In this interview I am speaking to Klaas van Oosterhout. Klaas is a father of 2, a husband and an entrepreneur.

Klaas is known for his super powers to helping parents achieve the results they desire in life and in business through emotional mastery with his signature program called 'The Me I Want To Be".

In this interview we talked about productivity, clarity, entrepreneurial journey, goal setting and much more

You can reach Klaas through Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kvoosterhout

SPEAKERS

Klaas van Oosterhout, Joy Nicholson

Hello everyone, today I have a very special guest his name is Klaas Van Oosterhout. I hope I pronounced that right, Klaas? Klaas is a husband and a father and he's also helping entrepreneurial parents discover their real life and basically how that should look like, you know, like he is all about productivity and some really amazing things. And he helps to control that and improve every single day through his signature and proven system called - the me, become the me I want to be and achieve the results I never thought were possible. Now as an entrepreneurial parent, I know exactly how hard it can be to, well, struggle in life, in general and parenting and having a business. So, I'm very honoured to have Klaas on the show today to go into detail and give us his golden nuggets. Hi Klaas How you doing?

Hi Joy. I'm doing fantastic and thank you very much for having me on. Looking forward to spending however long we're going to be spending on this episode. I don't even know what we're going to talk about

Okay, so let me give you a quick breakdown. So, the listeners on the show is people that either have a business and they stuck. Or they wanting to start a business but they're not exactly sure what it is. Or sometimes in general some other people just listen to it because they get inspired by the successful entrepreneurs and people that I interview on the show. So, you know, so, it's just all, it's a, it's a mixed bunch of people but overall people just enjoy listening to other people's success stories and just, you know, the struggles because it's real. So can you tell people a little bit about you. Where did you grow up? And who is Klaas?

Sure, yes, sounds great. Yeah, I was also referring to you never know, cause you've been doing a lot of interviews, as you know I have done it as well. You just never know where an interview is gonna go, like, you prepare yourself, you got all these questions ready? You asked the first question and the whole thing just goes exceptionally, you know 300, no 180 degrees the other way, which I love. So that's why I'm really interested to see you know, where are we, where are we going to end up in this conversation. So who's boss I was born in Breda, which is a medium sized city in the Netherlands, in the south close to the Belgian border. And my parents are both entrepreneurs, so entrepreneurial parents. So, I guess I got the bug real fast from them and, and started, yeah, as soon as I started to work in it was all kind of intrapreneur based. I did do some nine to five, but mostly, it was all around being an entrepreneur, which was a lot of fun. What else, I moved to Spain 10 years ago, 10 plus years ago because of love. And then after that I found my wife who I found through Facebook which is pretty cool. And we've been married now for 10 years, so it's definitely been longer than 10 years that I've been living here. We've got two boys, Diego and Alex. Diego is eight. Alex is five still and they have their own YouTube channel. So, they're getting you know doing their little bit entrepreneurial journey as well which is pretty cool to see. And yeah, I'm the founder of become the me I want to be which transitioned from become a fearless father and move into that because I like, I like working with both parents. Not just with dads also with moms who are focused on making a positive impact in the world as well as in the lives of their families. And I helped them to gain clarity on what does that mean, how does that look like for you, not just what does your environment tell you. What it should look like in the government your, your, your what you've been studying, your parent, etc. Now we really want to dive deep in what does that mean for you and that's what I work on. And I found out that from that clarity now you got to take action and it's that, that action the productivity that, that's, that most of them struggle with. And then with that as well comes emotions your emotional state to hate, you know there's different states, different hats as I call it, you have to wear and it's not easy, right, you're, you're, you're having an interview or you're having a goal. Whatever it is ,you're coaching somebody and then your son is like, you know, your kid comes in or they don't but then after that you come in your living room and everything is turned upside down. And now you got to switch and have you know, make sure that you stay emotional great, lost and of course maybe you got to come back and record something and now you're upset because that didn't go well. That becomes a lot of challenges and a lot of fun. So I've been working with that for a couple of years now and enjoying it a lot.

How did you transition between your podcast come about because I remember when me and you first met, which is probably, I wanna say two years ago now easily, right? It been a good couple of years. I remember your podcast, cause I even recommended it to my husband. We were talking , you know, with two fathers on your podcast, and I listened to a few episodes and, and even being a mother, I thought it was quite inspiring to listen to. So how did, how did that transition come about? How did you actually decide that you're going to serve both parents and not just one?

Yeah, great question, just for so, so one of the things that's very important is, is take action. Right? So I'm, I'm very good at just taking action and just go and along the way, a lot of people they really want to know is like, what am I going to do? And who am I going to serve and etc. And I knew that to a certain extent, however, then it's just doing I'm not the person that worries too much about all the details, and is it going to work and then I'm just lets go and I'm find out, it works. I just, I felt like I was missing something. And then I searched, I go within myself to look as like, okay, what am I missing? And, as you mentioned, like, you know, you were listening even though it was called the become a fearless father, you will listen to it. And there were more mothers, they were listening to it. And they were telling me like, you know, I really enjoyed this. And I limited myself with become a fearless father, because I was always saying, I interviewed at that time I did. I think I did like 100 interviews. And I interviewed two women. That was it. Because I kept limiting myself by saying, No, no, no, it's become a fearless father show I must interview dads that are entrepreneurs, or at least men, but mostly just dads, and I was limiting myself. And I wanted to step away from that. And that's why I turned it into okay, become the me I want to be. It's still like most the biggest or no, the biggest group of my clients, they're still dads.

Yeah.

However, now I open it up a little bit, where at least the conversations that I'm having and the interviews that I'm having, they're more open. And, and that was for me good, because I wanted for example, like John Lee Dumas, I wanted to interview him. He's not a dad, and so I was like, you know, I was struggling with myself, which is ridiculous. But still, when I made that change it's like, okay, now I'm just free and I can interview whoever I want, which for me was very important. But also, I can just have conversations with whomever I want, although I'm still very specific in my messaging towards entrepreneurial parents.

Yes and I like that concept. I actually did a season. This is now season nine, and I did a season, season seven, that was about controlling the chaos and as an entrepreneurial parent, and it was just like, the basic productivity hacks that I would do on a daily basis that I shared with people. And it's quite amazing as an entrepreneurial parent, when you're just used to doing, because I've always been very organised. It's just always the way I've been. And you just kind of take it for granted. You don't realise that other people struggle with it. Because I had people that reached out to me and say to me that listen, how do you do this? How do you have lock down and COVID and homeschool and run a business? I was like, oh, I just do it. You know? So, how did you find? Like, have you always been, like a very organised person that you could, you know, get into this thing with people or did you had to learn to be organised? How did that come about?

I learned that from my very first coach. That was right before I started become, become a fearless father.

Yes.

I'm, in all honesty, I'm still not that organised. Like, I don't want anybody to see my desk because it's ridiculous. However, my, the most important thing is that you got to have that clear, like you can be organised. If you don't have that clarity on what that organise, that being organised leads to then there's not that much of a point, besides the fact that you can say, like, I'm organised, right? It's the same with productivity. A lot of people they, they will mention, like, you know, I'm busy, like, I'm productive. Are you really being productive? And if again, if you don't have that clarity, if you don't know where you want everything to go, then you can do as much as you want. It's just, it doesn't make much sense. It's like, like a like, like a, I don't know, a hamster, right? Running, running in a wheel. Yes, he's very productive, great. He's not getting anywhere. After he's tired, he steps out, and he's still in the same spot. And that's why I see with a lot of people, so the first thing that was for me very, very important. It was like, Okay, what is it that I truly want? Where do I want to go? Where do I want to end up? And there again, like, what I've ran out three years ago, is like, I'm not there at all because I've changed direction. Like, I, I by then again, taken action, you start to notice, like, do I really want that? Like, for me, it was like, okay, I want I want that, you know, seven figure business. That's what I thought at first, like, I want that seven figure business and, you know, I want to reach as many people as I can, and I still do want to reach as many people as I can. I'm just not that into the whole seven figure business. I don't really care. What I really want is to have time, freedom and right now because our kids are on eight and five. And I actually noticed that for me right now, it's really important to spend as much time as I can with them. And during the summer, for example, I spent more time working on their YouTube channel with them or without them, than I did on my, on my own business. And I love that. And I had no problem with that, because that's how I set everything up.

Yeah

and that's, that's clarity, that's knowing like, okay, this is what I want. And this is what I want for the next five years, until they grow a little older. Once they like, you know, around 12 and stuff, they probably don't want to hang out with daddy as much anyway, cool. Now I can look at okay, so what am I going to do the next five years? Like, I'm gonna work more? Or am I not going to work more because I'm going to do something else. But again, it all becomes just think of like, okay, what is it that I truly, where would I like to be in five years? What's that clarity for me? What's that mean? How's that look like for life, business together, integrated or not? And, and then take the steps, look at like, okay, what does that look like for me for a year? What does that look like for me the next quarter? What does it look like for me for this month, for September? Like, where do I want to be at the end of the month? What do I want to have achieved? And then I look, like I'm, what about the week, and then I even go into, like, what about the day. And that's what I really learned from my coach and then I got templates everywhere, where I write, write stuff down, I put a lot in the computer. But for my daily stuff, for example, I like to write it down, because it's very important for our brain as well to be writing. So, I write a lot every day, and I write it out, like, okay, what's the goal? What are the tasks for today that I, I, I would like to achieve?

Yeah.

um, so yeah, that's, that's how I started working on that.

So, what happens if you have a day like you've, you've scheduled everything out beautifully, you know your intention for the day? But what happens if you don't reach those intentions? Do you push them out? Or do you, like, what do you?

Re-evaluate? Nothing? Nothing happens. So but I, it's a great question. Because that's what happens, right? We believe, like, you know, we write out the actions that we have to do, and we must do them. I don't have that like, like, I've, I've build systems around that I know, like, okay, this needs to be done. And then that gets done. But in business, most of the time, I don't get done, what needs to be done. Like I tried to overextend. Because you just never know what happens, a coaching call might run longer. And that's, that's my main focus, my coaching calls are going well, then great, then everything else is, is, is, comes up next, right? And then I also and I always highly recommend everybody, when it comes to, when it comes to life, just know your plan like, it's important, right? No, plan that time that you want to spend with your kids and, and from when to when is that gonna be, etc, etc. However, in your business, I would always suggest like, plan more, like, just plan over, you don't get it great. Either look if you can do to the next day or the day after that, depending on you, of course, you know, maybe that nap tomorrow, you have a lot of coaching calls, and then it would be difficult or strategy calls or whatever it is that you're focused on. But plan more so you can see is, like, what's actually the max that I can do and what needs to get done, but I couldn't. So, that you're really start thinking like, okay, but how can I make sure that that gets done? And then you start looking at, like, okay, who, who can do that for me? Right? I had an interview with Blake Nubar, last week, a couple of days ago.

Oh nice. I've interviewed him before, he's awesome, love him.

Yeah, exactly, exactly. Yeah. And, and he made a lot of sense. When, when he was saying it's like, I lost my thread for a second. Um yeah, I lost my thread. So, um, the, the most important thing is when, when you look at, like, what do I need to get done? Then do that. But what he was looking at is like, okay, how can I get somebody else to do that? Right? It's not just all about, you know, what do I do, what do I do? It is looking at like, okay, how can somebody else do that and then build your, your business, right? And that's really good. Now, I also interviewed Matt Gunzach who was pretty much saying the same thing. He's like, you know, you're not an entrepreneur, unless you've got VAs, solving problems, you're not growing unless you have more people working for you that are solving problems for you. So you really got to look at like, you know, what's the problem here that I have in my own business and who can I use? Instead of looking like how can I solve it, look at who can I use to solve this for me? Now all of a sudden, you can write instead of writing four actions. And now I remember what I want to say about Blake. So, when you have four actions, now you can do eight because you can send out like six of them to somebody else. So sorry, I'm mis mis with Blake, what he was saying is like, make sure you do your biggest tasks first. Right. And that's huge as well, because we're so busy. And he was mentioned, like, everybody's so busy with, you know, responding to Facebook to people and comments and blah, blah, and, and contests and to e or replying to emails and stuff like that. And that actually, it's, it's not that important. But the real important stuff, right, that should be done first. So, he's like, focus on that first. And he said, you know, first the three biggest steps focus on, focus on those. And of course, then he remembers like, wait a minute, I didn't start that way. He said, No, no, first, just do one everyday, do one big, big task that you know that's going to move the needle. If you start doing that, at, at the end of the month, you're going to be so much further. And that's, that's the big thing, like you got to know for yourself. And that's what I write down every time. It's like, what's the number one biggest task that even if I get nothing else done today, but I just get that task done. I know that I've moved forward and I've been productive. And that's what I'm really focused on. And I think that's, that's the big thing. It doesn't matter if you do 10 tasks, or just one, as long as that one is the task that actually makes your business move forward. So, yeah, sorry, I messed that up for a little bit over there.

Oh no, that's perfectly fine. I'm all tongue tied myself tonight, so, don't worry about it. But yeah no, I 100% agree with you. Because you know what, that's a mistake that I did in the past, like, I would get to my computer and the first thing I will do is check emails. And then I realised, well, it doesn't actually help much. And now I will check emails from my phone when I'm doing something else that I don't need to focus on actually. The green dots, you know, making the money in your business because I mean, that's the needle that's what you move forward, right?

Exactly, exactly. Ya

So now as a parent, which you are obviously. A dad of a five and a eight year old, I'm a mom of a four and a seven year old, so our kids are very similar ages. But you know, there's a lot of struggles that comes with being an entrepreneurial parent. Can you, can you enlighten us Klaas with some struggles that you've had and how you overcome them being an entrepreneurial parent in business?

The biggest struggle is that we again, we want to make, we want to provide and we, we misinterpret what that actually means. So, and, and I don't have to blame anybody, I just always like to look at, you know, how has, is government and, and school teaching us of how our lives should look like? And that's, that's the big issue, right? We should go to school for as long as possible, and then go into the work space and work for as long as possible. And for, and then not just like in years wise, but also in, like, what you do during the day, right? I mean, they say it's an eight hour work day but, you know, you're working overtime. Everybody loves that when you do that and then you travel of course. So you're, you're at least away 10 hours, if you're, you're working and what my biggest challenge was in the beginning was, like, that's what I brought back with me when I started becoming a full time entrepreneur. So I was just working, working, working, working, working, working, thinking like, no, that's what I've been taught, I need to provide, I need to make, you know. As Steve Larson calls it I need to bring home the bacon. And it's at a certain point, I start realising like really, like, I know I need to make money of course we need to eat and stuff like that. But you know, how much money do I really need to make that will cost our kids that, you know, not see me as much as, as they would like, because it's what they would like, and they prefer all day every day. And if that means, I don't know, one less slice of cheese instead of, you know, two slices, they get one slice of cheese and I'm gonna, they're gonna say look, one slice is fine. We get to spend an hour, two hours extra every single day with our dad. Let's do that. And that's when I started realising, like, wait a minute, you know that, that was the moment that clicked for me. It's like wait a minute, I don't need to have a seven figure business. I need to have a business that, that works, that's going well. And, and that indeed gives us the possible, you got to pay your stuff right. However, I sort of notice like, wait a minute, I can do that with two hours of work a day. And the rest of the time I can spend on me making sure that I'm fit, both mind and body and that you know the rest of the time is with them. Like, I get to drop them off at school and get to pick them up and then we go to football practice. I actually just got, I think I start today as an extra, an extra trainer over there. So, now I'm doing that, so, I'm love that. I am not the dad that loves to sit around. Last night or yesterday evening we went to the playground, I went with the oldest one. We played for, like, hour and a half football, and I was playing as well. So, I like to do that and then I don't sit around as well like that. That's also like, you know, you then you go out and then you like are great. Now my kids gets to play and I have my phone with me and I can answer those messages on Facebook, right. That and I understand that if that's what you need to do, then especially in the beginning, that's what you need to do. However, you got to know again, what's that clarity of where am I trying to take this, like, I got two phones right now, one can only call, I can only make phone calls. That's it, I can't do anything else. And the other one has all the apps on it, and it doesn't leave my office, like it doesn't even go, like, it's in the house, it doesn't leave my office. So, I if I want to check something on WhatsApp, or voxer, or whatever it is, the way that I, you know, connect with my clients. I can only check that if I go into my office, because that was another struggle, is like, you know, that thing is with you and you really driven and you know, you don't want to miss any calls or anything. Can't miss anything now, you know, I call you back. Right? There's always tomorrow. And that's difficult. That takes a mindset that you and again, it comes with that clarity. And there's nothing wrong with that. Like, there's intrapreneurial parents that all they do is work and it's what they focused on. And you know, if it works for you great, I just haven't seen it really work. Like, their business goes great, except then, you know, the connection with the kids and their marriage. Not so much. So, I really try to create that balance where everything, every single area for me works. And it's definitely working.

That's really awesome. And like, you know what, I completely relate with this and because I struggled myself with this and I literally burned out. I remember my husband was travelling, this is like my first year of my journey, probably like three and a half years ago. And my husband was travelling, and I was with the kids and at that stage, I was doing 60/70 hour work weeks, and I was just exhausted. And I literally burnt out and I could not get out of bed, I couldn't get up and he was not home. And I was like I couldn't even take my boy to school. I was so completely exhausted. And I was like, what am I doing? I started this for them, now I'm working against them. And it was just, it's that realisation, exactly what you're saying, you know, like, get that clarity of why you're actually doing what you're doing and what's your purpose behind it, right. Tell me a little bit about your programme Klaas, how does that work and how exactly do you help people with your programme?

Yeah, so, there's two programmes at the moment, breaching three. So there's the, my one on one coaching programme, which is become the me I want to be. That's, I see it as simple. It's one on one coaching, where I help my clients to move forward, like move the needle every single week. And we really focus on making sure that they plan out everything. Like, I know exactly, like, they got the clarity of where, you know, where, what is my ultimate vision look like? All into, like, okay, and what do I got to do today to make, make that happen? That's, that's that part. The cool part where I'm extra excited about at the moment is I'm working on a project called 100 masters of productivity, which is my fundraising project. And. We, what we're doing is we're sending 50% of all the money that comes in straight to we rescue kids, which is an organisation or non-profit organisation that helps sexually abused children to overcome their traumas. And I want us to do something where you know, I give you value, so people that buy it, not only spend money that goes straight into a great cause, but at the same time I'm giving you value, like you can really get something in return. So what I'm doing there is I'm interviewing a 100 so far, I've done 51 massive productivity, and they shared their productivity hacks of what they've learned or what they've used that really help them to achieve success. So some of the people that I've interviewed John Lee Dumas, Serena Brown Travis, who is Les Brown's daughter, and Sandra D. Robbins, who is a, who used to be an actor, very, very well known. I think she played in CSI Miami for for a while and other movies and stuff like that. And now she has an incredible company. So she hopped on, Jim Edwards has been on Dave Woodward many, many amazing, amazing guests so far and it's only going to get better because the other 50% is going to be reinvested in the programme to get more, you know, Russell Brunson, for example is, is going to be on my list, I'm making a new list, a smaller list of really focused, like, these are the people that want. Richard Branson, for example, is like my top, top one on the list that I, that I want to have on as well. So, I'm really focused on making sure like the value is there and, and you know, that way, the idea is to make a 1 million by the end of 2022. And then meeting 1 million that goes to the rescue kids. So, I think that's very important and, and at a certain point you come to that conclusion and you come to that moment where it's, like, yes, I can focus. Like, a lot of my resources, I would have money a time on such a project. I think that's, I'm already thinking about the second project to be honest. So, it's a, I haven't even finished this one, but I'm already, I got already the second project in my head. Because it's so much fun. Plus, as you mentioned before, the interviews are just so cool. Because, yeah, you get to, what people don't know, right? This is not just the time that we spend together, this is the time that you get to listen to us. However, there is a litte bit of time before, with most I gotta say, with most, is a little bit time before and there is a little bit time after. And that's, that's the cool part. That's that's where, you know, you get to hang out with them and, you know, build on that relationship and maybe ask an extra question, like, you know, hey, listen, you know, productivity aside, you know, how did you this, this and this and, and that's, yeah, it's, it's very exciting. And again, not everybody's like that. Some like, like, John, Johnny who, he just does, he has one day, I think, he just interview after interview, after interview, you get 15 minutes, he comes on, he says, your time goes in now. And that's cool. I appreciate that. I'm still appreciative of his time. However, you know, I'm also, like, man, I would love, like, five more minutes with you. So, I actually cut, last time I cut the interview a little short, and I got like, two minutes extra with him. So, it was funny. So, yeah, that's, that's what I'm working on at the moment. That's how I help people. And I love being able to help people by using the relationships that I have build, and, and, and gathering other people, like, it's great. Yes, you know, I am convinced that what I have to share is very, very powerful and helpful, etc. to so many other more great minds out there. I mean, I love to, like 100 people are going to be in there at a certain point, like, boom, here you go. It's great, because that's the way I work is like, you know, you hear something from one coach. I also like to hear, like, okay, well, what does what does YouTube then say or what does that person say? What does that person say? Or now, okay, I'm doing this, like, I always do this, this and this and I'll do it this way. And then I just love to hear, like, how does somebody else do that? I think that's very important to keep an open mind in, in those kind of things. And that's what I teach my, my clients as well as, like, I'll give you my opinion. However, you know, think about what I'm telling you, like, I really need you to think like is this working, like, you know, and that, that's very important, instead of just, you know, blindly follow somebody and exactly do what they do. Because yes, they, they're successful, but they have a different journey than you have, we have to realise that, right? Plus, your end vision is also different. It should be, right. We can't all like Russell Brunson, I love what the guys doing and he's absolutely phenomenal. And he has great causes that he work for as well. However, one his cause is not my cause, two, you know, his life is not my life and also the direction that and you know, what, what he is selling, etc? Everything is different. So always keep into account, like, what is it that I want? And keep asking yourself that?

Yeah. I love that. I love, I love, I love speaking to these people and exactly that, because I always, I tend to ask some of the questions the same because of exactly that, you know, see how people do it. Let's have another one, hashtag goals? Klaas, how do you set your goals?

How do I set my goals? Again, it comes from that clarity of what, what do I want my vision to be like? Alright, and I always start with life first. I start with life first and I built my business around that. So, and then I set my goals for, for a year. And I do that in four and four, again, first analysing how was last year and then looking at like, what's, what's the next year going to be like? And then I look at like, okay, what are the big four goals that I want to have, achieve at the end of the year for my life. And I also always look at, like, what goal, if I would achieve that, will elevate everything else. Because there's so many goals that we can set that's a big issue like people will use to when to start setting goals. Like, you get a list.

Too many.

Then everybody's looking at that list, like, and, and then they stop because it's like the list is so huge. I just put four things and then everything comes from that. But I look at, like, okay, one of the big goals that I've been setting and I've been doing it for a while now is my health. Like, I keep working on my health. I keep looking at like, okay, how can I improve my energy level? How can I improve my strength? I got two boys and they're getting older and they're getting more crazy and they still want to jump on me and all that stuff. So, you know, I got to get stronger because they're getting heavier and stronger. So, I keep looking at that. I keep looking at, okay, how can I improve my food for example? Right now for a week. Yeah for a week now. I am working on not eating until it's 12 o'clock. So I eat between 12 and 5 and the rest I don't eat.

Yeah, intermediate fasting, yeah.

For me, it's it's yeah, it's, it's right now I'm, I'm enjoying it. I drink a lot more, which is good and I'm sharper. So, that's, that's nice as well. And, um, so I, I look at those things, and then I go and, like, okay with those life goals that I have, what are now my business goals? Like, what do I really want to achieve? So, for this year, for example, one of the big goals, actually, the biggest, biggest goal is to have my business set up in such a way that I will not work while I'm with the kids. Which, again, you set a goal, yeah, and I love it. The kids love it. Well, however, it also immediately brings and, and that's those my challenges, I didn't really think it through. Because then the summer vacation came and they are home for 10 weeks. And I was like, Yeah, I still got to work, still got a coaching clients, I'm still looking at like, okay, how can I do that? And I actually want to go to a moment that I say like, okay, all the vacations I do not coach. I'm not going to coach I'm just going to move it or whatever it is and, and set it up in such a way that people know it's like, I don't coach there don't there, there, you always have access to me through my voxer but that's it, no calls no nothing. However, you only know that again, it's all that clarity, right, we build a clarity from, we build a vision from, from a limited perspective that we have at that, at that moment in time, right? Not doing it, the works. Doing it then is great, but don't be afraid to then change it because you're going to learn so much along the way while you take action and that's what happened again this year.

True that

Right? And once I've done that, so the other big goal, of course for the business is to make sure that, that non-profit, that fundraising projects, when our massive productivity is launched and, and you know everything is interviewed, although I already know that I'm not gonna make it because I ops again, right. You have that vision you have that goal, but then I update myself already by saying like, no, I want like a Richard Branson. I want a Russell Brunson that is going to take a lot more time than, then I thought at first because you know, it takes takes a while to get a person like that on I already got some no's. I got to keep going. So I got to find new ways, like okay, how can I turn this no into a yes? So, that's how I do it and then I look at like, okay, what do I want to have done in the next three months? What do I want to have done in the next month, but always every single time from the four, four. So four goals for life. Four goals for business. And I look at like, okay, what do I want to do for the year, so what do I need to have achieved then by the end of the queue, or by the end of the month, end of the week, and by the end of the day, and always be flexible as well, like, I like I got in my mind is like, look everything changes. Everything changes all the time. Like, literally everything, like, we change, like, everything within us, you name it, everything changes. Once you realise that and you're okay with that, then it becomes a lot easier because then you see, like, like I mentioned, my goals have changed. I actually had a goal for life, which was we want to drastically reduce our plastic garbage. And I think within a month, we already achieved the whole goal. I was like, Okay, so then you change, right? It's not, like, okay, now we reached it, and that's it, no, then we change. Okay, so how can we make this you know, how can we maintain this and then get a different goal that will work better? And that's how you continuously work and don't be afraid of that, like, okay, like, I can do that, right? Whoo, this goal is actually too big. How can I change it? Don't be afraid, to afraid either to set like a big, big goal. It's okay. Right? Again, that's, that's how you really learn. That's how you really like, okay, why did I not achieve it and what can I learn from this? And, you know, where was I most of the times it's, you know, there's fear coming up, like well, you know, you I was really afraid of this or that, you know, I knew I had to do this, but it wasn't working. The only way you can do this is by setting the goal and just go for it.

Yeah. This is a, that's is special stuff. Yeah. Have you, have you heard of the Conqueror, it's like a, it's a virtual challenge, you might actually enjoy this Klaas. I joined this, I want to say probably three months ago, a friend of mine told me, he actually gets, wait I can show you behind me, you actually get like this physical medal when you do running and stuff. It's pretty cool, its quite a solid medal. Now this is 412 kilometres, I ran / walk this and I'm not a runner. And when you talk about, you know, setting those goals and setting those personal goals. If you told me, like, six months ago, you're going to do this. I'm going to say hell no, you're crazy. I'm not a runner. It's not something I can do. But I did it and I've already signed up for my second one. But if you have that, that clear vision and say okey this is how you're going to do it and you set up your action steps, like, for that for example you know that you have to run a certain kilometre a day to achieve that, right at the end of, you know, if you want to do it in 60 days or whatever. How do you set your action steps to achieve it every day? Do you do it, like, digitally. Do you do it physically, like, like, on your, you know, like, a piece of paper. How do you set your action steps daily?

So, the daily is, is for me always on a piece of paper, always, right. So, I've got them right on my desk, right. I got my whole thing here, it's my action plan for life, my action plan for business. Every, every night I sit down and that's when I, I, I, I first analyse the day.

Yes.

And again first life, then business and then I, I, I, I go into, okay, so, what, what needs to be done tomorrow and that's the moment then I can look, like, okay what, what did I not do and I know I must get done alright let's, let's make sure that that gets on there and then it moves priorities. If it's, if it's really important and that's, that's how I plan it and as I said I write it so this is also my, my journal. I asked questions in here and stuff like that where I look at, you know, what am I grateful for? What was I grateful for today? You know, who must I forgive. How I'm going to show up or or know how I'm going to serve today. All those kinds of things I put in there as well and, you know, I make sure that I answer them in the morning so, I'm already hyped up and also answered them at night so, that I can unwind completely before, before I go to sleep.

Yeah. I like that, it's really cool to do that, I did same its really cool. So, second last question. If somebody is sitting on the fence and they not exactly sure if they should carry on doing a business. Or thinking about doing a business, or they just stuck in their current business and are like crikey I got into this business but I really don't like it or they're just stuck financially. What type of advice would you have for somebody that is either sitting on the fence or they're stuck.

Alright let's see. Is it different things, stuck or seeing, well if you just don't know how to move forward, right, all right, there's, there's, there's so many different directions that we can take this. Simple one, if it's a simple decision to, I'm going to, I love this one one of my coaches did this one with me. I was, I was stuck and I was, like dude, for me it was something silly. So I was stuck and I'm like, dude, I don't know what to choose, I don't know if we're going to go with this or with this. I think actually that was with, with, with, you know, am I going to continue with only enterpreneur for entrepreneurial dads or am I actually going to make that shift and go with entrepreneurial parents? He said all right so that's, you know, simple AB in general, right, as peo as somebody, for you is like the most difficult decision ever but for somebody looking for it like, that's a simple decision to be honest, right. So, he just made me grab a coin and A was dads and, or heads was dads and tails was, was, was parents and he just made me flip it, grab it, put it down and not look but asked me like what, what's ,what's your gut telling you right now? Like, what do you feel like, that's what i wanted. I was, like, parents, parents, so put the coin away don't look, like, you made your decision, right. So we have to understand that once we have to make decisions, we already have that decision within us. We have an unlimited potential and decision making power. The only thing is that it's been, we've been filled with so much fear and we're so afraid of making the wrong decision. However, make the decision and go and then find out, right. Because you made a decision before, it's like okay, this is the business that I want. You made a decision and then somewhere along the way something happened which is going to happen anyway, right. Bad stuff is going to happen I mean challenge, not bad stuff, but challenges are going to happen and you need to know how to deal with that. You need to make sure that if this is really what you want to do keep reanimated so keep motivating yourself all the time. Because at some point you just go a little dip I have that once in a while as well. I know however how fast I can get out of it because I know what I do and, and if you don't then again grab a coin. What else, yeah, I love that one I use it now very often actually. Usually my own client just sit there and go, oh what do you want it to be, good and then I put it away. And then, like, what was it and I say it's not important, because it's not. I looked anyway it was funny because I, I'm one of those that I want to look and it was both the same. So, it was and it was I think, deals, that's it, deals with parents. So it was deals and you know, I already said it. It's like, see, the universe also provides, boom, but it's within us and that's the most important thing. When I look for names, for example, like, what am I going to call my business? And then you start thinking logically and you're writing all those names out and you're writing all those names out and you're like, man, I got so many names, like, how do I pick? And then I was meditating or breathing exercise one day, and it was just calmly breathing and just asking the question over and over again, and then it was, become a fearless father, that just came, and then it's like, cool. That's actually awesome. I hadn't, I hadn't written that down. So, then I had a name. So, it's all about belief, knowing that what comes out of you is so important, and so powerful. And that's where you got to keep, keep getting it, it's like, okay, if you're on the fence, like, you know. Should I continue or not, like, just take the time to relax, step away. Go on a holiday, for example, just leave everything alone. And then during a holiday, just have walks, wherever it is alone and just talk to yourself. Like, I love this as well, there was one guy that mentioned that as well. He said, I go for walks early in the morning, I put in my headset. And then I just started to I just a headset, like he wasn't even connected. He just had the headset. And he said, the reason why I do that is because people look weird at me if I don't. So, if I have my headset in, people think, like, I'm actually having a conversation with somebody. I am not. He said I'm just having a conversation with myself. So he's walking and asking himself all the time, all kinds of questions. And you're just actually, and then quiet. Yeah, yeah. Well, the problem is that we, we often start rationalising, and then rationalising, giving an answer. However, again, it's within us. So if we're quiet and let our brain just work through it, at a certain point, you're going to get an answer you like, but that's it. Right? And that's, that's how I make different ways of making decisions myself when I'm on the fence, or when I have doubts, or when, when you just lost, right? When you're just like, I don't know, or, right. And then option number three, have a coach, have a coach like everybody, if you're serious about your life and your business, you should have at least, at least one coach. And that, that's very important, like one that, that clicks with you that understands you, that, that you know, and that you can connect with. But sometimes you just like, ooh I'm lost and just, you know, I can connect with voxer with my coach quickly, right in like, dude, I just had this idea, what do you think? Right? And then you get that extra mile or like, you know, ooh I got three ideas? 123? What should I pick? Or I'm stuck, like, sometimes I get stuck. Look, I don't know what to do next. And then you know, you need to have that coach that, that's been there already, I can tell you like, do this, right? It could be a coach, could be a mentor, could be a mastermind, where you're just with, with two other people and you connect every week, but you can also connect during, during the week real quickly with a question. Yeah, It's, it's really important to have like minded people around you that you can spar with, with, with thoughts and ideas. Again, and then you come back again to, you know, just sitting and relaxing and asking yourself, the universe, whatever you want to call it, in the moments that you're quiet, of what answer because in the end, it's got to come from you. Yeah, I've had coaches that told me like, you got to do this. Like, okay. And then I was sitting down, I was calm a the moment and everything within me was saying, like, No, I don't, like, it doesn't feel like me. It just doesn't feel comfortable. And then you share it again. And then you come out to a conclusion. If not, you, we actually got to do this, and then you know, that's okay, too. As long as you keep moving, that's the most important.

Definitely. Now you have interviewed a lot of people Klaas, and I am just like, it's just amazing, you know, to speak to somebody that has done the same thing, right? What has been the top three things that you've learned from all the people that you've interviewed? I know I'm putting you on the spot because you've done a lot of interviews, but just the first three things that comes to mind. Of all the interviews that you've done, that was your most favourite things that they've said to inspire you?

Yeah. Jim Edwards.

Yes.

He said something and it just clicked. I was like, just on the spot, boom. And he mentioned that you know, we should time block, right? I mean, most people when you when, when you understand, some are like, I'm lucky No, but trust me, time blocking is like a gift. And however what I was struggling with, with time blocking is like, I wasn't actually sticking to my time blocks. And, and still you can time block and say like, okay, this hour I'm going to spend on reaching out to people, for example, right. And it's scary. And it's like, yeah, whatever. So, you actually come up with different excuses within your business that are important, more important than doing that, which is, you know, that's how you make money. Because, you know, that's how you get clients.

Procrastinate.

Yeah, exactly. And then he said, and I, I changed a little bit, but what he said was, you know, I see every single time block that I've set for myself as an appointment. So, I, it's like an appointment with myself, of making sure and then because it's an appointment, it's already different, you're given again, more charge. And that's nice. But then you make an appointment with yourself. If you're not strong enough to keep an appointment with yourself, which most of us are not. That's a nice, but still hard and still the same thing was happening. And then I start saying, You know what? No, I'm going to pretend I've set an appointment with the most important person that I want to have an appointment with, for, for me is still Richard Branson. I would like every single hour that I know, like, this is an absolute, absolute must. It's my boy, Richard Branson, and I want them to have Richard Branson on. So if I don't show up, if I don't do this, then I'm showing him that I am not, you know, worthy or deserving of having him on as a guest. So, I'm really, I'm playing with my mind to really set up. So that was a, that was really huge. Another huge thing that came from, from John Lee Dumas. And he was saying, it's like, you know, you got to figure, see, time blocking is great. But you got to figure out, what is your actual ideal time block for when you do? Like, like what he called, I think you call it the power stuff, or, you know, he's been writing his book. And books out, by the way, was just such a phenomenal book. So, he was writing his book, and he was saying, like I was, there's moments where you just sit down and you work on that book. And he said, like, for me, it was like, I think he said, 45 minutes, 45 minutes was perfect. So he worked for 45 minutes and stopped and did something else. And then for like, 5/10 minutes, he went for a walk or a swim in the pool that they have, or whatever it is, right? And then he would come back and do another 45 minutes. So, he mentioned like, really find out what's that sweet spot, because as entrepreneurs we're sitting and then we do just keep going, and our productivity goes whooof. After that, that sweet spot our productivity, even though we think we're still productive, our productivity just crashes. And that was a huge one. And then the third one. Now, now it's like, you know, there's so many is like, which one shall I pick? That will also really help somebody else. Um, let's see. dam, dam, dam. da. Got like five in my head right now that I can share on top. Okay, let's, let's, let's pick this one. So, I didn't interview Russell Brunson yet. Okay. However, what he said, made it very begin, because what he said was at a certain point, I think it was during the one funnel away challenge. He said, as enterpreneurs we must stop looking for how can I do this? And start really looking for who can do this for me. And that ties in nicely with with Matt Gunzach, like, who I interviewed last, a couple of weeks ago, I think. Where he said is, like, you know, as entrepreneurs, you're not a real entrepreneur, unless you're, you know, if you got those VAs, it doesn't even matter, like, you know, you send things to, like, Upwork or Fiverr. I think most people use, you know, those kind of things just, you got to set that out, you got to really know is like, you know, what am I strong at, what needs to be done? What takes a lot of my time, and I'm not usually is what takes a lot of time, you're also not stronger, right? Because you're procrastinating and then you know, it just takes you more than ever. I'm not a designer, so design stuff that takes me forever. So why would I do that? Right? So why don't just spend that money and have somebody else do it and they deliver way better work than what I could ever do? Plus way faster and you know, everybody's happy. So, that, that's one I was really start looking at, like, who can do this for me, who can, who can make sure that you know, did they find the right people for me to connect with? Yeah, because nothing like, like. Yes, it's necessary. Just, just for me, it's just a waste. It's a waste of time that I can spend on different things. And so I've got somebody else to look in for, like the profiles and stuff that people I can connect with. That saves me so much time, then now I can, like, really work.

Focus on the programme.

Things that really move the needle. Yeah, exactly.

Yeah. So I love it. Yeah, that's awesome. Klaas, where can people reach you?

Where can people reach me? I'm predominately on Facebook. And then they can just reach me on my name Klaas van Oosterhout. I think there's only one. So that shouldn't be that hard. And yeah, that's, that's the easiest. And the one out of mastersofproductivity.com is the fundraising project. And I'm, I'm working on my own side as well klaasvanoosterhout.com, I got reserved. Anybody that's listening to this and has a show as well, just as amazing as yours, Joy, can reach me on, at interviewklaas.com which is the easiest way to just book in a time with me. As you mentioned, like, you know, I love interviewing, yes, I love interviewing, I also love to come on other people's shows, it's a lot of fun. It's just, you know, it's a different dynamic than I, I am more relaxed. So, and it's, it's a lot of fun. And again, it's all about building connections, and, and getting to know people and having fun conversations and being able to share value as much as possible. So I would say those are the best places at the moment to connect with me.

Awesome. Thank you so much Klaas. And just, I want to mention one last thing. When I interviewed Blake probably about two years ago, now, a year and a half ago, one thing I learned from him, and that was the build relationships. And that's one of the biggest reasons why I do interviews is to just purely build relationships with people on top of obviously sharing value with the audience. So just a last little takeaway there. But thank you. Yes

No it is, it's a great one. Yeah, it was one of the five that I had in my head. So for me, Christopher Voss, he's like, he's, he's the king of relationships. So he has a method called the RR method, which stands for return on relationship. He's been named by Russell Brunson as the best gift giver of the whole clickfunnels community. Dude's phenomenal, like he's building relationship with, with people like, like Russell, like, like, I think right now he's working on Tony Robbins and Alec Scharffen. For example, most people also know probably, he's got a relation with this people. And he's, he's my inspiration in regards to, like, not just building relationship, and then also, you know, continuing that relationship, just giving, giving, and really looking at like, okay, what is it that people? How can I make people extra happy? How can I deliver an extra value because it's what it's about, right?

Exactly.

Without

Wanting someting in return as well

Exactly, without wanting something in return,, which then again, I'm kinda like, you know, also, like, Look, it's okay to want something in return, right? It's, it's okay. Like, like, there's, there's also in a relationship, there's a give and take. However, it's not, like, predominantly, like, I'm going to build a relationship with you, so I can get you on my, on my show, right? And then we're done. And that's what most people do. And it's very important to after that, make sure that you continue that relationship, like, send them a little extra gift, like, Hey, I really appreciate that. Or when you think of them, like, send them an extra note, or, you know, I was making. I'm not doing that at the moment, I was making handwritten notes for the guests that I had on my show. And I will send it to them. Right.

That's awesome. That's a really cool idea.

Who still writes handwritten notes. Who knows

Nobody

Yeah

Nobody so that is really cool.

No, so, I had, actually I have them here. I, I made this, I designed this myself took me forever, but you know, just had this made. And then I, just, you know, turned it into postcard. And just written on the, on the back, then I noticed that postcards actually hardly arrived. So I started putting in an envelope and I had more, no more room to write. So I was writing more stuff, right. And I made it really personal and, and again, who writes personal notes, like, hardly anybody does that. And because you do you stand out and you really build up relationship because people are like, Wow, look at him. Right? It's all about going the extra mile. So all the guests, for example, how to master productivity. I didn't just put the, in, the interview there. No, no, I also put a nice picture of them and their bio, and then I put, like, how can people connect with them to their website, and then also the social medias. And then when that was all done and set up, I made a video. So I make a video of that showing them like a loom, right? I show them like, Hey, listen, you know, this is what I did. This is where people can find you. Look, everything works da, da, da. Really appreciate it. Again, another touch point of connection and then the response that you get back is, like, wow, you really go above and beyond. And that's the kind of things that you want, like you want them to really feel, like look, I spent 15 minutes of my time to come on your show that around the time that I interview my people at the moment. And Amber, you spent hours on me to make sure that I shine even more than I could possibly can. People feel happy? What is going to happen? Well, somebody is going to say like, hey, listen, have you been on so and so's show? Right? Like, next time when I talk to somebody, I'll be, like, hey, listen, you know, I know you're looking for shows. Right? I know. For example, Serena. Serena Brown is looking for shows like she loves to come on shows. I've be like, hey Serean I know you're looking for show. Joy is phenomenal. Like your mind if I connect you with her and then you chat with her and see if you can book a time to come on her show. Right? So now I can connect people, I come out as a rock star because you're like, wow, you know you connected with Serena? Serena's gonna be like, wow, you know, Joy was fantastic, I loved being on our show. It's a win-win for everybody. And that's what a relationship should be about. It should be about a win-win-win for everybody. Exactly. Win-win. Definitely. I love it. It's an, it's an amazing way to grow a business. Actually. It really is. Yeah, it's actually.

And it's a free way to do it guys. So there you go.

Yip

Time and effort, which is a good way. Klaas, this is fantastic. Thank you. I really appreciate your time. I think this is one of the longest interviews I've done in a long time, which is actually awesome, because it's, it's just really nice. You shared a lot of really awesome golden nuggets. I really appreciate your time. Thank you.

Glad to hear that. No I thank you for having me on. I really had a good time.

Thank you.