Living a Life of Options, Not Obligations with Scott Ferguson, Top-Ranked Podcast Host

Regina: 00:00:05

Welcome to the Rise to Lead Podcast. I am so thrilled to introduce you to a very, very dear friend from Florida and a very powerful coach as well, and he's going to share a lot about that in just a minute: Scott Ferguson. Scott, so awesome!

Scott: 00:01:10

Scott 00:01:24 It's great.

Regina: 00:01:25

Scott 00:01:32 Yeah. You can't do that to me anyway.

Regina: 00:01:36

Scott 00:01:38 for having me.

Regina: 00:01:39

Scott 00:02:17 We had a good time.

Regina: 00:02:18

Scott 00:02:25 You know what? I pick up interview styles from everybody else. I'm a big believer in regurgitating. I just put my own kind of flavor for it.

Scott: 00:02:32

Regina 00:02:39 Oh yeah, it's great. And then this is also going to be on YouTube too.

Scott: 00:02:44

Regina 00:02:49 We both look great. And I remember we really had a blast. Yeah, I totally do. Plus, I had the pleasure to meet you in person in Miami once. And we had an awesome conversation, right? Such a laugh.

Scott: 00:03:05

Regina 00:03:22 Absolutely, absolutely. And I still owe you lunch.

Scott: 00:03:27

Scott 00:03:29 That'd probably be the better way to do it.

Regina: 00:03:31

Regina 00:04:56 Yay! Yay!

Scott: 00:04:58

Regina 00:05:03 I know you are a very busy influencer, Scott. Not just a micro influencer. As you said earlier, we said earlier. I read that from your bio, but it's more like a macro influencer. And you're traveling across the continent and beyond to inspire audiences. So having you here and, having you share your wisdom and your knowledge today is a total luxury. Thank you. Yes, it is. Absolutely. I'm so honored that you made the time for us today here. And, to inspire not just me, but our audience and, Yeah. And I'm curious to learn more about Scott and about your wisdom and energy. So for those among our listeners who've never met you before Scott. Tell us who Scott Ferguson is. What's your story or what's most remarkable about you.

Scott: 00:06:03

Scott 00:06:18 I was still going. And so at that time, the Philippines islands were actually taking bastard male babies from their mothers and shipping them to Spain, because Spain kind of controls the Philippine Islands. And also, I'm 61, I go about 230. I'm not a small guy, and they didn't want a lot of those sized people in the Philippines because they would think that we were going to physically take them over. So they were kind of getting rid of not red, but kind of shipping off to Spain. No one really knows about what happened to those babies as well. And, you know, I was blessed to have a couple that was in the Air Force Station, Pampanga Bay, and they were looking they had two kids. They were looking to adopt. So they literally started the adoption process. The second I was born, the mother who's going to adopt me, her father got sick. So they got me a temporary passport, which I still have to this day with like a little baby picture.

Scott: 00:07:16

Scott 00:08:15 So, you know, I ended up going to the military, and that's where I found kind of the true meaning of camaraderie. Family, made friends that I'm friends with to this day. That I meet up with some of them once a year. did, like you mentioned, did multiple deployments to different countries, to make this the land of the free. And, you know, it's when. But when I got out, I didn't really have that identity anymore. So I kind of fell into kind of personal training people. And I found real estate and real estate was fantastic for investing, serving people, helping people, had the best mentors and then 0809 kind of timeframe came in the market crashed in. I lost everything with it. and I and I look back and I was like, I was doing everything for myself. I felt the world owed me because I went through it and I wasn't really planting that service. It was like kind of a I was never messing anybody over, you know? But I was kind of like doing it from a predator standpoint.

Scott: 00:09:13

Scott 00:09:58 He goes, I think you need to read this by Andy Andrews. Fantastic read. And it just switched in my mind about taking responsibility. You know, everything, no matter how good or bad, is on me to respond to it. And so I started I built, you know, time to shine today in 2010. You know, my mother was my first subscriber, you know, to my email list and, you know, that's 14, almost 15 years. And, you know, it's we just come from a place where we plant a lot of service knowing that we're going to harvest our cash will harvest our goodness on the back end. But I'll just really stems from a place of service, and that's kind of it. You know, I kind of really accelerated it. I was sought after by TV shows because other things happened, you know, during those times, but I just don't really share with them that much just because they're in my rearview mirror, you know, but coming from a place of abandonment and really helping in leaning in and serving people is just.

Scott: 00:10:50

Regina 00:10:55 Well, that's a perfect segue into my next question, because this this podcast is about heart-centered leadership. And this is a part of this. Right. So how would you define apart from being focused on service, how would you define heart-centered leadership for yourself?

Scott: 00:11:14

Scott 00:11:46 It could be a call for my goddaughter that is calling just to chat with me and not ask for money, you know? You know, just, you know, everything happens. So coming from the heart, is really digging into whoever I'm in front of it. And they don't have to be on my coaching roster, you know? Is this whoever that I can help, I'm going to help if it's within my reach. And that's where kind of my podcast kind of launched, because, you know, I'm able to help more people through that because of guests like yourself. That came on. And episode 380, and you dropped really solid knowledge, like it's about validation and how a coach can really help you feel validated. And that really stuck with me, you know? And I just love leaning in and getting people's stories. And if it needs to be changed, help them change their own story. I'm not a consultant. I'm a coach. You know, I believe that everybody knows what they want.

Scott: 00:12:41

Regina 00:13:26 That is beautiful. Yes, totally, totally can relate also to what you said about everything.

Regina: 00:13:36

Scott 00:14:02 I love that comes through a different door. I'm going to add that to my picture because you know what? I have clients which you know that they'll give to their faces blue, but they're not open to reciprocation. So I always have, you know, a lot. I'm blessed to coach a lot of people on the beach, you know, on the ocean, because you know, where I live. And. Yeah. And so there's a lot of growth around us, you know, like palm trees, Calusa, whatever. And like I'll say, listen, you know, what do we breathe in? We breathe in oxygen, right? What do we breathe out? Carbon dioxide.

Scott: 00:14:33

Regina 00:15:51 Absolutely. I love the harmony concept. And yes, I always say balance is, it's also a, you know, we talk about work life balance. What does that even mean? Right, right. It makes no sense to me to talk about work life balance. First of all, there is never going to be balance. It's about priorities. And again then that's about harmony creating that harmony. Right? Right. And then of course, and then of course, it's never going to be equal either. Never. However, work is part of life. So yes. Thank you.

Scott: 00:16:28

Scott 00:16:54 It's just going to happen and there's nothing we can do about it. So that's what I look at and look at it as a problem. It's a challenge that I get to overcome, right. And that's where I can get my clients. Then I'm blessed to coach, you know, geared towards looking at solutions and finding those solutions through service. Dude, there's nothing better.

Regina: 00:17:15

Scott 00:17:31 Yeah. The people. I asked a gentleman one time I was interviewing and I. And I got to give him love on this because Mike Malatesta, you know, he said, I asked him, what's your definition of success? And he's like living a life of options and not obligations. And it was like he didn't even, like, stumble. He just that came out of his mouth. And it resonated with me.

Scott: 00:17:52

Scott 00:18:49 And if there's something wrong there, then the compensation at home, the compensation might not work out at work. So then you have a heck of a lot more obligations than you do. Options. Right? You have you're obligated to pay these bills. You're obligated to this. And I'm not saying none of that goes away. But when you have to worry about that and not worry about leveling up and leaning into your true ultimate self, then that's it's just to me, it's not healthy. In my clients start, they realize that, and you know, they I'm blessed to again be able to coach the people that are receptive to it, to growth, to true service. You know, that's this is what I really feel because, again, I drop that everyone knows what they want. They just don't know how to talk themselves into it, they get stuck. So that's where they need coaches like yourself, myself, you know, to help them get through.

Regina: 00:19:39

Regina 00:19:51 Yours myself, because life is a holistic phenomenon, as I like to say. And you cannot have that pull it apart, you know, not just like this section and this section. We do this artificially. We compartmentalize, but it doesn't really work like that.

Scott: 00:20:06

Scott 00:20:47 And I know that it works, but it not might not be the right flavor for that person. It might be someone that's a little bit more meek and can't like anything. Might set them off right. So I got people like you and other people that I can be like, hey, you know, I again, I don't want you to feel like you have no one, you know, I'm going to put you with them. So that's where really kind of built the time to shine today platform out is to we are a one stop shop for help. Right. I might probably going to be able to help you. I might be able to help you with 4 or 5% of what's going on in your life. But I will have somebody for everybody just being. It's never the lack of resources in someone's life, right? It's a lack of being resourceful. Right. And I want to be a resource so they can lean on me for to be resourceful so I can put them with the right person if need be, if that makes sense.

Scott: 00:21:38

Regina 00:21:39 To talk a lot of sense, makes a lot of sense, I love it. It's also really important to yes to just acknowledge when it's not the right fit.

Scott: 00:21:50

Scott 00:22:27 Right. So, you know, I set them up with the first week would be, you know, three things you're grateful for next week, three things you're grateful for, plus your intention for the day. And then the next week I add on your act to service your person of influence. And it just goes on and on. So they're living that life of, you know, having time for themselves and are really lean into themselves so they can serve and reach out to the world.

Regina: 00:22:52

Scott 00:23:19 Yes, 100%. And you are so much more in tune than that and I than I am. And that's why, you know, I respect you immensely because like, you're the holistic that I got from the communication within the podcast actually meeting you, there's you're really well rounded, you know what I'm saying.

Scott: 00:23:36

Regina 00:24:04 Yeah, absolutely. Well, thanks for saying that. I appreciate that. I, I can only, you know, I can only say the same. It's, it's something, you know, if I, I sort of know who I would send over to you as a client, I think so, so that's really good. Also on, on, on my end when somebody comes Who needs that particular approach then? I also have somebody in mind.

Regina: 00:24:31

Scott 00:25:34 But servant leaders to me is kind of the A game. The varsity squad, the people that, you know, they don't necessarily have to lead by example, you know, because sometimes they're just not in front of you.

Scott: 00:25:47

Scott 00:26:44 We kind of talked, rapped about stuff, traded stuff. And then, you know, the minus is sending that elevator down to bring somebody back up to you. So a true leader to me would live the ultimate plus equals minus life, where they're still looking to to learn and grow. They're going to trade, you know, ideas with people that are on their level, but they're never going to look down on somebody. They're going to if they do, they're looking down to lift them up. So that's where leadership is to me. Is that plus equals minus period. You know. And if you in the with that becomes responsibility. You know which again, responsibility is nothing more than the ability to respond, right? It's rooted right in the word. So a good leader is going to be able to respond and not react. He's going to be able to listen with his neck. Meaning it's not just listening with his ears. It's listen with like, I'm going to look. If I was across the desk from you as an employee or somebody that I'm working with, I'm going to listen with my eyes.

Scott: 00:27:47

Regina 00:28:09 Listen, with your neck. Yes, that is something new I have learned just I.

Scott: 00:28:15

Regina 00:28:17 It tells you. Yes. It's a great image to use. Absolutely, yes. So I've heard you say you don't take life too seriously. Expand on that a little bit for us.

Scott: 00:28:30

Scott 00:28:48 I'm not saying that what you're going through is hard, isn't hard. It's just there's there is an option to be able to to get over that. So, you know, it's actually was on a movie one time, a kind of a comedy. Ryan Reynolds, he's an actor all the women love. But he was in a movie called Van Wilder back in 2000, and he said, don't take. He's like my mentor said, don't take life too seriously. You're never making it out alive, right? Which is the truth. We're all going to expire. And I think I asked you about your dash, that little line in between your incarnation date and your expiration date, your life date, and your death date on that tombstone. My dash. I want to be able to kind of metaphorically slide across home plate, bumped and bruised, but know that I've taken a lot of people with me in the game and made their life better, and if I couldn't, I found somebody else that will help them.

Scott: 00:29:40

Regina 00:29:44 Wow. Yeah, I love it. And you just inspired me unintentionally. Maybe because I had or intentionally. But you didn't know about this because this morning I had a conversation with somebody in South Africa about a really big project. I can't really disclose details right now, but it's a very challenging project. But it is. And I was like thinking, okay, you know, this is going to be a real, real challenge, but I want to do this. So hopefully this comes through and, and we can make a or a

Scott: 00:30:17

Regina 00:30:20 But it's really because of what you just said. Because it would touch a lot of people's lives.

Scott: 00:30:26

Regina 00:30:27 That is that is the greatest thing about it. Yeah. Right. Yeah. So yes. And when we don't take life too seriously, that also of course contributes to greater happiness overall. So less.

Scott: 00:30:43

Regina 00:30:44 Less stress.

Scott: 00:30:45

Scott 00:31:34 Right. You're going to you're going to help everybody. That's why I'm always looking to that plus that, that plus equals minus that plus I'm always looking to plus myself on a daily basis, you know, and just serve. I know I've said that a lot, but service to me is everything. And I believe that what you do getting back to that is you do. And I do what you love in the service of people that love what you do. Right. So you like you you're an awesome coach, right? And you love coaching. And when you coach people, people see that you absolutely love coaching, right? So do what you love in the service of people that love what you do. And that comes from another person. I respect Steve Farber. And you know, he's he kind of drew that up for me in a private session one day. And I was like, that's amazing. That's so true. I do what I love and the service of people that love what I do, and that's what life is about right now.

Regina: 00:32:35

Scott 00:32:36 Write that down.

Regina: 00:32:37

Scott 00:33:06 Yeah, the early rising was not I'm not a fan of because when I got when I got out of the military, You know, I was like, oh, man, I never have to like, if I don't want to wake up early. And then I just kind of figure, wait a minute. If I wake up, run for the cup of coffee, run. You know, even if I blast through a half ass workout, whatever. It's like, my day is not complete. I did not serve the most in person important person, which is me, right? I'm sorry.

Scott: 00:33:35

Scott 00:34:31 Then I go right into a workout if it's jujitsu morning and go to the Academy. If it's not, I go to the beach and there's always people on the beach working out. You can join whatever. You know, I just I'm a big believer in Fergie in the morning period, and there's no exceptions to that at all. It's me, me, me now, 9 a.m. eastern time rolls around, then I don't exist, you know? So I gotta make sure my bandwidth is good so I can serve and pour into others, you know? And again, you know, you know, inch by inch, it's a cinch, right? By the art. It's hard. Everybody wants something now. But if I do things that you and I can stay consistent with it, I got what I wanted. Period. I got my coaching business. I got my speaking business. I have a successful podcast. My real estate is still killing it, but I really attest that to what I do for myself, first thing, they just primes me.

Regina: 00:35:27

Scott 00:36:03 Well, I mean, I'm glad it didn't because I love meeting you.

Regina: 00:36:06

Scott 00:36:07 And by the way, all your squad out there. I have just like a mad crush on Regina. Just so you guys know that I absolutely love this woman. She's a fantastic. And she left me. I'm kidding. No, it was it was awesome. Just. Just our acquaintance. I never knew that, though, about the malaria, though, so I'm glad.

Regina: 00:36:24

Regina 00:37:25 Yeah, yeah. Maybe. So.

Scott: 00:37:29

Regina 00:37:31 I'm... in that moment not at all. The only thing that came up, of course, was, you know, at some point you think about family, right?

Scott: 00:37:42

Regina 00:38:07 So that and also the people you leave behind who suffer, obviously because they mourn. Right. And that's going to come at some point anyway. Right. Or you know, I consider myself very empathic. So I suffer a lot with especially family members like. Yeah. Also when my dad passed on like I suffered not just for myself but for my entire family and for my mom and whatnot.

Regina: 00:38:34

Regina 00:38:52 not so easy to do sometimes.

Scott: 00:38:55

Scott 00:39:28 It's small for a reason. That's your past. It's a great place to learn from. Great place to visit for good memories. But that's it's not a great place to stay. It's small for a reason. If you have issues there, you know, or challenges there, then that's for therapy. That's not for me. This windshield huge. It is big. It's scary. Holy moly. What? Where am I going? So you know, but since 2011, in most cars, they put this thing on the dash called a GPS, right? That's what I am. I can't buckle the seat belt for you. I can't hit the ignition. I can't put it in drive and drive. But if you're going to go somewhere, then plug it in and we'll get you there. Right. And. But the only way that you can get there is exactly what you just said. Be present. You don't know where you're going. You know, you you can't plug anything in. So being present is, is huge.

Scott: 00:40:26

Regina 00:40:56 You definitely stay on people's minds in that way. That's you know...

Regina: 00:41:04

Regina 00:41:29 Then how are you going to get there? You don't even know which direction to turn, right.

Scott: 00:41:32

Scott 00:41:33 And those challenges are going to come up during our relationship. Right. It's like if you're to drive up here to see me and Jupiter from Miami when you're there. Right. And you know, there's a accident on the turnpike, are you going to be like, oh, Ferg, I'm not going to come? No. You might plug into your GPS. It's like, oh, 95. I can get to him that way. And that's all that we really do is, you know, those really core, you know, course corrections, you know, to get you where it's at. Like a pilot is with an airplane, right? You take off from San Diego and you're flying to New York City. If you're off one degree, you're not going to New York City. So, you know, it just really kind of helped keep them on course. And then they do the work.

Scott: 00:42:15

Scott 00:42:18 Yeah.

Regina: 00:42:19

Scott 00:42:42 Oh, thank you very much. they can find me at, you know, TimeToShineToday.com. I'm not big on social, although my coach has kind of forced me there, because I have a lot of content out there, but I just don't care about the followers, you know? So, I mean, I care about your followers, but I just don't care about growing and being... That's why I say micro influencer, you know, they can find me at TimeToShineToday.com. You can call our office. the TimeToShineToday.

Scott: 00:43:11

Regina 00:43:30 This is amazing. So, people, if you want a free hour of power coaching session, then definitely take advantage. You will not regret it. Yes and yes. So do you have any last words or wisdom? Anything that I have not asked you that we haven't covered.

Regina: 00:43:48

Scott 00:43:49 Sure.

Scott: 00:43:50

Regina 00:44:18 Wow. Yeah. Beautiful. Beautiful. Yes. So thank you so, so much for being on with me today.

Regina: 00:44:27

Scott 00:44:33 Thank you for your listeners and what you're doing. Just never stop. Please never stop. It's amazing.

Regina: 00:44:39

Scott 00:44:49 Know, that's a.

Scott: 00:44:49

Scott 00:45:15 So like LinkedIn, you can find me on there as well. Squad.

Regina: 00:45:19

Scott 00:45:52 Oh, absolutely.

Regina: 00:45:53

Scott 00:46:01 I love,

Scott: 00:46:02

Regina 00:46:12 Thank you for tuning in to RISE TO LEAD. Keep shining your light, standing up for what's right and inspiring others to step into their brilliance. If you liked this episode, please give it a five-star rating and subscribe to the RISE TO LEAD podcast on your preferred podcast app.

Regina: 00:46:34