How Josh Kosnick Rebuilt After Losing His Business and Found His Purpose as a Leadership Coach

Josh Kosnick (00:00)
I don’t have quit in me. Like, I just don’t like I’m there’s there’s no piece of me. Like I told my I told my kids since they were able to walk. Like, what do we do when we fall down? We get back up. So who would I be to them if I didn’t stand back up?

and keep fighting.

Quentin (01:49)
Hello everyone. Welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I am your host Q Edmonds and I am excited to be here today. You know, this is what I love. I love meeting new people and finding out what it is that they do. I think y’all know me, I premium on stories. I believe everybody have a story to tell. As one of my guests says, everybody have a brand and it’s their character. So I love to get to know of their brand, who they are.

But there is something special about when people talk about personal development mindset. Y’all know, like I love that type of stuff. I’m always trying to be 1 % better than I was yesterday. And like, like really, like intentionally really trying to be better. And so this person, listen, he coach business owners. He can help with the operation side of your business. One primary focus is human development. And so I’m so excited.

to have this conversation. I’m so happy that we get to learn from today, Mr. Kosnick Mr. Josh, how you doing today,

Josh Kosnick (02:48)
We’re doing great. Excited to have this conversation, Q.

Quentin (02:50)
Absolutely, man. I’m so glad you’re here. And sir, I am the type. I like to dive right in. So I would love for you to tell the people, what’s your main focus these days? You can give us a little bit of an origin story, kind of how you got into the space that you’re in. We love the hero’s journey. And then also, man, if you could tell people where you are in the world, people love to know where people are geographically. So what you’re up to, your origin story, and where you are. Mr. Josh, sir, you have the floor.

Josh Kosnick (03:07)
We

I’m gonna give the quick ones first, because the origin story takes a minute, right? So I’m in Madison, Wisconsin, and I’ve been here for the last 30 years. I would say that, you know, I grew up in central Illinois, so I’m an all Chicago fan living in enemy territory. it’s been a fun, fun ride at times. But my primary focus is now is helping business owners live the life of their dreams inside and outside their businesses.

Quentin (03:19)
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Wait!

Josh Kosnick (03:45)
So like my ethos or vision statement is really to help others achieve their dreams. Like my dream is to help others achieve their dreams. And the origin story goes like this. So I started as an entrepreneur when I was 24 years old in the financial industry. Built a great financial planning practice and very quickly rose in those ranks to top 1 % in the world. Was having such success, I was asked to be a leader and

recruit and develop other advisors. And I actually found more joy doing that than I did in just building my own practice. for a number of years, I was doing this hybrid thing of running my own practice as well as building out a team of advisors that I would recruit and develop. And eventually I was asked to secede my father by a Fortune 100 company and buy him out and take over the entire firm. And at the time we did that, we were growing by 30 % a year.

And it was just phenomenal. Like taking all the principles, lessons and gifts that my father had put into that firm and all the hard work and just not resting on those laurels, but saying, no, I want to do it even better than he did it. And so that was the mission. So I was the youngest appointed managing partner in the country at 35 years old and started to run that and continue to grow it. And then we ran into COVID, right? So 2020 we run into COVID.

And in the financial planning world, for any of you guys that have worked with advisors in the past, you know, it’s a face-to-face business, right? 90 plus percent of our meetings were across the desk, across the kitchen table. And all of a sudden the world shuts down and we’re like, what the heck’s going to happen here? I got to get 250 people on technology, you know, Zoom and all the different tech, right? And…

You know, what’s interesting about that is, you know, Skype and this technology existed for probably a decade. We just didn’t do the business that way. We felt like trust was really built, you know, shoulder to shoulder, a handshake to handshake.

And so, it was a fearful time, but as we went through it, keeping everyone sane, you know, locked up, you know, isolated all that stuff. And we had a great culture that was used to being together. so I would spend, you know, eight to five and meetings and then probably five to eight each night.

playing part-time psychologist for my advisors and staff. And that was a tough time, but we get to the end of that year and we had grown 30%. What we found there was the blessing in disguise is we could actually do business this way. We could build trust still face to face through Zoom screen instead of across the desk or across the table. so just as things are going great, we enter 2021 and…

Quentin (06:44)
Yeah.

Mmm.

Josh Kosnick (07:04)
up 30 % through that year, continue to recruit and develop and sales were up huge and the efficiency, know, people didn’t, you know, being in the Midwest, people weren’t bailing on appointments because of a snowstorm or something. And they would show up to the, there’s really no excuse not to show up to a zoom screen when we’re all sitting, at home anyhow. And so just as I think everything’s going swimmingly well and the world’s opening up again in 2021.

I had an advisor and this storm had been brewing underneath and we’ll get into this I’m sure, you know, cancers on a team can metastasize. And I had an advisor in my organization that very talented. I recruited him personally. I mentored him personally. I cared about this person a lot, but he had some narcissistic tendencies that were causing some issues in the office. And any to anyone that’s ever dealt with a narcissist.

You may know this, but when you try and back a narcissist into a corner, it’s like trying to back a tiger into a cage. And as I started to try to correct his behaviors, he started to lash out more and, ⁓ and he ended up suing me for discrimination. Now, if everyone, so, so I want everyone to kind of picture this. This is 2021. the George Floyd thing just happened. BLM rights were, kind of peak at that time. And so the, I had.

Quentin (08:04)
Mm.

Josh Kosnick (08:15)
the corporate office involved the whole time. They knew I didn’t do anything wrong. They did their own independent investigation. But the moment he sued me, they decided to get themselves out of the lawsuit by terminating me. Now they had to buy me out and all that because I own the firm. But I just want everyone to imagine for a moment that you’ve built this business. You’ve poured everything into it. You are your father’s legacy. And

it’s all taken away from you in just a moment because someone lied about your character. And it’s just gone, right? So that threw me into the pits of despair, like depressive season. It doesn’t, and I’ve learned this as well, that because I work with business owners so closely, my father was one, I am one. It doesn’t matter if it’s a happy sale of your business or a sad sale, you go through the five stages of grief. So mine, I had gone through,

I’d gone through two happy sales previous to this. This was a very sad sale. But you go through five stages of grief, regardless, because you’re giving up your baby, the thing that you work so hard to build the people, all the different things. And so you’re going to go through it like you lost a loved one. And I went through it in a bad way because someone attacked my character and someone that I cared about decided to stab me in the back. And then the company that I had poured my whole life into decided to put the second knife in my back.

by not sticking up for me and choosing to get out of it. Now, being almost five years removed from it, I can understand the business decision they made and at the same time still say that it was messed up thing to do. But like I put in my book, like I will continue to repeat, life happens for us, not to us. And if we allow the blessings in our life to show up and realize that God’s at the wheel and not us,

that will understand that there’s a purpose in the pain. There’s always a purpose to the pain. We just got to find it. And so going through, I had six months of negotiations with them, attorneys back and forth, you know, anytime attorneys get involved, takes a long time. And so, but that six months as painful as it was me not being able to do anything, me not having a purpose, me having my purpose ripped away, turned out to be the best thing for me, because I was allowed to not only grieve, but then once I got passed to the

to the acceptance phase, I started to be able to vision and create and what do I wanna do next? And so I did a, most of us will do a T chart and put assets and liabilities or pro cons. I did a T chart and said on the left side, what did I love about my previous world? And on the right side, what did I hate or not really not like? And I made those lists. And then as I got to the bottom of those lists, I asked myself a really important question. was like,

What if I could just design a world that I only did the stuff that I loved and eliminated or at least mitigated all the stuff I really didn’t like. And that’s where it led me to coaching, speaking, and just pouring into people that want to be poured into and not having the, you know, responsibilities of the 250 people anymore. Even though I love the vast majority of the people, the people were still the ones causing me the problems.

Right? So I always tell business owners, right, like your people are your greatest blessing. And they’re also your biggest curse. Just depending on that’s why we got to get the right people in the right seats, we got to bring people in that fit our culture like a glove and that value what we value. Otherwise, we’re going to end up in a situation potentially like I ended up in.

Quentin (11:26)
Well, sir, I almost could just end the show. I mean, you hit on every question that I think I was going to ask you. You probably didn’t hit on it. Man, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And the more we talk, the more my thank yous are going to become very clear. At this point, I normally would have the flair for the dramatics at this point, Mr. Josh. As you was talking, I was actively listening and writing down a lot of different things that you said.

Most of the time I normally regurgitate back to the person what they just gave me because I’m building up to a moment, but I’m just going to go ahead, make this statement and ask you this question because I always say every podcast destiny has no wasted moments. Destiny has no wasted moments. No matter how hard the tribulation was, no matter how fierce the trial was,

Josh Kosnick (12:41)
Mm.

Quentin (12:50)
If we are still here, there was no wasted moment in the fire. Fire has a way to just purify and refine with what’s, what’s in us. If we allow it to, we don’t allow with the crushes or burn us up or incinerate us. What we literally going to do is come out as pure gold. We’re going to be refined. It’s going to refine every value system in you. So I would love to know what has the journey, what has it, the moments.

taught you about yourself? Has it taught you discipline, resilience, humbleness, love, grace? Like what has these moments on a journey taught you about yourself?

Josh Kosnick (13:27)
⁓ So much So, let me see if I can narrow it down humility was definitely one of them. I think that You know, I was a great leader before All this happened But how people view me and how I show up now hmm It’s a different level because before from the outside in that all they saw was this straight rise up From the outside in now those of us that have been through it and built something real, know It’s more like a stock market chart

Like you’re growing up, but it’s there’s a lot of ups and downs in that process. But all the outside saw was the straight line up. then, and then when I get cut down as viciously as I got cut down and as publicly as I got cut down, there’s a lot of questions like, and on top of that, I want to, I want to layer this on top. I got bought out for a very big number. I could have gone and hid for a long time.

And so that outside world was watching to see, okay, is he going to get back up? Is he, is he going to actually do something different? And I don’t think anyone would have blamed me for staying down and hide, especially with the number that I got bought out at, and especially as publicly as I got torn down. but I don’t think they would have respected me as much either. In fact, I know they wouldn’t have. So the version of the version of

me that they that everyone gets now is a much more elevated version, a much more grounded version. And and what it showed me is like, like, I don’t

I don’t have quit in me. Like, I just don’t like I’m there’s there’s no piece of me. Like I told my I told my kids since they were able to walk. Like, what do we do when we fall down? We get back up. So who would I be to them if I didn’t stand back up?

and keep fighting.

And even if I’m starting over and building and I could have gone back into I was getting recruited by everyone in the financial industry. I was 41 at the time. I was a hot commodity. I still get recruited by the financial industry. And that would have been an easy transition. That’s all I did for 20 years. And at the same time, God was pulling me in a different direction. So it also learned or I also learned in that is like, I got to slow down enough in that six months allowed me to slow down enough.

to really listen to God’s voice and not just my own personal desires, right? Because what it really taught me is like, okay, my plan, my plan was from 35 to 55 to run that company as well as I could, grow it as big as possible and have as much impact as possible. And that would have been a great life. My dad did it. And you wanna make God laugh? Tell him your plans.

So at 41, he said, I got a different assignment for you. And that’s slowing down enough to listen to that voice and still lean into it. Now, just because we slow down to listen to the voice doesn’t mean we don’t act. So I still have to put that action in and say, OK, listen to that voice. What’s the vision? All right. Now I got to put one foot in front of the other and rebuild and lean into that vision. And now what’s great about it now being almost in two months.

less than two months will be five year anniversary is like the amount of impact that I’m having is exponential because it’s the whole entrepreneurial space, not just this section of the financial world that I was running my organization.

Quentin (16:28)
Again, man, as you talked, I got chills. And I’m glad you mentioned God, because as you was talking, two historical figures came to mind. And I’m not going to try to make this a religious show. I do talk about my faith, but I’m going make this a religious show. But I want to extract two points from these two historical figures. One was Jesus, right? It says that Jesus learned obedience through suffering, right? So historical figure, and it’s saying that he learned

His character was tested. He learned a value system through actually going through, through suffering. There is a value system. There is character that’s refined in us when we go through something that causes us great distress, that causes us great affliction. And so it’s no doubt why I see you coming through more refined is because it’s like the distress pressed you.

but it pressed the best parts out of you. Like it pressed, but what came out of you was the absolute best parts of a leader. So I think there are things that you had to learn going through the situation and it refined you as a leader. Another story. Yes, sir.

Josh Kosnick (17:34)
Boy, can I add on to that, Q?

Because you hit on something that’s key, and I want to add to it because true suffering is the only way we can find true joy. Right? So if you think about this, what we most try to avoid is pain and suffering. Okay, so we try and avoid that. But if we didn’t have that, we wouldn’t also have the opposite perspective of what true joy is. Like if we didn’t know

sadness, we wouldn’t know happiness. If we didn’t know suffering, we wouldn’t know true joy. Because the polarities, the opposites, are where the juice is. okay, if you just live, like, I almost think of like, Spock in Star Trek is all logical, right? So doesn’t get any of the emotion, right? So doesn’t even understand it. But we’re human, and we understand the emotions. But if you don’t have that negative, negative,

You don’t truly know the positive.

Quentin (19:06)
Absolutely love that, Second historical figure I want to bring in, David, David and Goliath. Have you heard of that story before?

Josh Kosnick (19:06)
There we go. Yep.

No, you got it.

Quentin (19:12)
So this is what I love, man, with that story, when David was about to go fight Goliath, they tried to put the king’s armor on him. David put the armor on and said, I have improved this armor. I think that’s what it actually said. I have improved this. I don’t know how to fight in this because I have improved it. I don’t know how to operate in this. When I think about you and your father, I think about you was his successor. But I feel like them, like,

Josh Kosnick (19:27)
Hurry up.

Quentin (19:38)
There’s something that you had to go do to slay your own giant. Your dad slayed his giants. But I think you going through this, you was able to use your skillset, the armor that you were supposed to wear in order to fight the giants that you were supposed to fight. That was a giant that was in front of you. And again, you was able to slay it, but you was able to do it, proving a system that you know, proving a system that you could wear and build and be efficient in.

and walk in and grow into. And so, man, I just, everything you said, I just absolutely love. And I’m so glad that you’re on the other side of the trial, that you’re on the other side, on the Victoria side, man. And I just had to, as you was talking, those two historical figure came to mind. And I just wanted to glean that just out of your story, brother.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So what’s next for you, man? What’s the next, what’s the next goal? What are you looking to solve a sale next, sir?

Josh Kosnick (20:31)
I appreciate that.

Yeah. So I was telling you before we got on the show is that every entrepreneur I run into has two major problems and then like 136 little issues underneath those two major problems. But the two major ones are human development, otherwise known as leadership. And then the other problem being systems and processes to help them scale and grow their, their dream, their business. And so I’ve been working over the last few years. So if it’s the human development, I use my leadership curriculum. If it’s the systems and processes, I’m an EO certified EOS implementer.

And we just, we just knocked those out and continue to grow together. And so the what’s next for me is I over the last few years have been, assessing the market and assessing where the issues are in coaching and entrepreneurs and all this. And I really feel like God prepared me. He brought up my dad. there’s a lot of things that he ran and how he ran the business and how he showed up at home that I really didn’t agree with. And I wrote about some of this in my book.

Quentin (21:21)
Mmm.

Josh Kosnick (21:26)
and I’m always careful about it like he was a great father and he was a great example. And the 11 years that I got to spend with him in the firm showed me the best version of him in business and, as a dad. So I’m always careful about the, ⁓ the, how I talk about that as a, as a whole. And we’re, it’s one of those things where, how he led as a, ⁓ when I was a stubborn teenager,

And I was a difficult one. I was the oldest of four. But man, there’s things he did that I just didn’t agree with and how he led. one simple thing, but it’s a powerful thing, he learned through growing up that boys don’t express emotion, don’t tell you I love you, and affirmation stuff of that nature. And so I broke that. I broke that as something that I wanted from him and I didn’t get. And I broke that with my kids.

But there were some other leadership things. He was a very directive leader. I wanted to be a collaborative leader. And because that’s what I saw in the team, they wanted a collaborative leader. But really how I’ve learned through this, I got into the coaching industry and I realized that I was spoiled. And I was spoiled because I always had great mentors and great coaches, not just my father, but others. And when I got into the entrepreneurial space, I realized that you guys don’t.

Quentin (22:35)
Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

Josh Kosnick (22:39)
You got and some of the people that are putting themselves out as coaches and never built a thing except for a ⁓ nice marketing funnel and sell you a bunch of hogwash that there’s a Midwest term for you. So a bunch of hogwash in that that actually doesn’t really help or solve the problems. They’re just making themselves millionaires and and praying off of entrepreneurs. So as I started out adding all this together, I’m like, I’m a

great leader of leaders. I’m a great coach, but I’m an even better leader of leaders. It’s what I’ve proven throughout my career. So I actually set out to solve two problems at the same time. One is helping the business owner live the life of their dreams inside and outside their business. Because I know you’ve probably seen this as well as me. The entrepreneur that’s incredibly successful in business, but is on their third marriage. Incredibly successful in business, but 100 pounds overweight.

incredibly successful business, but has lost their way with God. And I want to make sure that those bridges and those gaps are aligned. I want true alignment. Like you are here, you’re not a separate person. There’s not a business Quinton and a home Quinton. We are one. And too often people are actually out of alignment in that. So I’m setting out to fix that problem. And then the other problem when I alluded to those snake oil salesmen,

is I want real entrepreneurs that have been through the fire coaching real entrepreneurs. So we set out to create this whole curriculum to get alignment in the entrepreneur. And if they have the bandwidth, I’m going to teach them how to coach. And so whether they have five hours a month or they’re exiting their business and now they may have 20 or 40 hours a week that they want to pour into other entrepreneurs, I want a successful entrepreneur coaching other entrepreneurs that are going through the fire.

I want entrepreneurs that have been through the fire that can teach other entrepreneurs that are currently going through the fire. So that’s what we’re building out. And we launched that in the first week of June. And we have our first cohort of 12, like the 12 disciples that are going to go through. And we’re going to pour everything into them for the next year. And we’re going to evolve this so that by a 10-year vision from now that I have 300 coaches that are successful entrepreneurs underneath me.

that are coaching entrepreneurs because I believe entrepreneurs are the fabric of our community. They’re the backbone of America. And especially with this AI wave and everything else that’s going on, we need entrepreneurs to be on point, on their game and as successful as possible because we’re the ones sponsoring Little Link. Amazon’s not. We’re the ones coaching. Microsoft’s not.

We’re the ones that are showing up to town hall meetings to inflict real change.

Quentin (25:06)
Man, I can talk to you forever. Like,

Josh Kosnick (25:10)
these corporate execs aren’t. So we need our entrepreneurs to be as strong as possible personally and professionally.

Quentin (25:10)
there’s so many avenues and ways I can go with just this conversation. But listen, if some…

Josh Kosnick (25:16)
And we need real entrepreneurs coaching real entrepreneurs. And that’s what I’m setting out to solve.

Quentin (25:20)
you’re

how can they get in contact with you?

Josh Kosnick (25:22)
Yeah. So I make it real easy. I haven’t met another Josh Kosnick So joshkosnick.com I have great SEO at Josh Kosnick on all platforms, but if they’re particularly interested in what I just described, we’re calling it life quotient blueprint or LQ blueprint. If you think about IQ or EQ, this is life quotient LQ. So LQblueprint.com is the course that we’re setting out to change the entrepreneurial landscape in.

And that would be a great spot as well. But JoshKosnick.com you can get it at HoldaMeLQBlueprint. man, would love to connect.