When I asked Warwick Schiller to be on my podcast in May of 2020, I fully expected him to either ignore the request or say no. Instead, he responded within minutes with “Yes, I would love to.”
Let me back up for a minute to provide some context. I started my podcast earlier in the year, and to this point, all my guests were friends. I learned about Warwick from Facebook. In the infinite wisdom of social media algorithms, Facebook had figured out – correctly – that I was on a journey to get back on the horse. A couple of years before, I had started following this guy with an Australian accent, who seemed to know a thing or two about horses, thanks to Facebook making sure I saw his posts. What mattered to me was that he was speaking in a way that made sense to me.
For example, I had always thought that trail riding was what people who didn’t know how to really ride horses did. Then I fell off a horse on a trail ride and had a pretty serious injury. My belief and reality were not lining up! Along comes Warwick with a post outlining the challenges and training required for a horse and rider to be successful on the trails. (This post is in my book Dancing the Tightrope.) It felt like he was speaking directly to me.
Pretty soon, I was seeing daily posts from him, and even though he was WAY ahead of me in horse training, I identified with his personal journey, which he was sharing with his followers. One morning while I was scrolling, he posted something that gave me a spark. Before I had time to talk myself out of it, I messaged him on Facebook with the request to be on my podcast. When he said “Yes”, you could have knocked me over with a feather. Only one thing had given me the courage to hit “send” on that message to him: the worst that could happen was that he said no. It wasn’t going to kill me. Nonetheless, I was very nervous about asking him. Then he said “yes.” Now what? What does an executive coach who focused on people in the corporate world have in common with a renowned horseman who teaches thousands of people to be better with their horses?
I didn’t need to worry. You will find in this podcast that we found plenty to talk about. Interestingly, at first, he had the same question about what he might have to offer my audience. But the truth is, I don’t have a “corporate” podcast, any more than he has a “horse” podcast. Oh, I forgot to mention that a few months after he was on my podcast, he started his own blockbuster podcast called “The Journey On Podcast.” More on that in a minute.
The common ground that we found was in our respective journeys. At some level, we are all trying to find our way back to our natural state of being. The conditions and conditioning of the modern world have a way of taking us away from ourselves, especially if we are not aware. So it’s not about working in a job, or training horses, or performing a task, but IN working that job, working with horses or performing those tasks that we find our way back to ourselves. These conversations are universal.
But I have another story to tell about this that I’ve not told before. The podcast conversation went great. It was like talking to a long-time friend. It also was over an hour long and I had drunk too much tea that morning. Plus, I had received an urgent text during the podcast. When it was time to stop recording, I hit “END” on the Zoom call rather than the stop button, and immediately ran to the bathroom, while responding to that text. When I came back to my computer, Warwick had sent an email saying he wished we could have stayed on to chat for a moment. When I emailed him back offering to hop back on, I never heard another word.
I thought I had completely blown any chance of having any more conversations.
The thought hung around in the back of my mind for the next few months. I was embarrassed, and also made sure for future guests that I always gave us a chance to chat once the recording was stopped. Then, the following March, I took a trip to Scottsdale Arizona to visit my sister and go to the Cactus Reining Classic, a huge horse show. For some reason, I decided on the plane to buy WIFI access, something I never do. While mid-air, I started watching the livestream of the horse show, and it dawned on me. Warwick and his wife Robyn both competed in Reining in the World Equestrian Games in 2018. There was a good chance that they were at this horse show.
So once again, I got on Facebook messenger and mentioned that I was on my way to Scottsdale. Once again, I got a quick response that indeed, they were at the show, and furthermore, they were stabling right behind the horse I was flying out to see.
I got to meet both Warwick and Robyn in person at that show. We sat together watching the show and having deep conversations. Six months later, Warwick had me on his podcast. Six months after that, I had Robyn on my podcast.
Having a podcast has afforded me the opportunity to get to know people I otherwise had no reason to meet. Now I have an event coming which would not be happening if I had not gotten over my fears and hit “send” on that message three years ago. It’s The Journey On Podcast Summit, with Warwick and Robyn Schiller, being held November 2-6, in San Antonio, Texas.
Here’s what his website says about his podcast and the summit:
“Warwick created The Journey On Podcast to share his story of transformational growth in both his horse training career and personal life. Special guests join the show to discuss their own life-altering stories, sharing their motivations and influences along the way. Warwick invites you to listen to the podcast in hopes you find something that will help you along your own journey. The Journey on Podcast Summit is a 3-day event that hosts former podcasts guests as they share powerful 20-minute presentations, participate in Discussion Panels, and mingle with Summit attendees.”
I will be one of this year’s speakers – and you can watch live! And, thanks to a few last-minute cancellations, you could even attend in person if you are feeling spontaneous. They will livestream the event AND you can watch it any time after the event as well. Follow this link and click the San Antonio button to purchase in person or livestream tickets.
Whether by Livestream or in person, I hope you can enjoy this transformative event.
