How Coaching and Encouragement Helped Turn The Faces Of Into a National Platform

When the Right Coach Pushes You to Act: A Clara Capano Story

After reading Ninja Selling and connecting deeply with its philosophy, I had the opportunity to attend a three-day Ninja Training Installation. The instructor for that training was Clara Capano.

I’m not someone who sits in the back of the room at events like that. When something resonates with me, I engage. I ask questions. I participate. That week was no different. Clara taught the material exceptionally well, and we hit it off quickly through the work itself—not small talk, but real conversation around relationships, trust, and how people actually build meaningful businesses.

As the training went on, Clara began to learn about The Faces Of.

At that point, I had been running my own community storytelling project locally for several years. I had just begun the process of turning it into a real business and offering it to others around the country. At the time, I had a small but growing group of partners in Georgia, Florida, and the Carolinas, and I was trying to decide what this thing could become if I committed to it fully.

I also shared something else with her—I had been thinking about writing a book.

Clara had just finished her first book herself, and she handed me a copy. More importantly, she didn’t hesitate to encourage me to write my own. She saw what we were building through The Faces Of, understood how naturally it aligned with the Ninja philosophy, and pushed me to put the ideas on paper.

That push mattered.

Since that training, a lot has happened.

I wrote the book.

Clara and I met again when she traveled through my area, and our relationship continued beyond the classroom. She introduced me—by phone and email—to Larry Kendall, strongly advocating for The Faces Of and the work we were doing. She recommended the platform to several of her coaching clients and helped facilitate partnerships, including connecting us with a Faces Of partner in Colorado and others in additional states.

She also played a key role in helping get a copy of my book into Larry’s hands.

At every step, Clara showed up not just as a coach, but as an advocate. She believed in the work, spoke about it without being asked, and consistently looked for ways to help others benefit from it. Eventually, she even joined us to teach a Zoom session for The Faces Of partners across the country, reinforcing the same principles that had shaped her own work for years.

What I’ve learned from this experience is something I try to pass along whenever I can:

The right coaches don’t just teach content.
They recognize potential, push you to act, and then walk alongside you when you do.

Clara Capano did that for me.

Her encouragement helped move The Faces Of from an idea I believed in to a platform others could believe in too. And her advocacy reminded me—once again—that when you build something rooted in relationships and trust, the right people don’t just notice. They help you carry it forward.

I’m grateful for that. And I’m grateful for the reminder that leadership often grows through the people who see you clearly before the rest of the world does.

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