Oliver Momeni

Welcome to the Coaches Spotlight, I’m your host Oliver Momeni, no intro, no music, no outro just you and me. After this first episode, I’ll be interviewing coaches from around the globe that share their struggles and pitfalls all the way up to how they became successful as a coach.

There will be two types of shows on this podcast. The first type of show is where a coach comes on the show and shares their story with us, in how and why they started with their coaching business and I’ll be asking them many other questions during the interview. We’ll be following a clear and concise format on every show, so you know exactly what to expect, on every episode. And the second type of show will be where a coach gets re-invited to come back to the podcast and share their expertise in a mini master-class format.

That said, I might even do some solo episodes with just you and me. But before I kick off the Coaches Spotlight, I’ll share with you my story in how and why I started online, which eventually lead to becoming a coach and also launch this podcast.All started in 2008 on the way to work. Prior to that day, life was very good I had a stable job that I had been working for over 6 years, I had worked myself up into management, and one year before the nightmare that I’m going to be sharing with you in a sec, I got married and we had big plans, we wanted 4 kids, buying a big house, the world was my oyster.

However all those plans never happened, as one morning my life was turned up side down. So one morning on the day to work driving along the Mediterranean sea down here in southern Spain, I almost lost control of my car as I had so pain in my stomach that it felt like I was being stabbed. But not once, four times after another in less then 10 seconds. Luckily I hit no one and didn’t cause any harm to others. Eventually, I stopped the car on the far right side and tried to wrap my head around what just happened.

Later that day, I was diagnosed with a very weird stomach illness and they said I had to be operated, by taking out 10 inches, about 25 cm of my end intestine. But I should not worry as they would only make 3 or 4 very small incisions and operate me with these so called long distance tools. Anyhow, which they did and I was allowed to go home after 10 days. After a day being home, I woke up the following morning and a good friend came over to see how I was.

The first thing he said when I opened the door was, you don’t look good man. And I said dude, what do you expect, and he shook his head and said you looked better in the hospital a few days ago. Are you sure your ok? And was trying to understand what he meant, but at the same time I noticed he was right, something was wrong with me. It felt like I had 5 shots of whiskey at once and I was sweating like crazy.

So not even 20minutes later I was in the hospital. But when I got there no one new what was going on with me, the only thing they saw was that I was on fire, I had 105 degrees Fahrenheit / which is over 40 degrees in Celsius.

So they put me in to the cat-scan because they had no clue what was going on. And after they scanned me from top to bottom, I was rolled out of the tube and as I was still lying there, I was looking around, and I see the guy that is behind the glass wall, jump up from behind his computer rips the door open and runs in my direction, pulling me off the cat scan table thingy, placing me in a wheelchair and running me down the corridor.

Although he was running and pushing me down the corridor like crazy, it felt like all was happening in slow motion. The only thing he said to me was, “One of the stitches in my stomach that was holding my intestines together, had popped and that I was contaminating myself”, which also explains the high temperature. Then all of a sudden he stopped in front of a door that was open, it was an emergency operation room, where they just had finished with the last OP and where literally mopping up the blood from the floor.

And in that moment I knew this is not good, I’m obviously next. So I’m sitting there hunched down in my wheelchair barley keeping my head up straight, watching these people cleaning everything up, and preparing all for the next OP. And from one second to another I feel how something was pulling at my t-shirt basically at my neck and lifting me up.

And notice how I’m starting to hoover over myself and as every second past me watching this, I gain in height. And then I said, wait a sec what am I doing up here about 10 feet off the ground, if I see myself down there. In that moment I knew that if I don’t stop floating above me, I’m done. Now for those of you that don’t know, but if your intoxicating yourself with feces, then you don’t have much time to live.

Anyhow, you know when you can make yourself heavier, by making it more difficult for someone picking you up. Well that’s what I was trying to do, but it felt like I was reaching down to myself by trying to sit back in to the wheelchair.

Looking back to that moment, I know now that what I was experiencing was pretty much Mr. Reaper coming to get me. I can’t say I knew what was happening in the moment, because all I was going through, was not from this world and no I did not see some kind of light. Whatever was pulling at me was not strong enough to take me on a different journey. Now I’m not religious, but only two things come for me in question, either, I was not allowing him to take me, or my gaurdien angle was standing between me and our Reaper friend.

Fact of the matter is something was preventing me from gaining more height and all of sudden I don’t look down on myself anymore but looking in to the operation room from my wheelchair, and notice how someone grabs my chair and rolls me into the room. I still remember it crystal clear, how they where strapping my arms on to the operation table, and from that moment I knew this is serious.

They operated me for over 5 and half hours and I woke up the next day with something that I never thought I would ever experience. I woke up with a colostomy bag. For those that don’t know what it is, its a bag that gets taped to the outside of your stomach and collects your feces outside of your body. Happy days.

The first thing I asked the nurse was, whats this? And the nurse responds with another question, they didn’t tell you before? And I’m like, tell me what? Well the couldn’t re-connect your end-intestine, so you now have this bag. In that moment it felt like this can only be a dream, because I didn’t understand what she was talking about, and I was hopping that I’ll wake up in a second.

But no chance, I was wide awake and I felt the a-dreh·nuh·lin pumping through my veins. Luckily a few minutes later the doctor that had operated me the first and second time was standing at my bed and explaining what had gone wrong in the first OP and what they had to do in the second to save my life, but it came at a cost. Which was the bag.

He said I would need to run around with this bag for 3 months and then they would try reconnect everything. Which gave me hope, but there was no guarantee that the OP then would be successful.

But me being me “always optimistic” I said, alright I’ll be back in three months. No forgetting I had no other choice, because the one end of my intestine was looking out of my stomach. Later I found out that if my friend would of not not come over and see how I am, I would of fell unconscious from intoxicating myself and most likely would of died on the coach watching TV. So I’m actually blessed to still be alive.

After 2 weeks I was allowed to go home, and now had to wait for the 3 months to go back and get operated a third time.
Now despite the circumstances, I knew I needed to find a way to pay the hospital and medical bills that where staking up like crazy as I had to take loads of medication for everything to heal down there and get me ready for the third OP.
And my savings where only going to get me that far, so one morning I woke up, went to my computer and typed the famous words “How to make money online”.

Now I need to mention, to that time all I new about the “internet” was… surfing around on the web, connecting with my friends and family on Facebook, use Skype, open my emails and that was about it. So I started to study all sorts of methods and putting out money for every course out there, you know the typical ones that promise financial freedom, but unfortunately after a few months I still didn’t have a functioning online business.

Anyhow, the first 3 months went by pretty fast and I was sitting in the docs office asking him, so when can you reconnect everything and get rid of this bag doc. He said well it would be better if we wait another 3 months, because the more time we give my stomach to recuperate from the second OP the more likely the 3rd one would be successful, I almost fell off my chair. I had no words, I just went back home. Anyway, during the following 3 months my marriage fell apart and she left me, because she said she could not handle my situation.

Which is pretty funny if you think about it, because I had something very strange to deal with and not her, and I always said in those days, if I could choose having all my bones broken or the bag, I would of choose having my bones broken. So when I noticed she would not come back, I was very depressive, having anxiety and panic attacks multiple times a day, but I was also suicidal. Because I did not see any reason for me to be around.

In a very short period, I lost my health, my job everything I had worked for, and on top the person that I thought would stand next to me in good or bad, choose from one day to another just to walk out on me. It took a while but I forgave her, and shortly after I filled for divorce.

You know the first 3 months where already difficult enough coping with this bag, right? But the second 3 months where even worse, as I was loosing faith in humanity. And if it wouldn’t of been for a coach I would of lost it. And as the months went by and we had our coaching calls, I said to myself if I could some day, some how give back to the coaching community, I would. Because if it wouldn’t of been for that coach I would of literally lost it, not knowing I was a coach in the making.

Which is one of the reasons this podcast exists, and I’ll explain in a moment why. So during those 6 months running around with that bag, my entire life turned upside down like I mentioned at the beginning of this episode. I would of never imagined my life changing in such a drastic way.

Anyhow, so after 6 months I’m sitting at the docs office again. And I said, ok so when is my OP scheduled doc, and he says, which OP, and I said, excuse me, what do you mean which OP? Well your case is quite sever Oliver and to assure that we can reconnect all together I recommend we wait another 3 months. So when he was done telling me that, I had a choice to totally flip out and say screw it I want to get operated now and take the risk the operation not being successful, because walking around with bag was driving me nuts or wait another 3 months. How do you think I reacted?

I kept my cool, and said alright I dont want to risk the next OP going wrong, so I”ll wait another 3 months. Now your not going to believe what he told me after 9 months. Ready? I should start looking for another doctor because he did’nt think he could get me back together again.

Did he just say, what I think he said?

You know how that felt waiting for 9 months to hear that. So without discussing with him not even one word, I just stood up turned around and walked out of the clinic.

So on the way home, I said, there has to someone out there, that can get rid of this bag that had been dangling from my stomach for the last 9 months. Luckily we found someone, actually my mother did. A professor in Germany, that had a reputation for being one of the best on the planet, and on top he has his clinic in my home town, Hamburg. So in total I had the bag for about 10 months, until I got operated in Germany stayed for a couple months after and then flew back home to Spain, which is now about 12 years ago.

Now some people call me crazy when I say, its ok what happened to me. Even that I almost lost my life, because ever since, I see life from a different angle. And I’m a strong believer that everything that happens to us happens for a reason. I’m say that is because, if all I shared with you wouldn’t of happened, I would most likely still work in a corporate position, have kids, with a wife that would of left me in a blink of an eye as soon as life gets tough. I know this might sound a bit strange but I wish everyone on the planet experiences adversity at least once in a their life time. Why? Because it shapes and forms us for difficult times ahead.

And believe me if I say, difficult times are around the corner for each and every one of us. Fact of the matter is, no one knows when you will need to deal with a situation that is out of your comfort zone. So I am glad I experienced all that because I can now help others when life throws them around, and they need somebody to guide them through those times of hitting rock bottom.

You know I think, a coach that has not experienced what they want to guide people towards or away from will never fully understand what his or her client is going through. Right? In other words a coach needs to have skin in the game to be able to put themselves in the same position like their client. I actually don’t like using the word client, as I see all my clients as my partners. Why partner?

Because we’re on the same mission to reach an outcome we both have agreed to accomplish together. Which means where in a partnership to reach a specific goal and that unites us.

Now lets get back to the story. So when I was back in Spain about 18 months went by with recovering from my 3rd operation. During that time I continued trying to get my online business off the ground. Because until then my so called online business was making peanuts. But I knew that there was a way to earn a living from home, with my laptop.

I just needed to find my way and understand how this internet thing really worked. Luckily I realized I was fallowing the wrong people before, so it was no surprise that I was spinning my wheels up until then.

So I said to myself STOP, you need to start studying only from the best and most famous marketing gurus out there, “so” I invested even more money by maxing out my credit cards trying to figure out this internet thing-a-ma-jig. And I began to only study from the top industry leaders. People like Dan Kennedy, Jay Abraham, Frank Kern and Ryan Deiss. And at the same time I read books from the top marketers of our time, people like Claude Hopkins, David Ogilvy, Eugene Schwartz, Gary Halbert, Peter Drucker and many, many more…

As I studied these guys I started a consulting agency in 2012 out of shear desperation because all the so called business opportunities I tried with how to make money online where getting me nowhere. So I started helping local businesses get more customers with the knowledge I had gathered over the first years being an internet marketer, if I could even call myself that to that time.

And as the weeks and months went by, I began to implement the marketing tactics that I was learning from these famous marketers, and bit by bit I was getting traction after spinning my wheels for almost 2 years. Anyhow, things where starting to look good for the agency and our clients where happy. One day a Fitness coach approached us, as he heard what we’ve been doing for other businesses and he wanted us to do the same for him.

So we took him on and got to work, and after about 8 weeks or so, he wanted to have a meeting with the owner of the agency, and I thought oops something was wrong, but the opposite was the case. He said he was so pleased with what we where doing for him that he wanted to know how we did it. And I said what do you mean? Well can you show me in detail not only how you did it, but also what you did?

And I said oh ok, do you have a few weeks? And we both started laughing and I said look, what we do for our clients in not rocket science but in order to show you what we do, you would need to first understand the fundamentals of online marketing. And before I could continue with what I was going to say, he asked me if we had a coaching program that could teach him exactly what we did for his business?

But I had to tell him that we didn’t have a program that could show him all that. So he said, well then how about creating one? And I was like ehh, ok. Not knowing that, the conversation I had with that coach that day, was the beginning of my coaching career. So after about a month or so, I got back to him and introduced him to a 12 week coaching program that not only teaches coaches or consultants how to generate a consistent stream of new clients for their business, but also dives deep in to the mindset of a successful coach or consultant.

Which lead to more coaches contacting us and asking about our program. And it didn’t take long that we noticed why the majority of coaches go out of business. And it was due to them not having a marketing strategy in place that assures they have a ever stream of new prospects knocking at their door

Which brings me back to one of the reasons why I launched this podcast. Remember when I said at the beginning that “if I could help the coaching community one day, I will” And I said that, because it was a coach that helped me out of my depression and kept me from doing something stupid to myself.

And now that our agency is almost running on autopilot, and it only is because of an amazing team that helps me with moving this business forward. Wait a sec, while we are here, Big shout out to my team, I appreciate each and everyone of you. I thank you all for what your doing, to help this company grow. That said, I thought this year would be a good time to create a podcast that will help coaches from around the globe to get more exposure for their coaching business. Because I know how it feels like, trying to understand how this online marketing works, so I said I’m going to send the elevator back down again so others can come up to.

And we do that with creating a podcast that gives coaches more exposure. By interviewing them and sharing their story so people out there can listen to the podcast and maybe find a coach that can help and guide them, the same way my coach did for me, when I was in a very bad place.

Meanwhile there are other people coaching and mentoring me, so I reach my goals and continue with serving humanity. Which again leads back to what happened to me 12 years ago, all happened for a good reason, otherwise I would most likely not record this podcast right now..

I hope this gave you an insight with what I do and why this podcast exists. So if your a coach and you want to come on the show then email our team at info@coachesspotlight.com and they’ll get back to you with info about the podcast..

With that said thank you for tuning in, and I hope to see you in future episodes. Take care