Meet the Founder

Coach Nicko’s Story

On paper, I checked all the boxes.
Student body president. National honor society. All-state athlete. Team captain. Even labeled “Mr. Middletown North” by the school paper.
But on the inside? I was drowning. Battling anxiety, self-doubt, and hopelessness, every single day.
It was clear to me that something wasn’t right. So I did what I always did. I applied that same ambition I brought to academics and athletics to conquering my inner demons.

4 years later, I’d built the missing pieces.
Just graduated college, landed a corporate job at a Fortune 500 company, was getting active in real estate. Then, I was offered a freelance gig as a “Mindset Coach”.
My plate was more than full. But I just felt drawn to this opportunity.
Why? Because I’d experienced the power of the mind firsthand. During my wrestling career, I turned a 9-19 freshman record into a 45-4 senior year.
I wanted to see if I was capable of helping other young athletes fulfill their potential.

Then it happened.
You know that moment when everything ‘clicks’? When it feels like your whole life has led to one realization?
Mine came right after my second ever coaching call. I had just pulled into the driveway after a 12-hour workday. And I sat there, frozen, staring out the windshield.
During that chat, my athlete raved about some ad-lib advice I’d given him the week before. Nothing extravagant. Simply suggested he test how staying off social media until after practice impacted his inability to focus during the day.
To me, it was just a simple trick I’d picked up over the years. To this young man, it was a groundbreaking new strategy.
That’s when it all clicked: our kids today are missing something.

I reflected on my own story.
How I was thriving by every standard metric, while simultaneously buried under a mountain of stress and insecurity.
How even the most "accomplished” kids today are entering the real world missing fundamentals.
A strong mind has always mattered. But in our digitalized, distracting, AI-driven world? It matters unlike ever before.
Our society is being transformed by technology, but our methods of development haven’t changed. And it’s our future leaders who are paying the price.

What I needed when I was struggling didn’t exist.
And it wasn’t until that night, nearly half a decade later, that I realized what that was.
It was those very intangibles I’d spent years forging, streamlined into a real-life crash course.
That same evening (after staring into space for a bit in my driveway), I began creating what is now LC Collaborations.

Today, I’m all in.
The mission is simple: give young people what I didn’t have. A system to develop the intangibles that define success.
Having coached Division I athletes and students at the top academic institutions across the country, I’ve seen firsthand what’s possible when a young person learns to maximize their mind.
If you’re reading this, you’re probably seeing what I saw. Something’s missing for your kid. That missing piece is mindset.
Don’t let their potential stay potential.