"You Are More Powerful Than You Know"
A Conversation with Rich Litvin
by Jonathan Carroll
Some interviews remind you that mastery has less to do with strategy and more to do with soul. My recent conversation with Rich Litvin was one of those moments. Known globally as a coach to Olympic champions, Special Forces operatives, fund managers, and founders, Rich is also the co-author of The Prosperous Coach, considered by many the Bible of the coaching industry.
On Feeling Different and Spotting Potential
From Powerless to Powerful
Jonathan: You have coached people at the very top of their fields. How did your own experience of feeling different shape the way you now spot and nurture potential in others?
Rich: I spent much of my life feeling powerless. In my twenties I was still trying to prove myself to my father, trying to win admiration by performing confidence I didn't actually feel. I learned to look powerful on the outside while feeling empty on the inside. That's a lonely place to live.
The old idea of fake it till you make it has some truth, but the danger is that when you're faking it, you know it. Other people might not, but you do. You end up living in the gap between who you know yourself to be and how others see you. I lived there for years.
These days, that wound has become a gift. Because I know that gap so intimately, I can see it instantly in others, even in world-class performers. My gift is spotting the one place where someone is holding back their true power, even if everyone else thinks they've already "made it."
The Journey to Self-Acceptance
Becoming Your Own Batman
Jonathan: Early in your career, you said you were Robin looking for Batman. When did you realise you could be your own Batman?
Rich: For a long time I was looking for someone to impress, someone to admire me in return. What I was really looking for was a replacement for my father. I wanted someone to love me and be proud of me. The problem is, you can't outsource that. If you don't generate love and pride from within, you'll always feel empty.

Now, most mornings I wake up and say out loud, "I'm Rich Litvin, and I'm proud of me." It sounds simple, but it's powerful. If you're not proud of yourself, it doesn't matter how many people praise you, it won't land.
It took two decades of deep coaching, men's work, and six years of therapy to get there. The work never ends.
What It Takes
Coaching Extraordinary People
Jonathan: Not everyone is meant to be a coach. What does it take to coach extraordinary people?
Live Something Extraordinary
Extraordinary clients want to be coached by someone who's lived something extraordinary. You can't guide people to places you haven't gone yourself.
Put in the Time
Most coaches do a year of training and believe that should be enough. But in other professions, doctors or accountants train for years before they're trusted.
Do Your Own Work
Coaching is no different. You have to put in the time, do your own work, fail, recover, live. Then you can hold space for others doing the same.
Who Shaped Rich as a Coach
Rich: Steve Chandler was one of my first mentors, and he became both friend and collaborator. We wrote The Prosperous Coach together. I've also trained with Chris Voss, the former FBI hostage negotiator, whose work changed how I listen and frame questions. More recently, I've been learning from Kasha Urbaniak, who wrote Unbound: A Woman's Guide to Power.
Outside formal mentorships, I've spent twenty years in men's work. I meet regularly with a closed group of six men who challenge, provoke, and support one another. Since moving to London, I've joined an open men's group to keep that practice alive. I learn from everyone, teachers, peers, even my dog. Getting a dog taught me to show up consistently for another being. Growth never stops.
Timeless Principles
The Power of The Prosperous Coach
Jonathan: What principle from The Prosperous Coach still surprises you with its power?
Rich: "Needy is creepy." That line from Steve Chandler remains timeless. There's no English word for the opposite of neediness. When you show up from lack or grasping, people feel it immediately.
Early in my career I coached people on confidence because I'd struggled with it myself. Over time I realized confidence isn't bravado, it's feeling comfortable in your own skin. That's the true opposite of neediness. When you're relaxed about who you are, you magnetize the right opportunities and people naturally.
The Biggest Misconception About High-Fee Clients
Jonathan: What's the biggest misconception coaches have about high-fee clients?
Rich: It's not about the fee, it's about the value you create. People assume premium clients pay for exclusivity or status, but that's not it. They invest in transformation. I've had millionaires tell me my fees were too high, and others with far less create the resources because they felt the work was essential.

Over the past twenty years, I've written more than a million words, blogs, newsletters, letters to clients, and most of it has been free. I've produced hundreds of hours of video content without charging a cent. That's the equivalent of thirteen books freely given. If you consistently put genuine value into the world without expectation, abundance inevitably finds its way back.
Creating Clients
One Conversation at a Time
Jonathan: Can you share a concrete example of creating a client one conversation at a time?
Rich: Sure. About a year ago, I had nine people signed up for a Deep Dive event and one spot left. Late Friday afternoon I saw an email from a woman asking about it. My team had gone home, so I replied personally and gave her my cell number, a rare move for me. She called, and after answering her logistics questions, I said, "You know what, let's skip logistics. Let me coach you for an hour right now."
She was thrilled. I coached her deeply for an hour, no agenda, just service. She didn't sign up immediately, and I caught myself thinking, Maybe I've lost the touch. But two days later she registered and joined us at the Porsche racetrack in Los Angeles for the event. That reminded me of the principle: serve, serve, serve. Create value without attachment. Some of those people will become clients, and some won't, and that's okay.
Choosing Your Clients
Chemistry Matters
Jonathan: How do you decide who you will not coach?
Rich: It's like dating, chemistry matters. Within ten minutes you can tell if there's resonance or not. My number one rule: the relationship has to feel like fun. If it doesn't feel alive or energizing, it's a no, no matter how much they offer to pay.
Jonathan: You've written about seven-figure launches that netted almost nothing and times when you carried $100K on credit cards. What was your inner dialogue in those moments?
Rich: Entrepreneurship is not a straight line. A few years ago, parts of my business weren't working, and the debt crept up bit by bit. My wife found it difficult, it's not easy being married to an entrepreneur.

But I've learned that when you're the one driving, you feel in control. You know clients are coming, money is coming, ideas are flowing, you just keep creating and serving. When things get shaky, I go back to basics: create value, make proposals, keep serving. That faith has always carried me through.
The Seductive Addiction
Beyond Success
Jonathan: Many high performers struggle with self-judgment even after a win. How do you interrupt that pattern?
Success as Addiction
Success is one of the most seductive addictions out there. We recognize the dangers of alcohol or screens, but success can be just as destructive when it's masking old wounds. For many of us, it starts as a way to earn love or approval.
The Empty Feeling
I'm writing a book called Beyond Success for people who've sold their companies for millions and still feel empty. They chase the next big thing, a farm, a new startup, only to realize it doesn't feed them.
The Real Work
The real work is going back to what was missing long ago and healing that.
Life's Unpredictable Seasons
Running a Business from a School Parking Lot
Jonathan: A few years ago, one of your sons had a stroke and another was being bullied at school. You ran your business from the school parking lot. What did you learn from that season?
Rich: That period was terrifying and humbling. My younger son had a one-in-a-million stroke caused by a tiny blood clot in his neck. At the same time, my older son refused to go to school, and we later discovered he was being bullied.
For weeks, the only way to get him to class was to sit outside the building. So I set up my laptop in the car and ran my business from the parking lot. What I learned is that life is unpredictable, and the only real currency is presence. Love your kids fiercely, but also stay on mission. They don't want you hovering, they want to see you out in the world, living your purpose.
The Art of Giving
Serve, Don't Sell
Jonathan: You teach serve, don't sell. Where's the line between giving and overgiving?
Rich: Adam Grant's Give and Take offers a useful frame: givers, takers, and matchers. Interestingly, givers are both the most and least successful people in the world. The difference is boundaries.
I give freely through content, scholarships, philanthropy, but I also have firm edges. I remember asking Steve Chandler early on if I could join his program for free and pay double later. He said no. At first I was angry, but it changed my life. It taught me that service without self-respect isn't service, it's self-sacrifice.
Jonathan: For a new coach who wants to serve more and sell less, what's your advice?
Rich: Make sure you don't need clients more than they need you. That might mean getting a part-time job or coaching through an agency like BetterUp to build your professional confidence.

Anyone can learn to coach, it's not that complex. The hard part is enrollment: helping someone see a vision so inspiring they want to invest in it. Not everyone's built for that. And that's okay. You can still use coaching inside your company or organization. Michael Bungay Stanier's The Coaching Habit shows how every leader can coach by asking better questions.
High Agency
Creating Conditions Rather Than Waiting
Jonathan: What do clients who create conditions rather than wait for them have in common?
Rich: They're what I call high-agency people. Bill Gates once asked, "If you were imprisoned in a foreign country and had one phone call, who would you call to get you out?" That's high agency. But then flip it: who would call you? Are you that person for anyone? High agency means doing what most people wouldn't dare, taking ownership for your results, your relationships, your life.
Giving Back
Philanthropy as Business Model
Jonathan: You've raised money for schools in Africa, supported wolf sanctuaries, and helped with humanitarian relief. How do you integrate philanthropy into your business?
Schools in Kenya
My community has helped build five schools in Kenya.
Teachers in Liberia
We supported an empowerment event for teachers in Liberia.
Wolf Sanctuary
Through my mastermind community, 4PC, we sponsor wolves at a sanctuary that helps both animals and formerly incarcerated people heal.
Rich: Giving back isn't a separate project, it's part of the business model. The more my business grows, the more impact we can create.
The Future of Coaching
The Coaching Century
Jonathan: You've called this the "Coaching Century." What will shape the next decade of coaching?
Rich: Coaching is becoming mainstream. Every great leader will have a coach soon, and every middle manager will have an AI coach. Artificial intelligence will handle basic skills-based coaching very well. It can reflect, question, even provoke in limited ways.
But AI can't do presence. It can't feel the energy in a room, sense when a client is holding their breath, or offer a pause pregnant with meaning. The future belongs to coaches who can master that level of human depth and energetic discernment.
Designing Coach Training for the Future
Jonathan: If you were designing a coach-training program for the future, what would it include?
Rich: I wouldn't design one. There are already plenty. The coaches I work with never stop learning. They study negotiation, leadership, nervous system regulation, even plant medicine. They combine modalities. Do the work, live the questions, then come to me for what's next.
100K Clients
Selling at the Highest Level
Jonathan: Your forthcoming book 100K Clients focuses on finding, coaching, and keeping dream clients. How is selling at that level more about identity than tactics?
Rich: The book is designed as a coaching experience. Every few pages there's a QR code that takes you to a video where I challenge your thinking. High-level leaders don't want step-by-step tactics. They want to be provoked, to see their blind spots and be told the truth others are too afraid to say. That's what they pay for, not comfort but clarity.
Centering Before High-Stakes Sessions
Jonathan: Before a high-stakes session, what brings you back to center if you're feeling off?
Men's Work
Men's work keeps me grounded. When I'm struggling, I show up with other men who speak honestly about their challenges. It reminds me I'm not alone.
Focus on Service
And when I feel low, I put my attention on service, who can I help right now? That's the fastest way out of self-focus.
Model Authenticity
I'm also real with my clients. You can't use them as therapy, but you can model authenticity. When you show you're human, it deepens trust. We live in an Instagram world, vulnerability is rare and powerful.
Staying Sharp
Curiosity and Play
Jonathan: After decades of coaching, what keeps you on your edge?
Rich: Curiosity and play. I'm constantly experimenting with new ways to provoke clients. I only work with fascinating people who challenge me too. Right now, I'm co-creating a program with Kasha Urbaniak that explores power dynamics and leadership. It has to be fun; otherwise, what's the point?
Why Provoking Clients Matters
Jonathan: Why is provoking clients important?

Rich: Because high-level leaders rarely get provoked. They're surrounded by yes-people. Sometimes all it takes is one question, one degree of shift, to change their whole world. My job isn't to please them, it's to wake them up.
Legacy and Impact
The Message That Matters
Jonathan: How do you hope people describe your impact on the coaching industry twenty years from now?
Rich: Honestly, I don't think about that much. People will decide for themselves. I once saw a YouTube comment that said, "I find Rich Litvin repugnant," and another person replied, "I agree." That's fine. I'm not here to be universally liked.
I'm here to help people remember that they are more powerful than they know. That's the message, whether it lands as inspiring or confronting.
One Piece of Advice
Jonathan: If you had one piece of advice for a new coach entering the industry today, what would it be?
Rich: Do the work to find out who you are. I could give you tactics, but my story won't be yours. What's made me successful is not knowing exactly where I'm going but knowing who I am. Commit the next twenty years to that inner discovery, and your world will transform.
Closing Reflections
Rich Litvin doesn't teach formulas. He models presence, discernment, and depth. His message to coaches is both humbling and freeing: true success comes from within.
Power is Internal
Until you admire yourself, no external success will satisfy you.
Service is Strategy
When you create real value without attachment, opportunities flow.
Mastery is Lifelong
AI may simulate technique, but it can't replicate soul.
You are more powerful
than you know.
As our conversation ended, one phrase echoed long after the call: You are more powerful than you know. That reminder alone might be the most valuable coaching any of us ever receive.
Watch the full interview with Rich Litvin and Jonathan Carroll below (52 min).
Jonathan Carroll
Editor-in-Chief, The Coaches’ Chronicle
Jonathan Carroll is a visionary leader, masterful facilitator, coach, mentor, retreat host, author, and the Editor-In-Chief of The Coaches’ Chronicle, a premier publication for conscious, heart-centered coaches, healers, and visionary leaders. With decades of experience guiding transformational leaders toward authentic alignment and full expression, Jonathan curates The Coaches’ Chronicle to be more than just a magazine. It is a movement, amplifying the voices of those redefining success through purpose, integrity, and deep inner work.
As the founder of The Dragonfly Club™, Jonathan has built a global community dedicated to conscious evolution, blending spiritual wisdom with real-world impact. His expertise in intuitive business leadership, energetic alignment, and authentic expression makes him a sought-after ally for those ready to embrace their soul’s highest calling.
At The Coaches’ Chronicle, Jonathan continues his mission of elevating the coaching industry beyond fleeting trends, fostering a space where depth, wisdom, and transformation take center stage. Click on Jonathan's photo to follow him on Facebook.

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