Getting my first book, Optimize Yourself, into Sir Alex Ferguson’s hands was always going to be a challenge.
Stood uninvited in a Stockport County tracksuit outside his PA’s office, even I began to question what I was doing.
I hadn’t arrived at Carrington that day with a plan or permission. Simply turning up triggered an improbable chain of events – culminating in a letter of congratulations from Sir Alex himself on my book.
Once again, I had been rewarded for choosing courage over confidence. That principle has become the cornerstone of my journey as a founder.
I had a lot of uncertainty at home as a child and had to deal with some difficult circumstances.
I left school with no real direction and picked sports science simply because my friends were doing it – but I grew to love it.
Studying sports psychology, in particular, taught me that while we can’t always choose what happens to us, we can choose how we think about it and respond.
For someone who’d had no control over their childhood, it’s hard to overstate just how empowering that realisation was.
I remember telling myself: ‘There is growth here for you… This is how you unlock a greater future.’
After graduating university and travelling, I worked in retail sales training.
There, I realised most trainers were focused on technical skills rather than teaching the psychology of human behaviour.
It was the first time I saw a clear opportunity to apply what I had learned about sport to a business context – dealing with pressure, communication and targets.
Hitting a career progression ceiling in 2007 and having read Jack Canfield’s The Success Principles, I knew I wanted to pursue performance psychology in sport and business, but I needed executive coaching skills.
Burn the bridges
I had £3,000 in savings, enough for a diploma. Instead, in a ‘burn the bridges’ move, I took out a £9,000 car loan and invested £12,000 in a protégé programme with lifetime access – an act of commitment and accountability.
With the help of Toastmasters International, I also overcame my public speaking fears – winning several competitions following that.
Having acquired the necessary proficiencies, in 2009 I officially set up my consultancy with no clients – giving up my flat and moving home to reduce costs.
I wrote to every professional football club in the North West – offering my services for free.
Only Stockport County’s head of academy responded, with whom I worked for 12 months.
What I thought I would achieve in my business in a few years probably took 10.
That was sobering. Working as a self-employed associate alongside Michael Finnigan at i2i was a quantum leap.
I wrote my second book, How Leaders Make it Happen, in 2017 and visited a Navy SEAL Leadership Academy, where I learned how a 90 per cent failure rate had been turned into a 90 per cent success rate.
Winning ‘Business Coach of the Year’ at the 2018 International Coaching Awards 10 years after completing my coaching diploma was a proud full-circle moment.
From being told I needed a Masters and a PhD to build a career in sport, I have since worked with premier league and international footballers, world champions and Team GB athletes – plus many successful organisations such as HSBC and Zurich – without either.
From not being interested in reading at school, I am now a three-time published author.
As a performance coach specialising in leadership, mindset and culture, my message to founders is this: Don’t wait until you feel confident. Courage will do more for your progression than confidence ever will.
- Martin Robert Hall works with leaders in business and elite sports to create high-performance cultures. He has worked with prestigious clients including HSBC and Zurich, as well as players from Manchester United, Everton and the England national team.