Professional coach and performance nutritionist working with execs and athletes | 1:1 or Group Coaching | Book A Free Consultation

I work with male founders who are making money but quietly losing themselves at home, 

Drinking more than they want to admit.

Health sliding.

Head constantly running worst-case scenarios about cash flow, performance, and keeping everything afloat.

One client closed a £700k deal in Q3 2025. 

He went home buzzing.

His wife looked at him and said,

“Our daughter asked me today if you even like her.”

He had spent three months chasing deals.

Late nights.

Trains to London.

Eight days at home in total.

That is not rare.

That is normal in founder life.

Here is what most men miss...

You will spend hours preparing for a meeting but you won’t spend three minutes asking your kid about their day.

You track revenue daily like a crazed addict yet you can’t remember the last time you sat down as a family to eat dinner together. 

Then you wonder why success feels flat.

He asked me,

“Is it possible to feel proud at home the way I do at work?”

Of course it is. 

You don’t lack the skills to get sh*t done. You have a plan, set goals and then execute. 

They just point them in one direction and aren’t extended to your loved ones. 

We turned that around, and family time went in the diary as a non-negotiable. 

He took a break from alcohol and introduced some healthy habits. We unpacked his fears that were holding him back from being the best version of himself. 

Three months later, his daughter ran to the door when he got home.

He felt the same buzz watching her score at football as he did closing a deal.

That is the work.

Helping founders apply world-class thinking to their body, their relationships, and the life they are actually living.

Build the business.

Keep the family.

Walk into your house calm.

Not carrying the company on your back.

That is what I do.

If you want my help, message me with the word “Ready”.

Adam Mayhew

I’m thankful for how you changed yourself to be a better Dad for me, 

My client Joshua McCarty received this note from his son. I also cried when he sent it to me.

Josh is the VP of sales out in the US. 

He came to me as most men do. Successful by most people’s standards. He had the house, the car, the great lifestyle, a supportive partner, and two lovely kids, but something was missing.

The missing piece? Identity and alignment. 

If you aren’t aligned with your success, then you will always feel inadequate and unfulfilled. 

The first thing we looked at was sobriety and mindfulness. This gives him a level of clarity and awareness that is beyond comprehension. 

Once you become more aware, you realise what an awful impact your drinking is having on your health, relationships and performance. 

For most of our clients,  this is enough of a motivator to remove alcohol completely. 

In the last year, he’s removed alcohol, meditated every day, completed marathons, completed an Ironman, got promoted at work and healed problems that have held him back for decades. 

These results are amazing but not uncommon in our coaching programme. 

His new identity? Super Dad, super husband, ultra athlete, Ironman, successful VP and overall awesome guy. He’s also flying to the UK this Thursday to attend our Men’s retreat in North Yorkshire. 

I can’t wait to meet him in person and welcome him to the Yorkshire Dales and a cup of Yorkshire Tea!  

If you want your kids to write notes to you and thank you for changing your life, message me.

Life Coaching For Male Founders who want to remove alcohol, rebuild their health, and stop letting fear about money, performance, and failure follow them home every night.

This week we host our 6th men’s retreat at A-Game.

On Thursday, ten men will arrive and spend four days together doing the inner work that most men avoid for years.

Most men never experience an environment where they can speak openly without being judged or fixed. Men are incredibly purposd driven and solution orientated, but that often means they feel uncomfortable talking about what’s really going on beneath the surface. The fear of being ridiculed or misunderstood keeps a lot of it locked away for decades. 

That’s one of the reasons Adam Smith and I created these retreats.

We wanted to create a space where men can talk openly about their challenges without judgement, destroy the old stories that have been holding them back, push themselves beyond what they thought was possible, and learn how to improve their health and performance so they can become better men.

If I’m honest, I always feel a little smug when retreat week comes around because I know what happens during those four days.

Men arrive carrying years of pressure, limiting beliefs and leave clearer, lighter, and far more certain about the man they want to become.

I love these retreats but they’re also the most demanding thing we do which is why the next few days are about final preparation and getting some rest before it begins.

Let’s go!

Optimal is a w*nky word but removing the booze is the cheat code. 

You think it helps you switch off, relax and unwind, but it is the very thing holding you back. 

Your energy, your focus, your mood and your discipline all improve the moment you stop pouring alcohol on every stress you feel.

Take our free audit and see how your drinking habit is quietly destroying your potential and how to remove it - link on comments.

Yesterday I attended my auntie’s funeral, my mum’s eldest sister.

It was a lovely service. One of those where you could feel how proud she would have been of her family sitting in that church.

There were cousins there I hadn’t seen in 20 years. People I grew up with as a kid, and it brought back a lot of memories.

There were also cousins there that I had never actually met before. I knew they existed, but our paths had just never crossed. It was nice to finally meet them.

Funerals have a strange way of doing that. They bring people back together who haven’t seen each other in years.

As I sat there reflecting, something showed up for me. The importance of staying connected with family and with the people who have been part of your life over the years.

In the work we do as coaches, we talk a lot about growth, identity and about becoming the best version of yourself.

This work is important, but something I was reminded of yesterday is that whilst you are growing, evolving and stepping into the person you want to become, it’s just as important not to lose sight of where you came from.

The people who were there at different stages of your life.
The ones who helped shape you.
The ones who supported you in ways big and small.
Every one of those moments and people played a part in who you are today. 

In high-performance and personal development, it’s easy to become so focused on the next level that you forget your roots. 

Yesterday, there were lots of references to my Irish heritage. There were poems, music and blessings spoken in Gaelic. ☘️ 

It was a reminder of who I was growing up. But more importantly, who I still am and where I've come from. 

No matter how far you go in life, or how much you grow, don’t lose sight of the people and places that shaped you.

When was the last time you reached out to a family member you haven’t spoken to in a while?

You can’t be your best as a parent when you’re slowing yourself down every night.

I have a 3 year old and a 1 year old. And I’m proud to say I’ve only ever been a sober dad.

No hangovers. No guilt about being half-present. No waking up irritated, snappy, or drained (unless their sick and been awake most of the night 🤪) 

That’s not to say I’m smashing it every day by the way. Parenting tests you in ways nothing else does.

But I do giggle to myself sometimes. Because yes, it’s hard. But it’s also easier than it would’ve been. 
Old me would be dead inside by now, dragging myself through the days, pouring booze on top of stress, and wondering why I couldn’t cope.

I see it all the time with some of my friends and clients. They are struggling. Not because they’re bad parents. But because they’re trying to do the hardest job in the world…while pouring a depressant into their system every night.

Being alcohol-free is the greatest gift you can give to your kids and yourself.

If you ready to see what that looks like then message me the word “Ready”. I’m ready for you when you are ready for you.

Would your kids get a better version of you if alcohol wasn’t in the picture?

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Not every thought requires your attention,


Latest podcast episode out now. 🎙️

Adam Smith and I dive into mastering your internal world and the Stoic principle of the dichotomy of control. We explore one of the most powerful mindset shifts a person can make but focusing only on what is within their control.

We cover:

- What the dichotomy of control actually is and why it matters

- How reacting to external events quietly drains your energy

- Why other people’s opinions only have power if you let them

- The hidden cost of everyday frustrations, stress, and emotional reactions

- How to pause, respond properly, and take ownership of your internal state

- Why mastering your internal world changes your performance, relationships, and life

This episode will help you stop wasting energy on things you cannot control and start taking full responsibility for the one thing you can: yourself.

Have a listen - link in comments.

🎙️ LATEST PODCAST EPISODE OUT NOW

In this episode, Adam Smith and I talk about alignment and why so many high performers still feel unfulfilled despite achieving everything they thought they wanted.

We cover:
- The “when and then” mindset and how it robs you of happiness now
- Why putting your happiness in future events guarantees suffering
- Why success without alignment leads to misery
- How your behaviours either match your goals or they don’t
- The dangerous language people use like “when things slow down…”
- Applying philosophy in real life when our Belfast flights were cancelled
- Why alignment is not work-life balance, it’s everything working in unison

We also spoke about Eckhart Tolle, Seneca, Victor Frankl, hope, ego and insecurity. 

If you’ve ever said, “I’ll be happy when…” this one is for you.

Listen now - Link in comments.

Love this from Steve McClory.  

Thank you so much for attending yesterday, for leaning into it and taking action. 

Meditation isn’t about sitting still for the sake of it. It’s training the pause. Building space between ego and action. Recognising that thoughts are mental objects in consciousness…you don’t need to believe or respond to every one. 

Proud of you mate.

Multi-Business Owner in the Fitness Industry - Board Member at UKactive - I Believe Your Career is a Book You Write Yourself

I didn’t think I would get emotional talking in front of 12 strangers.

I spent today at the Aligned Founder Boardroom event with founders Adam Smith  and Adam Mayhew, along with a group of great business people who want to be the best versions of themselves.

I have talked openly before about currently working on developing a more growth mindset. I am working on how when I get challenged I take it as personal criticism instead of getting curious.

Two of the main things I took away from today are the power of meditation and to be more curious.

I’ve started to add in breath work and meditation but I am not being consistent enough with it.

Hearing how other people working with The A-Game are getting really good results from meditation was a turning point. 

Hearing their stories and how it is a real game changer to help them deal with the challenges in their busy business lives has made me make the decision to really get consistent with it.

It was good to learn today about the gap between reacting and responding.

When you react your ego gets involved. When you pause and respond you look at the facts.
I am starting daily meditation to build that pause.

That’s the person I want to become and one of the sayings today was if your actions dont match the person you want to become you either change your actions or lower your goals. I don’t want to lower my goals.

If you cant take feedback without getting defensive you eventually become the bottleneck in your own business.

The emotional part today was when I was talking about people being proud of you and talking of my late dad.

I highly recommend the A-Game Consultancy to any business owner who needs to be in a room that actually challenges them.

#Mindset #BusinessGrowth #Leadership #RealTalk

The most dangerous thoughts are the ones you never question,


Negative thoughts will always arise.

You can’t stop them.

They’ll stop when you’re dead.

What you can do is control how you respond to them.

Because the real problem isn’t the thought.

It’s when the thought spirals, catastrophises, and takes over your entire headspace.

So when a negative thought appears, interrupt it.

Ask yourself a question:

What evidence do I actually have that this thought is true?
Why might I be thinking this right now?
What would be a more helpful thought?

Not a blindly positive one but a more useful one.

When you start questioning your thinking instead of automatically believing it, living inside your own head becomes a much healthier place to be.

How often do you challenge your own thinking rather than just accepting it?

Most men are emotionally stunted,

I typically coach men aged between 35-55. Their fathers were from the “when men were men” era. 

Showing emotion is weak. 

Don’t cry. 

Man up. 

Toughen up. 

Stop being soft. 

This was all common language when I was growing up. 

You become accustomed to staying silent and suppressing your emotions. That’s why it often comes out in anger or despondency. 

“Why won’t my husband open up?” Because he was often judged and ridiculed when he did. 

The issue is, most men go through the same thing as children so they learn to just provide solutions to their challenges rather than allowing themselves to experience the emotion. 

Men provide solutions for each other and their partners rather than listening. This can cause a break down in marriages and also friendships. 

It’s not your fault but it is your responsibility to do something about it. Speaking about it openly with a professional, reading the right books and introducing tools like meditation have been life changing for me. 

Life doesn’t have to be lived in frustration and being misunderstood. The freedom lies from within and when you do the deep inner work you’ll become the man you were meant to be.

The truth is most men were never taught how to process emotion. 
They were taught to suppress it.

When did you realise you had work to do on yourself?

Stop trying to be confident. 

Instead have the courage to do difficult things on purpose. 

And to be courageous, you need to vulnerable.

And vulnerability is strength. 

That’s how you build confidence.

Do you agree? 👇

You teach people how to treat you by what you tolerate.

Everyday from the moment you wake up you are teaching people how to treat you. 

Speaking to others, how you hold yourself, your daily behaviours, your silence and quiet desperation…it’s all teaching people how you want to be treated.

The common issues I see with the men that we coach are

- Not using clear and effective communication
- Staying quiet and expecting their partner will just understand them
- Using passive language 
- Not regulating their emotions daily
- Lack boundaries and non-negotiable. 
- Drinking to “feel better” or “unwind”

But, underneath all of this is something much deeper. They don’t know where they are heading and who they are becoming. 

So, they’re “fine” and respond to with “yeah not bad mate”. Things in their life are ok but not quite sh*t  enough to make changes.

So they accept it and settle for what is. But deep down they know this is not how they want to spend each day.

So you end up hating yourself and stuck in a shame cycle. Wishing it could change and not knowing where to start. 

You don’t need another podcast or YouTube video. You need clarity, strategy and accountability. 

This is what I do. Day in. Day out. 

Want my help? Message me with the word “Ready”

P.s. How do you put in boundaries each day?

Ranked #1 Global Creator (Branding) | Forbes-Featured Founder | Authority, Media & Influence on LinkedIn +AI | Ex-US Congress & News | Check your Digital Visibility Score ↓

Ranked the #1 global LinkedIn creator in branding and positioning by Favikon in March 2025, Iza Montalvo built an audience across social media of 125,000 and surpassed 50 million impressions in under a year. 

Her expertise has been featured in Forbes, her brand has been showcased on Times Square, and she has been formally recognized twice on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives and entered into the Congressional Record.

Her approach is rooted in a career that spans newsrooms, Capitol Hill, and the creator economy. 

She began in print journalism, television production, radio, and public affairs before serving as Communications Director for two U.S. Congressmen from Florida, leading high-stakes communications at the intersection of media and policy. 

That rare combination of editorial instinct and platform fluency is what she brings to every stage and every client.

Today, she helps founders, executives, and organizations leverage LinkedIn and other platforms to become the most quoted, referenced, and sought-after voices in their industries and is at the forefront of an emerging field: how AI is reshaping PR, visibility, and reputation.

Check your digital visibility score in under 5 minutes: 
https://form.jotform.com/260343879542060Ways to work with me: 

📅 April open for keynotes, workshops, and corporate trainings
📩 iza@izamontalvo.com

Join a growing community of public CEOs

🔗 Newsletter: https://iza-montalvo.kit.com/3e80e7f68d

IZA MONTALVO

Everyone wants to be a visionary.
Few want to ship.

There's an old idea from Steve Jobs:
the difference between dreamers and doers.

He said it best in a 1995 interview:

"The difference between the dreamers and the people that build stuff is the dreamers talk about what they're going to build. The people that build stuff actually ship."

I've watched this pattern play out for years:

→ Founders perfecting pitch decks while competitors take market share
→ Teams spending 6 months on strategy while missing whole product cycles
→ Leaders talking big changes but scared to ship anything

I get it. I've done this more times than I can count.

Shipping something unfinished feels vulnerable.
What if it's not good enough?
What if people don't get it?

But here's what separates builders from talkers:

Dreamers talk about what they're going to build.

Doers build it.
Then they improve it.
Then they ship again.

Vision without execution is entertainment.
Execution without vision is labor.

But when both combine, that's when companies are built.
Right now, this gap is growing wider.

It's easier than ever to look like you're building:

Announcing ideas.
Branding ideas.
Explaining ideas.

But builders? They move different.

Artists ship.
Operators execute.
Builders move forward.

If you have something in your head, build it.

Messy is fine.
Imperfect is fine.
As long as you're moving forward.

Because you can't improve what you haven't shipped.

Every day you spend perfecting alone, your competitors are learning from real users.

PS: What are you shipping this quarter?
♻️ Share this message with your network

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The Battle

Adam Mayhew

IZA MONTALVO

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Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Adam Mayhew's LinkedIn Performance

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