Clarify Your Thinking To Become A Better Entrepreneur, with Erik Solbakken

Shannon Waller: Hi, Shannon Waller here, and welcome to Inside Strategic Coach with very special guest, Erik Solbakken, who is in fact our newest coach. So Erik, welcome, welcome, welcome. I am very excited to have you reach this new level of capability, and also for most importantly, for our coach community to get to know you, because you are a very interesting human, and that's what we'll be exploring on the call today. So thanks for being here.
 
Erik Solbakken: No, thanks for having me on the podcast, Shannon. I'm looking forward to this and really looking forward to meeting more entrepreneurs. That's my jam. That's my juice.
 
Shannon Waller: All right, so let's talk a little bit about your own entrepreneurial story because it has taken some twists and turns. One of the things I like or that I find really interesting about you is you have a very diverse background and range of interests and things that you're up to in the world. And I want to cover all of that. But let's talk about how you got started. How did you get started as an entrepreneur?
 
Erik Solbakken: Well, it's very interesting because when you go back and you look into your past, which is how you create your future, as you look back into your past, and I'm like, I could never have written the story. Like it's pretty crazy. So I'm going to go back Scooby-Doo ending right to the beginning. Like I'm in high school and I'm trying to figure out what I want to do with my life. I'm in grade 11. I have no idea. I'm really good with mathematics. I'm taking first-year university calculus and algebra 12 and grade 11. I really love numbers, but I need to figure out what I want. And then I took this accounting course, and I went, oh, numbers, and I can make money.
 
So this is great. So I'm going to become a chartered accountant. So from that point forward, I was like, that's what I'm going to do. So it was just very tunnel-focused, get her done. So fast forward, I became a chartered accountant, took an in-depth tax course, became one of the youngest partners in Victoria, and was in this traditional accounting firm for 18 years, my partnership imploded. I imploded, there was a bunch of personal issues and business issues, and I had to go and start my own practice, because basically my partnership collapsed after 18 years of building up. And if you think about this, you're a young teenager in high school with this dream of becoming a professional, and I did it for 18 years, and then all of a sudden, bam, it gets pulled out and it's gone, like decimated. And so I had to rebuild from there.
 
So I opened up my own accounting practice and my wife and I had to basically build it from scratch. And this time I went, I'm going to build it differently. It's kind of like the 6 Million Dollar Man, this time let's build them differently. Let's give them a little bit of juice. And I was like, I'm not going to build my accounting practice like I did before. I'm not going to follow the lemmings off the cliff, so to speak. I want to be like my entrepreneurial clients that I was working for doing tax returns for. So I started being entrepreneurial and I started testing and trying different methodologies. And what I did is I found a methodology that gave me what I called three freedoms.
 
And we have our Four Freedoms at Strategic Coach, but I was talking about three freedoms a long time ago. It's called money, clients, and time. And it gave me a lot more money. I had clients that I love to work with and it gave me a whole bunch of free time. And so did that for another eight years, so 26 years of accounting. And then I sold the accounting practice because I had changed the model.
 
And that's when I had the aha moment, Shannon. I went, oh, I'm an entrepreneur stuck in an accountant's body. This is the problem, right? This is why I've been so frustrated working in the accounting profession is because I'm an entrepreneur and I love entrepreneurial spirit. I love creating value and accountants don't create value. They just comply with the government regulations. Like if you want to talk to an accountant about future oriented visions, they're like, oh, no, I can tell you what happened last year, but they can't tell you about the future. So that's why I realized I was having this cognitive dissonance. I'm an accountant in my brain, but an entrepreneur.
 
So I ended up selling my accounting practice. So that was exiting the first firm. And so when you think about it, for those 26 years, I was working very closely with entrepreneurs, being kind of a closet entrepreneur. I didn't realize I was an entrepreneur and I was so frustrated, but I was watching their issues and helping them buy, sell businesses and prepare for transition. And so I've worked with probably over a thousand business owners during my career. I sell the accounting practice and I'm like, what am I going to do with my life?
 
Well, from there I did what any old entrepreneur would do—I made it up, right? I went and I made it up and I created a new company called the Accountant Success Formula, which was a coaching program for accounting firms to show them how to change their business model. So basically showed them how to change their business model like I did so they could get their freedoms, but not only that, so they could actually serve their entrepreneurial clients better. And so once I changed the model, I had freedom and time to sit down with the client to talk to them. And just so the listener understands, I didn't have the Strategic Coach vocabulary at the time. That's what I love about Coach. I'm starting to see that I was kind of scratching the surface of the Strategic Coach concepts, but now I understand them fully and I love them and I'm going deeper into them. Back then, I was really talking to my clients about what was their bigger, brighter future.
 
Like, what was their R-Factor Question? What is it needs to happen in three years from now for you to be happy with your personal professional progress? I was doing that back then, but I didn't realize I was doing it back then. That's what I changed in the model. Then I was showing accounting firms how to do that. So I have the accountant success formula. Move fast forward in that, I'm coaching mindset and business modeling, showing them how to change their mindset around how to serve their entrepreneurial clients, how to change their business models. And then from there, I acquired another accounting firm because they were a client of mine and they were doing so well. They're like, let's take this national.
 
So now I've got MBA chartered professional accountants. I'm now a partner in there. I'll be a recovered accountant. I don't do any tax returns. I'm just a strategic advisor on that side. And then recently, and I know this is a mouthful and you've asked me one question I've been rambling on for quite a bit of time here, is that because of my Unique Ability deep dive I've done in Strategic Coach and specifically your sister, Julia Waller, that has helped me through this deep dive to understand what my Unique Ability is. I all of a sudden had this aha moment, this convergence of all these experiences of, oh, in university, I took a psychology degree as well. So I got a psychology degree, accounting degree, lost a business, sold a business, started a new business, acquired a new business. In the meantime, bought and sold some properties.
 
And then all of a sudden now I see my Unique Ability and it all stems down to the Viking in me and my experience of being I'm Norwegian. My parents came to Canada with nothing. I was born here, but I'm 100% Norwegian. And that Viking explorer in me has come very crystal clear. So now I've created a new company called The Viking Academy, which is an exploration platform for exploring the three dimensions of being human: the mind, the body, and spirit. Nothing to do with accounting, nothing to do with finance, but everything to do about your life. So how's that in a nutshell?
 
Shannon Waller: Well, it's phenomenal, first of all. And kind of what I really appreciate about it, because what you've done is you got yourself educated in a specialty profession, right? And then did that for 18 years, so that's some staying power. And then it fell apart, so you had to reinvent yourself, okay? It's like, what can I do differently to have a better experience? So I think Experience Transformer in the Program, right? It's like, what worked, what didn't, what can I do differently next time? Implemented that for eight years, sold it.
 
I mean, the range of experience that you have, Eric, is kind of epic. You've packed a lot, not only of experience, but learning and wisdom into that, and then doing that deep dive with Julia with Unique Ability, which is, of course, Richard D. Koch concept, if anyone's unfamiliar, and really trusting and leaning into that, and then really tapping into that Viking heritage and mindset and spirit that you have is really exciting. And before we go too much further, you also have a really cool hobby that we got to see a demonstration of at the Coach Conference.
 
Erik Solbakken: Yeah, I'm a drummer and lead singer in a heavy metal band, specifically eighties heavy metal. So we're talking, you know, Van Halen, Ozzy, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Whitesnake. That's my genre. That's my happy place. So if you can envision me with like, I had the long permed hair mullet, like a full mullet, long permed and highlighted. We're talking like, you know, the band Europe. It's the final countdown. Just take that. That was me back in the eighties.
 
Shannon Waller: I'm just picturing like, do you want to be a rock star?
 
Erik Solbakken: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. One hundred percent. Yeah.
 
Shannon Waller: Oh, I love it.
 
Erik Solbakken: And if anybody wants to see the picture of that, go to the Viking Academy.com and you'll see a couple of pictures of me back in high school dressed up. And it's quite something, it’s a lot of spandex and hairspray.
 
Shannon Waller: I can just see that now. So what I love is the multidimensionality of you and the fact that you haven't suppressed anything, you've learned it, you've brought it to the surface and you're making it useful for other people. That is, again, my word today apparently for you is epic, but that is like really impactful and really useful. And I think that to me means that you have so many different ways to connect with different people at different stages in their business.
 
Erik Solbakken: Yeah, I want to be very clear on one point. It has not been a rainbows and unicorns life.
 
Shannon Waller: I'm sure it hasn't.
 
Erik Solbakken: Not even close. I didn't realize I was a frustrated entrepreneur because I was an entrepreneur stuck in an accountant's body for so long. I thought I was doing what I needed to do to be successful. I thought I was being successful, but then I got really frustrated. And then I was like, this frustration is driving me crazy. What's going on here? So I had to go through some really tough times. When that first partnership imploded, there was a bunch of personal stuff that happened and business stuff. It crushed my world. And I was down to destitute. We weren't bankrupt, but it was leaning that way because I wasn’t morally, personally bankrupt, but financially was going down the wrong way.
 
It's not been a big, you know, rah-rah, every life's all wonderful, which is, I don't aspire to that, and I don't like it when motivational speakers or coaches are always like, you know, it's all a big rah-rah, happy life. So any entrepreneur who's had any time in this game at all knows that that's a bunch of garbage, right? But it's finding yourself, and this is the one point I just wanted to highlight, is that the energy for me is realizing that the more I find out who Eric is, through my Unique Ability, which is that core concept in Strategic Coach, that's exactly what my business needs and what my target client needs. My ideal client actually wants the authentic Eric, not the pretend Eric. It's like I'm still finding myself and it's a never-ending process.
 
Shannon Waller: Part of what I appreciate is all the trials and tribulations. And we talk about the 4 C’s Growth Formula, commitment, courage. Oh my gosh, the amount of courage you have had to demonstrate in your life is pretty phenomenal. And then out of that, you develop capabilities and confidence. So reinventing yourself so many times, I think is very instructional as a word. There's a quote, I think you would agree with it. But it said, I don't wish people necessarily like a happy roses and unicorns life. I wish them a full life. So to experience all the things, and that is you, my friend.
 
Erik Solbakken: Yeah, I love that. But when you're going through the real garbage stuff, it's hard to hear that. But here's the thing is that we're all, and this is what I love about being a coach at Strategic Coach. I love Strategic Coach because you're surrounded with entrepreneurs who can support you when you're down. And then I help support them when they're down. And then you get the thinking tools to actually help you think through all the times that you have, the good times, the bad times, but it helps you clarify and simplify your thinking. There's a quote by Rumi that I love, and it says, “Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.”
 
And it's the perspective that I get when I apply the Strategic Coach thinking tools. Once I realize it's how I see the world, when I change the way I look at the world, the world that I look at changes. This is Dr. Wayne Dyer's quote. And I understand that more and more. Every time I go through the thinking tools multiple times, every time I go through it, I get something deeper out of it. And I see things differently. And then I get more excited for my future. And so for me, it's about like, I'm looking over at my Unique Ability poster over here and it's like, it's about passion and purpose. Like it's a playful, abundant energy. I'm letting her loose. That's why I keep calling myself Eric, the Viking Solbakken. And I'm like, yeah, okay. I'm wearing it now. Like, let's go.
 
Shannon Waller: I love it. So in this journey, at what point did you join Coach? How long have you been in the Program? And I hope everyone's aware that every single one of our coaches is a client first and stays a client. Like every one of our coaches is in the Program and applying the tools and concepts to their own business. So at what point in this journey did you join Strategic Coach?
 
Erik Solbakken: Yes, I'd started the Accountant Success Formula and I was coaching accounting firms. I don't think I had acquired the other accounting firm. I hadn't. So I had just had the Accountant Success Formula where I was coaching accounting firms across North America on changing their business model, their mindset and their business model. And then I realized I was like, I felt kind of alone. And I was like, I need some guidance. And of course, I had heard some other people that I'd known who were in Strategic Coach, who were people that I looked up to. And I was like, ah, now I'm going to get into Strategic Coach.
 
And when I came in, I came in like typical Eric fashion—not consciously, but now I understand purposefully that it's my Viking nature to go full tilt. So I was like, I'm going in, I want to get this done, and I'm serious. And my experience is that the more effort I put into something, the more I get out of it. And so I started, as I said, it's 2021 is when I came in. It was 2021, and I got in, and I started going deep, and I loved the quarterly calls. I moved myself up to 10x, was working with Dan directly, and then was applying the principles. And then I started seeing opportunities everywhere. And that's when I acquired the accounting firm. And that's when we started opening up.
 
And I started seeing things because this quote that just is the ultimate one, and we get our notebooks every time we go to a Strategic Coach or that we do on the coaches. Dan's quote is that, “Our eyes only see and our ears only hear what our brain is looking for.” I'm going to say that one more time. Your eyes see and your ears hear only what your brain is looking for. So now that when I go to Strategic Coach, I get to choose what to prime my brain for, or I get surprised at what my brain gets primed for. And then all of a sudden, I see opportunity. And I actually never articulated that before.
 
So this is why I love podcasts, and I love just having these kind of exploratory conversations, because I find something new. So I've never been able to articulate that, but that was me seeing the opportunity to acquire that business through my coaching connection with them. So I was coaching with them and then all of a sudden I went, wait a second, maybe there's an opportunity for me to be part owner of this instead of just coaching them as an opportunity to be an owner. And here we are, now I'm sitting down the barrel looking at a whole bunch of companies that I own.
 
Shannon Waller: Well, it's interesting. You talked about your three freedoms, which I think are very powerful—money, clients, and time. And clients are kind of like relationship. And then what I'm also hearing is that you are now relishing in the freedom of purpose, right? Like that's what you are—it's like—and you have to have the other freedoms first. Like we talk about time, money, relationship. No, they do all happen, you know, in a synchronous fashion. However, if you are so jammed up with your schedule, you don't have mental space to look at it. If you don't have any money, also, opportunities don't look like opportunities, they look like burdens. And if you don't like the people with whom you're working, why would you partner with them? Right? So those freedoms are so essential.
 
And then what I'm hearing is the world just got to be a much bigger sandbox, which, how fun is that? And I appreciate your descriptions, Eric, because that's what I get to see. And you get to see this too, coaching, is you just get people to see that they're more themselves, more authentic, which is also their differentiator and their value creation, right? They're able to provide direction to people who are like their earlier versions of themselves. And then the world just gets a lot more abundant and a lot more fun and a lot more interesting. And you get to play with some very fun, I was going to say characters, but they're not. They're very fun humans to create something new that didn't exist before. So I can just like track how you've been talking about it. And it sounds just fascinating and interesting.
 
Erik Solbakken: Yeah, I love that. So coming back to my psychology degree and everything to me is mindset and this is where I love the philosophy. I've said this about Strategic Coach. I believe it's one of the world's greatest philosophy programs wrapped in a business blanket. When you change the way you look at things, the things that you look at change. So when you can change your thinking, that's when the amazing things happen. The answers are actually inside of each one of you as an entrepreneur, but we haven't been able to tap into it. That's what I love about the Strategic Coach tools. It helps me tap into that.
 
But you said something about the freedom. So I had originally called it money, clients and time, but now with the four freedoms, it's time, relationships, money, purpose, right? I always like to think of it in terms of the hierarchy of needs. So Maslow has this hierarchy of needs. And at the bottom, it's these different levels, but I'll just go from the bottom to the top. So the bottom is, shall we call it food, clothing, and shelter. That's your kind of your basic needs. And right at the top is enlightenment.
 
And so what I've found is that with the entrepreneurial experience is that actually there is an ordering to it to a certain degree. The first thing you need to take control of is your time. Your time is the most important thing. That's almost like at the bottom of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. If you don't get a hold of that first, you can't kind of build on the rest of them. And the purpose is, I kind of look at that as the enlightened phase. It's like once you've got your time freedom, you've got your relationship freedom, you've got your money freedom. Now you can really focus on your purpose. And for me, purpose is, I truly believe that every single one of us was put on the planet for a reason, but we're the only species on the planet that doesn't know why we're here.
 
Shannon Waller: It's true.
 
Erik Solbakken: We're the only ones.
 
Shannon Waller: We're the only ones that question it, that's for sure.
 
Erik Solbakken: No, but we don't know. And so here's the wonderful things. Dan said, you know, really, everything's made up. We just make it up, right? And nobody's in charge and life's not fair. Those are those three things that I love.
 
Shannon Waller: That's from the “Geometry” For Staying Cool & Calm.
 
Erik Solbakken: Yeah, rules for staying cool and calm, right? Because we don't know why we're here. Humans are constantly trying to make it up so that it makes sense, right? And so if you think about it that way, that your experience of life is a direct result of how you think about it, it's that simple. You can look at two same scenarios, and one you can feel horrible about, the other one you can feel great about. Thinking tools can change the way you think and look at it, which unlocks a change in perspective, which then your eyes and your ears will see new opportunities for you to get to your bigger, brighter future that you want.
 
Shannon Waller: Yeah, and as you're talking, I'm thinking of that's Who Not How, that's The Gap And The Gain, and that's 10x Is Easier Than 2X, and those are just three of the major market books. But yeah, it's that mindset shift, same circumstances, different perspective, whole different set of insights and feelings that come from it.
 
Erik Solbakken: Yeah. And the thing for me is, so when I look back over my entire career and all the different businesses I've had, I realized that I've always been a transformational coach. Like I've always been about transformation. For me, what gives me excitement was when I see someone's eyes light up and they go, and I see them get it. I'm like, yes. Because now all of a sudden, not only the excitement in their eyes is saying, oh my gosh, it can be better than what I have right now. I have a vision for something better in the future. That is the transformational part. I love seeing that.
 
And the best part is, as a coach, I don't sit there and tell people what to think or tell them what to do. All of the answers are really inside this amazing thing called your brain and your experience, your unique experiences that you've had your entire lifetime. Because I used to be really bad about it, and I probably still do it, and I know I do, because we're human. I compare myself to other people all the time. Oh, I'm doing well, but oh, this person's doing better. And I'm comparing myself. That's a Gap, right?
 
Or I'm comparing myself to where I think I should be. That's a Gap. But if you go back and look at your experience, you have this treasure trove of life experiences and ways of looking at the world that is untapped. And for me, the Strategic Coach tools, for me personally and for the people that I've been coaching them to, it unlocks that treasure trove inside you and all of a sudden life becomes energizing and fun and it's like, oh, let's go play. Like you said something about it being in a sandbox. That's actually one of the books that I'm going to write. It's called Life's a Sandbox. Go play.
 
Shannon Waller: Nice. I love it. The mindset that you're articulating as a coach is the one I look for in coaches. You know, do you get lit up and excited when other people have the breakthrough? You know, it's interesting. It's different than manager feels like a lame description, but sometimes people are happy because it's about them and I caused that to happen in that other person. No, you're not giving them answers. And this is exactly the same way that Dan talks about. It's like, let's uncover it. Dan has a really cool mindset.
 
Just to echo what you were saying is that people have their own answers. They're just so cluttered up with stuff and messes and old thinking that they can't get to their own wisdom, for lack of a better term. And that's kind of what you were saying. And so Strategic Coach is an uncluttering program for your brain, which is really interesting. You and I talk about Dan in almost exactly the same way. I studied philosophy in my first year of university because I couldn't figure out what else I wanted to take. I still love philosophy. And then I met Dan, as far as I'm concerned, the world's greatest practical philosopher, right? And then you say his philosophy program wrapped up in a business blanket. And I was like, yes, exactly.
 
Erik Solbakken: There's philosophy, psychology, and physiology. They all come together. It's proven physiologically that when you are making strides towards a goal that's worth pursuing and you're moving towards it, it gives you a dopamine hit. Physiologically, it actually makes you feel good. From a psychological perspective, you're like trying to find out what makes your brain happy and how you feel about your life. So when you change your thinking tools, and then the philosophy side is, well, what is life all about? What's the purpose of it? And I truly see that is that every single person is a unique individual, has a Unique Ability.
 
And for those entrepreneurs out there, your Unique Ability is exactly what your business needs and exactly what your customers need. You need to get out of the daily grind and the day-to-day stuff so you can create a Self-Managing Company so you can focus on your Unique Ability. Once you have that, it's amazing. My accounting firm in Kelowna, the MBA Chartered Professional Accountants, is Self-Managing and Self-Multiplying. I give it exactly what my Unique Ability is, which is my abundant playful energy and my strategic advisory services. I'm a coach. That's what I do. And so I've been able to just do that with that business. And it's the most freeing experience I've ever had. And I want that for all our entrepreneurs that are in Strategic Coach.
 
Shannon Waller: Oh, so good. So good. All right. You and I could talk all day. I'm clear on that. So you mentioned Kelowna. Say where you're from, because we haven't done that part yet, and a little bit about the personal side of your life. We heard about being a rock star. But let us know a little bit about the other side of Eric.
 
Erik Solbakken: I always overshare. So I was conceived in Norway and born in Canada. So literally I found out later in life that I came home one night, my parents were having a couple of cocktails while I was going to college at the time. And I'm like, why are they half snapped? I couldn't understand it. I'm like, what are you doing? Oh, we're celebrating our wedding anniversary. And I'm like, oh really? Well, when was it? And they told me. And then all of a sudden I started doing the math and I turned and looked at them and I went, was I premature? And I'm like, I was at the bloody wedding. So I was literally in the wedding.
 
So they came to Canada to have me because they didn't want people to know about that back in 1970. So I was born here, right? So I was born in Victoria and I've never left. So I live on Vancouver Island in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, and I've never left, but I have businesses. My reach is global. I have coaching clients all over the world. My accounting firm is in Kelowna, British Columbia. And of course my home for Strategic Coach and my workshops is in Toronto. So that's where you can find me is in Toronto.
 
Shannon Waller: Very good. And you've got three great children and you're married and all.
 
Erik Solbakken: Yes. Yes. Sorry, I missed that part. So I got a 24, 22, and a 12 year old. Yeah, and married to a beautiful woman, Erin, and she's also a chartered accountant, and we get lots of jokes from that, but when we started up our new accounting practice, it was the two of us, and then she's been my Babs for me. She's my number one cheerleader, so, I love it.
 
Shannon Waller: So Eric and Erin, I will remember that now.
 
Erik Solbakken: E squared.
 
Shannon Waller: There you go. That's a really good name for a business, by the way. Eric, it is such a joy to talk to you. I'm so excited about this. I'm thrilled for people to get to know you because you're just such an interesting human. So if people want to reach out to you on LinkedIn or learn more about the Viking Academy, how can they do that? And then, of course, they can look on strategiccoach.com to see about your upcoming workshops in Toronto.
 
Erik Solbakken: Yeah, it's right there. I'm on LinkedIn, Eric Solbakken, and you'll find me there on LinkedIn. And the Viking Academy is vikingacademy.com. There's accountantsuccessformula.com. There's mbacpa.ca. But yeah, Google Eric the Viking, you'll find me.
 
Shannon Waller: Just a fun little story to end with. One time, my sister Julia and I, we both know you well, were at the One of a Kind craft show. Oh my God, you have it. You guys can't see it, but we should include this in a picture. And Julia spotted, because they make really cool stuff there, they spotted a Viking stuffed. And so we had to buy it and give it to you because it was just so perfect. And it travels with you, I understand.
 
Erik Solbakken: I forgot to bring him to the coach’s conference last week. I'm bringing him with me on Monday.
 
Shannon Waller: I can't wait. Eric, thank you. Thank you so much for your time. Super excited for people to get your incredible wisdom. And thanks for being here. Appreciate you.
 
Erik Solbakken: Thank you, Shannon. I'm very much looking forward to it. And if you're an entrepreneur out there listening, I am really looking forward to seeing you in the workshop. We're going to have a lot of fun.
 
Shannon Waller: Yes, you will.