How Vince Luciani is Transforming Athletes’ Lives Beyond Their Sport

Transcription

Hey guys, how’s it going? We are talking with Vince Luciani today, who is an amazing and remarkable individual. He has an interesting business where he helps athletes figure out their bigger why. He gets beyond the field, the rink, or the ice, and helps transform their lives beyond their sport.

Because of that, they can bring so much more back to their sport. You might be asking, “Okay, well what does this have to do with my health or fitness business?” Well, it has everything to do with it as you will find out in our conversation.

As a leader of your clients and team, there are some fundamental things that you’ll discover out of this conversation that will help you take what you’re doing to the next level.

I’m going to tell you a bit more about Vince Luciani.

He’s the founder of The Legacy Coaching, a former university athlete, and has coached in the CFL, the Canadian Football League, with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, and in the NCAA with Ohio University Bobcats.

Through his coaching experiences and completing his master’s in coaching education, he noticed an opportunity to create a more holistic approach to developing the whole athlete. He has produced a one of a kind program that now has thousands of athletes from all levels through the journey of self-discovery.

He believes that self-awareness is the foundation for fulfillment, within and without sport.

Without any further ado, I’m excited to bring Vince Luciani onto the Healthpreneur Podcast. Hey Vince and welcome to the Healthpreneur Podcast! How’s it going?

Vince:             Good how are you doing?

Yuri:                I’m doing great, man! I’m happy to feature another awesome Canadian on the show here. It’s part of my mission to highlight awesome health entrepreneurs who also happen to live in Canada.

I’m excited to chat, because you’ve come highly recommended from a mutual friend of ours. For our listeners who are not quite familiar with you or your business, can you give everyone a rundown of what your business model looks like so we have a bit of context for the conversation?

 

Vince’s company and mission to help athletes reclaim their identity

Vince:             My business is The Legacy Coaching. I’ve narrowed it down to mental training for life in sport. What I do is help athletes understand who they are beyond what they do.

That comes in the form of individual coaching, group coaching, and speaking.

Yuri:                That’s great. I was a former professional soccer player, and I’ve worked with athletes for a long time. They’re a different breed of people in their level of commitment and motivation. How do you get athletes to some level of awareness beyond just being an athlete?

One of the things that I struggled with for a while after I finished playing soccer was that I still identified myself as a soccer player. It took me awhile to shift my self-image.

How do you go about doing that with athletes?

Vince:             The big thing is not treating sport and life as two different things, and using the vehicle of sport to allow them to look inwards. It’s asking, “What are the things that are coming out of you through sport that are natural or that you enjoy?” Then basically, “What are those things?” Then, say it’s the transition out of the sport, so “What does that look like elsewhere?”

The introspective questions focus on the sport: “Who are you for your teammates?” Or, “Who are you for your coaches? Who are you in the locker room on your campus?”

We go deep, but labeling those things. A big part of this is getting athletes to stand for something, because when you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything. When you define your own identity, you won’t be defined by the identity that’s been put on you.

The first exercise I do with everybody is asking, “Who are you?” It’s so funny, because 90% of athletes say, “I’m a football player,” or “I’m a basketball player.”

That’s when you start to go deeper. I’ll ask, “Take away all the labels. Take away everything you have in your life that’s been placed on you. What are you left with?” It is hard, but the thing is that I know every athlete has these thoughts, even if it’s once every two weeks. They ask themselves, “If I didn’t have this, what would I be doing?” Or, “What else can I offer?”

My big thing is that if you take away sport, what would they be doing? It’s just getting in that mindset. I don’t want people to think that I pull athletes out of the sport and I get them to focus just on the stuff outside.

I want athletes to master themselves as human beings so they realize that they as an athlete, is just a fraction of who they are.

 

Happiness, awareness, fulfillment, and Vince’s own journey to self-discovery

Yuri:                That’s awesome.

What are some of the benefits that you’ve seen come out of this? You probably foster better leaders within their life and team sports, if they’re in a team sport. What types of outcomes come because of this type of work for those athletes?

Vince:             It’s non-tangible, like mental clarity. What I hear a lot is, “I’m so much more aware.” I believe that self-awareness is the foundation to fulfillment, whether it’s within or without sport. Once you’re aware of your behaviors, patterns, or triggers, you’re able to have control of it. You can move forward on your own path.

I often hear, “When I’m on the ice I feel so much more clear now. I feel like I’m focused. I’m not worried about anything.” It’s funny, this could be an opportunity for me. I could be better at this, but I don’t care about the outcomes because I know that takes care of itself.

I focus more so on that fulfillment, happiness, clarity, and awareness. I can’t control the outcomes because the athletes control those. I know I can help guide them towards that awareness and that fulfillment.

Yuri:                Nice. I see this as a very valuable process for anyone. The worst question I don’t think anyone likes answering, especially in the entrepreneurial space is, “What do you do?”

Especially if you have an online business or coaching business, the answer to that question is never a true reflection of who you are. Someone might say, “I’m a lawyer,” and that’s just as you mentioned, we’re more than just what we do or play.

I can see this as being very valuable for anyone who puts a label on themselves. I think it’s a very valuable service that you’re offering. How did you get into doing this? Was there a moment in your life where you realized, “Holy cow, this is what I need to be doing?” Was there something you went through that prompted you into this space?

 

Vince:             Yeah, it was a funny series of events. I played sports my whole life, and then played five years at Laurier on the football team. I had a lot of injuries, and that pushed me towards coaching. I coached on the sideline; I’d be up on the box on game day charting plays and looking at the game from a different perspective.

When I finished at Laurier, I got hired on with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on the CFL to be an offensive assistant.

It was a pretty big jump going from coaching high school and youth football in the off-season to going to the pros. I was excited and it was awesome. I coached a year there.

Then I went down to GA, to be a graduate assistant at Ohio University with their football team. During that time, I got my master’s in coaching education. This whole time I thought I was going to be a sports coach.

There was something that stuck out to me when I was getting my master’s down there. My professor said, “Just because things have been done a certain way, doesn’t mean that’s the right way.” That’s when I thought, “Wow, so I’m able to have an opinion on taking a lap before practice?”

Vince:             I spent two years down there. It was a great experience. I had some ups and downs. I was forced to come home because I ruptured my patella tendon playing pickup basketball. In that moment, I realized that I wasn’t in the right place.

There were just certain things that were happening and I just didn’t feel it. I was away from my family, I didn’t always feel good about myself, and I just wasn’t in the right place.

I limped my way into a Lululemon three months post-surgery, and asked if they were hiring. They said, “You’re a guy and you want to work here?” This was three or four years ago. I got hired within a week of the group interview.

The first week, my manager sat me down and asked, “Vince, who are you?” I said, “I’m a football coach.” She said, “No, that’s what you do. Who are you?” It was like a weight lifted off of me. I broke down in tears in the coffee shop because I realized that for my entire life, I allowed my sport to define me.

When she asked me that question, she just allowed me to go, “Whoa, who am I?” That started my journey of self-discovery, and I tell people that it’s never-ending. You’re always looking.

Vince:             I realized that I had allowed my sport to define me. For the next two years, I started learning lessons. I’d go to retreats, leadership conferences, and talk to people. Every time I would learn a lesson I thought, “Why did I not learn this as an athlete?”

It would’ve been so much more powerful if I did. Think of the amount of lessons you learn in that soccer game that somebody who doesn’t play sports won’t experience. Think of how powerful these life lessons could be if we incorporated them into that game or that practice.

I started learning all these things, and things just started happening. I started meeting certain people, and they’d say, “Hey, you should start a business, you have something here.” Then it just happened. I created my own curriculum and started testing it on the teenagers I was working with.

They were getting great results from it, and the parents said, “Wow, he’s so much more calm on the field now. I’m noticing that he’s not overreacting to penalties and what not.” I was feeling good about it and wanted to work with kids, but because it’s such a unique thing, parents aren’t very open to it.

I started working with the professional athletes that I knew. I started getting connected with Olympians, NFL, CFL, and NBA athletes, I was giving out free sessions to get feedback on it.

I selfishly wanted feedback so I could improve it for the kids, but the athletes said, “Whoa, I need this, do you have more of this? Can I hire you?” That’s how it happened.

And here I am. I don’t know where I am right now, but it’s growing to a point where I have my core curriculum, I feel good about it, and I created it based on my life experiences. I want to empower as many athletes to define their own lives, therefore defining their own legacy.

 

Attracting clients organically, honing in on your specialty, and letting go

Yuri:                That’s great. You’re doing this with athletes, but I’m just thinking that there’s so much to transfer to the world of entrepreneurship as well. So many people define themselves as entrepreneurs, business owners, health coaches, whatever it is. That “Who are you?” question is a deep abyss for most of us.

There’s a lot of value in what you’re doing beyond just for athletes. Just having people ask these questions and go deep on this stuff is great.

Let’s talk about the business side of things for a second. How do you now attract clients into your world? This is a unique way of working with athletes, and maybe a lot of them are not even aware that there’s a need for this in the first place. How do you get in front of them? How do you attract them into your world? How do you get them to understand the value that this provides?

Vince:             That’s a good question, because I went through a big transition last year with those moments where I was selling myself.

I don’t ever want to do that, because I want it to be organic, like my experience was of learning who I was. I didn’t want force someone and say, “Hey, you’re not an athlete, this is who you are.” And you’re right, people don’t know until they get a taste of it.

I attract clients through organic conversation. I meet with people and focus on the process of what I do. I maximize my conversations, whether it’s in a podcast, video blog, or whatever.  I’m giving people a scope into my brain, what I’m thinking, and what my opinions are on these things.

I attract open-minded people because my offering is so unique.

I work with the people who are attracted to what I do, have those thoughts, or introduce themselves as what they do. Those are the things that lead people into a conversation with me. I’m not very good with the business stuff, but what I’ve learned is that when I maximize, am present, tell my story, and tell what I do, it connects me and leads the business.

I had a session the other day with a woman probably two months after I met her. I met her when I was in a facility, looked at her, and said, “Excuse me, don’t take this the wrong way, but I feel like I want to hug you right now.” She was just a nice woman with positive energy. So, I gave her a hug, she gave a good hug, and that was it.

She knew the guy that I was working with. She showed up to my session, and now she wants me to work with her team. I want people to understand that if you just be yourself, you do attract the outcomes that you’re striving for. Being yourself is obviously different for everybody, and that’s why it’s so important to define who you are, and define who you are in all these moments.

I think that what attracts my business is honestly just being myself. I don’t ever want to read from a script, or put on a mask or anything. I just want to be me. I’m sure that’s a terrible answer to the entrepreneurs listening.

 

Social media pitfalls, the need for real human connection, and love

Yuri:                No, it’s a very valuable lesson. What I’ve noticed, especially in the online business health space, is that a lot of people in our space love doing what they do.

They love coaching, teaching, and serving their clients. But they end up falling into this trap of feeling they must become a marketer and set up funnels, write sales copy, do stuff to get the word out, and all that just makes them miserable.

What they want is to speak to people, connect with them, and serve them. To allow them to do that or not, is an important question, but I think when you’re living your truth, and doing what you love to do, everything else flows from that.

Word of mouth happens a lot more easily and you’re more fulfilled and happy doing what you love to do. I think it’s an important message for our listeners to take away.

Vince:             Absolutely. My good friend Dave Ogle runs Dose Coaching out of Vancouver. He’s a phenomenal guy. He told me, “When you open up all the tools out of a Swiss Army Knife, it becomes useless.”

It’s the same thing I’ve learned with coaching. The more I focus on promoting myself on Instagram or Facebook, the less I focus on improving myself as a coach for the people who are right in front of me. I’m not saying don’t touch Facebook and Instagram, but the whole idea is to make sure that you’re honing in on what makes you, you, and what makes you great.

Yuri:                That’s great. In your journey, whether in business or otherwise, do you have a favorite failure, learning experience, or whatever you want to call it, that has later set you up for success?

Vince:             Oh man, there’s been a bunch.

In business, one of my first keynote speaking gigs was to 150 guys. I had a great presentation lined up, but they came in intoxicated and I didn’t know. I didn’t know based on the timing of the presentation. I was supposed to speak for about 25 minutes, and about 5 minutes in, I realized that only three people were looking at me.

It was the most heartbreaking moment I’ve had as a speaker, and it was funny because in that moment it was exactly what I preach in terms of, “You are not what you do.” I took it so personally. I thought, “These guys don’t like me, they don’t like what I’m talking about,” but it was just that the circumstances were not ideal.

I took it very personally, and what I realized was, number one, I won’t do that again. It just wasn’t a good fit. Number two, I should make my product so simple that even if they are intoxicated they could still focus and connect with the story or something.

It was one of those lessons. I took that really hard, especially because it was in the early stages. That hurt me, but then I started to detach from it. That’s not me, that’s just what I do.

Yuri:                Yeah, I can only imagine. That’s not a lot of fun. I had an experience that was, maybe not similar but, a couple months ago I was invited to speak at an event in Aspen. There were supposed to be 350 attendees and I thought, “This is going to be great. This is the perfect audience for my content and topic.” I was on the main stage in a beautiful room, and I get to the talk, and there’s five people.

What’s worse is the MC introduces me in the worst possible way, with no edification or anything. He said, “Alright guys, we’re going to learn about some stuff, here’s Yuri.” It was the worst possible introduction.

It’s never fun when you experience it, but you just make the most of it and learn as you go through life, as with anything else. When you look at what you’ve done with your business, and working with athletes and seeing what they’re going through, what advice would you give to other entrepreneurs entering the real world?

As you’ve started your business from the background in education and coaching, what advice would you give based on your experience? What advice should they ignore?

Vince:             I would say focus on yourself. You’re going to get advice from so many people, and so many people will want to ride your coat-tails, pick your brain, and tell you what to do or not do in your business. Take the time to write down what’s important in your life.

Fulfillment before success. For me, that’s very important. There are a lot of people who give me advice who believe in financial success before fulfillment.

That may resonate with somebody, and it may not. Get clear on what you want. Why are you doing this is number one, because our purpose lies within the business that we’ve started. Ask what you want for the world and the people who are going to come in and out of your company. Who is going to be your client, and who is going to be tied with your business?

That’s the whole point of this. When I wake up, I’m not thinking, “How much money am I going to make today?” I’m thinking, “How am I going to positively shift the culture of athletics?” For me, it makes my job easier, not to say that it was difficult by any means.

I’m focusing on the bigger picture. People get caught up in wanting to be a millionaire or wanting to be like someone else.

That’s great, but be yourself. When I ask an athlete, “Are you creative?” the number one answer, 80% of the time, is something like, “I didn’t do well in art.” I can empathize with him because I felt the exact same way. We’re taught that creativity only comes in the form of art when we’re young.

But really, all these things – success, fulfillment, happiness – have millions of definitions. Get clear on your definition of these words.

Yuri:                That’s good advice. It’s a tricky world to navigate with distractions and comparisons to what other people are doing. What types of questions can people ask themselves to get more clarity on who they are at a deeper level?

 Vince:             The big one is “Who are you?” Start with removing the labels of what you left when you take everything away. What naturally pours out of you in every single moment of your life? What’s your purpose? There’s different ways to define someone’s own purpose, and if they want to talk to me, I’ll help them. What do you want to see for the world? What shifts do you want to see in the world?

Then, “How does what you’re doing right now tie into that?”

That’s such a big one. Beyond that it’s, “What do you want? What do you want in your life?” What I’ve realized for myself is, if I listen to everybody around me, I want more, more, more. I must get the podcast, I must set this up, and I must post all these videos, and I must make this amount of money.

If I stop, think, and listen to myself, I want a very simple life. Something I’m doing now in Hamilton, is I bought these signs that say, “Free hugs.” I just sit on the corner and give out free hugs.

Yuri:                That’s awesome.

 Vince:             I would rather do that then make X number of dollars grinding away at something. It’s so funny because we think we know what we want, but if you take an hour, sit down with a blank piece of paper, and start listing the things that you want, you’ll start to gain clarity. You’ll say, “Oh, yeah I didn’t think about that.” Give yourself the time and the space.

Yuri:                I did the hug thing back in university. We did it in the subway for entire day. We just started giving hugs to people, and they said, “What the hell’s going on here?” It was amazing, because I think at the root of a lot of people’s desires is this need for connection.

I think we’re more disconnected than ever, especially because of technology, social media and stuff, which is ironic. There’s a big, big craving in our soul for human to human connection, so that’s awesome that you’re doing that.

Vince:             About connection, something I’ve been playing with lately is the disconnection with social media. I believe truth leads to connection, and we only empathize with truth.

Empathy is the strongest form of human connection, and what I find in social media is that when you cover up the truth, there’s nothing to connect to.

That’s what I find in this entrepreneurial world sometimes. I see a lot of inauthentic approaches, exchanges, and communications. I just don’t connect with it, and that’s why something as raw as a sign for free hugs breaks down every barrier.

 Yuri:                Totally. My friend Jayson Gaignard, another Canadian, is a smart guy and runs a great event called Mastermind Talks. He says, “Relationships are built at the speed of vulnerability.”

Vince:             I just met him a couple weeks ago.

 Yuri:                There’s so much fluff, BS, and shiny highlight reels. At the very minimum it makes people feel worse about their own life. It’s not truthful, because what you’re posting on social is just a small fraction of what’s going on in your life.

It’s just a very superficial experience that a lot of people are living. So, it’s good to inject some hugs into people’s lives.

Vince:             Another thing is that you’re either going closer to love or you’re going further away from it.

Yuri:                Totally. So, you’ve obviously done a lot of work on yourself and this whole journey. What are three books, if books have been a part of your process, that have most impacted your life?

Vince:             “Winning Every Day” by Lou Holtz, “Uncommon” by Tony Dungy, and Eckhart Tolle’s, “A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose”. The first two were just getting me started, but I’d say Eckhart Tolle’s would be number one. The Alchemist was good as well.

Yuri:                Totally. Books might give you one idea, one insight, that might pivot the way you think about something. You just never know, so it’s cool.

If you had everything you’ve ever done wiped away, and there was nothing left but just you, what one message would you leave this world?

Vince:             It all comes down to love. Everything we do in life is for love. I think of the journey of an athlete: From the moment you put your jersey on to the moment you take it off, you get attention, recognition, and acknowledgement. When you leave the sport, I don’t believe that you lose a sense of yourself, I believe you just lose the vehicle that you once knew how to access love.

When everyone starts to understand that everyone is on the same journey towards seeking love, it increases empathy towards others.

You realize it looks different. That guys revving his engine at the red light is trying to get attention, but for me, it may look different. I’m posting something on social media to get attention. We judge each other, not realizing we’re all seeking the same thing.

 Yuri:                That’s very true. That’s good man, deep stuff. It’s such an uncommon stereotypical combination here, a former football player talking about seeking love. You don’t put those two in the same sentence very often.

Vince, I want to thank you so much for doing the work that you do, and showing up in the way that you show up, because I think that not only do athletes need this in sport, but I think everyone needs to hear this message. This is such an important, practical way of approaching life in a way that’s much more honest.

I’ve recognized over the years that when entrepreneurs have been doing their thing for a long time, they get to a point where they start to question a lot of things. Like, “Why am I doing this? What’s really important?” What I’ve recognized, especially with people who love serving others, and we’re not talking about people who are selling widgets on Amazon necessarily, but people who are coaching, teaching, and serving is that they’ve built businesses that they feel disconnected from, and they’ve gotten away from what they love doing.

I think it’s cool and refreshing to see people like yourself who can facilitate a conversation that can help athletes, or anyone else, get back to the roots and approach life with who they truly are. That’s where it all stems from, and happiness and fulfillment comes because of that.

I want to thank you for sharing all that. It’s been valuable for me, and I’m sure it’s been extremely valuable for our listeners.

Vince:             Thank you, I appreciate that.

 

The Rapid Five

Yuri:                Before we finish off, are you ready for the Rapid Five?

Vince:             What if I said no?

Yuri:                Well then we’d do them anyways.

 Vince:             Yeah, let’s do it.

Yuri:                Okay, so five questions. Whatever comes to top of mind is the right answer, so here we go. Number one, what is your biggest weakness?

Vince:             Number one, I don’t like that word, I like opportunity. For me, I would say consistency.

Yuri:                Cool. Number two, what is your biggest strength?

Vince:             The ability to love.

Yuri:                Nice. Number three, what’s one skill you’ve become dangerously good at to grow your business?

Vince:             Asking good questions.

Yuri:                Nice. Number four, what do you do first thing in the morning?

Vince:             This is so interesting. This is where consistency comes in. I wake up, I go into the bathroom, I look myself in the mirror, and I point to myself and say, “You’re my best friend.”

Yuri:                Nice. I love it! That’s a lot better than saying, “You’re worthless, you’re no good. You failed again.”

Vince:             Exacly, and that’s the point. Fill it up with something good.

Yuri:                Totally. Number five, complete the sentence: I know I’m being successful when…

Vince:             I love myself.

Yuri:                Awesome. Vince this has been a pleasure.

Hopefully our listeners have gotten a lot of value out of this, and if you’re a human with a heart I think you probably did. How can people learn more about you and follow you online?

Vince:             The best way is to follow my videos, quotes and stuff on Instagram @TheLegacyCoaching. Facebook is The Legacy Coaching, and my website is thelegacycoaching.com.

Yuri:                Very clean and simple, The Legacy Coaching pretty much everywhere. Vince, thank you once again for taking the time to join us today on the Healtpreneur Podcast, it’s been a pleasure. Just keep up the amazing work, man.

Vince:             Thanks for having me, this means a lot to me.

Yuri:                You’re welcome.

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Yuri’s Take

I hope you enjoyed that interview, it was a lot of fun. It’s always great to connect with people in the world of sport and athletes, because I believe there’s a huge connection between athletes and entrepreneurs. There’s just something special there, and I’ve even seen this in my business and life.

People who get into business for themselves, who were once high level athletes, tend to do very well. There’s a reason for that; there’s this mindset that they have that just never goes away. It just serves them in so many areas of life.

I hope you enjoyed this and got some good value out of this conversation. If you have, then head on over to iTunes, give it a thumb up, and give us a rating if you’d like. If you have it on your phone, just click the purple subscribe button to make sure you don’t miss any upcoming episodes that we’ve got coming your way. We have many, many more that you will not want to miss.

Let me just give you a little rundown of what is coming your way. Next week, I’m going to be sharing with you the one common trait of million dollar coaches. There’s one thing they all have in common, and I’m going to share exactly what that is with you.

On Wednesday, we’ll be speaking with Akil Palanisamy, whose based out of San Francisco Berkeley. He’s doing both online and offline practice. Then, on Friday, you’ll hear arguably one of the best interviews you’ll ever listen to with Shannon Graham. That’s just a taste of what’s to come.

We’ve got some amazing guests coming in the pipes, like Samantha Skelly from Hungry for Happiness, Laura Schoenfeld, Maya Fiennes, Marti Greenberg, and Andrea Nakayama. With such great guests coming down the pipeline, be sure to subscribe today so you don’t miss out.

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We do so through a free 45-minute call, called the result accelerator call. If you’d like to book one to speak with myself or one of our result coaches, you can do so today over at healthprenergroup.com/book.

That’ll take you over to the page, and from there you can see if you fit our criteria. If you do, then you can pick a time and date over the next couple days that’ll work best for you. This call is all about you, and will help you breakthrough in your respective businesses. It’ll give you a lot more clarity about what you should be focusing on, and maybe what you can put by the wayside.

If that would be of value to you, then why not? We’ve helped thousands and thousands of people in this process, and I have no doubt this will help you as well. We look forward to chatting with you very shortly. In the meantime, thanks so much for joining me on the show today. Get out there, share your awesomeness, be great, do great, and I look forward to speaking with you on Monday.

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https://www.thelegacycoaching.com/

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