Today we’d like to introduce you to Mike Van Pelt.
Hi Mike, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
When I reflect on the starting point or that little fuse that sparked me to get into men’s life coaching and leadership development, I think back to my youth. From an early age, I was involved in sports of all kinds where I learned the importance of teamwork, respect, and practice. My admiration for the coaches and teachers in my life led me to start thinking about coaching in athletics and teaching in the classroom. Although I started down that path, sometimes life takes a different turn. As we all know or learn at some point, there isn’t always a direct path that leads to where you end up in life.
Early on, I dropped out of college and made a career in sales where I was able to craft my selling and negotiating skills and build a professional resume. However, I never lost the desire to coach and teach others. At one point, I was selected to be part of a leadership development program where that coaching fuse was re-ignited and led me to figure out my career calling. I ultimately went back to college and completed my undergraduate and graduate degrees while being a stay-at-home dad and doing a tremendous amount of volunteer work in my local community and in my church.
I really thought my career was headed down the road of becoming an executive director in a nonprofit given the background and education I was building. As fate would have it, I met a gentleman by the name of Paul Baily and my journey in life changed once again. Paul and I had a lot in common with our churches, volunteer interests, and desire to make a difference. Paul and I decided to start a business networking group that quickly turned into a men’s faith-based small group. Leading this men’s group allowed me to make critical connections for both my personal and professional life, and just prior to the beginning of COVID, I began to craft my plan to transition into men’s life coaching.
Of course, COVID brought many other challenges, and my plans were quickly put on hold. When my wife’s job was eliminated during COVID, another shift took place and we moved from Spartanburg, South Carolina to Kennesaw, Georgia after she accepted a new position. During this great “COVID pause” and our family’s relocation, I began to work on what would ultimately become True Man Life Coaching and the True Man Podcast.
True Man is derived from the Bible and reflects upon Jesus Christ’s walk on earth as the son of God. Not only was this the name that Paul and I chose for our men’s group, but I decided to name my business True Man Life Coaching because I felt it incorporated both the model of a man that I wanted to be, as well as the model of a man that I could help others become.
The True Man Podcast began as a way to reach a broader audience of men so they can hear ideas about how to become better men, dads, and husbands. It has become a labor of love that I enjoy more than I ever thought possible. Each week, I invite guests to join me on the podcast to share their growth journeys and together we offer insights and suggestions to provide men with a more meaningful way to live.
I consider myself to be the primary caretaker of the True Man brand and I’m thankful that God has entrusted me to develop programs and coaching that incorporate the example of who I consider to be the greatest role model to walk the face of the earth in Jesus Christ. My role as a coach is to help men get out of their heads and introduce them to their hearts. The heart is the center of healing and personal improvement and I help men find the answers to questions they may have buried or support them in finding a new path that they are having a hard time finding on their own. Every man has the answers to his questions somewhere inside him, but it’s special for me to walk alongside a man and see him develop the answers to questions that lead him to a more purpose-driven life.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The simple answer to that question is no, the road has not been smooth. Interestingly enough, I wasn’t expecting it to be smooth. I’m at a point in my life where I expect that there will be challenges regardless of what I do, but more importantly is that I’m better prepared when those challenges occur. Being an entrepreneur is challenging but who you surround yourself with is often the difference between failure or success. For example, I’m not all that technical, so when it comes to that area, I’ve found ways to compensate by putting people around me that can help. Where I’m weak, I’ve found it’s important to find strong people who can fill my gaps so I can focus on my strengths on serving men.
In many areas of my business, I’m far ahead of where I thought I’d be and in other areas, I still have work to do. One thing I encourage entrepreneurs to have is a detailed success plan with goals that are tangible, time-specific, and achievable. You must give yourself a target to shoot for and, if you have a failure, assess what could have gone differently, learn from it quickly, and move on. In fact, as the saying goes, fail faster. As a recovering perfectionist, I’ve had to adopt this mantra because some of my mistakes and failures have led to my greatest ideas. Without a doubt, developing strategic business relationships and surrounding myself with positive can-do people has helped catapult me faster than would have happened on my own.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
My coaching practice offers 1-on-1 coaching and I’m currently developing content for men’s small groups and mastermind groups where like-minded individuals provide peer mentoring and help each other achieve their goals. I’ve found that men like being in a safe environment where they can talk freely with and learn from other men. In fact, that is something that I strongly encourage because there is such a breadth of expertise and understanding among men that they don’t always recognize. It’s important that men know that they don’t have to keep everything buried inside themselves and that they are not alone on their life journeys. I encourage men to reach out to me and I always offer a complimentary call to see if we are a good match for a coaching relationship or if I can help them make other connections.
The most important thing that sets me apart in what I do is the ability to simplify and understand with empathy what so many men are going through. Many men go through life not feeling understood and not wanting someone else to “fix” them. I take the time to listen and develop a personalized coaching plan that allows a man to find his own answers and discover what is truly in his heart. I won’t try to fix a man, but I will definitely walk alongside him to help him find his own solutions and a new path if that’s what he is seeking. We all go through challenges and setbacks in our lives. It’s important to note that these challenges and setbacks can be the catalyst to the next great thing that happens in your life. As part of my coaching, I help people realize this so they can use those challenges to build the lives they want.
In addition to my coaching and podcast, I was voted as one of the Top Dads in Podcast by Podcast Magazine and one of the 10 Most Disruptive Business Leaders to Watch in 2022 by Tycoon Success Magazine.
I’m also extremely excited to be a part of a compilation book called The Art of Connection. This book features a number of authors sharing tips and inspirations for entrepreneurs and small business leaders and is my first book project. I’m also busy working on my first solo book called True Man, True Ways – A Roadmap of Discovery to the Masculine Heart. Finally, I’m in the development stages of hosting my first Men’s Summit which I hope to have completed by early fall.
We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
I don’t know that this surprising because I often publicly state it, but I refer to myself as the “comeback coach”. This phrase came out of a conversation I was having with my podcast coach one night. Yes, I have a podcast coach! My coach and I were talking, and I told him that I love hearing comeback stories, second chances, and pivot points in people’s lives. I believe these stories serve as motivating factors that can spur people to take action for changes in their own lives. On the True Man Podcast, I often have people tell their own story because there is usually a setback or turning point that occurred in their life that led them to where they are today.
I also love the ultimate comeback story of Jesus Christ. In His death and resurrection, we are saved from our sins. This is an important element in understanding that we all have the opportunity to come back from whatever challenges show up in our lives.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.truemanlifecoaching.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/truemancoaching/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mikevanpelttruemancoaching
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/truemancoaching
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/MikeVanPelt
- Other: https://www.mikevanpeltauthor.com/
