Meet the Founder of Warrior Mind Coach, Gregg Swanson

Gregg Swanson is the Owner of Warrior Mind Coach, a Colorado Springs, CO-based company that provides mindset coaching to the achievement of peak performance to driven and committed professionals. Since 2004, Warrior Mind Coach has consistently helped change limiting beliefs that have held individuals back from realizing their true potential.

For more information on Warrior Mind Coach, visit their website here.

Here we sit down with Gregg, to know a bit more about his journey as a warrior mind coach.

Q. What inspired you to become an entrepreneur?

Gregg: I was kinda “forced” into it. After getting downsized for the second time, I took it as a sign from the Universe that I was to follow a new and different path. When I was in high school, I remember reading a story in the local newspaper about the next upcoming career/profession, life coaching. That article stuck with me, so after my downsizing, I became a certified coach.

Q. How did you get started?

Gregg: I love connecting with people! We are more alike than many of us think, we share very similar experiences and emotions. I’d like to share my story with you, not because it’s so great, but because I can relate to almost anything you’re going through. And because of this, I’m able to help and coach you to achieve the goals you so deeply desire.

Q. What was your biggest startup challenge? What steps did you take to overcome it? What did you learn?

Gregg: Many of my formative years were spent rising above onerous obstacles that left me deeply scarred. In my youth, I was tall, lanky, and quite uncoordinated. I struggled with shame stemming from a discouraging stuttering problem and severe asthma. I felt like an outsider amongst my peers as I struggled to find my place in society. A lack of confidence and a plethora of insecurities made it impossible to accept my true self, which shattered my self-image and left me feeling unworthy of love.

Hoping to overturn my respiratory condition, I focused on my fitness. I began lifting weights and participating in sports. Much to my dismay, my adolescent clumsiness left something to be desired from my athletic performance, which attracted even more torment from my fellow schoolmates. Despite it all, I continued with my weight lifting in private, holding tight to my goal of clearing asthma and achieving optimal wellness.

At a tender age, my worldview had been shaped by these lamentable experiences. I began to hide from the outside world, hoping to fly under the radar and avoid detection. Although my issues were more common amongst other youth than I had been aware of at the time, it was a lonely place to be, and I wondered if it would ever get better. Little did I know that all of it was preparing me for even bigger challenges I would face in adulthood.

Eventually, a defining moment occurred when I happened upon an opportunity in Multi-Level Marketing (MLM). Because the job required so much verbal communication, I instantly recognized its potential for helping me overcome the stuttering issue that had plagued me for so long. Although I was a little fearful and quite intimidated, I committed to the challenge and embarked on an epic adventure.

Putting on my suit of armor and picking up my hefty sword, I turned to face my enormous, fire-breathing dragon. Somehow, I was able to transcend the anxiety and achieve catharsis, liberating myself from one of the biggest hindrances to my quality of life. I became my own knight in shining armor as I courageously slew that towering beast and walked away with flawless speech and a reinvigorated perspective.

Empowered by this achievement, I finally realized that I was capable of anything I set my mind to. Network marketing was a game-changing experience with rewards far greater than I had ever imagined. For the very first time ever, I believed in myself!

I boldly stepped out of my comfort zone and took a leap of faith by moving to the Los Angeles area, a place I had never been before. Of course, the shift posed a whole host of new challenges; however, I was equipped with the power of confidence. And with it, I was able to build my career, survive a painful and devastating divorce, overcome financial ruin, conquer shingles, and smash my fitness goals. Resiliency became my middle name.

Life is an emotional rollercoaster filled with crazy twists and chaotic turns that can make you both nauseated and elated at various points in the ride. You never know what may lie around the next corner. Personally, I never could’ve imagined that a beautiful but grief-inspired trek to the summit of Mt. Rainier would culminate in my survival of a fatal and disastrous avalanche. But that is what happened!

The event tested me on physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual levels. It pushed me to my absolute max! Adrift in a shifting tide of numbness and despair, everything suddenly became less important. So much had happened! Yet, despite the anguish of two failed marriages, the abashment of two bankruptcies, the stress of life-threatening ailments and a debilitating knee injury, the heaviness of survivor’s guilt, and the overwhelm of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), I somehow managed to find peace by staying in the present.

Hitting rock bottom isn’t fun, but what matters is that you don’t let it consume you. Everything that has happened to us up until this moment has shaped the individuals that we are today. At this stage of my life, after everything I’ve encountered, I’ve learned how to lean into the hardships, embrace their wake of destruction, and focus on the ensuing victories. However, I couldn’t do any of that if I had never been forced to develop my physical and mental fortitude, courage, self-assuredness, and the discipline I needed to achieve success. I’ve been blessed with incredible tenacity and determination — and I’m not taking them for granted.

Q. What is the Most Memorable Thing You’ve Done Since you Started your Business?

Gregg: Please see above for my “brand story”.

Q. What is one book you recommend, and why?

Gregg: “Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself” by Dr. Joe Dispenza. He does an excellent job both scientifically and practically, how our emotions and thoughts create our experiences/reality and how to change them. This gives the power back to us to create exactly the type of life we desire.

Q. What are your top 3 favourite online apps, tools, or resources and what do you love about them?

• Insight Timer: This is a fantastic mediation app. It’s packed with a huge variety of mediations, both guided and music only.
• Fitbit: I love to see how well I’m doing physically, from sleep, steps, HVR to mindfulness
• Stay Sharp: This is a mind game app that continues to evolve as you get better at the specific exercises.

I’m a BIG believer in the connection of the physical, mental and spiritual, so these apps help me stay in alignment.

Q. In terms of legacy, what is the mark you’d like to leave on the world?

Gregg: I have helped other males become “real” men, physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. That I have helped men develop their own Code of Honor.

Q. In one sentence, what’s the best advice you’d give to someone just starting out on their entrepreneurial journey?

Gregg: I’ll borrow a phrase from the Navy SEAL’s…”Embrace the suck.”

To keep up to date with Gregg and his journey, connect with him on LinkedIn and Facebook.