What do you do when others think you have it made but deep inside you still feel like something is missing. You long for more than the life you have right now, what do you do?

Doug’s Story

Back in 2007, Doug was one of the youngest business owners on the main street in Santa Barbara, CA. Owning an elite private training gym, a fitness magazine, and doing consulting for several companies. By all accounts he had it made… but he wasn’t fulfilled.

That’s when Doug made a dramatic shift and began to ask the question:

• If you put down the last few years of your life into a book would it be a book you’d even want to read?
• Better yet would it be a page turner?

If not, it’s time to make a change and a change is exactly what Doug set out to make… and he did.

Meet Doug Today

He has been traveling with his family for 4 months. His 17-month son is his life and his goal and mission is to be the best possible husband and father he can be.

Doug wakes up in the morning and journals, gets some work done and then spends a lot of time with his son. He runs 6 companies and the journey he shares today is all about how he made his business run around his life and not the other way around.

The Journey

Doug grew up an entrepreneur and it started in Orange County California where he grew a garden in his backyard and sold the produce door to door. He has always been that way and gave a lot to charity. Two cornerstones in his life were Entrepreneurship and Philanthropy.

He was one of the youngest business owners and was running three businesses at the time. He ran a magazine, was consulting and ran a networking group that consisted of some celebrities and business people.

From the outside, he felt that something was missing and went to his mentor to share this. His mentor told him to, “buck up” and be happy with how lucky he was. It didn’t sit right in his stomach so he went to a coffee shop and started writing.

The turn around point 

Doug asked a powerful question in his journaling, If someone followed him around for the last couple of years of his life and wrote it down, would it be a best-seller, a book Doug would be interested in reading, a page-turner? The answer shocked him, it was NO!

Doug took an honest appraisal of his life and noticed that he was stressed and that his time away from work was lonely. He decided he wanted to have a family and time to spend with them and when he consulted his mentor he was told that he couldn’t have both.

Observing others, Doug noticed that others in the business world weren’t happy with their family life and he knew he wanted to have both. I asked him how he overcame being given this advice, advice being given by extremely successful people in life and business, neighbors of Ellen and Oprah.

The Quest

He went on a quest that lasted about four years and attended seminars, had coaching and mentoring and took it all in. He started piecing it all together like a puzzle. He gamified it into where he could get wins and figure out how he could make his business work for him. He sold the studio that required him to be there in person and took his businesses online. It required a lot of hard work and utilization of processes and systems to make it successful.

He shared with his mentor and his mentor was very happy that he was able to create the life of his dreams.

The 90-day game plan

Doug created the 90-day game to help gamify your own life. You can find it at https://www.the90daygame.com

The interview is available to listen to on Anchor: Here 

Links 

• DougHoltonline.com 
• Doug@dougHoltonline.com 
• www.linkedin.com/in/dougholt
• facebook.com/transformationalcooch
• twitter.com/dougholtonline
• Music credit with gratitude: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Scott_Holmes/

Gina Johnson