10 Signs You Need A Marketing Strategy and How To Get Back On Track written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing As a marketing consultant, I meet numerous business owners who are all set to take their companies to new heights. But, I’ve also noticed a consistent pattern of confusion about what a marketing strategy truly entails. Marketing strategy is a detailed plan designed by businesses to promote their product or service through different channels and […] How To Turn Adversity Into Purpose Through Mindset written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing Marketing Podcast with Siri Lindley In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Siri Lindley. She is a two-time world champion triathlete and winner of twelve ITU World Cup races. She’s the top female triathlon coach in the world, she’s guided Olympic medalists and Ironman champions to not only become better athletes but also better people. Siri is also a life coach, keynote speaker, and the Founder of two non-profit organizations. Her upcoming book Finding a Way: Taking the Impossible and Making it Possible. This life-giving guide is for readers who are feeling stuck between the life they want to live and the life that they’re living now. It gives you the tools and strategies you need to find a way through your struggles and on to triumph. Key Takeaway: Siri shares her inspiring journey emphasizing the importance of taking control of one’s life and mindset in order to overcome challenges and achieve personal growth. She explains the power of making conscious decisions, focusing on what one wants, and taking responsibility for one’s experiences. She attributes her survival and thriving to her belief in herself and the meaning she assigned to her challenges. Furthermore, she highlights how failure becomes an opportunity for learning and growth, while gratitude, support, and living with purpose and love are essential in everyone’s journey. Questions I ask Siri Lindley: [02:04] Your life has some pretty amazing chapters. So did you find a way to condense it into your book? [04:46] How did you get involved in triathlon? [06:22] At the top of your game you’re diagnosed with a disease that gave you around a 5% chance of survival. How did that change the game? [08:52] How much of your beliefs do you attribute to actually surviving? [12:23] I know you have accomplished a lot already, but I suspect that surviving when you weren’t expected to, drives you to say, who am I not to accomplish more, right? [15:43] You coach athletes and non-athletes as a life coach. Is there really a difference in terms of how you break through? [17:03] As a triathlete, how much of your success is mindset? [20:47] Tell me a little bit about your nonprofits. More About Siri Lindley: Get your copy of Finding a Way: Taking the Impossible and Making it Possible. For every book sold, $2 is donated to Feeding America and the rest of the profits go to Siri’s non-profit Believe Ranch and Rescue. Get a free chapter of Finding a Way by texting “GOFIRST” to 66866 More About The Agency Certification Intensive Training: Learn more about the Agency Certification Intensive Training here Take The Marketing Assessment: Marketingassessment.co Like this show? Click on over and give us a review on iTunes, please! Duct Tape Transcript Email Download New Tab John Jantsch (00:00): Hey, did you know that HubSpot’s annual inbound conference is coming up? That’s right. It’ll be in Boston from September 5th through the 8th. Every year inbound brings together leaders across business, sales, marketing, customer success, operations, and more. You’ll be able to discover all the latest must know trends and tactics that you can actually put into place to scale your business in a sustainable way. You can learn from industry experts and be inspired by incredible spotlight talent. This year. The likes of Reese Witherspoon, Derek Jeter, Guy Raz, are all going to make appearances. Visit inbound.com and get your ticket today. You won’t be sorry. This programming is guaranteed to inspire and recharge. That’s right. Go to inbound.com to get your ticket today. (01:03): Hello and welcome to another episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. This is John ch, and my guest today is Siri Lindley. She is a two-time world champion triathlete and winner of twelve ITU World Cup races. She’s the top female triathlon coach in the world, she’s guided Olympic medalists and Ironman champions to not only become better athletes but also better people. Siri is also a life coach, keynote speaker, and the Founder of two non-profit organizations: Believe Ranch and Rescue, and Horses in Our Hands Survivor and Thriver. And we’re gonna talk about her new book: Finding a Way: taking the Impossible and Making It Possible. So welcome to the show. Siri Lindley (01:47): Well, thank you for having me, John. I’m thrilled to be here. John Jantsch (01:51): So you took just like the most traditional path available to becoming a coach and author, and so your life has, and I’m sure you’ve spent a lot of time telling this, your life has some pretty amazing chapters. So have you found a way to kind of condense it into here’s, you know, here’s my background? Siri Lindley (02:13): Well, you’re exactly right. And I think every single one of us have different chapters in our lives. And what I’ve realized in my life is that it’s been through my greatest challenges that I of course, experienced the greatest growth. And in those moments, you know, the decisions that I made in order to move out of a space of suffering are exactly the decisions that move me forward towards the life that I dreamed of living. But I think that my story, you know, as a kid, as a college student, I was overwhelmed with fear and anxiety. I was a student at Brown University, three sport varsity athlete, but on the inside I was just slowly dying. I was really suffering with anxiety. And in those days, people didn’t talk about anxiety, they didn’t talk about fear, they didn’t talk about ocd. So I thought I was just this crazy person. (03:17): And this kind of led me to my greatest mentor, Tony Robbins, with his first book that he’d written Unlimited Power. And this book woke me up to the truth that I am the conductor of my own symphony of life. And if I don’t like the music I’m creating, which I didn’t, I was very unhappy. I’m the only one that has power to change me. And I think so often we forget that life is in our hands and we need to own the experience that we’re having because what we’re experiencing in life is a result of what we’re focusing on. The meaning we’re giving things and the decisions that we make, what we choose to do about it. And at that time, I was creating a tragedy. So I decided that instead of always focusing on everything that was missing, everything that was wrong, anding, that I had no control over everything that I didn’t wanna have happen, that I was gonna use the same discipline that I put into my studies and in my sports, and use that to discipline my focus in as many moments as possible to focus on what I wanted, what I loved, what I had, and what I could control. (04:31): And that started, kind of took me out of this horrible space I was in at that time, leading me to wanting to figure out who the heck I am. Because are, yeah, sorry, you, John Jantsch (04:43): You, you were an athlete, but you did you just wake up one day and say, I’m gonna try the hardest sport possible, and oh, and by the way, I can’t swim. Siri Lindley (04:51): Right? So I’d been a field hockey, ice hockey and lacrosse player, but I, at the time when I found triathlon, I actually had just discovered that I was gay. And it was a big discovery that was scary at that time. And my father, my hero, didn’t respond very well to that. And I lost my father when he realized that I was gay. So this kind of set me on this desperate mission. Mm-hmm. to prove to myself that even though I was gay, I could achieve something that I thought was special, that I could make a difference in the world, that I could be loved, that I could respect myself and find a worthiness from within. And it was literally the day after our phone call where that was it. At that time, when I found triathlon, I went and watched a race, and I just loved that there were people of all ages, sizes, abilities, but they were all just like digging so deep to right. (05:49): Find more within themselves. So even though I didn’t know how to swim after watching that, I said, this is what I wanna do. And for me, for my sake to earn my own love, my own respect, I am going to, one day I’m gonna set the, the, the goal that one day I’m gonna be the best in the world, which was ridiculous. My first race, dead last, my first race, I’m yelled at, you know, people laughing at me. But for me, there was a really important reason why I at least had to show up and lean in and try. John Jantsch (06:21): So at the top of that game, you’re diagnosed with a disease that gave you somewhere around 5% chance of survival. So how did that change the game Siri Lindley (06:34): In every way? I mean, it’s in that moment, I think I’d spent my lifetime up until that point wanting to find freedom from within, wanting to find freedom from my pain, freedom to be all of who I am. And I’d found it, you know, I’d found it. And then I get this diagnosis and it brought me to my knees. But in the same note, like I’ll never forget standing there with my wife, finally I’d found the love of my life. And the doctor is talking to me and saying, Siri, you know, you’ve got a myeloid leukemia, you’ve got a genetic mutation. And my wife is screaming at the top of her lungs, I hear his voice, and the story I’m hearing is this is the end. And I wasn’t willing to live that story. So in that moment, even though I didn’t believe it myself, I said, I’m gonna survive and I’m going to thrive. (07:33): Now think about this, John, even though I didn’t like, did I believe that in that moment? No, I’m terrified. I’m brought to my knees, I’m devastated, but I couldn’t afford to live. Imagine how I would show up if I agreed that this is the end. Mm-hmm. , would I show up ready to fight and do whatever it takes and find a way and, you know, discipline my folks in every moment? No. If it’s the end, I’m gonna show up a lot different to I’m gonna survive and I’m gonna thrive on the other side. So what meaning do you give a challenge like that? What meaning do you give it? Are you giving it a meaning that’s gonna lead you to showing up in a way that is going to help you move towards what you want? Or are you showing up in a way that is going to ensure the end? It’s up to you. And even though in that moment when I said those words, I didn’t necessarily believe it, I needed to become the person that did believe that she would survive, that did believe that she would thrive on the other side. What would she do? Future me that survives this? What would she do? What actions would she take? What meaning would she give what’s happening and be her every single day until I became her? John Jantsch (08:49): How, and I suspect this is still hard to talk about sometimes, but how much of that belief do you attribute to actually surviving Siri Lindley (08:59): All of it? Because think about this. I mean, the meaning you give something determines how you show up, what energy you show up with, which then determines the actions that you take. And I believe that was the most important thing, was deciding, knowing that my outcome was to survive this, my outcome. And I remember saying it, you know, I walked into the first big meeting I had with my medical team, and when I walked in, I could see the looks on their faces. And it was that look of like, oh my God, she’s so young and this is so sad. And I walked in and I said, look, I’m gonna survive this and I’m gonna thrive on the other side. This is gonna be my most beautiful triumph. And if there is anyone here that doesn’t believe in that, I need you to leave. Because I need to surround myself with people that believe as much as I do that this is possible. (09:57): So think about like, who are you surrounding yourself with mm-hmm. , and what are you clearly articulating what you want? And is everyone else that’s on, you know, are they on board? But the, you know, from that point in every single moment where I was deeply suffering, I mean, in my darkest moments, I would catch myself and I would say Siri, like focusing on how sick you are, how weak you are, how terrified you are, that is not gonna help you heal. So I would change the channel just to gratitude for the fact that I had health insurance, gratitude for my doctors, my donors, my mom who slept on the couch in the hospital every night. And that gratitude was the bridge from despair to hope. That gratitude gave me a little bit more energy where I could make, make better decisions on what to focus on, and thus fill myself with more of what I needed to actually take steps towards surviving. And we all can do this. John Jantsch (10:58): And now let’s hear a word from our sponsor, marketing Made Simple. It’s a podcast hosted by Dr. JJ Peterson and is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network. The audio destination for business professionals marketing made simple brings you practical tips to make your marketing easy and more importantly, make it work. And in a recent episode, JJ and April chat with StoryBrand certified guides and agency owners about how to use ChatGPT for marketing purposes. We all know how important that is today. Listen to marketing Made Simple. Wherever you get your podcasts. (11:35): Hey, marketing agency owners, you know, I can teach you the keys to doubling your business in just 90 days, or your money back. Sound interesting. All you have to do is license our three-step process that’s gonna allow you to make your competitors irrelevant, charge a premium for your services and scale perhaps without adding overhead. And here’s the best part. You can license this entire system for your agency by simply participating in an upcoming agency certification intensive look, why create the wheel? Use a set of tools that took us over 20 years to create. And you can have ’em today, check it out at DTM world slash certification. That’s DTM world slash certification. (12:22): So I have heard, you know, many people who have overcome such adversity survived, uh, when they weren’t expected to, you know, come out of the other side of that with like, well now I really, I have a debt to pay, right? I mean, I now have to, like, you had accomplished a lot already, but I suspect that that drives you to say, you know, who am I not to accomplish more? Siri Lindley (12:43): 1000000%, John. I mean, you’re spot on with that. And you know, I lost a lot of friends that were on the same clinical trials as me, as me, and I’m not gonna live this life with survivor’s guilt. I’m gonna live this life with survivor’s responsibility, that I have a responsibility to bring every ounce of my soul into this world and to hopefully make a positive difference in the world and every human that I encounter. And that’s where this book was born. You know, that there was a very powerful moment as I, where I was really sick and I actually didn’t know, you know, God, what if I’m not here tomorrow? Mm-hmm. . And in a moment like that, you start thinking about, well, gosh, like is it okay if, like, if this is my last day, did I live my life in a way that, that I, I’ll be happy with? (13:37): And as I thought about it, you know, there were certain things that, that were the most important to me. And that was, did I love with all my heart? Did I love everyone in my life? Did I show them love? Did I tell them I love them? Did I love what I did? Did I love myself? Like, like did I love with all my heart? Did I live fear fearlessly? Meaning did I say yes to things that scared the crap out of me? Yeah, I had, you know, I did triathlon, I sucked. That was scary. I did it. So that was fearless. But you know, there are other things I can do more. I can be more. And lastly, you know, did I make a difference in the world? And I had, you know, with my athletes, I touched their lives. I made a difference. (14:25): But I thought, God, there’s just so much more that I can do. In that moment, John, in that moment of reflection that was really difficult in that moment, I realized what my purpose in life is. My purpose in life is to love with all my heart, to bring love into the world, and you know, to live fearlessly, to be an example, and to every single day try and make a difference in this world. And so when people ask like, why did I write this book now? It’s because this book is all those things. This book is my mission, this book is my purpose. This book delivers all of that. And for me, I just know that it’s gonna help so many people because this isn’t a book about me, it’s a book about me saying, Hey John, let me take your hand. You know, I’ll tell you my story, but now, you know, let’s do a little deep dive into what matters most to you, and let’s find a way for you to overcome challenges that seem insurmountable. Let’s find a way for you to make the impossible possible. And that’s my gift. And I know that hopefully it will be a gift to everyone that reads it. John Jantsch (15:42): So, so you coach athletes and you also coach non-athletes as a life coach. Is there a difference, really? Obviously they have different, totally different goals and things, but is there really a difference in terms of how you break through Siri Lindley (15:55): John? I love that question because I had a hilarious, so I had an athlete, Merinda Carre of four time world champion, coached her for 14 years. And just in the last couple of years, I’ve really moved away from coaching triathletes and more coaching humans. And I was having a conversation with her and she said, but Siri, you’ve always been a life coach. And I’m like, what are you talking about? She said, oh my God. Like, yes, you coach swimming, biking, and running, but you are much more a life coach than like a swim bike and run coach. And so it occurred to me that this isn’t anything different at all. I’m just actually calling it what it should have been called all along. So that’s such a good question. I love that you caught that because no, it’s the same thing. A minus the going to the pool and you know, showing people how to swim and all the technical details. But I’m just continuing everything that I’ve done for 25 years. John Jantsch (16:56): Well, most life coaching is about mindset changing or mindset adopting. And I mean, as a triathlete, how much of your success is mindset? Siri Lindley (17:07): I, I would say, and I tell my athletes this, I know people talk about 80% mental, 20% physical. Right? I actually think it’s more, I think it’s like 90% mental, 10% physical. And any time you see an athlete struggling at any point in their career, it’s a mental shift that’s needed, not a physical one. Yeah. And so for that reason, there is, it’s like, you know, you have a, a formula with your duct tape marketing, you have a formula and it’s, you know, you’re showing people how to achieve and how to repeat those results and to continue to, like, it’s the same thing with as we stay attuned to our mental state and what we’re bringing to the table, whether it be in business, in sport, and our lives and our relationships, as we pay attention to that and we put the same formula to that, you can have that continued success. And it is absolutely crucial. It’s staying, it’s keeping you connected to, you know, what matters most to you, why you’re doing this in the first place, and staying connected to that and staying connected to a mindset that is gonna see you every single day, no matter whether you’re in a good time or a bad time, it’s gonna see you moving forward, not back. And that’s the key. John Jantsch (18:28): You know, it’s funny, I think a lot of times when people think of athletes, all, all they really see is race day. Right? And I always laugh, I, because I think entrepreneurs, you know, are, it’s race day every day, , you know, and sometimes I don’t think, you know, a good athlete, I mean a true, you train hard, you rest hard, , you know, you focus on all the, you know, all the routines. And I think a lot of times entrepreneurs just show up and it’s race day every day. And we sometimes don’t take care of, you know, ourselves to prepare, you know, for race day. Siri Lindley (18:57): That’s right. And I think, you know, uh, the thing about being an athlete, you may have a race once a month, but it’s day after day, showing up, leaning in and doing the work. You know, it took me eight years from when I started triathlon to become a world champion. It didn’t happen overnight. And there was a lot of failure involved. And I think this is crucial to, let’s look at your definition of success and failure. Let’s create definitions of those two things that actually see you building momentum and succeeding every day. For me, success was progress. If I make a tiny bit of progress every single day, either physically, mentally, emotionally, I’m succeeding. And then for me, failure was learning. Mm-hmm. , every time we fail, that’s when we’re gonna learn the most. That’s when we’re gonna grow. That’s when we are gonna become the person we need to be to achieve the goal. So for me, even though I sucked and I’m failing coming in last, because I defined success as progress, failure is learning, I was always moving forward. And that’s what kept me going to get to the point where I needed to go. John Jantsch (20:09): Yeah. I, from years of hindsight, um, observing this, I can say that, you know, I’ve gotten to the point in my business where if something doesn’t happen that it was, that I thought was supposed to, or that I thought I wanted to, I’ve really started as Pollyanna as this sounds, I’ve I’ve really started saying, okay, something else, Amma more amazing is supposed to happen. . Siri Lindley (20:27): Yes. I love that attitude. And here’s the thing, that attitude serves you. It does. So why would you give it any other meaning that’s gonna make you feel bad or discourage you or you lose confidence? Like, don’t do that. Like give things a meaning that is actually gonna empower you and move you forward. John Jantsch (20:45): Yeah. Tell me a bit about your, your nonprofits. You obviously there’s, I I can barely see a picture of a horse there as a part of it. So tell me a little bit about Rescue Ranch, I’m sorry. Believe Ranch and Rescue, and then Horses in Our Hands Survivor and Thriver. Siri Lindley (21:00): RWell believe ranch and Rescue. We actually rescue horses from slaughter. 60,000 horses a year when we started, were being slaughtered for human consumption. And it was just a horrific practice. This horse came into my life and changed me in a matter of months. And when I got online and looked up, why did I need to rescue a horse, that’s when I realized what was happening. So that was about six years ago. Since then, we’ve saved 265 horses. Hmm. Most of whom have gone on to heal humans. So it’s come full circle. They are incredible healers, people with anxiety, trauma, P T S D, people facing, you know, really dire diagnoses. It’s just the work that we do almost every weekend is just so profoundly, uh, transformative for people. So, but from that, we’d rescued 265 horses and we thought, you know, this is a bandaid. (22:00): So we formed another nonprofit horses in our Hands, which is a 5 0 1 C four, which is lobbying in Washington DC to actually pass a bill that will ban this once and for all. And through our Raising Awareness campaign, we’ve reached 84 million homes. Wow. Sent about 250,000 letters. And the numbers of horses being slaughtered has gone from 60,000 to 23,000 last year. So even though the bill hasn’t passed, our work has really had an impact on, in raising awareness, lowering that number. You know, 40,000 horses are still here today. Yeah. Thanks to our work. So it’s very important work for us because it’s saving the horses who are saving the humans, and that just feels like the ultimate privilege to do this kind of work. John Jantsch (22:50): Awesome. Well, we didn’t get into chapter by chapter on, uh, finding a Way, but I really wanted to have, uh, people here a sense of you, because that comes through in the book as well. But, uh, please invite people to where they might connect or find, find the book, or whatever you wanna share. Siri Lindley (23:05): Awesome. Well, finding a way, taking Impossible and making it possible forward, written by Tony Robbins, my greatest mentor. John Jantsch (23:13): Yeah, I, I meant to point that out. I mean, you mentioned that was a book that really impacted you. Obviously Tony Robbins didn’t know who you were at that point, and now to come, you know, full circle with that to where he writes the forward and he does a testimonial video, that’s pretty, pretty awesome. Siri Lindley (23:27): Yeah, I, it feels he’s just, he truly has lit the path for me, for my entire life without even knowing it. But to have him write the forward just means everything to me. So that’s pretty special. But if you want to download a, a free chapter text, GOFIRST to 6, 6 8, 6 6, and you’ll get a free chapter. Mm-hmm. . But most importantly, I hope that you’ll get online and buy the book. A dollar of every book goes to Feeding America. Tony is gonna match that. So $2 of every book goes to Feeding America and the rest, anything that comes to me is going to save horses. So it’s for a good cause. But most importantly, I believe that this book, should you give it a try, is gonna really change your life. I believe in that, and I’m so looking forward to sharing it with all of you. And I thank you, John, so much for offering me the opportunity to share a little bit of me and a little bit about this mission and purpose. It means so much to me. You’re amazing. I John Jantsch (24:31): Love to work. Thank, thank you so much. I appreciate you stopping by the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, and hopefully we’ll run into you one of these days out there on the road. Siri Lindley (24:39): Can’t wait. Thank you, John. John Jantsch (24:41): Hey, and one final thing before you go. You know how I talk about marketing strategy, strategy before tactics? Well, sometimes it can be hard to understand where you stand in that, what needs to be done with regard to creating a marketing strategy. So we created a free tool for you. It’s called the Marketing Strategy Assessment. You can find it @marketingassessment.co, not.com. Co. Check out our free marketing assessment and learn where you are with your strategy today. That’s just marketing assessment.co. Atd. Love to chat with you about the results that you get. Scroll back to top Sign up to receive email updates Enter your name and email address below and I’ll send you periodic updates about the podcast. powered by This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network. HubSpot Podcast Network is the audio destination for business professionals who seek the best education and inspiration on how to grow a business.