment, that's what I call it. It's a win-win, it's figuring out. Is there a win-win here? And if you don't win, I don't win. So let's figure it out. Let me ask the questions to make sure this is a good fit for you, and it was a lesson that I learned, and it was a lesson that I learned to go wow, there's people who are going to do certain things right and there's people who are going to do certain things wrong. And always align yourself with the people who are doing right by you and doing right by the community.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and I agree with you on that too. And like sales I feel like gets such a bad rep because there've been so many. Everyone's got the experience of bad look like used car salesman or sleazy salesman or whatever. But I go at the same approach as you where it's like pressure free and it's like, hey, man, I think like I'm doing this because of service to you, like I really think that you would benefit greatly from this product, or I go about it almost as if, like you're talking with a good friend and you're really recommending like a great restaurant or a movie. Like, hey man, like I'm gonna, I'm telling you, dude, like this is really well, like blah, blah, blah, blah.

Speaker 1:

And like, yeah, obviously sales is a skill that we can all, everybody can always continue to get better at. But it's also a skill that we constantly, always practicing, just like communicating and networking too. Networking is another one that gets a lot of negative rep all the time because people think, oh, just passing out business cards and things like that. But I go to those different events with the open mind of looking to develop relationships. I look for people to connect with that I would like to invite to go grab sushi or a drink with me afterwards or something, and I think, using that approach both in sales and in networking, I think it's a really powerful thing, because you authentically show up and then you lead with integrity and with a good cause in mind.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, 100%. And I'll go back to the reason I work with high achievers specifically is to be a high achiever you have to go for excellence. Now, with that being said, I didn't say you have to be a high achiever to work with me. You just have to have the desire to be a high achiever. If you just have the desire, then you'll desire excellence by nature, and so that's where I'm like oh, those are the people that I'm supposed to be working with, because I'm always striving for excellence. I'm always striving to be my best, and not in a judgmental way either. I just I want to be my best. Anyone else can do whatever they want to do, that's their choice.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, as long as you continue to show up and you put your right foot forward, and then you should eventually be able to attract better quality people who are interested in the same kind of things as you. But it takes time, right, you got to put the work in. You got to still have to show up. It's more than just wanting that excellence. You got to make sure that you're constantly setting yourself up to position yourself for all the opportunity that can happen for you.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, there's a exercise called be do have, and I absolutely love that exercise because it was the first exercise I did when I was an overweight kid. I just didn't want it anymore. I didn't want to be overweight anymore. I wanted something different, and so I changed who I was being inside, I changed what I was doing and I ended up getting what I wanted.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's powerful, excellent exercise and I've gone through that myself in the past and it's always good to be reminded of such great tools and little tips that you can do to kind of clean yourself up and kind of self check in with yourself, distractions and the whole whirlwind of life. So I have my own like meditation and journaling practices that kind of help keep me grounded, not for the woo, woo type of stuff, but more so that I can kind of check in and and get an external perspective on okay, how am I doing my life? Am I working too many hours, am I able, am I like giving myself enough downtime and things like that. So I'm interested to hear about yourself Do you have any practices or strategies that you use to kind of keep yourself grounded and focused on the goals at hand?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, cause I say how you start your day is usually how you're going to finish your day, and I have declarations that I say to myself. So the the declarations that I say is I'm a champion and I am amplified. I'm strong in mind and flow with intention. I'm strong in heart and love what I do. I'm strong in skill and use my gifts to serve. Wealth flows to me with ease. I'm a champion of champions and if I'm by myself, I hit my chest and say I got a championship mind. If I'm with others, I point at them and let them know they have a championship mind, because this is a game that we're not just playing with ourselves. We're playing it with others.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I love that. That's pretty inspiring and motivating stuff. I love that, like getting yourself amped up, yeah. So I'm interested, cliff. How do people reach out to you or get in touch with you if they're interested in more information about your coaching or about the book if they're not quite ready to buy, or if they just want to hear more about it and such yeah? Where do they go to?

Speaker 2:

get in touch. They can find me on Facebook or LinkedIn under Clifford Starks. And, yeah, if there was something that you liked on here, please let me know. I'm always looking to improve, looking to serve, looking to figure out how I can support people in the very best way. So if there was something that really resonated with you, we'd love to know about it, and I want to thank you, rob, for having me on.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, of course, and I want to thank you for taking the time. I know we've had a couple of hiccups in the past trying to get our episode recorded, but I'm glad we finally squared it through and I appreciate you taking the time and setting everything up so that we could get this squared up. And also, I appreciate all the work that you're doing, because it's inspiring to see other coaches out here making impact and really leading with the right foot forward, setting up better, creating more opportunities for people to do better in life, and I really appreciate all the things that you're doing. Thank you. So there you go, guys.

Speaker 1:

If you are interested in connecting or hearing about the book, or connecting, hearing about more coaching or learning more about the book, make sure that you reach out to him on Facebook or on LinkedIn. And before we go, cliff, I got to ask you if you were to boil down all the information that you've learned through the different fights and experiences and whatnot through your life and you were to package it up into one piece of advice that you can give to somebody who's just started their side hustle journey. They've just moved from a hobby into making a little bit of money and they're looking to create some momentum with their business and products. What would be your piece of advice to help them get the ball rolling?

Speaker 2:

So for a person who's just getting started, I would say ask yourself what is a win that will give you the momentum to go after your next win? You want to have those little checkpoints in the beginning of your journey. May I give some advice to the bigger players too, the people who have been in the game for a while.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Thank you For the people who have been in the game for a while. Don't take yourself too seriously. Have fun on the journey. Listen closely. The answer like people are sharing their needs and their desires and their wants all the time. We just have to listen.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I think that's really powerful and I think both of those pieces of advice go for both parties the early age entrepreneurs and also the seasoned veterans out there as well, Because it's always important to have some sort of a scorecard or some kind of metric that you can check in and determine where you're at and what you need to do next to get to that next level. Then also that advice of don't take yourself so seriously I think everybody needs to hear that and be reminded of that a little more often. So I appreciate that, Cliff, thank you again for all your insights and strategies on this call man. It's been a pleasure to connect with you.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, thank you, rob.

Speaker 1:

I appreciate you. All right guys. We'll talk to you next time.