BIO: Patrick Metzger is the CEO/Founder of PM and Associates and one of less than 450 Professional EOS Implementers in the world. Patrick and his team help businesses get the most out of their organizations and people by helping get everyone on the same page and executing the company vision, as well as by creating healthier, more cohesive, and higher functioning leadership teams.
STORY: Patrick grew up around teachers and coaches. He believed that he, too, was meant to be a teacher. He went to school and earned two teaching degrees, and went on to teach for 11 years. Patrick had this nagging feeling that he was not doing what he was meant to do with his life. He went on a journey to find his true calling, but it was not until he decided to find a mentor that he could see it and reach his full potential.
LEARNING: Find a mentor or a coach who will challenge you and pull out the best of you. Dive deep into your past to know yourself and what you are meant to do with your life. Do not be afraid of obstacles or to quit and start over.
“Double down on yourself. If you’re going to roll the dice, roll it on yourself.”
Patrick Metzger
Worst investment ever
Patrick grew up around influential leaders, coaches, and teachers that he admired. Both his parents were huge influences in his life, being teachers. Patrick went to college dead set on the idea that he would be a teacher and a coach, as that is what he was familiar with.
Settling straight into his childhood dream job
When Patrick got out of college, he had two teaching degrees. Then he got his first teaching job and was a head football coach. He absolutely loved it. He truly believed that this is what he wanted to do.
Maybe I am meant for more
Fast forward eight years, Patrick started questioning things. He started asking if teaching was all he was meant to do. He started feeling a calling to do something else. He did not know if it was teaching that he needed to leave or it was just the environment of the current school that he needed to leave.
Patrick ended up leaving the school he was at and went to a different one. It was like a brand new start. New coaching job, new environment of teachers, students, and new school district. He loved it here.
Itching for a greater challenge
Into Patrick’s third year at the new school and his 11th year of teaching, he started feeling like he had slammed into a brick wall. That brick wall woke him up to the reality that teaching is not what he was supposed to be doing for the rest of his life.
Patrick quit his teaching job and took a job as an executive recruiter and did that for about six months. He still felt unsettled, and so while he worked as a recruiter, Patrick started putting together plans to develop an online health and wellness coaching and consulting business.
Patrick got approached to manage a gym, and he saw this as a stepping stone. So he left his recruiting job, took the job as a gym manager, and did that for nine months. Then he got fired.
Rebuilding from scratch
Getting fired was a shocker for Patrick, and it threw him into the deep end of the pool. He had to swim or sink. Luckily, two months before that, Patrick had launched his online business. Now he was tasked with deciding whether to roll the dice on himself again and go into his online business full time or go back to teaching. He chose to concentrate on his online business.
Time to find a mentor
Three months after launching his business, Patrick realized he would have trouble scaling his business. He decided to seek guidance from a business coach out of the San Diego area. His name is Peter Scott; he specializes in online automation for businesses. He did not know how he would pay the coach, so he put his fees on a credit card, something Patrick never does.
The coach was an absolute game-changer for Patrick. Within two weeks, the coach had already paid for himself with just a little bit of advice.
Finally doing what he was meant to do
One of the best things for Patrick while working with the coach is that he finally got to see what he was truly meant to do. The coach made him realize that he loved health wellness, he loved teaching and coaching, and if he merged the three, he would find his true calling.
Within months, Patrick, with his coach’s guidance, transitioned his whole business into high-performance coaching. This got him into working with companies, and he started doing some keynote speaking.
Patrick happened to run across the EOS framework while reading the book Traction by Gino Wickman. He was astounded by the framework. He started looking into it, and finally, he was convinced that this right here was what he was meant to be doing, and indeed it is what he is still doing.
Patrick’s biggest regret is that he spent more than 11 years doing something that was not meant for him.
Lessons learned
Take a trip to the past to know yourself
You do not get to know what you are meant for until you dive into the past and examine yourself. Look at your self-limiting, your strengths, your weaknesses, what you love and that you do not love. Then ask yourself how you can take all those things, double down, and invest in yourself.
Do not avoid the obstacles in your life
Whenever you are going through obstacles in life, blaze right through them instead of avoiding them. You will not reach where you are supposed to go, personally or professionally, if you are afraid to walk through those tough times. These obstacles will strip away everything you are not about and truly reveal to you who you are, what you care about, and what you are meant to do.
Andrew’s takeaways
Do not be afraid to quit
Times may be demanding right now, and you do not want to quit without giving it a lot of thought, but when circumstances aren’t right, do not be afraid to leave and try something new. You have got so much more to give.
Actionable advice
Find a mentor, or a guide, or whoever it may be that will pull the best out of you. Whether it is a coach personally for you or a coach professionally for your business, find one that will challenge you and cares about you.
No. 1 goal for the next 12 months
Patrick’s number one goal is to impact people by teaching them, showing them, and empowering them to get more out of themselves or their business.
Parting words
“Double down on yourself; you can’t go wrong.”
Patrick Metzger
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