Tony Robbins is a global premiere “performance coach,” a job that entails not just selling people life coaching seminars instead selling people dreams, faith and the confidence to fulfil their dreams and live life on their terms. He serves as a leadership consultant to numerous clients like Bill Clinton, Oprah and Princess Diana. It is a unique career path he carved out for himself.
Robbins grew up in North Hollywood, the oldest of three siblings. His parents were divorced when he was 7years old. His mother was a drug and alcohol addict and would physically abuse them. In his interview with Business Insider, Robbins said, “I had to protect my brother and sister, so I became a practical psychologist just out of necessity.”
While he was in high school, he became fixated on what separates the popular kids from the rest, the wealthy from the poor, the haves from the have-nots, so to say.
At the age of 17, Robbins worked several jobs, including working as a janitor and helping people move on the weekends to make extra money to support his family. During one of the moves, he was taking a break and, out of sheer curiosity, still fixated on his question, asked the landlord on site, who was also a family friend, “My dad said you used to be such a loser, and how come you’re so successful now?”
“Only a kid can say that stuff,” Robbins said with a laugh during his interview with Business Insider, “and the guy looks at me and goes, ‘Your dad said what?’
The landlord, in turn, told him he turned his life around when he visited a Jim Rohn Seminar, which he described as “a man takes everything he’s learned in 20, 30 years of his life, and he pours it into like four hours.”
It daunted him that he could probably do the same for himself and asked if the landlord could get him into an upcoming seminar for free, to which the landlord said he could but wouldn’t since Robbins wouldn’t value it. Robbins was making $40 a week at that time, and a ticket to the seminar was $35.
“I made this big decision to spend a week’s pay to go to this event, and I sat there and I was mesmerized,” His first Jim Rohn seminar was a stroke of revelation in young Robbins life that completely changed his life’s trajectory.
At that time, Robbins made a firm resolve to meet Jim Rohn and work under him. He found Rohn’s approach captivating, and it captured what he was trying to get from life at that point in his life and drove him to achieve his dreams and find his purpose in life.
Robbins eventually approached Rohn to work for him and soon became his protégé. He ultimately became a speaker, but he found difficulties in finding his approach to the audience. At that moment, he worked long hours and felt like his career was heading nowhere. Robbins soon gave up and believed that he would live in poverty as his parents did. Shortly after that, he told Rohn about his predicament and was offered life-changing advice by his mentor that altered his mindset. Subsequently, Robbins focused on seeking new approaches that would attract his audience.
His coaching approach was a more personalized version of what Rohn. It was high energy and was influenced by theories from behavioural psychology he studied. Robbins honed his technique on the road through hundreds of seminars across North America, and by the time he was 26, he was a millionaire with a bestselling book.
Through his books, audio programs, health products, live events, and personal coaching, he has helped more than 50 million people in more than 100 countries. He is very passionate about helping others in need and believes that if an individual has economic opportunities, they should give something in return.
As a philanthropist, he has partnered with Feeding American, an organization that provides meals to people in need through a network of 200 food banks. He has provided millions of meals and extends an open invitation to others to join the organization to help people in need.
As a motivational speaker, Robbins later increasingly focused on financial success and tailored his services specifically to entrepreneurs, business owners, and wealthy people. His most notable general event was an annual six-day gathering attended by thousands of participants, each paid thousands of dollars for a seat.
Accenture has named Tony Robbins as one of the top ‘50 Business Intellectuals’. He has also been honoured by the Harvard Business Press as one of the top ‘200 Business Gurus’. The American Express named him one of the ‘Top Six Business Leaders in the World’, and Fortune Magazine named him the ‘CEO Whisperer.’ Forbes called him one of the ‘Top 100 Celebrities,’ and the International Chamber of Commerce has named him one of the ‘Top 10 Outstanding People in the World.’
One of his famous quotes is, “Take the opportunity to learn from your mistakes: find the cause of your problem and eliminate it. Don’t try to be perfect; just be an excellent example of being human.”
