Live from the all new name and creative studios. I’m your host Eric Nutting of the Sunleaders podcast. And I say that because we are actually in a brand new studio and it’s awesome.

I am in the room with Jordan, he’s our producer. He is rocking out. We’ve spent some time today and then across the table from me, I’m just now getting to know the lovely Ms. Diane Nutting, who I have been married to for 35 years.

We’re going to have a conversation today and I think it’s going to be fun. It’s going to be a smidge different. So I am the owner of the Growth Coach.

Strike that. Reverse that. I am the co owner of the Growth Coach of St. Petersburg, Florida, Florida.

Florida. My co owner is sitting across the table from me and I asked Diane to come on the show because I thought it was about time that the audience hears from her and we check in. We’re six episodes into this and a big portion of our business at the Growth Coach of St. Petersburg is working with entrepreneurs and couples in business.

And as you’ll find out perhaps through the next 45 minutes, we have tested ourselves a little bit through this process of 35 years with, you know, who’s got a crazy idea and how are we going to follow that through and will we even follow it through? So I always give people a chance to introduce themselves. Aside from being my wife and co owner of multiple businesses and the parents of five, Diane is also an author of young adult books and I really want her to have the chance to tell you about
those. So, Diane, thank you for being here.

Welcome to the SunLeaders podcast. Hello. No pressure, huh? No pressure.

No pressure. Just a conversation. I guess.

I just said hello. I only gave you a chance to say hello. Would you like to introduce yourself to the audience and tell them a little bit about yourself, Tell them a little about your books.

Hi, I’m Diane. About myself, I am the co owner of the Growth Coach. I’m really, I consider myself to be more administrative at best.

Eric really is the eyes, ears, body, soul of this business. But he is also an amazing partner when it comes to being, I guess what you call really supportive. So yeah, I write, I have two books in publication and I do have a couple stories that I’ve got going on and five kids and a cat, a dog.

So I’m just gonna jump in right there. Two books, Hurricane, Eye of the Storm. And coming up is Aftermath, Aftermath.

So this trilogy and I had a conversation a couple of Conversations before you and I had the chance to sit down today, I was a guest on a couple of other podcasts today. And so there’s kind of a through line for me, and there’s not for you. But the nature of your books is.

It is young adults, and it is kind of. What do you call it? Fantasy. I do indeed call it fantasy.

Yes, Fantasy. The. The part of the world that is not appealing to you.

I really, really, really enjoy reading fantasy. And when it comes down to it, when I. When I really decided to sit down and write stuff, I wanted to write something I wanted to read. So I secretly, quietly wrote this book because I was supposed to be doing other work.

It was our last venture of doing voiceovers, and it was really boring, and I had to do a lot of editing and to get away from the editing and eating to stay awake. Sound editing, right? Sound editing, Yes. I thought it’d be really fun after a while, but I’m just not.

I don’t have the ears for it. And so I would quietly go write chapters after chapters after chapters. More than just quietly, covertly.

Covertly was covertly, right? Yes. It was in the bathroom. It was while I was picking up the kids.

It was, hey, I want to go lay my head down for a couple minutes. And I’d be writing. And I don’t know why that was so necessary.

I felt kind of guilty about not working in our business, and so I recognized that that was like a thrill for me, and I was kind of embarrassed, and I didn’t feel that my work. Because I wasn’t a teacher, I wasn’t educated, I felt that my work probably was not going to go out. That’s like a blowhard just thinking that I could write.

And so I did it quietly. I did it in secret. And when I finally finished, I presented it to the husband and said, look what I did.

And he said, when did you do this? So that was a really fun dialogue. That was a really, really fun thing to figure out. Me being the husband.

Yes. Just clarification. Yes.

So then I had to kind of say, yeah, that’s why the project didn’t get finished. So that was my writing journey. So.

But what’s really interesting, it didn’t really start there. And what’s really fun is we really have just discovered this over the last week with Brett being back in the house. Y.

Yeah. They came by some old writing of yours. Really, really, really old.

And a huge part of our parenting was you creating stories for the kids. For the kids. And they would Always say before going to bed, tell us a story with your mouth.

Yes, tell us the story with your mouth. And it was always a story. Well, it started out with me telling Alec he had to get off the washer because there was a troll underneath.

No, I think that was you. I told him, there’s a troll. You told him to tell him nice things.

I said, get off the washer. There’s a troll back there. There’s a troll underneath the was.

And I was just. I mean, he just jumped right off that thing. Like.

Like. Oh, my God. I’ve never seen a kid jump off there.

He was shaking and. One of my proudest moments of parenting. Oh, you’ve got more.

Oh, do I. So I sat down and I told him a story. That was a really nice story. It was.

It was Alec and the Disappearing Forest. And it kind of went through the trials and tribulations of him being a friend with a troll. And we had, at the time, the story was actually, wasn’t Alec in the disappearing Forest.

It was a story about him and his friend that lived underneath our house. That was the beginning story. Right, right.

And so we talked about how he would climb underneath this trap door in his room, and he’d go see his friend the troll. And I eventually made it a much bigger, bigger story. And every single night.

Gosh, I think it must have gone on an hour, every single night, telling a story, a new story about Alec in the disappearing forest. So now I didn’t know that our youngest was reading one of our stories. My stories just got back from college.

New Hampshire is hanging out in our house again. And he was going through a bookcase and found. Yeah, the Golden Key.

It was. It was a. It was called the Golden Key.

I wasn’t sure what to call it. And it was just about the very first book I ever wrote. And I printed it, and I was so proud of it.

And it was actually pretty bad. Well, they’re loving it. He’s on the phone with his girlfriend, Amaya.

Brett and Amaya. And they read this. They’re reading it together.

Yeah, it’s pretty cute. And now they shared that with the other kids. And Rachel’s championing you.

Yes. Rachel said, hey, it’s about time you get Alec out of there as the main person and you put all of us kids in, which kind of makes me laugh a little bit. But she did give me a great idea.

And Rachel’s an amazing writer in her own right. She’s actually editing my third book. And so she called up and she Said, hey, I really, really, I heard what Brett’s doing and I really think that you should put all of us kids in it.

And so I kind of thought about it and I sat down and it’s just, it’s been seamless. So I’m really hoping that this is kind of another path for me on the ever so rare that our five children listen to this podcast. Let’s go ahead and just recognize them all.

We have Alec. Alec. He’s our oldest and I think it’s fair to say now that we’re going to be grandparents, right? Yes.

And he won’t tell us the sex of the baby. And I’m really upset with him married to the beautiful Mariana. So they’re our oldest.

And then we have Scott and then we have. I have to stop and think about this. Well, I do.

Rachel. Yeah, we’ve got a lot of them. And then there’s Brett and Rebecca.

So those are the five kids. Ye. They’re all remarkably unique.

And there’s that awesome family bond that just pulls us all together and you know that we’re all family. So with all of this, stories are a huge part of your life and you are apt to fantasy. Absolutely.

You in your life, tell yourself stories as a coping mechanism. Yeah, it’s actually something I’m trying to stop doing. Not telling fantasy stories, not writing, not creating.

No, you’re trying to, in a day to day life, stop telling yourself stories. Yes. I grew up anxious.

I grew up a really, really shy, introverted, very troubled kid, though. You were captain of the drill team. Yes, because that was a singular group that I was very comfortable in.

Right. Once I was in a group and I was comfortable in it, I could kind of shine. But if you made me go outside of that, it wasn’t something I could do.

Right. But I was co captain and then I was captain and it was. I loved it.

I loved it. And those girls still talk, but I think when you talk about anxiety, we’ve become an anxious world, haven’t we? Anxious world. And I think this generation is an anxious generation.

When I say this generation, the kids we raised. And I think anxiety is rooted in fear. Right.

It is absolutely fear of how we’re perceived. Fear of do we fit in. And that’s when you start telling yourself stories.

Right. So I would tell stories that somebody didn’t like me and maybe they just didn’t even know me. I would tell stories about why somebody wasn’t coming home on time, like maybe Scott was being arrested.

I actually called the police. Right. Office one time to see if my second oldest was there, and he was only with a friend.

His. But his phone had died. So, I mean, little things like that.

And I think people do that more often than they think. So this is really interesting to me. We’re turning something that has been kind of a challenge into something that can really be a plus for you.

Yes. Which I think is what we want to do in life with everybody. It’s what we do as coaches.

Is a life coach and a business coach, which I am both of, and you are a certified business coach. So we’re always trying to find how to turn these dysfunctions into something functional where they can thrive. So you created stories, and then you ended up writing a structured story in secret.

And now we need to turn that into something. Well, you did. You turned into something powerful.

But this is the point I want to get to. When you have an idea of what you want to do, and I have an idea of what I want to do, and I want to look through the lens of working with any couple, how do we get those paths to be parallel paths? How do we do that and avoid the conflict that comes up sometimes? That’s how we can get couples in business to thrive. I agree with that.

It’s not always easy because. Not if you have to go write it in secret or do whatever in secret. Absolutely.

But that was secretary. Secrets are not fun. Secret secrets hurt someone.

I. I think what it comes down to is communication. If you have really good communication and you can actually be your true self and. And have a dialogue that’s not going to explode.

I think some of what happened in our life was the fact that I was staying home. I really wanted to go back to work. It was not good for the family to have me go back to work, and it was my coping mechanism.

You wanted to go back to work? Okay, gotcha. I look back on it, and it was such a blessing to stay home. It was like, I mean, who gets that? Who gets to stay home with their kids? And I think maybe that’s when I wasn’t listening.

I don’t know who was right, who was wrong. But here’s the deal, right? Yes, I want to go back to work. And I said, how are we going to do that? We can’t afford childcare or anything else.

These kids need somebody at home. Yada, yada, blah, blah, blah. And if I had to do all over again, I’d do the same exact thing, but I’d be nicer about it.

Yeah, I think sometimes we just have coping mechanisms in how to make enough money for a family that large. And some of the coping mechanisms are just trying to get through everything as calmly and as together as a family. You can as a family.

You know, I just think that when. Now that I look back on it, I look back on my life, I know that this was. It was a beautiful thing to be able to stay home.

And then it was a beautiful thing to go to work because I had a few of the kids who stopped and said, this is amazing. We think you’re amazing for doing this. So I think the timing of it was really important because it was a good time for me to do that.

And kind of. We had. One of our daughters did not speak to you or really interact with you very much, but because I went back to work, she was forced to.

Yeah. I ended up defining myself as Mom 2.0.

Yes. Yes. And learned to cook up some goulash and stuff.

And I. I did a lot of. She still giggles with you. It’s.

She’s still. And challenges me to cook for her now. Yes, she does.

She’s absolutely hilarious. And I think sometimes when we’re pushed to our limits, I think that’s when we thrive. I agree with you.

But here’s something that’s really interesting to me. I say, how do we get these paths to be parallel? That was the question. You say communication, but here’s the deal, right? I can communicate your truth, you can communicate your truth.

But if there’s a conflict, how do we work that out? You just said your truth and your truth. Well, there’s the rub, right? It should all be. It should all be what I want.

Now, what you want. That’s how it’s supposed to work. That’s how we make things work out.

You listen to me, and I just listen to you, and I lay down the law, and then I do everything in secret. Oh, okay. All right.

So we’re just looping around a problem. So how do we get paths to be parallel? If I communicate my truth to you and you don’t like my truth, then what? That’s a really, really good question. I think there’s a lot more talking that has to happen because you have to really understand where the person’s coming from.

You have to understand, is it just a vanity thing? Is it fantasy? Is it real? Is it something you just want to try? There’s a lot of different factors that go into it, and I think that if you can understand where somebody’s coming from and how important it is to them, Then I think there can always be some sort of. It’s tricky though, because your decisions affect my life. My decisions affect your life? Yes, absolutely.

So I always wonder, and this is something you and I did. We tried to really define what purpose was to us as individuals and how those could be working together collectively. And you and I came to the conclusion, I don’t know, 5, 10, however many years ago, that, listen, we have this big family and our purpose is to take care of them.

Yes. And I know that seems obvious to the listener, that seems obvious to people living and going through it, but I think it’s not quite as easy as all that, is it? No. So because, because somebody has to give up something, somebody has to get.

But I think not just somebody, I think always somebody, always. You always have to give something to get something. It’s just thought process, metaphysical concept.

Energy replaces energy. If I want something, you have to give up something. You know, I like it when people go, oh, well, you’ve got 24 hours in a day, but I’m filling most of it.

So if I’m going to place what you think is a priority, what your priority is, I have to move something in my day that I think is a priority. Well, let me give you an example. Case in point, you.

We had our big family, right. This might be edited out, I don’t know. We had a boy who decided he was going to play football.

We did a couple of them. Yeah. But the first one, gotcha.

And he was a very active kid, tried a lot of different things, but you weren’t around for some of it and you wanted to. So Eric Nutting stopped acting. I did.

That is. You gave something up. I don’t look at it as giving.

I don’t look at that as giving up. I look at that as a good, healthy choice. Yes, but that’s what I mean.

We have choices. Yes, yes, yes, yes. So that was.

That’s interesting. Yes. So if we look at it this way, if we say, look, I’m not necessarily giving something up, I’m gaining something in this process.

Absolutely. That’s actually, I gained a better connection with my family rather than just worrying about whatever you said. I gave up.

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I didn’t become an actor or I gave, I stopped acting. I mean I get a kick ass family. That’s.

Yeah, it’s good. Now some people out there and some people maybe have lived an even more complex life than this. They go, well, I can have it all.

And I found a way to have it all. And I think that’s a thousand percent awesome. Whatever, whatever your journey is, whatever road you went on to get where you’re at, I think that’s perfect.

I don’t think it’s the same for everybody. That was just how it worked for us. Exactly.

It’s hard for two people to be incredibly focused on a business or a job if you’re pretty much overwhelmed with the amount of bodies you have in the household. So what’s interesting about this entrepreneurial journey, oftentimes when we look at couple preneurs, which is how they define it now, two people are in the same business, but oftentimes there’s somebody else who’s really holding down the fort. Yes.

Doing a 9 to 5 or whatever the case may be right now you’re holding down the 9 to 5 with a pretty serious job. So what’s the deal from your side of things in a couple preneur when your partner me keeps asking for more, more and more. To be honest, it’s always been my pleasure.

Not always, but since I went back to work. Since you set out on this journey. We’ve set out on this journey.

I said I wanted to be a really big part of it and we found out that just was not mathematically possible. Yeah, it was not mathematically possible. I like working for somebody who will give me a paycheck.

That’s just. We finally came to that conclusion and I wasn’t paying very well. No.

But here’s the deal. When you ask for stuff and I know I can do it, it is My pleasure to do it. I always, I, I’m gonna say something.

This might be edited out. You keep saying that. It’s gone well so far.

So I was able to stay home for 20 plus years to raise kids, to be the mom, to take them. Pretty freaking awesome. Oh, I think they’re amazing kids, right? I’ve been able to, I was able to go to all the events.

I was able to do all of those things. I don’t know a lot of people nowadays who have that, that, that like, luck of being able to do that because this world is so expensive. So, I mean, gosh, we’re even looking at our kids who were like trying to find someplace to stay.

And it’s not, it’s way too expensive. You gotta have roommate, roommate, roommate, roommate, roommate. So when the question is.

I’m coming back to it, okay? The question was, how do I deal with that? It is my pleasure. I’m just going to tell you the listener right now. Eric worked two, three jobs at a time for us to have the lifestyle that we had.

We had a very modest lifestyle with five children. And when I went back to work, the youngest were going into fifth grade, so. And the oldest was not, Were not.

Was nine years older than the last two. So that was a long time. So he was in first year in college already, right? He was in the first year.

He was just finishing up his first year or just started. Gotcha. Right.

So it is my pleasure, absolute 100% pleasure to do anything I can because he sacrificed a lot of time, a lot of energy, a lot of effort. And I don’t look at it as a sacrifice at all, but I do so that I could have the benefit of being there to stay home and take care of them. We were kind of overwhelmed with them, but it was a fun, overwhelming.

It was the best life I could have ever imagined. So through that story, our story, are things changing generationally? Do we still have big. Of course we do.

But things are changing a bit, aren’t they? Two of our kids want four kids. Two of them. The football players each said.

Alec and Brett. They each said they wanted four kids. And well, I think the girls said that too.

Oh yeah, absolutely. So which does that mean? We did something right? I don’t know. It means they enjoyed their big family.

That’s kind of cool. Or maybe they just want more labor because they didn’t like chores. I don’t know.

But it makes. It brings me joy to think that they enjoyed that part of their journey. But my, my thought process is it’s not a one economy.

No, it’s not. It’s not a one. A one career life anymore.

It’s not even a. That’s a great point. It’s not even a one career.

And I think we’re. We keep having this ebb and flow, push and pull sort of process. I think right now we’re in a process of.

We’re pushing more people out into this entrepreneurial journey. And I think so many times there’s no guidance in that process. For instance, Scott has a job now where he is finishing furniture for another entrepreneurial couple.

And I listen to what his bosses do, and I think they’re just great poster children for where we’re at now. Right. We’re always doing a gig.

Always. Somebody’s delivering. Not you and I, but just someone still dying.

Somebody’s doing deliveries and delivering pizza, grub oven or doing a craft or whatever. It’s really interesting to see where this is headed now. But I will tell you this.

If I had had half of those things at my availability, I wouldn’t be in the post office. But then the question is, did we? Maybe there were those opportunities. It was not around.

I mean, certainly furniture is not a new idea. Okay. I babysat for a while.

You know, someone else’s kids. Like, somebody’s picking up this toy, right. And they paint something on it to make it look magical, and they resell it.

Yeah. Reselling is a big part of the economy right now. That’s interesting.

It is. Yeah. So I don’t.

I don’t. I don’t. I don’t know.

All I know is if I had had, say, Instacart. Right. You know, even as stay at home, deck of the kids in the van.

Yeah. Go do some shopping and say, kids, okay, break. You’re gonna go get this.

This. This. Yeah.

We could have delivered pizzas back then, I guess. That sounds horrible. That sounds terrible.

I’m sorry. Pizza drivers. I’m not saying your life is horrible.

I’m just saying packing up three kids in the back of the Plymouth Voyager or whatever it was and trying to make sure they were safe while getting pizza to a door, that’s. That’s quite a life. It’s definitely.

It’s definitely a grind sometimes. It’s. You got to be ready for all of life’s challenges.

So here we are. We’re in our 50s, kid. The youngest kids are 20, and we own a business.

Yes. Where do you see life over the next 20 years, individually and as a business owner? Gosh, that’s kind of a loaded question. Life, I hope it’s on the other side of the bridge.

I hope that it’s going to be. Oh, listeners, we live in Lakeland, Florida. You might not know the area, but we own our business in St. Pete.

Diane works in Tampa. It’s a long commute going, so I hope it’s on the other side of the bridge. I do hope that we’re over here.

I want to live over here as soon as possible. Really. It’s hard because you’ve got the kids.

Kids. We’re selling the house. So where do I see life? I really hope that I’m still writing.

Hope you hope you’re still writing. What would keep you from writing? Life. You know, my mother’s older, our kids are, you know, our first grandchild’s on the way.

I just want, if things progress on the path they’re on, then family wise. Here’s the thing that’s interesting, right? I’m a coachee coach. Anybody else who would sit across from me, I would challenge on that.

So I guess I’m kind of challenging you and say, what is it? I hope I’ll be writing. I would need us to reframe that. If that is tied to part of your purpose and your pleasure and your joy, I would say you need to find a way to write.

Okay, well then, Eric Nutting, let me write. But why the voice? Were you trying to seduce me in front of everybody so I would let you write? Is that what happened? Okay, I will. Okay, It’s so I hope that I hope.

Listen to me. I’m starting with the hope again. I do.

I have powerful. Hope is necessary. Hope is necessary when you lose that hope.

I have been in places in my life where I had no hope. But as we think about affirmations, I will, I am, you know, that’s will. I am.

I, I, I, I am planning a life of being a writer. I’m planning a life of having some sort of a publishing entity in my future. I am, you know, I just hope to be the best partner possible in that, you know, we need to bring more help in.

I don’t beat up against that, that if we can learn and grow and thrive together in any fashion, that’s important and it’s to not be closed off. So that’s, that’s my, that’s really, so this is really, really interesting. So I say, where will you be? What do you want to do? How do you see life playing out in the next 20 years? And I would encourage all of that.

The writing’s hugely important. We’ve got a few different Enterprises. Nutting Creative LLCs are holding company for these different enterprises.

But. So that’s what’s really important to you as we think about creativity. And what’s important to me is working on the sage approach.

Yes. Moving my coaching practice forward, all that stuff. So now the question is where can they.

Where can they for any couple but for us specifically, not even, well at least have that parallel journey. Yes. Because I know I’m not enough to do what I’m doing.

Well, that’s part of the, you know, that’s part, I guess, I guess I don’t really, I don’t expand on some of my things. I say I’ve got it up in the head but to me, being supportive and everything, that’s hey, I’ll do this, this and this and I’ll be a part, you know, I’ll be a part of stage approach, I’ll be a part of growth coach, I’ll be, I’ll be in it. But I think I’m still trying to find my place in it because I’m working and then I get home and I’m tired.

But why are you tired? Because I have things to do. So. Yeah.

And so I, I would just like to be a very open minded person and create a big portion of the publishing portion. I had this conversation earlier so I’m going to ask you, do you agree that to grow you have to be uncomfortable? Do you think that’s extremely. You do? Uh huh.

Absolutely. So we have to deliberately be uncomfortable? Yes. Can’t we just grow and be happy about it and not be uncomfortable? But there’s an uncomfortableness with doing something you’ve never done before.

Well, it’s a clumsiness, it’s clumsy for sure. Maybe it’s just semantics. I just applied to a.

Really, really. I applied to do a detail. Yes.

And it’s very scary because it’s something I’ve never done before. And in the post office what’s great is that they will give you opportunities to go work in another section. Gotcha.

For three months at a time so you can try out some things. And I’d never seen a job like this before in my life. And it’s scary because it’s some, it’s some.

It’s a pretty intense job and it is quite a couple steps up from what I do. I’m just kind of, you know, I’m very administrative. So your point is you put yourself in that position, it will be uncomfortable very Uncomfortable.

And plus, I’ll be putting a little strafe in my office because I’m gone. Then you get back and you have a little bit of backlash because you tried it, but people are excited about you because you tried it. So it’s, I think in that, in essence, that’s scary and it’s, it’s uncomfortable and you’re putting yourself out there and you’re saying that I, I, I want to do something different.

And it’s scary. Right. And I think you’ve got to be really uncomfortable sometimes to try, to try stuff, because that’s not me.

I mean, I’m not, I’m not somebody who just leaps. It’s only been the last maybe five to 10 years that I’ve been that way, that, that I’ve been, that I’ve leaked. So we’re on this podcast, part of a group called Sun Leaders.

Yes. And I always like to ask couples, which we are, and a couple who leads, who follows. I have an answer in my mind that I think you should say.

Well, I would say some 90. Well, say no, not 90. About 60% of the time you lead our day to day.

Because I’m needier. Yes. Yeah, probably about 40% of the time, I’m kind of leading the rest of it, you know, the family.

And so where did this concept that our parents before us and their parents. Parents and so on and so forth. 50, 50.

The parents never said it was 50 50. My parents told me it was 50 50. No, my mom was, she was like 20%.

Your mom told you, honey, you’re only going to get 20% of the decision making? Yeah, basically. My dad did not tell you that. She didn’t tell me that.

But she emulated it. Okay. She did.

My mom was a very passive mom. And whatever my dad wanted to do, my dad got to do and did. And he was a very, very, very nice man.

Very wonderful man. I have to. Let me reframe the question.

To thrive, who leads? Who follows? My dad made us thrive. But you’re talking about it with us. Well, I’m talking about through the lens of leadership and through the lens of moving a company forward and a family forward.

Yeah. Company would be you, family would be me. Really? Why? And that’s 50 50, isn’t it? No.

Yes, it is. That’s horrible math. Why wouldn’t I have 50% of the say in what happens in the family? If you wanted to take 50% of the ownership of the business, why wouldn’t you take on 50% of that? Well, I could, but I guarantee you there are.

There are good portions of it that I just don’t think I would be qualified for. Hmm, interesting. You’re qualified to run your own business of publishing.

Yes. Gotcha. Okay.

Yes. Okay. In the bigger context.

Yeah. Well, no, I think it’s this good problem solving. My thought process is it’s got to be collaborative, always.

I don’t necessarily think there is a leader or a follower in a couple. I do. I think that’s the.

Well, that’s interesting. You think there is. I don’t think there is.

Now, if you look in the Christian sense, you know, the man is the head of household. Yeah, right. Yeah.

I once tried to join a church and they said, not without your husband. Right? They sure did. So I guess.

I guess I don’t know what to say about that. Well, I think what it is, is nowadays we are in a society where you need two incomes. So because of that, you need two able bodies who are a 50.

50. I’ve only been in this particular placement for the last 10 years. The rest of the time I was counting on you for money.

I was counting on you to get the family go. This is why I’m pushing back on it. Because you say that you get to take leadership on the family.

And I think, yeah, I think I’ve actually been at least a 50% partner on that family process. Are you upset about this? Well, I did tear up a little bit. No, I’m not upset.

I’m trying to solve problems because in the context of what I do as the growth coach, St. Petersburg, Florida I try to help solve people’s problems. And I want the listeners to be able to, first of all, think that I’m worthy of working with. And secondly, that we’ve actually done something reasonable to help lead them.

So, you know, we have problems and then we find solutions and we create more problems, we find more solutions. So in context, who leads? Who follows? Do we even need a leader? Is leading even important? Do we need a son? Leader of a family? Maybe not. Maybe the kids lead.

Maybe most of the time they do. Yes. Yes.

I mean, we have to come to some sort of consensus. Yes. You and I, we’ve got to come to an agreement to make the family work.

And here’s the challenge, isn’t it? If we can’t come to an agreement, we part ways. And that’s what so many couples and families do. They do so easily nowadays.

So easily. And I get this conscious uncoupling and living my own passion. I mean, I understand the language of it.

I do. And certainly you and I, after 35 years, have had our peaks and valleys. But my question is, how do we get on? How do we get on and how do we get on and how do we stay on the same page? A lot of communication and not shutting somebody down.

Not shutting somebody down. Which I’m apt to do. Yes.

I’m pretty good at that. Because if I think something’s really important or I don’t have capacity, I shut something down. Absolutely.

Right. And that. Yeah, absolutely.

That’s where I struggle a lot. That’s an older reflex. So, listen, bringing it full circle.

If that’s the case, maybe I’m just going to go in secret, go into the closet and write my story rather than deal with this guy’s pushback. Yes, right. Absolutely.

There are people still like that right now. You’re great. You’re like, you know what you say you set out time to write a new thing.

I’m an old man. I lost energy. Oh, are you saying it’s an energy thing? It’s no longer like.

I just felt it was getting serious. I wanted to make you laugh. Oh, he does this all the time.

Yeah. So I’m trying to evolve, and I’m trying to be way more mindful. Because once we create a problem, it’s like, well, let’s not go create that same problem.

Let’s create a brand new problem. Well, and I think what it is is let’s create a random problem. I just got that.

I think what I’m dealing with is you kind of get node to imposter syndrome. Right. When it comes to doing something that you’re not used to doing, like you’re all day in the business.

I loved going out with you to the networking events, and I love seeing everybody. I just. I love St. Pete.

I love the people here. I love what everybody’s about, and I miss it. And I really felt a sense of community, like.

Like I’ve never felt before. But I’ve been out of it for a couple of months now, and I’m suddenly feeling a little like, imposter syndrome. Like, do I even belong in the company? That’s really interesting.

I think I have to constantly have a communication with these groups that we’ve been enmeshed in. Right. Where, you know, now when you ask me this question, it kind of puts on an insecurity.

So, you know, our whole family structure, I’m securing. So in the business sense, I just have to own it. I have to own my part in it.

And that’s kind of what I’m getting up to. Gotcha. I’m trying to get in there.

It’s kind of. It’s hard after 40 hours in the week. For sure.

For sure. Yeah. I think.

I guess that comes back to one of the questions, like how much at the end of the day, you’re done. Yeah. And I need more, more, more.

Because I only got to half of my list of things. Yeah. And we do.

But we need to hire out help and all that stuff, which is a totally different problem. We don’t have time to get into. But when businesses don’t have the ability to monetize beyond the capacity of the current work staff, what do you do? Yeah, you.

You lean on the people in your family. That’ll. That’ll be part two of this conversation.

Okay, so we’re just about out of time, and I want to give the listeners a chance to hear again who you are, share your books with them, how they can interact with you in these stories. What’s next for you? And then I’ll go ahead and close it out. Okay.

I am Diane Nutting. I am the other half of the speaker. I have two books.

Hurricane. Sorry, blank there for a minute. Hurricane.

And I had a storm. And I’m having Aftermath come out. And also next year, I hope to have a children’s series called Alec.

I’m not sure what it’s going to be called yet, but it’s something along the lines of a disappearing forest. And how you can interact is probably. I don’t really have a way to.

You can buy the books on Amazon. As a business coach, we got to solve that problem. I know.

We do. We do. It’s been like 11 years since I. Since I was really.

Since I’ve really dove into all of that because I went to work. So. And here’s what’s interesting.

They sold remarkably well with that much effort. So that’s exciting. And they’re excellent books and you’ve got excellent reviews on them, so that’s exciting.

We’re going to turn them into audiobooks since that’s kind of in our wheelhouse of things to do. So I’m very, very excited to see where this goes for you, for us, for the children. So thank you.

For you. You left work early for us. I did.

To be part of this conversation. I appreciate that. I love you.

Thank you for being here. Thank you. I love you, too.

I am Eric Nutting with my beautiful wife Diane. We are the owners of the Growth Coach of St. Petersburg, Florida. We are a part of the SunLeaders.

And this is the SunLeaders podcast produced by Naiman Creative. If you’d like to get a hold of me because you thought, oh my gosh, that guy sounded so smart today, you can reach me@enuttinggrowthcoach.com I will confuse you just like I confused everybody else. Take care.

We will speak with you next time. Sam.