We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kayla Mobley a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Kayla, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission the drives your brand?

My business name is M.O.B. Athletics, Inc. M.O.B. stands for “Mind Over Body” with the slogan “All Is Mental”. My brand is a representation of myself as an individual, a player, a woman and a business owner. I truly believe everything starts in the mind first. No matter what it is. If you believe in your mind, and trust in your heart that you can do anything you put your mind to, then it can be achieved. But you must first believe in yourself, then put action behind that belief to manifest your dreams and goals into your reality. Thoughts become things. You are always in control. This is the message I aim to spread through M.O.B., and it is what I teach every athlete I train and coach. It all starts in the mind first, and through controlling your thoughts & emotions, you can then control your reality. Everything is about perception. We have to be able to control ourselves and how we see things. I believe there is no “good” or “bad”….only your perception. As an athlete, there are things we deal with on and off the court. When it’s time to practice or perform, we have to be able to block everything out, and come to practice locked in and ready to get better, or come to the game ready to perform at a high level. In order to do this, we must be in control of ourselves, our thoughts, and our emotions. Basketball is a game of runs, a game of high and lows, and in these moments we must be able to stay present in every moment, letting go of the mistakes we made before in order to move forward and on to the next possession. As is life. We must do our best to stay present, learn from the past, and transform our minds towards expecting a better and greater future. It all starts in our mind. We must understand the power that we hold. We can only control ourselves and that’s all we need to control. When we do that, then everything else outside of ourselves falls into place. When we do this then we don’t allow things outside of ourselves, that we can’t control, to put us on an emotional roller coaster, causing our emotions to be up and down and all over the place. We remain in control of ourselves, and we find the positive in all things. This is what M.O.B. is about. All is mental. Thoughts become things. And you are in control. The mind of a M.O.B. Athletes are mentally tough. No matter the situation, we stay present, in the moment, focusing on right here right now because it is the only place we can be. We use the lessons of the past to become wise in order to create a better future. We learn from the mistakes, and transform our mindsets to become better athletes and people. This is my message. This is my mission. To let all those around me know that only you are in control of you. No one else. It’s all about what you focus on and what you allow. The power is in your hands. It’s always been you. The most high gave you all you need in order to succeed. It’s in you. But do you believe in yourself?

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

My name is Kayla Mobley, and I am a professional overseas basketball player, skills development trainer, and mindfulness coach. I came into this industry through being a basketball player. I have played basketball since the age of 9, and continued my career up to the professional level, and have been playing professionally since 2014. “I have taken my basketball knowledge and experience, and transformed it into the business that I am running today. Growing up as a young child, and playing different sports, is the cause that has led to the discipline that I now possess as an adult. I’ve learned that goals require time and effort in order for you to grow and build them the way you desire. What separates me from other coaches and trainers is that I also focus on the mental side of what it takes to be an athlete. There are many pressures that come with this lifestyle, on and off the court. During my travels around the world, I developed a mental and spiritual practice that helped to keep me grounded, and guide me throughout my journey as an international player. If I had not found the practice of meditation, mindfulness, and yoga, I’m not sure I would have been able to handle it as well as I have.

I train & help young basketball players develop their craft and skill as individuals, along with teaching them the game to build their basketball IQ. I also provide strength and conditioning workouts, yoga, and guided meditation.

The mental aspect is a huge focus of what I do. I tell the athletes, and their parents, you can physically prepare, but if you’re not mentally prepared when you step onto the court, and it’s time to perform, then the physical doesn’t matter. You have to be mentally tough, focused, locked in and ready to go. Before each training session, team practice, or game, I begin with a short, guided meditation that can help the players to become calm, focus, let go of anything that came before the present moment, center themselves, and to help them release any anxiety, stress and overthinking. I also use visualization to help them to see, in their minds first, what it is they want to accomplish on the court. I tell them, they must first see it in their mind, then go out and execute.

This is a practice that has provided great benefits for me in my professional career as a basketball player. I would do it before my games, literally seeing myself on the court, making certain moves, shooting my shot, even playing defense and getting a steal. And there have been multiple occasions where I executed the very thing in the game that I saw in my mind first. This is how I know the mind is very powerful. I’ve even visualized my business and what I saw myself doing, and it has come into my reality. And it is only the beginning. This is what I take pride in. Knowing the power that I hold within to do and create whatever it is that I put my mind to, and the ability I hold to share this same knowledge with the youth of today. A lot of young children struggle with self belief, self confidence and self esteem. With all the social media, bullying, and negativity in the world, I’m here to guide them back towards believing and trusting themselves, to know that they are powerful too. But it starts with self belief. Knowing nothing is impossible. Whether you think you can or you can’t, you are right. It’s all about what you believe. It starts with you.

“The only limits that exist are the ones you put on yourself”
-K. Mob

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

The most effective way of building my clientele has been through word of mouth and social media. I have picked up several clients through the parents of players I train, telling other parents, or even family members letting people they know, who have kids that want to play, about me. I picked up my very first player through an old college teammate who referred the player’s dad to me. That was about a year ago, and she’s still training with me. I’ve also had another friend refer her grandma to me to train her little cousin, my sister referred a lady to me that came to her job who wanted to get lessons for her daughter, and the list goes on.Another huge asset has been social media. I have a business coach who told me to start putting myself out on social media, sharing my story, sharing different basketball tips, even creating a basketball Facebook group. I did that along with sharing more on my personal and business instagram, even doing lives on Facebook, and I got a lot of good feedback and interactions. I even picked up a few young players through these platforms. Their parents reached out to me about training.I also spread my message on my platforms as well, with encouraging messages that are linked with my mission and philosophy. This has all been a positive outcome for me. Another thing is I started coaching one of my friend’s AAU teams, and have been able to pick up some players from there and train them as well. These are the avenues that have contributed to the continuous growth of my brand and business. I look forward to continuing to gain more through these platforms in the near future.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to unlearn the “microwave society” way of thinking. We live in a world where everything is fast paced and everybody wants everything to happen right now. That’s not how business or life goes. A year ago, I was in this same position, but now I’m in a better place because I changed my mindset and way of thinking. I had to unlearn the self-doubt, impatience, overthinking, and many other negative thoughts and feelings we develop by trying to keep up with others that we think are ahead of us in life. All these low vibrational feelings were contributing to the unnecessary overwhelming pressure I was placing on myself, because I THOUGHT I was behind. Then at age 31, I THOUGHT I should have so much more and be so much further along in life than I was. I was playing the comparison game, looking at those around me that were the same age, or younger, feeling like I hadn’t accomplished anything in life because I didn’t have some of the things that they possessed, such as a home, marriage, a family, etc. I had to stop that. It was making me miserable. Once I started to completely focus on myself, my goals, knowing that my path is my own and not like anyone else’s, it was then that I was able to be in a more peaceful state within my mind and heart, knowing that I am exactly where I am supposed to be. All things work for my highest and greatest good, and it’s all falling into place.

I had to learn that all great things take time, and for lack of a better analogy, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” As my patience grew, my self confidence and self belief did as well. I realized I had to take my time, properly prepare and execute each day in order to bring my dreams into my reality. I took action on something everyday towards building the success of my business. And I still do, because there is much work that still needs to be done. Though, I know now that I don’t have to rush anything, and that everything happens as it should, when it should.

I learned that it’s okay to be proud of my accomplishments. I’m a very modest person, and rarely would speak about all the places I’ve been, awards I’ve won, or championships my team have won. Now, I proudly share my successes. Not in a boastful way, but in a way of informing others of my credentials, my value and why I am more than qualified to do what I do. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.mobathleticsinc.com
• Instagram: @mobxathletics
• Facebook: Kay Mob El Devi
• Linkedin: Kayla Mobley
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCZDnqpwpj8wVCKaFe1xv_-g