Each week on “Around Town,” our host, Tom Reber, talks to members of the First Coast community who are making an impact in their part of town. Today, Tom speaks with Sid McNairy of Sid McNairy Enterprises
Transcript:
Tom:
Hi, everyone. I’m your host today, Tom Reber, on Around Town with Tom, and we have a phenomenal guest with us. His name is Sid McNary. He’s an author, a musician, an athlete, a coach—quite frankly, he’s a champion of life. Welcome to the show.
Sid:
Thank you, Tom. Great to be here.
Tom:
Sid McNary, I have been completely enamored with you from the conversation we had before the show. So let’s kick it off. How did you get started as an author?
Sid:
To be honest, people once told me I needed to be held back in school, and I wanted to prove them wrong. I remember the first time I really started writing—after school and everything—I was twenty-two. As a football coach, I thought I needed to have my autobiography so people would understand my philosophy as I worked toward becoming a head coach. Almost every head coach has a book.
That was the beginning. It took me thirty years to finish that autobiography, and in the process, more books started coming. I realized I didn’t have enough life in that first one, so the others came pouring out.
Tom:
You popped the cork—after the first one, the rest flowed. Now you’ve written eleven books, and another comes out tomorrow.
Sid:
Yes, tomorrow. Human Understanding.
Tom:
You also have The Secret Weapon, A Human, Quantum Living, The Search, and many others. I’m telling you—there’s a movie here. No doubt.
You’ve touched so many people, and you’ve become a life coach for many through your travels. Tell us about that.
Sid:
We all need a guide. We don’t have to have one, but without one, we take a lot of unnecessary turns. I’ve had guides all my life—my father mentored many people, and they poured into us as his children.
In my autobiography, the foreword is written by Dr. Jerry Guyton. He wrote it “as a father to a son,” and when I read it, he called me into the next phase of myself. The people we allow to speak into our lives can call us forward into who we’re meant to be. That happened for me.
Tom:
You have a vision—almost a sixth sense—for receiving information. A lot of people hear but don’t absorb. A lot of people see but don’t understand.
Like I always say, it takes a village. There’s no manual for parenting. Kids ages four to twelve—that’s the golden zone. You can set the atmosphere. But twelve to eighteen gets tough. And eighteen to twenty-seven? Still tough—just in different ways.
In finance, I give people game-changing advice they don’t learn in school, like compound interest. I call myself a financial Sherpa.
But what I see in you, Sid—you’re the Sherpa of life. You help people get where they’re meant to go.
Sid:
I can receive that. Thank you—for helping me finally figure out what I could call myself. I’ve done so many things, and I’ve wondered how to tie them together. That really helped.
Tom:
Well, Sid, you’ve given me an awareness I don’t come across often. I interview people for a living—thousands of them.
But the meaningful conversation we’ve had today? That’s rare.
When you write these books and work with people the way you do—where does that come from?
Sid:
I’m going way back—three years old. I had a surgery, and during it, I went to the light. And the light spoke to me.
Since then, I’ve always been able to hear that voice. God guides me. I don’t have to worry about everything else because it’s a simple yes or no. When it says yes, I go. I trust it.
It makes meeting someone like you easy. The recognition is immediate.
Tom:
Your awareness is off the charts. And your ability to take thoughts and shape them into something others can understand—that’s a gift. A superpower.
So what’s next? You have a new book coming out—what else?
Sid:
You may have noticed I smiled when you mentioned a movie.
We have several films coming. Multiple. That’s next.
Tom:
I knew it. I absolutely knew it. You definitely have a movie in you.
How can people find you? Website? Socials?
Sid:
Yes—SidMcNary.com or SidMcNaryEnterprises.com. Both lead to the same site.
We’ve organized it into four pathways: Music, Healing, Movies, and Products. When someone chooses one, it opens a portal tailored to that journey.
And next, we’re planning a music tour—heading to the continent of Africa.
Tom:
We didn’t even get to talk about that earlier—we’ll save that for next time.
Music speaks to people’s souls. It helps them learn, focus, heal. Churches, cultures, sports—they’ve all used music as a guide.
You’re doing the same thing, and it’s incredible.
Sid:
Thank you. Our first movie will be Black Country. My newest song is also Black Country—a country song from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
All my life, people told me what I wasn’t. And I became those things anyway. Black Country is about that journey—how we can all become the best version of ourselves when we recognize that simply being human is already perfect.
Tom:
Sid McNary, I’ve had a great time on the show today. Thank you for everything you shared.
And thank you all for tuning in. If you’d like to learn more about Sid and his work, head over to DailyNewsNetwork.com. Thank you all, and cheers.
